Chapter 19: Winter

I waited with the Knapdale men in the same Kilfinan Bay where we had landed, waited for the return of my longships. They had embarked the Kintyre men and were taking them back to Campbeltown. There were high spirits in the camp, despite the light rain that was falling steadily. Colmgil and the Cowall and Bute men were also still with us and they were celebrating the defeat of the Saxons and the defence of their lordship with some vigour.

I had sent for Gabrain, thinking it was important for him to be seen as part of all this, a part of his lordships' success. When he arrived the Cowall and Bute men cheered him all the way up from the loch-side and by the time he got to me he had a huge grin on his face.

"Well met my Lord of Cowall and Bute," I said to him, extending my hand and grasping his forearm in a hearty handshake.

"Well met indeed my Lord of Knapdale and Jura. I see you have been putting these ruffians of mine to some gainful use! Not before time I say." He laughed as he said it and those around us laughed with him.

"You have stout fighting men in your lordship Gabrain, they acquitted themselves bravely and have taught the Saxons a harsh lesson I think."

"Tell me, tell me all of it Scott, from the beginning."

I sat with Gabrain and recounted each step of the battle with the Saxons, ending with the last two days of mopping up remnants of the force and putting these to the sword too. As usual, Gabrain was full of questions, eliciting details at each point and looking thoughtful as he stored the information away for later use perhaps. He walked among his men, greeting many by name and it was clear he was well liked by all. I looked on and once more thought that he would grow into a good leader for these people.

Our return to Aird Driseig was not much longer delayed and the girls and Eilean were waiting at the loch-side for us as I leapt over the side of the ship and ran the last few steps to the shore. Kirsty and Fifi ran into my arms and I hugged them to me, looking over their heads to see Eilean adopting her submissive posture once again. I kept an arm round each of the girls as I steered them over beside her.

"I am pleased to see you once again too, Eilean. There have been times in the last few days when I thought my time on this Sainted earth were over and I ached at the thought of leaving all three of you behind."

Eilean blushed but a smile came to her lips.

There was much cheering and singing as the Knapdale men came ashore and started to make their way up to the hall-house. I called for quiet and announced that a feast should be prepared so that we could celebrate our victory properly. That met with unanimous approval and I left them all to prepare the feast while I retired to the house with the womenfolk and Gabrain.

The boy was excited and was trying to tell the women the story of the Cowall battle all in a rush. I listened and observed that he stuck to the facts, unusual in this time where huge exaggeration was the norm. He was expertly summarising the key stages and incidents that ultimately led to the Saxons' defeat.

As we were walking up the hill I noticed that there had been a change in the warehouse. Fewer barrels of salt were evident and there was now a large mound of white-ish looking soil. Gabrain caught me looking at the warehouse and another huge grin lit up his face.

"While you were away enjoying yourself in my lordship Scott, somebody had to look after your trade interests here." He said.

All five of us walked over to the shed to look more closely at what it held. The mound was more crumbly rock than soil I now noticed.

"So, the merchant returned did he?"

"Indeed and I thought you would want to make this trade for I knew how much you wanted this limestone."

"And what did you give in return for it?" I enquired.

"The merchant accepted twenty barrels of salt and two hundred bars of soap." Gabrain responded, his chest puffing up with pride at what he considered a great bit of bargaining.

I had already decided on a trade of only six barrels of salt and half the soap that Gabrain had agreed, but I tried to keep my disappointment from my face so as not to upset the boy. He was watching me closely and had a keen eye, as I am sure he sensed I thought the trade was too high. Rather than get upset however, he opened his hand in front of him with a flourish to display three large, but thin gold coins.

"I did manage to get him to throw these shiny coins into the bargain as well." He said and then once again he was laughing.

Now I was impressed. I had also thought to take some of the merchant's gold from him but had not thought I would get three coins for the trade Gabrain had made. He was turning out to be a hard bargainer after all.

"My job had been made easy for me Scott, because he really wanted your goods and he knew just how unimpressed you were at the idea of trading for coins. He must have thought in your absence he could push through a trade and be away before you returned so he almost begged me to take two coins. I held out for three and he gave in."

"Remind me never to try and bargain with you my Lord." I said to him and could see he was pleased that I was clearly now impressed by his prowess at trade.

