by Annaleise Getley

Created on: October 24, 2007

Lucas was only a boy when it happened; he and his parents had struggled to survive on their small farm in a shire just south of London. It was a few months after Queen Mary had ascended the throne; the land was thrown into chaos. Family's everywhere were ripped apart as more and more people shouted 'heresy' in the name of the Church. Lucas's father had been a hard working man; he and the servants would slave away into the night to keep food on the table for him and his brothers.

At the time, Lucas was only sixteen years old and as the eldest of three siblings he had already begun to act as the man of the house, but nothing could have prepared him for that day. He and his mother were out in the paddock milking the cows, when the ground itself began to grumble and shudder. The noise was unmistakable, galloping horses were making their way down the dirt road to their house. Being young and naive about the times that they were living in, Lucas thought it to be his uncle and dropped his pail of milk, running around the house to the front yelling "uncle, uncle you've come". It was not his uncle that he met at the front of the house that day but ten black horses, their riders all members of the royal guard. His mother had followed quick on his heels, and at the sight of the men, pulled him to her body, retreating a few steps towards the house.

The noise from the company had reached his father in the wheat fields, Lucas jumped as he came storming out of the front door. "What is the meaning of this?" he demanded. Lucas admired his father, he was a noble and strong man, his self made shirt revealing the physical results of his harsh labor, his well built arms could easily have taken any of the mounted men before them were it not for their glistening breast plates and gilded swords. Unaffected by his father's anger, the general of the company dismounted, his armor creating a loud clang as his feet met solid earth. Handing his reins to one of the privates he elegantly pulled out a rolled piece of parchment, on it the royal seal. Breaking the seal and correcting his stance to portray his status he proclaimed "by order of the Queen, her royal majesty of sovereign England, Mr Francis Charlston is to be henceforth stripped of his title and to be hanged until dead for crimes against Church, Queen and country". Upon the ending of his speech Lucas's mother let out a gut-wrenching screech, running to her husband.

The repercussions of past events began to settle for the boy, the couple

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