LOGINShare
Chapter 6
Last Updated:
2025-03-27 05:19:02Markus's POV
As the prison door closed behind me, I couldn’t help but feel angry, frustrated, and utterly useless. I had fallen so easily into Fitzwilliam’s trap that a child could have seen through it.
Damn it!
I knew that every time I left Castle Big Rock, I was risking my own life. The Prince of Wales might have protected me, and no one dared speak against the Duke of York, but my enemies were many and powerful. As soon as they had the chance, they would kill me.
I knew that!
Still, I couldn’t sit idly by and let the King of England do whatever he pleased with our home. The Weapons Act! The Cloth Act! Acts of utter stupidity, if you asked me. If they wanted to erase Scotsmen from Scotland, they needed more than just Acts to do so. And as I stood there, I found myself cursing the Jacobites for their foolishness. Sure, their intentions may have been pure and noble, but as they all fled to France and lived comfortably there, we were left behind to face the consequences of their actions.
Shit!
A low moan pulled me from my thoughts, forcing me to focus on our current predicament. Giles, the man with a bullet still in him, was in pain.
“Giles?” I asked, stepping as close to him as I could. “How are you holding up?”
They had placed him in a separate cell from the rest of us, but we could still see and speak to each other. There were only two guards, and the light was scarce. Fitzwilliam was certain that there was no escape for us.
“It seems he’s still leaking,” Irve said with his usual inappropriate grin as he tended to the man’s wound. “But he’ll live long enough for them to kill him.”
“I’ll live as long as I have to,” was Giles’s stubborn response, though he knew it was best to save his strength rather than defend his honor to the likes of Irve.
“Well, we’re in a tight spot, alright,” Pippin said, glancing out the window. “What do we do now, m’Lord?”
I didn’t answer. I had no idea what to do. I had been caught or ambushed before, but with some luck, I had always managed to escape. But those had only been small search parties—two or three men at most—whom I could easily take on. Fitzwilliam, however, was in a category all his own. Not only did he bring the manpower to apprehend us, but he also had the brains. And this time, I feared, Captain Fitzwilliam had even outsmarted me.
If only I had some kind of ace to play…
“Hey, the lass is with them,” Pippin said, his window overlooking the yard.
“Lass?” I asked, though I immediately knew who he was talking about. Lucky. The unusually fair-haired, blue-eyed girl. Of course, she had leaped to the next man who could offer her help. She had nothing to do with this and just wanted to go home. I couldn’t blame her for not wanting to die. But it annoyed me that those fiery eyes and playful smile would now belong to Fitzwilliam. Not to mention that she had implied I had forced myself upon her. She had already looked that way when I found her—or when she found me, whichever it was. Come to think of it, I hadn’t even asked her why she looked like that, her face scratched and her hands bruised. My mind had been solely focused on getting away from the garrison and back home.
“Boy, did she betray us fast,” Irve said bitterly. “Didn’t Your Grace offer to help her?”
“Perhaps she didn’t like His Grace’s musky smell,” Pippin quipped, bringing reluctant grins to our tired faces.
“This is our fight, not hers,” I answered, repeating what I had just thought myself. They agreed and didn’t mention her again. After all, we were still alive thanks to that woman.
Suddenly, we were all pulled from our thoughts when a priest arrived. He wore the traditional brown cloak of a high-ranking monk, with pearls and a belly that matched his position.
“Come, my children,” the Father said, his voice grand and performative. “Confess your sins now, so the Lord will look upon you with mercy.”
We exchanged skeptical glances. None of us were religious, and we were certainly not Catholics. But if we were going to die, we might as well try to make peace with our maker. A silent vote passed among us, and the responsibility fell upon the oldest.
