Warrior of the Highlands Gallery

This is the weapon that inspired that scene with Haley in the museum.  It's a combination dagger and wheel lock pistol, dating from the late 16th century.  You can read more about combination weapons at myArmoury.com, one of my very favorite web sites.

Here is the same weapon, dismantled.

As you might have read in Sword of the Highlands, much is known about Alasdair MacColla's brilliant battles during the Wars of the Three Kingdoms.  The end of that book finds MacColla parting ways with James Graham, for while Graham battled for the king, MacColla's fight was against the Campbell. 

The seat of the Lords of the Isles and of Clan Donald.  It's a vast site, with ruins of multiple buildings.  The fresh water runs brown and sweet, steeped as it is in Islay peat.  It's a very moving spot, imagining that MacColla might have walked just there...

What Haley would've seen in the distance during the Stirling battle scene.

Stirling Castle, not far from what I'd imagined as MacColla's victory in one of my final scenes.

A tree in front of Campbell Castle (what I refer to as "Castle Gloom" in Sword of the Highlands.)  Although this castle didn't explicitly figure in MacColla's book, I included the photo because it's so close to what I'd imagined MacColla climbing in that very first scene.

Sadly, this is all that's left of Inveraray Castle.  The Campbells have a new Inveraray Castle, directly behind this spot, that is far grander and more sumptuous than any tower house would've been.

A "Tower House" style of castle, once owned by the Campbells of Argyll.  Although Carrick Castle wasn't featured in my book, it's a good illustration of what the old Inveraray Castle might have looked like.  You can see the entrance, high up along the wall, and imagine that first scene in my book, where MacColla would've had to lower the tower stairs.

The approach by water.  I can only imagine MacColla and his troops of MacDonald clansmen and Irish confederates bathing along that very shore...