Guardian Angel (Book 4)

Guardian Angel (Book 4)

by

Ian Johnstone

Copyright 2018 Ian Johnstone,

Cover Art by Ida at Amygdala Design

Cannons at Stirling Castle Authors own Work

Mary Queen of Scots ...Francoic Clouet (1542-1587)

All rights reserved. No portion of this story may be reproduced by any means whatsoever, except for the cover and a short text for review purposes. There will be no other reproduction of any chapters, paragraphs, or quotes, unless there is written consent from and signed by the author.

This story is historic fiction and any names mentioned are also fictional. Any resemblance to real people is purely coincidental.

Published in eBook format by eBookIt.com

http://www.eBookIt.com

ISBN-13: 978-1-4566-3050-8

TABLE OF CONTENTS

CHAPTER ONE

CHAPTER TWO

CHAPTER THREE

CHAPTER FOUR

CHAPTER FIVE

CHAPTER SIX

CHAPTER SEVEN

CHAPTER EIGHT

CHAPTER NINE

CHAPTER TEN

CHAPTER ELEVEN

CHAPTER TWELVE

CHAPTER ONE

Andrew had eaten his meal and was on his way to the library as there was a lot to be done, the new theory that Kevin had now come up with had blown his own to pieces. The only part he could salvage was his theory about the possible name of the skeleton, and that was only because its identity was written down in the diary. However, he was not going to knock the idea that the extensions were to do with the Jacobite Risings. The English armies were in the highlands fighting alongside the Scottish, so the arms for the Jacobite’s would be more lightweight for hit and run battles.

In his hand was the messengers pouch with the two letters inside, they had now been scanned and copied. Once that task was completed he folded them up before returning them to the leather messenger’s pouch where they had been found. He laid the copies on the desk in front of him to look at the mass of jumbled letters making unreadable words. It is in code he thought but the question he silently asked, was it written in French, Latin or English. Running across the top was a single line of letters and no two where the same.

Andrew was about to try and decipher the code, but stopped and put his pen down when a thought struck him. If what Kevin had now stated was true, then who was the skeleton and how did he die? Surely whoever in the Jacobite times made the extension would have removed it if it been there on their entry.

Andrew put all the copies of the letters into his folder before moving them to his briefcase, and it was then when he walked over to the cabinet and opened the secret drawer. He removed the diary and looked for the page where the death of Donald Macleod was mentioned. He turned over the pages until he saw the name mentioned once more and stopped. He spent over an hour translating the Latin until he had the full story.

February 12th 1570

My younger brother Andrew arrived today after receiving my message, and he has brought with him two men servants to help with the task I requested him to help me with. On his arrival I was informed that the men where cousins of poor Donald Macleod, he had arranged this to ensure secrecy. I picked this time of the year because I had visited the Campbell croft before the New Year, and I had noticed that the body of poor Donald has now deteriorated but was frozen solid. It will be far easier to cover up and move tonight once we have all eaten.

I have just returned from Campbell’s croft where we removed the body of Donald and it is now on its way to the clan graveyard of the Macleod’s. There is now a body of a man that died about the same time in the prison where my brother is the governor. On my death my brother will take over the rank of Lord Stuart but the house will remain on my side of the family for generations to come. The secret will be safe with him in any further troubles.

It was important that we left the other body in the same position that we had found Donald so that it looks as though he died there in the croft. We left the Macleod broach along with a claymore and dagger with the armour piled in the corner. The replacement body is doing a more noble part in serving Queen Mary and Scotland in death, than he had ever done throughout his miserable life. I could not help myself from saying rest in peace as we left him in his locked tomb.

Andrew gave a sigh of relief knowing the puzzle had been solved partially. It was obvious that Lord Stuart’s brother was also up for a bit of skulduggery. He looked at the clock on the wall and printed the page on the screen, it was late but he knew Douglas would still be in the lounge. He put the diary away in its safe drawer before picking up his briefcase and the paper anticipating on leaving the room.

