A MASS FOR THE DEAD (27 page)
Read A MASS FOR THE DEAD Online
Authors: Susan McDuffie
Tags: #Mystery, #medieval, #Scottish Hebrides, #Muirteach MacPhee, #monastery, #Scotland, #monks, #Oronsay, #Colonsay, #14th century, #Lord of the Isles
I wondered at his description of my father as “good and saintly” but guessed that that was how most people would remember him. It was only a few of us that would know the truth of it all; it seemed His Lordship would make sure of that.
I took a sip of my wine, which tasted suddenly bitter, while His Lordship continued speaking.
“Word has been sent to the Priory, which I myself endowed these twenty years ago and more, that the evil man has been found, and is even now judged by the Heavenly Father himself and meeting Our Lord’s own punishment.”
A murmur of approval greeted this announcement.
“I think most of you are knowing,” he continued, after waiting for the noise to die down again, “that it is the Prior’s own son, and nephew to that MacPhee of Colonsay, our own much loved Gillespic, who was solving the murder and bringing the guilty one to justice. And so for this, I asked the bards to compose the song that you have just heard. Muirteach, come forward.”
I am not sure how it was that I got out of my chair and approached His Lordship, who was standing in his place at the center of the high table. But somehow it was that I walked there, feeling all the eyes of the company upon me as I did so.
“Muirteach, we are much pleased by your resolution of this. And for this we award you lands both on Colonsay and in the Rhinns here on Islay, some 10
merks
of good farmland, with houses, and the cattle on them as well.”
I thanked him, and he continued, with much eloquence and lordly show.
“In exchange for this we ask only your continued faithful service to us.”
I assured him of my loyalty, and thought to return to my place, but His Lordship motioned me to stay and continued speaking.
“In addition to this, as a reward for his faithful service, I now make Muirteach our Keeper of the Records. So that he and his heirs to come will keep and hold the records of the doings of the Council of the Chiefs of the Isles, when we meet at Finlaggan, and the records of other matters as they shall come to pass.”
What could I do? Although I wondered somewhat cynically what these “other matters” might entail, I stammered my gratitude, knelt and swore again my loyalty to himself, and then somehow found my way back to my seat.
The Beaton smiled at me, and congratulated me, and I saw Mariota’s eyes beaming in the torchlight of the hall.
“Muirteach, that is aye wonderful!” Her nose wrinkled in that way she had that I liked to watch so. “Perhaps the thatch will not be leaking so badly in your new houses as it does in your old cottage.”
“And why should you be caring about that?”
She smiled, looking me in the eye. “Och, I am just not liking the thought of you and that great hound of yours dripping wet whenever it is raining.”
And with that admission I had to be content.
The End
Glossary
Amadan
(fm.
Amadain
): (ah-mah-dan) fool
Bairn
: (behrn) a child
Bìrlinn:
(bur-leen) Scottish galley, varying in size from a few to many oars.
Brat:
(brat) mantle
Cailleach
: (cah-lyaCH) old hag, also the name of the whirlpool now known as the Corryvreckan
Dia
: (jee-ah) God
Each Uisge
: (eh-aCH oosh-kuh) water horse
Eilean
: (ay-lan) island
Gille Mor
: (gil-lyuh more) sword bearer
Iorram
: (ir-ram) a rowing song
Léine
: saffron shirt, made of linen
Luchd-tighe
: (luCHk tye-uh) chief’s bodyguard
Mazer:
drinking cup
Merk
: a unit for measuring land
Mether
: wooden square sided drinking cup
Mo cridhe:
(mo CHree-yuh) my heart
Nabhaig
: (nah-vak) a small boat
Nathrach
: (nah-raCH) of a serpent
Quaich
: (kwayCH) round saucer-like drinking cup
Sgian dubh
: (skee-an doo) dagger
Sìthichean
: (shee-ee-CHyun) the faerie
Uisgebeatha
: (oosh-kuh beh-ah) whiskey (literally, the water of life)
Ùruisg
: (oo-rooshk) goblin
Author’s Note
Gillespic, Crispinus, and John MacDonald, the Lord of the Isles actually existed. Their personalities and Crispinus’s various wives, children, and other activities are totally invented, as is Muirteach. The MacPhee clan was the hereditary “Keepers of the Records” for the Lords of the Isles, and, in part, this book came from my desire to tell the story of how this might have come about.
The rhymes and charms in this book were taken from the
Carmina Gadelica
, collected by Alexander Carmichael in the 1800s, except for the verse in the last chapter, which was invented. Readers wishing to know more about the Lordship of the Isles might enjoy reading
The Lords of the Isles
by Ronald Williams, which gives a good overview of this period in Scottish history.
About the Author
SUSAN MCDUFFIE has been a fan of all things Scottish, and a devotee of historical fiction, since her childhood. At times she used to wonder if she was mistakenly born in the wrong century, but her discovery that Clorox was not marketed prior to 1922 reconciled her to life in this era. She has visited Scotland several times and done extensive research for
A MASS FOR THE DEAD
, the first Muirteach MacPhee mystery. Susan has lived in New Mexico for the past twenty-nine years and shares her life with a Native American sculptor and four rambunctious cats. Susan loves to hear from readers and can be contacted via her website,
www.SusanMcDuffie.net
or through email at [email protected]
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