The Spider and the Stone: A Novel of Scotland's Black Douglas by Glen Craney

Author:Glen Craney [Craney, Glen]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: scotland, black douglas, robert bruce, william wallace, longshanks, stone of destiny, isabelle macduff, isabella of france, bannockburn, scottish independence, knights templar, scottish freemasons, declaration of arbroath
Publisher: Brigid's Fire Press
Published: 2013-10-26T07:00:00+00:00

THE NEXT MORNING, JAMES LED ten men on a run across the western traverse of the steep Trool. On the opposite banks of the loch, Edward Bruce and his detachment of two hundred Scots hid behind the trees high on the ridges while Robert and the rest of the army remained in the camp to stoke the fires that would hopefully seduce the English into the glen.

James conceded that this plan to split their small troop was fraught with risk, but he could see no other choice. If the English were allowed to pass through the forest uncontested, Pembroke and Clifford would reach the sea and burn the coastal cities between Straener to Turnberry.

He felt behind his back for his ax, making sure it was still there. All now depended on his suspicion that the stubborn English whoresons had not learned the lesson of Stirling Bridge. He would apply Wallace’s famous feint again, allowing them to chance upon him in the glen. Once discovered, he would retreat on foot and draw the English cavalry deeper into the wilderness on a chase. When Clifford’s knights became separated from the protection of their infantry, he and his Scot raiders hidden on the hills above would introduce the English to Hell’s new location.

After positioning his men in their lairs at the bottom of the glen, he sent the three sons of the Galloway crone ahead to scout. The elusive lads had earned the nickname “the Trinity” because they seemed everywhere at once; Murdoch, the fastest and quietest runner of the three, had been dubbed the Unholy Ghost.

Minutes later, the Trinity brothers returned from their reconnaissance and hightailed it around a bend where the loch angled sharply. They found their comrades hidden behind the brush on the mountain’s side of the path.

“Three hundred yards,” Murdoch whispered to James. “Clifford leads the column in full armour.”

James grinned. Just as he had hoped, Pembroke and Clifford had divided their forces and were now marching down both sides of the loch. Now, he needed one more break to fall his way. Pembroke was too clever to bring his knights into such a narrow confine without infantry at his front, but Clifford did not have the patience to be slowed by a large number of foot soldiers. With a series of prearranged hand signals, he set the rest of his men in the brush on the steepest side of the path. Satisfied with their concealment, James abandoned his hiding and walked casually down the path toward the sounds of clanging breastplates and pikes.

Clifford, riding at the head of the knights, kept his attention locked on the high ridges overhead. Behind him, two hundred infantrymen marched warily, two abreast. The English officer rode several more paces down the path before discovering a bearded man in buckskins standing with his fists set on his waist. He cantered closer—and lurched forward from sudden recognition.

James retreated in a slow run back up the glen.

Clifford dug in his spurs and charged. “A hundred

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