I was also impressed by Gabrain's leadership skills. How the camp had let him take charge in this of the trade, accepting the decisions of a ten-year old was a clear sign of his natural leadership talent. I made a mental note to make sure his studies continued in the hope that these might help build and shape the boy so he could reach his full potential.

The feast that night was a great one with large quantities of food, ale and uisge beatha. After countless courses of different fish and meats I was absolutely stuffed, sitting enjoying a beaker of ale when a sennachie stood up on a table with a stringed instrument and looked around him. I was surprised at how quickly the noise in the hall died away, giving him almost total silence. He plucked a few chords and began to sing.

The Saxon host came over the border
Fifteen thousand was their number
They marched their way through Cowall's fair lands
Murder and rape were their only plans

Cowall called for mac Fergus's might
He took on the Saxons by day and by night
His thousand men had no thoughts of losing
And met the Saxons on a field of their choosing

So Knapdale men flighted their arrows
At the Saxon host, caught in the narrows
The long bows sang again and again
And long will fair Cowall honour these men

Then Saxons charge - furious, screaming
All down the glen, their warriors streaming
To turn back this tide, the field had six holes
Hiding inside them, six hardy souls

Oh never has Scotland witnessed such valour
Of the six who answered Scott's call in that hour
They stood there in silence as thousands drew near
Nor blinked, nor sweated, nor showed any fear

And then when it seemed that their fate had been sealed
mac Fergus's weapons were at last now revealed
The Saxons were charging, their eyes wild with ire
But six Knapdale men consumed them with fire

The Saxon host fled, a coward's retreat
But worse was to follow, sealing defeat
The hundred brave archers now charged down the hill
And mac Fergus's horse charged with a will

Saxon bodies were hewn asunder
Knapdale hooves drummed like the thunder
Sword steel and spears flashed in the light
As one thousand Scots now joined in the fight

Oh Dalriada, how blessed are we
For the heart of these men who helped keep us free
mac Fergus had won, restored Cowall's order
Only five hundred Saxons returned o'er the border

When the man finished his song there was uproar in the hall, bedlam, wild acclaim. Cheers rang out and the sennachie was asked to sing it through again. I supposed this was part of the oral tradition, to record deeds in song and verse rather than on paper. I had noticed some wild exaggeration in the claim that there had been fifteen thousand Saxons and wasn't sure the verses quite scanned in places but I guess he did well in coming up with something so quickly. This was a first hand look at how legends were made I thought, through some brave men and a minstrel who felt he had poetic license.

The feasting and singing went on long into the night but I felt myself growing tired and not a little drunk so I headed for my bed. Nobody noticed as I walked unsteadily up the hill singing softly under my breath:

O Flower of Scotland
When will we see your likes again?
That fought and died for
Your wee bit hill and glen
And sent them homeward...

I experimented over the next few weeks with the limestone. I roasted some to make quicklime and then ground it down into fine powder. While mixing some of the powder with sand and water I could feel the skin on my hands burn and I immediately plunged them into a nearby bucket of water, rubbing them together vigorously to remove all traces of the mortar. That was a lesson learned. I would need to avoid direct contact with the stuff. Gabrain continued to trail around after me, taking note of what I was doing.

My next test was to use some of the mortar to bind some of my new bricks together. I wanted to test that the mortar held the bricks together well and also to see how long it took to dry out and set. I tried four various mixes so that I could compare how well they worked. My plan was to discard any mix that dried too quickly as I thought that would indicate it would be likely to crumble before long. Also out would be any mixes that took too long to set, as that would make the job of building difficult.

One of the mixes seemed just right to me and I thought we were in business. The next thing to do was to decide on what to build, where to build it and when. I decided I needed to draw up some plans, to think about a structure and make sure I had worked through the dimensions and design. That reminded me that I had previously thought about making some paper so that I could make notes. Now was as good a time as any to give papermaking a try.

I spoke to the smith and builder and between us we designed a 'kit' for making paper. It consisted of two wooden square frames, almost like picture frames between which linen was stretched to form what was in effect a sieve. A heavy metal stamp-press was forged to match the dimensions of the wooden frame so that we could squeeze as much water out as possible.