Pride of Lions by Morgan Llywelyn

his cousin a grateful smile, he said, "You see?
    I have a witness, a noble of the Dal Cais whose word must be accepted. As my father's chosen heir, I inherit his principal residence."
    "If you were to have Kincora," interjected yet another brehon, speaking slowly and thoughtfully, "why was your brother Teigue left in charge here?"
    "Because my father knew I wanted military experience. Teigue prefers being a cattle lord to bearing arms; I'm the one who takes after Brian Boru."
    Maeve hurled her silent thoughts at her husband with all the strength she possessed.
    Leave it! she urged him. Let Donough have this great sprawling pile, then you and I will be free to go home to our children and our valley.
    But Teigue could not leave it, his sense of duty overrode his desire for a quiet life.
    Gormlaith had been a consummate liar and her son might be the same; what he was claiming might run counter to Brian Boru's intention, and that Teigue could not allow. "I'm sorry," he said, "but I cannot accept this without more proof. If my father left such a will surely it was committed to writing. We must wait until Carroll returns and ask him, for he kept all the Ard Ri's records."
    Donough glared at Teigue. "Are you accusing me of making a false claim?"
    "And me?" Fergal interjected angrily.
    "I would never question the honor of either of you,"
    Teigue replied. "I simply feel it would be better to wait until we've had a chance to talk with Carroll."
    Donough flung out his hands to the brehons.
    "What are my rights?"
    From the depths of a capacious memory trained through twenty years of study, the chief brehon recited, "Under the law, on the death of a father each son is entitled to an equal share of the land he held and the cattle fed upon it, but one of the sons, in addition to his equal share, also inherits the father's residence. Whether this favored son is the eldest or a younger son depends upon the discretion of the father.
    "However," he added, looking sternly from Donough to Teigue and back again, "the son who claims the residential inheritance is thereafter responsible for guardianship of the unmarried women of the family, is bound to provide hospitality for all those who have a claim upon his tribe, and is obligated to succor and defend any of his own who are in need and distress.
    "Think upon this, both of you. Kincora is large and its dependents are many; the responsibility for Kincora is a heavy burden requiring strong shoulders and a wise head."
    Donough felt the massed weight of eyes turning toward him, accusing him of a youth and inexperience he could not deny. "You have no wife, no children," challenged Cathal Mac Maine.
    "What do you know of caring for women? You don't even have the care of your own mother."
    Someone at the back of the hall laughed.
    "Gormlaith needs no one to take care of her."
    "Except in bed," chimed in another voice.
    "Half the men here have taken care of her in bed at one time or another." The laughter billowed into a wave.
    Donough balled his fists. His brother felt the leaping tension in him. "Go easy," Teigue advised out of the corner of his mouth. "You have to expect such talk."
    "No one speaks of your mother this way," Donough replied bitterly. "You're lucky; your mother's dead."
    Teigue went white. At that moment something hardened in him against his brother, a stone in his heart that would never dissolve.
    But Donough, who had spoken out of an excess of emotion, did not notice.
    Maeve did, however. Suddenly she had the strange sensation that the ground had shifted under her, under all of them, and she wanted to run to her husband and feel his arms around her. With an effort she restrained herself.
    Teigue turned toward the chief brehon.
    "I do not accept my brother's claim of a will in his favor," he announced in a voice stiff with formality. "Unless and until such a claim is proved, I intend to retain the control of Kincora, which my father gave into my hands for safe-keeping."
    Donough whirled