Medieval Ever After

by Kathryn Le Veque

  Then she saw Ian and Mairi. They knelt before the King, their faces tight with confusion and worry.

  Fear sliced through her. She took a step forward. “What is—”

  “Please, join us, Rona,” the King said levelly. He gestured toward the floor on Mairi’s right.

  Rona swallowed hard and glanced at Daniel, but his face was impassive. She stepped next to Mairi and knelt on the floor, her head bowed.

  “I’m sure you’d all like to know why you’re here,” the Bruce began in a serious voice.

  Rona’s heart hammered in her chest. She had a terrible, sickening feeling she already knew why they’d been brought before the King.

  “I understand that Ian and Mairi Ferguson fly a falcon,” the Bruce said bluntly.

  All of Rona’s worst fears were confirmed. She raised her head and started to protest, but the Bruce held up a hand to silence her.

  “And not just any falcon, a snowy white gyrfalcon.”

  Rona lowered her head again but shot a sideways glance at Ian and Mairi. Mairi’s lips were pressed together in a white line, and Ian bore a grim, resigned look.

  “Moreover, they have trained Rona Kennedy—Sinclair, rather—in the art of falconry, and she flies a peregrine falcon of her own. So, the three of you have captured, trained, and flown falcons above your station.”

  Rona swallowed again, her knees trembling against the study floor.

  “That would be quite dangerous if you didn’t have the King’s express permission to do so,” the Bruce said calmly.

  As his words sank in, Rona raised her head in confusion.

  “Luckily, you three have a royal dispensation to practice falconry unhampered,” the Bruce went on.

  Ian’s head snapped up and Mairi’s eyes went wide.

  “What?” Rona blurted out, then clapped a hand over her mouth.

  The Bruce only chuckled at her.

  “At Daniel’s request, I have written up dispensations for you all with my royal seal attached. That should solve this matter. You should have nothing to fear any longer.”

  Rona’s eyes flew to Daniel, who stood back with a smile on his face. She leapt to her feet and strode to him so that they were chest to chest.

  “You,” she said, narrowing her eyes at him, jabbing a finger into his chest. “You tricked me! You led me to believe...”

  Daniel lowered his brows at her and opened his mouth to make a retort, but before he could form the words, she launched herself at him. She wrapped her arms around his neck and planted her mouth on his. He tensed in surprise, but then chuckled against her lips before returning her kiss.

  “Rise,” Rona heard the Bruce say to Ian and Mairi behind her. She broke off her kiss with Daniel and flung her arms around first Mairi and then Ian.

  “Thank you, sire,” she said, turning to the Bruce and dropping into a deep curtsy.

  “Thank you, Rona, for looking after Loch Doon and slaying one of Scotland’s greatest enemies,” the Bruce replied, taking her hand and pulling her out of her curtsy.

  She looked between Daniel and the Bruce, confused.

  “I told the King how Raef Warren met his end,” Daniel said by way of explanation. “We all agree that you have earned the title of fierce warrior and defender of Scotland for your bravery.”

  She lowered her eyes in embarrassment, but her heart swelled, and it felt like it might burst with joy.

  “And now I must be off if we are to reach Dunbraes before dark,” the Bruce said a little sadly, dropping her hand.

  “The others are ready to leave as well,” Rona said to Daniel. “I was starting to say my goodbyes when you called me up here.”

  “We’d best see them off, then,” Daniel said. They all filed out of the study, led by the Bruce, and descended through the great hall and out to the yard.

  Everyone was gathered in the yard. Rona let her eyes drift around the group. Ansel and Meredith had their heads together and were talking quietly. Finn, Angus, Colin, Garrick, and Jossalyn stood nearby with a few of the Bruce’s other men. Burke stood on Robert’s right side, while Alwin, with Jane in her arms, stood on the left.

  “Is everything ready?” the Bruce said to Garrick.

  “Aye. The men on the shore have been notified that we’ll march out this afternoon.”

  “You are going to Dunbraes also?” Rona said to Jossalyn.

  She nodded her blonde head and smiled, though there was a sadness in her green eyes.

  “Yes, we’ll travel with the rest of the army and help as we can.” She looked up at Garrick, who looped an arm protectively around her waist.

