“Precisely.” The priest corroborated the explanation proposed by the Irishman. “Without the black rooster atop the castle hill to get his attention, Svetovit might not immediately notice or be able to respond to George and Magdalena.” He looked directly at Victoria. “So we have some time. Not a great deal of time perhaps, but some time in which to gather our wits and prepare a response.”
“What about that place? Where we saw the vision. What is it called? Loreto? Is it important that we saw it there?” asked Peter, emptying his third or fourth glass of juice. “It seemed the one building spared when Svetovit destroyed the rest of Prague.”
Victoria began to speak but Sean interrupted. “Yes, yes. We know that you lit the candle in your footprint under the hedge. So that might be one reason the vision played itself out there. But Wilcox is right. That did seem to be spared when Svetovit unleashed the nightmares of Prague. Why would that be?”
Silence. Theo finally ventured to speak.
“Well, as I recall, the Loreto was built in the 1620s as a way to provide people an opportunity to make a pilgrimage to the Holy Land without having to actually travel there. It is built around a small house which is a reproduction of the Holy House of Loreto in Italy, which is itself the reproduction of a house in the Middle East said to be the house in which Jesus, Mary, and Joseph had lived.”
“It is also said to be the place,” Victoria ventured, “one of the few in the world, where the angels and saints can rest as they travel between heaven and earth. It must be some kind of door between the worlds and the air around the Loreto is supposed to be thick with the righteous. That’s partly why I lit the candle there. Another is that there is dirt in which I could make a footprint. But also the saints and righteous would be sure to help expose the thief and gather authorities to deal with him.” She spread out her hands. “You. Just like I said this morning.”
“So it is a door between heaven and earth?” asked Sophia. “No wonder it stood intact when Svetovit attacked. It must be the one place that could withstand him.”
“That is good to know,” Wilcox admitted. “It may prove useful later. The place itself may be a weapon of some kind against Svetovit.” There was another pause as everyone considered his words. A waitress walking past refilled all the coffee cups and then strolled away.
Alessandro spoke up. “So what comes next? Make a plan? But do we really believe that a magical rite stirred up a devil bent on destroying Prague? If we do, then of course we must make a plan though I doubt any of us have any idea how to stop an angry old god, awakened by a ritual of judgment and condemnation. But do we believe we can prevent the destruction of Prague?”
“You mean, the destruction of the world as we know it,” Wilcox grumbled. “If we believe the import of the vision’s conclusion.”
Everyone began talking at once and it was with some difficulty that Fr. Dmitri was able to make himself heard.
“Do we believe that a rite has awakened Svetovit and that he intends to first destroy Prague and then the world as we know it?” the priest asked everyone at the table. “That there is real evil in the world, I do not think any of us would deny. That ancient powers that we do not understand are afoot also seems undeniable. We were carried through the air to Loreto. We saw a series of visions.”
Wilcox snorted.
Sophia continued the argument her husband had started. “Perhaps this is much more than most people, even people who count themselves believers of some kind, would happily accept. But how can we not respond? We have our own experience to guide us. If I had not been taken myself through the air to Loreto, I do not think that I would believe a report such as this. But I was. So I do.”
Sheepish, embarrassed scowls and grimaces blossomed on the faces of most of the others at the table.
“We were summoned by whatever power was in that candle-in-the-footprint,” Theo agreed. “We need to do something about that vision and stopping the ruination of Prague before it goes any further. Although we all have studied magic and monsters and evil and the occult, it has always been as a theory, a social or historical phenomenon. I’m afraid the time has come to put what we know to good old practical use.”
“I agree.” Peter looked around the group, splashing milk into his coffee. “We need to figure out what each of us have in the way of specialties and then apply that knowledge.”
“I think we would be better off thinking how first it is possible to stop George,” Sophia countered. “Then figure out how everyone’s specialties might fit that overall plan.”
“Well, then,” Wilcox sniffed, “how do you first propose to stop them? Call the police? Tie them up?”
“We can’t call the police,” Victoria snapped. “We can’t tie them up. There is no proof that they have done anything the police would consider illegal. We would simply be charged with kidnapping—or worse! Then Magdalena would never speak to me again, for sure! Not only would George be free to steal Magdalena and call Svetovit, the only people able to stop him—us, here, around this table—would be stopped ourselves before we had even started!”
“Based on the vision”—Alessandro leaped into the debate—“it seems they need to control the four magical tools of Prague in order to bring their plans to fruition. So perhaps the best thing to do would be to seize those four tools before they can get hold of them.”
People looked around at each other, nodding and murmuring agreement.
“That seems to make the most sense,” Theo announced the group’s consensus. “But what are those four tools? How do we go about figuring that out? And then how do we go about seizing control of them?”
“If they are even real objects,” muttered Wilcox.
“We could sit here all day and argue about the tools,” objected Sean. “And then all of us go after each one of them?”
“Too cumbersome,” Alessandro agreed. “Better we should break up into four teams and each team devote itself to locating one of the tools. Since there are … how many of us?” He counted. “Eight of us. We should divide into four teams of two people each and go about hunting down the four magical tools.”
“Excellent.” Fr. Dmitri pushed his coffee cup away as if ready to leap into action.
