yarrr, ye scurvy boy-king, halt ye whinin'

Now the moment for battle had come, and he sat with Earl Thorfinn and his captains in the cool dark of the old hall at Thurso, awaiting the signal that would scatter them all. He was not supposed to fight, because of his calling. In spite of this, he had planned for some time to deceive the rest when the time came for him to follow the old and the children to safety. He had planned to hide himself aboard one of the warships and emerge into view when at sea.

Whether the Earl was a mind-reader he was unaware. But certainly something the Earl chose to say brought home the truth that in war the amateur who must be protected was a burden known to bring about the deaths of more first-class men than might the enemy. It had caused Sulien to change his intention.

He was thinking of it as the shouting began outside, telling that the message had come and it was time for the five vessels to leave for their appointment. He said to Earl Thorfinn, "Well: here or hereafter, then," and smiled, to make it casual; while Thorfinn's face produced the abbreviated expression he was coming to recognise as a contented, valedictory insult.

He waited until the ships had all set out, the square sails arched into the red evening sun, and then found his horse and rode off, away from the battle that was not his, to be shown for the first time, had he known it, a glimpse of the much longer battle that was.

from King Hereafter by Dorothy Dunnett