The Battle for Duncragglin (16 page)

“Fire! We make fire!” Willie hopped heavily from one foot to another.

Even the normally reserved Annie did twirls, arms raised to the sky. Finally exhausted, tired of clapping each other on the back and giving high fives, they collapsed into a heap beside the crackling flames.

“Guess what?” Annie said. “We've used up all the firewood.”

Alex looked over to where the pile had been and rolled back with a groan. There were but a few small twigs – not enough to keep the fire going overnight. And beyond the flames, everything was black.

Alex scrambled to his feet. “We better get more before it's too dark to see! Annie, you and Craig go back to the forest; Willie and I can check the shoreline for driftwood.”

“No way!” Craig looked to the dark menacing forest in dismay. “I want to go with Willie,” he said.

“Okay, I'll go with Annie, but we get to take the crossbow.” Alex slung the quiver over his shoulder. “And try to bring back some big stuff – we'll need it!”

Up ahead, the forest was no more than a black silhouette one that Alex knew could contain all sorts of hidden dangers. Crossing the bare open rock, he couldn't shake the feeling that there were eyes in those woods – eyes that were watching them, following them. He trained the crossbow on a random spot, shifting it quickly to aim it at another. “Maybe we should skip the forest and check the shoreline instead. A couple of big pieces of driftwood are all we'll need.”

Impatient, Annie strode on ahead. “We know there's wood in the forest, so let's go,” she said. “And stop making me so nervous!”

Alex lowered his bow. Heart pounding, he kept step with Annie as the black wall of forest loomed over them.
There's no one there, there's no one there, there's no one there,
he repeated to himself.

Once the forest had actually swallowed them up, Alex felt better. Now they were hidden too, and nothing had gotten them yet. But once Annie piled firewood into his arms so high he could barely see over it and sent him back across the exposed rocks to camp, he felt more vulnerable than ever.

A few branches fell from his pile and clattered onto the rocks. “Forget about them,” Alex pleaded, but Annie put down her branches and painstakingly reloaded each of the fallen sticks.

Alex tried to reassure himself that if anyone was there with a bow trained on his back, surely they would have shot him by now. Finally, the forest well behind them, he regretted having been so scared, especially when Annie'd been so brave. Alex dumped his wood near the fire.

Craig sat huddled by the warmth of the fire, his back to Alex. He did not turn to see what Alex had brought.

“What's the matter, Craig? Scared by the bogeyman?” Alex reassuringly put a hand on Craig's shoulder. “Don't worry. I was spooked out there too.”

The small form stirred and looked up.

Startled, Alex almost fell over backwards. It wasn't Craig!

“P
lease don't hurt me,” squeaked the intruder. A teary face appeared briefly before disappearing behind thin folded arms.

“Alex, put that thing away!” Annie waved her arm angrily. “Can't you see it's just a frightened wee lassie?”

Alex lowered his crossbow, shooting nervous glances to the darkness past the flames. “Is there anyone else out there?” His voice shook.

“Th-Th-They're gone. They're all gone.”

“Who's gone, my dear?” Annie sat next to the little girl and gently stroked her tangled hair.

“My family – my mama, my papa, Wilfie, Susie … they're all gone.”

“Gone where?”

“Heaven. They've all gone to heaven,” the little girl wailed, burying her face once again.

“What happened?” Annie dreaded to ask, but the question popped out.

“They burned down our house.” The girl clutched her
knees and turned herself into a little ball. “They wouldn't let anyone out. Papa tried, but they shot him so he went back in.”

“Your family was burned alive?” Annie blurted out, horrified. “Who … who would do such a thing?”

Her voice sounded small and distant: “Soldiers.”

“How could they … why would anyone …?” Alex fumbled for words. The magnitude of what he had heard left him numb and dazed.

“It wasn't true.” The girl rocked back and forth. “Papa wasn't an enemy of the castle lord; Papa just didn't have enough money to pay them. He paid them all he could, but they kept coming back for more. Papa said he needed to feed his family, and they said he was an enemy, but it wasn't true!”

A heavy silence fell over them. Alex thought of terrified children screaming, smoke stinging their eyes; the hacking, coughing, gasping; the flames….

The little girl leaned into Annie.

“Poor, poor dear.” Annie held her gently. “You must be exhausted.”

Alex went to make her a bed. He wished they had brought back pine bough cuttings to use for a mattress. Tomorrow they would get organized. Tonight, however, he was not going to venture back into that forest.

Choosing an area close to the fire, Alex stretched out his blanket. He folded it twice, so it was a quarter of its original size, figuring that the girl could sleep on three layers and have the fourth over her. He did his best to bunch up a sack into a pillow.

Footsteps crunched on the gravel-like stones. Alex recognized Willie's voice and Craig's laugh. Seeing the girl,
Willie hastily dropped his firewood and strung an arrow. Alex blocked his way, then explained what had happened.

Willie slowly lowered his bow. “Good God! Hesselrigge and his men are worse than we thought,” he said.

Annie tucked the sleeping girl into the bed Alex had prepared. Firelight shadows flickered over her dirty little face. Shooing the boys to the other side of the fire, Annie said, “She's exhausted; let her sleep, poor thing. Her name's Katie. She's been hiding out here on the coast living off clams and bits of seaweed. Imagine being only six years old and out here all by yourself for days – no fire, no blanket, cold and black nights.”

“What are we going to do with her?” Craig asked. “Can we take her back home with us?”

