“He won’t do that,” he said into the stillness. “If that was what Edward wanted, it would be done already.”
The silence stretched as they considered that, and he sat down again, deliberately, knowing he had regained their full attention. When he resumed, he pitched his voice to carry and spoke slowly. “The King of England has had the ability to seize our throne ever since the fight at Dunbar. But he is content to be feudal overlord, lord paramount of Scotland. For him that is enough, and I believed him when he told me so. Edward Plantagenet has no wish to be King here in Scotland.
“And so a compromise is in place and the rules are being worked out at the parliament in Berwick as we speak. Government of the realm must go on, and so it will, though with some changes. For the most part, little will change in your lives here. Your rents and taxes will still be collected as before, and by the same folk who have always seen to that. The folk who make Scotland run from day to day will keep on doing what they do. But above them, working on King Edward’s behalf, will be a new layer of government—ministers and officers appointed by the Crown in England for the governance of Scotland.
“The Earl of Surrey, John of Warrenne, is named Lieutenant of Scotland and will act as Edward’s military viceroy in charge of the royal castles. A man called Hugh Cressingham is named Treasurer of Scotland, charged with the fiscal welfare of the realm. Another, William Ormesby, has been made justiciar, the Chief Justice of Scotland. His main task for the next few months will be to track down and arrest those who are still in revolt against Edward. So that should keep the Comyns busy and out of our hair.”
That earned a laugh, and he allowed it to die away naturally before concluding. “That is as much as I can tell you for now. There are changes ahead for all of us, but they should not be threatening. Life will go on as it always does, and though this is but a short visit to show my face here again, I will be returning soon for good, bringing my new wife and child to live in Turnberry thereafter.
“In the meantime, though, I have been too long away and now I need to hear what you have to tell me, about how life has been here in Carrick these past few years. So let everyone now take their ease and talk. I have ordered food and drink from the inns and those will be brought here as soon as they are ready. I will join you throughout, and you may tell me anything you think I ought to know … And here comes the food now.”
He rose to his feet as the people closest to the gate began to move aside, making way for a group of newcomers who entered in pairs, carefully carrying vast amounts of food laid out on portable breadboards slung between each pair. Others stepped forward to help roll two barrels of ale to where they could be set up and broached, and for a time everything appeared festive as the assembly turned its collective attention to satisfying hunger and thirst.
As Bruce moved among them afterwards, his people spoke to him as he had asked them to, telling him the things they thought he ought to know, and though he was gratified by this sign of their trust in him, he nevertheless heard much that caused him more concern than he had anticipated. He heard stories of outright abuse by English soldiery that surpassed anything he had expected to hear; stories of ordinary folk being mistreated and humiliated for no reason other than the malicious and vindictive pleasure of Edward’s men-at-arms. He heard reports of robbery and battery, assaults and thefts, evictions and lootings, and of the hanging of an entire family who had lived together on a smallholding less than two miles from Maybole itself. They had been an unlovable crew, he was told, fifteen in number including several half-grown children, and they were well known as thieves, subsisting on the very edges of the law, but they had done nothing that anyone in Maybole knew of to justify their being taken out and hanged.
At first he believed these reports to be exaggerated and told himself that they were born of simple discontent and self-interest, but as the afternoon wore on and these tales were repeated and multiplied, he was forced to acknowledge that what he was hearing must be true. Too many honest folk were involved in the telling to permit any kind of collusion or conspiracy. And besides, he had to ask himself, to what end would they lie to him? They spoke of deeds done, some of them long since, knowing he could do nothing to redress any of their wrongs.
Not everything he heard during that afternoon was unwelcome or depressing, but the overwhelming impression that he was left with by the end of the meeting was one of serious wrongness within his earldom.
Later that same day he discussed all of what he had heard with Nicol MacDuncan, whom he had been delighted to find in residence at Turnberry, surrounded by a number of familiar, well-remembered retainers, many of whom had been in service here during the time of his mother. The two men dined together alone that night and they had much to talk about, reviewing the status of the Turnberry estate as well as the earldom in general.