Behind the Chain Mail (A Look Behind the Series): Legendary Bastards of the Crown

by Rose, Elizabeth

  Most of the ships at this time were called cogs. They were clinker built (overlapping wood sides) and had only one main sail that was square. The ships were mainly used for trade and hauling cargo. Therefore, they were not built for speed. They also had flat bottoms so they could sail almost right up to the dock without bottoming out. They weren’t good in deep water or storms at sea.

  If you are a fan of Errol Flynn pirate movies, you’ll know a lot of action usually takes place on deck and around the wheel or helm of the ship. Even though ships from the time period I write about had a rudder that was moved by hand to steer the ship, I replaced it with a wheel in my stories. After all, who wants to see a captain with a rudder in his hand? The same thing with a cabin. Usually, ships from this time period didn’t have private cabins. They had sterncastles and forecastles that were raised decks at the front and back of the ships. Archers or other soldiers stood on top to fight while out at sea. There was the underbelly or hull of the ship where they stored supplies that they were transporting. But usually, the crew ate and slept on deck out in the elements with just a small area under the raised decks to go to be protected from the elements.

  The bastard triplets are grown up when Rowen’s story starts. They have found each other a decade after being separated at Burnt Candlemas. They are determined to make Edward’s life miserable since he wanted them killed as babies. Together with their armies, they raid the king, and the legend of the Demon Thief is born. I don’t use the word Thief in plural since it is thought the three of them are all one person who has the ability to change the color of his hair.

  I wanted to give each of the men a bird that they used in order to find or communicate with each other. Back then, carrier pigeons were used for transporting messages over long distances. This is a little different. While the triplets have birds, the appearance of the birds in the sky is what gives the men the messages they need to know. Rowen’s bird is a sea hawk named Mya. I figured this fit him well since Rowen has spent a good part of his life on a ship at sea.

  In this story, you are introduced to Rowen’s crew as well. It was fun to write about the scurvy dogs you might imagine that inhabit a pirate vessel. There are two villains that were a joy to write. Their names are Old Man Muck and Lucky Dog. You probably guessed by their names that they end up being villains of the book.

  When I first made up their names, I meant to write Old Man Mack. But my fingers flew over the keyboard in my normal crazy-fast way and wrote Muck instead. I looked at it and smiled. I liked it! It gave the man character without even knowing a thing about him. Therefore, Old Man Muck was his name. His sidekick, Lucky, (Lucky Dog) was named that because he was lucky to be alive. He’d had his vocal chords cut at one time and now he can barely speak. When he does talk, it is gruff and gravelly. You will love the audiobooks of this series because my narrator really brings these two to life. Restless Sea Lord is not the only book where you will see these two. I liked the characters so much that I brought them back into the rest of the trilogy as well as gave them guest appearances in Pirate of the Mist – Book 1 of my Second in Command Series. That is the story of Rowen’s first mate, Brody.

  In the Bastard Trilogy, I have a common thread running through the entire series. It is the game of chess. The boys have learned to play chess from their stepfather, Ross. The king loves to play chess and prides himself on the fact that no one can beat him.

  The bastard triplets have tied their identities to the chess pieces; the rook, knight, and bishop. And of course, the king piece represents their traitorous father. All three of the brothers play chess and are obsessed with capturing the king and winning the game. (On more levels than one.) I wrote this into the story purposely to show how they are always thinking of how they can not only play, but win this game against their father, the king.

  This inspiration came from my childhood. As a youth, I learned to play chess from my father and was fascinated with the game. I have to admit I was also very good at it. In the fifth grade, there was no boy in class that could beat me at chess. This was something virtually unheard of back then for a girl to have this skill. I prided myself on that.

  Chess was played a little differently back in medieval times, but so as not to make things too confusing for my readers, I incorporated the game into the story the way we know how to play it today.

  Cordelia de Clare is a little taller than some of my other heroines, being around five-foot-six. She has long russet hair and green eyes. She is a determined woman and very brave.

  Cordelia was actually a name of one of my characters from another book I started to write years ago. But that book ended up turning into Ruby – Book 1 of my Daughters of the Dagger Series. I liked the name Cordelia and decided to use it in this book instead. I knew I wanted the hero to call her Cordy.

  Cordelia is a widow who has lost a baby. She never loved her husband and has an emptiness gnawing at her gut because she really wants a child.

  I gave her a lady-in-waiting named Lady Summer. Summer is the sister of the triplets. In reality, Summer and her sisters are the bastards’ cousins. But because they grew up thinking they were siblings, this is what they call each other. Since the boys left their family at twelve years old and Summer was only a baby at the time, Rowen and Summer don’t know at first that they are siblings – or cousins.

  When I write a book, I am always being proactive, thinking ahead to where the series can lead in the future. While writing the Legendary Bastards of the Crown Series, in the back of my mind I was already plotting the next series that had to do with the bastards’ sisters, all named after seasons. That ended up being my Seasons of Fortitude Series.

