Chapter 10: The Sun King - 885 - 889 AD

Helfe was a revelation for Scott's wives too. He had tried to keep from them just how wild she was, but they had an inkling due to the state his back was in from her mauling. Still, that didn't prepare them for their first time with her once they could return to the marital bed after childbirth. Eilean in particular seemed to respond to the demanding young woman, her submissive nature revelling in the treatment that Helfe was wont to dish out when in the throes of passion.

The next few years were relatively peaceful ones for Scott, Gabrain, their friends and families and were used to consolidate the sub-Kingdoms they controlled. There were few issues with Vikings or with Giric and Eochaid and instead energies could be poured into development. Scott's spies informed him that Vikings were still very much descending on Scotland's northern and northeastern shores and the other sub-Kingdoms were not having such a peaceful time. Scott had guessed that Sigurd would not stop attacking these places, despite the fact that their agreement had stipulated a refrain from raids on the entire Scots mainland. For the meantime the Viking activity suited his purpose and he made no move to intervene.

Scott found some elements of development over these years frustrating. He had a source of oil but none of his specialists could do very much with it other than fractional distillation. While this provided fuel there was little else to show for Scott's demands. He had expected the development of nylon and plastics. He had hoped for better explosives such as TNT, but he was beginning to realise more than ever that it wasn't so easy to bypass centuries of hard work, experimentation and precision engineering and science.

Despite the books and tools he had brought back, no real advances were being made in engineering. He had hoped the tools would help in making bigger, heavier tools, but of course these needed an effective power source and he had yet to develop electricity or even find out how to fully harness steam. Scott did experiment with hydropower and the same technology he had used for his mill but without any significant success.

Progress there was, horse breeding was very successful, field artillery was cast, rails were laid across the country to speed up travel between the various settlements and lordships. Scott was disappointed his craftsmen had not yet managed to manufacture a steam engine, as he would have liked to see wagons pulled by one on his new rail network. For the moment he had to make do with horse dawn carriages on the rails, but this still made for much faster travel than had previously been achieved.

Scott had even managed to create the first ever firework display in Scotland for the St Andrew's day celebration. He had found that mixing traces of various metal salts helped produce a range of colours - green from nickel, blue from copper - and the children in particular were enthralled with the pyrotechnics.

Potato growing had been spread around the various areas, as had the production of things like tomatoes, strawberries and beans, helped by greenhouses. His first attempts at growing citrus fruits had been disappointing in the greenhouses that had been established at St Andrews, but a second attempt in alternative greenhouses in the more temperate climate of Galloway had produced the first fruits. Oranges had been a revelation for the people and quickly became a prized favourite.

The populace grew too, the rich diet and Scott's early introduction of basic hygiene measures, increasing life expectancy and decreased infant mortality. Eilean and Helfe were also sharing their growing expertise in medicine, homeopathic cures contributing much and the eventual ability to create penicillin a major breakthrough in treating even the most basic of issues such as infected wounds. But by far the biggest influence on the population growth was the fact that Scott's polygamous relationship was setting an example and more and more men were taking additional wives.

Gabrain had been one of the first to follow Scott's lead, advising his friend that he had taken a second wife, Mhairi, with the blessing of Esta. Scott was amazed at how common it was now becoming with most men now seemingly having at least two women. The savagery of the times and the constant warring and battling did have a tendency to leave an imbalance between the numbers of men and women, Scott's 'solution' seemed straightforward and sensible to everyone. As a consequence of more women now having a relationship, childbirth in the sub-Kingdoms controlled by Scott and Gabrain rose significantly.

Education was thriving and Scott hoped that the natural progression from better-educated children would be adults who would be able to take forward greater strides in the development of technology. He knew that would take generations though.

Scott and his friend Gabrain had also worked together to establish a set of rules by which the burghs could work. They increased the amount of local decision making, identifying a better mix of skill-types to be represented on each burgh - including leaders, teachers, craftsmen, monks and farmers. They called their form of government Feudal and Federal - FF for short. Written into the rules was that there should be no tax raising powers to pay for local government - all service and support had to be provided on a voluntary basis. Where resources were required for a major scheme - such as building an additional mill or increasing the number of houses connected to sewerage - the burghs approached their lord. If a Lord wasn't performing well in generating wealth or improving the lives of the people he was responsible for, the burghs could appeal to the appropriate sub-King to take action - ultimately to consider replacing the lord.

