Today on my blog is my first time participating on Snippet Sunday on Facebook. This is an opportunity to post the first eight to ten sentences of your novel or work in progress. So here for your reading enjoyment is the first few sentences of my debut novel, If My Heart Could See You. Enjoy!

The Year of Our Lord’s Grace 1174, Scotland’s Border

Young knight MacLaren stood with steady feet upon the narrow parapet and looked down into the inner bailey, surveying the destruction and devastation below. Ian, the guardsman ever by the youth’s side, had the same grim expression as his charge.

The constant thunder of a battering ram slamming upon the solid oak door echoed harshly throughout the keep. Afore long, the wooden portal would give way, and with its demolition, all hope would surely depart from the occupants who had fled inside to find safe haven. Too soon, the enemy would be within, causing more lives to be lost in the castle’s defense. The siege had been bloody, lasting more than two fortnights, and, in truth, ’twas surprising the battle endured as long as it had, given the small number of knights available to defend the castle walls.

For nigh unto sixty years, Berwyck Castle had known peace over its land while governed by the last remaining descendants of the Scottish clan MacLaren. The castle and its people, however, had grown accustomed to constant upheaval, being between two kings struggling for power and control over the region. Situated on a cliff high above the raging sea, the castle towered over a prime port for transporting goods into the interior of the country, both north and south. Its location, bordering Scotland and England, had been the cause of many a battle over the centuries, and the fortress had changed liege lords more often than most could remember.