The Wight King's reply is hollow: 'Time makes no difference within my halls. But allow me to grant you my counsel; if you wish to save the boy from his fate, then seek and slay the magister that tore the wound in his soul.'
The old rat's head slumps down and he shakes it with defeated disapproval, his voice is broken; 'The boy already did. Pan already did. You have him to thank for your tapestry.'
The Wight King's cold laughter causes the entire hall to shake as if it were to collapse. The boy covers and buckles in a futile effort to stop his ears from hurting from the sound. The voice booms; 'Look at how you squirm before me. Look at how weak you are. How dare you lie in my presence?'
The boy cannot withstand the fury of the king and and so he is slowly forced to succumb down and remain so still that he is unable to even blink his own eyes. The old rat falls off the boy's shoulder and hits the floor. Although the rat quivers and shakes; he struggles to get up. The old rat's fur is standing up and its teeth are bared at the Wight King. The old rat's claws dig onto the floor panels as the rat moves one tiny step at a time towards the undead ruler shouting the words: 'The boy wounded Surtur. The blood that gushed out tarnished, broke, and reshaped the runes of Surtur's sacrificial circle. That became his undoing!' The unnatural wrath and fury of the Wight King dissipates, and the boy is finally able to take a deep breath behind the old rat's back. 'Thus Surtur's body was consumed by the Lord of all Deals, and as his body no longer existed, it broke and shattered all of his enchantments and bindings. I am free of him, everyone is.'
'Are you saying the greatest magister to live was brought down by nothing but a novice's mistake?'
'Yes. It is what I am telling you, and you too owe the boy for the deed. Grants us the seeds.'
The Wight King remains silent, and the eerie fire in his eye sockets simply burns brighter. The king does not move, but one piece of skin on the tapestry tears itself apart from the rest, and vanishes into the darkness behind.
It is difficult to say if it took long or not, but when that piece of the tapestry returns, and steps out of the darkness, the pale body is holding on a small pouch in its hands. There is a skeleton under the flesh, but the skin on top of it is pale and flaccid; almost as if it was suit of clothes cut out of proportions. The boy is at first unnerved by its morbid shape, after all it is but flesh animated into a mockery of life through nothing but the sheer will of the Wight King. Whoever she was in life is gone with her missing heart, and what remains is but a mindless puppet, a mere homunculus of the crudest design.
Reluctantly, Pan extends his hand to receive the small pouch. It is light on his hand and the leather feels old. The boy squeezes his hand, he can feel the tiny seeds shift and move within the leathery confines. A fact that helps him get his mind out of the wobbling and shaking monstrosity before him while the creature makes its way back towards the tapestry of flesh.
The old rat demands to see the seeds, and so Pan crouches and opens the knot on the leather string, revealing tiny black oval shaped seeds. The rat tells the boy how the seeds would have a tiny umbrellas attached to them if encountered in nature; to allow wind to carry the seeds far away over distant lands.
The old rat gives a thousand thanks to the Wight King, and as goes the ancient practise of the city; the boy uncorks the bottle of wine and pours the thick red wine into the chalice before handing it over to the Wight King. Pan is not sure what deal has concluded, but he does not feel there is choice but to trust the old rat's instructions.
The Wight King is reminded of his old habit of swirling the chalice before drinking it down, it is something he has not done in a very long time, it forces him to pause and for a fleeting moment appear weak, confused. But the king twists his neck back allowing the ancient liquid to pour into his mouth and overflow down to his chin. The wine appears almost black against the ghastly skin as it drips down.
The eerie glow of the Wight King's eyes fade even if only briefly. The king does not taste the wine that can only surround his dried up tongue. He thinks how the wine could be ruined or in pristine condition, and that drives him to reminiscence his memories of old. Memories he had wished to forget forever more, and so the undead liege throws down the chalice. The crystal shatters into thousand tiny fragments, the wine that remained spills around like a stain of blood; and the boy backs away in horror of the enraged Wight King.
