The Sacrifice Read Free Page B

left on longer trains
     before.’
    Ed came over to them; he had a boy with him
     who Sam recognized. He was called Kyle and rarely left Ed’s side. Kyle was big and
     loud, always telling dirty jokes, very different to Ed. He acted as a sort of bodyguard
     for Ed, who it seemed could do nothing to shake the big square-headed boy off.
    ‘You OK?’ Ed asked, squatting
     down so that he was at the same level as the younger kids.
    ‘Does this happen a lot?’ Sam
     asked and Ed shook his head.
    ‘Never before. A few kids have been
     punished for things, but never like this. We better go and see what’s
     happening.’
    ‘Will Jordan really do it?’
    ‘God knows. I have no idea how his
     brain works.’
    ‘I think it’s well cool,’
     said Kyle, grinning like an idiot. ‘This is gonna be good.’
    ‘Kyle!’
    ‘What?’ Kyle gaped at Ed with an
     expression of wide-eyed innocence.
    ‘Nothing.’
    As Sam stood up, Kyle winked at him.
    ‘Baaaaaaa,’ he said, making
     little horns with his fingers.
    ‘Leave it out, Kyle,’ Ed
     snapped. Kyle just laughed.
    ‘Why did you do that?’ Sam
     asked. ‘I heard someone else make a sheep noise yesterday.’
    ‘It doesn’t matter.’ Ed put a
     hand on his shoulder. ‘I’ll tell you about it some other time.’
    Sam wanted to know now, but it was clear
     that Ed wasn’t going to talk about it. He and Kyle strode on ahead and Sam and The
     Kid followed them out to where everyone was assembling on Tower Green. Sam was familiar
     with this corner of the castle. He’d been sleeping in a room in one of the
     medieval timber-framed houses that lined the green on two sides. If it wasn’t for
     the fact that most of the grass had been dug up and replaced with vegetables it did very
     much resemble a traditional village green. As well as the houses, there was a small
     stone church and you could imagine you were deep in the English countryside rather than
     in the heart of London.
    Brendan had been dragged to a cobbled area
     in the centre of the green where a chopping block was set up. It was a replica, dragged
     out of an exhibition in one of the towers, but it was solid enough, and next to it was a
     large and very real axe. Jordan must have arranged for this to be done while everyone
     was inside.
    ‘This is where they used to chop
     people’s heads off in Henry the Eighth’s time,’ Sam told The Kid.
     ‘I read about it. Anne Boleyn and Catherine Howard were both executed
     here.’
    Ed shook his head at the sight of the block
     and axe. ‘Jordan’s gone nuts,’ he said. ‘This isn’t
     right.’
    Brendan’s friends were crowding round
     Jordan, all talking at once, like footballers arguing about a penalty decision with a
     referee. Jordan ignored them and came over to say a few words to Kyle, who nodded. Then
     he stood on the block to address the crowd.
    ‘You may think this is harsh,’
     he shouted. ‘But if wedon’t take our laws seriously
     there’s no point in having them. Without laws we’d be just like animals. The
     punishment for murder is death, we all agreed on that –’
    ‘Only because we thought it would
     never happen,’ a girl shouted from the crowd.
    ‘That’s irrelevant,’ said
     Jordan.
    ‘Who said stealing food was as bad as
     murder anyway?’ asked another girl. It was clear that Jordan’s decision was
     not a popular one. The kids were scared and angry.
    ‘I did,’ said Jordan. ‘And
     I stick to it. Food is very precious now. As I said, if we don’t have food we
     die.’
    Ed pushed his way to the front of the crowd
     and walked right up to Jordan.
    ‘No one wants this,’ he said.
     ‘Stop it now.’
    ‘He has to be punished.’
    ‘Yeah? OK, so who the hell are you
     going to get to cut his bloody head off, huh? Or are you going to do it
     yourself?’
    ‘Me,’ said Kyle stepping
     forward. ‘I’m going to do it!’ He picked up the axe and took a couple
     of practice swings, kids jumping out of the