Chapter 22: Dads

Our return to Aird Driseig caused quite a stir. The smaller boats with the stolen horses had not stopped off at Campbeltown, but had pressed on for home and had brought the news of my 'loss' at Lancaster. None new what had happened to me, only that I hadn't made it back onto one of the ships. When Eilean had asked, she was told that Gabrain was missing too.

The two dragon ships ran up to the newly built jetty, Gabrain and I standing in the prow of the leading ship. Of course we were recognised from the shore and there was a palpable wave of relief/joy that I was sure I could see travelling from the shore up through the camp. Even as the longship kissed the jetty, I saw the door of our house flung open and the three womenfolk come flying down the hill towards us. I turned to Gabrain and grinned.

"Now here comes the best bit. You might as well enjoy this because by tonight we will be facing their wrath for being so stupid as to get left behind. Mark my words!"

As with other homecomings, the girls all but bowled me over as they swept up to hold and hug me, tears of joy streaming down their faces. If there had been any doubt about how these two felt about me, it would have been washed away when I saw their reaction to my safe return each time. I soaked up the raw emotion that was pouring from them and hugged them back, stroking their hair and backs. I looked over to see that Eilean was hugging Gabrain tightly too, tears likewise streaming down her lovely cheeks.

The loch-side was becoming jammed with folk as men poured off the longships and people from the camp came down to welcome our return. We pressed our way through the crowd, exchanging hand/arm shakes with many on our way up to the hall-house. Ale, wine and uisge beatha was soon in plentiful supply and I called for as much meat as could be quickly prepared to feed my hunger. The days on the run with little to eat had been followed by four days on board the longship on very bare rations, and I felt as if I could eat a horse in a single sitting.

Kirsty pointed out a man who seemed strangely out of place, caught up in the celebration but oddly not appearing part of it.

"A messenger from King Fergus, Scott. He has been here for three days now hoping for your return. He will not tell anyone what message he brings." She told me.

I rose from my table and walked over to the man.

"You have a message for me from King Fergus?" I enquired.

"Yes my Lord. The King told me to tell you your request has been granted." He said.

"Excellent, excellent. Come man, join the celebration. Eat and drink before your return to Dunadd."

I searched through the crowd for Lachlan and navigated my way through the mass of bodies over to sit beside him.

"Lachlan my friend, when are you planning on returning to Campbeltown?"

"Perhaps never my Lord. The young Lord Echdach has seen fit to dispense with my services, deeming himself old enough and wise enough to handle his own affairs. I fear we will see trouble from Kintyre at some point."

I raised my eyebrows at this news. Lachlan probably had the rights of it, Echdach did have a difficult attitude and had showed no love for me or the Knapdale and Jura men. There had been resentment from the first that King Fergus had given oversight of his lordship to me. But, so be it, at least it meant Lachlan was available to carry out another project that I had set in motion some months before.

"Lachlan, I have another service to ask of you if you would."

"I am your man Scott, what do you require of me?"

I explained what I wanted and he nodded his understanding.

"Will tomorrow do or do you wish me to set out at once?"

"Tomorrow Lachlan. Tonight this feast is as much in your honour for rescuing Gabrain and me as it is for anything else. I would have the principal attend his own celebration." With that I patted his shoulder firmly and stood to rejoin Kirsty and Fiona.

The girls were curious as to the King's message, perhaps fearing it was a call for me to go campaigning again, but I told them it was an issue to do with trade and was nothing for them to worry about. Satisfied with that, they then began to quiz me on what had happened at Lancaster and how Lachlan had managed to find and rescue us. I re-told the tale as something of a light hearted travelog, leaving out the hunger, exhaustion and cold. I did cover the escape from the pursuing Saxons.

Food arrived and the girls watched in amazement as I began to stuff my face with dish after dish. They were sure I was going to make myself sick. I could see Gabrain was doing likewise and we caught each other's eye. A look passed between us, the look of two people who had been tested together and had come through their trial, tougher for it.

"Tougher to survive." I thought to myself.

The next few days were filled with mundane affairs. I met with people to review how my projects were progressing, I watched the long bow archers practice and I watched Gabrain while he studied and while he went through his own weapons practice. There were disputes between people in the settlement that, as Lord, I was expected to settle and I had to apply the wisdom of Solomon to avoid creating lasting ill-feeling between the parties.

I had left the girls and Eilean making some new quilted material and was walking down the hill when I spied Lachlan riding towards the camp. He had another man riding beside him and I smiled to myself as I saw another of my plans come to fruition. Continuing down the hill, I met both of them at the settlement gates. I helped Kirsty's father down from his horse and gave him a hearty handshake.

"Welcome to Aird Driseig Ian mac Ian." I greeted him. "My sincere apologies that it has taken me so long to convince your Lord of Loarne to let you come."

He smiled.

"This has all come as a shock to me Scott. Are you really the Lord of Knapdale and Jura? How did that happen? I never thought to see Kirsty again."

I put my arm round his shoulders and began to explain all that had happened since I last saw him. I waved a thank you to Lachlan as I led Ian up the hill towards the house. I bid him wait outside and entered the house to find Kirsty.