'Begone.' The Wigh King demands as the tapestry of flesh takes a simultaneous wheezing breath of air. The tapestry is no longer dormant, it convulses and twists as the bodies strive to free themselves of their binds. The startled boy and the old rat have no choice but to comply to their king's wish. The boy lets go of the bottle of wine as he backs away, before he turns around and starts to run away from the hall itself. The old rat skips after him and soon climbs up on the boy's waving cloak only to be seated on the shoulder to guide the way out.
The boy, Pan, doesn't have much of a chance to look at the rat on his shoulder, and perhaps it is for the best as the old rat cannot hide the smug smile on its face. Yet what worries him is the long journey back to the surface.
Chapter 4:
Loge's whole attention is focused on Pandora's attempt to levitate a spoon in front of her nose. Pandora's fingers wave and shake with the twists and turns of the spoon as it floats in defiance of gravity. It is exhaustive and taxing for Pandora, but she has been at it for weeks already and she is nearing her new personal record. When the spoon inevitably falls onto the wooden floor, Pandora raises her arms up in triumph as Loge begins to clap loudly with a beaming smile on her face.
The audience of kids about the same age, slowly give their own claps of appreciation. Although Atlas who stands nearest keeps his arms crossed. He is the youngest boy of a nearby butcher and big for his age. He tries to make it clear that he is not that impressed by Pandora's performance. After all, he and Pandora have their little competitions on who is the toughest kid in their block, and he cannot just bend over and clap.
The twins Hati and Narvi, both stocky and somewhat stumpy in their appearance, are kids of the local blacksmith. Both of them are rarely seen without a smile on their face. So it is not surprising that as they clap their hands with fervour almost nearing frenzy that their faces also don the largest smiles. Although their appreciation might be heightened due to their little boyhood crush towards the girl.
Hip, or 'Hyperion' as he prefers to be called is a thin and lithe boy with a mind as sharp as the beak of his crooked nose. A perhaps something of a downer with his pessimism seated in reason, but his head is slowly overfilling with the possibilities Loge and Pandora have promised with their little presentation.
Yarnsaxa is sitting behind the twins, and although she is not exactly fat, she possesses somewhat round appearance from her head to all the way to her tiny toes. She is a baker's daughter, and therefore her mother keeps her curly ginger hair cut as short as possible. A necessity of sorts to keep hairs from getting in the way when she helps in the various tasks from making bread to adding frosting.
The three siblings are roughly one year apart from each other. From oldest to the youngest they are called: Pallene, Mimas, and Enceladus. The two younger siblings are wearing the clothes the older sibling in the set had a year ago. It is not that bad of a deal for Mimas as she has a big sister, but for the youngest of the three, Enceladus, he is starting to be little embarrassed by his big sister's skirts and the loose trousers sewed out of them on his insistence. They really are almost like the peas from the same pod.
Dione is a shy one and she prefers to stay away from trouble and just lurk around in shadows when she is with the group. But unfortunately Pandora has taken a liking to her company and often drags Dione through the many antics and troubles Pandora's own brashness causes. Thus for most of the time Dione is almost like a hooded lost poppy that continues to follow the trail of troubles left behind after sightings of Pandora's platinum hair.
And finally we have the youngest of this motley crew and gang of kids, Berg
elmir. Old enough to play along, but not quite old to have a role beyond nodding and doing what the older kids are doing.
Together they are not that different from all the other groups kids that prowl the streets. Their minds linger with the games and hijinks rather than on the tutelage or tasks their parents have set them out for.
Today they have gathered inside am arcane study within the secret house of their apartment block. Three floors up from the ground floor, and the room is filled with dusty tomes and other arcane tools and trinkets. Even some arcane circles of runes have been etched onto the wooden blanks below their feet.
'So, what do you say? Would you like to learn what you are good at?' Loge asks from the group of kids as Pandora nods her head rapidly in approval. For one part Pandora is curious to find out what the other kids can do, but she is also fond towards seeing Atlas fail miserably before her.
