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Southend

14.

by MistThing, published on January 10, 2001

Gabriel came out of the toilet room, wracking his brain thinking about the tape. He regretted for not taking Sidney with him; he needed the damn machine's translating skills. Just for the heck of it, he leaned against the reception desk again on his way back to the dining room, glaring menacingly at the reception guy.

- "Ya wouldn't, by any chance, know what 'Ne Obliviscaris' means, would ya?"

The guy looked terrified, still under the lasting impression of Gabriel's earlier attack on him. "Ah ... N-No, sir ... I-I ken it's somethin' foreign, sir - "

- "We are being sharp today, aren't we?" Gabriel winked at the guy, not really expecting anything from him.

- "It's Latin, actually." Gabriel turned to the talker; it was a respectable-looking man in his fifties, his short-trimmed hair turning silver, sitting in one of the lobby's couches. He now raised his head from his newspaper and observed Gabriel's exchange with the clerk over his expensive-looking eyeglasses.

- "Do you know what it is?" - to the clerk's relief, Gabriel left the desk and approached the man, sitting on a couch next to him.

- "It means, ' Forget Not ' " - he answered shortly - "Haven't heard that one for quite a while, now."

Gabriel studied the man. His poppin' out in here seems too good to be true... "You look like academic staff to me" - he remarked - "A professor at the least..."

- "True enough... I'm Professor Donaldson, The University of Glasgow. I'm the guest lecturer at some Canadian Islay reunion..."

- "What do ya teach, professor?" - asked Gabriel - "If you don't mind my asking."

- "I'm Head of the Department of Celtic."

You're kiddin' me... "Forget Not...does this have a meaning?"

- "It is...was, the motto of Clan Campbell. Odd that you've mentioned it. Are you a Campbell on a root search?"

- "Huh? No..." - Gabriel smiled - "Department of Celtic... that's fascinating, Professor."

- "I got the impression you are not a linguistic enthusiast, Mr. -"

- "The name's Gabriel, Gabriel Knight. You're right... would ya mind listen to somethin', though? I can guarantee you'll be interested..."

- "Well...you just made me an offer that I can't refuse, as you Americans put it, Mr. Knight" - Professor Donaldson raised an eyebrow - "Lets hear it..."

Gabriel looked around. Except for him, Donaldson and the receptionist, no one else was there. He pulled out his recorder and turned it on. Donaldson listened carefully.

"May I?" - he asked, taking the device from Gabriel's hands. He rewound it and played it a number of times, holding it close to his ear, his face taking on an amazed expression. He finally gave it back to Gabriel. "I'm intrigued... where did you get this tape?"

- "I am an... ah... American actor, and my... director gave me a bunch of cassettes to memorize. It would help if I knew what the lead characters are sayin', though... crazy directors, ya know..." Lame, so lame... Gabriel scolded himself.

- "An actor, you say?" - Donaldson looked amused - "Now that's truly fascinating...tell your director I'm quite impressed. He uses Celtic in his play, but it's none of the modern six Celtic languages... I dare take a wild guess, and say it's a variant of q-Celtic, also known as Goidelic, an early Celtic form spoken by the Original wave of Celtic Immigrants to the British Isles..." - his voice was absorbed with excitement - "Lord knows, it could even be Old Celtic - the first, unifying language of the Celts..."

- "Can you make out what's my...ah...lead actress sayin' ?"

- "Only partly...she says 'Ne Obliviscaris', of course, we've been over that... Then she says something like, 'My calculations are showing that the power center had shifted'. She's worried about some old prediction, sayin' the time is near. She also says - quite interesting, really - 'The Council is gathering tonight at Finlaggan.'"

- "Somethin' special about Finlaggan?" asked Gabriel.

- "The little island of Eilean na Comhairle, in Loch Finlaggan, was the seat of Somerled, Lord of the Isles. Until the 17th century, there sat the government of MacDonald of Islay, The Lord of The Isles, aka, The Council."

Gabriel was engrossed in thought. "Remind me how's that connected to the MacAlisters."

Donaldson smiled. "I'm surprised a rootless American like you would even know they're connected... Celtic ruler Somerled had a grandson, Donald, who had two sons: the older, Angus, became the chief of Clan Donald - that is, the MacDonalds...The younger brother, Alasdair Mor, was ancestor of Clan Alasdair - the MacAlasdairs, which are, your MacAlisters... Until the 15th century the MacAlasdairs were actually a senior cadet of Clan Donald. Are you with me still?"

- "Yeah, now I am intrigued. Please go on..."

- "To sum it up shortly - until the 15th century the MacDonalds were independent rulers in Western Scotland, withholding their lands from the Scottish king. In 1493 after continuous struggle, their lands were forfeited to the Crown, and the West Isles went into chaos. At this point, the MacAlisters emerged as an independent Clan."

- "Why were the Campbells, and the MacDonalds or MacAlisters, at each other's throats?"

Donalson looked pensive. "The MacDonalds and Campbells were two powerful Clans who actually had more similarities then differences... Due to intermarriages, they even had similar ancestry - Celtic Gaels or Scots, Britonic Celts, and the Norse and the Vikings. Culturally speaking, basically both Clans followed the Celtic ways of the Gaels. The main difference between the two was the loyalty to the Crown. While the MacDonalds and septs considered themselves independent rulers of The Isles and opposed the Scottish king, the power of Clan Campbell was based on its loyalty to the Kings of Scots..."

Now I get the great relationships between Morgan and Saunders, Gabriel thought. "What you said before... Is that all there is on the tape?"

- "Oh, there is something else... the woman-speaker says she's sure she'd found the one the prediction talks about, she says she found the knight. And she says the knight doesn't know about some girl's whereabouts. That's about it, I'm afraid... Would you tell your director that he has quite a dramatic play on his hands, and that I'd like to see it... Whom are you playing, may I ask?"

- "Ah...the knight", said Gabriel. "I'll tell my director what you said. Appreciate your help."

Morgan stormed out of the dining room. "Yah bastard! No food fer yah! We're goin' now, lets hit the road before the bloody sun sets!"

- "That's the leading actress, I presume." Donaldson looked at Morgan peculiarly, a fleeting smile crossing his lips.

 

Last update: October 24, 2007


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