The Battle for Duncragglin

by Andrew H. Vanderwal

  Willie turned and stomped away. He waved for Alex to follow.

  Enraged, Craig picked up a stick and swung it hard against a post. It snapped with a loud crack. He threw the broken half at Willie. It missed, spinning over Willie's shoulder to land on the lane ahead. Willie ignored it, continuing on at the same pace. Alex ran to catch up.

  They cut through several fields, crossed the coastal road, and came all the way to the cliffs without any sign of the cow. Alex peered over the edge. Down below, waves crashed onto a long stretch of sandy beach. He was relieved to see it was empty. At least the cow was not stupid enough to run straight off the cliff.

  The coast curved outwards in both directions to form a bay. Rising above the cliffs at the far end were ruins.

  “Duncragglin?” Alex asked.

  Willie nodded absently, his eyes sweeping back and forth over the terrain. “Runaways don't usually go this far,” he muttered irritably. “At this point, she could have gone either way.”

  They split up, Alex taking a path north along the top of the cliffs, while Willie headed south. An onshore wind was picking up, moaning as it blew.

  Something moved in the shadows near the base of the cliffs. Alex descended along a steep and crumbly path, taking care not to get close to the edge. Halfway down, he heard someone calling.

  High up on the cliffs, Willie was waving his arms. “Come baaaaack. We're not allowed down there – too dangerous.”

  Alex cupped his hands around his mouth. “But, I've found Vanessa – she's up ahead.”

  “Noooooo – come back. Craig found Vanessa down the rooooad.”

  Alex was confused. Then what had he seen?

  The low moaning grew louder. It sounded as if it was calling him, pulling at him, drawing him nearer. Alex felt a chill. He turned and ran back up the path. The moaning gradually diminished. By the time he reached Willie, it had died out altogether.

  “What did you see down there?” Willie asked.

  “I couldn't tell,” Alex gasped, still panting from his climb. “Something was moving in the shadows…. Is something wrong?”

  Inexplicably, it had suddenly become very dark.

  “Let's go!” Willie yelled. He started sprinting, Alex right behind him. They slowed only when they were finally in the open laneway.

  “Nah, nah, you missed me.” Willie laughed and whooped. He shot a defiant fist up in the air. As if in response, the wind picked up and the light from the moon completely disappeared.

  Willie squealed. The boys sprinted again. This time they didn't stop until they had run all the way to the farmhouse.

  Alex and Willie washed and put away the dinner dishes while Mr. McRae enjoyed a pint of beer at the kitchen table with the newspaper. Annie and Craig were at the table having a game of crazy eights.

  “When I was looking for Vanessa, I heard this strange moaning over by the cliffs,” Alex said, giving the counter a fast wipe. “Anyone know what it's from?”

  Annie and Craig looked up from their game. A small crooked smile appeared on Willie's face.

  Mr. McRae lowered his paper. He gave a small dismissive wave. “Och, the rock formations catch the wind and make that sound sometimes. Everybody around here calls 'm the wailing rocks.”

  “What about the castle ghouls?” Willie cocked his head and waited for his father's reaction. He did not have to wait long.

  Mr. McRae thumped the table and raised a threatening finger. “How many times do I have to tell ye? There's nothing to them tales of castle ghouls. And I dinnae want any more talk of it!” He glowered, then, catching himself, slowly lowered his finger and sat back. His eyes softened. “Alright, I'll tell ye what, lads 'n' lassie. I'll take the whole lot of ye over to the ruins in the morn, after I'm done milking the coos. You'll see for yourselves that there's nothing to all this but your imaginations.”

  “The Duncragglin castle ruins?” Alex exchanged an excited glance with Willie.

  “Oh, aye,” Mr. McRae answered. “The very one your ancestors lived in, so many years ago. The very one that was blasted to bits by the English general, Oliver Cromwell, back in the mid-1600s. Yon old castles weren't built to withstand cannonballs.”

  “Have you ever been in the caves under the castle?” Alex asked eagerly.

