Authors: Margaret Skea
Tags: #Literature & Fiction, #Genre Fiction, #Historical, #Historical Fiction, #Scottish
For a moment only, he reached up to rest his hand against the stone lintel feeling the impress of the carved initials under his palm. There was no other way. He returned to the hall to toss
lighted rags dipped in oil through the doorway, retreating from the heat and the flames that flared behind him, and from the smoke that spiralled down the stair in his wake, stinging his nostrils,
acrid on his tongue.
At the entrance he pulled the heavy yett into place, jamming it shut with an iron bar. The straw heaped in the passageway behind it ignited with a roar, the flames fanned by the wind, tongues of
fire licking at the doorframe. He lit the last of the rags as he ran towards the jumble of outbuildings, lobbing one onto the thatch, one through each open door, retreating as the flames took.
On the horizon, dawn was seeping into the sky, crimson and white.
One job remained.
He plunged down to the hollow to back-fill the graves, smooth the mounds, trample down the turfs. He raced to Sweet Briar, who pawed at the ground, her head up and back, eyes rolling, straining
to break free of her tether. He caught at the bridle and pulled her face into his chest, stroking her neck, mumuring into her ear, taking the time to calm her before swinging into the saddle.
Behind him a crash, as part of the chimney toppled inwards, the flames reaching for the sky. Another explosion, sparks flying. Curls of smoke rising from the gorse, first one, then another and
another, then a wall of fire sweeping across the hillside, leaving in its wake a tangle of blackened stems, like wraiths, etched against the dawn sky. He turned to take one last look at Broomelaw
as the flakes of ash sifted downwards, settling on him like rain. In the flicker of the flames, faces: Anna, Archie, Sybilla . . . the Montgomerie lad.
Voices on the wind: John, by the shore at Rough, ‘Our hands aren’t exactly clean.’ Lady Margaret Langshaw, ‘I am a Cunninghame, God help me.’
He drew a deep breath – a Cunninghame no longer, one thing remained: that Kate and the bairns be safe. Today or tomorrow, William would come . . . and John. He could trust John. And Kate
had said that she would wait. He wondered what like it would be in Norway and if Sigurd was indeed docked at Leith, as his normal pattern would suppose.
Gathering the reins, he turned towards the east. The sun, gaining in intensity, warmed his face as the blazing tower scorched his back. Another roar, another rumble of falling masonry, Sweet
Briar startling afresh. Munro leant forwards, rested his good hand for a moment on her neck, promised himself, ‘I won’t stay long away.’
Throughout its hundred and fifty year duration the feud between the Cunninghames and Montgomeries was characterized by repeated acts of brutality and murder on both sides,
evidence of the reality that, as
Ayrshire, Its History
puts it, ‘blood feud was the custom of the times’.
However it was my choice rather than a reflection of documented history to cast William Cunninghame and the Earl of Glencairn as the primary villains of this story. The Massacre of Annock is
well documented, though sources differ in regard to the numbers involved on each side. I have used the account in the Montgomerie family manuscripts as my primary source. The fate of key members of
the Cunninghame faction in the aftermath of Annock as written here, is generally accepted. An enduring animosity between Hugh Montgomerie and William Cunninghame and the quarrel Hugh has with
Patrick Maxwell are also on record, though without detail as to the timing, the cause of the quarrel, or who prevented them killing each other. In the interests of the story I have taken some
liberites with the timing of events and with William Cunninghame’s age. In casting Maxwell as a villain I have done him no disservice as the real Patrick Maxwell was a much more unpleasant
character than depicted here: gaining notoriety for physically abusing his wife.
aught
(n): anything
bailie
(n): magistrate
bailieship
(n): office of magistrate
bailiewick
(n): district under magistrate’s control
barmkin
(n): enclosed area within the outer fortification of a castle or tower house
bawbee
(n): small value coin
baxter
(n): baker
birl
(v): to whirl around
bliant
(n): expensive fabric probably made of silk
bonnet-laird
(n): minor laird
butterbur
(n): plant, rhubarb-like in appearance
cap-house
(n): guard chamber at roof level in a castle or tower house
cap-stone
(n): coping stones topping a wall
caul
(n): cap
champ
(v): to be eager
clack
(n): talk, gossip
clatching
(v): to transport mud on the soles of shoes (from clatch, noun: mire)
clegg
(n): gad-fly
cludgie
(n): earth closet
coney
(n): rabbit
coup
(v): to overturn
craw
(n): gullet
curtain-wall
(n): outer fortification, rampart
deeve
(v): to weary by constant talking
dour
(adj): humourless, sullen
dreich
(adj): damp, miserable
dunt
(v): to bump into
dwam
(n): stupor, trance
farl
(n): a flat bread formed by cutting a circle of dough into quarters before cooking
feart
(adj): afraid
feisty
(adj): spirited
fissling
(adj): muted rustling sound
fitty
(adj): fitting, appropriate
flesher
(n): butcher
forbye
(n): besides, in addition to
foundered
(adj): extremely cold
ganch
(n): dull-witted person
gey
(adv): very
glaur
(n): slime, soft mud
grizzle
(v): to whimper
hackbut
(n): early form of firearm
hall
(n): main public apartment in a castle or tower house
heft
(v): to lift (esp. onto shoulders)
hirsel
(n): wheeze, catarrhal sound in chest
ingle-nook
(n): corner by a fireplace, usually with seating
looby
(n): ill-educated person
lucken-booth
(n): covered stall which could be locked up
midden
(n): refuse heap
neep
(n): turnip
nicker
(v): to whinny softly
pauchled
(adj): exhausted
pawky
(adj): vivacious
peched
(adj): gasping for breath
plackard
(n): piece made to fill in a U or V-shaped opening in a bodice
pommel
(n): knob on the hilt of a sword
posset
(n): a drink of hot milk, curdled with ale or wine, sometimes flavoured
pruch
(n): goods
put to the horn
(figure of speech): banished
ram-stam
(adj): reckless or precipitate manner
redd-out
(v): to spring-clean
reek
(n): stench
scunner
(v): to annoy, irritate, disgust
simple
(n): herbal remedy made from a single ingredient
sit
(v): to maintain (spec. Scots)
skitters
(n): thin execrement
slub
(n): raised imperfection in the weave of cloth
smoult
(n): young salmon, trout
sneck
(n): latch
snood
(n): close fitting outer cap (esp. of fur)
solar
(n): private, family apartment in a castle or tower house
sonsy
(adj): comely, attractive
souter
(n): shoemaker
speir
(n): talk, gossip
stook
(n): bundle of cut sheaves of grain, set up to dry
thole
(v): to suffer, endure
turnpike stair
(n): spiral staircase, usually stone
wabbit
(adj): weak
wall-walk
(n): an external walk-way at roof level where a watch can be kept, often leading to a cap-house
wandered
(adj): mentally incompetent
ween
(adj): small amount
wheest
(imp): be quiet
whiffler
(n): person at the front of a procession, clearing the way
wynd
(n): narrow alley or lane leading off a main thoroughfare
yett
(n): defensive metal grid door, in addition to external main (wooden) door of a castle or tower house