by Jack Whyte
There is one other man I have to thank here, my long-time friend and fellow member of the Calgary Burns Club, Jim Osborne, noted peddler there of all things Scottish. Jim is from Aberdeen, and when he wants to, he can turn the accent of his birthplace on so thickly that the words ooze like syrup from a keg. When the time came, therefore, for me to represent the actual way the Aberdonians talk, there was no doubt at all in my mind about whom I needed to consult. Jim read the conversation that I had drafted in English, then translated it into phonetic Aberdonian. You’ll find it here precisely as he submitted it to me because I wouldn’t dare presume to change a letter of it. Thanks, Jim.
VIKING
an imprint of Penguin Canada Books Inc., a Penguin Random House Company
Published by the Penguin Group
Penguin Canada Books Inc., 90 Eglinton Avenue East, Suite 700, Toronto, Ontario, Canada M4P 2Y3
Penguin Group (USA) LLC, 375 Hudson Street, New York, New York 10014, U.S.A.
Penguin Books Ltd, 80 Strand, London WC2R 0RL, England
Penguin Ireland, 25 St Stephen’s Green, Dublin 2, Ireland (a division of Penguin Books Ltd)
Penguin Group (Australia), 707 Collins Street, Melbourne, Victoria 3008, Australia
(a division of Pearson Australia Group Pty Ltd)
Penguin Books India Pvt Ltd, 11 Community Centre, Panchsheel Park, New Delhi – 110 017, India
Penguin Group (NZ), 67 Apollo Drive, Rosedale, Auckland 0632, New Zealand
(a division of Pearson New Zealand Ltd)
Penguin Books (South Africa) (Pty) Ltd, 24 Sturdee Avenue, Rosebank,
Johannesburg 2196, South Africa
Penguin Books Ltd, Registered Offices: 80 Strand, London WC2R 0RL, England
First published 2014
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 (RRD)
Copyright © Jack Whyte, 2014
All rights reserved. Without limiting the rights under copyright reserved above, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise), without the prior written permission of both the copyright owner and the above publisher of this book.
Publisher’s note: This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
Manufactured in the U.S.A.
LIBRARY AND ARCHIVES CANADA CATALOGUING IN PUBLICATION
Whyte, Jack, 1940–, author
The guardian : a tale of Andrew Murray / Jack Whyte.
(The guardians series ; book 3)
ISBN 978-0-670-06848-7 (bound)
1. Scotland–History–Robert I, 1306–1329–Fiction.
I. Title. II. Series: Whyte, Jack, 1940– . Guardians series ; bk. 3.
PS8595.H947G83 2014 C813’.54 C2014-905777-6
eBook ISBN 978-0-14-319308-1
Visit the Penguin Canada website at www.penguin.ca
Special and corporate bulk purchase rates available; please see www.penguin.ca/corporatesales or call 1-800-810-3104.
