Chapter 1

 Edinburgh, Scotland, 1375

“They say the folk there have green skin, and drink salt water.”

I snorted. “And you are believing that?” I strove to control my horse, which gave his own snort in response to my efforts.

Mariota laughed, but shot me an irritated glance as she rode next to me, her blue eyes brilliant in the late morning light. My wife sat her horse easily. “I’m not sure that I’m believing it, Muirteach, but I am certainly wanting to see the truth of it for myself.”

A brisk breeze blew the smell of salt water towards us long before we reached the port of Leith. It was a fine day for riding and His Lordship had mounted us well enough for the jaunt from Edinburgh Castle to Leith, myself on a roan gelding and my wife on a smaller grey palfrey.

We had accompanied the Lord of the Isles to Edinburgh on business with the crown, and had already been at court for some days. But on this day word had reached the court of a trading vessel in port from the far northern lands—Greenland—and my master wanted a gyrfalcon. So did his liege lord, Robert II, King of Scotland.

“I’ll send my man, Muirteach here, down to the port for you,” the Lord of the Isles had offered to the king earlier that morning as we concluded some of our business. I busied myself putting pens, ink and parchments into my satchel while my lord and his sovereign conferred. “He’ll check into it, right enough, and see if what they have merits my royal father’s attention.”

The king’s bleary eyes lightened a bit. “Aye, that would be a fine thing. I thank you, my son, for the thought.” King Robert’s daughter was His Lordship’s own wife, and although not the closest family, the canny lord had no hesitation in reminding King Robert of that fact when circumstances offered. Although he himself was close in age to his royal father-in-law.

“And I will send another man along with you,” King Robert continued, “someone familiar with the area.” The king motioned to a brown-haired noble who stood with some other courtiers at the far corner of the king’s solar. “This is our own well loved Henry Sinclair, Baron of Rosslyn. He is somewhat familiar with the northern tongues, as his mother is from Orkney, and has served us at King Haakon’s court in Bergen, as well as in other matters. The baron has a good eye for birds. And he speaks Norse. Christ only knows what tongue these traders speak. He can accompany your man. Muirteach, is it?”

I nodded that indeed I was Muirteach, and of course agreed to my lord and my king’s request, as did Henry Sinclair.

And so, late that morning, several of us had set out from the castle that perched high on the mount. My wife wished to join the party, she would not be gainsaid, and a groom accompanied us as well. The Baron of Rosslyn rode a spirited black horse while the groom sat astride a plump mare. The road measured but a few miles from Edinburgh into the port of Leith, and a cool breeze blew little fluffy clumps of white clouds, like young lambs, quickly across the blue sky on this mild September day. While we rode I smiled a little at the thought of lambs frolicking in the heavens and caught my wife’s eyes.

“What, are you laughing again at my fancies, Muirteach?” Apparently she had not quite forgiven me for my earlier comment.

“No, no, mo chridhe, just some fancies of my own.” My horse stepped restively and I brought him under control while the breeze blew a faint scent of the sea towards us, underlying the scents of earth and warm horse dung on the road.

Neither Mariota nor I had ever visited court before, although I had met the king once, at Urquhart Castle the year before, at Easter-tide. The royal court, now at Edinburgh, proved to be a strange new world, full of folk dressed in finery, prattling away in Inglis and sometimes in Norman French. Although we had been here only a few days I sensed murky intrigue that made our own lord’s main hall, at Finlaggan in Islay, look like clear stream water in comparison. His Lordship planned to remain here for some weeks, and I relished the chance to see more of court life.

I turned in my saddle to our companion trotting along on my other side. The Baron of Rosslyn, a broad-chested man, had hair of warm chestnut, and hazel eyes that missed nothing. The groom followed a few paces behind on his plodding mare. “So you have travelled to the north?” I asked our companion.

Sinclair nodded and smiled at me in a friendly fashion. “Aye. The Orkneys. And I have visited Bergen, in Norway, several times. When I was younger, just a lad really, I found myself betrothed to King Haakon’s young sister, but the puir wee lass died before anything came of it. It would have been a fine match, that.”

