Legacy of the Mist Clans Box Set (91 page)

Thank you for reading the third book in the series
Legacy of the Mist Clans,
Shadowed Hawk.
We first met Aidan in
Demon Laird
as he helped his brother, Ronan. From the onset, both brothers were quite unique for me to write and grew into two of the most difficult, obstinate characters, yet both have endeared themselves to me.

Although both brothers are mischievous, fun-loving, and end up in fistfights more often than not, MacGrigor the younger proved himself a far greater challenge to write than Ronan. Tangling with subjects such as the seizures and PTS that Ronan dealt with was far from easy for me to write, but at least I had something I could focus on writing. When I sat down to write Aidan’s story, I suddenly realized I had nothing to focus on when compared to Ronan. Aidan was practically nothing more than the shadows he used to hide in.

That began the battle to identify his character strengths and weaknesses. I once again dove deeply into research to learn of the events that might have shaped the character of a young lad growing up as the second son, where the power, responsibility, and leadership of the clan would fall to his brother, not to Aidan.

That the inheritance would fall to the eldest is a fact with implications that can be difficult to grasp with our modern perceptions. While the eldest male child being the one who gains everything is not quite as common in the modern age, we are still quite familiar with the concept. But what can be more difficult to perceive is when inheritance became an issue for the younger son(s) of a medieval family.

Depending on the wealth of the noble family, the second and later sons might face a less than desirable future. Because life could be tenuous, nobility quickly learned that having more than one son was important in case the eldest unexpectedly died. The saying of “having an heir and a spare” was definitely true. But if the eldest lived to achieve his future, what of the second and later sons?

Most history concentrates on kings and powerful noble families that possessed great wealth and power. They fought over thrones and directed the course of nations. We’ve learned something of everyday life, but it wasn’t that interesting to the contemporaries who wrote the poems and epic tales that we use to understand what occurred. We really cannot fault them, for it was important they convey the facts that changed the course of history, and no doubt it was far more interesting. In such a class-based society, no doubt the poet or scholar could not imagine why anyone would want to know of how a peasant lived from day to day.

But there is information to draw from regarding noble families of lesser fame and wealth. The fate of the second son depended on money. Being a landed noble meant providing required military service for the king. Sons had to be trained in the matters of war, equipped for battle, highly trained horses purchased for them, and so on. Think of the expense as that of providing a youth with an Ivy League education without scholarships or student loans. Then, after the basic education came financing medical or law school. It became very expensive very quickly.

Most families could only afford to concentrate their finances on the eldest son. Even if the family was wealthy enough to provide the training and equipment for both, they also had to provide land for the second to call home. The top echelon of nobles possessed a great amount of wealth and land; they were able to give second and third sons training and an inheritance. For lower-ranking nobles, the situation could be far different. Without a place to call his own, without training in war required to serve the king, the younger sons many times had only one choice. They entered the Church. In fact, the historian Prestwich states in his book,
Edward I
, that John Balliol was the fourth son of a very wealthy magnate. When he became king of Scotland, he struggled and proved ineffectual. Many historians believe that Balliol was most likely intended for the church and had not received the training required to be king.

Because the younger son(s) might be faced with a life that had little appeal to them, we are very familiar with the stories of jealousy and plotting against siblings. Brothers trying to kill each other over an inheritance is not a story that I find intriguing, at least in regard to Aidan. Giving Aidan a small but valid inheritance allowed the brothers to be reasonably assured of a stable future and the ability to form a solid rapport in their youth. Their fisticuffs and constant tussles became amusing, especially since their rivalry only increased their loyalty to each other. Robert Bruce taking land from Clan MacGregor and giving it to Clan Campbell is another historical fact. The theft of Aidan’s inheritance serves another point in that it forces him into a subservient role to his brother but also gives him the opportunity to follow his true talents and turn them into something unique—a master spy.

Spy craft is its own ancient tradition, but to the historical facts, I could find very little published. During times of war, the spy was a valuable asset and relied heavily upon.

I enjoy writing historical fiction immensely because of all that I learn every time I delve into the research. Edward II has always drawn attention because he was so very different from his father. Questions abound regarding his sexual preferences, and historical accounts point that he may have been, at the very least, bisexual. Recent popular fiction has expanded on that and depicted Longshanks’s son as a homosexual, and his lover as Piers Gaveston. The theory is definitely supported by the writings of Prince Edward’s contemporaries. Many documents survive accusing the prince of sodomy, and his wife wrote to her father complaining that her husband’s favor of Gaveston over her was embarrassing and insulting.

But the facts regarding this aspect of Prince Edward’s preferred bedmates cannot be proven or disproven. Having a homosexual relationship with Gaveston may or may not have happened. What can be proven is that Edward II did show an unusual preference toward his friend by awarding him lands, estates, and even attempting to award him a noble title (which Longshanks put a stop to immediately). The accusations within the writings of Edward II’s contemporaries may not portray him factually. It is entirely possible to attribute the claims as a “smear campaign” by those jealous of Gaveston’s standing. Longshanks did not kill Gaveston, but he did exile him, and upon his deathbed, begged his nobles not to allow him to return. But Edward II brought him back to England not long after his father’s death.

What also can be proven but is not well known, thanks in part to popular fiction, is that Edward II not only had legitimate children, but he also had a bastard son.

Adam FitzRoy is mentioned as
Ade filio domini regis bastardo
(Adam, bastard son of the lord king) in Edward II’s wardrobe account of the Scottish campaigns in 1322. The identity of his mother has not been documented (at least documentation has not yet been found), and even his birthdate is unknown. It is thought Adam was born between 1305 and 1310, which puts his birth in the middle of the timeframe when this story takes place. How can any author pass up a tidbit like that?

