To Duncan’s dismay, he was expected at Dugall’s court.
And not to be honored. Indeed, a pair of burly guards met his coracle and seized his elbows the moment he set foot upon Mull’s shore. Duncan felt the châtelain Louis’s surprise, but he had greater troubles than interpreting events for Eglantine’s servant. It was only a day and a half since they had left Ceinn-beithe, Dugall’s high court on the isle of Mull being a short journey away by boat.
Dugall, King of the Isles, was the eldest son of Somerled, the lord of Argyll and the Western Isles. Somerled had conquered the Hebridean islands from the Norwegian kings, married the daughter of Olaf the Red, and prompted the memory of many old tales by uniting the ancient kingdom of Dalriada under his hand once more.
The Scottish King David ha
