.

In the spring Archie, with his retainers, joined the king, who was
gathering his army for his march into the north. During the winter
Galloway had been subdued, and Douglas being left in the south as
commander there, Edward Bruce joined his brother, around whom also
gathered the Earl of Lennox, Sir Gilbert de la Haye, and others.
The position in Scotland was now singular: the whole of the
country south of the Forth was favourable to Bruce, but the English
held Roxburgh, Jedburgh, Dumfries, Castle Douglas, Ayr, Bothwell,
Edinburgh, Linlithgow, Stirling, and Dumbarton. North of the Forth
nearly the whole of the country was hostile to the king, and the
fortresses of Perth, Dundee, Forfar, Brechin, Aberdeen, Inverness,
and many smaller holds, were occupied by English garrisons.

The centre of hostility to Bruce, north of the Forth, lay in the two
great earls, the Comyns of Badenoch and Buchan, and their allies.
Between them and Bruce a hatred existed beyond that caused by
their taking opposite sides. Comyn of Badenoch was the son of the
man Bruce had slain at Dumfries, while Buchan hated him even more,
since his wife, the countess, had espoused the cause of Bruce and
had crowned him at Scone, and was now shamefully imprisoned in the
cage at Berwick. It must be supposed that Buchan's anger against
his countess was as deep and implacable as that of Edward himself,
for, as the English king's most powerful ally in Scotland, he could
surely have obtained the pardon and release of his wife had he
desired it. On the other hand, Bruce had a private grudge against
Comyn, for upon him had been conferred Bruce's lordship of Annandale,
and he had entered into possession and even occupied the family
castle of Lochmaben.

The king and his army marched north, and were joined by Alexander
and Simon Frazer, with their followers. They marched to Inverness,
which, with various other castles in the north, they captured. All of
these castles were, when taken, destroyed, as Bruce had determined
to leave no strongholds in the land for the occupation of his
enemies. He himself could not spare men to hold them, and their
capture was useless if upon his retirement they could again be
occupied by the enemy. Returning southward they were encountered
by an army under Buchan, composed of his own retainers and a party
of English. This force was completely defeated.

To the consternation of his followers Bruce was now attacked by a
wasting illn