Chapter 11: autumn/winter 874/875 AD

Scott and Gabrain arrived back at the house to find the girls had a guest. Scott recognised her as the girl they had been walking around the camp with for some weeks and months. He was immediately on his guard, suspicious of the girls' motives. Nonetheless he couldn't help look the girl over now that he was up close. She was slim, almost boyish, had dark skin and doe-like eyes. He had to admit to himself that she was a stunning girl.

Eilean introduced the girl as Hella, smiling knowingly at Scott as she did so. Hella proved to be bright and full of fun, much taken with little David and clearly already good friends with Fiona and Eilean. They shared a meal of stew and bread, Fiona letting the baby suckle at her breasts.

Gabrain excitedly explained the new idea Scott had come up with for concrete and what they believed they could achieve with it. Scott caught Hella give him a curious look but thought nothing of it. The girls were volunteering ideas on what should be built using the concrete, what the priorities should be. Fiona encouraged Scott to start with school buildings so that he could advance the notion of education for all. Eilean thought that a new house for them all should be first.

Scott opened a jar of wine and poured beakers for all of them. The wine led to a lowering of the girls' inhibitions and they began to allude to Scott spending time with Hella quite openly. Gabrain was grinning at Scott's obvious discomfort, especially when Hella began to make it clear that she was by no means averse to the girls' suggestions. Scott managed to remain calm throughout the teasing and tried to bring the episode to an end suggesting it was time they all turned in. Fiona tried one last time to suggest that Hella should 'turn in' with them, but quietened when she saw the look on Scott's face.

They said their goodbyes to Hella and Scott saw her to the door. She paused in the doorway and turned to kiss him quickly on the lips. He ushered her out of the door and returned to his place in front of the fire.

"What do you know of this girl?" He asked Fiona and Eilean.

"We know that she is interested in trying out your staff-beast and your bedroom skills!" Replied Fiona with a leer.

"And we know that you are interested in her!" Added Eilean.

"Why have you taken against her so Scott? Asked Fiona.

"I have nothing against little Hella, but I have no wish to be intimate with her, beautiful though she may be. My cup is more than full with both of you!"

"But Scott..."

"No, wait! I don't know what I'm doing. Okay, she is beautiful; you both clearly know my tastes. I will stop denying you because in the end I know you will get your own way anyway. But see you, I need to feel something for her before I will make love to her. It has been that way with Kirsty and with both of you and I will not have it any different now."

The girls clapped their hands and jumped up and down, excited by the fact that Scott had capitulated.

The next day Scott decided that he should take his son and show him round the lordship, cementing his position with the population. He had them stay over at Kilchrenan for several days while he reviewed progress on bringing on the various plant species with the monks. He was shown the plants that had been grown from the second pouch of seeds that the merchants had left behind. Scott clearly recognised the foliage of turnip and the classic red veined leaves of what looked like beetroot. The monks also showed him a sprawling mass of plants that he identified as peas. He explained to the monks how these should be trained to grow up stakes rather than allowed to trail along the ground.

He also visited the terraced hill where his vines were planted. He had followed through on his promise to save the monks the need to carry water up the hill by developing the Archimedes Screw. This involved a single metal 'screw' that was housed within a pottery sheath. The top end of the screw had a handle and the bottom was housed in a socket within a basin of water. When the handle was turned the screw carried water up its length and deposited it into a second basin. A further screw assembly carried the water yet further up the hill to another unit until eventually it was allowed to irrigate down the terrace, watering the vines as it went. Scott was delighted that the whole concept worked exactly as he had imagined it.

The monks showed him the growing stock of barrels containing various wines and whisky as they matured. He was allowed to sample a taste of mead that had been made from the honey collected by the monks. It was a little too sweet for his taste but he complimented the monks nonetheless.

This stop had let Scott know that his production of alcoholic drinks was progressing well and also that future years would have the prospect of even more additions to the diet of his people. It had also given the people of Kilchrenan the opportunity of seeing young David and recognising their lord had a healthy heir.

They moved on to spend some time at Taynuilt, visiting the miller and his water wheel mill. A further idea occurred to Scott when he visited the mill and saw the flour particles floating in the air. He remembered an experiment he had undertaken in school chemistry, which involved a syringe and flour. When the flour was ejected out of the syringe and set alight it was impressive to say the least, highly flammable. He seemed to recall that part of the lesson was that this had made mills dangerous places to work in, prone to fires. He filed this away for possible future exploitation.

Hella was a single woman and they had brought her with them on their tour. Scott found himself becoming increasingly fond of the girl, her lively personality, intelligence and looks making that quite easy indeed.

The next stop was Inveraray. Inveraray had always been one of Scott's favourite places in his own time and nothing about the ninth century had changed that. He and Gabrain met with the settlement's builders and sketched out a design for a house using concrete. He had decided that he wanted his main house to be here and with some irony he chose the site that would end up being where the Duke of Argyll's castle would eventually end up.

All around people were astounded at how quickly the structure took shape. Within a week the foundation and concrete pillars leading up to what would be the second floor were in place, the re-inforcing steel rods protruding to give the base for tying the concrete in for the second floor.

Scott also worked with the builders and the potters to create moulds for roof tiles, aiming to make this Inveraray house solid indeed. He explained to the builders how they should use shuttering, supported from below by a phalanx of wooden props, to create the base for pouring the concrete for the floor of the upper storey. He explained how they should use a lattice of steel to re-inforce the floor.

The extended stay at Inveraray while the building was going on allowed them to enjoy the various shellfish delicacies that were now being nurtured in the loch. Perhaps it was the diet of oysters or maybe it was just that his close proximity to Hella was beginning to tell on him, but Scott felt himself increasingly drawn to the young girl. He spent time with her and began to build a relationship, finding her quick wit a delight. Of course, Fiona and Eilean encouraged him, indeed thought he was taking things far too slowly.

