Authors: Barbara Erskine

Kingdom of Shadows (108 page)

Clare never saw Isobel again.

Requiescat in pace.

The low morning sun slanted into the nursery at Duncairn, warming the carpet, reflecting on the toys on their shelves. A pink furry rabbit lay on the floor, and little Margaret Isobel Forbes stared at it happily as she lay kicking on her blanket, waiting for her mother to come and feed her. Near her lay a golden retriever puppy, sleeping deeply in the sunlight, Archie’s slightly embarrassed present to his step-daughter and his adored grandchild.

Bored with the rabbit, Margaret began to look around the room, her eyes caught by the movement of the curtains in the slight breeze, and by the shadows of the bars of her cot, thrown obliquely across the wall …

As she frowned, on the point of tears, the puppy sat up. It stared for a moment into the corner of the room, then with a yelp of fear it fled for the door. It scrabbled it open with its small paws and vanished into the hall. Margaret didn’t notice. A lady was standing near her suddenly, smiling, bending towards her, and the child held out her little hands for the toy she was offered, an ivory rattle, with a silk ribbon and silver bells.

She heard her mother’s voice, laughing, in the hall and she turned her head away. When she looked back the lady and the toy were gone.

HISTORICAL NOTE

The story of the Countess of Buchan’s revolt against her husband, her desperate ride to Scone to crown her king, her subsequent capture and her terrible fate are well known and matters of recorded history. That she was Robert’s mistress was the conjecture or invention of the more malicious English chroniclers; Robert’s roving eye was well documented, although in later years he and his wife Elizabeth were reconciled and she went on to bear him four children.

Isobel disappears from history in 1313 when the last time she is mentioned in the records was when she was transferred to the custody of Sir Henry Beaumont, Earl of Buchan.

When Robert reclaimed his surviving scattered family and friends after Bannockburn, Isobel was not amongst them.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

I should like to extend my thanks to all those who have helped me with information for this book and who have so patiently answered my questions on so many diverse subjects.

Amongst them I must mention especially the Revd Edgar Pearson, the Revd Brian Toll and the Revd Peter Disney for their advice on the subject of possession and exorcism; Janet Hanlon for her information on childbirth; Ann and Michael Grieve; Richard Smith-Carington; Michael Unsworth for all his help on the subject of the oil industry. Also my husband Michael Hope-Lewis for his information on the City and the way it works, and for his tolerance in putting up with a diet of spaghetti for two years while I wrote the book!

I am very grateful to the Sheldon Press for allowing me to use the extracts from the prayers of exorcism from
Healing the
Family Tree
by Dr Kenneth McAll.

Thank you too, to the people of Buchan, especially David Rennie at Dundarg, who welcomed us into their homes and showed us the ancient castles which form the frame for this story.

Duncairn does not exist. Had it done so, it would have been very near to Old Slains, and looked not unlike Dunottar!

Barbara Erskine
Great Tey 1988

About the Author

Kingdom of Shadows

Barbara Erskine is the author of
Lady of Hay
, which has sold well over a million copies worldwide,
Kingdom of Shadows,
Encounters
and
Child of the Phoenix
, which was based on the story of one of her own ancestors.
Midnight is a Lonely Place
and
House of Echoes
were shortlisted for the W H Smith Thumping Good Read awards of 1995 and 1997 respectively and were followed by
Distant Voices
and
On the Edge of Darkness
. Her most recent novels,
Whispers in the Sand and Hiding From the Light
were both
Sunday Times
top ten bestsellers. Barbara Erskine’s novels have been translated into thirty languages.

Barbara Erskine has a degree in mediaeval Scottish history from Edinburgh University. She and her family divide their time between the Welsh borders and their home near the coast of North Essex.

Praise for Barbara Erskine:

‘Barbara Erskine’s storytelling talent is undeniable’ The Times

‘Fascinating, absorbing, original – and hypnotic’ She

By the same author

LADY OF HAY
ENCOUNTERS
(Short stories)
CHILD OF THE PHOENIX
MIDNIGHT IS A LONELY PLACE
HOUSE OF ECHOES
DISTANT VOICES
(short stories)
ON THE EDGE OF DARKNESS
WHISPERS IN THE SAND
HIDING FROM THE LIGHT
SANDS OF TIME

HarperCollins
Publishers
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Hammersmith, London W6 8JB

www.harpercollins.co.uk

This paperback edition first published by HarperCollins 2004

First published in Great Britain by Michael Joseph Ltd 1988
Published by Sphere Books Ltd 1989
Published by Warner Books 1992

This novel is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents
are either the product of the author’s imagination or used fictionally.
Any resemblance to actual events or locales or organizations or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

The quotation from ‘I Have a Dream’ composed by Bjorn Uluaeus and
Benny Anderson, is copyright © Bow Music Ltd, 1979, 1 Wyndham
Yard, London, W1H 1AR, reproduced by kind permission. It is specifically excluded from any blanket photocopying arrangements.

Barbara Erskine asserts the moral right to
be identified as the author of this work

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Epub Edition JANUARY 2009 ISBN: 9780007290673