Spirits from Beyond Read Online Free PDF Page A

“Something The Flesh Undying thinks it can use against us. That’s one of the reasons why I stayed away so long, guys. Because I didn’t want to put you in even more danger. But I finally saw a chance to come home again, and I took it. I have a plan; so let’s hope I’m as smart as I think I am. If you want to keep me, JC, you’re going to have to go down there into the dark and fight for me.”
    JC grinned. “Isn’t that how we first met?”
    They smiled at each other.
    “I can’t help noticing,” Happy said loudly, “that I still haven’t had an answer to my question.
What the hell is down there?
”
    “Tell me,” said Kim. “What do you guys know about Druids?”
    “Oh hell,” said Happy. “The answer hasn’t even started yet, and already I hate it. You mean the real Druids, the original Druids? Scary, and I mean seriously scary. Not like the current bunch, the Stonehenge botherers. Big, hairy, refried-hippie, tree-hugger types. The original pre-Roman bunch were seriously nasty, bad-arse, mystic warriors. Heavily into murder magic, human sacrifice, burning their enemies en masse in giant Wicker Men . . .”
    “Good film, that,” said JC.
    “Bloody good film,” said Happy. “Which only goes to show we shouldn’t mess around with anything that involves real Druids. We’re only supposed to deal with ghosts. I think we should back away, very carefully and at speed, and turn this whole thing over to someone with more experience in this field. Like the Droods.”
    “You’ve got to be kidding,” said Melody. “They’re scarier than the Druids ever were.”
    “True,” said Happy.
    “You deal with the dead,” said Kim. “And what’s waiting for us down there very definitely qualifies.”
    “Only back ten minutes, and already I’m getting into situations that give me twitches in the backstairs department,” muttered Happy.
    “Tell me more about Druids,” said JC. “I never was very big on ancient history.”
    “The old-time Druids dealt with wood and water, fire and earth,” said Melody, patiently. “And like the Nature they worshipped, the Druids were red in tooth and claw. So seriously hard-core they actually shocked the hardened Roman Legionnaires. Three times the Roman armies tried to invade Britain, and twice the Druids drove them back into the sea, till the waters ran red with blood up and down the coast. The Romans only won the third time, in 55 B.C ., because they were able to sneak in agents and get the various British tribes fighting each other. The Romans practically invented Divide and Conquer. But, you have to remember that the Druids had an entirely oral tradition of knowledge, with information passed only from mouth to mouth. Nothing was ever written down, to preserve their ancient mysteries. So the only written records we have of the Druids at that time are Roman writings. People with no interest in presenting the Druids in a good light.”
    “So they were actually good guys?” said Happy.
    “No,” said Kim. “Not by any definition we could be comfortable with.”
    “Druids worshipped the triple goddess,” said Melody. “Macha, Badb, Neman. More gorecrows than gods, they thrived on slaughter and butchery. And then, there was Lud . . .”
    “And then there was Lud,” said Kim. “A very ancient Being, he predated the Druids who worshipped him. Long dead now, of course.”
    “Good,” said Happy. “Anyone the Druids worshipped is not someone you’d want to meet in a dark catacomb. You are sure he’s dead?”
    “Oh quite definitely,” said Kim. “I’ve seen the body. That’s why we’re going down into the Undertowen—to talk with him.”
    They all looked at her.
    “Are you saying,” Happy said carefully, “that somewhere down there, is the ghost of an old god?”
    “Ghost of an old monster, anyway,” Kim said cheerfully. “Surrounded, of course, by all kinds of other dead things of an equally upsetting and dangerous nature.”
    “Including