‘Well, lad, that’s one more thing sorted out,’ he said, giving me a weary smile.
‘There’s something I’ve not told you,’ I blurted before I could change my mind. ‘I already know the details of the ritual for destroying the Fiend.’
My master stared at me for a few moments without speaking, looking far from pleased. ‘In that case you’ve lied to me, lad. You told me that the details would only be revealed to you when Alice returned with the third blade.’
‘I’m sorry. Yes, I did lie, but I did so for good reason. I didn’t want to worry you until Alice got back and we knew we had the third weapon. And I needed time to think; to find a way of avoiding what’s supposed to be done . . . because it’s bad – really bad.’
‘Lying to your master is also bad. I’m disappointed, lad. I’ve left you my property because I want you to follow in my footsteps after I’ve gone. And how do you repay me? Yes, I’m disappointed; and hurt too. After years of working together in mutual trust, speaking the truth to each other should be second only to breathing. And time’s running out. Halloween is approaching. Is there any news about the girl yet, or have you been hiding that from me too?’
‘No.’ I shook my head, telling a new lie.
‘Well, lad, I’m waiting. Get it off your chest. Spit it out. Tell me about the ritual and don’t leave anything out.’
‘I won’t be carrying out the ritual,’ I told him. ‘I can’t. There has to be a sacrifice. To make it work, I have to kill Alice.’
‘Why does it have to be her?’ the Spook demanded.
The next words were very hard to utter. My master had always mistrusted Alice because she had been trained as a witch. He also thought that a spook should devote his entire life to the trade and not marry. To get too close to a girl was, in his eyes, a dangerous distraction.
‘To carry out the ritual I have to sacrifice the person I most love on this earth. That’s what Mam told me. So it has to be Alice.’
The Spook closed his eyes and gave a deep sigh. There was a long silence. At last he spoke, his voice hardly more than a whisper.
‘Does the girl know?’
I nodded. ‘The victim has to be a willing sacrifice. Alice is willing to die in order to destroy the Fiend. But it’s too horrible – I won’t do it. Here!’ I said bitterly, reaching into my pocket and pulling out the piece of paper that gave the details of the ritual. I held it out. I’d been carrying it around waiting for the right time to reveal all this to my master.
He shook his head. ‘My eyes are tired. Each day I’m finding it more and more difficult to read. So do it for me, lad. Read it aloud slowly.’
So I did as he said, but just read out the most important sentences:
‘The destruction of the Fiend may be achieved by the following means. Firstly the three sacred objects must be to hand. They are the hero swords forged by Hephaestus. The greatest of these is the Destiny Blade; the second is the dagger called Bone Cutter . . . The third is the dagger named Dolorous, sometimes also called the Blade of Sorrow . . .
‘The place is also important. It must be one especially conducive to the use of magic. Thus the ritual must be carried out on a high hill east of Caster, which is known as the Wardstone.
‘First the blood sacrifice should be made in this precise manner. A fire must be constructed – one capable of generating great heat. To achieve this it will be necessary to build a forge.
‘Throughout the ritual the willing sacrificial victim must display great courage. If she once cries out to betray her pain, all will be lost and the rite will fail.
‘Using the dagger Bone Cutter, the thumb-bones must be taken from the right hand of the victim and cast into the flames. Only if she does not cry out may the second cut be made to remove the bones of the left hand. These also are added to the fire.
‘Next, using the dagger Dolorous, the heart must be cut out of the victim and, still beating, cast into the flames—’
‘Stop!’ cried the Spook, rising to his feet so suddenly that his chair overturned.
‘But there’s more,’ I protested. ‘I have to—’
‘I don’t want to hear any more!’ he exclaimed. ‘I’ve put my own affairs in order because I know that I’m approaching the end of my time in this world. But there’s one further thing that I want to do – use the last of my strength to destroy the Fiend for ever. We need to pay him back for all the suffering and misery he’s inflicted upon the world. But you’re right, lad, in not wanting to use that ritual. We’ve already compromised with the dark in order to get this far. You and the girl – you’ve used a blood jar to keep the Fiend at bay, and we’ve had a long-standing alliance with Grimalkin, the witch assassin. Those were bad enough, but this is something far worse. It’s more than just cold-blooded murder. It’s barbaric. Do that and we’re not fit to call ourselves human. The ritual is out of the question.’
The Spook righted his chair, sat down again and glared at me across the table. ‘Now I want to ask you a few questions. You learned of the ritual from your mam when you visited Malkin Tower?’
‘Yes.’
‘She appeared to you?’
I nodded. Mam had died in Greece fighting her mortal enemy, the Ordeen. But her spirit had survived; it was still strong – and was trying to help us finish off the Fiend.
‘What form did she take?’
‘At first she looked like a fierce angel with claws – just as she appeared in Greece. But then she changed into the Mam I remembered – the woman you talked to at our farm soon after you first took me on as your apprentice.’
The Spook nodded. He seemed to be deep in thought.
‘Where did that piece of paper come from?’ he asked, taking it from me.
‘Mam appeared to Slake and dictated the instructions. She wrote them down.’
Slake was a lamia witch – one of Mam’s ‘sisters’. She was still in control of Malkin Tower, keeping the local witches from repossessing it.
‘Well, lad, we’ve some serious thinking and talking to do. What’s the job for us today? I heard the bell ring early this morning. It must be important if somebody walked through the night to reach us.’
The bell was at the withy trees crossroads, not far from the house. When somebody wanted the Spook’s help, they went there and rang the bell and waited.