Chapter 24: summer/autumn/winter 878 AD

The friends met with Domnaill separately after the council meeting given the fact he had supported Gabrain and Murdoch in the vote. Gabrain in particular was keen to establish a method of communicating with Domnaill in future, the welfare of the two young sub-Kings something that seemed to have gripped him. It might have been that he could see echoes of his own childhood without a father and was determined that these two should be protected if at all possible.

Giric and Eochaid had sworn they would not move against the lads but Gabrain was not going to simply accept their word. Domnaill's lands in Buchan and Mar were sandwiched in between the sub-Kingdoms of the boys and he agreed to maintain his vigilance. The use of pigeons for sending messages was shared with him and he confirmed he would send some of the monks from Buchan to Inveraray to learn how this could be achieved.

Satisfied they had done all they could; the friends took their leave of Scone and returned south. As they rode they continued their discussions, agreeing they would all have to maintain a high state of awareness and readiness in case Giric or Eochaid, or both, decided to move against them or the boy Kings. Murdoch was well placed to gather intelligence from Strathearn and Atholl and Scott and Gabrain could keep a close eye on Eochaid's Strathclyde from their Ayrshire lands. Agreeing to send regular updates to each other by pigeon, they parted at Perth, Scott and his friends riding south west for Dalriada.

When they arrived at Inveraray it was to find messengers from Ayrshire and Galloway. It seemed that trouble had broken out between the womenfolk there, resentment remaining between the Scots women and those of the Saxons and Danes. Already there had been a number of incidents, one Norse woman had been slain and fights had broken out between different groups of children.

Scott advised Gabrain that he should go to settle these personally and that he should do so quickly before the situation had a chance to escalate. This was not something he had foreseen although he chided himself that he should have, as it was clearly an accident waiting to happen.

They took ship again and sailed for Ayrshire, barely two days after returning to Inveraray. Three days of sailing brought them to Irvine, where the Norse woman had been reported slain. They landed and immediately started to try and get to the root of the problems.

A number of things were obvious. There were far more women than available men and this was heightening the tensions. Scott and Gabrain sought to alleviate some of this by replicating the arrangements for single women they had put in place in Dalriada. Some of the men were trying to do their bit to help the situation too, following Scott's lead in having multiple wives.

As if often the case, the message they had received at Inveraray had been somewhat muddled in the telling. They now found out that it wasn't exactly resentment on the part of Scots women that was the real cause of the problems, rather it was the reaction of the Scots women to some of the Saxons and Danes. It seemed that the Saxon/Dane families of those who had been leaders amongst these groups had had so many years of lording it over others that they couldn't change their ways. With their menfolk now dead and no status at all in any of the camps, the widows and children were continuing to act as if they still had some prominence and it was this that the Scots women were reacting to.

Scott was mightily relieved as this meant the problem was restricted to a very small number of people. He sat beside Gabrain as the young King interviewed some of the widows. Both of them were dismayed at the arrogant attitude of these women and they began to see how others might be violent towards them. Travelling round the other Ayrshire and Galloway camps they found that most were progressing well with no problems amongst the populace. Only at the bigger of the former Saxon and Norse camps were there issues.

After two weeks Scott and Gabrain had all of the disaffected Saxon and Norse women and children gathered before them at Stranraer. Gabrain addressed them.

"It is clear to me that you all resent the fact that you have lost your station in the camps you have been living in. I would remind you once more that you have been part of an invading force and have enslaved the very people you are still trying to lord it over. Some might be surprised that you are not simply grateful to be alive, to have a roof over your heads, food in your bellies. But no, that's not enough for you. I have asked each of you individually whether you are willing to change your ways, to try to fit in and to do your share of the work that all must do. I ask you all again."

"Never!" Came the resounding response.

"These Scots are no better than savages, brute beasts," shrilled one woman, "we could never lower ourselves to be on a par with them!"

There were shouts of agreement from many of those gathered.

"It is as I suspected then. You are so stiff necked that you cannot see how well off you might be here. This then is my decision. You will be taken by ship to a point close to where there are people of your own kind. You are welcome to return amongst them, cause your strife within their camps, but no longer will you create dissension in my lands."

There was a loud outcry at this, many shouting that he couldn't do this, that they wouldn't accept it. Perhaps the vision of what they might expect from their own people was breaking through their arrogance.