“Alright, Father,” Irve said with a heavy heart as he stood. “I’ll confess my sins…”
Related chapters
The Unbroken Circle Chapter 7
Lucky's POVI was shown into a well-lit room with candlelight along its sides and a huge fireplace. There was a small table and two chairs in front of the fireplace, a desk at the other end, and a cabinet where bottles of wine and liquor were displayed. It was warm inside, but something about the man by my side gave me chills."Come," he said kindly, showing me to one of the chairs. "Tell me about yourself?"I sat down, and as he did nothing but act polite and gentlemanly, I knew the interrogation had begun."I'm afraid there's not a lot to tell," I answered while he poured two cups of a pale brown liquor. From the corner of my eye, I saw him adding something else to the drink, and I could only guess what it was."My name is Marie," I continued as if I were completely unaware of what he was doing. "I'm from a small ministry in Norway, near Oslo. Our mission was traveling to northern Spain via Scotland and England to get more recruits.""What happened?" he asked, settling into the chai
Last Updated : 2025-03-28The Unbroken Circle Chapter 8
Lucky's POVThe guards at the prison, of course, thought it was suspicious that I had come there. But as I offered them food and explained that my soul was in dire need of the good Father - whom I still hoped was inside - they seemed to buy it and let me enter.As I stepped into the prison, I thought it would either be peaceful or filled with desperate, fearful voices. But instead, I was met with the sound of roaring laughter."--- you can only imagine the filly’s expression, when I---," I heard the oldest one say, while his audience laughed their asses off. Well, all except the priest."You heathen dogs!" he shouted, cutting the Scot off and jumping up and down in outrage like an insolent toddler. His face turned alternately red and purple, and even I had a hard time controlling my laughter. I really didn’t want to know what had happened to that poor filly."I can only pray that God will show you scoundrels mercy, because God knows, I can’t help you!" He bellowed on, before turning a
Last Updated : 2025-04-09The Unbroken Circle Chapter 9
Lucky's POVWe rode for what I could only imagine were several hours before they stopped to rest the horses. That’s when Markus took me down from the horse and did what he hadn’t had the time to do so far...Interrogate me.“So,” he said in a strict and firm voice, as if I were a child, he was about to scold me. “Mind telling us the truth? Who are you?”“Lucky,” I answered between clenched teeth. If I opened my mouth any more than necessary, I was afraid I was going to bite off his head. The anger boiled in my blood. Even if he had brought me along, I soon figured out why.He wasn’t grateful!He needed me to be with him in case I sounded the alarm - nothing else.“Eye, you need to be, to pull off what you just did,” the old one said while helping to tend to the continuous bleeding of the wounded one.“No, my name is Lucky!” I said and turned to Markus with a glare I was hoping would put him six feet under. “I’m from the middle of nowhere, and your boss has promised to help me get back
Last Updated : 2025-04-23The Unbroken Circle Chapter 1
Lucky's POVThe cold water seemed to want to swallow me. The waves pulled and pushed me like this was a game to them. My life was insignificant to the ruler of the sea. No matter how desperately I tried to fight, it was like battling a giant.A giant of Mother Nature.The unforgiving and unkind. The resourceful and giving. The one who had kept my people alive for generations and took them back without mercy. The one we all loved and feared...The ocean!I didn’t know how it happened. Perhaps it grew tired of me and just tossed me aside. A wave grabbed me and the next thing I knew, I was being crushed against the seashore. Rocks and sand embraced my body while I frantically gasped for air.I--- I was alive?Shit!Spoke too soon! The sea had changed its mind and started to pull me back. As if I was pulled in by fire, I grabbed ahold of the shore. Stones and rocks crushed my fingers and scratched my skin. But somehow I managed to crawl far enough away to finally be free.I was free…I g
Last Updated : 2025-03-27The Unbroken Circle Chapter 2
Lucky's POVI stopped for a second and watched the trees ahead of me. I hadn’t given them much thought at first, but now, as they stood like one tall guardian after another around me, I was feeling a bit claustrophobic.The river had led me to this forest, but so far no people. Just my luck. Which was sort of ironic, since that was also my name. I smiled at my own joke and kept on going. Well, at least now, I had a direction. And I wasn’t going to die. It was late summer and the forest was rich in berries and nuts. The water was fresh and, if necessary, I could make a weapon of some kind and hunt a small animal. My biggest threat was the wildlife. The predators with sharper teeth than mine. But somehow I still kept my fingers crossed that I’d meet people before I met them.I made a stop to wash and eat some of the barriers I’d collected when I made my first native encounter.“Stay where you are!” A loud but young voice said behind me. I jumped up and faced the man. I recognized the la
Last Updated : 2025-03-27The Unbroken Circle Chapter 3
Lucky's POVWe walked at a steady pace, and it seemed somehow that the horse knew it was safest to keep off the main road. To my relief, I didn’t run into any more soldiers or civilians. It was weird though. The man by my side was dressed as a civilian, but he carried a sword and a gun as if he were fighting something. Or at least was concerned about his life. Perhaps it was the norm here, but I had a feeling that something was going on here that was bigger than myself.We walked for nearly two hours before the man started to come around. I bent forward and, as I suspected, he was waking up.“You’re awake?” I asked--- and noticed that his eyes were indeed very dark blue. And very beautiful, although he was glaring at me as if he wanted to throw me off a cliff...“Who are you?” He growled, despite the robes making it difficult for him to speak.“Friends call me Lucky,” I replied honestly. And mentally snickered at the look on his face when he realized that he was captured by a girl and