  Back to Cordelia. I wanted Cordelia to be a strong woman, but not as strong as the girls that would show up in the Seasons of Fortitude Series that would be coming up next. Cordelia is a lady, and Rowen is a pirate when the book starts. That made it difficult for a romance to bloom, or for me to write love scenes without it looking like rape. Therefore, I had to approach the situation with the greatest of care or I might risk offending some readers.

  Rowen’s admirable side had to show. He wasn’t born as a pirate but he was kidnapped and forced to be a pirate. Therefore, he has a kind, polite, and even honorable side to him that starts to emerge once he brings Cordelia aboard his ship.

  But he’s stolen Cordelia’s dowry that she plans to use to find a man to marry. So there is a constant battle going on between the two.

  With her hand on the latch of the cabin door, Cordelia purposely made a lot of noise so she wouldn’t startle Rowen and end up decapitated.

  “Rowen, are you awake?” she asked in a loud voice, opening the door slightly. Cautiously, she poked her head inside, but it took her eyes a moment to get accustomed to the dim light of the cabin. “Rowen, it’s me. Cordelia,” she said, louder this time. She then made a fist and knocked on the door. “Hello?” Standing at the threshold, she didn’t dare to enter.

  Finally, her eyes became accustomed to the light and she could see that the bed was empty. Had Rowen left his cabin without her noticing? She didn’t think so, but where was he? Pushing the door, it hit something and stopped from opening further. Cordelia took one step into the room and halted.

  “In or out, but make up your mind,” came Rowen’s growl from behind the door.

  “Rowen? Are you back there?” She moved forward and the door closed as Rowen pushed it from the other side. He sat on a small stool at a makeshift table that retracted from the wall. On it was what looked like a chess set, with pieces placed in various positions on the wooden board while others were missing. “What are you doing?”

  “Don’t talk to me, I’m trying to concentrate,” he said without even looking at her.

  “Are you playing chess?”

  “I said, be quiet.” His hand hovered above one of the pieces, but he stopped in mid-motion and then pulled his hand back to his side as if he were in deep thought.

  “Who is playing the game with you?” She l
ooked around the room to make sure no one else was present. There wasn’t anyone there and she found this to be very odd. After another few minutes without him making a move or saying a word, she sat down on the stool opposite him. “These look heavy.” She reached for a piece that was in play, but his hand shot out and grabbed her wrist, stopping her from touching it.

  “The pieces not in play are in a box by your feet. If you have to fondle one, use those, instead.”

  “Fondle?” Her mind raced back to their intimate time together, but he just stared at the board. Bending over, she picked up the smallest of the pieces - a pawn and inspected it. Made from some type of heavy metal, all the chess pieces were either silver or of a copper nature and looked as if someone had taken a lot of time to design them. Intricate patterns were etched into the metal making them elegant and beautiful. “These are heavy,” she said, putting the pawn back and looking at one of the ornate kings on the board. It was carved with textures and swirls trailing around the piece. Lines and dots decorated it, as well as diamond shapes on the ornate crown embedded with tiny colored jewels. The queen was just as exquisite and had little flowers etched onto it.

  “This is beautiful,” she said, reaching out to pick up the king. Once again, his hand shot out and stopped her.

  “You never, I repeat never, touch the king. Do you understand?”

  “Why not?” she asked innocently, not knowing why he was getting so upset.

  “The king is mine to take down and I will!”

  “Isn’t that usually the object of the game? I do know how to play. Perhaps I can play with you?”

  “Nay. He’s mine,” he spat, moving a pawn one space forward and getting up from his seat. “Up,” he said, taking her by the arm and dragging her to her feet. Once she stood, he proceeded to sit down on her stool at the opposite side of the table and, once again, stared at the board intensely.

  “He’s yours?” she asked, settling herself on the stool he’d vacated. It was still warm. “You make it sound as if you think these pieces are real and you have some sort of vendetta against someone.”

  “Something like that,” he said, clenching his jaw and nodding his head. She studied him and started to realize that to Rowen, this was more than just a game used for the purpose of entertainment.

  “So if the king is King Edward, then which piece are you?” she asked, taking a wild guess and, once again, coming up lucky.

  “I’m the knight,” said Rowen, cursing himself as soon as he said it. What was it about this girl that she seemed to be able to look into his mind and read his thoughts? She knew things about him and he didn’t like that.

  “The knight?” She giggled. “You’re a pirate. Mayhap you should be one of the other pieces, instead.”

  His eyes flashed upward to meet hers and her irritating giggling stopped. “I was chivalrous to you when I didn’t take you by force or did you forget so soon?”

  Her tongue shot out to wet her lips and Rowen focused on the game or he’d be thinking about bedding her again. He hadn’t liked having to pleasure himself and would rather not think thoughts that only got him excited right now.

  “I didn’t forget.” She cleared her throat. “So if you are the chivalrous knight, I’m going to guess the bishop is your brother who lives in the church’s catacombs, although it seems he should be the rook since his name is Rook.” She giggled again, making him very restless.

  “I don’t like to be talked to when I’m playing the game.”

  “Well, am I right or not?” she asked.

  “Yes, the bishop is Rook and the rook is Reed, not that it’s any of your business.”

  “So your Scottish brother has a castle?”

