“That is Latin.” He pointed at a phrase in the roster, one of the cramped and nearly indecipherable lines in the first column of the roster.
Concentrating on the marginal lines first, she had only skimmed the roster. “Ah, so it is. The ink is quite blurred. D, U… is that X?” She frowned. “Dux bel…something.”
“Dux bellorum,”Edgar said. “In a military roster, that makes perfect sense.Dux bellorumis the rank of a commander or general. In early documents, the term was sometimes used to identify a warlord. Later it became what we know as ‘grand duke.’”
“Of course.Dux bellorumwas also used by ancient chroniclers to describe Macbeth before he was king, which was a Scottish instance. Even earlier, it was used to describe the warlord called Arthur. Interesting that it appears on this list.”
“It was used rather broadly in the early medieval centuries,” Edgar said. Though he was a capable expert on medieval matters, he had sided with the scholars who disdained Walter Carriston’s theories about King Arthur’s presence in Scotland. That had been a point of contention for Walter and Christina regarding Edgar.
She sat straighter, thoughts whirling. “I wonder if it refers to Aedan mac Brudei here, the warrior prince who is the ancestor of the Dundrennan MacBrides. Thank you, Edgar. I missed that reference.”
“You are good, Christina, but it takes expertise to see such details.”
“Oh, Edgar,” she sighed.
“One detail—I saw the Latin name ‘Artorius’ on the page. It means Bear, which I also saw in the margin.”
“There is a Latin and a Gaelic reference to the name Bear. It appears in the phraseLiadan nighean a’ Bhèir.It suggests that her father was named something like Bearach or even Bernard, both in use then, and both come from the root word for ‘bear.’ Many ancient kindred and clan names. Personal names too, came from familiar wildlife.”
“Bears were about then, but have been extinct in Scotland for centuries. We have some bones from such an animal in thenational museum. Of course it would not mean Arthur.” He laughed.
“Of course not.” She smiled and closed her notebook, aware of his cool stare, and then wrapped the parchment pages in silk to replace them in the box.
“Sir Edgar, come listen,” Amy called. “You wanted to hear some of Sir Hugh’s poetry. Christina, do join us.”
“Thank you, but I’m rather tired.” She smiled.
“I will be there in a moment, Miss Stewart.” Edgar turned back to Christina, leaning on the table to block her exit. “You offered to share your excavating notes.”
“I did, but I need some rest tonight. Can we go over my notes tomorrow?”
“Working on the site has strained your fragile nature, so that is even more reason to take this from you, and make sure the vases are safely removed. You can leave the notes with me now so I can study them before we discuss the information.”
“I am still working on the notes.” Distracted, she set the wrapped pages in box and closed it, wishing Edgar would not hover over her so.
“That’s fine. I’ll read them just as they are.” He took up her journal and tucked it into a pocket. As she cried out and reached for it, he smiled and walked away to join Amy and Lady Balmossie.
When she walked toward him, he smiled up at her from his seat beside Lady Balmossie. “Thank you, Mrs. Blackburn. I will return the notes in the morning. Go along now. You look very tired.”
Sighing—truly there was nothing in the notes he should not see, she supposed, for she had not completed her notes on what she had discovered in the parchments. And she had not written anything about Aedan—or had she?
Puzzled, frustrated, more than ready for Edgar to return to Edinburgh, she left the library. Amy had resumed reading from Sir Hugh’s epic poem about the Viking invasion of Scotland. Considering the poem’s length, they would be sitting there for quite a while.
Climbing the main stairway up to her room, her thoughts were on the translation she had made. Those pages she had not included in her notebook, but on a separate page that she had left in the Dundrennan Folio.
Dux bellorum… Liadan nighean a’ Bhèir.Daughter of the Bear.
She stopped, hand on the banister.Dux bellorumindicated a great leader… and in Latin, “Artorius” could also mean “bear.”
Catching her breath, she stood on the step, thinking frantically. Was she wrong about Liadan’s father having a bear-related name like Bernard? Uncle Walter had linked King Arthur to early Scotland—perhaps the Dundrennan Folio held evidence of that.
Then she remembered that a few of the clay vessels in the souterrain were decorated with bear paws and outlines of bears on all fours. Was the ‘daughter of the bear’ connected to those designs, and a leader called the Bear? Her mind whirled. Could Liadan even be a daughter of Arthur? The thought was wild, enormous, and exciting.
For her uncle’s sake—and for her beloved, Dundrennan’s laird, she had to know. And the answer might lie with those clay vessels.
Running to her room, she changed from slippers to leather brogans and snatched hat, gloves, and a plaid shawl, intending to go up to Cairn Drishan now. Edgar had ordered the pots to be moved in the morning.
Edgar was occupied in the library, her brother was painting in the dining room, and Aedan was out working with his road crew. Now was her chance.
