Rise of a Legend (Guardian of Scotland Book 1) Read Online Free Page A

Rise of a Legend (Guardian of Scotland Book 1)
Book: Rise of a Legend (Guardian of Scotland Book 1) Read Online Free
Author: Amy Jarecki
Tags: Historical fiction, Romance, Historical, Literature & Fiction, Historical Romance, Time travel, Scottish, Ancient World
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prayed so hard for a man to be wrong.
    Sour bile churned in his stomach.
    Dear Lord, I cannot be too late .
    But his gut told him differently. Approaching the cottages near the English fort, the smoke grew thick as fog. Not a woman wept or infant cried. An eerie quiet wafted through the air with the billowing blackness. William drove his horse forward and pulled his mantle across his nose, his eyes tearing at the sting.
    Father John Blair rode in beside him. “My God.”
    Though the butchering had become a common scene, William would never grow accustomed to it. Scots men, women and children lay face down in the mud, their blood turning the puddles to a sickly maroon. Others hung by the neck, suspended from ropes affixed to the lintel of the burning barn. The ropes creaked on the wood, swinging back and forth in a demanding rhythm, screaming outrage as their lifeless bodies swayed.
    “Cut them down,” William growled.
    Riding further into the war-torn border village, William’s throat thickened. None of this made sense. A madman had invaded his beloved Scotland and his countrymen paid in blood with these nonsensical raids.
    Since Edward Plantagenet sacked Berwick and Dunbar one year past, William had formed a secret militia of a score and ten men. But his efforts were not enough. Worse, the Scottish nobles had been hogtied—any insurrection on their part and the upper class would face ruination. The nobility could lose not only their lands, but indeed their families could end up ruined by the same murderous tyranny William and his men witnessed this day. Forced to sign an oath of fealty, none of the great men in Scotland could stand against the mightiest army in Christendom.
    Not unless they are united .
    But the day of emancipation seemed a passing dream. Edward had imprisoned the King of the Scots, John Balliol in the Tower of London. English raids grew ever worse. And now the bastards had lured William’s father and other influential men into their clutches.
    Many faces of the fallen were familiar.
    A gust of wind cleared the smoke a bit. Gulping back a heave, William wished it hadn’t.
    Dread iced through his veins as he inched his horse through the boggy street.
    Though the man lay flat on his face, there was no mistaking Wallace gazed upon the remains of his father. All shreds of hope dissolved. The back of Da’s legs had been deeply cut, as if the bastards sliced through his sinews to take the big man to his knees. And by the wounds encrusted with blood, they’d attacked his body with spears and knives.
    Disbelief clutched William’s heart into a tight ball. He’d experienced hate before, but never an all-consuming malignity that seeped from his skin like a sickly plague. Sucking in gasping breaths, his chest heaved. His gaze shifted left then right. The cowards have fled? “They’d best not sleep.” His voice tremored. “For I will hunt down each of these murderers and watch the life flee from their eyes as they suffer the cold iron of my sword.”
    “The blackguards’ tracks lead north.” Blair stepped beside him, his voice sounding like the toll from a lone church bell announcing a funeral.
    William wiped his eyes. Gritting his teeth, he dismounted and staggered to his father’s side. His tears were no longer caused by the smoke. They represented the anguish spreading through his limbs—his bleeding heart, stunned to the point where every beat pained him. Longshanks had taken his lust for power too far. William had seen annihilation by the English, carried out in the name of their bloodthirsty king, but never had Longshanks’ sword struck kin. William’s knees turned boneless as he dropped beside his father.
    Rage, despair, agony, disbelief all gripped ahold of his heart at once. His hands shook violently as he reached out. His throat thickened and choked him.
    Gathering Da into his arms, William clutched the still-warm body to his chest. Rocking back and forth, his every muscle tensed to the
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