"Enough!" Gabrain out-shouted them, "either you willingly go by ship to those of your own kind or you will go unwillingly and I will have the Saxons dropped off close by the Norse and vice versa. Which is it to be?"

Of course this was no choice at all and all quite quickly accepted Gabrain's offer of being taken back to their own people. Scott questioned Gabrain later on his decision.

"Do you not think your judgement today was a little harsh Gabrain. Wasn't there any hope that we could have helped these people to see the error of their ways in time?"

"It may be so Scott, but see you, the people of Ayrshire and Galloway have known years of misery at the hands of these people. I will not have them reminded of that on a daily basis through the arrogance of these women. Life is too short for that. I gave them ample opportunity to rethink their behaviour but you have seen there is no remorse, not a flicker of it. You have taught me well my friend, I would see a place in this Scotland for any who want to play their part but these stiff-necked, unbending harpies will never agree to that. At least we will see them safely to their own kind. I think then they will find out the meaning of harsh treatment."

The tour of Ayrshire and Galloway had not all been unpleasant, as Scott and Gabrain had also taken the time to review how each settlement was progressing. Defences were significantly improved and other Dalriada innovations had been adopted. Schools had been set up, the apprenticeship scheme was in operation, mills were being constructed to deal with the vast harvest that the autumn would bring and burghs had been established to deal with day to day decision making.

Donald the geologist's assistants were already demonstrating their worth, having identified sources of limestone and metal ores for the Ayrshire and Galloway craftsmen to work with.

After several weeks the friends were satisfied that order had been restored and progress could be left to run its course. The returned to Irvine and watched the Saxon and Norse women and children board longships for their onward journeys. Scott and Gabrain boarded their own ship and returned to Inveraray.

It was still the height of summer and the friends determined they would teach their young offspring how to swim. Gabrain had taken to swimming and regularly took to the water still. He remembered his narrow escape in the past however, and was determined his son would not be left at risk.

Both young Scott and the slightly older David took to the water like ducks, at home immediately. Even Eilean, her belly now swelling obscenely, joined in, the water helping her aching limbs to relax she claimed.

The harvest was brought in and it proved to be as good as previous years, Scott's crop rotation system helping to replenish the soil and reduce the risk of crop failure. He journeyed to Ayrshire and Galloway once more, this time taking young David with him, to see for himself how the harvest had gone there.

Scott found the Ayrshire and Galloway people in high spirits. The harvest had gone well here too and the increased security the people felt combined with the abundance of food could do nothing else but make them content. The fact that they were free for the first harvest for years also contributed. Young David was well received in Ayrshire, the people coming out to cheer him as their young Lord, and Scott was pleased he had brought him on the trip.

Back in Dalriada progress was being made on road building, many of the camps now joined up and travel time between them reduced accordingly. Scott was still frustrated that his shipwrights and craftsmen had not been able to contrive a powered ship but he tried to remain calm and encouraging with all concerned, urging them to greater efforts.

Three significant events happened before the snows came that year.

The first event was the return of Donald the geologist from his trip through the Mediterranean and into Arabia. Scott's wives 'oohed and aahed' at the bolts of silk that he had brought back with him, but for Scott the greater excitement was that Donald had managed to secure the services of a Persian alchemist.

Scott was introduced to Mushtaq ibn Haleed, the exchanges in Latin and interpreted by one of the monks. Mushtaq was obviously a learned man; hence his knowledge of Latin, and Donald explained to Scott that he was already far advanced in his alchemy abilities than any other he had met. Mushtaq had brought his family with him, two wives and one daughter. Scott couldn't tell much about the women as they were covered in robes from head to foot, only their eyes visible.

Mushtaq all but ignored his wives but did introduce his daughter as Deyna. Deyna was another small woman and Scott found her almond shaped, cinnamon coloured, eyes absolutely beguiling. Deyna also had a black African slave; Donald explaining this was quite common for the Persian people. Again, the slave girl was ignored by Mushtaq, but Scott was taken by her dark ebony skin. The girl was not robed as the Persian women were and he could see that she was slim, willowy almost with small breasts, high up on her frame. She had the same submissive habit of dropping her eyes that Eilean had had when he had first met her. Scott found himself immediately attracted to her.