Smailholm: a towering influence

Much of The Trail of Blood is set in and around the fictional Black Rig. It’s a classic Border peel tower: a unique structure, characteristic to the region. There are countless examples in the area, dotted in between the castles, bastle houses and other fortified dwellings. But I mostly took my inspiration from the one at Smailholm. Imagine Antoine and his band of men arriving at a place as bleak as this, after a hard ride over the Lammermuirs, only to discover it had been wrecked by the previous owners…