  “Forgive me,” Rona said quietly as she stepped closer to Jossalyn, “but I thought you’d be happy to return to your former home and sad to see it brought down.”

  The sorrow deepened in Jossalyn’s eyes.

  “Dunbraes was where I lived for many years, but it wasn’t my home. My brother made sure of that. I will be glad to see it dismantled—as long as its innocent inhabitants and the villagers are kept safe.”

  Jossalyn directed those last words to the Bruce, who had approached while they spoke.

  “I will hold true to my word, my lady,” the Bruce said solemnly. Then he looked up at the position of the sun.

  “It’s time.”

  Rona curtsied to the Bruce again and bid a warm farewell to Finn, Angus, Colin, and Ansel. Then she gave Jossalyn a hard hug as Garrick said his goodbyes to Daniel, Robert, and Burke.

  “Farewell, sister,” Jossalyn whispered. As she pulled back from the hug, there were tears shimmering in her eyes.

  Rona had to hold back her own tears as she continued with her goodbyes to Burke, Robert, Meredith, Alwin, and baby Jane.

  “Must you all leave at once?” she said, her voice thick with emotion.

  “We are needed as Roslin Castle,” Robert replied, though Rona thought she saw a hint of sadness through the man’s stony exterior.

  “And at Brora Tower,” Burke added.

  “But you’ll all come visit when the babe arrives, won’t you?” Meredith said, unchecked tears on her cheeks.

  “Of course we will,” Daniel said, coming to Rona’s side.

  Rona and Daniel saw the large group to the gates, and then they climbed to the battlements overlooking the docks as the others filed onto the waiting boats. The Bruce and his men, plus Jossalyn and Garrick, took one large barge, while Robert, Alwin, Meredith, Burke, and the Highland warriors who’d accompanied them took another. Ian and Mairi said a quick farewell and boarded a small rowboat headed for the village.

  Rona leaned against Daniel’s chest atop the battlements. They watched as the boats pushed off from the castle and set out across the loch. Rona waved furiously until the boats were mere specks, tears burning her eyes. She never expected when she’d been told to marry a Highlander named Daniel Sinclair that she would also gain such a warm, loving family. Their departure cast a somber shroud over her that clashed with the mild, sunny afternoon.

  “The castle will seem empty without them,” Daniel said, nuzzling her hair.

  “You read my mind,” she replied, her throat tight.

  “Then again…”

  Daniel burrowed through her locks to nibble on one earlobe. “Perhaps we will enjoy some peace and quiet.”

  She turned and looped her arms around his neck.

  “And if we do what you have in mind,” she said with an arched eyebrow, “the castle will fill up quickly again, but with children.”

  “A man can dream,” he said with a grin. “I hope they have your fiery hair, and your temper to match.”

  She feigned outrage as he wound a lock of her red hair around one finger. “And I hope they have your mulish stubbornness!” she shot back with a half-scowl, half-smile.

  “Somehow, those characteristics seem to work well in combination,” Daniel replied wryly.

  She gazed up at his face, which was illuminated in the afternoon sun. His dark hair was pulled back, though a few strands whipped a
round his face in the breeze rising from the loch. His eyes looked more blue than gray with the sky behind him, and as was so often the case, his firm jaw was covered in dark stubble.

  This was the man she loved, the man whose life was inextricably bound to hers. Her heart soared higher than Bhreaca could ever fly.

  The End

  THANK YOU FROM EMMA PRINCE

  Thank you for taking the time to read Highlander’s Reckoning! Consider sharing your enjoyment of this book (or any of my other books) with fellow readers by leaving a review on sites like Amazon and Goodreads.

  I love connecting with readers! For book updates, news on future projects, inspirations, and more, visit my website at www.EmmaPrinceBooks.com.

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  NOTE FROM EMMA PRINCE

  Though this is a work of fiction, some events, places, and characters are based on historical record.

  This story takes place during the Scottish Wars of Independence from English rule. King Edward I, also known as Longshanks or the Hammer of the Scots for his brutal response to Scottish uprisings, died in July 1307, leaving his son, Edward II, with an unfinished conflict on his hands. Edward II is often considered ineffectual and weak when compared with his father, especially when it came to dealing with the Scottish rebellion.