Last Updated : 2025-03-27The Unbroken Circle Chapter 4
Lucky's POVHe was surprisingly fast at mounting his horse and reached his hand out to me.“Thanks,” I said and let him help me up behind him. “So, what do I call you?”“The name’s McCollum,” he said, almost overly dramatic, but with a sense of pride and majesty that seemed to justify it. “Marcus McCollum.”“You say it as if it’s supposed to mean something,” I said, hoping not to disappoint him too much that I didn’t recognize his face or his name. He turned and looked down at me, and as I had already guessed, he was surprised.“It does, to a lot of people,” he answered.“History will remember you,” I nodded, struggling to hide my bitterness. I had known a lot of good men. My grandfather, my father. History wouldn’t remember them. They were good men, peacekeepers. History didn’t remember people like that. It remembered the ones who started wars or exterminated entire ethnic groups for their own selfish purposes. “Good for you.”I finished the sentence, but as I looked up and met his d
Last Updated : 2025-03-27The Unbroken Circle Chapter 5
Lucky's POVThe horses became uneasy, and so did their owners. A quick glance behind us revealed that we had run into a trap.Marcus snarled something between his teeth. He was angry and bitter. Not only had he ended up in a trap, but his followers were here because of him as well."McCollum!" said a firm and satisfied voice. I looked up and saw a tall man stepping forward. He had a grin on his narrow and slick face that literally made him look evil. But I thought that was his plan. They had fallen into his trap, and he didn’t hide the fact that he was satisfied. His hair was brown, and so were his eyes—or at least I thought they were—and all in all, he was actually good-looking. Yet somehow, he gave me the creeps. “We meet again!”“Captain Fitzwilliam,” Marcus said, his voice as hard as stone, sending shivers down my spine. “It’s been too long.”“Dismount!” the captain commanded, but nothing happened. The guns were ready to fire, but the Scots didn’t move a muscle until their leader
Last Updated : 2025-03-27
Latest chapter
The Unbroken Circle Chapter 9
Lucky's POVWe rode for what I could only imagine were several hours before they stopped to rest the horses. That’s when Markus took me down from the horse and did what he hadn’t had the time to do so far...Interrogate me.“So,” he said in a strict and firm voice, as if I were a child, he was about to scold me. “Mind telling us the truth? Who are you?”“Lucky,” I answered between clenched teeth. If I opened my mouth any more than necessary, I was afraid I was going to bite off his head. The anger boiled in my blood. Even if he had brought me along, I soon figured out why.He wasn’t grateful!He needed me to be with him in case I sounded the alarm - nothing else.“Eye, you need to be, to pull off what you just did,” the old one said while helping to tend to the continuous bleeding of the wounded one.“No, my name is Lucky!” I said and turned to Markus with a glare I was hoping would put him six feet under. “I’m from the middle of nowhere, and your boss has promised to help me get back
The Unbroken Circle Chapter 8
Lucky's POVThe guards at the prison, of course, thought it was suspicious that I had come there. But as I offered them food and explained that my soul was in dire need of the good Father - whom I still hoped was inside - they seemed to buy it and let me enter.As I stepped into the prison, I thought it would either be peaceful or filled with desperate, fearful voices. But instead, I was met with the sound of roaring laughter."--- you can only imagine the filly’s expression, when I---," I heard the oldest one say, while his audience laughed their asses off. Well, all except the priest."You heathen dogs!" he shouted, cutting the Scot off and jumping up and down in outrage like an insolent toddler. His face turned alternately red and purple, and even I had a hard time controlling my laughter. I really didn’t want to know what had happened to that poor filly."I can only pray that God will show you scoundrels mercy, because God knows, I can’t help you!" He bellowed on, before turning a
The Unbroken Circle Chapter 7
Lucky's POVI was shown into a well-lit room with candlelight along its sides and a huge fireplace. There was a small table and two chairs in front of the fireplace, a desk at the other end, and a cabinet where bottles of wine and liquor were displayed. It was warm inside, but something about the man by my side gave me chills."Come," he said kindly, showing me to one of the chairs. "Tell me about yourself?"I sat down, and as he did nothing but act polite and gentlemanly, I knew the interrogation had begun."I'm afraid there's not a lot to tell," I answered while he poured two cups of a pale brown liquor. From the corner of my eye, I saw him adding something else to the drink, and I could only guess what it was."My name is Marie," I continued as if I were completely unaware of what he was doing. "I'm from a small ministry in Norway, near Oslo. Our mission was traveling to northern Spain via Scotland and England to get more recruits.""What happened?" he asked, settling into the chai
The Unbroken Circle Chapter 6
