Chapter Summaries

Roger refined coarse salt into fine salt at Sea Salt Bay and shared roasted rabbit with the workers. Butler Bitter Melon Face arrived with news that Roger’s father and Young Master Colin had died in battle, and pleaded with Roger to return to his fainted mother.

• Roger filtered dissolved coarse salt through layers of linen, pebbles, grass, and sand to remove impurities.
• Roger boiled the filtered saltwater until white fine salt crystallized, astonishing Little Horseherd and the others.
• Roger had the workers roast two wild rabbits and seasoned them with the fine salt.
• Bitter Melon Face arrived at Salt Beach, and Roger told him he would stay on the island and not return to his mother.
• Bitter Melon Face told Roger that his father and Young Master Colin had died in battle and that his mother had fainted.

After Allen Island’s expeditionary force suffered a crushing defeat, Roger went to Brodick Castle, where he saw his dead brother Colin II and learned that his father Sir Colin had not returned. He showed unexpected respect for the dead and ordered his steward to arrange transport for the manor’s belongings, soldiers, and wounded back to Milkhouse Manor.

• Bitter Melon Face brought Roger to Brodick Castle, where islanders mourned the dead and tended the wounded from the failed expedition.
• Roger entered the church and saw Colin II’s body in a coffin while Baron John and the baroness grieved for him and Sir Colin.
• The baroness rebuked Roger for showing no grief, but Roger replied that grief would not bring back his father and brother.
• Ma'en knelt before Roger and apologized for failing to protect the knights or recover Sir Colin’s body; Roger thanked him for his loyalty and helped him stand.
• Baron John asked where Colin II should be buried, and Roger requested that he be laid with the Campbell ancestors; John announced a funeral for the following afternoon.
• Roger ordered Bitter Melon Face and Ma'en to gather the family’s belongings and bring the manor’s soldiers and wounded home, telling Bitter Melon Face to offer a high price for ox carts.

After returning to Milkhouse Manor from a disastrous expedition, Roger arranged relief for the dead and wounded and treated the survivors himself. He left the wounded in the barn and began considering his future as the manor faced a difficult year.

• Bitter Melon Face asked Roger how to settle the dead and wounded, and Roger ordered grain relief for their families, extra aid for the severely wounded, and rewards for the other soldiers.
• Roger sent Ma'en home with wheat and smoked meat, then arranged for the severely wounded soldiers to be cared for at the manor.
• Roger cleaned and dressed the wounded soldiers' injuries, though he believed two men with severe infections were unlikely to survive.
• Roger told Bitter Melon Face that God and angels had taught him his healing arts, and Bitter Melon Face accepted the explanation with doubts.
• Bitter Melon Face warned Roger that the manor needed to boil salt at Salt Beach because it had lost its sea-going vessel and expected little income beyond wool and salt.
• Roger returned to his attic bedchamber and fell asleep while considering his next steps.

Roger released Old Fisherman and Toke to work for him, then took Olaf to Milkhouse Manor as a guarded guest. After arranging Olaf’s confinement, Roger set out for Brodick Castle with Louis and two companions to attend a funeral.

• Roger offered Old Fisherman work, and Old Fisherman accepted and pleaded for Toke to stay as well.
• Roger asked Toke to work for him, and Toke agreed to become his servant.
• Ponytail freed Old Fisherman and Toke and led them to prepare lunch for the salt workers.
• Roger told Olaf he would take him to Milkhouse Manor, where he arranged for guards to watch him while allowing him some freedom.
• Roger changed into a kilt and tartan cloak and left for Brodick Castle with Bitter Melon Face, Little Horseherd, and Louis.

Roger attended the funeral of his father, Sir Colin, and his cousin Colin II, burying his father’s clothes in an empty coffin because the English still held his body. After the mourners dispersed, Baron John summoned Roger to his office to discuss something.

• Sergeant Ma'en caught up with Roger’s party and asked to attend the funeral, and Roger let him follow.
• Roger arrived at Baron John’s castle, where the islanders had gathered to memorialize Sir Colin and Colin II.
• Baron John asked Roger to place his father’s clothes in the empty coffin and promised to bring Sir Colin home for burial.
• Roger carried Sir Colin’s coffin to the grave alongside the other bearers, while White-faced John watched resentfully.
• After the coffins were buried and the mourners departed, Baron John told Roger to come to his office later.

