The Highland Frontier

Prologue

"The Second World War is much more interesting." I looked up from my book to glance at Heather as she had her eyes locked onto her laptop, the bright screen blasting its white light onto her freckled face.

"How?" I asked before looking around the living room. It was still a calm and quiet day, but it was clear that Heather's mind was anything but, it seemed more like the turbulence of a summer storm than a windless Saturday morning.

"Because it's just... more interesting!" Heather replied bluntly, "We could be learning about the blitz, or the blackouts or... well, the battles but instead we're looking at how the Scottish Wars of Independence started. Booooring..." she sulked before returning to her computer. I just chuckled and returned to my book. I never understood computers. Amazing things they were, all the information you need at the touch of a mouse. Heather must have explained how to use them over a dozen times but it never stuck. I preferred to go to the library to get everything I needed.

"Yes but the Scottish Wars are part of ourselves, it runs deep with people." I tried to explain, only to be greeted with a bored and glazed look.

"Yes but it's all of this political stuff, we get enough of that on the News." She huffed before getting up for a drink, heading into the kitchen next door.

"The First and Second Wars are political too, all wars are driven by politics. And the next one will be too." I sipped my coffee. Heather had made it wrong but I can go without sugar this once.

"You're a ray of sunshine, gran," she called from the kitchen before returning with a can of cola. "In those wars, you get to talk about the trenches, gas attacks, the Blitz and all kinds of stuff. All we get to learn about is Longshanks and how he got control of Scotland."

I look at my grand-daughter with a sigh. She was a typical child, more interested in the action and fighting than the subtleties of what happened behind it all and the driving force of the violence. Heather was my second oldest grandchild at twelve years old and in her final year of primary school. Unlike a lot of girls her age, Heather was a solitary figure, much preferring the company of herself, her books and computer as opposed to others her own age, opting for reading rather than shopping or sleepovers, much like myself when I was a girl. However, despite her known reputation as a bookworm, even that could not prevent the boredom of a school project, one that was due at the end of a fortnight. All I knew was that she had the choice of studying a historical figure or choose one element of the wars to write about. And while I could not see the screen, I could see the bright white light reflecting into her eyes, showing an empty page.

"Do you know about any of the battles that happened in the Scottish Wars?" I asked, "There were quite a few and they had a huge impact on the outcome of the War."

"Mrs Craig won't tell us about them. She said we have to talk about how it started and then we can talk about the battles! But that will take forever!" She sulked, "Do you remember anything from school you might have learned, gran?"

I took a methodical sip of my coffee as I contemplated that question before I could answer, "Cannot say I do." Heather sighed in annoyance at this, "Now that's not to say I remember nothing."

"Sure." she sighed before turning back to her computer.

Impatience, also typical. I finish my coffee and begin looking at the times for the television, I was interested in the quiz shows but a documentary about the subject matter would brighten Heather's spirits. If she had the patience to sit through it, that is.

Time went by without words, the only sounds other than the cars and birds outside were the television and the clattering of Maxie the bearded collie's claws on the wooden floor as she wandered around the flat, searching for any crumbs from the bacon rolls we had for breakfast before coming up to the coffee table, eyeing up my small stack of custard creams. I settled into the couch and watched my programs, not bothering to tell off Maxie as she not so subtly took the biscuits from the table and retreated to eat them.

"Gran?" Heather said after some time, "You said that the Scottish Wars were part of us, right?"

"That's right." I replied, still flicking through my magazine, "How?"

"I just thought, would there have been men who fought in some of the battles in our family tree? I mean, if I could find names I could tell Mrs Craig about it."

I took my time to answer that question. It was something I had never actually thought about before and surely it would be something worth knowing. And it would surely cure Heather's boredom too.

"That would be a good idea. I'm sure they would have books about it in the library, we could go later-"

"Library?" Heather snorted a laugh, "Gran there are, like hundreds of websites that could tell us!" I shook my head and waved my hand a little with a chuckle. Of course, there were.

"Oh, that's right. Best you do that then, I can't even turn those things on." I watched her as she began to browse, the light on her face flashing many fantastic colours as she raced through many websites like lightning.

It was not until the quiz show was finished and the next one was beginning when Heather finally shimmied onto the couch next to me, laptop in hand.

"Well? Anything good?" I asked, looking onto the screen as I adjusted my glasses. On the screen was the very end of a family tree, spreading out like a grapevine with names at the end.

"I looked on your side of the family and the earliest ancestors I can find are these two," she circled the cursor around a pair of names reading Robert and Marian Mcinnes. Clicking on Robert's name, it brought up his profile. He was a nobleman at the time prior to Robert the Bruce's reign who grew up in Edinburgh, but there did not appear to be any record of battles he may have been in or any feats of heroism or rebellion, whether they did not happen or the records were simply lost. With information this ancient, this was less than surprising.

"That's rubbish! Surely he fought in one of the battles or something! This was a waste of time." Heather whined as she went to sit back at the table with the laptop. Just as she stood up, I managed to grab her arm.

"Hold the phone, look at Marian's page, maybe that has something interesting." I pointed to the screen for emphasis.

"Women did not fight in the war, gran. They did not really do anything back then."

"Still, there could be something there. Why don't we take a look?" Heather sighed and sat back down, clicking on her name. Bringing it up, it showed her maiden name as Marian McKeegan, born in 1282 on the windy coast of Argyll to commoners. How did she become the wife of a nobleman in Edinburgh? Already, my curiosity was peaked.

"Hmm... there's nothing," She sounded disappointed, "Wait, there's a document here." Before I could do anything else, she clicked on the link, bringing up a PDF. It was a very ancient looking scroll with small writing that looked as though it could be ripped by mental thought alone.

"It looks long." Heather observed as she leaned closer to read the words, "The Last Wishes and Testemonies of Marian McKeegan" underneath was what we both expected, that being the woman's will, meaning Robert must have died before she did. She had raised three sons and a daughter, from what we could see by the family tree. The writing was faded but elegant and intelligent; remarkable for a woman of her time, but that was not the most intriguing part. Underneath the writing, something caught my eye; a rough illustration of what looked to be a highland cow, led by what looked like a girl. It was coloured black with charcoal. Underneath the illistration there were more words but they were different. The opening lines had a close resemblance to a memoir.

"This might be interesting. Let's have a look, we have all day don't we?" I smiled at Heather, whose eyes had not left the screen, already hooked. Without another word, we moved closer together and began to read...