Lord Sitric's hearth-hall was ablaze with light that evening. Hanging lamps lit the centre of the hall and wax and rush candles glowed from each support pillar. Hareth flinched on the threshold. "My eyes hurt," he muttered. "Make them take down the wall hangings."
Finlay glanced around. "It's not the hangings," he said, staring at Sitric's huge personal banner in the middle of the long wall. "He's pinned the sun to the wall. Look."
Hareth squinted up at the huge banner with its silver and gold stitching. It rippled in the up draught of warm air, and reflected the light in a ceaseless dazzle. "How could we have missed that this morning?"
"It certainly comes alive in the light. And here comes our impolite guide from this morning," Finlay said softly, staring across the hall. "I feel I might hit that young man before the night is through."Click 'comment' below to give your answer.
Jen Black's The Dark Pool is the sequel to Banners of Alba and is available as an e-book from Fictionwise.com.
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7 comments:
From the title, I deduce Dublin. There were several Sitrics of Dublin
Not being familiar with this period, nor having read this book, I wonder what the "Dark Pool" relevance is? 'Carla' deduces Dublin from the title...
Gaelic, dubh = black or dark, linn = pool.
Always thought it mildly amusing that there are two places called Blackpool (in different languages) more or less opposite each other across the Irish Sea.
Aha... now we're learning together. Well I am. Is that why Guinness is black then?
No idea about Guinness, I'm afraid :-) But they don't make it in the other Blackpool (the English one) as far as I know.
Am I right about the location BTW? Sitric and Dark Pool (Dubh Linn) immediately said Dublin to me, but I could well be wrong - and I daresay Sitric had more than one hall.
Let's leave that to the author shall we, it's her bag and maybe she can tell us more about the background to her story? I'll send her a memo.
It is Dublin and Carla has saved me having to explain the title. I spent a wonderful four days prowling around Sitric's Viking Dublin during writing the story. Gave me goosebumps to walk down a street that my heroine walked down 1000 years ago. Not that it looked like it did then, but even so...the dog-leg kink is still there, and the name has survived. And the gold jewellery in the museum is amazing. Thoroughly recommend a visit, but you should read the book too!
Jen
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