A FAMILY CURSED

A score ten one
The witch shall come
The son first born
Shall be forewarned
The women all
To death shall fall
A trinket's charm
The curse disarm
Take heed.
Take heed.
Take heed.

When Alisdair Frasier married the lovely Lady Maureen he gave to her the antique, gold bracelet that had been in his family for generations. The story behind the bracelet itself was but a childhood memory, a tale told to him by his father to frighten him, he thought. A witch, Octavia, angry with his ancestor, had vowed the women of the Frasier family would be cursed to death, never to bear a Frasier heir.

But Maureen bore him five children with ease. Neale Moncrieffe, Leora Jenyne, Daniel William, Robert Jacob and Patrick Connell. 

It was the eldest, Neale, whom Alisdair passed the story of the bracelet and family curse on to as it was to him. Still the Duke thought little of the tale himself for he had five healthy children. His long ago encounter with a woman named Octavia forgotten.

During the birth of their sixth child, Hannah Siobhan, something went terribly wrong. The infant was born already close to death and the Duchess herself did not survive.

With the love of their father, all six children thrived and grew to be strong individuals, each aware of the importance of family. The six siblings were as close to one another as siblings can be.

The eldest daughter, Leora, wed the Count of Finlay.  It seemed an age before she was able to conceive a child but when she finally had, no woman in Scotland could have been happier. Alas, tragedy struck at this birth too. Ellyn Regina was born in a pool of her dead mother's blood, barely able to breathe herself.

The babe survived and eventually thrived but Leora's death caused a distancing amongst the family.  Neale spent more time away from home on his ship, The Flame's Fury.  Daniel, Robert and Patrick were rarely seen, spending more and more time in their own pursuits, things that often took them miles from Falkirk.

When the Duke thought to arrange a marriage between his daughter, Hannah and the Count Ferris Hughes, the girl packed up what belongings she could and seemed to disappear into thin air.

Alisdair, frantic for her safety and furious with her for her actions, sent word to her brothers. Soon they were assembled and the search began.

During this search, the Duke discovered several unsavory pieces of information relating to Hannah's would-be groom and resolved to put an end to any marriage promise to the Count Hughes.

Hannah was located in the lands of Heathfield. When found, they discovered her reason for fleeing to be a combination of fear and disgust for the Count and terror that marriage would lead to pregnancy and death, as it had her sister and mother.

Fate played an interesting hand, though, for by the time her brothers and father found her she had fallen in love with Lochlan Kearney, the local blacksmith. Unfortunately, the Count had followed as well and the discovery of her love for another led the already crazed, foul man to commit horrendous acts against Hannah's friends and eventually to the kidnapping of Hannah herself.

He did not succeed for he was not as bright as he thought himself. 

The King of Ballicastle gifted the Frasier Clan with lands on which they might build a Keep of their own. A second home away from Scotland. The Duke returned home to Falkirk to make plans.

Soon after, Hannah wed Lochlan, already carrying their child when they exchanged vows. She fought to overcome her terror of giving birth but the pregnancy was a difficult one. As she grew heavy with the babe she experienced tremendous pain and nausea, even bleeding.

It was pure chance that the Duke stumbled upon a locked jewelry box that contained the antique bracelet he had passed on to his wife.  Memories of the curse came flooding back and he recalled a line of the rhyme his father had taught him. "A trinket's charm, the curse disarm." Now he knew. He knew that his beloved Maureen had been lost because she hadn't been wearing the bracelet, that they had lost Leora for the same reason.

With Hannah growing closer to giving birth the Duke ordered all his papers and documents packed in crates and taking little Ellyn, set sail for Heathfield.

Alisdair was in poor health and suffered a stroke shortly after his arrival. Before his death he managed to remind Neale of the story of the curse but nothing more. The rest would be up to him. The witch had already approached and attempted to entice the new Duke of Falkirk. With his rejection she unleashed a spirit upon them to make their lives miserable.

And so the search to end the curse began, leading the Frasiers back to Scotland and the first, long abandoned castle of the clan, Frissel Keep. There they would discover the direct root of the family curse and take part in a ghostly encounter that would shake them all to their very cores and save the life of their sister.

With the curse lifted, the Frasiers were able to return to a normal life, Neale able to settle into his new title of Duke and guardian to his niece Ellyn, Hannah able to take joy in motherhood.   They broke ground on what would be the new Falkirk Keep, a new start for them all. A home without the dark clouds of a curse overhead.

The curse had lifted, yes, but the lingering effects would remain with them all, always.

-Written by the former player of Hannah Frasier Kearney-