Post by faithfulguardian on Feb 8, 2012 10:42:25 GMT -5
Title: Danny Boy
Rating: ages 13 and up
Disclaimers: names given in this story are fictional except for a few historical figures.
Story summary: A young girl in the highlands of Scotland joins the English army to save her brother and their family lands, she is sent over to the rebellion in America, 1774.
Author's Note: this is the Prologue of sorts, all other chapters are located on my Deviantart page, I will post the link to the next chapter at the bottom if you are interested in reading more
I am free. Nothing in this world can tell me otherwise. I was born a free child in the cold winter of 1760 in the highlands. Soon followed by my twin brother. Secrets we were kept, for my father was a Jacobite, a rebel against the English crown. Only my family, the MacPhersons, knew of our existence.
My father was Ewan of Cluny, chieftain of the clan. My elder brother was Duncan. I was born Margaret Helen in the English way, and my brother was called Daniel Cluny MacPherson. Soon after our birth, our mother Janet took sick and died. My father was heartbroken and in the year 1765 he fled to France and died of a broken heart. I weren't but five years old and remember very little of the man. Duncan, being ten, was still young and we were raised by family from another glen. As we grew I refused to be left behind in any adventure and soon was taught to hunt and farm beside the boys. At the age of eighteen, Duncan was married and we returned to our own croft. There I learned to hunt, live off the land, and most of all, to hate the English.
it was the English, in the summer of 1773, who came to our home and demanded some of our flock. It was an Englishman who fired his pistol at my brother, trying to protect a small lamb. It was them that killed my Daniel.
Duncan could do nothing, they threatened his new wife as well as their newborn son, my nephew. They took his sheep and left only the sick ones. I was thirteen.
They left us then, but not before the one that did it looked back at me, I had knelt beside Daniel's body as he turned. His face was filled with contempt and a slow smile spread across his face. I remember it so clearly, even though my eyes had been blurry with tears. Then they were gone; but I was not yet finished. I had wiped my face and run inside the house, there I found Duncan's rifle hidden under his mattress, checked that it was loaded, and went back outside. I did not stop there, I took off into the hills with calls of 'Maggie no!' behind me. But I didn't stop. My brother was dead and unless I heard his voice I would not stop. I couldn't, I couldn't, I just couldn't, and I held back tears.
I had known the path the Englishmen were taking, I knew them all well. The shortcuts for those I knew even better. I went to a burnt out house, the thatched roof being long gone, but the rock walls stood firm. From there the path lay just below me. I remember looking behind me and tracing my escape route, taking into account that the rifle slowed me down some. There I had waited, and there they came. Seeing the one who had done it, I took aim; and I fired. and my target had fallen. Though I was only a child, I had been well trained. He was a piece of meat to me, nothing more.
The English had been so taken aback by the attack, I had time to escape. The weight of what could have happened to me was heavy. I could have been lying dead in a ditch with my brother.
When I walked back to my own croft, Duncan was waiting for me. He had gently taken the rifle from my hands, then wiped my face dry of tears. He had a gentle heart, my Duncan, and engulfed me in his strong embrace. Together, we buried Daniel, and a part of me died with him. Never again would I feel anything but hate towards those English, never would I have sympathy for those that did this. Never would I have anything to do with them. My heart was hardened.
That is, until they came back. One year later.
Chapter 2:
faithfulguardian.deviantart.com/gallery/12209592#/d29apig
Rating: ages 13 and up
Disclaimers: names given in this story are fictional except for a few historical figures.
Story summary: A young girl in the highlands of Scotland joins the English army to save her brother and their family lands, she is sent over to the rebellion in America, 1774.
Author's Note: this is the Prologue of sorts, all other chapters are located on my Deviantart page, I will post the link to the next chapter at the bottom if you are interested in reading more
I am free. Nothing in this world can tell me otherwise. I was born a free child in the cold winter of 1760 in the highlands. Soon followed by my twin brother. Secrets we were kept, for my father was a Jacobite, a rebel against the English crown. Only my family, the MacPhersons, knew of our existence.
My father was Ewan of Cluny, chieftain of the clan. My elder brother was Duncan. I was born Margaret Helen in the English way, and my brother was called Daniel Cluny MacPherson. Soon after our birth, our mother Janet took sick and died. My father was heartbroken and in the year 1765 he fled to France and died of a broken heart. I weren't but five years old and remember very little of the man. Duncan, being ten, was still young and we were raised by family from another glen. As we grew I refused to be left behind in any adventure and soon was taught to hunt and farm beside the boys. At the age of eighteen, Duncan was married and we returned to our own croft. There I learned to hunt, live off the land, and most of all, to hate the English.
it was the English, in the summer of 1773, who came to our home and demanded some of our flock. It was an Englishman who fired his pistol at my brother, trying to protect a small lamb. It was them that killed my Daniel.
Duncan could do nothing, they threatened his new wife as well as their newborn son, my nephew. They took his sheep and left only the sick ones. I was thirteen.
They left us then, but not before the one that did it looked back at me, I had knelt beside Daniel's body as he turned. His face was filled with contempt and a slow smile spread across his face. I remember it so clearly, even though my eyes had been blurry with tears. Then they were gone; but I was not yet finished. I had wiped my face and run inside the house, there I found Duncan's rifle hidden under his mattress, checked that it was loaded, and went back outside. I did not stop there, I took off into the hills with calls of 'Maggie no!' behind me. But I didn't stop. My brother was dead and unless I heard his voice I would not stop. I couldn't, I couldn't, I just couldn't, and I held back tears.
I had known the path the Englishmen were taking, I knew them all well. The shortcuts for those I knew even better. I went to a burnt out house, the thatched roof being long gone, but the rock walls stood firm. From there the path lay just below me. I remember looking behind me and tracing my escape route, taking into account that the rifle slowed me down some. There I had waited, and there they came. Seeing the one who had done it, I took aim; and I fired. and my target had fallen. Though I was only a child, I had been well trained. He was a piece of meat to me, nothing more.
The English had been so taken aback by the attack, I had time to escape. The weight of what could have happened to me was heavy. I could have been lying dead in a ditch with my brother.
When I walked back to my own croft, Duncan was waiting for me. He had gently taken the rifle from my hands, then wiped my face dry of tears. He had a gentle heart, my Duncan, and engulfed me in his strong embrace. Together, we buried Daniel, and a part of me died with him. Never again would I feel anything but hate towards those English, never would I have sympathy for those that did this. Never would I have anything to do with them. My heart was hardened.
That is, until they came back. One year later.
Chapter 2:
faithfulguardian.deviantart.com/gallery/12209592#/d29apig