The Piper — S.L. Partington

It is agreed then. The piper will enter Duntrune and spy out their garrison... With those words, a man's fate is decided. It is the year 1642. Colla Coitach, Chieftan of Clan Donald of Colonsay, seeks to wrest his ancestral home from his enemy, the Campbells and Duncan MacArthur, Colla's personal piper, is sent to spy out the enemy garrison in advance of Colla's impending raid. Young and inexperienced, tossed out into a dangerous world where every word from his mouth is either a complete or a mangled half truth, Duncan strives to keep suspicious Campbell eyes from his true purpose while he seeks to do his master's will. Aided by Eileen Murdoch, the lovely highland woman who pretends to be his love, Duncan must overcome his fear and self-doubt and find the courage the information Colla has asked him to retrieve. Sent to accomplish an impossible task, Duncan finds himself torn between his love for Eileen and the knowledge that oaths, once spoken, are binding forever. Duty. Honor. Love. Sometimes a man must choose the harder road...