WHITEBLADE by H A CULLEY

Author:H A CULLEY [CULLEY, H A]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Orchard House Publishing
Published: 2016-09-11T22:00:00+00:00

~~~

Late in the afternoon Eochaid, with a sinking heart, saw another six birlinns enter the loch. His first thought was that Oswald had been fooled and that this was the rest of the Strathclyde men from Brodick. However, he then recognised the emblem on their sails as that of Domnall Brecc and breathed a sigh of relief.

The enemy obviously didn’t know what to do. Their first instinct was to launch their birlinns and try to escape, but they were outnumbered and trapped in the loch. Four of the new arrivals remained near the entrance to the loch in case the attackers tried to escape, whilst the other two came in and beached near the fortress. Eochaid went out and greeted the king and together they led their men, now numbering over two hundred, towards the enemy. When the other four ships, seeing that the enemy ships had remained on the beach, came in to disgorge another two hundred and twenty warriors, the Strathclyde men quickly decided to surrender.

Thus, when Oswald eventually arrived with his exhausted men, they found that they needn’t have practically killed themselves getting there. It was just as well, as they were in no condition to fight.

‘Describe this leader to me, Oswald,’ Domnall Brecc asked later that evening at the feast which had been hastily organised by Acha to celebrate their victory.

He frowned when Oswald had done so.

‘I’m almost certain that it could be none other than Eònan, one of King Belin’s cousins. He’s been after a kingdom of his own for some time. He was the one who tried to invade Lorne and was defeated at the Pass of Brander. I don’t suppose for one moment that Belin will grieve for long. Eònan was ambitious and resented being the son of the younger brother. He could well have tried to topple his cousin in due course, had he failed to secure a kingdom elsewhere. Some think it’s Belin who was the aggressor, but I think it was only Eònan. He had been held in check by the old king, but Belin’s too young and inexperienced. No, I think you have done everyone a favour by killing him.’

A little later Domnall heard someone call Oswald ‘Whiteblade’.

‘What’s this “Whiteblade”?’

‘Oh, nothing.’ Oswald blushed and then explained. ‘Twice now the sun has reflected off my sword as I gave the signal to attack, apparently making it seem as if it was flashing with a brilliant white light, like a halo is supposed to around the heads of our Lord and the saints. The men said it was a sign from God that we would prevail. Since the first time, when we captured this settlement, they have called me Whiteblade. They did it again today but they’ll soon forget about it.’

But they didn’t.

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