Chapter 21: Autumn/winter 877/878 AD

It took some weeks to have the masts fitted to the new ships. Scott and Gabrain took the opportunity to review how other things were progressing in Oban. Further shipments of Rouncey horses had been traded here and Scott now found he had over sixty of the huge beasts with breeding underway. Work had been ongoing at the Oban camp to install a similar sewer system to that achieved at Inveraray and the local craftsmen were working flat out to install toilets in all of the accommodation.

Inveraray had supplied a schoolteacher and Oban now had a thriving school for its children.

As with all the other Dalriada settlements, the food stores and grain silos were full to bursting, never had the people had such an abundance of food and beasts. Scott discussed the need to start building roads from Oban outwards, the first being targeted at linking the camp with that at Taynuilt where the mill was based.

A message arrived to confirm that the ships were all now ready for their campaign. Ten longships and the two larger ships were at their disposal. Scott decided to use the larger ships in the main for the horses, ensuring that they had sufficient room and some greater stability while at sea. Hoists and slings were used to lift the horses aboard, only one or two accidents occurring. Five of the longships were eventually also pressed into service to carry horses and the first wave at last set off.

They sailed down the Sound of Jura, down the length of Knapdale and Kintyre before swinging east round the foot of Kintyre and past the Isle of Arran. Two days later they made landfall at Aird Rosain (modern day Ardrossan) and took a further day to unload the horses. Scott and Gabrain remained with the men and horses while the ships returned to Oban to load the second wave.

While they waited Scott sent out scouts to identify the prevailing circumstances. He made sure to prospect both inland and down the coast, assuming Saxons would be mainly away from the seaboard and any Vikings would remain close to their ships.

Intelligence was soon coming in to confirm that there were concentrations of both Saxon and Viking throughout this area of Coineagan (modern day Cunninghame). Scott and Gabrain grew impatient waiting for the second wave of Dalriada to arrive, knowing that targets were all around them, ripe for overrunning if they had but their full one thousand cavalry to command. There was no inland camp or site with more than five hundred in it and that suggested easy pickings. Some of the Viking camps touched on one thousand or more and would be more difficult to take on. The real challenge was perhaps the fact that there were ten settlements and camps in this Cunninghame alone, and who knows how many others further south through Coila (modern day Kyle), Carraig (modern day Carrick) and finally Gallobha (Galloway).

A further five days of kicking their heels and the second wave arrived at Aird Rosain. Another day was required to unload the second batch of horses and then another day to allow the horses to regain their land legs. At last Scott and Gabrain had their force ready to begin their campaign.

Scott had brought several wagons with him and these had been re-assembled, their cargo loaded up. He also ordered five of the longships to remain on station and agreed a set of signals with their captains.

The first targets Scott chose were the inland ones. He hoped he would be able to free some of the locals and have them help with future targets. His plan involved a repeat of the 'blitkreig' and 'hammer and anvil' tactics he had used in Fife. His thinking was that this would lead to the Saxons running and leaving behind their local slaves. The last thing he wanted was to have his men needing to try to differentiate between foe and possible ally.

They made their way carefully towards Kilwinning, splitting their force; seven hundred heading below the camp to act as the anvil while three hundred rode on to run the Saxons towards them. Scott led the three hundred and he held them out of sight of the camp to allow Gabrain to get into position and to set up a little surprise he had for the Saxons.

He gave Gabrain half an hour or so and then led his men forward. As before they advanced line abreast and at a slow trot so the Saxons would have plenty of time to see them and react. The Saxons duly obliged Scott by taking to their heels and running. There were perhaps three hundred and fifty of them and they ran unknowingly towards their deaths. As they ran, looking over their shoulders at Scott and his men pursuing them, they didn't initially see Gabrain and his seven hundred in front of them. They were perhaps only two hundred yards from Gabrain when it became obvious they had spotted the additional threat.

The Saxons just about came to a standstill as they were caught between the two Scots forces. At that moment, men rose on either side of them, throwing burning torches to the ground. It now became apparent that Gabrain had taken the time to soak a swathe of ground in oil and it was this ground that the Saxons were standing on. Screams shrieked out from the inferno as men were consumed by the flames. Gabrain's men moved forward to fire volleys of crossbow bolts into the fire, mercifully killing some of those who were being burned alive.

A retiral to the Kilwinning settlement found that all of the 'locals' had vanished, Scott's plan to try to use them something of a moot point now.

They didn't waste too much time at Kilwinning, the blitzkrieg tactic demanding they drive on to the next camp. Two more settlements were dealt with using the same treatment, the Saxons falling in numbers and the 'locals' vanishing like mist.

Two more days of similar tactics had rid Cunninghame of Saxons and brought Scott and Gabrain to the River Irbhinn (modern day Irvine). This marked the boundary of Cunninghame and they were now faced with a choice of carrying on with their blitzkrieg against the Saxons or backtracking to deal with the Vikings on the coast.

