Highlander's Reckoning (The Sinclair Brothers #3) (30 page)

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
around 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

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!

Thank you for taking the time to read Highlander’s
Reckoning! Consider sharing your enjoyment of this book (or the other books in
the Sinclair Brothers Trilogy) 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, pictures, and more, visit my website at
www.EmmaPrinceBooks.com
.

You also can join me on Twitter at @EmmaPrinceBooks.
Or keep up on Facebook at
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.

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.

She would not be controlled…

Lady Alwin Hewett had no idea when she
left her father’s manor to marry a man she’d never met that she would instead
be kidnapped by a Highland rogue out for vengeance. But she refuses to be a
pawn in any man’s game. So when she learns that Robert has had them secretly
wed, she will stop at nothing to regain her freedom. But her heart may have
other plans…

Garrick and Jossalyn’s story unfolds in
HIGHLANDER’S REDEMPTION,
Book Two of the Sinclair Brothers Trilogy.
Available now on Amazon!

He is on a mission…

Garrick Sinclair, an expert archer and
Robert the Bruce's best mercenary, is sent on a covert operation to the
Borderlands by his older brother, Laird Robert Sinclair. He never expects to
meet the most beautiful woman he's ever seen—who turns out to be the sister of
Raef Warren, his family's mortal enemy. Though he knows he shouldn’t want
her—and doesn’t deserve her—can he resist the passion that ignites between
them?

She longs for freedom…

Jossalyn Warren is desperate to escape
her cruel brother and put her healing skills to use, and perhaps the handsome
stranger with a dangerous look about him will be her ticket to a new life. She
never imagines that she will be spirited away to Robert the Bruce’s secret camp
in the Highlands, yet more shocking is the lust the dark warrior stirs in her.
But can she heal the invisible scars of a man who believes that he’s no hero?

Uncover Burke and Meredith’s story in
HIGHLANDER’S
RETURN
, a Sinclair Brothers Trilogy BONUS novella (Book 2.5). Available now
on Amazon!

First love’s flame extinguished…

Burke Sinclair and Meredith Sutherland
want nothing more than to be married, but ancient clan hostilities tear them
apart. When Meredith is forced to marry another to appease her father and
secure an alliance, the young lovers think all is lost.

Only to be reignited…

Ten long years of a stifling marriage
nearly crush Meredith’s spirit. But when her unfeeling husband dies and Burke,
now a grown man and a hardened warrior, suddenly reappears in her life, the two
may get a second chance at first love—if old blood feuds don’t rip them apart
once and for all.