Free Arthur and the Fenris Wolf by Alan Early Page A

towards the surface once more. It paused for a split second before shooting rapidly upwards again. Arthur ducked his head and shut his eyes as it broke through the ice and soared skyward.
    As Arthur clung on for dear life, the hammer flew him and Ash high over the lake. It hovered there for a moment and Arthur could see a man standing on the shore with a horse by his side. Then they sailed back down to earth, landing softly on the hard ground. Arthur dropped the hammer and laid the unconscious Ash on the ground.
    â€˜Eirik?’ Arthur asked, totally bewildered as to how the Viking came to be there and why he was wearing bad make-up. ‘Never mind. You can explain later. Help me with Ash!’
    Unexpectedly, he heard a siren in the near distance. He looked in the direction of the sound to see firefighters, paramedics and Gardaí clambering over the train tracks towards them from the main road. Some were carrying stretchers, others clutched warm blankets.
    Arthur turned urgently to Eirik and pushed the hammer into his arms. ‘Hide!’ The Viking disappeared as the emergency services struggled over the train tracks.
    The first of the paramedics to reach them raced straight to Ash. He pushed Arthur out of the way, fell to his knees and put his ear to her chest.
    â€˜Was she under long?’ he asked, quickly taking her pulse.
    â€˜A few minutes,’ Arthur panted.
    â€˜OK, give me space.’ Arthur didn’t budge, frozen with terror. ‘Move away!’
    Arthur took a step back as the other paramedics arrived on the scene.
    â€˜Will she be all right?’ he asked as they piled around his friend, blocking her from view. ‘Will she be all right?’ No one would answer his question. One firefighter wrapped a couple of blankets around him. Arthur could make out the shoulders of the first paramedic bobbing up and down as he tried to pump the water out of Ash’s lungs.
    â€˜Come on, come on!’ Arthur pleaded, clutching the blankets and feeling heat start to seep back into his flesh, not daring to take his eyes from the backs of the paramedics working on Ash.
    Come on .
    Suddenly he heard a spluttering cough. The first paramedic sat back on his heels, while another rolled Ash onto her side to help her hack up the water from her lungs. Eventually she stopped coughing and, with a little help, sat up. Tears were streaming down her cheeks. Then she saw Arthur through the crowd and managed a weak smile.

Chapter Seven

    The news reporter strode across the red shore with the frozen lake behind her, her hair flawlessly coiffed, wearing a long lambswool coat and matching scarf. Her leather gloves were wrapped around the microphone like it was the most vital and powerful piece of machinery in the entire world. She walked awkwardly, with her torso turned towards the camera. Her breath condensed in front of her dark-red lips as she spoke.
    â€˜All was quiet here at Lough Faol, just outside Mullingar, County Westmeath, this morning,’ she enunciated in an even and unaccented tone. ‘Until that silence was broken when twelve-year-old Ashling Barry …’
    The camera operator zoomed right in on Ash so the picture shook slightly. She was sitting inside an ambulance parked on the verge beside the main road, wrapped tightly in a couple of blankets and sipping a plastic cup of steaming soup. One paramedic was listening to her lungs with a stethoscope. The reporter continued over the shot.
    â€˜â€¦ of Ranelagh, Dublin – seen here – fell through the ice and into the freezing waters below.’
    The cameraman zoomed in on the hole where Ash had fallen through, taking care not to step too close to the edge of the shore.
    â€˜The shock of the chilly temperatures knocked Ashling unconscious and chances are she would have perished underneath the ice were it not for the quick thinking of her friend, twelve-year-old Arthur Quinn, also of Ranelagh.’
    Arthur was now