Fraoch said, “We need tae pull them back from the walls! We are losin’ too many men!”
The air was thick with the acrid stench of gunpowder, a sharp, biting scent that stung my nostrils. I coughed tae clear my chest and Cailean and I began directin’ our men down, wavin’ them tae the opposite side of the castle. There was another long whistle and a blast, more than half of my wall gaped open tae Edward’s advance.
Men stood on the side of the courtyard, armed with swords and bows. Fraoch and I were armed with handguns, nae match for the scale of armaments built up against us. The stone keep, my last bastion, stood stark against the fiery backdrop. Cailean grabbed my sleeve and pointed behind us — another storm.
Fraoch groaned. “Och nae.”
Cailean said, “We need tae get up in the Keep.”
I said, “Ye stay here with a radio — I will go up.”
Cailean said, “Mag Mòr, ye are goin’ tae fight on the walls?”
“Aye, the Keep is the King’s Tower, tis mine tae hold!”
We raced to the Keep with Wallace following, passing Chef Zach emerging from the stairwell with a bag of guns. Those guns were all we had in firepower. It made me deeply uneasy — we were massively outgunned.
Fraoch slung the gun bag over his shoulder and we took the stairs up two at a time.
I yelled, “How many grenades do ye think we hae?”
“Four?”
I said, “We need tae make every shot count.”
At the top floor we stepped out ontae the battlement. We could barely see through the thick smoke of m’burning timber walls. The Keep had been protected by its height, the walls ringing it,and its location, towering over the cliffs of Stirling. But now the walls had gaping holes, the Keep looked precarious and exposed.
If I were siegin’ this castle, I would put a cannon ball right here on the upper floor.
I blinked through the smoke and peered over at the gaping holes in my castle’s curtain wall, as Fraoch and Zach unzipped the bag and pulled out our grenade launcher. They handed us each a rifle. They opened my munitions box and loaded the launcher.
My stinging smoke-filled eyes spanned the horizon in all directions — the tank in the west had beaten m’walls down, and now a tank in the east, ominously swiveled its turret and aimed right at the wall below us.
There was the thunderclap, a flash. The whistling scream.
Wallace yelled down at the men in the courtyard below, “Move! Move! Move!” Wavin’ them away from the target.
That missile hit a wall made of stone, causing rubble, dust, and smoke tae fill the air. It took a long moment for the air tae clear enough that I could see what was left: piles of rubble, a wooden stair hanging precariously, and the beginning of yet another gash in my walls.
Fraoch stood with the launcher on his shoulder, “Get down!”
Wallace, Zach, and I crouched with our hands over our ears. With a loud boom he fired a missile, speedin’ across the sky tae the second tank, exploding against the back end, causin’ it tae rock.
The turret turned. Zach yelled, “Down! Get down!” There was a loud clap and a flash and the horrible whistlin’ screech and a missile exploded against the wall in front of us. Dust and smoke filled the air again, rubble slid down the pile, men were yelling.
I crouched below the parapet, aimin’ my gun in the direction of that tank, but there wasna anyone tae shoot. I watched through the sight, tryin’ tae find any enemy… when from behindus there was another thunderous clap, a whistling screech, and a missile hit the Keep, farther down. We all ducked. Everything shook.
Fraoch looked at me. “Twill hold?”
“Aye, of course twill. It has tae.”
“Which tank should I shoot?”
Zach pointed. “I know I’m not the boss, but that one is pissing me off.”
Fraoch loaded another grenade in the launcher. We crouched, clamping our hands over our ears once more. He fired, hitting that tank, liftin’ it from the earth for a moment, it landed billowing dirt and dust. We were quiet, scopes tae our eyes, watchin’ and waitin’ while the dust settled.
Wallace said, “Did we get it?”