The twins seem to be the most willing to partake in this dangerous game as the other kids remain worried, but they remain silent. They have heard their bed time stories of magic running wild and causing havoc. Not to mention how they have heard the tales of how only the truly talented show their expertise at a very young age. Something that not one of them have done, and that is a cause to worry and doubt themselves.
'How?' Hip asks as his eyes stare into the far distance. His mind is gazing for all the possibilities from death to almost unimaginable wonders. The other kids are taken back by how he was the first one to ask, rather than letting someone else do it first.
Nevertheless: Loge's smile is triumphant and she sticks her leg under the desk behind her back. Her toes reach the handle and the chest is pulled out. As Loge steps aside, Pandora flings the lid open and they both pull out leathery bags from the chest. Obviously the two have practised their presentation well in advance, and as they dangle those mysterious tiny bags, they proclaim in perfect harmony: 'With these!'
'What's that?' Atlas asks back his voice filled with scepticism.
The two girls, Loge and Pandora grin at each other before answering: 'Fairy dust.' They leap forwards and pull out Atlas' crossed arms. Before the baffled boy can do anything, they quickly sprinkle some of the sparkly powder on his palms. The tiny piles on his hands melt into transparent liquid that freezes solid. Mist arises from the freshly formed ice until the heat of the boy's hands causes the ice to slip and fall down to the floor. Atlas picks up the two thin slaps of ice in wonder. 'You can master ice!' The two girls proclaim.
The twins Hati and Narvi both extend their left hands out for the two girls. Narvi feels little disappointed as it is Loge that pours the pile of pixie dust on his hand. On Hati's palm, the dust turns into soil that continues to change its shape based on the boy's thoughts where as the dust on Narvi's hand on the other hand seems to remain perfectly inert. Narvi cannot hide his own disappointment. But as the initial shock of discovery dissipates for Hati; the soil begins to take shape of Pandora's face. In his embarrassment he tries to hide it by shoving the soil onto the hand of his brother. The soil mixes with the dust with strange squishy sound, and suddenly Hati can no longer shape the dirt mixed with the dust.
The two girls ponder the result before the eyes for a good while before sagely declaring out: 'Hati can master shapes and transmutations!' And followed with some degree of hesitation: 'And we think Narvi could learn to handle enchantments.' Hearing that, Narvi tries to break the hardened soil by hitting it against the floor. The only outcome is few dents on the wooden floor.
'It won't explode, will it?' Hip asks.
The two girls look at each other before Loge answers; 'Probably not.' And so the pair of girls proceed to pour a pile of dust on Hip's shaking hands. The dust on his left hand melts and turns into water, while the dust on his right begins to shoot out jolts of electricity that dance between his fingers. 'Water and electricity, storms? Loge asks from Pandora who verifies the estimation by giving a big nod.
Yarnsaxa hands her right hand and refuses to give out her left. So Pandora alone pours little bit of pixie dust on her palm. At first nothing happens, but slowly the sparkly dust turns purple and begins to emit similarly coloured smoke that quickly dissipates leaving behind a strange scent of lavender and summer roses. The two girls start to giggle, and Yarnsaxa joins them a moment later. Pandora finally decrees her talent as alchemy, and Yarnsaxa protest by asking why not transmutation like with Hati. Thus Loge proceeds to explain how she did not merely change the shape of something, she had released the very inner essence of the pixie dust, something related but different. Pandora clarifies further by pointing out the Ice from Atlas' hands and how Loge is all flames, the two sides of temperature.
The three siblings line up one after another, with the eldest, Pallene first, followed by Mimas, and finally the youngest of the three Enceladus. Each take their turn to receive their own share of the pixie dust. The dust in Pallene's hands explodes into a gust of wind that swipes back her and her siblings' brown hairs. 'Wind.' Decrees Pandora and Loge in unison. For Mimas and Enceladus, the dust simply burns away with puffs of thick black smoke leaving behind nothing but black circles. 'Binding and Conjuration.'
