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The
Promise of Peace
Paperback: 304 pages
Publisher: Integrity Publishers
Released: September 2004
ISBN: 1591451663
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FICTION EXCERPT
The Promise of Peace
By Carol Umberger
CBN.com –
Scotland, June 1306
FRESH FROM A DECISIVE VICTORY over Robert the Bruce, Ian Macnab and his
older brother followed the Prince of Wales and his retinue of knights.
In pursuit of Bruce and what remained of the Scottish army, the English
knights and a handful of Scottish loyalists were anxious to blood their
swords again.
But Bruce had melted into the highlands. Seeking an enemy, any enemy,
the prince ordered an attack on the small, unarmed village of Midvale.
The English were destroying the village for no other reason than that
it lay in their path. As anxious as his comrades for more of victory’s
promise, this was too much for Ian. What madness had swept over these
men? He watched as the thatch on a nearby cottage caught fire and its
occupants raced for the cover of the nearby woods. The smell of smoke
and screams of women and children filled the air. Village men armed with
pitchforks tried in vain to turn back the attack. Ian longed to come to
their rescue, but even with Angus’s help, there was little they
could do to affect the outcome.
In the confusion of the charge, Ian spurred his horse next to his brother’s.
“This is wrong, Angus. We must not attack innocent people. Come,
let’s be gone!”
Angus hesitated.
“Stay then. I’m riding out.” He turned his horse and
rode to the top of the hill overlooking the village. There Ian watched
in shock, shaking his head as if doing so would make the carnage before
him disappear. He clutched his sword as anger, fear, and finally revulsion
raced through him.
Angus soon joined him on the hilltop.
It might be futile, but he couldn’t just sit here and watch. “We
must find a way to stop them!” Ian took up his reins to ride to
the rescue of the innocents being slaughtered before them.
Angus Macnab grabbed at Ian’s reins. “Nay, don’t be
foolish. Ye were right not to be party to this but ye’ll not stop
the prince when the bloodlust is on him.”
“We must try. What if this were Innishewan?” Their home and
village were safe well across the country in Argyll. But that didn’t
make it any easier to see this unfamiliar hamlet senselessly destroyed.
Angus shook his head as Ian’s bay pulled and shied from Angus’s
grasp. “If we attempt to stop the prince he will have us cut down
and then we will be no help to anyone.”
Ian had no doubt what Angus said about Prince Edward was true. The prince’s
capricious emotions and mighty temper were as feared as his father’s.
Angus Macnab let go of the reins and pointed to the west of them. “There,
brother. There ye may do some good.”
Ian looked to where Angus pointed and saw a tree-lined creek and, yes,
movement and color within the woods. Some of the unfortunates had managed
to escape from their homes to seek refuge where it could be found.
“Those will need help and I’m for it,” Angus said.
“But them in the village are beyond our help.” Though everything
in him cried out to rescue those still in the village, Ian knew his brother
was right. No sense in seeking a needless death. They were going to be
in enough trouble for refusing to attack in the first place. Reluctantly
he nodded.
Angus said, “We’ll help as we can and then slip into the
hills for a time.” They raced their horses to the creek where they
found women and children, many of them wounded. Innocents, every one.
Excerpted from The
Promise of Peace, by Carol Umberger (Integrity
Publishers, September 2004). Used by permission.
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