  “Caves? Wherever did ye hear of that? There are no caves.” Mr. McRae frowned and took up his paper. “Now that's enough of this. Everybody get ready for bed. It's going to be busy in the morn.”

  Willie, Craig, and Alex crowded the room, each tooth-brushing furiously, white toothpaste foam on their lips.

  “Quit hogging,” Craig mumbled, drooling toothpaste that was about to drip from his chin. He wriggled to get to the sink.

  Willie gave Craig a hip check to get him out of the way. Craig flicked his toothbrush bristles out from behind his front teeth and sprayed foam over Willie's face. Enraged, Willie banged his cup on the countertop, splashing Alex's pajamas.

  “It's not funny!” Willie shouted, but that only made Craig laugh harder.

  Hurriedly putting their toothbrushes away, Willie and Craig rubbed their faces with a facecloth, then promptly tried to throw their cloth into the other's face. Willie ducked, and Craig's cloth hit Alex on the side of the head. Willie's cloth missed and landed half in the toilet. Craig laughed harder than ever. Willie snatched the cloth from Alex and chased Craig from the bathroom.

  Alex dried his face and rubbed a towel over his wet pajamas. He gingerly lifted the facecloth from the toilet rim and deposited it in the bathtub, wondering if it was a blessing not to have brothers.

  Cautiously looking around the bedroom, wary of an ambush, Alex saw Willie lying on his stomach, reading a book on fishing. Craig was kneeling on the floor, sorting his card collection.

  Alex pushed aside the bedroom curtains. The full moon was now bright enough for him to see the horizon. He watched the glow of far-off headlights as a car wound its way along the coastal road. Several shadows passed down a distant hill.

  “Do you keep sheep or cattle out there?” he asked.

  Willie got up and peered out the window. “Where?”

  “It's gone now, but something was moving across that hill there.”

  Willie groaned. “You're not seeing things again, are you?”

  Craig dove under the covers. “Are they back?” he squeaked.

  “There's nothing out there.” Willie sighed. “It probably was just a shadow from a wee cloud passing in front of the moon.”

  Alex looked up. There were no clouds. The blackness surrounding the moon was broken only by speckles of stars. “Have you seen anything out there before?” he asked.

  Craig's frightened little face popped out from under the bundle of blankets and bobbed up and down vigorously.

  “Och, ye cannae be sure of what ye've seen,” Willie said.

  Willie and Alex knelt on the floor to keep a lookout. There were many shadows. Every now and then, they thought one of them moved, but neither ever saw the same movement at the same time.

  “I guess there's nothing,” Alex said finally.

  Craig emerged and squeezed in between them, resting his chin on his folded arms. “There was once a big battle out there,” he said quietly.

  “Aye, but that was hundreds of years ago,” Willie said.

  “Who was fighting?” Alex asked.

  “The English attacked us Scots,” Willie replied.

  “Who won?”

  “The English. It was the battle where they took over Duncragglin. Granny says it was a very dark day. Lots of our ancestors died.”

  Alex pictured a battle raging below: swords and shields clashing, horses charging, men slashing and stabbing. The rugged countryside would have looked much the same back then. The hills would have had their same contours, the sea would have been pounding on the same shore. Only the trees would be different, and the buildings.

  Craig yawned, which started Alex yawning too. He suddenly felt tired, very tired. Willie turned off the light and the boys
went to bed.

  Hours later, Alex awoke with a spasm from a frightening dream, a tight-fisted grip on his covers. Heart pounding, he wondered if he was truly awake. His dream was so real that the fear was still in him. He'd seen unspeakable monsters from the past. Wailing eerily, they'd clambered up from the base of the cliffs, rising from under the rocks, climbing hand and foot over the hills, all with a single objective – they were coming to take him away.

  4

  A PLAN

  Alex lay wide-eyed in his bed, sweat beading on his forehead, certain that the monsters of his dream were somewhere in the room. It was still dark. Alex wanted nothing more than to stay hidden under his covers, but he had to go to the toilet. There were no two ways about it. And there is no such thing as monsters, he repeated to himself as he reluctantly got up and tiptoed out to the hall.

