Chapter 6 Summary, Analysis, and Key Themes

⚠️ Spoiler Warning: This guide contains detailed spoilers for the entire novel. Proceed only if you've finished reading or are comfortable knowing the plot.

Summary

The chapter opens on Samhain in October 1594 in Fynhallow, Orkney. Alison prepares her children for guising: Beatrice wears a white sheet with coal-drawn eye sockets, Edward is dressed similarly, and William appears as a pirate with a blackened eye socket and wooden cutlass. The family heads to the vegetable patch overlooking Fynhallow beach, where children are pulling kale stalks for divination. Beatrice closes her eyes and pulls a long stalk; young Gundrea interprets this as a sign she will marry a long, thin man, and the soil at the roots suggests he will be rich.

Edward, however, is subdued. His former friends Adam and Caleb, dressed in black cloaks, deliberately look away when they see him. Alison notices the rift and feels the ache of their lost friendship.

Duncan calls the family into his cottage, where a gathering of rebels waits by the fire: Dougal White and his wife Ola, Isaac Henderson, John Rathmire, Robert Kent, and Jack McKinnon. The mood is heavy. Jack reports that Earl Patrick executed Thomas Paplay that afternoon in Kirkwall, torturing him to death. Paplay was a servant of John Stewart, the earl's illegitimate brother, and rumored to have attempted to kill the earl.

Alison privately recalls meeting Paplay and John Stewart at the cathedral gardens that past summer, when Paplay petitioned her for a charm to take a life. She remembers the raven she saw there as a warning, and she has never told William about this encounter. The rebels discuss the earl's abuses: exorbitant taxes (skat) that starve the people, stolen land from the udallers, enslavement of locals, the burning of the archives in St. Magnus Cathedral, and the capture of a merchant ship in Danzig. Their appeal to King James failed when the earl persuaded the court in Edinburgh to release him. William mentions that the udallers have the ear of Bishop Law, who may in turn influence the king.

Twelve days later, Alison is making stew when horses thunder up the hillside. David Moncrief, an officer in uniform, approaches with two more soldiers and John Stewart, dressed in noble furs. Alison initially believes they have come for her husband, but John Stewart sneers that they have not. The officer seizes her arm and announces she is arrested on suspicion of witchcraft regarding an attempt on the earl's life. Edward steps forward to defend her and is struck hard on the side of the head with a truncheon, splitting his skin and spilling blood. William tries to intervene but a knife is held to his neck. Neighbors gather but no one helps. Moncrief fastens iron cuffs around Alison's wrists, ankles, and neck, and forces her into a carriage. Alison notes that Moncrief was present when John Stewart asked her for the charm, that he is Triskele, and that they are childhood friends—but his loyalty is not to her.

Key Events

Samhain guising and kale-stalk divination take place, with Beatrice receiving a fortune about a tall, wealthy husband.
Edward's former friends Adam and Caleb shun him, deepening his isolation.
The rebels report Thomas Paplay's torture and execution by Earl Patrick.
Alison privately connects Paplay's death to the summer meeting at the cathedral where he sought a life-taking charm.
The rebels catalogue the earl's crimes: high taxes, land theft, enslavement, destroyed archives, and piracy.
Twelve days later, Alison is arrested on suspicion of witchcraft in the attempt on the earl's life.
Edward is bludgeoned with a truncheon when he tries to protect his mother.
Alison is shackled with iron cuffs and forced into a carriage by David Moncrief.

Character Development

Alison emerges as a woman caught between her private knowledge and public danger. She has concealed her cathedral meeting with John Stewart and Thomas Paplay from William, and her fear that blame for the earl's death could fall on her proves prophetic. Her instinct to protect her children—sending Edward to wake his father and hide—shows her maternal priority, but her powerlessness against armed authority is stark.

Edward shifts from a somber, isolated boy to a defiant protector. His willingness to snatch the warrant and his cry against his mother's arrest reveal a fierce loyalty, but the truncheon blow underscores the brutal cost of resistance.

William is largely reactive here: he tries to shield Beatrice, shouts his wife's innocence, and is silenced by a knife at his throat. His earlier political hope—that Bishop Law might influence the king—now seems distant.

David Moncrief is revealed as a figure of betrayal. Alison recalls that he witnessed her refusal to give John Stewart a charm, and that he is Triskele and a childhood friend. His willingness to shackle her demonstrates that institutional loyalty outweighs personal bonds.

John Stewart is shown as calculating and dangerous. His public request for a charm, made on a market day with witnesses, now reads as a trap designed to implicate Alison.

Themes, Symbols, or Motifs

Samhain and Divination — The chapter opens with guising and kale-stalk pulling, traditions tied to fortune-telling and the thinning of boundaries between worlds. The festive divination contrasts sharply with the grim fate that follows, suggesting that the supernatural atmosphere of Samhain foreshadows Alison's arrest.

Tyranny and Powerlessness — The rebels' catalogue of Earl Patrick's crimes—starvation-level taxes, stolen land, enslavement, burned archives, piracy—establishes a regime that operates above the law. The failed appeal to King James reinforces the islanders' isolation and lack of recourse.

False Accusation and Witchcraft — Alison's arrest on suspicion of witchcraft, despite having refused to provide a charm, highlights how the witchcraft accusation functions as a political weapon. The chapter notes that no one had ever been arrested for witchcraft in Orkney before, making the charge novel and terrifying.

Secrecy and Betrayal — Alison's hidden encounter with John Stewart and Paplay becomes the seed of her downfall. Moncrief's dual identity as childhood friend and arresting officer embodies the theme of betrayal by those closest.

Brutality — The truncheon blow to Edward's head, the iron cuffs, and the knife at William's throat demonstrate the casual violence of authority.

Why This Chapter Matters

This chapter is the pivot point of the novel's historical timeline. It transforms the political unrest of the rebel meetings into a personal catastrophe for Alison and her family. The arrest on witchcraft charges—a crime never before prosecuted in Orkney—sets the central conflict of the book in motion. The chapter also plants crucial seeds: Alison's secret meeting with John Stewart, Moncrief's ambiguous loyalty, and the rebels' hope in Bishop Law all become threads that will likely unravel in later chapters. The brutality of Edward's injury and Alison's helplessness establish the stakes: this is not a misunderstanding but a calculated act of power.

Study Questions and Answers

1. Why does Alison believe John Stewart's request for a charm may have been a trap?

Alison recalls that John Stewart asked her for a life-taking charm in a public place, on a market day, with many people around. She now suspects he engineered the encounter so that witnesses could later testify against her, making her a convenient scapegoat for the attempt on the earl's life.

2. What does David Moncrief's role in the arrest reveal about his character?

Moncrief was present when Alison refused John Stewart's request, and he is described as Triskele and a childhood friend. Despite this personal history, he carries out the arrest and shackles Alison without acknowledging her plea. His actions show that his loyalty to the earl's authority outweighs any personal bond, marking him as a figure of institutional betrayal.

3. How does the chapter use Samhain traditions to contrast with the events that follow?

The chapter opens with guising, kale-stalk divination, and playful fortune-telling among children. These festive customs, associated with predicting the future, give way to a grim and violent outcome: Alison's arrest. The contrast underscores how the supernatural atmosphere of Samhain—a time when boundaries are thin—gives way to a very real and brutal intrusion of state power into the family's home.