And if you can’t get enough of Tam o’ Shanter-inspired children’s books, we have another adventure hot on the heels of Victoria Williamson’s Hag Storm. Garry Stewart’s The Shanter Legacy has his protagonists Fin and Fiona swept into a magical, mystical world on a quest to find Meg the mare’s grey tail. Are they a match for the fearsome druid, Morbidea? You’ll have to get a copy to find out! But first, enjoy this extract, as Fin and Fiona are introduced to what’s in store for them . . .

Extract taken from The Shanter Legacy
By Garry Stewart
Published by Tippermuir Books

31 october 1804 — start of the strangest day

Once downstairs, steaming bowls of porridge and cups of warm milk awaited the children. The fire blazed in the hearth as Finn’s wooden spoon scraped the last morsel from his bowl. He always finished first.

‘Mum,’ he asked ‘will you count my freckles later? I think I’ve got a new one.’

‘I’ll count them tonight at bedtime but I haven’t noticed any new ones.’

‘It’s not fair. I hate having freckles.’

‘Well, you shouldn’t. Freckles are faerie kisses, kisses they only give to the bonniest of babies. They’ll bring you luck.’

‘You are just saying that to make me feel better.’

Fiona was waiting impatiently for the freckle talk to stop. She wanted to ask her mother something much more important.

‘Mum, Tilly Tulloch’s granny says this is the worst winter that anyone can remember.’

Fiona’s statement was calculated to bring her mother out of herself. Kate had seemed preoccupied lately.

‘Is that so?’ Kate stirred the large pot over the fire without looking up.

‘Aye, and she says it’ll get worse. She was talking to big smiddy Jock and he said that the Earth would get as hard as iron, harder than the shoes he was putting on the minister’s cuddy.’

Kate swung the pot around the griddle away from the direct heat of the fire and joined the children at the table. Smiling, she smoothed her apron and tucked a wayward strand of hair behind her ear.

‘Granny Tulloch’s imagination is famous in these parts. She never could put plain words to things.’

Fiona pressed on despite her mother’s attempts to avoid the subject. ‘She said there was weirdrie in the way the weather had turned.’

‘If there’s weirdrie in anything it’s in Granny Tulloch’s head,’ said Finn. His interruption was intended to be humorous but it was too close to cheek for his mother to let it pass.

‘Finn, if you can’t speak well of your elders then it is best to say nothing at all.’

‘I didn’t mean anything by it mother, it was just a wee joke.’ Finn loved practical jokes and sometimes his love of fun meant he carried things too far.

Fiona was angry that his attempt at humour had stopped her questioning her mother and blurted out, ‘Granny Tulloch said the weirdrie in it was our father’s fault. She said he spoiled the witches’ dance.’

Kate’s voice was firm as she held Fiona’s gaze with determined hazel eyes. ‘That’s enough Fiona, we’ll not have old wives clishmaclash at this table.’

But Fiona was not to be put off. She could tell from her mother’s tone that she was on the right track. ‘She said the weather had been dreadful on the seventh solstice and that the fourteenth would see the powers of the dark triumph over good. She said it was our father’s fault.’

‘That’ll do, Fiona.’

‘No, it will not do, Mother.’ Fiona’s anger and frustration had caused her to top her mother vocally and all three were stunned into silence. Finn sat gawping, looking from one to the other. He’d never heard Fiona speak like that to their mother.

Kate repeated herself quietly. ‘I said that will do. Your father was a good man, Fiona. We’ll not listen to superstitious rumours about him.’

‘Mother, what’s going on? Everything’s different. You’re different. The neighbours whisper when they see us in the town; the weather is scary. Something unnatural is happening and everyone thinks it’s to do with us.’

Finn was not at all sure about what was going on. He’d not noticed anything unusual apart from the weather being exceptionally bad and Fiona being a bit odd. But she was a girl and an older sister at that. Girls were always behaving in odd ways. All the same, he was beginning to feel a bit uneasy.

‘Is Fiona alright, Mum? Has she maybe banged her head? Should I get a poultice in case her brain melts through her ears?’

Rising from the table Kate crossed to the fire and gracefully lowered herself into the armchair. She motioned the children to come and sit on the floor at her feet. Fiona felt the excitement rise inside her. Her mother never sat at the fire after breakfast, there was always too much work to be done. They were always given a list of chores to be tackled right away. Even Finn realised that this day was already beginning to be very different from any he could remember. The children settled on the warm hearthstone and listened eagerly.

‘Fourteen years ago,’ Kate began, ‘when you were just a baby, Fiona, your father disturbed a coven of witches gathered at Alloway Kirkyard. When the witches spotted your father they chased after him. He rode Meg as fast as she could gallop but the witches caught up with them as he and Meg approached the bridge over the River Doon. You see, witches cannot cross running water. Just as your father raced across the keystone of the bridge one of the witches reached out and caught Meg by the tail ripping it clean off, leaving poor Meg badly wounded.’

‘That’s my nightmare,’ Fiona knelt up gripping her mother’s skirt. ‘I dream it every night.’

‘Your nightmare is real, Fiona.’

‘But I never find out what happens next. I wake up just as the witch rips Meg’s tail off. How does the nightmare end?’

‘It hasn’t ended, Fiona. The worst is still to come.’

‘So where is Meg’s tail now?’ asked Finn.

‘They say it was taken to a dark and evil land called Dracadonia where it was presented to a Druid queen, the beautiful but deadly Morbidea. A powerful and potent magic was bestowed upon the tail. Tonight, the night of the Samhain, Morbidea will absorb that magic and use it as the key to a mystical portal, the Yett of Abandoned Time, allowing her armies to flood through the portal wreaking vengeance and destruction upon our world.’

‘Tonight?’ gasped Finn, fear showing in his eyes. ‘This will happen tonight?’ Finn searched his mother’s face for some kind of reassurance but Kate could only nod in response to his question as she stared into the crackling flames of the fire.

‘Why do they want to attack our world? What have we ever done to them?’ asked Fiona.

‘Many thousands of years ago Morbidea’s ancestors were part of the elite Druids who ruled the ancient Celtic world. They revered and worshipped Mother Nature. One however, by the name of Morrigan, turned her back on those beliefs and began to learn the secrets of a dark and evil magic. Her followers became known as the Dark Druids. Mannan, the king of the Celts banished her and those who followed her to the underworld. Morrigan’s descendants have searched for ways back, intent on erasing all history of the elite Druids, destroying their stone circles and sacred mounds, eradicating the land and people of their memory for ever. Morrigan is long dead but it is said her descendant, Morbidea, now has the power to open that portal and lead her armies in a war of revenge.’

‘Can’t anyone stop her?’ Fiona asked. ‘There must be a way.’

‘Our world is about to change, my dears. We will have to survive as best we can.’ Kate stood and smoothed her apron as Kirsty lifted her head in anticipation. ‘Now we have work to do and we are far enough behind as it is. We’ll talk again tonight. Don’t worry. I have a plan that will keep you both safe.’

The Shanter Legacy by Garry Stewart is published by Tippermuir Books, priced £8.99.