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RICHARD CRAWFORD, third Baron Culter of Midculter Castle, Lanarkshire

SYBILLA, the Dowager Lady Culter, his mother

MARIOTTA, his wife

FRANCIS CRAWFORD OF LYMOND, Master of Culter, his brother

SIR WALTER SCOTT OF BUCCLEUCH, a Border landowner

JANET BEATON, his wife

WILL SCOTT OF KINCURD, younger of Buccleuch, his heir

SIR ANDREW HUNTER OF BALLAGGAN

CATHERINE, his mother

AGNES, Lady Herries, a young heiress

JOHN, Master of Maxwell, brother of Robert, sixth Lord Maxwell

THOMAS ERSKINE, Commendator of Dryburgh Abbey and Master of Erskine

LADY JANET FLEMING, widow, of Boghall Castle, the Queen’s aunt and governess

LADY CHRISTIAN STEWART, her godddaughter

MARGARET GRAHAM, her widowed daughter

ARCHIBALD DOUGLAS, sixth Earl of Angus, ex-husband of King James IV’s widow

SIR GEORGE DOUGLAS, his brother

SIR JAMES DOUGLAS OF DRUMLANRIG, his brother-in-law and uncle of Maxwell

JOHNNIE BULLO, a gypsy

TURKEY MATTHEW, a mercenary soldier

Court:

MARY OF GUISE, widow of King James V and Dowager Queen of Scotland

MARY QUEEN OF SCOTS, her daughter, aged four

JAMES HAMILTON, second Earl of Arran and Governor of Scotland

HENRY LAUDER OF ST. GERMAINS, Lord Advocate to the Queen

ARCHIBALD CAMPBELL, fourth Earl of Argyll, Lord Justice-General

And these, by birth or adoption, are the English:

EDWARD, Duke of Somerset, Earl of Hertford, Viscount Beauchamp, Lord Seymour; Lord Protector of England and Governor of his nephew, King Edward VI, aged nine

The Lords Warden:

SIR WILLIAM GREY, thirteenth Baron Grey de Wilton, Lord Lieutenant of the North Parts for England

THOMAS WHARTON, first Baron Wharton, captain of Carlisle and Warden of the Western Marches

SIR ROBERT BOWES, Lord Warden of the East and Middle Marches

MATTHEW STEWART, Earl of Lennox and Lord Darnley, Franco-Scot turned English

LADY MARGARET DOUGLAS, his wife, and daughter of the Earl of Angus

Former officers of the Royal Household:

JONATHAN CROUCH, prisoner of war

GIDEON SOMERVILLE OF FLAW VALLEYS, Hexham

KATE, his wife

PHILIPPA, his daughter

SAMUEL HARVEY

Minor commanders and officers:

EDWARD DUDLEY, captain of the King’s castle of Hume in Scotland

ANDREW DUDLEY, captain of Broughty Fort on the River Tay in Scotland

THOMAS WYNDHAM, captain of the English fleet on the River Tay

SIR JOHN LUTTRELL, captain of the King’s fortress of St. Colme’s Inch on the River Forth in Scotland

SIR RALPH BULLMER, captain of the King’s castle of Roxburgh in Scotland

SIR THOMAS PALMER, soldier and engineer

Contents

Opening Gambit: Threat to a Castle

Part One

THE PLAY FOR JONATHAN CROUCH

Part Two

THE PLAY FOR GIDEON SOMERVILLE

Part Three

THE PLAY FOR SAMUEL HARVEY

Part Four

THE END GAME

Reader’s Guide

About the Author

Other Books by This Author

The Lymond Chronicles by Dorothy Dunnett

Opening Gambit:

Threat to a Castle

First of ye chekker sall be mēcioune maid

And syne efter of ye proper moving

Of every man in ordour to his king

And as the chekker schawis us yis forne

Richt so it maye the kinrik and the crowne,

The warld and all that is therein suthlye,

The chekker may in figour signifye.

“LYMOND is back.”

It was known soon after the Sea-Catte reached Scotland from Campvere with an illicit cargo and a man she should not have carried.

“Lymond is in Scotland.”

It was said by busy men preparing for war against England, with contempt, with disgust; with a side-slipping look at one of their number. “I hear the Lord Culter’s young brother is back.” Only sometimes a woman’s voice would say it with a different note, and then laugh a little.

Lymond’s own men had known he was coming. Waiting for him in Edinburgh they wondered briefly, without concern, how he proposed to penetrate a walled city to reach them.

When the Sea-Catte came in, Mungo Tennant, citizen and smuggler of Edinburgh, knew nothing of these things or of its passenger. He made his regular private adjustment