  The toilet door was shut. Dismayed, he twisted the handle, but it was locked. He rapped softly.

  “I'll be right out,” called Annie.

  Alex danced in a little circle. The door opened and out she stepped.

  “Hi, Annie – gotta go.” Alex shot past and swung the door shut behind him, not taking the time to lock it. When he emerged, Annie was sitting at the top of the stairs, her arms wrapped about her knees. She was facing away, her head down.

  “Hey, what's up?” he asked.

  “Can't sleep.” Her voice was muffled by the sleeve of her housecoat.

  “Why not?”

  “Been thinking about my mother.”

  Alex sat next to her and waited for her to say more. “Sometimes I think about my parents too,” he said.

  Annie lifted her head. Her eyes were red. “Your parents disappeared from around here too, didn't they?” she asked.

  Alex nodded.

  “Do you know what I think happened to them, and to my mother too?”

  Alex stared, his heart pounding faster.

  “The castle. It's haunted … or something.” Annie brushed strands of hair off her cheek. “Everyone around here knows that. She wouldn't have just left us – she couldn't have….” She looked about to cry.

  Alex wondered miserably if he should put his arm around her shoulder.

  “Do you know why I don't believe she just left us? Because she took Tig – our dog,” Annie said. “She didn't even like him! He wasn't allowed to lie against the furniture or anything!”

  Alex wondered how people could disappear in a “haunted” castle. “Maybe they got lost in the caves,” he suggested.

  “The what?” Annie looked at him blankly.

  “The caves. There's a whole labyrinth of caves under the castle, somewhere – really! A professor on the plane told me about them. Maybe we could find a way in!”

  “Okay, let's say there are caves – and let's say we can find a way to get into them. What do you think we'd find?”

  “Who knows? But if we find anything that suggests that your mother, or my parents, went into them, we could get someone to do a proper search. And then we might find out what happened to them!”

  “But there are a few problems,” said Annie. “First, we don't know where these caves are, and second, even if we find them, what's to keep us from getting lost?”

  “I'm sure we'll figure something out.” Alex was getting excited. “We'll sneak off when your dad's working. We'll bring flashlights and maybe some chalk to mark the way we came.”

  “But, that still leaves us with the biggest problem of all.”

  “What's that?”

  “The place is haunted!”

  They sat silently. Alex wondered what manner of ghost or being might be in the castle or those caves, and how it might prey on people who entered. It dawned on him that he and Annie might disappear, just like others had disappeared before them. He shuddered.

  “Dad said he was going to take us to the ruins tomorrow,” Annie said. “Let's see if we find anything that even remotely looks like it might be a way into those caves. If we find nothing, that's the end of that.”

  “Should we tell Willie?”

  “Yes, but not Craig. He might tell Dad – particularly if he gets mad at us over one thing or another. As you might have noticed, that happens a lot!”

  They said good night and went back to their beds, both feeling excited and nervous.

  By the time the boys came down for breakfast, Annie was watching TV in the front room and Mr. McRae was in from the barn, removing his overalls by the side door.

  “What was he doing out so early?” Alex asked.

  “Milking cows, of course.” Willie punched the power button of a computer at a workstation in the corner of the front room. He slipped in his Annihilation disc and watched the computer flash through its start-up. “They need to be milked twice a day – every single lousy day.”

  “Do you ever milk them?”

  Willie snorted. “Not if I can help it. I sure don't want to get too good at it.”

  Alex watched as Willie had a warrior, decked out with various armaments, go on a quest to fight underground monsters. Every swing of the warrior's sword sprayed a swath of monster blood. After each battle, the warrior stood, chest heaving, awaiting Willie's next mouse-click commands. Willie directed him to pick up coins and weapons that lay scattered about and to use a special potion to regain his strength.

  Alex wished they could have a warrior like that to take with them into the caves.

  Annie's show ended and she clicked off the TV. “Time for breakfast,” she announced. “What'll it be, French toast or eggs for dipping?”

  “Eggs for dipping!” Craig and Willie cried out in unison. They looked at each other, startled.

  Willie blurted: “Personal jinx, Craig, Craig, Craig.”

