Chapter 6: Fife

Scott decided to strike while the iron was hot, he rode forward and dismounted, unsurprised to see the Fife lieutenants drop to one knee and prepare to take their oath of fealty to him. In the background he could see the massed ranks of the Fife infantry watching what was going on. Scott put his hand between the hands of the man who had taken the lead on their discussions.

"I swear to serve you as my King, to provide you and your heirs with my fullest support as god is my witness." Intoned the man.

The other lieutenants followed suit and Scott led them back to the waiting Fifers.

"You all recognise your peril here today," Scott addressed the mass of men, "the people of Dalriada thirst for your blood in payment for your despicable treatment of them. I am now your King and rest assured I will expect better from you from here on in! It is no excuse to say your King ordered you to do it, even Kings, myself included, need to be told when they contemplate doing the wrong thing. Murdoch has paid the heaviest of prices.

You know what you have been doing here for the last two years was wrong. Between us we must restore Fife's honour and standing with our friends, and that will mean hard work for you all. Mind it my friends, but let us work together you and I. I promise I will not shirk my duty!"

Scott spoke with Gabrain once more before setting off with the Fife force.

"I think it's best if you try to restore our beautiful Dalriada while I try to sort out these Fifers Gabrain. I would ask that you grant me a boon or two. I have a need for Donald my geologist if he has survived all this. In addition I would welcome the things that I have left behind my house at Inveraray. If you could have them sent on to me that would be a great help. Now, for the moment at least, I must leave you."

Scott rode in front of the infantry, leading them up Glen Falloch. Lachlan couldn't fail to recognise him on Albannach and he strode forward to meet him.

"Scott, what is going on?"

"Well met my friend, I have ever trusted your abilities and will not ask now how you come to be here unlooked for, but you have helped avoid much bloodshed! It would seem I am now the King of Fife Lachlan my friend, with a mission to teach these Fifers how to conduct themselves in future. My thanks to you and the Ayrshire and Galloway men for playing your part in that. A hundred of your best men to march beside us Lachlan if you please, better to be safe than sorry."

Scott explained the brief outline of his assumption of the Fife Kingship, suggesting to Lachlan that he remain with him until he had settled in Fife. When they had the chance to discuss things in more detail Scott recounted his vision for Scotland, seeking Lachlan's honest opinion. When he had finished explaining his suggested course of action he could see his friend was stunned.

"I feared as much Lachlan. I am reaching too far, taking too much, your face tells me so. I am becoming as bad as Constantine and the rest am I not?"

Lachlan's answer was similar to Gabrain's.

"Alba gu Brath my lord High King!" He all but shouted as he dropped to one knee.

"Not you too Lachlan! My friend, you truly believe this is the right course of action?"

"Indeed my Lord, and not before time! Scott, I have declared myself your man for some time now. If I truly thought you were seeking this for the wrong reasons I would tell you. I know this is what Scotland needs, the Scotland of your vision, the Scotland that I am already proud to be part of!"

The two friends exchanged information on what else had happened to them since they had parted at Kilmarnock. Lachlan indicated he had pretty much done as Scott had suggested, harrying the Fife lands, but not engaging in any battles. Scott confirmed that Lachlan's tactics had had the desired effect, draining Fife forces from Dalriada.

Lachlan's face grew strained as Scott described how badly the lands to the East of Loch Awe had been devastated and smiled when Scott described Murdoch's end.

"An end fitting for the man, and at the hands of a woman!"

"Lachlan, I still believe it was ill done. We should not be known for savagery, rather for being resolute and fair, for being stout in the defence of our lands, honest and trustworthy in our dealings with others."

"I still say he deserved all he got Scott!"

"Okay, we agree to differ, but I would win you over to my way of thinking in the long run Lachlan. Now, to other matters. I have a feeling I'm going to need some raw materials and some trained people before long. How has the apprenticeship programme fared in Ayrshire in my years away? How fares the training of school teachers?"

Scott spent the next few weeks reviewing the state of the Fife sub-Kingdom. It was clear Murdoch had adopted those ideas that would increase Fife's wealth and power in battle, but little else. Scott agreed with Lachlan that the necessary craftsmen and teachers would be sent north, along with Scott's family, and the friends shared another emotional leave-taking.

"Lachlan it might benefit me greatly here if you were to harry and threaten Eochaid's Strathclyde as you pass south. Ever he has shown his fondness for that place over Strathearn, which is on Fife's northern border. It might suit my purposes for Strathearn to be lordless for a while, lacking leadership."