Markus's POVAs the prison door closed behind me, I couldn’t help but feel angry, frustrated, and utterly useless. I had fallen so easily into Fitzwilliam’s trap that a child could have seen through it.Damn it!I knew that every time I left Castle Big Rock, I was risking my own life. The Prince of Wales might have protected me, and no one dared speak against the Duke of York, but my enemies were many and powerful. As soon as they had the chance, they would kill me.I knew that!Still, I couldn’t sit idly by and let the King of England do whatever he pleased with our home. The Weapons Act! The Cloth Act! Acts of utter stupidity, if you asked me. If they wanted to erase Scotsmen from Scotland, they needed more than just Acts to do so. And as I stood there, I found myself cursing the Jacobites for their foolishness. Sure, their intentions may have been pure and noble, but as they all fled to France and lived comfortably there, we were left behind to face the consequences of their action
The Unbroken Circle Chapter 5
Lucky's POVThe horses became uneasy, and so did their owners. A quick glance behind us revealed that we had run into a trap.Marcus snarled something between his teeth. He was angry and bitter. Not only had he ended up in a trap, but his followers were here because of him as well."McCollum!" said a firm and satisfied voice. I looked up and saw a tall man stepping forward. He had a grin on his narrow and slick face that literally made him look evil. But I thought that was his plan. They had fallen into his trap, and he didn’t hide the fact that he was satisfied. His hair was brown, and so were his eyes—or at least I thought they were—and all in all, he was actually good-looking. Yet somehow, he gave me the creeps. “We meet again!”“Captain Fitzwilliam,” Marcus said, his voice as hard as stone, sending shivers down my spine. “It’s been too long.”“Dismount!” the captain commanded, but nothing happened. The guns were ready to fire, but the Scots didn’t move a muscle until their leader
The Unbroken Circle Chapter 4
Lucky's POVHe was surprisingly fast at mounting his horse and reached his hand out to me.“Thanks,” I said and let him help me up behind him. “So, what do I call you?”“The name’s McCollum,” he said, almost overly dramatic, but with a sense of pride and majesty that seemed to justify it. “Marcus McCollum.”“You say it as if it’s supposed to mean something,” I said, hoping not to disappoint him too much that I didn’t recognize his face or his name. He turned and looked down at me, and as I had already guessed, he was surprised.“It does, to a lot of people,” he answered.“History will remember you,” I nodded, struggling to hide my bitterness. I had known a lot of good men. My grandfather, my father. History wouldn’t remember them. They were good men, peacekeepers. History didn’t remember people like that. It remembered the ones who started wars or exterminated entire ethnic groups for their own selfish purposes. “Good for you.”I finished the sentence, but as I looked up and met his d
The Unbroken Circle Chapter 3
Lucky's POVWe walked at a steady pace, and it seemed somehow that the horse knew it was safest to keep off the main road. To my relief, I didn’t run into any more soldiers or civilians. It was weird though. The man by my side was dressed as a civilian, but he carried a sword and a gun as if he were fighting something. Or at least was concerned about his life. Perhaps it was the norm here, but I had a feeling that something was going on here that was bigger than myself.We walked for nearly two hours before the man started to come around. I bent forward and, as I suspected, he was waking up.“You’re awake?” I asked--- and noticed that his eyes were indeed very dark blue. And very beautiful, although he was glaring at me as if he wanted to throw me off a cliff...“Who are you?” He growled, despite the robes making it difficult for him to speak.“Friends call me Lucky,” I replied honestly. And mentally snickered at the look on his face when he realized that he was captured by a girl and
The Unbroken Circle Chapter 2
Lucky's POVI stopped for a second and watched the trees ahead of me. I hadn’t given them much thought at first, but now, as they stood like one tall guardian after another around me, I was feeling a bit claustrophobic.The river had led me to this forest, but so far no people. Just my luck. Which was sort of ironic, since that was also my name. I smiled at my own joke and kept on going. Well, at least now, I had a direction. And I wasn’t going to die. It was late summer and the forest was rich in berries and nuts. The water was fresh and, if necessary, I could make a weapon of some kind and hunt a small animal. My biggest threat was the wildlife. The predators with sharper teeth than mine. But somehow I still kept my fingers crossed that I’d meet people before I met them.I made a stop to wash and eat some of the barriers I’d collected when I made my first native encounter.“Stay where you are!” A loud but young voice said behind me. I jumped up and faced the man. I recognized the la
The Unbroken Circle Chapter 1
Lucky's POVThe cold water seemed to want to swallow me. The waves pulled and pushed me like this was a game to them. My life was insignificant to the ruler of the sea. No matter how desperately I tried to fight, it was like battling a giant.A giant of Mother Nature.The unforgiving and unkind. The resourceful and giving. The one who had kept my people alive for generations and took them back without mercy. The one we all loved and feared...The ocean!I didn’t know how it happened. Perhaps it grew tired of me and just tossed me aside. A wave grabbed me and the next thing I knew, I was being crushed against the seashore. Rocks and sand embraced my body while I frantically gasped for air.I--- I was alive?Shit!Spoke too soon! The sea had changed its mind and started to pull me back. As if I was pulled in by fire, I grabbed ahold of the shore. Stones and rocks crushed my fingers and scratched my skin. But somehow I managed to crawl far enough away to finally be free.I was free…I g