I nodded. Who would not wish to wed a princess? But it was not my marriage we spoke of; I was married to Mariota, and happy enough, I told myself. Although she had proved, that last year in Oxford, to have a knack for disregarding my wishes at times.

“Your father is from Orkney?” I asked to change the topic.

“The lands there should be mine, by right,” Henry declared, not immediately answering my question. After a moment, he continued. “My father is the Earl of Ross, but my grandmother, Marjorie, was sister to Queen Euphemia, King Robert’s wife. My grandmother married Malaise, the Earl of Orkney. Their daughter is my own mother and it is through her that the Orkneys should have come to me. King Haakon sets my cousin master there for now, but the lands will come to me someday, be sure of it.”

“And so now you serve the King of Scotland?” I asked, feeling that the topic of the Orkneys was perhaps best left alone for now.

“I am Scottish, but Norway holds the Orkneys. What of it?”

“It is hard to serve two masters.”

Henry shrugged, reining in his horse easily as we neared the city gate of Leith. “We all serve two masters, I think. Ourselves, at the very least, and our lords. And our wives,” he added with a smile, “if we are married men.”

Mariota flashed Henry a grin, she had overheard. I smiled back at her, and nodded my own agreement to Henry as we entered the port town of Leith by the Edinburgh Gate. Carts loaded with merchant goods, drovers and their livestock, and pedestrians, as well as others mounted on horseback crowded through the gate and down the narrow road inside the city walls, the main way between the busy port and the burgh of Edinburgh.

“Come, the docks are this way.” Henry motioned, and we followed him through the crush. I struggled a bit to control my horse as we threaded a path through the busy traffic and bustling townsfolk down the roads that led towards the harbor.

I smelled the sea and the docks before I saw them. The scents of the harbor overwhelmed the usual odors of town life as we neared the docks. The area bustled with merchant cogs unloading and loading amidst a noisome babel of tongues. Large vessels, whose sweating crews unloaded casks of wine from Bordeaux and Burgundy, bales of brocade and velvet from the Italian ports—Venice, Luca, Genoa—silks and other cargo from as far away as Constantinople, the eastern boundary of the Christian world, mingled with cogs from the north and smaller fishing boats smelling of their catch. I caught a whiff of spices, mingled with the scent of the salt ocean, as we passed a larger vessel where a merchant, perhaps the owner, stood on the docks, richly dressed in velvets, berating some sailors who worked at lowering some chests with rope pulleys into a smaller boat for transport to the land. I could have gawked all afternoon but we had a mission to perform.

Henry found the ship we sought, the Selkiesdottir, easily enough. Few ships put in from the far northern lands. A small vessel, she sat at anchor tucked between a Flemish trader and a merchant cog from Bremen. Mariota’s grey palfrey shied nervously at the clamor of the docks, and she gentled it while Henry and I hailed the ship.

“We’re seeking the captain of this vessel,” I called up. A few men, whose skin looked of normal hue, not greenish at all, heaved bales of what seemed to be furs above decks from the hold below.

“He’s below,” one old sailor indicated, in fair enough Inglis.

His companion, dark complected and short, did not speak, just gestured below also. A slightly built youth—or perhaps a lass, for although clad in a boy’s tunic and hose, she wore her blonde hair in two long plaits down her back—yelled something down the hatch in Norse. After a moment a man stuck his grizzled head through the hatch door and clambered onto the deck.

“And what is it I can be doing for you?” he called down to us in Inglis. From the faded lilt in his voice I judged him once to have been a Gaelic speaker.

“We’re here from the king’s court on business,” Henry responded. “Our lord is desirous of a gyrfalcon. We heard you might have some to sell.”

The captain surveyed us a moment before he answered, taking in Sinclair’s fine horse and raiment, the attendant groom, and myself and Mariota. “The king, you said?”

