Episode 10: Calum's Stand

By Leigh Barker

Clan, Episode 10 - the next Bitesize episode following our hero, Calum Maclean.

Calum and John leads the Manchester Regiment on a mission to delay the Duke of Cumberland’s dragoons.

If he fails, the English will catch the Bonnie Prince’s army on the road back to the border. It will be a massacre.

Lord Elcho asks him to make a stand and save the Jacobite army, and he agrees.

The English duke has four thousand men. Calum’s regiment is three hundred strong. Not really a regiment, but that’s all he has.

And with those men, Calum will stand. And if the day goes badly, then with those men, Calum will die.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Leigh Barker
• Release date: May 2, 2014
• ISBN: 9781310144950

Leigh Barker

Leigh was born in Dudley in the middle of England. He has been a merchant seaman, a (useless) electronics salesman, a programmer, and a business analyst. And now he is a full-time writer, but that doesn't make him a bad person.He is presently writing 4 series:Clan, following the adventures of Calum Maclean as he tries to avoid the Bonnie Prince but still protect his beloved Highlands.The Hellfire Legacy Series follows US Marine Master Sergeant Ethan Gill and his team as they take on the jobs too hot for other special forces. They go where they're sent; South America, Middle East, Korea, but their most dangerous missions are on US soil.Volume #1: A Whisper of ArmageddonVolume #2: The Hellfire LegacyVolume #3: The Orpheus DirectiveEden, a three-volume series -Trinity is at war with Lucid, the son of Lucifer, and he will do whatever it takes to win. The Archangel Gabriel has an army but he needs more. He needs heroes, but they are few and far between. Which is why he gets Dylan and co. Not too much luck in Heaven then.Volume #1: Eden's Last HeroVolume #2: WinterwoodVolume #3: Requiem for Eden.Soldiers is set in 1914 and follows John Regret and his 12-man squad on their suicidal mission to find and destroy the German howitzer nicknamed Big Bertha. Find it before it drops it's thousand-pound shells on the allied army retreating across France. A seemingly hopeless mission that just cannot fail.Other occasional series include:Anarchy, the 'completely true' stories of men doing what men do when there's nobody to keep them in check. Create mayhem and behave like monkeys on speed.Coffee Break Reads - each issue has 5 stories short enough to read while taking a break from life. A mix of adventure, love, disaster, and fun. All with one thing in common; for a moment they transport the reader to another world.Episode 1 of each Season is free and can be picked up with other free books at:https://leighwbarker.com/my-library/Just copy the link above and paste it into your browser and you're there...

Book preview

Clan

(Season 1)

(Episode 10)

Calum's Stand

Copyright 2014 Leigh Barker

Published by Leigh Barker at Smashwords

Smashwords Edition License Notes

This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only and may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with others, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your enjoyment only, then please return to Smashwords.com or your favorite retailer and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

ISBN: 9781310144950

Calum’s Stand

Calum rode slowly ahead of the column of three hundred soldiers following the prince’s army northwest away from Derby and back towards Manchester. Lord Elcho had called Calum’s men the Manchester Regiment, which struck him as both apt and a wee bit grandiose. Apt because these men were English from the city of Manchester, and grandiose because three hundred men was hardly a regiment. But they were risking a great deal in siding with the Jacobites, so he guessed they deserved at least that. The prince had hoped for and expected many thousands of Englishmen to join his cause as he marched south, but he’d got… the Manchester Regiment. It was a bad omen, if one was needed.

He’d ridden in the van of armies before, but never at the head. He was usually a little way back, away from the officers, but close enough to interfere with any suicidal or ludicrous plans they might hatch as they rode along thinking of ways to glory, which naturally involved the death of a great many soldiers. A trivial detail to most of the officers he’d met.

Now he was the commanding officer. He sighed heavily. How had it come to this? He looked ahead down the long road. He was no lover of roads, preferring the wide-open country of the highlands, but this one looked beautiful today. The ankle-deep snow had turned the wheel-rutted mess into a ribbon of dazzling white that reflected the winter sunshine and glistened as if scattered with diamonds, and the trees and fields lining the road were capped with ice mist that swirled gently in the cold breeze.

He turned in his saddle and nodded at a few of the soldiers who looked up from their thoughts. Only the sound of the horses’ blowing and leather creaking broke the morning stillness, with not a word from any of the men. It was eerie. But they knew what this was about, and what the end would be. Volunteers to a man, many of them were married with loved ones to grieve when they were gone. And gone they would all be. Three hundred against six thousand. There could be only one outcome.

Calum settled back slowly and looked again at the still countryside. Some of the men would survive. Might survive. A few. And each one of them thought he’d be among these few. He had to think this, or give in to the overwhelming drive for self-preservation that screamed up from every man’s soul.

He watched the mist rolling over the white fields and looked into his heart. Did he think he would be among the few who survived? He glanced across at Big John, who was watching him with a sad expression as if he knew what he was thinking. He looked away. No, he wouldn’t be among the survivors. How could he be? He