On leaving the library Andrew stepped over the hallway and knocked on the lounge door. He heard Douglas say enter before he pushed down on the handle to open the door. Douglas looked up and said, Andrew, you look as though you have found something. Come and sit down and tell me all about it.

He sat down opposite Douglas and said, Did you know that the first Lord Ahearn Stuart had a younger brother called Andrew that was a prison governor? By looking at this entry in the diary, he was as secretive and in the conspiracies along with Lord Stuart.

What made you look at the diary tonight, because I thought I heard you say you were going to decipher those letters?

I was, Sir, but Kevin messed up a big theory and I needed answers to the dead body in the Campbell croft. He passed the paper to Douglas and said, David Hamilton told Lord Stuart that he had found Donald Macleod dead from being stabbed. It never made sense when the pathologist we use could not find any sign of stabbing or being bludgeoned.

The reason was it was not the body that should have been there. It has in a way cleared up one mystery, but opened another. The whiskey was laced with enough belladonna to kill a horse, so what was that going to be used for? Was the jar already in the croft at the time of his death or was it hidden or placed there later? The other thing is did the secret room get emptied before it was filled with weapons for the Jacobite rebellion and when?"

I have some questions I need to ask Kevin in the morning about the Campbell croft weapons.

You treat Kevin as an equal, Andrew, is there a reason because he has nowhere near the qualifications you have?

I know a great deal about the history of Scotland and the Scottish people. Kevin is a real authority on weapons and is constantly surprising Lady Lindsay and me because he is not blinkered. Just because we have given something a theory at a later date if he finds new evidence he is not afraid to admit he was wrong on a point and throw us all into despair.

He remembers all that I tell him and he is constantly telling me things I never knew. Today he really messed up three months of theories by taking us from the Queen Mary era into the Jacobite era. It was like he pulled down a shutter and said we are now in a different Scotland to the one you knew, wake up people. I like working with him because he has the same energy as me, and like me he is always looking for the obscure answer that others had overlooked.

There is something that I would like to ask you, my Lord, and if you say no I will leave it at that. It concerns the Campbell croft and this admittance of a conspiracy to fraud for obvious reasons. I need Kevin to think about what we found and what I know about the change. There are many questions that have been placed in front of me now that he might be able to help me with, but only if he has the same knowledge as me. I would like to show him this page out of the diary, and I know he will not tell a soul if he was asked not to.

Andrew, I knew at some time you will have to make public that diary, or rather the contents. I would rather it be much later when we have scanned through it for more answers to my own family. I will agree to your request, but I would like to talk to Kevin in the morning, and I shall give him this information personally. I have a very good reason for doing it this way as you will see tomorrow.

Have Kevin come here at nine in the morning and we can all talk.

Thank you, my Lord, but please don’t feel obligated in any way I can get around the problem if you do not feel comfortable.

Andrew, I thank you for that gesture, but Scottish history is for all and not just the few. It will be fine, if you and Lady Lindsay trust Kevin then I will too.

Andrew had just walked down the stairs into the kitchen and was sitting down drinking coffee. Andrew, can you hear me, are we going to Eagles Flight this morning?

Send Dave and the crew up there to get the covers up so that we can remove whatever is in the secret room. I want you to come here because Lord Stuart would like to have a word with you at nine a.m.

Hello, Andrew, I will come to Eagles flight with you, so that you can bring me up to speed on developments. I will be there in fifteen minutes.

Andrew then heard Kevin telling Dave what was needed as he was sipping his coffee.

He was glancing through his notes when the front door bell went and Drummond walked out. On his return he said, Lady Lindsay has arrived and in the lounge talking with Lord Stuart.

Good morning, Douglas, I am meeting Andrew and Kevin here to go with them up to Eagles Flight. From what I heard Andrew saying over the radio you will be having a talk with Kevin. He is not in trouble with you is he?

Good heavens no, I would like him to look at a weapon for me.

There was a knock and Drummond entered and said, Andrew and Kevin are outside, my Lord, wishing to see you.

Bring them into the lounge, Drummond.

