Drustan mab Necthana
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In Jacqueline Carey's Kushiel's Legacy series, Drustan mab Necthana is the temporarily deposed leader of Alba, a descendant of the Black Boar people, and he is known elsewhere as the Prince of the Picti. He is lame, club-footed in one leg, but an expert cavalry soldier and a great leader. He has dark hair and eyes, and wears a distinctive red cloak into battle.
When he is still a young man, Drustan and his uncle, the current Cruarch of Alba, visit Terre d'Ange under invitation from King Ganelon de la Courcel. There he meets Ysandre de la Courcel, the Dauphine to the D'Angeline throne; they fall in love and enter into a secret engagement to unite their countries. Not long after returning to Alba, however, Drustan's uncle is murdered and the throne seized by his own son, Maelcon. Drustan is forced to flee to the western shore of Alba.
When Phèdre nó Delaunay and her company of D'Angelines come to Alba, Phèdre tells him that the price of marrying Ysandre is helping to save Terre d'Ange from being invaded by the Skaldi, but that the Master of the Straits will only allow Drustan and the Albans to cross to Terre d'Ange once Drustan has won his own throne back. Drustan is determined to try or die; he gives the Twins, the leaders of the Dalriada, one week to decide whether they will aid him, before he goes on with whomever will follow.
Phèdre eventually persuades the Twins to lend their aid to Drustan, and he marches to war, accompanied by allies from not only the Dalriada, but several clans of Albans as well. From the various tribes of the Albans and Dalriada, Drustan raises an army of six thousand foot soldiers, seven hundred horsemen, and fifty chariots. On the eve of battle, Drustan stops to give an inspirational speech to the troops, but is interrupted at the very beginning by the presence of an absolutely enormous black boar. Taking this as an extremely favorable omen, the army charges, and thus subverts an attempt by the usurper Maelcon to launch a surprise attack; if Drustan had kept speaking for another ten minutes, Maelcon would have been able to trap them, but with the advantage, Drustan's troops win the battle. He slays Maelcon himself, but among the casualties on his side is his younger sister Moiread, who takes a spear to her middle when Maelcon's men come to capture Necthana and her daughters.
When the remaining people of the Red Bull clans surrender and hand over Foclaidha, he grants them clemency; Maelcon's head he nails over the gates of Bryn Gorrydum. Drustan asks the opinions of the Twins and Phèdre before sentencing Foclaidha to death, considering that they, for their aid to him, deserve to have a say in the matter. He then cuts her head off immediately and in front of the council; he declares the lands of Foclaidha's Brugantii tribe forfeit, and bestows them on the Segovae and Votadae, who alone among the Red Bull people kept faith with him.
Drustan decides that three thousand foot soldiers and four hundred horsemen will journey to Terre d'Ange to aid Ysandre, with the rest left behind to secure Alba. Together, he and Quintilius Rousse decide to sail straight south across the narrowest part of the strait, then cross through Azzalle to meet up with the forces of Somerville and Trevalion.
Drustan is among those brought ashore on the island of the Master of the Straits when one of his men kills an eel in the Master's fishing waters, not knowing that was forbidden. Drustan first tries to take responsibility for what his men did, and then later forgives the men who were responsible when they would have worked themselves to the bone to pay penance.
Once in Terre d'Ange, Drustan sets his men to striking against the Skaldi wherever possible. They attack and entirely rout forces on the river bank, then set fire to Waldemar Selig's siege-towers outside of Troyes-le-Mont. He directs his men to lead the pursuing Skaldi into ravines and narrow paths, where the Albans and D'Angelines, under the direction of Ghislain de Somerville, ambush them.
After the Battle of Troyes-le-Mont is over, Drustan and Ysandre meet before their armies as monarchs of equal standing, with dignity and respect, keeping their emotions and celebration behind closed doors. They marry in the following spring.