With as much study as I’ve put into Longshanks’s history and the personality evidenced in the midst of that research, I firmly believe if Longshanks had learned about Adam, he would have never tolerated a bastard son potentially interfering with the line of succession for the English throne. Perhaps this is also one reason why the identity of his mother is not known, and Adam is only briefly mentioned in a wardrobe account created fifteen years after Longshanks’s death.

Whatever the case, questions like these definitely inspire the imagination, especially considering the terrible wars raging over these years.

In the medieval tradition, before the battle was to begin, knighting squires and men who conveyed themselves admirably was a chivalric custom. But in an agrarian feudalistic society, the only way for those knights to make money was off the land. That was in short supply in an island country. Battlefield knightings did not always come with a grant of an estate. Knights who were not landed were called knights-errant. They had no source of income and if they were unable to find stipendiary (mercenary) work, they had to resort to banditry to survive. Most of the time this resulted in kidnapping a noble, holding the person as a noble prisoner (they were housed, fed, and clothed, and usually treated with respect) until his family paid a ransom, then the hostage was released unharmed and the knights-errant went on their merry way.

In the later part of his reign, Longshanks was feeling the cost of his wars and struggled to provision his armies. This resulted in many deserting and no doubt an overabundance of knights-errant. Desperate for food and money, knights-errant could turn hostage taking into a deadly prospect.

During this time, Scotland also had something of a feudalistic society, but in truth, it was much different from England, even though many Scottish nobles held land in both countries. The laws in Scotland were primarily concentrated on controlling clan blood feuds. It wasn’t until late in Longshanks’s war against the Scots that English customs took a firmer hold.

According to the Court of Lord Lyon’s website (the official heraldic authority for Scotland),
laird
is not simply another form of
lord
. It is a description, not a title, of an owner of an estate. Estates could vary in size, and many land owners could be part of a clan. Governing these land owners was the clan chief, who possessed his own holdings. Those who lived and worked on the clan chief’s estates addressed him as laird, but they were the only ones.

Life in the Highlands was very different from that in the Lowlands. Harsh terrain kept them secluded; weather could be harsh and unpredictable. Self-sufficiency and fierce independence were not simply descriptions of personalities but required survival traits. Living and prospering demanded the Highland clan mold powerful alliances with remote neighbors, but this also created equally powerful blood feuds with enemy clans.

In the same vein of the phrase, “One does not simply walk into Mordor,” in medieval Scotland, one does not simply walk into the Highlands with an army. Making an enemy of a Highland clan could result in a blood feud that might last generations, perhaps even to the modern era.

Because of the focus of Scottish law being different from England, the clan chief had a unique potential that his English counterparts did not. It was an even greater potential to the Highland clan chief because of the terrain that protected them. Few clans had the ability to capitalize on it, for the terrain that protected them also hindered many, and the protection wasn’t completely impenetrable.

As Scotland’s king, Robert the Bruce understood the difficulties the Highland terrain would present to an army seeking to bring a defiant clan under control. It would not matter if the army was English or Scottish. More importantly, the Bruce recognized the strength that allowed the remote clans to survive would not bend to intimidation. Many would defy even their king if he attempted to force or intimidate them into obedience.

The Bruce needed the support of his people, both Lowlander and Highlander, against the English armies. He used wisdom to bring many to his cause. But if that failed, his own powerful alliances enabled him to apply a certain amount of pressure to even remote Highland clans who gave him too much grief. So within the story, Aidan walks a fine line with his defiance of the Bruce’s wishes. After being crowned king, Robert the Bruce lost two critical battles to the Earl of Pembroke because he did just that—fought the English in an open field in a traditional battle. The losses dealt to him forced the Bruce to flee Scotland to find safety in lands still unknown. Legends abound as to how this break changed the Bruce’s outlook, but when Scotland’s king returned, the war changed drastically.

The Bruce returned in 1307, but his army was small and in need of supplies and provisions. The Bruce worked to bring Scotland’s land owners and nobles to his cause as the English sent a vanguard to defeat him once and for all.

The English first encountered the Bruce’s forces at Glen Trool, although the skirmish is not mentioned often in the historical reference. Because of the terrain, the English could not bring to bear their heavy cavalry. Also because of the terrain, the advancing English infantry was at a severe disadvantage. Losses were not significant, and it was more of a brief clash than an actual battle. But it was an engagement against the English that the Bruce won.

Our story closes here, but the Scottish Wars of Independence are far from over. There remains another member of Clan MacGrigor with his own story to discover. I do not know what awaits him but it is a journey that I look forward to writing.

Finally, I would like to extend a sincere thank you to my editor, Jenny Quinlan of Historical Editorial. Without her help during our online brainstorming sessions, this story would still be in a computer file, half-finished. It was Jenny who saw the potential in many ideas and she posed questions to me. The answers to the questions sparked creative ideas and forced me to delve deeper within myself as a writer, which in turn added to the depth of the characters and their growth and the plot. Editing isn’t limited to grammar and typos. From inception, plot and characters can be nebulous and nearly impossible for me to identify, let alone present the concepts in writing. The developmental editing is as critical to the work as the copyedit Jenny does at the end.

Writing is never easy, and I’m certain being an editor is even more challenging at times. I definitely have my quirks, and I’m pretty certain Jenny would have an easier job herding cats than dealing with me. But she pulls it off with skill and talent.

So thank you, Jenny, for your patience and for your hard work.

To my readers, thank you for reading
Shadowed Hawk.
Thus far it has proven my greatest challenge to write, but it also has been highly rewarding. I have started a new work, and I sense it will offer even greater challenges and demands, but as I think about it, I would be a bit disappointed if it didn’t.