"Kirsty my love, I have someone outside who wishes to see you."

She looked at me quizzically but brushed past me to go out the door. Fiona, Eilean and I heard a squeal and I smiled as the women rushed out to see what was going on. I followed and found Ian hugging Kirsty and twirling her round and round.

"Father, father! How good, good I say. But how do you come to be here? Are you being hunted? What has happened to the steading?"

He laughed as he tried to answer all of her questions, explaining that I had asked King Fergus to intervene and prevail upon Oengus of Loarne to free him of his service so he could come to join his daughter at Aird Driseig. Kirsty launched herself at me, kisses my reward for being so thoughtful.

"Now my dear, I think we need to go inside so you can sit and rest yourself. Too much excitement for one in your condition perhaps?"

"Aye lassie, it looks as though you are near to term. You should be resting as Scott suggests." Her father agreed.

I made pasta for us all that evening, inviting Lachlan too as a thank you for having gone to Loch Melfort to collect Ian. The food went down well with everyone, most having had it before but Lachlan and Ian also declaring themselves ready for a second helping. I couldn't help notice Lachlan stealing glances at Eilean when he thought no one was watching and I smiled at the thought that perhaps my friend had a secret liking for her. That would bear watching and perhaps encouraging.

My idea for finding coal and using it to make coke and for other things was something that I turned my attention to next. I knew that there were a good number of open cast coal sites in Scotland so it should be feasible to get a supply without having to mine underground for it. I was studying my maps to try and locate a site that was close to the coast. My thinking was that any find of a reasonable quantity would necessitate transporting the coal by ship.

So far the best I could come up with was a site called Dalmellington, but it was still some fifteen miles inland. That started me thinking about how I could transport a load from the site to the coast. The answer was easy for any boy who had been brought up watching westerns on TV - wagons. I had been mulling over in my head uses for the wheel anyway and now this latest problem brought that to a head.

I spent a number of days with my builders and some paper working on designs for a basic wagon. I explained the concept of bearings to them as a way to help axles or wheels turn more efficiently. The builders had ideas of their own and were quickly adapting my own designs, improving on them and getting excited by this new project. The most difficult part seemed to be how we would hitch horses to the wagon as I had never paid that much attention to the details when I watched TV. I did know about the concept of a horse collar and thought that would help but apart from that I was stumped and left the builders to mull it over.

The smith had already demonstrated he could produce basic pipes and I thought these would be a key element in my plans to produce running water and things like showers. I was delighted to find that he was now working more extensively with steel as well as iron as I thought steel would be a better option for plumbing. I discussed my plans with him in some detail and he was enthusiastic as he began to see the possibilities. Nothing would do but that he produced a mould for a shower rose and immediately began to make one.

The seeds that I had received from the merchant had been intriguing me too. I couldn't tell what they were although I could see that there were a range of different types of seed in the pouch. I wasn't even sure where they had come from and whether the plants they potentially could grow would survive in the Scottish climate. My vines were currently stored indoors to avoid the cold weather and I was also thinking about how to propagate them effectively. Perhaps it was the onset of spring but suddenly I was in a rich vein of ideas and the possibility of making a greenhouse popped into my head.

"Brilliant!" I thought to myself. "That would give me the best chance of getting the seeds to germinate and grow and would also be safer for bringing on my vines."

I immediately began to look for a site to put up a greenhouse and thought the best possibility was just to the side of our house. That would have the added benefit of it being close by. I sat at the table at home and began to draw a simple design - based on the same approach the builders had used in putting the windows in the new store shed. Finding the potter, I shared my design with him and we agreed on how many panels of glass the greenhouse would require. I smiled when he added an extra couple - in case of breakages he said.

I was getting a great buzz out of setting all these projects in motion and the next few weeks flew by as I toured the lordship to see how my improvements were taking root elsewhere as well as regularly checking-in with the craftsmen in the various workshops at Aird Driseig.

It took the potter two weeks to make all of the glass panels I needed as he had had to bide his time to get access to the forge because the smith was in full swing trying to take forward the plumbing work. I could have had the builders knock up the wooden frames for the glass but thought it better to wait until they were ready and could be matched exactly to the frames. Simple steel nails were used to hold each panel of glass between two frames and we had designed some heavy 'staples' to join the individual panels together.

I had a number of men drive in stout wooden corner posts and then help me put the sides up and finally join the roof pieces on too. One end lifted out completely to allow access. We all stood back to look at the finished structure. I was very pleased with it and had no doubt it would function perfectly well as a greenhouse. The men thought I was a bit strange for building a glass 'house' and couldn't quite see the advantages. I tried to explain that it wasn't actually a house but that it would be used for growing plants in, but the idea of growing plants held no interest for them and they merely smiled at me as if this was just another of my weirder ideas.

I had a bench made to fit inside the greenhouse and the potter made up some pots and trays that I could use for the various seeds and vines. There seemed to be a number different seed types and I sorted through them to separate them out. I kept one of each type wrapped up in a screw of paper and planted the rest in individual trays. That way I thought I would be able to identify which seed type represented which type of plant that I produced, information that could be helpful later.