Michael Alexander McCarthy

1597 - Blighted by famine, plague and disease, Scotland is plunged into a witch panic the like of which has never been seen before.

A superstitious monarch, a compliant aristocracy and a fearful population search for scapegoats to blame for their suffering and pain.

The ensuing hysteria and brutality are seized upon by those intent on settling old scores and by those willing to grasp the opportunity to line their own pockets.

John Seton is sucked into the insanity and cruelty of the witch trials and must fight to extricate himself from the madness if he is to save his own neck.

410 AD – The land of the Britons is thrown into chaos when the despairing Roman Emperor withdraws his legions in a desperate bid to prevent the collapse of his disintegrating empire. Left to their fate by their former masters, the vassal kings turn their eyes to the north in search of new wealth to plunder. The warring northern tribes lack the strength and unity to resist and seem destined to fall prey to the greed of their southern neighbours. Just when it seems that the gods will offer them no salvation, there comes one king to rule them all and soak the earth with blood from sea to sea and from the Dark Isles to Great Caesar’s Wall.

A poisoned legacy! 

The discovery of his grandfather's journal drags David Strachan away from his comfortable corporate life and into a world of secrets and lies that stretches from Germany's early victories on the battlefields of France to the rubble and slaughter of Stalingrad and onto the desperate, dying days of the Third Reich. 

Strachan struggles to come to terms with his grandfather's true identity and his life is changed forever as he tries to settle old debts and make amends for past sins.

Scotland, 1297. 

The Plantagenet King, Edward 1st of England, has deposed and imprisoned the Scottish King, John Balliol. While the Scottish nobles bicker and squabble over the crumbs from the English King's table, Edward's army terrorizes the Scottish people and seeks to subjugate them at the point of their swords.

Scotland, like Wales before it, seems certain to fall under Edward's dominion and to be crushed within his iron fist. 

To the fury of this great and terrible King, his forces cannot turn occupation into conquest and force the rebellious Scots to succumb to the rule of the Plantagenet King. Failed by their leaders, the Scottish peasantry defy the mighty Edward and fight to send him homeward to think again.

Scotland, 1298.

The stubborn and rebellious Scots have resisted Edward 1st of England’s attempts to add the Crown of Scotland to that of England. With furious determination, Edward sets about bringing Scotland under his control to secure his legacy as the ‘Hammer of the Scots’.

He condemns Scotland to ten long years of slaughter, burning, rape and pillage. Through intrigue, cunning and cruelty, he slowly but surely extinguishes the flames of rebellion until only embers of patriotism remain amongst the peasantry. 

How can commoners like the men of Scotstoun stand against proud Edward’s might when their superiors are crushed or lose courage and bend the knee?

Scotland, 1306. 

Scotland's struggle for independence reaches its most bloody and brutal stage as the avarice and ambition of King Edward of England drive him on to expand his kingdom. 

Only the stubborn, obdurate Scots stand in his way and he must crush them in order to keep the throne he believes to be his by right. The Plantagenet King throws age and infirmity aside in rage when he is told that Robert Bruce has broken faith and seized the Scottish Crown for himself. 

His vow to avenge this insult ignites a new phase of unprecedented savagery in the struggle between the two Kingdoms and will lead to an epic clash between the might of the English nobility and the Scottish King’s peasant army on the field of Bannockburn. 

Scotland, 1314. 

Though weakened by the crushing defeat of his army at Bannockburn, estranged from the English nobility and financially crippled, King Edward of England stubbornly refuses to relinquish his claim to the Scottish throne and to recognise Robert Bruce as King of Scots.
 

Determined to force the hand of the enfeebled Plantagenet King, Robert Bruce sends the Earl of Carrick, the Earl of Moray, Sir James Douglas and the men of Scotstoun to raid and pillage deep into England and Ireland to diminish the power of their enemy and to strip away the wealth of England so that Scotland can be strengthened.
  

Though wounded and beset from all sides, the Plantagenet King will not be so easily defeated. Through determination, guile and hard-headed obstinacy, King Edward resists the Scottish King through two full decades and raises one army after another in order to frustrate Robert Bruce and bring Scotland back under English rule.
 

John Edward and the men of Scotstoun are at the centre of this epic, dynastic struggle and stand shoulder to shoulder with their countrymen on battlefields on Scottish, Irish and English soil. They must set aside their dreams of peace once again and attempt to win liberty and nationhood through brutal, bloody struggle.