  Craig yelled: “Personal jinx, Willie, Willie, Willie.”

  But Willie shouted triumphantly: “I'm first – you can't talk now!”

  Lips sealed, Craig made gagged mmm, mmm noises and signaled with his hands for Willie to release him from the jinx.

  “Are you going to help make breakfast this time?” Willie asked.

  “Mmm, mmm.”

  “Let's get going, Willie,” Annie said impatiently.

  “But, it's Craig's turn to help … oh, darn.”

  “Thanks.” Craig laughed, released from his jinx by Willie saying his name.

  “Do ye like your eggs soft-boiled?” Annie asked Alex cheerily. “We can cook yours a bit more if you like.”

  “No, that's fine,” Alex said dubiously.

  Alex followed the others' lead as they dipped toast fingers into their eggs, pulling them back up dripping orange and taking a bite. He had never tasted an egg like this before.

  “Free-range,” Annie said proudly. “Our hens get to move around. It makes their eggs taste better.”

  Alex wasn't so sure.

  “After breakfast, there'll be no more computer and TV,” Mr. McRae announced. “If we're to go to the ruins today, we've got to get all the jobs done early.”

  “But we stacked extra straw –” Willie began.

  “Aye, there's enough strewn about the barn to last a fortnight,” Mr. McRae noted wryly. “But that doesnae count. There are eggs to collect and hens to feed. Craig, that'll be your job. Annie, take Alex and show him how we feed the calves. I've left some milk for them in the buckets. Willie, grind up some more cow feed. Oh, and boys – have ye brushed y'r teeth yet?”

  Oh, no…. Alex put his hand to his forehead.

  The calves pressed eagerly against the bars of their small pens at the back of the barn. They were not nearly as nervous as their mothers. One stuck its nose through the bars and licked Alex's shirt.

  Annie held up a plastic bottle. A calf sucked on it with all its might, slurping the milk down in seconds. Alex held a bottle up for another, laughing as the calf tugged at it, trying to pull it into its pen. The calves were all fed in minutes and were looking at Alex and Annie for more.

  Alex stroked one on the forehead. “Why are they kept separate?” he asked. “Wou
ldn't it be nicer for them to be with their mothers?”

  “It's for their safety.” Annie collected the empty bottles, tucking as many as she could under her arm. “Otherwise, they'd get trampled by the cows.”

  “But why not put the calf and its mother together in a separate pen? Then there would be no need for us to feed them.”

  “Can't you see there are not enough pens for that? And if Dad kept them together, he couldn't milk the mother cow.”

  Alex didn't understand – the calves end up drinking the milk anyway – but he decided not to press her on it.

  Jobs done, they left the barn, the door slamming behind them. They heard the grinder shut down. Moments later, Willie came out a side door, his face, hair, and shoulders powdery white. He slapped his clothes, raising clouds of dust.

  “Have you told Willie about our plans?” Alex asked Annie.

  “Aye!” Willie said. “And I think you two are right nutters to come up with such a daft idea! Imagine, running off to explore a haunted castle. Who in their right minds would do such a thing? So …,” Willie rubbed his hands, “when do we go?”

  Alex gave him a shove.

  “We've got to get some things ready first,” Annie said briskly. “And we have to figure out how to get into the caves. There's no point in us sneaking off and then just wandering about aimlessly.”

  Willie flung a stone over the plowed fields. Alex tried to match his distance, skipping to build up speed. The stone went to one side of Willie's and pinged off a crate.

  “Hey!” The shout came from across the field, where a tall thin man with long hair was shaking his fist at them.

  Willie shook his fist back. “Go boil your head.”

  “Willie! Be nice!” Annie pulled his arm down. “We should be lending him a hand with all those crates, not throwing stones at him. Come on, let's go help him load.” Annie started out across the field. Willie followed, grumbling.

  “Who is he?” Alex asked.

  Willie kicked a clod of dirt. “He's a bum.”

  “Willie! There's no reason to be so angry with him. You know Dad asked him to keep an eye on us. Dad can't be everywhere, you know, and he worries about us now that Mum's gone –”