Insurrection: Renegade [02] by Robyn Young

service, he had never been able to dismiss the fact that if the four treasures were gathered under one man, who would rule all of Britain, it would render the Bruce claim to the throne of Scotland meaningless. In furthering Edward’s ambition, he denied his own and failed in his promise to his grandfather that he would uphold their family’s right. In the end, this truth had twisted inside him, turning him from Edward’s cause.
    Oath-breaker, they had called him. Traitor .
    But despite his unwillingness to believe, Robert could not deny the passage in the Last Prophecy that had rightly predicted King Alexander’s death.
     
    When the last King of Albany dies without issue
    The kingdom will be thrown into disarray.
    And the sons of Brutus will mourn that day
    The one of the great name .
     
    Alexander had plunged from the cliffs on a storm-tossed night on the road to Kinghorn. They found him next morning, his neck broken and his horse dead beside him. His granddaughter and heir, an infant in the court of the King of Norway, sailed to Scotland to take her place as queen, but perished on the voyage from eating rotten food. After that the crown had gone, on Edward’s choosing, to John Balliol; not a king as it turned out, but a dog on the English king’s leash. Balliol’s attempt at rebellion had been a failure, the English storming across the border and crushing the uprising in a matter of months. Edward, triumphant in his conquest of Scotland, had broken the great seal of the kingdom and sent Balliol, cowed and humiliated, to the Tower of London. Disaster followed disaster.
    Now, with the power to prevent Edward from fulfilling his ambition in his hands, Robert wondered. Did he doom Britain by this action? Would those days of ruin prophesied by Merlin now come upon them all?
    Seeing his brothers and the monks looking at him, Robert bound the staff tightly in its mildewed cloth. He had his own destiny to fulfil. Scotland must be free of subjugation to the English crown, no matter the cost. Where John Balliol had failed, he would triumph. Balliol, now in papal custody in France, might still be the rightful king in the eyes of many Scots, but to the Bruce family he had only ever been a puppet. Robert’s ancestor, the great Malcolm Canmore, had overthrown his rival, Macbeth, and had taken the throne. Now, God willing, he would do the same. Pride and blood demanded it.
    ‘It was there?’ called Cormac, as the company made their way back. When Robert raised the staff in answer, his foster-brother grinned. ‘I would give my horse and sword to see Ulster’s face when his men tell him it was gone. Serve the bastard right for burning my father’s hall.’
    Robert climbed into the boat with the others, Christopher and Cormac pushing them off before leaping in behind. As they slipped out into the water, a shadow passed over them. Robert looked into the lightening sky to see the white fan feathers of a sea eagle, its wings, eight feet across, mirrored in the lough as it swooped low, heading for the north shore. In the distance, a cloud of birds rose from the trees on the banks. Robert watched the eagle’s retreating form, thinking the predator must have disturbed them. Then, faint and far off, he heard the baying of a hound.

Chapter 5
    Caerlaverock, Scotland, 1301 AD
     
    As Edward approached his pavilion, the guards opened the flaps. The king swept inside, his mailed boots crushing the carpet of meadowsweet, its perfume a relief from the reek of smoke and dung that clogged the camp. Anthony Bek followed. Clad in a polished mail coat with a broadsword at his hip, the burly Bishop of Durham could easily have been taken for a knight, if not for his tonsure and the ecclesiastical robes he wore over the armour. Robert Winchelsea entered behind them, squeezing his frame through the narrow opening. After the Archbishop of Canterbury came four clerics and the two foreigners in scarlet robes and jewelled hats. When the company had