Chapter 15: recruitment

The day of the re-enactment of the Battle of Bannockburn dawned and Scott and the girls settled themselves and the two babies into the 4x4 and set off for Stirling. Bannockburn itself was just to the west of Stirling town centre with a visitor's centre adjacent to the site of the original battlefield. When they pulled into the car park Scott's wives spotted his parents and waved to them. Fergus and Heather ambled over to try and take charge of their Grandchildren if at all possible.

Both of his parents stared at Scott dressed in his ninth century clothes, looking every inch the wild highland fighter. The girls had also dressed for the occasion and they were by far the prettiest sights around.

As he looked around himself Scott could see that this event was significantly bigger than the previous re-enactment he had attended. He estimated there were perhaps a thousand people already gathered and more were still arriving. He kept his eyes peeled for any signs of the two societies he was interested in in particular.

The weather wasn't at all kind with a gusting wind and intermittent showers of rain. That tended to dampen down the atmosphere and excitement of the occasion a little, but not much. These people were fanatical about their hobby and nothing was going to stop them having a good time on the biggest day of their year. Scott could already see groups forming up to represent the various parts of the forces that had met at the original battle.

He found himself allocated to one of the small schiltroms under the command of someone who was supposed to be Thomas Randolph, the Earl of Moray, a nephew of Robert the Bruce. Scott knew that this schiltrom had played a crucial role in the real battle and was happy to be in this group.

As he watched a large body of men and women came streaming across the field, obviously meant to represent the English army for this battle. They headed for a spot close the little burn that cut across the field and tried to form up. Signals were given for the advance and Scott found himself jogging forward with the other people in his schiltrom, heading directly at the 'enemy'.

The noise and weapons all around him almost had Scott thinking he was once more in the middle of a real battle and he had to force himself to remember this was only a re-enactment. It wouldn't do to suddenly begin to really pierce people with the long spear he held or to start to lay about himself with his sword.

The re-enactment stuck loosely to the historical descriptions of how the actual battle had played out. The Scots forces trapped the English in a 'bulge' created by the winding burn and marshy ground so that they couldn't bring their far superior numbers to bear. The advance by the Scots had caught the English unawares and by pressing forward they were in essence pushing the heavily armoured English into a bog.

The Scots forces were lighter and faster moving and they continued to press forward, the English only able to deploy small numbers in actual fighting due to the very narrow front they had. The re-enactment called for lots of noise, shouting and the clash of sword against shield, but no bloodshed. Nonetheless Scott could see many of those around him were fully caught up in the moment and looked little different to some of his own Dalriada men during battle. He smiled grimly at the memory of some of the fighting he had been involved in.

The re-enactment lasted some two hours before victory over the English was declared - to loud cheering from the Scots forces. As he wandered over towards his parents, wives and babies Scott found himself face to face with the Colonel.

"Well hello again Scotland-the-Brave, what a welcome surprise to find you here. I've been trying to get in touch with you for several weeks now, but you haven't been on the numismatic board have you?"

"No, I'm sorry Colonel, some other things have been keeping me busy. And my name is Scott by the way, you can't keep calling me Scotland-the-Brave."

The Colonel smiled and nodded in recognition of the implicit trust Scott had just shown by sharing his name.

"I haven't seen you at any of these things before Scott, what brings you along today?"

Once more Scott had the feeling that he had nothing to lose so he answered openly.

"To be honest Colonel I'm still on the look out for the specialists I need to return with me to the ninth century. My research shows that many of the people who attend these events not only have a strong passion for Scotland and her history, but are also highly skilled professional people in their own right. It seems to me to be a potentially rich source of the kind of people I'm looking for."

"Yes, I can see your point Scott. You're right of course, we have all sorts here and they are all absolutely steeped in Scotland's history. I know many of them very well and I dare say there are quite a few who would give their right arm to be able to do this for real. Goodness knows why, but perhaps it's just something in our blood."

The gleam in the Colonel's eyes as he made this last statement helped Scott see the man's own feelings were obviously in line with what he was saying. His own excitement began to build as he had the sense that perhaps the Colonel had been thinking over his pervious conversation with him and might even have changed his mind about wanting to travel back in time.

"Why have you been trying to get in contact with me Colonel?" Scott asked.

"I've been thinking about what you told me the last time we met Scott. In truth, I've been unable to think about much else for the past few months. I thought it might be useful for us to get together and discuss it in a little more detail."

As they had been talking Scott had steered them towards where his family were standing.