“How do we decide who is on which team? Or which team searches for which of the tools?” Victoria asked.
“We could engage in some divination of our own,” began Alessandro.
“Why not just break up into pairs and then worry about which tool we go looking for?” Sean argued.
Sean saw Theo eyeing him and suspected no one would want to work with him. But someone would have to if they were to have any chance of success. It clearly wouldn’t work to count off around the table and make teams of people who simply had sat down next to each other.
Sophia pulled a small notebook from her handbag and tore a page from it. She glanced at Theo and announced, “I will write each of our names on a paper and then we can pull names to see who works together. Then we can sort out which team searches for which of the four tools.” She proceeded to fold and tear the page into eight small squares and then wrote a name on each, occasionally asking how to spell a name. She folded each of the papers and then dropped them in a pile in the middle of the table. She looked around.
“Who wants to draw the names?” she asked.
“Shouldn’t we perform some divinatory ritual first?” sneered Wilcox.
The priest crossed himself and then traced a cross in the air over the slips of paper on the table.
“Thank you, Father. Now, I think simply pulling names will do quite well.” Peter reached out and picked a paper and then set it to one side. He gestured to Wilcox, sitting next to him. Wilcox took another paper and set it with the first. The rest of the breakfasters fell into the pattern: each person selected a paper and set it aside, making pairs of papers. When they had all been set aside, Theo looked at Sophia who nodded her agreement with his unspoken decision. He reached over and took her notebook and pulled out anot
her sheet. He tore the page into four pieces.
“Remind me—what are the four tools called?” he asked everyone.
“Cup. Chalice.”
“Wand. Staff.”
“Athame.”
“Pentacle.”
Different voices named each of the four tools, which Theo wrote down. Then he folded the papers and dropped one onto each of the four pairs of names already sitting around the table.
“All right. Now we have four teams of two people each and the tool each should identify and prevent George and Magdalena from possessing. Who wants to read the teams and the tools?” Theo asked.
Everyone seemed politely shy, reluctant to step forward. Finally, Fr. Dmitri said quietly, “I will.”
With dignity and solemnity, he opened the paper atop the nearest stack of names and read, “Pentacle.” Then he opened the two papers with names and read, “Wilcox. Victoria.” He flattened the three papers and set them in a stack again, though open if anyone cared to inspect them.
Victoria beamed at Wilcox as he reached for the stack of crumpled papers nearest him. “I’ll read these, since I am out of the running.” He opened all three and read them himself before announcing them to the group, “Chalice. Sean and Peter will search together for the chalice.”
Sean sensed a collective sigh of relief from the rest of the table. But everyone seemed to be taking the selection process very seriously and refrained from making any comments.
Following Wilcox’s precedent, Peter opened and read the papers near him. He swallowed nervously and said, “Sophia, you and Alessandro will search for the wand. The staff.”
Alessandro winked at Sophia.
“That leaves Theo and Fr. Dmitri.” Victoria opened the papers near her and confirmed what she had already announced. “The athame will be protected by Fr. Dmitri and Theo.”
“So,” Fr. Dmitri voiced the question the rest were thinking, “how do we discover where these objects are? Or how do we discover even what they are? Victoria, you live here. Theo, you’ve been here many times. Do either of you know what—for instance—the athame of Prague is? Or where it might be hidden?”
Theo and Victoria looked at each other and simultaneously answered, “No.”
“Why not just follow George and Magdalena as they hunt down the four tools?” Wilcox asked, pouting.
“If we only follow George and Magdalena, then they will reach the four tools first and then they will have them, not us!” Victoria exclaimed. “We cannot let them reach the four tools before we do! We must find the four tools to keep them out of George’s hands!”
Alessandro picked up the priest’s line of thought. “Wouldn’t it avoid a lot of wasted time if we could find someone who really knows Prague? Another local person, probably. But it would have to be someone local who knows the practice of magic and who would be able to at least point us in the right direction.”
“Who might that be?” asked Sophia. “Wouldn’t such a person have been gathered with us at Loreto last night if they existed or were appropriate to get involved? Doesn’t the fact that we were the ones summoned indicate that we have the resources between us to figure out these things?”
Theo mulled that over before responding. “You make a good point, Sophia. But it couldn’t hurt to double-check with a knowledgeable local before we start chasing down suppositions and possibilities that are obviously fruitless.”
“Who might such a local person be?” Sean asked. He turned to Victoria. “I take it that you do not feel competent to be that local person?”
“I could try.” Victoria said. “But there is much I do not know, both about the history of Prague and its magical resources.”
“Then who?” Sean demanded.
Theo and Victoria looked at each other again and nodded before announcing in concert, “Professor Hron.”
“Excellent!” Fr. Dmitri seemed pleased at the quick resolution of the problem. “When can you speak with him?”
“I can try to speak with him between sessions of the conferences this morning,” Theo said. “We should get going there, especially if we do not want to draw any attention to ourselves and give George and Magdalena the idea that we are aware of their plans. The less they realize we have been alerted to them, the less careful they will be to cover their tracks and the more likely they are to make a mistake. If we watch them carefully, they might even be able to help us. If they know where these magical tools are, we might follow their lead and get to the tools before they do.”
