'
Then they rode on and rested not until they reached the black galley in
the golden bay. The scent of the sea and the gleam of its blue waters and
dancing waves made them strong and glad and free.
As for Deirdre, who had never beheld the sea and its great wonders, she
laughed with joy and sang a song of the ocean which Lavarcam had taught
her long since and when its meaning was dark.
At sundown the galley came to the shores of Mull, and because the wind
fell they put into a bay, and as they gazed across the waters to the rocky
headlands of Alba, they talked long as to whither they should sail on the
morrow. Should it be to crave protection of the King, or should it be to
where their father's castle had stood before it had been destroyed?
But that night there came a galley from the long island to the north. In
it sailed twenty men with their chief. And with the chief came a
richly-clad stranger, but so hooded that none might look upon his face.
Steadfastly did the stranger gaze upon Deirdre, as the chief urged the
sons of Usna to cross the sea to Alba, and journey inland to the palace of
the King.
'But first come, Nathos, to my high-walled castle,' said the stranger, 'and
bring with thee thy wife and thy brothers.'
'It were not well to come to a man's castle and know not the man's name,'
said Nathos.
'My name is Angus,' answered the stranger.
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