Lord of the Isles (Coronet Books) Read Online Free PDF

Vikings, something which we could use. Speak up. Have you all lost your tongues as well as your maidenhood?”
    There was some ribaldry at that. Then one female voice was raised.
    “They spoke often of Kingairloch, lord. Of Loch a’ Choire, with Kingairloch at its head. They were sent there at times. Two or three crews would go. They would be gone for some days, then back. They misliked it there. There was no, no . . .”
    “No women, heh? At Kingairloch? That is on the east coast of this Morvern? A score of miles? Looking across to Lismore Isle? That would be an excellent place for commanding the narrows of Loch Linnhe and the Linn of Morvern. Just the place for an outpost. So—they could be going there. Any other? Mull is nearer—or parts of it.”
    Another woman’s voice spoke, but indistinctly.
    “Louder—let us hear you.”
    “Eric Half-Priest did not love Harald Oarbreaker, lord. I think that they would not go to Aros.”
    “Aros? That is on Mull, is it not?”
    “Yes. Across the Sound from the mouth of our loch, of Aline. Vikings are there, under this Harald. But they are unfriends of Eric here.”
    “Ah. Eric was leader here? And he was at odds with this Harald at Aros? Now we are learning. I know that there is often bad blood between the various Norsemen. Would you also say Kingairloch, then?”
    “Yes, lord.”
    “What of Lismore? The island across the Linn? It would be a fairer place to dwell than at Kingairloch.”
    “But less safe, lord. Less hidden. Less easy to defend.”
    “Ha—there speaks a woman of some wits! Then, since we have no better scent to follow, we shall make for Kingairloch on Loch a’ Choire. With all speed. There are four longships in the bay. We shall take three. They are but little damaged by fire, Conn says. There is no time to be lost if we are to prevent all the Viking coasts being roused against us. Before we are ready. So hasten. Down to the bay. Leave all here until we come back—although take the gold if you will. For sharing. The women to find their way back to the clachan. The fishermen to come with us . . .”
    There was the inevitable grumbling, but no real trouble, although getting the men away from that encampment and down to the bay took longer than Somerled would have wished. And quite a lot more than gold bracelets and the like was carried along—together with the incapable drunks.
    It was broad daylight before they reached the ships. They found that Conn’s people had cleaned up the vessels fairly well, and the fire-damage was indeed only superficial. The great sail of one of the craft proved to be badly burned however, so there was no question as to which ship to leave behind. Dividing up the company into three groups of between sixty and seventy, Somerled gave Saor and Conn each a command and took the largest vessel himself. It did not require long to make them ready for sea, all oars and sails being to hand. None had a full crew of oarsmen, of course, but there were enough to man sixteen-a-side, two men per sweep. Without delay, Somerled beat the great gong which furnished each stern-platform, first in a resounding tattoo to signal a start, then in the regular rhythmic beat to time each oar-stroke, a beat which would increase in tempo as men got into the swing of it, muscles were tuned up and the speed rose.
    The dawn breeze was south-west; and once out of the little bay of Achranich their course down-loch was south-west, so there was no point in hoisting sails. Gongs booming, they raced each other for open water.

CHAPTER 2
    The Sound of Mull lies approximately north-west and south-east, for some twenty miles, between that great island and the mainland peninsula of Morvern, averaging perhaps one-and-a-half miles in width, major artery for all that complicated seaboard, since it gives access to Lorne, Appin and Lochaber. Loch Aline opens near the bottom end, through a narrow strait in which the tide runs strongly. As the tide was now making, the oarsmen