'What's that?' Asks Minas, and so she receives a short description of magical barriers along with binding souls or energy into inanimate objects. Means to bring objects into life as homunculi of various degrees of both intelligence and humanity. 'Oh, a brush that swipes the floor on its own!'
Dione at first tries to wave her hands to keep the pixie dust away, but Pandora just grabs her hand and sprinkles some of it on it. Dione's lower lip quivers, and she releases a frustrated groan, as she thinks of everything that could go wrong, how many rules she has broken, and how much trouble it could cause. Yet nothing happens to the pixie dust on her hand. Hence she and the two other girls start to wonder if her her talent could be the same as with Narvi. But the first guess proves to be wrong the moment they notice how Dione's shadow is moving on its own, especially the hand that was sparkled with the pixie dust. 'Ooh, neat, you can control shadows.' Says Pandora.
And finally, Loge kneels to face the little Bergelmir to pour what remains of the pixie dust on the boy's hand. There is not much of it left, and the little that piles onto the palm, vanishes upon contact with the skin. In fact, so does the portions of Bergelmir's hand that came in touch with the dust. Loge pulls the boy's hand up and peers right through it at the other kids. 'Definitely an innate talent for illusions.'
These magical effects brought forth by the pixie dust do not last for all that long. After all, it is nothing more than magical residue that acts like any fuel to thrown into a fire. It will be consumed until it disappears with the flames and smoke. But for these ten children around Loge and Pandora, what it enabled them to do has made each and every one of them silent. All ten knew how they had the potential for magic, but for them to see it manifested right before their eyes, for them to begin to understand what they are truly capable of... To them it is as much ground breaking as it is world shattering.
The question that follow start out quiet, but build up with every saying, until those fill the house with life and anticipation: 'How can I learn more?' Loge and Pandora smile at each other before slapping their hands together. So, the two girls present a secret vow for the other kids to swear on their hearts. 1) They shall not to use magic outside the Loge's home, or else it could be trouble for all them. 2) Not to tell anyone what they are doing while inside this house, because parents have a funny way of reacting when they find about their kids' exact activities. 3) To attend their compulsory reading lessons until they have all learned to read perfectly. The third point proves hardest for the kids to agree on, but they all solemnly make their vows once it is pointed out how it gives them an excuse to disappear in order to learn magic.
Thus they race around the house and for the first time look around for it is teeming with books and other curiosities both familiar and strange. A hidden treasure trove of magical items, of unknown or already worn out effects. But what Loge and Pandor
a have their minds on is instruction manuals, preferably ones with images to guide the kids on the right track. After all, magic of the heart often behaves like fire: while always pretty to look at it can easily get out of control. Nevertheless, it doesn't stop the children from picking their books off shelves and desks for mostly their appearance only. Thick leather covers of varying hues, metal corner protectors, and runes etched on every page. It certainly is a start of something new, and for now it is all fun and games for these twelve kids in their secret house of mysteries.
***
As days started to roll in and out: all of them kept trying to do their own thing, to become as good as they could all on their own. But ultimately they had to admit how their individual attempts fell all but short, how there was no real progress, and the stock of pixie dust within the house started to run short even after few additional discoveries. A predicament that proved to be the necessary game changer, as Hip suggested that instead of all focusing on their talents alone; they should all focus to support one of them on their turn. Pandora and Atlas had their disagreements about it, but eventually they managed to came around as well.
Thus the kids started to focus their search on materials that helped each and everyone of them, they shared words of encouragement, and provided sounding boards for ideas when facing obstacles. Of course it still was not easy for them to admit that they could not do something. Especially when asking help often required overcoming the fears that the others might laugh at them, or possibly even think less of them. But it too had to be done. And sure, there were moments of arguments, ridicule, and even out right embarrassment, but it only strengthened the bond of this young group of friends. In just a few weeks, the bonds between the twelve kids had grown stronger than ever before. No longer just faces seen around the same city block, they had became friends they could count on through the thick and muck.
Skull of Oghren Page 6
