Patrick of Dunbar always was thick as thieves with Bruce. The blood of all the Lowland clans is watered down with filthy English blood. It's too bad our family didna stay in the Highlands. I spit on the Bruce and the English!" Megotta cursed.
"Better get used to them." Keith looked at his grandmother with tender concern. "The English are comin', an' sooner than ye think."
"Ha! If they come to Dumfries to crush us beneath their heel, we'll poison the bastards. Jane and I know our herbs and potions, healing and otherwise!"
"No!" Jane cried. "I would never use my gift for evil."
Jock looked at his daughter's eyes, wide with distress and fear. "Come here, child. Ye have naught to fear. The Leslies are castle keepers. We serve whoever garrisons Dumfries Castle. I am half Anglo-Norman and I know the English are no more monsters than the Scots." He spread his hands.
"They are simply men." Jock realized he should have weaned his youngest daughter away from the old woman long ago. Jane should have a husband and bairns to fill her life.
Jane swallowed hard. Simply men! That was precisely what she was afraid of. She reached for her talisman and remembered that she'd had a dozen requests for protective touchstones in the past two days alone. Men as well as women wanted them. If there was naught to fear, why were the people of Dumfries suddenly seeking the power of magic to protect themselves?
48
*
In Berwick the madness stopped, the dead were buried, and Edward Plantagenet immediately
issued orders that whatever had been destroyed in the city must now be rebuilt. The walls of the fortifications were raised higher and the ditch was deepened. To set an example, the king wheeled out the first barrow piled high with mortar and stones.
Within a week, Edward Plantagenet improved the laws and appointed capable men to administer them. He also abolished the hated tax on wool, called themaltote.Some of this was done in an effort to atone for the slaughter he had ordered, but word of what the English had done at Berwick spread over Scotland like smoke from a wildfire, choking the Scots and filling them with hatred for the English conquerors.
When King Edward received King Baliol's missive renouncing his fealty, the royal Plantagenet anger was roused again. "The false fool! De Warenne, you will see that he is plucked from his bloody throne, and brought to me on his knees begging for my mercy! Within the month I want Baliol lodged in the Tower of London!"
John de Warenne had so many men-at-arms to deploy, he chose some of Lynx's foot soldiers, along withbattalions belonging to Percy and Bohun, to stay behind in Berwick to rebuild and to keep the seaport securely under English control. He directed Anthony Bek, the warrior Bishop of Durham who commanded his own levy of soldiers, to capture King Baliol, then de Warenne took the main body of the army up the coast toward Dunbar where he knew Earl Patrick would remain steadfast to the English. At Dunbar, Edward Plantagenet planned to rejoin his army as it crossed the Lammermuir Hills and cleared the way to the capital city of Edinburgh.
*
49
Robert Bruce began to gather up men-at-arms from throughout Northumberland. More Irish and Welsh troops, along with supplies, poured into Carlisle each day, and by the end of the week, Bruce was ready to march into Scotland to take back what had been his.
When word reached him of the massacre at Berwick he knew Comyn, who commanded the Scottish army, would retaliate. Robert Bruce assumed Comyn would march his main army to confront the English. He was astounded when he learned his bitterest enemy was avoiding the English in the east and was instead destroying towns in the west. Comyn's forces were meting out the same mindless destruction that Edward had used at Berwick. He encouraged his army of Scots to ravage the English countryside as soon as they crossed the border, first destroying the monastery of Hexham, then sweeping through Redesdale
"Better get used to them." Keith looked at his grandmother with tender concern. "The English are comin', an' sooner than ye think."
"Ha! If they come to Dumfries to crush us beneath their heel, we'll poison the bastards. Jane and I know our herbs and potions, healing and otherwise!"
"No!" Jane cried. "I would never use my gift for evil."
Jock looked at his daughter's eyes, wide with distress and fear. "Come here, child. Ye have naught to fear. The Leslies are castle keepers. We serve whoever garrisons Dumfries Castle. I am half Anglo-Norman and I know the English are no more monsters than the Scots." He spread his hands.
"They are simply men." Jock realized he should have weaned his youngest daughter away from the old woman long ago. Jane should have a husband and bairns to fill her life.
Jane swallowed hard. Simply men! That was precisely what she was afraid of. She reached for her talisman and remembered that she'd had a dozen requests for protective touchstones in the past two days alone. Men as well as women wanted them. If there was naught to fear, why were the people of Dumfries suddenly seeking the power of magic to protect themselves?
48
*
In Berwick the madness stopped, the dead were buried, and Edward Plantagenet immediately
issued orders that whatever had been destroyed in the city must now be rebuilt. The walls of the fortifications were raised higher and the ditch was deepened. To set an example, the king wheeled out the first barrow piled high with mortar and stones.
Within a week, Edward Plantagenet improved the laws and appointed capable men to administer them. He also abolished the hated tax on wool, called themaltote.Some of this was done in an effort to atone for the slaughter he had ordered, but word of what the English had done at Berwick spread over Scotland like smoke from a wildfire, choking the Scots and filling them with hatred for the English conquerors.
When King Edward received King Baliol's missive renouncing his fealty, the royal Plantagenet anger was roused again. "The false fool! De Warenne, you will see that he is plucked from his bloody throne, and brought to me on his knees begging for my mercy! Within the month I want Baliol lodged in the Tower of London!"
John de Warenne had so many men-at-arms to deploy, he chose some of Lynx's foot soldiers, along withbattalions belonging to Percy and Bohun, to stay behind in Berwick to rebuild and to keep the seaport securely under English control. He directed Anthony Bek, the warrior Bishop of Durham who commanded his own levy of soldiers, to capture King Baliol, then de Warenne took the main body of the army up the coast toward Dunbar where he knew Earl Patrick would remain steadfast to the English. At Dunbar, Edward Plantagenet planned to rejoin his army as it crossed the Lammermuir Hills and cleared the way to the capital city of Edinburgh.
*
49
Robert Bruce began to gather up men-at-arms from throughout Northumberland. More Irish and Welsh troops, along with supplies, poured into Carlisle each day, and by the end of the week, Bruce was ready to march into Scotland to take back what had been his.
When word reached him of the massacre at Berwick he knew Comyn, who commanded the Scottish army, would retaliate. Robert Bruce assumed Comyn would march his main army to confront the English. He was astounded when he learned his bitterest enemy was avoiding the English in the east and was instead destroying towns in the west. Comyn's forces were meting out the same mindless destruction that Edward had used at Berwick. He encouraged his army of Scots to ravage the English countryside as soon as they crossed the border, first destroying the monastery of Hexham, then sweeping through Redesdale
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