Read Online Neither Dead Nor Alive by Jack Hastie - Free Book Online

I’m looking at the bull, wondering how The Morrigan’s going to show us how to sacrifice it.
    It’s not very big, but it’s got freaky horns and I don’t fancy getting close to it again. I’m thinking
it`s quiet enough right now
when suddenly it brings its head up and snorts. It’s looking round and listening. I can the whites of its eyes rolling.
    Then I hear what it’s hearing.
    Sort of chiming, like bells, a long way off.
    Only I soon realise it’s not bells; it’s the baying of dogs.
    Then there’s a crash in the bushes and Aidan bursts out of them with his bronze knife in his hand. He stares around him like a hunted deer. Then he catches sight of me and Fiona.
    â€œThe hounds.” He waves an arm despairingly.

    ****
    Four of them break out of a thicket and then check when they see us. They’re the biggest, ugliest dogs I’ve ever seen – black and shaggy – with slavering mouths and lolling tongues.
    The three of us get our backs together and they circle us, growling and snarling, as if they are waiting for an order.
    Then it comes: “Kill.”
    The master catches up with them, and it’s Fergus with the eye. He checks for a second. Maybe he’s surprised to see three kids instead of just one. But he repeats the order: “Kill.”
    â€œThe dirk,” says Fiona quietly.
    I know what iron can do, so I’m pure dead gallus. I charge at the dogs, slashing and stabbing left and right and shouting a lot of nonsense. I don’t think I hit any of them but they take off in every direction, howling.
    Behind me Fergus is cursing his dogs and shouting at them to turn and kill us. I’m not thinking about him, though, until I hear Fiona scream, “Steve.”
    I spin round and he’s coming at me. Aidan slashes at him with his knife and that slows him up just enough for me to show him the dirk.
    As soon as he sees it he stops dead, just like Gawawl.
    Fergus and me are face to face. Aidan comes up beside me: shoulder to shoulder, his bronze knife and my iron dirk.
    For a second Fergus thinks about tackling us. Then I brandish the dirk and he turns and runs.
    He doesn’t get far. He trips and goes sprawling in the heather. An idea zips across my mind – jump on his back and bury the dirk between his shoulders. Only I don’t.
    Aidan does! He’s on him like a cat, but before he has time to stick him with the blade, Fergus lets out a scream and Aidan bounces off him like he’s red hot.
    Fergus scrambles to his feet. He’s clawing at his throat and I see there’s a snake writhing round his neck. It’s greenish white with a black zigzag mark down its back, and its teeth are fastened in his throat.
    For a moment Fergus staggers about, waving his hands as if he’s afraid to touch the thing. Then he pitches forward on to his knees. He’s making like he’s choking and gurgling now. Then he slumps on to his face and goes quiet.
    The three of us freeze. There’s a rustling in the heather and I see the black zigzag mark wriggling away.
    â€œThe Morrigan,” whispers Aidan.
    â€œFergus is dead.” Fiona knows cos it’s all in the book. I half expect Aidan to make sure, cut Fergus’s throat or something, but he won’t even look at the corpse.
    So here we are in the middle of the Bronze Age, a dead chief beside us, that wild bull a hundred yards away and all around the invisible presence of The Morrigan.
    Fiona’s the first to come to her senses.
    â€œAidan, do you know how to sacrifice the bull?”
    He’s like he’s in a dream.
    â€œMy bull,” he says. “Born on the same day as I was.”
    â€œYou must sacrifice it to The Morrigan. You know that.”
    He shakes his head. “The bull is my brother.”
    She gets angry with him. “Your father’s dead. The dogs would have killed you too. They’ve killed you before. Aidan, you