Lachlan agreed that he would do so and then leapt onto his horse to lead his host away.

Gabrain also came through, Scott's 'treasures' from Inveraray were delivered and Donald the geologist also arrived in Fife. Donald was Scott's first order of business, the need for raw materials paramount in building even better defences and other resources such as schools. He asked the geologist to begin surveying at once.

Scott also had to deal with the position of Fife with regard to what had happened in Dalriada. He knew that the majority of the Fife men would regard the occupation of Dalriada as nothing out of the ordinary, part and parcel of the savage way of life in ninth century Scotland. Some of the lieutenants, by no means all, clearly had some residual guilt, but not much.

There were two obvious approaches open to him. He could play the grim faced, wronged King who demanded reparation or he could try a different tack, one where he helped the Fifers understand for themselves why what they did was wrong, help them come to that realisation themselves. The second approach would take a long time perhaps, would need him to set an example as to how things should be done, people behave, before it might bear fruit. He believed it would have the more lasting effect however and promised himself he would try to follow that path.

One other thing Scott had promised himself if he took over the Kingship of Fife. St Andrew's. He knew St Andrew's would be founded as an ecclesiastical centre some time in the future, but he was determined to move that up in the timeline, sure that the Saint had something to do with his own position and also Scotland's destiny. Scott sent a message to the Abbot at Kilchrennan, asking him to provide suitable brethren to start up a major holy site.

Some of the things Scott had brought back with him would require the careful cultivation of monks. He had brought seed potatoes - determined that the populace would have fries! - and a broad range of seeds. His research had determined things like beans, tomatoes, other vegetables had either originated in South America of Asia. Bringing seeds back would hopefully short-circuit the centuries of exploration that would normally have been required to introduce these foodstuffs to Scotland.

He had also brought back a number of young fruit trees, orange, peach, lemon, and lime. He believed the vitamins the fruits would provide would be important to the health of Scotland and, if he could establish an even more expansive greenhouse arrangement to the one at Kilchrennan, he stood a chance of being able to produce enough to supply all Fife and begin production elsewhere.

Scott's 'botanical bounty' also included packets of seeds for other produce such as strawberries, salad plants and some of the herbs that he didn't currently have access to. One of the books he had carefully chosen covered arable farming, crofting and market gardening.

He was keen to see his plans for establishing an environment for growing these new produce in place as quickly as possible, knowing it was already too late for any actual planting this year.

Scott had made his main Fife base on the banks of Loch Lìobhann (modern day Loch Leven) rather than Dunfermline where Murdoch had been based. He had a number of reasons for this: to distance himself from Murdoch's memory; to place his base more in the centre of the sub-Kingdom; and also because Loch Leven was a beautiful spot, the Loch surrounded by gentle hills that reminded him a little of Loarne.

He had set in train works to significantly enlarge the settlement here and also to establish much better facilities for his craftsmen. He had also ordered a shipyard to be established on the Fife coast, Murdoch having neglected to branch out into such an endeavour and Scott was keen to have shipping at his disposal as soon as possible.

His family arrived at Loch Leven before his improvements had been completed and all had to make do with ad-hoc arrangements. Scott didn't care, as he was delighted to have his wives back with him once more and also young David and Crinan. The boys pestered him for details of the fighting in Dalriada and were impressed when he informed them that he was now King of Fife.

The womenfolk were no less pleased at Scott's elevation, now being entitled to be called Queens in their own right.

Scott's household was necessarily split between two houses while a bigger structure was being built and he moved between the two to ensure harmony, although he had to admit the girls never seemed to have any difficulties with each other that were obvious to him.

A number of things cheered Scott as autumn was coming to a close. His Fife lieutenants approached him and asked whether it would be permissible to ship some of their harvest to Loarne to help maintain the people there. Scott knew this was important for a number of reasons. The fact that the Fife people had come to the point of seeking to help Dalriada without his intervention was a sign of changing attitudes. He also felt that the gesture would go down well in Loarne and in some small measure begin to heal the rift between the two sub-Kingdoms.

The second thing was that Donald the geologist reported finding sources of a number of important resources. Limestone had been discovered in great quantities and a source of iron ore had also been identified. Most surprising of all was that that Donald had discovered two sources of silver. Scott thought it ironic that Murdoch had attacked Dalriada partly to secure the Dalriada silver when a source of the valuable metal was all the time on his own doorstep.

Scott called a council of his friends before the winter weather closed in, with discussions focussing on readiness, carrier pigeon communication and any opportunities for shifting manpower or other resources to help any of the sub-Kingdoms do better than they currently were.