“Thou mayest take thy men with Torfrida, and thyself—but hark ye, never again enter thou this hall; for surely nothing hath saved thee but the fact that thy chief loveth thee.”
CHAPTER V
THE PARTING OF FEARGUS AND TORFRIDA
Then Duncan went swiftly to tell Feargus, and he was glad beyond measure that his men were to accompany Torfrida.
“Now I need not tell ye, Duncan, to arm ye all with your best and take the fleetest horses, and if Osbert hath laid any trap, seize ye him instantly and, whoever else may escape, let not him. But if he hath with him fifty men, like yourself, ye need fear nothing, for he knoweth well his men who serve for money are no match for thine who serve for love. But all of this thou wottest of thyself: I have little need to tell thee.” So Duncan went forth on the day set for the journey and gathered his men, and Osbert brought his friends also.
Then Torfrida rode out on a horse litter, for she was weak still, and pale; and only two maidens rode with her. Seeing Duncan, she beckoned to him to ride beside her; then speaking in Gaelic, which she was well able to do, her mother having been of the Pictish race, she said, “Duncan, my friend, leave me not to this man, nor let him ride beside or near me, for I loathe him. To him it is we owe the overthrowing of thy chief; do not trust him with thy safety, nor that of thy men; surely great number of warriors he bringeth.”
And Osbert was for setting out on the moment, but Duncan stayed him while he counted his men, then, turning to Osbert, he said—
“The number of my men is but fifty, but thou hast with thee not less than fifty and twenty gentlemen; a halt we will call till my cousin, Alastair, hath fetched hither twenty men of ours.”
Then said Osbert, “I come not here to parley with thee. I speak with thanes and princes, and all such as thou have but to obey: fall in, therefore, behind my men.”