  Despite receiving training in warfare from his father, and despite campaigning in wars starting at age sixteen, Edward II was more a man of culture than a man of war. He surrounded himself with musicians and artists, and enjoyed such pursuits as sailing, dancing, and theater. England’s nobles grew unhappy with their young King, leading to in-fighting and conflict. This provided Robert the Bruce with the opportunity to advance his cause in Scotland, reclaiming and razing castles and eventually defeating the English decisively in the Battle of Bannockburn in 1314.

  Loch Doon Castle, the main setting for this novel, was built in the late 1200s by the Earl of Carrick—possibly Robert the Bruce himself, who became Earl of Carrick in 1292, or by his father, Robert Bruce. It was originally built in the middle of Loch Doon on a small, rocky island. The castle did indeed boast an eleven-sided curtain wall of the highest quality. It had a main gate with a door and a portcullis, as well as a postern, or back gate. Some say the iron portcullis still lies at the bottom of the loch. Though in this story there is a tower keep within the curtain wall, such a tower probably wasn’t built until around 1500.

  Shortly after Robert the Bruce crowned himself King of Scotland in 1306, he and his army suffered a crushing defeat at Methven. The Bruce’s brother-in-law, Christopher Seton, and perhaps the Bruce himself, sought refuge at Loch Doon Castle briefly before retreating to the Outer Hebrides Islands and eventually Ireland. In my fictitious world, Garrick Sinclair also accompanies them in their retreat, explaining why he’s been to Loch Doon before.

  While the Bruce was busy with his campaign for Scottish independence, Sir Gilbert de Carrick, Laird of Clan Kennedy, was charged with holding Loch Doon Castle. Historic record indicates that Sir Gilbert surrendered the castle to the English, but that Robert the Bruce’s forces eventually recovered it. This created an interesting opening for me to insert the fictitious Daniel Sinclair to step in for Gilbert Kennedy and save the castle for the Bruce. The Kennedys eventually held Loch Doon Castle for many years, though their clan seat remained at Dunure, near Turnberry, on the western coast of Scotland.

  You can visit the castle today, though not on its original island. In the 1930s, the loch was dammed to generate hydroelectric power. The loch’s water level was raised roughly twenty-seven feet, which would have covered both the island and Loch Doon Castle. In 1935, the castle was moved, stone by stone, to the western shore of the loch to preserve its remarkable and historically significant curtain wall. Today, you can still see vestiges of the original internal buildings inside the curtain wall, including a large fireplace that would have heated the great hall. During low water, the island on which Loch Doon Castle originally stood, along with a few remnants of the castle itself, are still visible.

  Though Loch Doon Castle remained (mostly) in one piece throughout the Wars of Independence, most castles in the Lowlands and Borderlands were razed or “slighted.” When the English captured a castle or stronghold, typically the structure would be garrisoned and held to use against the Scottish. But the Bruce didn’t want to risk Scottish-held castles falling back into English hands, so his forces would tear down walls, towers, and other defenses, razing some castles to the ground so that they were completely useless to either side. Sir James “the Black” Douglas gained a reputation as a castle-destroyer at this time for his service to the Bruce.

  A medieval arms race of sorts was underway during this time, and sieging castles was arduous, dangerous work that could last for hours or months. As castles erected better defenses, siegers developed more effective tactics. As is mentioned in this story, some of the tactics used against castles included trebuchets, tunneling, battering rams, fire, hot oil or animal fat, and sometimes simply waiting for the castle’s inhabitants to run out of food or water.

  Edward I had a massive trebuchet, thought to be the largest ever built, called “Warwolf,” that could hurdle boulders at a castle’s walls. Attackers sometimes tunneled under curtain walls, causing part of the wall, especially at corners, to crumble. Multi-sided or circular curtain walls protected against tunneling. Boiling water or animal fat was also poured over walls to scald attackers. Sulfur and saltpeter, which are components of gunpowder, were sent inside walls to “fire” a castle. James Douglas once penetrated a castle under cover of night by scaling its walls using rope and grappling hooks. I give a nod to such tactics with Daniel, Robert, Garrick, and Burke entering the fictitious Dunbraes Castle in such a way.

