32.
The heart of the night was soft and silent. Not a breath of wind disturbed the almost religious silence into which more than half of the Sutherland Community had plunged. According to tradition, Alastair Sutherland would be cremated within minutes, barely four hours after his death. About a hundred Weres, crinos, galbros, homid and hispos, stood respectfully around the remains of what was the bravest person I had ever known. Among them were Galgacus, Rory who had just taken Calum’s place as leader of the hispo elite, and Elgin. The men in the front row carried flaming torches, forming a luminous ribbon in the starry night that dimly lit the pyre Al was lying on. With his hands crossed over his bare chest, a linen band around his abdomen to conceal his wound, he gripped the pommel of the
- Writer