  Rowen couldn’t think straight with all the girl’s chatter. His hand lifted and wavered above the queen. He had to figure out how to take down the king and this game was going to help him do just that with the right moves. “Reed doesn’t live in a castle and he’s not Scottish.”

  “Not Scottish?” she asked. “Well, I suppose if you’re triplets and you and Rook aren’t Scottish, then he wouldn’t be, either.”

  “Please, be quiet.” He changed his mind again and his hand went toward the knight.

  “I’ll bet one of your parents was English and the other Scottish. Is that right?”

  “Nay, you’re wrong,” he said in aggravation.

  “Then why don’t you tell me about your parents and how you became a pirate?”

  In frustration, he moved the knight and she looked down and shook her head, making a tsking sound with her tongue.

  “What is that for?” he grumbled.

  “You moved the knight when you should have moved the bishop. Because now the gold queen can take your silver knight like so.” She boldly reached out for the queen and slid it across the board, scooping up the knight in her hand in the process. “See what I mean?”

  “Damn,” he spat, slapping his palm against the table and making all the pieces jump slightly. “Not my knight! Anything but my knight.”

  “Sometimes, the right move is one you might never imagine. That’s the thing about chess – there are so many ways to win.”

  “And lose,” he said, feeling that restlessness churning in his gut again. He needed to do something about his situation. He’d waited for ten years to get revenge on his father and he didn’t want his raids to end yet.

  “So . . . who sired you?” As she ran her finger in small circles over the table, it only managed to make him think of his own finger not long ago running in small circles over her nipple.

  “You don’t need to know.” He snatched up the king as he spoke.

  “My, you seem as if you’re going to choke the life out of that piece or perhaps smash it in your palm.”

  “It has no life and is nothing to me. Do you hear me? It’s nothing but a piece in a game.” He slammed it down on the board. When he looked up, her mouth was hanging open and her eyes were wide.

  “My God, you and your brothers are the English king’s bastards, aren’t you?”

  Warning: Spoilers ahead! Skip ahead past the spoiler to the Ruthless Knight banner if you haven’t read the book and you don’t want surprises to be revealed. If you don’t mind, then turn the page.

  I loved writing Rowen’s character because he truly was restless with all the thoughts going on in his head. He’s found out from Annalyse that he was the first one born and that the king was going to save him, but the other two babies would have died.

  Rowen feels gypped in a sense. He could have had a good life living with the king. He needs to make a choice and this puts him through some really hard trials at the end of the book. His love for Cordelia makes him agree to pay fealty to the king. Since his brothers are still raiding the king, that means he has to leave them and go his separate way knowing Rook and Reed will consider it a betrayal. Yikes!

  There is a scene after Rowen makes his decision where he watches from the castle window while his first mate, Brody, sails away with his ship. This about broke my heart when it happened and I honestly wasn’t expecting it. I let my characters decide what decisions to make, even though I end up crying a lot at the end of my books. Mostly good cries, not bad cries, let me point out.

  This scene is a pivotal point because it changes Rowen’s future forever. I didn’t know when I first started writing the series if the triplets were going to end up forgiving their father and paying fealty to the king or not. So in each story, I was surprised to find out what they decided. The scene with Rowen watching his ship sail away without him is one that will stick in my mind forever. I can honestly see this being a scene from a movie.

  Plus, by giving his ship to Brody, I set up the beginning of the first book of a new series called Second in Command. Brody has a story of his own and goes through something no captain ever wants to experience – mutiny. You can read about that in Pirate in the Mist: Brody. My Second in Command Series is a mixture of secondary characters from my many medieval series. These characters
get a story of their own as well as a happily-ever-after.

  Book 2. Now, we move on to the stories of Rook the Ruthless. Rook is the darkest of the three brothers and it is foreshadowed by the fact he has lived underground in the catacombs ever since escaping the soldiers at Burnt Candlemas.

  Rook is six-foot-two, has bright, blue eyes and long, black hair. He has a tremendous will to survive, even in the most remote of places. Even with darkness in his heart, it doesn’t stop him from longing to be a knight.

  While Rowen was the voice of reason amongst the brothers, Rook has the habit of looking out for himself. Saved from the soldiers at Burnt Candlemas by a monk, he has been living in the catacombs since the age of twelve. In the bowels of the ransacked Lanercost Priory, Rook has made it his home. Devising a hidden door to his secret chamber, he lives in solitude most of the time.

  I did want to mention that when the bastards go raiding, they each have a small army of their own. Some of Rook’s army consists of villagers. Usually the booty from raiding the king is sent up to the Highlands to help the MacKeefe Clan, but Rook has been pilfering items to keep as his own. (You will find out more about the MacKeefes in my Legacy of the Blade Series as well as the MadMan MacKeefe Series.)

  I gave Rook a raven as his bird. What better bird to have for the Lord of Darkness and Death who lives in the catacombs? Plus, his bird’s name is Hades. Rook’s dream is to someday be a knight. He has helped himself to stolen goods after the raids, keeping chain mail, armor, and weapons. He lives like a noble but is hidden away underground.