Chapter 26: Changes

Scott made it back to Inveraray before Mac left for Northumbria and he asked him to stay on for a discussion about their strategy against the Danish threat in England. He spent a pleasant few days with his wives and children waiting for Gabrain, Lachlan and Tara to travel from Oban.

Another idea had come to Scott while he had been up in the air and he took the opportunity of speaking to his specialists about it now. The quality of the road surface as they had landed at Oban had contrasted with his childhood memories of the roads in Glasgow. Potholes were common then and he was forever in danger of crashing his bicycle. And there it was - bicycles!

Here was an environmentally friendly way of getting about on his new roads, one that would also help keep people fit and healthy. Best of all, the children would love it and have great fun playing on them.

The engineers thought it was a great idea and they agreed they could probably have some manufactured quite quickly. They wouldn't be the lightweight designs that typified the twenty-first century, but they would be solid and reliable. Scott went in search of a group of children who would be the lucky recipients of the first bikes to be made. He knew that as soon as they made an appearance there would be an overwhelming demand for more.

Inveraray had grown in population to just over two thousand people. Scott estimated there were some four hundred households and he asked that a bike be manufactured for each and every house. It would be a family thing. Something to bring the adults and children together, just as he remembered it from his own childhood. He could still dimly remember his dad pushing him along on his little bike with its stabilisers.

Once everyone had arrived back at Inveraray Scott called a meeting to discuss strategy in the south. Gabrain started things by explaining how the Danes had altered their behaviour, adapted to ward off the damage that had been inflicted upon them by the tactics that had been employed up until now. He explained how he thought the Vikings were using the rivers to hide themselves further inland and he described the incident on the River Avon.

"So my friends, what are we to do to continue to help Alfred and counter the Viking threat?" Asked Scott.

"Your Grace, how much of a threat is it to us? I mean, Northumbria is all but cleansed and these Danes are in the far south, hundreds of miles from Scotland. Why should we bother with them at all?" Lachlan contributed.

"Aye your Grace, Lachlan has the rights of it. Why don't we just let the Danes and the Saxons kill each other off? Forty dead Scots on the last trip, that's too high a price to pay for helping a people who have shown they are quite at home invading Scotland in the past." Added Colmgil.

"Do we not have a higher duty to help our neighbours? Is there nothing to be said for trying to establish peace in those lands that surround us? I say that so long as there is warfare then there is a threat to Scotland. Have we no responsibility towards those who are caught up in this strife? For the innocent women and children? I say we should do all that we can to help settle the war in the south."

This last came surprisingly from Mac MacKelvie; the old war-horse showing that soldiers really did have peace in their hearts when they took up weapons.

"I believe Mac is right in this. The fighting between the Saxons and the Danes could continue for many years, with much loss of life. A peaceful England would be much more preferable, would certainly help in terms of the trade we wish to have with those areas where the fighting is worst.

"I do not believe either side poses much of a threat to Scotland any longer. Our military capability, even with the limited armaments that Mac has manufactured, gives us overwhelming superiority. In these circumstances I believe we have a moral duty to try to restore some sort of order, but how would we do that?" Scott said.

"If that is the path you wish to follow your Grace, then I think the answer is relatively simple," said Gabrain, "we need to find out what both sides want and find a way of mediating between them to achieve a solution, perhaps a compromise, that both sides can live with."

"Aye Gabrain, easy to say, but much harder perhaps to actually deliver. Let's look at what we know. The Danes have been in England for many years. It is only in recent times that large numbers of them have descended to swell their ranks and create a demand for ever greater lands.

"Alfred seems to have reacted to this rather than the presence of the Danes per se. Might it be possible to reach an agreement where the Danes are ceded certain areas and they have to live within these? Would Alfred accept that?" Scott continued.

"What's in it for Alfred your Grace?" Asked Lachlan.

"Apart from a stop to the constant land grabbing of the Vikings? Nothing. It may be that we have to find a way of sweetening the deal." Scott responded.

"Why not just demonstrate our capabilities to both sides and then order them to stop?" Asked Colmgil.

"Because then we would find ourselves having to constantly patrol and police the peace. If we impose a settlement by force it will flare up again as soon as we turn our backs. No, this needs to be something both the Vikings and the Saxons agree to of their own volition." Said Mac.

"I agree with that Mac. What if we established trade with both sides and showed them the natural resources they have access to. We could encourage trade between them that could create a dependency relationship rather than warfare. If they are both producing goods the other needs, if both are prospering would that work?" Asked Scott.

"As like as not that would just fuel the conflict. They would be covetous of each others riches and if the Danes were thriving wouldn't that just attract more Danes to come to share in the improved conditions?" Said Gabrain.