The Dalriada forces were still fresh, little actual fighting having taken place and Scott decided it was time to spill some Norse blood. His original plan of enlisting locals was not working, so he thought it wise now to take on the Danes while he still had a force that was fighting fit and eager to engage.

The Viking campsite here was at Irvine itself and Scott and Gabrain agreed this should be their next target. Scott sent messengers to Aird Rosain to his ships' captains with instructions on how to proceed.

The last inland camp they had 'cleansed' had been Kil Mhearnaigh (modern day Kilmarnock) and they rested there to allow the ships to get in position. Scott's instructions had involved the Scots longships stealing into Irvine by night. There was a natural, sheltered anchorage here and the Scots slipped in close, swimmers crossing to deal with sentries on the eleven Viking longships before they were then towed out to the mouth of the bay. Just as dawn was breaking several of the longships were doused with oil and set alight.

Scott and Gabrain had gathered their men out of sight behind the sand dunes and waited to see what the Vikings would do. The conflagration out at sea was quickly identified and the alarm was raised throughout the Norse camp. As the sky brightened, the Danes made their way down onto the sands to watch their ships burn. With the Norse concentrated on the sands, Scott now unleashed several squads of his cavalry. These were trailing the 'scythe' contraptions behind their horses and the wet; soft, sand deadened the sound of their hooves until they were close to the enemy.

By the time the Vikings turned away from their burning ships they found themselves under the rotating blades of Scott's cavalry. The two squads rode through the massed Norse and continued several hundred yards down the sands. Scott let the Danes have a minute or two to focus on his first two squads, their backs to him, before unleashing another two squads with scythe attachments. The first wave were shouting and jeering at the Danes, distracting them from the threat that was charging at their rear.

The second wave of Scots cavalry also cut through the Danes, mowing down many of them as the passed to join the first wave on the sands. Scott now signalled his ships' captains to sail into the bay, right up to the beach, men on each ship firing crossbows into the completely disorganised Norse, the ship ballistas also firing as rapidly as they could.

The two cavalry charges and the crossbow assault from the longships had grievously weakened the Danes and largely broken their spirit. Scott now led a final charge of his remaining cavalry, sweeping across the sands to engulf the last of the Vikings. The victory was absolute, Scots casualties minimal and nine of the original longships still intact and now available to the Dalriada force.

Gabrain called for a halt and spoke to Scott about a possible next step.

"Scott, these locals, they have been in thrall for some time and understandably run when they have the chance. They don't know who we are and if we ever hope to win their support in this campaign, we have to do something more to win their confidence."

Scott considered this and remembered the British army's 'hearts and minds' approach whenever they operated. He sent messengers out to his ship captains and ordered them to sail back to Dalriada to pick up as much foodstuff as could be spared.

While they were waiting for the ships to return, Scott and Gabrain crossed the River Irvine and began their assault on Kyle. They achieved similar results using the same tactics there and now had control of two thirds of the Ayrshire lands. After having watched Scott's men for some days, some of the locals ventured from their hiding places to find out who they were. When they found fellow Gaelic speakers, evinced enemies of the Saxons and Danes, they warmed to them and passed word to others that it was safe to come out into the open.

By the time food arrived back on the ships, there were more than enough mouths to feed. The fact that Scott and Gabrain were willing to share their food spoke volumes to the locals and they began to trust them more. A move was made to husband the food each settlement had and to recover the weapons left behind by the fleeing Saxons and Danes.

Scott was relieved that each of the camps had a significant store of grain and the like given the numbers of locals that now came out of the wilds. He was amazed to find the numbers he was dealing with. His reckoning had been based on his scout's observations at Kilwinning. If there had been five hundred in the camp and three hundred and fifty turned out to be Saxons, he had assumed that there were some one hundred and fifty locals. At ten settlements each in Cunninghame and Kyle, he had assumed there would be around fifteen hundred locals in each area in total. What he hadn't bargained for was that for every man enslaved in each camp, there was two or three more hiding in the hills and the wilds. He was now faced with the prospect of some nine thousand additional locals to deal with, to feed. Perhaps half of these were made up of the women and children, a mix of locals, Saxons and Vikings.

Welcome as this would be in terms of additional fighting men, the remaining food in each camp would need to be supplemented by additional rations from Dalriada.

They crossed the River Dhuin into Carrick and it was two more weeks of grinding, unrelenting scourging of the Saxons and Danes before it to was freed of invaders. The population was even more numerous here and Scott and Gabrain quickly found themselves with another six thousand mouths to feed, again, half of these potential fighting men.

Scott knew that winter wasn't far off, the snows might be only weeks away, and that he had miscalculated the scale of what he and Gabrain had set out to do. He discussed things with his young King and they agreed that any assault on Galloway would need to wait for the spring. All their energies would now be directed to improving the defences of the lands they had freed thus far.

Gabrain's apprenticeship programme now proved itself even more useful as trained craftsmen were shipped from Dalriada to help establish workshops at each of the liberated camps. Raw materials for building were basic for the present time but they made do with what they had. From the outset the lessons Dalriada had learned were shared with the new people - washing, boiling water, draining land in readiness for spring planting etc.