The Battle for Duncragglin Read Online Free PDF Page A

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 rimand 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 P LAN
    A lex 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,