He nodded, “Aye, tis against m’nature, but I will.”
Aenghus climbed on an ATV. “Time tae go!”
Ryan signaled with two fingers. “Strike force — mount.”
Engines rumbled tae life: Max and I stepped on footholds on an ATV and held on. Men gripped side rails on all the other vehicles, boots braced. The ATVs peeled off in staggered formation, and the modern engines raced across the land, birds scattering from the trees.
Wind whipped through my hair, stingin’ m’cheeks as we flew across the heather-covered plain. Before us the four drones rose, like ravens, a sign of death. As they flew over the castle walls, Ryan yelled intae his radio: “Play it!”
From hidden speakers mounted on them, Charlie triggered verra loud music. Ryan’s voice in m’ear: “That’s the opening riff ofThunderstruck.Here we go!”
Charlie’s voice: “Hell yeah! Guitars screaming down the centuries, men, a hundred and twenty decibels. We’re almost at the walls, you ready?”
The Dunstaffnage guards scrambled, shoutin’, startled by the roar of engines and the sudden battle-cry of the music.
“Shoot!” Aenghus bellowed, firing his rifle, the bullets crackin’ against stone, sendin’ guards diving for cover.
Our soldiers unleashed fire — hard tae hear beneath the music’s pounding rhythm. Stone walls chipped, guards fell.
Twas chaos, as if the earth had opened up and hell had come tae visit.
The guards on the battlements ducked below the walls.
“Now!” Ryan roared.
Our first breachcharge blew the postern gate tae splinters.
We all jumped from our ATVs and our soldiers poured through. Ahead of me their muzzle shots flashed white in the shadows. I ran with Max in between the soldiers, because I would not let the prince die alone this day.
Inside the courtyard it was bedlam.
Men in mail screamed as bullets punched through iron rings. Blood spilled on cold stone. A horse reared, gut-shot, and crashed atop its rider.
Och, the sounds of a horse dyin’ was difficult tae hear
Max fired his rifle for the first time, three wild bursts taeward the stairwell, nickin’ a stone. He cursed the gun, “Och nae, aim straight!”
“Ye curse yer rifle?”
“Aye. Tis a useless weapon.” He swung it behind his back and drew his sword again.
I drew m’own sword.
We fought taeward the keep, killin’ a few men as we went.
Charlie flew a drone low, pepperin’ the upper ramparts with somethin’ that burst intae a blinding white fire.
Ryan’s voice in m’radio said, “Magnesium!”
Aenghus’s voice said, “I daena need tae ken unless tis about tae kill me.”
I glanced across the courtyard, Aenghus was fighting two men.
Above him men fell from the parapet tae the courtyard below screamin’ as they went. But then behind us in the melee, a man appeared at the mouth of a tunnel that led tae the sally port.
Ryan’s voice: “Rannald.”
Max and I skidded tae a stop and turned. “Aye, I see.”