Moments later the two young men were just inside the door and both gave a morning greeting to Lord Stuart and Lady Lindsay. Kevin, Lady Lindsay has told me all about you and the way you have turned your life about. I am very impressed, and you should be very proud of what you have achieved. Come over to the fire with me I want to show you something.

They both walked over and Douglas pointed to the sword and dagger. Take a look at those and give me your opinion, and you may take them down for closer examination.

Kevin lifted the sword out of its resting place and felt the weight with a confused expression on his face. He then turned and walked towards the window to give it a thorough examination. There was no mistaking the look of excitement on his face as he scrutinised the weapon. He then looked at them all staring at him and said, Truly magnificent and unexpected. You might not believe me, my Lord, but I believe this is a sword that belonged to a king. It has the royal armourers mark just below the hilt on the blade.

This sword has been made from the finest steel without any kind of blemish on the blade. There are no intricate designs on the blade that might make it weak, just the glass like polished steel. He gave a slow swing with the sword and smiled. It is perfectly balanced unlike many other swords of its type.

If what I say is correct and I don’t for one second think I am wrong. This is the sword that belonged to James the forth of Scotland, because I know where all the others are. My father told me that he had seen the one the English had and it was not a Scottish sword. He also told me of what his ancestors passed down through the generations, and that was the Kings sword was taken from the battlefield at Flodden before the English removed and flaunted it.

That is ridicules, Kevin; you must have got your facts muddled up. Lady Lindsay said.

No he is right on the button, Lady Lindsay. He watched Kevin place the sword back in its resting place with shaking hands before he turned to face them once more. Douglas handed Kevin the translated letter Mary Tudor gave the first Lord Stuart.

Kevin read it and smiled before he said, I am right, but that is not what has made me so happy. The fact that I have had the chance to handle and swing the sword of state belonging to King James can never be matched. I had my hands on the hilt of the sword that King James held so many times in battle.

He handed the paper back to Douglas and said, I can understand why you have kept this secret, my Lord, and the secret is still safe with me.

Thank you, Kevin, but now I will show you a bigger secret. Andrew has been translating some letters belonging to the first Lord Ahearn Stuart. They will be made public at some point, but not before we have checked them all for secrets that need to stay secret.

Douglas handed him the translation from the previous evening and said Andrew translated this last night. They watched him read the entry and start laughing.So Andrew my revelation got to your brain as it did mine last night. I sat thinking about that find and the others. I think the only two secret rooms that the first Lord Stuart had anything to do with was the one at Steeple crag and the Campbell croft.

I believe that it is for that reason why the secret keys to the room are the same in both of those crofters, lodges. In the other two they are different from each other which are strange, but maybe it is not. We can now explain why there were Jacobite weapons in the one on the western boundary and the Campbell estate and I believe we will find the same at Eagles Flight. Laggan will also be a Jacobite find if there is a secret room there.

I think those five crofts and the one at Laggan were built at the same time, but the three that Lord Stuart never armed the extensions were not built until just before the Jacobite uprising. It is for that reason the stone is dressed and not natural. The back walls of the croft houses had been pulled down and rebuilt to place the secret doors in, and that is why they are different in design.

I cannot be sure but while you are delving into the first Lord Stuarts papers, Andrew. I would think he will have a plan of his two croft houses, and that is why they are identical even down to the hidden door key. If there is a secret room in that crofter’s house in Laggan, I will bet my wages it should have something to do with the fire.

Say that all that you have said is true, Kevin, how do you work out about the fact the skeleton was left in the building while the arms were being changed?

I don’t think they were being changed, Andrew. I think the Jacobite conspirators took out what they thought was of no use like the cannon that we never found and replaced them with muskets and pistols. However, as for your question why the skeleton was not moved? Andrew, who was Lord Stuart by that time knew all about it, and left it in its place of rest. It was by that time of no consequence to what was taking place. He locked the door and left the skeleton to its silent secret of guarding the past. We have to remember that the new Lord Stuart would most probably be a Jacobite because he was a Stuart and would conspire against the government forces.