Scott knew that he needed to prepare himself for the possibility that Sigurd would break his agreement and come raiding further south into his own lands. It would have been naïve to believe that the lure of the riches and growing resources in Fife, Dalriada, Ayrshire and Galloway would not eventually get to the Norseman. As well as building up his forces for an assault on Giric and Eochaid therefor, Scott also added to his defences. One breakthrough his craftsmen had come up with was a form of cement that was resistant to water. He had used this to build a series of underwater concrete 'ribs' with spikes set into them. These ribs were designed to overlap and establish a twisting passageway into each of his harbours; knowledge of the precise turns required essential to be able to navigate them.

Coastal defences were augmented with cannon and the design of the walls changed to provide the most effective field of fire for the artillery pieces. The cannon themselves were test-fired to gauge their range and accuracy.

Scott shared the secret of gunpowder production with a few of his most trusted friends - Gabrain, Lachlan and Colmgil. They all knew the importance of keeping its production secret and willingly took on the role of making it themselves to maintain that, despite their lofty positions.

Scott had his craftsmen manufacture some basic firearms too, muskets, as he found he couldn't master the secret of making bullet cartridges effectively so he couldn't develop more sophisticated guns. Crossbows proved to be more effective than the muskets in terms of rate of fire and he maintained these as the weapon of choice for his men meantime.

Time was spent equally between Dalriada, Fife and Ayrshire to make sure all were being well governed and the people got to see their King and young David too. Scott used the period of relative peace to encroach further and further into Strathearn and he now controlled perhaps two-thirds of that sub-Kingdom. Gabrain had also been harrying Giric's sub-Kingdom of Atholl, allowing his men to raid over into Giric's lands to steal beasts in particular. The Ayrshire men were encouraged to do likewise with Eochaid's Strathclyde.

While there was relatively little bloodshed over these years, Giric and Eochaid were obviously well aware of Scott and Gabrain's increasing resources and strength and that they were behind the incursions into their territory. In an effort to put an end to the harassment, Giric as High King agreed to a request from Scott to call a council of all the Ri in the summer of 889 AD. Scott sent a messenger to suggest the meeting should be held in mid June, before the harvest time. Giric agreed and the meeting was set for June at Scone.

Before setting out for the council, Scott and Gabrain discussed the possible allegiances of the remaining Ri.

Eochaid would undoubtedly support Giric, while the two friends would of course support each other. That meant two votes against two. They knew that the two boy sub-Kings, Constantine and Donald, were now old enough to have fully taken up their positions and could probably be counted on to vote the same way as their erstwhile guardian, Domnaill. While Domnaill had backed Gabrain at the previous council meeting, the two friends had no idea whether they could count on his support this time.

"I don't know why we are bothering with this of a council Scott," Gabrain said one day, "we are more than strong enough to remove these two by main force and put you on the throne where you belong my friend."

"That may be Gabrain, but I don't want my assumption of the High Kingship to be marked by bloodshed and acts of violence against my fellow Scots. Surely my whole reign would be tainted by such a solution."

"But how else are you going to become High King Scott? Giric and Eochaid will not simply stand down. The Ri will not vote to remove them, that has never happened, no matter how bad the High King is."

"I mentioned before Gabrain that I have some notion of how to achieve what we want, and I believe I do have a plan that will work."

The friends set out for Scone two days before the council was due. For protection they took six hundred cavalry, all mounted on the large Rouncey horses. As well as affording protection from attack, the six hundred were representative of each of the great lands they controlled - one hundred and fifty each from Dalriada, Fife, Ayrshire and Galloway. The message was clear, between them these two could muster a huge and well equipped army to deal with any difficulties they faced.

When they passed through Perth and arrived at Scone they found that a small house had been allocated to them. Scott and Gabrain took one look at the near hovel and decided they would do well enough camping with their men. Both took the standard of accommodation as an intentional slight by Giric, which didn't augur well for the council and how it might be conducted. So be it they thought.