"Why didn't you bring the Ard Ri home?" the patriarch of a Dalcassian family challenged Donough as he and Teigue were making their way to the top of the hall. "You brought other dead princes with you for their people to bury; surely you could have returned the Ard Ri to us." "He should be entombed here, in the chapel of Saint Flannan!" insisted the sonorous voice of Cathal Mac Maine. The portly, tonsured abbot bore little resemblance to the late Ard Ri, though his father had been Brian's first cousin. Only his ambitious eyes and the stubborn set of his jaw revealed their kinship. "Is there any place in Ireland so suitable for the tomb of Brian Boru as the chapel where he said his prayers?" Another man stepped forward to shake his fist in Donough's face. "We demand to know why you left the King of Munster to sleep among strangers in Ulster!" Donough was taken aback. "It wasn't my decision. By the time I got there they had already taken him away." "Why?!!!" a dozen voices roared. Although Teigue had not spoken, Donough directed his reply to his brother.
