Skull of Oghren

by Tuomas Vainio

  And at long last, Pan is leaning over the edge of the city block with the flower shop at the corner. He sees the various plants and pots in front of the store, and how the platinum haired Pandora is pretending to inspect and sniff at the flowers. It is one way to mask her bruised face.

  Pan loosens the string on bag of pebbles at his belt, grabs one, and then carefully leans over and just drops it. The pebble falls and bounces off the street stones behind Pandora's back. She turns around to see where the sound came, and she sees nothing but the pebble. After a while she turns her head up and sees the fox mask stare towards her. Pandora grins regardless of her bruised face, and points and motions Pan to head over the edge of the roof and meet her at the block's courtyard.

  After the fox mask nods and disappears, Pandora plucks the pebble off the ground and stuffs it into her closed fist. She dashes to the right, looking for a gab to sneak into the courtyard. She squeezes through a thin narrow passage that remains far too small for an adult, and just barely big enough for her.

  None of the kids gathered to celebrate their earlier victory notice her entry. None of them notice the black cloak and fox mask standing on the roof like Pandora's personal vengeful guarding angel. The boys are just lazing around the well and under the shade of the three trees growing around the well.

  Pandora squeezes at the pebble in her hand, and then she throws it with all her might at the leader of the gang. A big boy with hair that was almost shaved bald and a bruised eye to remember their last meeting.

  The pebble would have missed had not Pandora redirected it's path to hit the boy's head. Hit the head right at the middle of the forehead. The boy curses, and then the twenty or so boys around him try to see who threw it. They instinctively look towards and shout at the proper entry to their courtyard, but the boys guarding it can only raise their shoulders in confusion.

  It is then they hear Pandora's cry; 'Hey Hasper, you snivelling spawn of a sickly toad living in a manor of manure, guess who is back for more!' The boys ask of each other how she got behind their unnoticed, but Pandora just points her hand up towards Pan. 'You better run or you'll regret ever stepping your feet over to my turf.'

  They all freeze at the sight of Fox Mask, they freeze as Pandora rushes onwards to punch them down. But Hasper gains his wits and shouts; 'Screw the kid on the roof, grab that stupid girl and he has to come down too!' His gang almost flinches to action, but Hasper's head gets hit by another pebble. One fired from Pan's slingshot as Pandora's fist smashes against the cheek of the nearest boy. A boy two and half years older than herself, and the punch knocks him out. It is how the second brawl of the day began.

  Pandora does most of the work on her own by knocking out whoever becomes too stupid to not run away from her, one big swinging punch at a time. Cheeks and jaws, kicks to the groin, most do not get back up for another blow. As for Pan, he runs along the roofs surrounding the courtyard taking every cheap shot he can with his slingshot. In a way he watches over her back, making sure the boys cannot overpower her by slinging those pebbles at anyone trying sneak behind her.

  But after a while, Pan stops on his tracks and just watches how there is no stopping to Pandora. How she keeps going on, overpowering the boys one after one. Until they either lie on the ground or have fled from the courtyard. All until only Hasper remains half conscious in the middle of it all. Pandora grabs him by his collar and only utters the words; 'My turf, better remember it' before knocking him out too.

  Pandora takes a deep breath. A deep, deep breath. She was not punched once, not once, and so she grins ever more and waves towards Pan to motions him to get out there. She herself squeezes back to the gab between the buildings, and begins her joyous walk back towards the hidden house near his home. Curiously, she plucks one of the red flowers from the corner stop, and tosses a nickel as payment to the florists husband. The husband just scratches his head and looks at the coin he caught.

  Pan does not see the same haste as he did when coming over. He slowly sneaks from roof to roof, keeping his eyes on Pandora. He knows she is a strong girl, how she punches hard, but she did pull an awful short work on that gang of boys. The more Pan thinks of it, the more convinced he becomes that she used her magic to punch harder. To move little bit faster to remain away from the harms way. In theory, she would not have needed his help at all in the first place. So Pan cannot help but to wonder why exactly did she ask for his help, and why he needed to wear the fox mask.

  ***

  Pandora finally sneaks back to her own home courtyard, and as she is still bruised, messy, and has torn clothes, she tries her best not to be noticed by her own mother. She feels she has had enough fights for one day, even if she would only argue with her mother. Hence she carefully approaches the usual window of the secret house of mysteries and slowly relaxes as she enters within the field of misdirection. The spot where people really have to focus their gazes to see someone standing in front of the hidden house. As for her entry, she just jumps up and climbs inside without a single hitch.

