Attack at the Castle

After a full Scottish breakfast for the humans and a plate of tasty salmon pate for Fiona, the Duke and Duchess of Glasex, their daughter, Lady Anne, and the aforementioned feline, Fiona, exited the Royal Scotsman train for a day of sightseeing. Up first was a trip to see Eilean Donan Castle. It wasn't that the Duke and his family had never seen a castle, they lived in one after all, but this castle had more romance and history about it then theirs. Their castle was a small one that had been in the family without dispute for over four hundred years. This castle had been abandoned after the Jacobite rebellion and recently made safe enough for tours. Lady Anne had been studying about the Jacobites in school and that was the reason they were on this vacation.

The motor coach that took the passengers from the train to the castle was every bit as luxurious as the train. Fiona even had her own seat next to Lady Anne. She was again on the leash but at least her tactical collar had been returned to its rightful place. The leash was for appearances only, as she and the Duke knew, Fiona was only pretending to be leash trained. She was going along with the plan until she was needed and then she'd use the break away feature of the leash to protect her charge.

Fiona had a funny feeling about this excursion. If she were trying to kidnap Lady Anne, this would be where she'd do it. It was five days into an eight day trip- long enough to lull them in to thinking nothing was going to happen and with enough time left to try again if unsuccessful. The castle also provided good cover and opportunities to separate Lady Anne from her parents. Fiona hoped that they'd see Lady Anne with nothing but a cat to defend her and try something. She enjoyed showing just what damage a fifteen pound cat with teeth and claws can do.

The coach pulled up to entrance and everyone disembarked. Sure enough, anxious to explore, Lady Anne separated from her parents. She wondered to the far side of the island while the Duke was still caught up in reading the names on the World War I memorial. The Duchess was busy looking inside the castle with the other women.

Lady Anne and Fiona wondered down to the water where the three Lochs met. The girl saw something in the water and wasn't paying attention to her surroundings. The cat divided her attention between their surroundings and making sure that if Lady Anne fell in she wouldn't take the cat with her. Fiona didn't mind the water so much and had in fact been trained to swim and complete missions that involved getting wet, she just wasn't crazy about being drug into water for no reason other than a human dragged her in.

Fiona was looking at Anne, who was just about to tip over in the water, when a crunching sound on the gravel sounded. Fiona pulled back on her leash to pull Lady Anne away from the water as a pair of hands came around the girl. The cat instantly broke the leash and launched herself at the attacker. She had her claws out and attached herself around the attacker's face. He tried to remove the angry cat and let go of Lady Anne. The girl ran a few paces away and saw that her cat wasn't coming too so she ran back and kick at the man.

Fiona let go with one paw to be able to press a button on the side of her collar. She reattached the paw with it's claws into the attacker's neck. She let out a yowl right into the man's ear. Between them, Fiona and Lady Anne managed to topple the man. Fiona parked herself right over his sternum with her claws dug into his fleshy sides.

Elsewhere on the castle grounds, the Duke of Glasex's phone buzzed with an incoming text alert. He dug out his phone and checked who the text was from.

“I'll be...” the Duke said.

“What?” asked his Duchess.

“I got a text from the cat,” he said as he opened the text. He read it and shoved the phone into her hands. “Go get the security guards and come around the back of the castle.”

The Duke didn't wait for her to react, he ran around the castle, just in time to see the cat and his daughter topple the man. If he hadn't seen the cat in action he wouldn't have believed it. He ran the rest of the way to them.

Fiona looked up at the Duke and opened her mouth to tell him something. “Meow?” was all he heard.

He came over and put a foot on the mans chest while reaching down to pet the cat.

“Meow?” Fiona repeated. The Duke just looked at her. She pick up a paw and tapped her ear. The Duke remembered the ear piece and pulled it out of his pocket and put it in his ear.

“Back up coming?” Fiona's computerized Irish voice asked.

“My wife should be bringing security at any moment,” he answered.

The Duchess and a couple security guards came around the corner. Security to custody of the attacker and hauled him off. The Duke made arrangements to press charges later but took his wife, daughter, and the cat back to the train.

“I didn't believe it when they told me that a cat would be a good bodyguard,” the Duke said as they gathered in the lounge car for soothing drinks – whiskey for the Duke and Duchess, hot chocolate for Lady Anne, and cream for Fiona. “But after seeing you in action, I'll admit it was brilliant.”

His Grace sat next to Fiona and scritched her behind her ear. “When you have time off, you'll be more than welcome to Glasex Castle.”

“We'll treat you like the most pampered pet ever,” added Lady Anne.

Fiona leaned into the petting and purred loudly. She would take them up on the offer for her next vacation but for now she was going to enjoy the rest of this train trip. Her job was done and she could relax.