Forgiven Never Forgotten by Susan Leigh Furlong

Author:Susan Leigh Furlong [Furlong, Susan Leigh]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: FIC027160 FICTION / Romance / Historical / Scottish
Publisher: The Wild Rose Press
Published: 2023-07-23T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Eighteen

Glencoe, Scotland—February 13, 1692

Deafening explosions and choking black smoke jolted her awake. Her lungs burned with each breath as flames sizzled all around her, hissing like evil, consuming everything in their path. She called out to her mother and father, but only a raspy gasp came out of her throat. She felt her way blindly through the smoke as raging clumps of burning straw and wood fell from the collapsing thatched roof. She stumbled over to her parents’ bed and tripped over the body of her father. Moving her trembling hands across his lifeless chest, blood soon covered her fingers.

Strong hands grasped her shoulders, lifting her up. “Joneta, we have to get out of here! They shot him in the back and slit his throat! There’s nothing we can do for him!”

“We canna leave him!” she cried to John, hoping he could hear her over the roaring flames.

“We have to. He’s dead!”

A loud report sounded as the mortar of clay between the two layers of the stone wall of the house crumbled from the heat. She screamed and buried her face in John’s chest.

“The soldiers betrayed us,” John shouted. “The whole of Glencoe is burning.” He swung her into his arms and carried her toward the back of the house.

Joneta struggled against her brother. “Where is Mum?”

“Alex has her. Hold tight to me.”

“What about the animals?”

“We already let them out,” he said in gasping breaths. “But the soldiers slaughtered them anyway.”

Turning her face to catch one last glimpse of her father, she saw someone in the doorway, a pistol in his hand and his dirk dripping with dark red blood.

“’Tis Rory,” she said into John’s ear. “He’s here.”

“He’s one of the soldiers, one of them who killed our father,” said John as he stepped over a burning timber and into the snow-covered yard. Tonight, the survivors of King William’s soldiers’ massacre had little choice but to climb the rocky ridges surrounding the glen and pray they could find shelter in the hills.

“Rory betrayed us. Brought the soldiers here,” John said in a voice gravelly from the smoke. “Alex, Alex, over here!” he called to their brother, carrying the limp form of their mother while herding three women and four children ahead of him.

“We have to get to the caves,” Alex shouted. “Some of the soldiers followed us. Rory Campbell is with them.”

“Nay, it canna be,” cried Joneta. “No’ my Rory.”

“What makes him yer Rory?” called Alex. “He convinced Da we’d be safe if we welcomed the king’s soldiers on our land, and now they’re burning and killing us.” He leaned over and coughed out a thick clog of phlegm. It splattered in the snow, leaving a black stain. “Ye can ne’er trust a Campbell. They’re our enemy and always will be. We told ye to stay away from Campbells, and now ye ken why!”

Joneta loosened her grip on John’s neck. She could barely breathe from fear, panic, and regret. “I can walk now. Let me go. I can carry one of the children so we can move faster.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.