must.â
He sticks his knife in his belt and takes her hand.
âTogether we will do the will of The Morrigan.â
Theyâre walking towards the bull. I just follow. Iâm angry. Fiona said I was the one of the race of Finn who would be the megastar, but then Iâm glad I donât have to. Anyway Iâve got the dirk, so I follow up close just in case things go wrong.
The bull sees us coming and starts bellowing and pawing the ground. Then, I swear, Aidan begins to sing to it.
âListen summer twilight long
Hearken winter skies afire
Spring and autumn hear my song
Calling all the herds to byre.â
He turns to Fiona. âDo you know âthe Great Herdsman of Etive`?â
She nods.
âThatâs his song.â
She joins in. Itâs like theyâre charming the animal. It stops snorting and stamping and comes to them like a pet pony.
Aidan scratches its forehead and ruffles its ears as if itâs a dog. It nuzzles his hand. He turns to Fiona, âWe need the cauldron.â
âSteve; the cauldron,â she commands.
Iâd forgotten all about it, but now Iâve got to go back for it as if sheâs The Morrigan herself.
I suppose itâs real gold but Iâm dragging it behind me, bouncing it off stones, cos itâs too heavy to carry. Iâm out of breath when I get back to them. âWhat now?â
âAidan says we must take the bull and the cauldron across the ford to Eriska, the Holy Island, and heâll show us how to make the sacrifice.â
Eriska. Itâs a long way. Iâve not been there but Fionaâs dad says thereâs a posh hotel on it in today time and thereâs a decent road and a bridge today too. But now Iâve got to drag the cauldron all the way along a bumpy track while they swan along ahead with their pet bull.
âHey, Fiona. How about taking a shot with the cauldron?â
She half turns and puts her finger to her lips, âAidan and I are the priest and priestess.â
****
The fordâs not deep. Tideâs well out. The bull ploughs through with the water round its knees. Itâs quite sloppy underfoot, though, and Iâve a bit of a struggle with the cauldron till I realise I can float it across.
In the old time Eriskaâs a bare moor. Aidan leads the bull to the highest point. Thereâs a big flat stone there and he tells me to put the cauldron on it. I have to wedge it with wee stones to stop it rolling off.
Then he takes his knife and makes Fiona hold it with him, her hand inside his. Theyâre chanting together softly, âThe Morrigan. The Morrigan.â The bullâs licking Aidanâs fingers. Suddenly he makes a quick flick and a jerk and thereâs blood spurting from a gash in its neck. It lifts its head and moans softly, not that terrible bellowing I heard from the dead dinosaur. More like a sort of sad sigh. Then Aidan and Fiona put in the knife and open up the wound.
The bullâs on its knees now, its blood gushing into the cauldron. Aidanâs in tears. âMy brother,â he blubbers. The beast collapses. Aidanâs got his arms round its neck and its bloodâs washing all over him. It gives an enormous shudder. Then it is quite still.
Overhead I hear the raw âkark` of a raven. For a split second, behind Aidan and Fiona, there flickers the figure of a one eyed hag. Then itâs gone. Aidan must have seen it too for heâs on his hands and knees, eyes wide and staring.
Fiona crouches beside him and they clasp hands. Then he doubles up like heâs been kicked in the stomach. Heâs trying to hold on to her but, right in front of my eyes, he shrivels and slips like sand through her fingers until thereâs nothing left but a little pile of dust on the flat stone.
Fiona unclenches her fist. Some fine dust in the lines of her palm blows away in the wind.
The bullâs gone, too, and the cauldron that was half full of
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