"I would be delighted to get together with you Colonel. Can I introduce my family? These are my wives Fiona, Eilean and Helfe. This is my father, Fergus and my mother, Heather. And these two scamps are Tina and James, two of my children."

MacKelvie's eyes widened at Scott's introductions, as he realised Scott had three wives. He glanced at Scott's parents to see whether they thought the situation odd, but they were merely smiling at him politely.

"Hrrmmm," he cleared his throat before continuing, "I see, and have all these people been back to the ninth century too?"

"Actually Colonel, my mother and father haven't as yet, but they are planning to come on my next trip back. The girls however haven't exactly been 'back' to the ninth century; they're actually 'from' the ninth century. This trip into the twenty-first century has certainly been an eye-opener for them."

Scott could see that the poor man's head was now swimming with the enormity of what he was hearing. It must appear incredible to him, unbelievable even.

"Colonel, my parents have planned a little dinner for us all this evening - to celebrate our victory over the English! Why don't you join us and we could have that chat?"

"Why thank you Scott, that's most kind of you. I think I might just take you up on that, this is just too good a story to miss, even if it is only that, a story."

The Colonel took a note of Scott's parent's address and agreed he would join them about seven o'clock that night. He then excused himself as he had other things to do as patron of the re-enactment society before he would be able to get away.

Scott quickly explained who the Colonel was and how he had met him to his wives and parents.

"You mean you have £400,000 in cash lying in your flat? Are you mad son?"

"Dad, don't speak to your High King like that, but yes, I suppose it is a bit foolish leaving that amount of money lying around. I hope it won't be there long as I need to complete everything I need to do and purchase everything I can think of before St Andrew's Day."

The Colonel joined them for dinner that evening and Scott's mother and his wives busied themselves in the kitchen, cooking. Scott, his father and the Colonel started going over Scott's lists of the kind of people he thought he needed and the preparations that would be required before he returned.

The level of detail he had already sketched out impressed both his father and the Colonel. MacKelvie entered into the discussion with growing conviction, really beginning to believe that Scott's story was true. After half an hour or so of this the Colonel turned to Scott.

"Scott, I'm really starting to believe you're for real, almost can't bare to hope that you are. I don't think I've wanted anything so badly in my life as a chance to do this. I've been retired for years now and nothing has ever really replaced the excitement of being involved in a real live conflict. It's difficult to describe to people. The bonds you make with those you serve with. The adrenaline rush, the fear, beating the fear."

Scott looked at the older man.

"I know what you mean Colonel. My first fight was against some Vikings on the beach on Iona and I physically wet myself. The pee ran down my leg and I was frozen to the spot as a crowd of bloodthirsty Norse cam running right at me with their swords and battleaxes. I've made many lifelong friends, stood shoulder to shoulder with them in the face of our enemies and I miss them all very badly."

The Colonel could see from Scott's face and the look in his eyes that he was telling the truth. He had experienced battle and knew what it was like. He really believed at that point.

Scott's father was quite unnerved by the description his son gave of some of the things he had done. He had no experience of battle to draw on and he felt a little out of place now with these two 'warriors'. Scott noticed his father's expression and moved to re-assure him.

"It's quite alright dad. The ninth century can be savage; the two maxims I had to live by when I first arrived there were 'death is common' and 'tougher to survive'. But by the time I left I had introduced enough advancements that Scotland is already a far safer place for everyone to be. I'm not going to be asking you to pick up a claymore, honest. I've got far more important things for you to be getting on with. Now, the Colonel, that's a different matter!"

"Oh I hoped you'd say that." Replied the Colonel, the gleam returning to his eyes once more.

They returned to Scott's lists and the Colonel now began to indicate whether there were potential candidates within his re-enactment society for the skills Scott had identified. Scott was elated as most of the professions he thought were essential were ticked off.

"How do we go about trying to recruit them?" Scott's father asked.

"Just you leave that to me, I know just what buttons to push with these people believe me." Replied the Colonel.

Their discussions were cut short as the womenfolk arrived with dinner.

"Scott, your wives have been telling me that it's really quite common for men to have more than one wife back in their time. Is that really acceptable?"

"Mom, I've already explained that women far outnumber men because of the circumstances. When I first arrived, women weren't really treated very well, had almost no standing at all. Now they even train how to fight and perform many of the essential tasks, particularly teaching and medicine. If women want to have a relationship, children, then polygamy seemed like an obvious solution and to be honest it works. I was a little surprised that it did, but when you think of how important these relationships are, it shouldn't be a surprise that the women make a supreme effort to make them work."