“So we shouldn’t all go charging off this morning, I take it. Is that what you are saying?” Sean shot back.
“For the time being. We should attend the conference sessions and I will talk to Hron as soon as I can. We can meet again at lunchtime and I can relay whatever Hron is able to tell me,” Theo suggested. “Does that sound good to people?” He looked around to a general murmur of agreement and the nodding of heads.
Theo turned to Victoria. “Where do you work? Can you meet us for lunch later?”
Victoria nodded. “Yes, I work nearby. I can meet you then.”
Theo pushed back his chair, scraping it across the floor, and stood. “Then I will see you all at lunchtime.” They all stood to gather their things and head to the first morning session of the conferences.
Theo caught Hron by the elbow during the noisy break between the two morning sessions. Hron clapped him on the shoulder.
“Glad to see you this morning, Theo! Sleep well? When I didn’t see you before the first session, I was afraid you had overslept or had a bit of a hangover.” He grinned. Then he seemed to notice Theo’s seriousness. “Is everything all right, old boy? Has some problem developed with one of the conference participants?”
“No, no,” Theo reassured his friend as he gently led the Czech academic away from the table of coffee cups and pastries that had been set out for the break. He was able to steer Hron toward the tall windows with their velvet draperies. The light that streamed in, which should have been clear and bright, was still an off-color that reminded Theo of an impending storm.
“Hron, I need your advice.” Theo thought the direct approach best but did not want to alarm Hron by sounding as if he had completely lost his mind. He had struggled to devise a reason to discuss these matters with Hron that would not raise his suspicions.
“Certainly. What is it?” Hron peered into Theo’s face.
“Well, it does involve a conference participant,” Theo began. “It seems that this woman is presenting a paper this afternoon about Crusader magic in the Middle East and wants to include some local color in her presentation. She came knocking on my door—before sunrise this morning!—expecting that I would answer all her questions on the spot. Of course, I told her that I would speak with her later. But she wanted to know about the four magical tools associated with defending Prague so that she could compare them to those in the Crusaders’ occult arsenal against the Moslems. I’m afraid that’s not a subject I know much about but it could make for a more lively presentation after lunch. Help to keep everyone awake, you know? She was also hoping to maybe get slides of the Prague tools to show, if she can. But I was wondering if you could tell me anything about these magical tools. What they might be and where they might be found.” He looked expectantly at Hron and raised one eyebrow.
“Hmm, well that is certainly an interesting question,” Hron admitted. “Would you like me to meet with this woman?”
“Oh, no. No. That won’t be necessary. I’m sure you have enough to do between sessions and don’t need to spend your time dealing with this. I will just pass on whatever suggestions you can make and let her track them down from there,” Theo said.
Hron replied, “So you want to know about the four magical tools of Prague? As in athame, pentacle, staff, and chalice?”
“Yes, I believe those were the four she was interested in.”
“Well, there has never been a definitive list of such tools,” Hron admitted, “but there certainly are some
likely contenders for at least two of them. Unfortunately, they all range somewhat widely throughout history so they don’t all date from the earliest days of Prague or come down from the hand of the Princess Libuše as some would suppose.”
“So it’s as if the tools were constructed or assembled to fill real needs at specific times?” Theo asked him.
“Almost. Or the stories about them developed to fill certain needs at certain times,” Hron reformulated the question. “In any case, you recall that the primary magical weapon built to protect Prague was the Charles Bridge, yes? It was constructed in such a way as to be a, a masterpiece as it were, of occult science to defend the city.”
“Yes, I recall that,” Theo confessed, “though I don’t recall the details of the story. But I think this woman is more interested in the four standard tools of occult practitioners.”
“All right.” Hron’s brow furrowed as he thought. “Well, the first is intimately tied up with the bridge. An athame is a dagger or knife, correct? Well, the equivalent of such a dagger would be the sword of Bruncvík.”
“Bruncvík? Who was Bruncvík? And why is his sword tied up with the bridge?” Theo asked.
“Bruncvík was a knight about whom a whole cycle of sagas evolved. He was a hero and a traveler who some say fought with Roland at Roncevaux. Bruncvík is usually depicted with his two principal attributes: a lion who served as his companion and a great sword said to be enchanted. This magic sword is buried in the foundations of the bridge, perhaps near the statue of him standing next to the bridge in Kampa Square,” Hron explained, sipping his coffee.
“The magical staff is almost certainly the staff of Rabbi Judah Ben Loew, which he used in his cabbalistic rites,” Hron continued. “The most famous of those, of course, involve the construction of the Golem in the Old-New Synagogue, but where the staff was put after the rabbi’s death was never recorded in the legends.”
Theo pulled out a conference program booklet from his back pocket and, unfolding its crumpled cover, made brief notes on the back. “So, let me be sure I have this correctly: the athame is the sword of Bruncvík buried in the bridge and the staff is that of the rabbi who made the Golem but no one knows where it is hidden.” He looked up at Hron. “What about the chalice and the pentacle? Any stories about those?”
Come Hell or High Water: The Complete Trilogy Page 46