Scott's idea of starting schools had caught Hella's imagination. Surprisingly, she alone amongst the women Scott had so far come across could already read and write, having convinced the monks to teach her. He now thought she would be an ideal candidate to run his first school and set his builders to work erecting a simple concrete structure that would act as a school hall. Hella was excited and overjoyed at Scott's confidence in her and she was looking forward to taking on her new role. She threw herself into papermaking so that a good stock was available for her first pupils.

Once again Gabrain showed his own increasing ability to think the way that Scott had been trying to teach him. He remembered how Scott had suggested looking at patterns of things, of putting existing ideas together and perhaps extending them as a way of making improvements and advancements. One afternoon he was sitting with Scott when he came up with a suggestion.

"Scott, this of schools and teaching all of the children to read and write, couldn't we use the same idea in another way?"

"How so Gabrain?" Replied Scott.

"I was thinking that we could perhaps have some of the older children who show an aptitude, work with the craftsmen to learn their craft. By so doing we could significantly increase the numbers of skilled men we would have access to. That could help speed up how quickly we could make things would it not?"

"Gabrain, that's an excellent idea - apprentices! You're right, we have no shortage of labour here and that would greatly increase our capacity."

Gabrain always smiled hugely when he received praise from Scott and now was no different; he wore a grin for hours afterwards, pleased that his idea had met with such approval. He was even happier when he realised that Scott intended to see the idea put into practice immediately, going amongst his craftsmen and discussing the proposal with each. The suggestion was met with unanimous agreement and each craftsman said they would take on two apprentices as soon as they could identify suitable candidates.

Scott and Gabrain also spent a great deal of time working with the builders on the new house, making sure everything that could be built-in was. Given how close the site was to the loch, it didn't take a huge number of concrete pipes to reach the water's edge and Scott had had his sewer plan put into action. Smaller bore pottery pipes were used to direct waste water from different areas of the ground floor of the house into the sewer and the pouring of the first level of concrete had allowed for this. The ground floor had a sunken bath area and two toilets designed in, some of the porcelain pottery used to make actual toilets and basins.

Scott incorporated his 'back-boiler' technology behind the fireplaces to provide hot water and by limiting the number of points that used the hot water, he was able to minimise the degree of piping required. He also established cold water feeds that would be necessary for the basins and toilets. His potters were asked to make some coloured ceramics and use mortar to tile the sunken bath.

Another innovation he had come up with was a very simple cooking range and he had his smiths cast a double freestanding range that would burn wood. The range would provide heat as well as being used for cooking. With a built-in oven, it could also be used for bread making and the like. The girls were delighted with it, almost as much as they were delighted at the prospect of using the sunken bath. Fiona had been making a special batch of scented soap, this one more liquid, and Scott could see a bubble bath was in the planning.

With the house and school well on the way to completion they continued their tour, riding westwards to skirt the foot of Loch Awe and then northwards to Kilmelford. Hella was so gripped with her project that she elected to stay behind at Inveraray to oversee the School's completion. Once again Scott let the people of the settlement see little David and he reviewed how his improvements were progressing. While sitting down to an evening meal, Eilean made an interesting observation.

"I think that Hella is going to have her work cut out. I don't know if it's true, but there seems to be a lot more children than normal. Is it just my imagination?"

Scott realised she was right. The combination of better food, greater security, cleanliness and simple public health techniques such as boiling water and using soap looked to be having an impact on the mortality rates, particularly the child mortality rates. He found great pleasure in that. Surely if he achieved nothing else this was something to be proud of?

After several more days of reviewing things at Kilmelford they returned to Oban/Dun Ollaigh. It had been a very worthwhile tour from Scott's perspective. He had shown his people his heir and had set in train several new improvements that could increase the lordship's capacity and capability tremendously. There was one thing that sounded a sour note however; the people had still not put the raid on Iona behind them. Scott could sense the strength of feeling that was still there, barely below the surface. He knew that it would fester over the winter if he didn't do something to address it before then.

It was heading towards the end of autumn and therefore late for campaigning, but he decided he would have to mount one last attempt to bring the Vikings to book for their attack on Iona. When he saw the faces of his men as they began to gather at Oban over the next few days, he knew he had made the right decision. If it is at all possible to look grim and yet happy at the same time, then that would be how he would describe the men, grimly determined and happy at the prospect of running the Danes to ground.

The ships were stocked with bolts; oil and adaptations were made to the ballistas. Scott's men were also now equipped with modified crossbows and they were delighted at the new design Scott had come up with.

Scott and Gabrain kissed the girls goodbye and boarded their ship for the voyage north. They had only the ten Loarne ships this time and followed the same route as before, twenty miles up the Sound of Mull and into the Hebridean Sea. They investigated the islands of Eigg, Rum and Canna but found no signs of Norsemen, only local fishermen who likewise had had no sightings of the Danes.

The next day found them sailing up Loch Dunaverty only to find that it too was still empty of Vikings. It seemed that this second trip was also going to disappoint the simmering Loarne men. Scott ordered several ships to remain on patrol, searching the surrounding islands and investigating the mainland too. Then, with little else to do, he set sail for Oban.

His quick return was unlooked for and he found that the girls had taken the opportunity of his campaign to ride to Inveraray, to visit Hella and, to see how the house and school were coming along. Scott had been planning on spending the winter at Inveraray this year anyway so, after checking to make sure his coastal defences were alert and ready, he and Gabrain also rode for Loch Fyne.