“They’ve re-laid the surface atop the dungeon, fortified it with steel. There is no getting through it with fire,” Ronan told him.
“Explosives?”
“Do we have any explosives?” Ronan replied.
“No, but we can make some calls.”
“You’re talking Republicans. I think we’d be hard-pressed to find any that Trill doesn’t have in his back pocket.”
“Trill is dead and they’re loyal to whoever it is in their best interests to support,” Niall told him.
“And when they expect us to return payment for them? What do you think their price will be? You really want to get into bed with those guys over here when we’re a continent away and forced to let others tend to things over here for us?”
“Then what do you suggest, little brother?”
“I don’t know.”
Their conversation was interrupted by the sound of a metallic creak coming from inside the castle walls. A white flag rose above one of the broken pillars of stones that once housed kings.
“They’re surrendering?” Ronan asked.
“I don’t know. Let’s just wait a moment and see.”
A moment later, a figure approached, waving the flag back and forth as he walked out from the rubble.
“It’s Andrew,” Niall said.
They watched as he walked slowly away from the castle and stopped about halfway between it and where they were hunkered down. He opened a piece of paper in his hands. Niall could see that they were shaking badly and his voice quaked as he called out to them.
“Niall, I’ve been sent out to give you a message. Walk away and there will be no more trouble.”
“That’s a pretty big demand from a few dozen men hiding in a concrete hole, Andrew. Keep coming toward us and let’s get you home.”
“I can’t,” Andrew replied.
“What do you mean you can’t? Niall replied.
“There’s a bead on my back,” Andrew called back.
“So, you’re going back down there?”
“No. You’re walking away and letting the men out or they will shoot me where I stand.”
Niall squinted at him. Someone must have come out with him, and there was a good chance the exit was still open for a quick retreat if that were true.
“Niall?” Andrew called out when there was no response.
Niall watched, his eyes adjusting to what he was seeing ahead of him. After a moment, he responded, yelling loudly enough for anyone around them to hear.
“Andrew, hit the dirt! Shifters forward! Take down anything that comes out of the ground!”
It all happened fast. The bears and wolves around them lunged forward, already shifted. Andrew hit the ground just as a shot rang out and sailed over his head, narrowly missing Ronan as he shifted and charged forward beside Niall.
They covered the ground quickly, stopping just short of the castle ruins as a dozen large dragons blacked out the sun overhead. It felt like an oven even out in the open air as they focused streams of fire down on the center of the castle base. There was a loud scream and a man stumbled out of the ruins, dropping his sniper rifle and trying to roll around on the ground.
A dragon made another pass over him, turning him to ash as he did so. As the top of the structure began to heat up and likely melt the metal beams no doubt put inside to reinforce it, men began fleeing from exits all around what was now a death trap. There was no time for them to change, leaving them to be picked off by shifters or roasted alive by dragons as they fled.
When all was said and done, there was nothing more than a smoking hole in the ground and bodies lying all over the place around the grounds. The dragons hovered overhead for a while and then just turned and flew away, their work done. Niall and Ronan stood watching them go for a moment before shifting.
“Back to human form now,” Niall barked at the remaining shifters.
Ronan walked over to help Andrew up off the ground, where he’d remained rather than shifting to fight. At first, Niall thought it was cowardice, but when he got closer, he could see the razor wire wrapped around him and secured with chains. He would have been cut to shreds if he’d attempted to shift.
“Check everyone. If you can’t vouch for who they are, then secure them and bring them to me.”
In the meantime, he walked closer to the castle walls. Looking into the abyss, he could see the partial remains of men, most burned to a crisp and some burned to a small pile of ash. There was nothing that could have survived down there.
When everyone was accounted for, he breathed a sigh of relief. It was over. There would finally be safety for his family and peace on this island. Retrieving his clothes from where he and Ronan had been waiting, he dialed the number for his brother Olcan back in the states and gave him the update.