“Aye, the King of Scotland himself. And for my master, The Lord of the Isles,” I put in.

“And you are?”

“Muirteach MacPhee. Of Colonsay, and His Lordship’s scribe,” I answered.

He considered. “I might have some birds, for a price,” he admitted at length, “although they could be promised already. It is not difficult to sell gyrfalcons, although it is hard enough to catch them.” He paused. We waited until he spoke again. “Well, best come aboard then. We’ll speak more comfortably in my cabin.”

We dismounted, leaving the groom waiting on the docks to hold the horses, and one of the crewmen above threw a rope ladder over the side of the ship. Henry went first. I looked to see if my wife needed my help, but Mariota hiked up her blue skirts and climbed the ladder with no problem. I confess that I enjoyed the glimpse of her shapely legs, encased in knitted stockings, as she made her way on board. I have always admired my wife’s fine legs. I made the ascent well enough, without any help. I have strong shoulders and arms that do well enough for climbing rope ladders despite the limp that plagues me, the result of a childhood fever.

The captain, a tall lean man with the weathered face of a sailor and grizzled hair showing his age, watched us closely as we came aboard, but he proved courteous enough. I think the richness of Henry’s garb impressed him. The three of us soon found ourselves ensconced in the captain’s small cabin, actually nothing more than a rough tent on the deck. The captain offered us seats on bundles of packed goods, sent the young lad to fetch some ale from below decks, and we got down to the business at hand.

“I am called Duncan Tawesson,” the captain said, introducing himself while we settled ourselves on the bales.

“You have the accent of an island man,” I observed. “A Gaelic speaker.”

“Not the islands, but close enough to them. Your ear is good, sir. My family owns lands near Kilmartin, but I’m a younger son, and one cursed with wanderlust as well. I’ve not seen Kilmartin in years. Your companions?”

Henry spoke up, confident and assured. “I am Henry Sinclair, Baron of Rosslyn. His Majesty King Robert II of Scotland himself sent us to attend upon you.”

Duncan raised an eyebrow at this but said nothing.

“And this is Mariota, my wife.” I introduced her and Mariota smiled at Duncan.

“So you’re a trader? And captain of the ship?” my wife inquired with interest. Duncan’s demeanor softened a bit.

“Aye. And owner of the ship as well. The Selkiesdottir. My own sweet beauty, she is. I trade between here and the northern lands, and sometimes run to Bergen as well if I can avoid those Hanseatic bastards. Think they own the ocean.” He spat eloquently on the deck.

“And where have you been trading this year?” I asked.

“The northern lands. Greenland, mostly. Although the market for walrus ivory and wadmal is not what it used to be, and the trade not so profitable as some years back. But despite it all I have managed to secure some fine furs.” Captain Tawesson paused a moment before he continued. “White foxes, and even white bearskins, among others.”

“And yet we hear you have gyrfalcons among your wares.” Henry came back to the point as the dark lad returned with a pitcher and some cups. Duncan poured the ale and served us himself. I took a swallow gratefully; the salt air had made me thirsty.

“Aye. You heard right. I have three birds. Two sisters and one brother, and they’re beauties. I myself caught them, along with Gudni here.” Duncan gestured towards the dark lad, who had returned to stacking the bales brought up from below decks.

“In Greenland?” Henry asked.

“No, a land further to the west. Helluland, the Norse call the place. A rocky land, cold and snowbound, that holds little of value. But fine birds breed there, if you are brave enough to make the journey.”

“I have heard somewhat of those lands, in Bergen. We must speak more of that sometime,” Henry interjected, his hazel eyes lightening with interest. “But where are these falcons? We would see them, if we may.”

Tawesson nodded to the deck. “Just there. Go and have a look. Gudni will take you.” He summoned the lad over to us.

The dark boy, who did not seem given to much talk, led us to the further end of the craft, where some cages sat near bales of rough woolen cloth. The cages, covered with other stoutly woven fabric, kept the occupants in darkness. The lad made an odd crooning noise and removed the covers.