"Perhaps not my friend. It is just as likely that they would jealously guard their new-found riches, resist newcomers diluting their gains. What if we oiled the wheels of all this by establishing our own trade with both sides. We know the south is rich in things like tin and copper. If we begin to trade large quantities of food for these, then the pressure for either side to grab more land might be reduced somewhat. If we take the opportunity of lending them experts to then begin to improve the land and cultivate their own crops then their ability to sustain their population would increase significantly. That in turn would mean less territory would be required, there would be more keeping them at home so to speak.

"If we lend them teachers and encourage education we could shape the minds of their children to be more tolerant too perhaps? Are we really going to keep all the things we are developing to ourselves? What do we do with the medical advances that we are making, simply let others around us continue to suffer or treat them?"

As had happened in the past, Scott's contribution had gone beyond what the original discussion had been about. As he began talking his words were becoming more visionary and the people in the room were growing wide-eyed at the scale and scope of what he was proposing - something far beyond what any of them had envisioned.

"God be praised! Here is a notable project, one worthy of a nation. To help our fellow men just for the sake of it? Because we can? I for one would sign up for this. If we really are changing the path of history then I would like to see Scotland contribute in this way - helping to stop conflict and promoting trade and education, tolerance. Improving health, helping others to develop themselves so that they have a better quality of life.

"The Ard Righ's vision is staggering! Why should Scotland have it all while others suffer? At some point we will have to come out from behind our borders and perhaps that should start with our nearest neighbours rather than the Americas. I only caution that we do not share the advances in weaponry, therein lies our own security from those who outnumber us hugely." MacKelvie finished breathlessly, his face flushed with the passion of his words.

There was quiet in the room. All of them could tell this was a momentous moment in terms of the future path the country would follow and they were soberly considering the likely consequences of taking such a path. They looked at each other, some of them finding the moment almost too much, the decision almost to great for them to take. Eventually it was Gabrain who broke the silence.

"Aye, Scotland was lucky the day you became Ard Righ my friend, she doesn't know how lucky. Never have I felt so proud to be a Scot than at this moment. As usual Scott you have the rights of it, let us help them then, let us be the agents of peace, development, prosperity. Let Scotland take her place as the father of nations, let us nurture the weak, cure the sick and encourage those who are like minded."

"All this? Are we really capable of all this? Do we dare try to take such a path?" Asked Colmgil.

"Having dared to think of it, having shared the words and each no doubt having pictured it all in our heads, dare we aim for anything less?" Scott said quietly.

He looked at each of the faces in the room and slowly they all nodded their agreement.

"As ever my friends, remember, Alba gu Brath!"

The details of how this new 'campaign' would be orchestrated had been thrashed out between them. The first step would be to make contact with Alfred and test out how willing he might be to settle for peace on the terms they had worked out. Scott believed he would be mad not to accept all that Scotland could offer him. What could he lose?

Discussions with Alfred would also hopefully identify who the Danish leaders were, pinpoint the ones they would need to speak to, to try and get agreement on the Viking side. Talks with the Danes would be far more difficult. Scott suggested that some theatre might help grab the attention of those involved and make it easier to at least begin to talk. He proposed they use the bi-plane in some way, taking spare fuel for it by ship.

There were a number of things that needed to be done before they set out for the south. Scott wanted Mac and his small, but heavily armed force in the south as a back up in case things went horribly wrong. He asked that these be shipped south without delay so they could scout out the lay of the land and gather intelligence.

The next order of business was to make sure the harvest was in and safe. If part of the solution to establishing peace was going to be trade involving food, then they had make sure the food was available.

Volunteers were called for to go south to begin to train the English and Danes on some aspects of the improvements that Scotland was already benefiting from. These would be small in number at first, as there was still a need to ensure all areas of Scotland had what they needed. Still, they had already shown what could be achieved by training others - the exponential growth in the south would be huge.

And finally, Scott was determined he would wed all of his wives before setting out on another journey. He had been planning this for some months now and he wanted to do that before leaving them again. He hadn't shared his plans with any of the girls and he hoped they would forgive him for that when they found out what he was up to.

He hadn't picked a particular day, merely asked the Abbot to come to Inveraray so that they could wait for a day when the weather was fine. The ceremony itself would be held outdoors so that all who wanted to attend could do so.

Scott had secretly employed the help of a number of people in the town to help him with his preparations. Each of his wives would have a new white gown, decorated with fine needlework and with a train flowing behind it. Fine clothes had been prepared for his and Gabrain's children so they could attend each of the girls and other children had been identified to form a choir to provide a tasteful musical accompaniment during certain parts of the proceedings. The pipers had been practising their part too and Scott was pleased at what he had come up with.