Of Water and Dragons started out as a short story set in a mythical land. When I turned it into a novel, I decided to change the setting to ancient Britain. I tried to stick to actual history to create this believable world, but there isn’t a lot of documented evidence and most of it is based on speculation. When in doubt, I wrote what I thought could have happened. The most important thing to remember is that this story was born of my own imagination and not meant to be about history.
The battles referenced in this story are real and there is archaeological evidence of the hillforts, Roman fortresses, and stone circles.
The only written history we have of the Celts is from the Romans, which is surely biased. There isn’t a lot of evidence on these tribes because Rome never conquered Scotland so I was given some freedom in my portrayal of these fascinating people. I based the actions of my characters on what archaeological evidence there is on these ancient tribes. I refer to the ancient Scottish tribes as “Celts” even though the Romans referred to them as “Picts” meaning “Painted People” because they dyed their skin blue. They are believed to be of Celtic descent so I thought it would be less confusing if I used “Celt” as a general term for the northern tribes. I do, however, use the term, Caledonians, which is derived from the Pictish tribe called Caledonii that the Romans also used to refer to all the tribes of Caledonia.
I used Roman Legions that were supposed to have been in Britain at that time. The Ninth Legion was written out of Roman history and it is thought that Celtic tribes massacred the Legion and captured their battle standard. This would have been a great embarrassment to Rome so it would make sense that they didn’t want to include it in their historical records. There is another account that the Legion disappeared and then reappeared later in Judea. This fit perfectly into my story.
I saved the best for last, the dragon or the Loch Ness Monster. There is a written account from St. Columba in AD 565 that a monster killed one of his men in the River Ness. There are also 1500-year-old carvings in the Scottish Highlands that resemble a sea monster. When I found this information, it gave me all
kinds of ideas.
Are faeries real? We may never know, but I will leave it up to you, the reader, to decide what is real or not.
Buy link: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0BYB1FGL8
________________________________________________________________________________________
Website: www.kelleyheckart.com
Facebook: www.facebook.com/kelleyheckartauthor
Twitter: www.twitter.com/CelticChick
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC-mdC92X_M2A67lrZhlB2aw
Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/kelleyheckart/
Instagram: www.instagram.com/kelleyheckart_author_musician
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@kelleyheckartauthor
Leave a Comment