07/30/2026
📖 A First Look at The Fall of 33
Dumbarton Rock, Scotland — 1260
The rain had started before nightfall.
By the time Umfridus reached the lower road beneath Dumbarton, it ran from the edge of his cloak and down the back of his neck. His mare picked her way carefully through the mud, ears twitching at every movement in the trees.
Then she stopped.
Not slowed.
Stopped.
Her head rose. Her body tightened beneath him.
“Easy, lass.”
An arrow struck the road beside her foreleg.
Steel flashed from the trees.
The ambush had begun.
Moments later, one man lay dead, another wounded, and a third had fled into the darkness.
Then a voice came from behind him.
“That will do.”
Umfridus knew the voice before he turned.
“Richard.”
His younger brother stepped from the shadows.
“You always were Father’s favorite.”
But Richard had not come merely to settle an old family grievance.
He wanted Colquhoun.
And Umfridus carried a secret beneath Dumbarton Rock that had already bound both brothers long before this night.
One of them believed the secret should have been his.
The other knew what it would cost if Richard ever claimed it.
Would you keep reading?
And now I want to hear your thoughts:
Do you prefer Richard as a truly ruthless villain, or as a jealous younger brother whose plan goes terribly wrong?
Should Umfridus already suspect his brother may betray him—or should the ambush come as a complete shock?
And what do you think the two brothers already know about what waits beneath the Rock?
The Fall of 33 is a work of historical fiction inspired by medieval Lennox, Kilpatrick, and Colquhoun history, charter research, genealogy, and DNA.
Some characters and events have been fictionalized to tell the story hidden between the surviving records.
Written by: Tiffany McCarter Evans
Edited with assistance from ChatGPT
© 2026 The Lennox Ark & OneTree database DNA Project