Willie snorted. “She's no stray cat,” he said. “We need to send her to a neighbor.”

“We can't.” Annie pulled a blanket from her sack. “She told me that her neighbors are afraid that Hesselrigge's men will come looking for her.”

Alex placed a piece of heavy driftwood across the fire. Willie knelt to arrange his blanket.

“We're going to have to share these blankets,” Annie said pointedly. “We no longer have one for everyone.”

Willie opened his mouth to protest. Instead, he got up and walked away. “You figure it out.”

Annie spread out the largest blanket and covered it with two smaller ones for them to share. She rolled her sack into a pillow and promptly lay down in the middle.

“Not bad,” she declared. “It's a bit hard, but I think I can sleep like this.”

“I get the middle too.” Craig plopped himself down next to Annie.

That left the outsides. Alex placed his bow next to his pillow, loosely inserting a bolt. Willie snuggled in and pulled the blanket he was sharing with his sister up to his chin. “Rabbit for breakfast,” he reminded everyone.

“Where is that rabbit?” Annie asked.

“I put it in a crevice with the rest of our food. I rolled some big rocks in front so nothing can get at it while we're sleeping.”

Craig lifted his head. “Like what?”

“Werewolves,” Willie answered, without hesitation. “We'll have to keep an eye out for them. They like to eat little boys.”

Craig disappeared under the blanket.

“Don't be silly, Willie,” Alex said. “There are no werewolves out here. Can't you see it's not a full moon?”

“It's almost a full moon.”

“Not good enough; they come out only when the moon is completely full. We won't have to worry about werewolves for two or three days.”

The top of Craig's head and eyes slowly emerged from under the blankets. “Are you sure it's only when the moon is completely full?”

“Absolutely sure,” Alex said. “It's the same with vampires.”

“Vampires?” Craig disappeared under the blanket again.

“Aren't they far away in Transylvania?” Annie asked.

“They fly, remember?” Alex replied. “Vampires spread all over Europe. It took people a while to figure out how to kill them.”

“You mean, by driving a stake into their heart?”

“Precisely. There's no other way to prevent them from turning into vampire bats at each full moon and biting people, who then also become vampires. They had trouble figuring out who were the true vampires, so they probably hammered stakes into the hearts of a lot of innocent people.”

Craig stared up into the black night. “You guys are kidding, right?”

“No,” Alex said.

“Shouldn't one of us stand guard?” Craig suggested. “We could take turns.”

“Good idea,” Willie mumbled sleepily. “You first.”

Silence finally settled in and Alex gently drifted off to sleep.

“What was that?” Craig cried out.

“What? What was what?” Alex and Willie scrambled for their bows.

All they could hear was the peaceful sound of waves lapping against the rocky shore and the faint hooting of an owl.

“I don't hear it anymore,” Craig whispered finally.

“What did it sound like?”

“Like something was moving about out there.”

Willie grew irritable. “Are you sure you heard something?”

“Yes, yes, I'm sure. It was out there somewhere.” Craig waved vaguely in the direction of the northern shoreline and shifted uncomfortably.

“It's your own fault for telling him about werewolves,” Annie said. “Now let's get some sleep. I'm tired.”

Willie lay down and tugged on the blanket. “Annie, don't be such a hog!”

Annie pulled back. “You've already got more than half.”

“Craig, stop kicking!” Alex asked irritably.

“I'm just trying to get comfortable.” Craig kicked some more.

Finally they all fell asleep on the hard rock under the huge stone slab on the desolate rocky peak. They slept without stirring until well after dawn, even though the rising sun shone brightly into the angled slab, warming them and the surrounding rocks.

Alex lifted his head. Shading his eyes, he looked around. No, it was not all a dream. He was really hiding out in a dangerous place seven hundred years before he was born, and he really had to find his way back…. The others had something to return to: a home on the farm with people to miss them. Alex, though, couldn't think of a reason to return, except that where he came from was not as nasty and deadly as this.

He looked out to see if his hard-won fire was still going and found himself staring into the apprehensive eyes of a grubby little girl squatting next to the smoldering fire.

“Good morning, Katie,” he croaked.

She watched him warily, a stick of firewood in her hand.

“Did you keep the fire going?” he asked gently.

She nodded.

“Good girl! It was hard work to make that fire. Are you hungry?”

She hesitated, then nodded vigorously, eyes averted.

“Me, too! C'm on, everyone. Let's get up. It's breakfast time!”

Beside him, bodies stirred and stretched.

“Morning already?” Annie yawned, her tousled brown hair half over her face.

Willie groaned. “I don't think I fell asleep until dawn.”

“Don't just lie there,” Alex said. “Katie is hungry and we've got to cook some rabbit.”

Annie immediately sat up and looked around. “There you are, my dear. Hungry?”

Katie nodded.

Annie tossed off the blanket, exposing Willie's back. “Where did you hide that food?”

“Over by those rocks, there.” Willie reached out from under the blanket and pointed.

“Well, go get it then,” Annie said, shooing him along. “Rabbit-chopping is your job.”

“Says who?” came a mumble from under the blanket.

“That's the way things are, Willie-boy.” Annie stood, whisked the remaining blanket off Willie's still huddled form, and folded it into a tidy square. She stretched, reaching way up to the rock slab above, and rolled her neck. “What I wouldn't do for a change of clothes and a toothbrush.” She grimaced as she ran her fingers through her long tangled hair.