"Go out into the courtyard," she said, "and give each other five lashes. This is because you dared insult a guest, and because you drew back after insulting him. Go!"
The two pikemen, rather pale under their beards, handed over their pikes to comrades and strode out of the hall. She turned to Brian, speaking still in Gaelic:
"Welcome, Brian Buidh. You have come to bring me tribute?"
"Yes, Lady Nuala, and the tribute is these ten men of the Dark Master's."
She looked at Cathbarr; her eyes swept over his ax. Then she looked again at Brian, and spoke to Muiertach in English.
"Truly, I have seldom seen such a man as this—"
A swift look of warning flashed over the seneschal's face, and Brian laughed.
"Lady," he said in the same tongue, "he is Cathbarr of the Ax, and he will be a good man to stand with us against the Dark Master."
She betrayed no surprise, except that a little tinge of red crept to her temples.
"I did not know you spoke English, Brian Buidh. Still, it was not to Cathbarr that I referred."