Heir to a Prophecy by Mercedes Rochelle

Heir to a Prophecy

Macbeth’s witches had a purpose…

by Mercedes Rochelle

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Shakespeare’s Witches tell Banquo, “Thou Shalt ‘Get Kings Though Thou Be None”. Though Banquo is murdered, his son Fleance gets away. What happened to Fleance? What Kings?

The road to kingship had a most inauspicious beginning, and we follow Fleance into exile and death, passing the Witches’ prophecy to his son Walter. Born on the wrong side of the blanket and raised in disgrace, Walter was caught inside of a destiny he barely understood. In an effort to untangle Banquo’s murder and honor his lineage, Walter moved through events that shaped the course of England and Scotland. His relationships with the great men of his time drove his destiny: Harold Godwineson, Alain of Brittany and finally Malcolm III. After a long and treacherous journey through Wales, England, and France, Walter fulfilled the witches’ prophecy as the first Steward of Scotland and ancestor of James I—for whom Shakespeare wrote Macbeth.

A Word from the Author

This is a rerelease of my first novel, which stayed with me the longest, as most first novels do. Before I even realized Historical Fiction was a genre, I was fascinated with MACBETH and the witches’ prophecy. Just what kings were they talking about? And what happened to Fleance? I can only suppose Banquo’s legacy was common knowledge to the Elizabethans, for Shakespeare dropped that subplot, leaving later generations to puzzle over its meaning. As it turns out, this was the whole purpose of the play—for Banquo was thought to be the ancestor of the Stewarts, and James I had just mounted the throne of England. Shakespeare was giving a nod to James I’s ancestry, while showing his audience that killing the king was a really bad idea; this was just after the thwarted gunpowder plot. So when the witches told Banquo “Thou shalt ‘get kings”, they were talking over 500 years into the future! I was able to locate a 17^th century history referring to the old legend, and from this came the plot of my novel. Little did I realize (until later) how many historical figures were actually related to my protagonist Walter, the grandson of Banquo and the first Steward of Scotland. Walter’s quest to unravel his legacy took him through many historical events like the Battle of Hastings, and gives us a rare look at eleventh century Scotland and the reign of Malcolm III.

(Mercedes Rochelle, October 2019)