I had seen falcons before. My Lord of the Isles has several, a peregrine and a saker among them. He even has a golden eagle although he cannily had not advertised that fact at the king’s court. Golden eagles, along with gyrfalcons, were commonly reserved for kings and emperors. But on the islands my Lord of the Isles did pretty much as he willed. My previous experience with birds, however, left me unprepared for what I now saw.

Three magnificent falcons perched on wood blocks. Golden eyes glared balefully at us, as the birds adjusted to the sudden light. They flapped their wings and shrieked, until the lad made some odd singsong sounds and they gradually gentled a bit.

The two largest birds were nearly pure white, one with a few darker feathers. The smaller of the birds, the male falcon, the tercel—although I judged him to be near as long as my own forearm—had somewhat darker plumage.

“The two white ones, those are the females,” said Duncan, who had approached behind us.

“They are truly amazing,” whispered Mariota to the captain, who gave her a smile.

“Indeed, they are,” he replied. “Well fit for a king.”

The boy re-covered the cages, the birds settled, and we returned to our own seats and worked out some arrangements. Besides the falcons, Tawesson’s cargo consisted of some fine furs—lynx, marten, white fox, and others, as well as wadmal cloth and other items from the north. We agreed that Duncan would bring the falcons and a selection of his finest furs to the castle in Edinburgh the following day. Henry Sinclair, acting as King Robert’s agent in this matter, agreed to send some carts the next morning, at first light, to carry the goods to the palace. He explained to the captain that King Robert was desirous of inspecting the raptors himself. For my part, I devoutly prayed that the king and my own Lord of the Isles would not covet the same bird.

“We’ve something else that might be of interest to the court,” offered Duncan as those arrangements were concluded.

“And what would that be?” countered Henry Sinclair. I expected the captain to say a unicorn’s tusk or something of that ilk and was surprised at his reply.

“Tumblers.”

“Tumblers?” I asked, confused.

“Aye. Here, lass.” Duncan summoned the girl with the plaits. She came readily, followed by the stocky, dark boy.

“This is Malfrid, my own daughter. And Gudni. They’re tumblers.”

“Really?” I felt the same skepticism that I heard in Henry’s voice.

“Aye. Malfrid it was who started it all. She ran wild when she was a lass and had little company. Except for Gudni, here. Her foster brother.”

I looked at the two youngsters. They seemed of about an age with Seamus, my young friend on Colonsay—that would be about fourteen or fifteen years. At first somewhat shy, the both of them stared at the wooden decking until Duncan said something to them in Norse. At that the girl looked up and smiled—she had a beguiling smile, and vivid green eyes that lit up her face—then she lightly ran a bit, turned a cartwheel and vaulted into the lad’s arms. He held her up triumphantly and flashed a smile of his own, his teeth white against his dark complexion. Then the lad got out some little leathern balls and set to juggling them in a creditable manner, while the lass assisted him.

Mariota clapped, we all did, and Henry finally agreed that the court might well enjoy watching a performance. So it was agreed that they would accompany the gyrfalcons to court tomorrow, along with Duncan, who would present his goods to the king. Our plans concluded, we left the Selkiesdottir and returned to our horses, remounting for the trip back to the castle.

“So Malfrid is Duncan’s daughter?” Mariota observed to me as we followed behind Henry Sinclair and the groom on the ride back. “And what of that boy Gudni? He looked odd.”

“No green skin, though,” I joked, although the lad did not look like anyone I’d ever seen before, with his dark skin. Yet his face was not as black as that of a Moor I had once seen in Oxford. “Well, perhaps you can ask him tomorrow, mo chridhe,” I added. As we approached the castle gate I turned in my saddle back towards Leith to admire the view for a moment. The castle sat on a high mount overlooking the burgh and from this vantage point there was a fine view both of the town and the harbor beyond. From someplace I heard the shrill cry of a hawk. Thinking of gyrfalcons and faraway lands, I faced forward again and entered the castle, following my wife and Henry Sinclair.