  I based Raef Warren’s chess set on the famous Lewis Chessmen. By the end of the eleventh and into the twelfth centuries, chess was a very popular game among Europe’s aristocracy. The Lewis Chessmen are a series of chess pieces elaborately carved from walrus ivory and whale teeth that date from the twelfth century. They were discovered near Uig on the Isle of Lewis in Scotland’s Outer Hebrides, though they are thought to be of Norse origin. Because the pieces make up four distinct (though incomplete) sets, and because they were in excellent condition, it is thought that they were being transported from Norway to Ireland by a wealthy merchant.

  They were discovered in 1831 in a sand dune on Lewis. When they were found, some of the pieces were stained red, leading historians to believe that early chess boards and pieces were red and white rather than the black and white we use today. Perhaps most interesting are the rook pieces, which were carved to look like the fierce mythical Berserker warriors of the Viking Sagas. These Berserker rooks have bulging eyes, and they bite their shields wildly. Today, eighty-two of the ninety-three artifacts found are on display at the British Museum in London, while the other eleven artifacts are at the National Museum of Scotland in Edinburgh.

  Falconry, which plays an important role in this novel, was indeed a tightly regulated pastime of medieval nobles. Though people of many different social classes practiced falconry in the British Isles, there were strict hierarchies in place regarding who could fly and train birds of prey, and who could use which kinds of birds. Lower-status citizens could fly birds like sparrowhawks and goshawks, while birds such as peregrines and gyrfalcons were reserved for nobility.

  Falcons and falconry were considered status symbols. Most nobles kept a falconer on-staff to train and look after hunting birds. Nobles would trade falcons in peace talks or as ransom payments. Falcons were literally worth more than their weight in gold. Thus, it was considered a felony, as well as an act of rebellion against the social order, to keep or fly a falcon above one’s class station.

  According to the Book (or Boke) of St. Albans, a 1486 guide for the gentlemanly arts such as falconry, hunting, and heraldry, the punishment for those who would keep a bird above their social
rank was to have their hands cut off. Taking a bird from the wild was punishable by having one’s eyes poked out. The Book of St. Albans also lays out a hierarchy of hawks and the social ranks permitted to fly them, from a king’s gyrfalcon to a servant’s kestrel. A female peregrine falcon like Bhreaca was reserved for princes.

  Peregrine falcons make excellent hunting birds in part because of their thrilling diving attack, or stoop. The peregrine falcon reaches faster speeds than any other animal on the planet when performing the stoop, which involves soaring to great heights and then diving steeply. In the dive, a falcon can reach speeds of over two hundred miles per hour (or three hundred and twenty kilometers per hour).

  I took liberties with the wearing of kilts in this book. Though Scottish clans have long worn distinctively woven plaids over their shoulders or as cloaks, kilts as we know them today weren’t worn until the late 1600s. However, in this novel, I found the kilt to be a useful way to distinguish between not only the Scottish and the English, but also between Highlanders and Lowlanders.

  As many Scots have attested, tensions have long existed between the Highlands and the Lowlands, with Highlanders thinking Lowlanders are soft and too much like the English, and Lowlanders thinking Highlanders are uncivilized and far too rough around the edges. I wanted to bring out this tension between Daniel, the coarse Highlander, and Rona, the Lowlander who has seen the need to compromise with the English. Besides, when I read and write Scottish romances, a man in a kilt is a central part of the fun!

  TEASERS FOR

  EMMA PRINCE’S BOOKS

  THE SINCLAIR BROTHERS TRILOGY

  Go back to where it all began—with Robert and Alwin’s story in HIGHLANDER’S RANSOM, Book One of the Sinclair Brothers Trilogy. Available now on Amazon!

  He was out for revenge…

  Laird Robert Sinclair would stop at nothing to exact revenge on Lord Raef Warren, the English scoundrel who had brought war to his doorstep and razed his lands and people. Leaving his clan in the Highlands to conduct covert attacks in the Borderlands, Robert lives to be a thorn in Warren’s side. So when he finds a beautiful English lass on her way to marry Warren, he whisks her away to the Highlands with a plan to ransom her back to her dastardly fiancé.