Roger negotiated the spoils from Allen Island’s disastrous campaign and learned that Baron John had secretly controlled the pirates he had killed. After accepting the limited goods allotted to Milkhouse Manor and inheriting his father’s knightly title in exchange for an inheritance tax, Roger left Stackport for Lamlash Bay.

• Baron John gave Roger the southern trade’s nine pounds and five shillings, farm tools, wool, and sheep, but denied him a share of the seized grain, gold, weapons, and armor.
• Baron John revealed that Ulf and the northern pirates had been his men, then let Roger keep their gold, a suit of armor, three weapons, and their ship while claiming the other spoils as inheritance tax.
• Baron John told Roger that paying the tax would let him inherit his father’s knightly title and become lord of Milkhouse Manor.
• Roger hired a vessel to collect Milkhouse Manor’s allotted goods instead of trusting the baron’s steward to deliver them.
• Roger signed the account document prepared by Paul and sailed aboard the Bella from Stackport toward Lamlash Bay.

Roger prepared to inherit Milkhouse Manor and become a knight, but learned that the estate was burdened with crushing debt. As he organized its people and cared for its wounded, he began studying the manor and military matters while trying to work out how to save the household.

• Roger learned that Milkhouse Manor owed forty pounds at extremely high interest, leaving the estate close to bankruptcy despite his coming inheritance.
• Roger invited the hooligans and Ma'en to attend his knighting ceremony and asked Igo to send minced-meat porridge to the wounded soldiers.
• Roger retained Ma'en as the manor's soldier and instructor, accepted Blackhide Dog's offer to serve him, and dismissed Missing Tooth and Gambling Addict politely.
• Roger presided over the fallen soldiers' funerals, treated the wounded, and helped two of the three wounded men survive.
• Roger surveyed Milkhouse Manor's farmland, water, and pastures and discussed the financial crisis with Bitter Melon Face and Ma'en while studying swordsmanship and military affairs.

Roger became a knight and the new lord of Milkhouse Manor at a ceremony hosted by Baron John, then attended a banquet where John announced a tournament with land as its top prize. Roger left the banquet and gathered the island’s lords and gentry at the Red Mill.

• Roger arrived at Brodick Castle with his family, guards, and a cart of weapons and armor to pay the inheritance tax, while secretly retaining much of the equipment.
• Roger handed over the cart’s contents to Baron John and was knighted in the castle chapel, where John slapped him during the ceremony’s final procedure.
• Roger received gifts from the island’s lords and gentry, then sent his nominal mother and Louis home with half of them.
• At the banquet, Baron John announced a tournament after the autumn harvest and offered a two-hundred-acre manor as its highest prize to attract warriors and strengthen the island.
• Roger led Ma'en and the gift-giving lords and gentry to the Red Mill, where Baldhead and Ponytail had arranged a celebration.

After waking at the Red Mill, Roger discussed refined salt with Kate and considered how it could help Milkhouse Manor’s finances. During lunch, he learned that Gary had arrived with his daughter and wanted to meet him alone.

• Halfpenny woke Roger and helped him prepare to leave the Red Mill.
• Kate thanked Roger for the porcelain bottle and refined salt, then asked whether he would sell her more salt for the Red Mill.
• Roger agreed to sell Kate fine salt if Salt Beach could produce it in bulk.
• Roger joined Ma'en, Baldhead, Ponytail, and the others for a lavish lunch at the Red Mill.
• A maid told Roger that Gary had come with his daughter to congratulate him and requested a private meeting.

Roger met village chief Gary, who feared Roger would punish him for striking him and offered a fine horse and his daughter as compensation. Roger accepted the horse, spared the girl, and ordered Gary to supply wine to Milkhouse Manor for payment.

• Gary arrived at the Red Mill with an apprentice leading a black bay horse and his tearful, cloaked daughter.
• Roger met Gary, who knelt and apologized for striking him, offering the horse and anything else Roger wanted.
• Roger approached Gary’s daughter, but left her untouched and turned his attention to the horse.
• Roger accepted the black bay horse and let Gary and his daughter leave.
• Roger told Gary to send a barrel of wine to Milkhouse Manor each week, with his steward paying for it.
• Roger handed the horse to the groom and ordered him to feed it oats and black beans.