Includes bibliographical references.

Robert the Bruce has achieved his great ambition to be crowned King of Scotland, but in so doing has provoked the wrath of Edward of England. Raising the feared dragon banner, the English king marches north, determined to recapture the kingdom. But the English are not Robert's only enemies. By murdering his great rival, John Comyn, he has split the kingdom apart and with his forces depleted and many of his own countrymen turned against him, Robert is forced to flee into the wilderness. He has a crown, but no country, the will to lead, but no real authority. The road before him is all but impossible, with treachery and heartbreak at every turn, but Robert must try slowly, surely, to regain the military advantage and the respect of a nation. Fighting from hidden strongholds and the Western Isles, with the support of a few brave men and the alluring noblewoman, Christiana, Robert drives towards the place where he will meet Edward II and decide the future of Scotland, in an epic confrontation near the village of Bannockburn.