Out at sea.
A column of water shot skyward.
Boiling seawater rained onto the deck.
"Damn it!"
Travers screamed and threw himself onto the deck, clasping his hands over his head. He had learned that from Muggle war films.
Rowle adjusted the compass again, his eyes full of madness, and fired a second shell at Azkaban without hesitation.
The others used spell rifles, green spheres of Killing Curse light spewing from their crude barrels. Their aim was terrible. The shots flew wildly over the sea, never even touching Azkaban's outer wall.
Lucius gripped the railing tightly.
"Hard to port! Evasive action!" he roared.
Just as the defense tower's beam was about to lock onto the landing craft.
The savage roar of an engine tore through the sea wind from behind and to one side.
A black speedboat burst through the waves. Four dark figures in Death Eater masks stood proudly at its bow. Death had arrived.
(Music here: A Better Tomorrow)
The speedboat cut into the battlefield at an extremely dangerous angle, driving straight toward the landing craft's flank.
The lead figure drew his wand. Its tip pointed straight at the sky.
Green light burst.
An enormous dark-green skull and snake broke through the clouds. The serpent flicked its tongue from the skull's mouth.
The Dark Mark.
Its eerie green light illuminated Lucius's face and those of the others.
"We've come to collect you on the Dark Lord's orders!"
Sirius pinched his voice and used Sonorus. His voice exploded across the sea, deafeningly loud.
"Quick, come with us! It's an ambush!"
Travers froze.
Rowle stopped firing. "Collect us? Didn't the master tell us to fight to the death to test the weapons?"
"Idiot!" Bill flicked his wrist.
A thick cable shot through the air and landed squarely on the landing