Excerpt from The Thirsty Sword: A Story of the Norse Invasion of Scotland (1262-1263) Who, next to Earl Hamish himself, was held in the highest honour of all men in Bute. Now, just as Kenric, unable to soothe Ailsa, was turning to leave her, a shadow passed between him and the evening sunlight, and at the head of the bank there walked an aged woman, bearing upon her bent back a bundle of faggots. Ailsa raised her blue eyes, and at sight of the old woman shrank back and felt in her dark hair for the sprig of feathery rowan leaves that She wore there as a charm against witchcraft. Give you good e'en, my lord of Bute, said the old woman, seeing Kenric and dropping her bundle on the ground. At these strange words Kenric's cheeks grew crimson. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.