  But once inside, she faces the fox masked Pan clearly standing in wait for her. She grins and pats his back, as she places the red flower over the fox's ear. 'Well done!'

  Yet Pan just stares at her quietly until Pandora's grin fades. Pan just asks; 'Why did you ask for my help?'

  She looks around, she sees how the nailed boards sealing the doors have been finally removed. She bends and leans to see that there is no one waiting in hearing range at stairs. Thus she finally leans in towards Pan's mask and its fox ears and whispers; 'Because of the promise we made to Loge. Promise not to draw attention to us by using the art outside this house. Plus, no doubt those boys will rather tell stories of being beat up by a daemon fox running and leaping from roof to roof, rather than the deed was done by a little cute girl with platinum hair.' She stares at the dark eye staring through the mask and says one final thing; 'Please do not tell anyone.'

  'Fine.' Pan finally groans, and once he does, she slaps the back of his head and tells him to get rid of the silly get up. She races up the stairs singing;

  'Have you heard of the demon fox,

  Masked master of throwing rocks,

  You cannot run as he will outfox,

  He turns all into laughingstocks,

  He rules skies above side walks,

  He is scarier than the cowpox,

  His fury matches the equinox.'

  Pan simply scratches his head for a while, and then finally removes the fox mask and sees the old rat skulking behind a stool leg. 'What do you think?' Pan asks.

  The old rat steps into the open and coyly replies; 'About what?'

  'Can we really smash the Skull of Oghren?'

  'No one knows what they can do until the moment they give up trying. I might be able to locate some of Oghren's less famous, but still quite as indestructible, bones. If we can shatter one of those, the skull should be no problem.'

  'What can I do to help?'

  'I will tell when I know. But in the meanwhile, have you thought about giving a try in the healing arts in addition to illusions with Bergelmir?'

  'What, no. Why?'

  'Just go give it a try, being able to heal fast is a good perk in our trade. Especially if you can do it without a coat of fur.'

  'I do not know even where to start.'

  'Then head upstairs, and ask if any of the the three siblings could give a pointer. Plus, they are smashing hammers upstairs. Sooner or later something is bound to go wrong, and you can leech strength from the sun. No need to sacrifice your own blood.' The rat smiles, waves its paws, before scurrying away along the floor.

  Pan lingers for a moment more. A moment is spent thinking what the rat had just said to him and something else on top. The rat's steps had been light, and so Pan whispers to himself; 'What do you hope to get from all of this, old rat?'

  Chapter 7:

  Days have passed, almost two weeks, since the children of the block started working towards smashing the indestructible Skul
l of Oghren. Pan is sitting alone on the roof blazing in the morning sun. He feels the warmth of the Sun on his skin, and he devours all he can. He stores the energy to his body, he transforms it to heal his young ailing body from his torn soul. It is not a cure, but it is enough to buy some more time. A way to feel alive.

  Pan's meditation is cut short when Enceladus' head pops out of the attic window calling for help. It is her sister, something went wrong with the runes she had worked and now she is mindlessly stroking on the floor. It takes a moment for Pan to react, a moment to get up, a moment long enough for Enceladus to call for his name again.

  With the moment of hesitation passed: Pan dives through the window past Enceladus, rolls to the floor, and then heads straight towards the stairs. The boy follows his steps, shouting where to find his sister. Third floor, the round room on the left.

  Mimas is not alone, Loge and Yarnsaxa are next to her stroking body, trying to help her recover, to free from the constant strokes. Mimas' mouth foams and her eyes have rolled over. Pan's eyes dart towards the runes on the floor, to the large black fabric and a dead pigeon in the centre of it all. Pan's missing eye begins to hurt with searing pain he thought he had already forgotten. The pain when it was plucked out of his socket. Pan stumbles and falls over to his knees, and as he just barely manages to raise his gaze; he does not see his own shadow against the wall. The shadow is that of the three-eyed fox and it is laughing.

  Enceladus tries to shake Pan, but it seems to have no effect, everything said by the others fall to deaf ears. His remaining eye is locked and bound to stare at the shadowy image of the fox. And inside Pan's head, he can almost hear how the fox is taunting him, mocking him without any mercy.

  Pan stutters. He tries to touch the eye that is no longer there; 'I know what is wrong with her. I have seen this before.' He shakes in terror. 'Mimas tried to create life, she has made a deal with the Lord of all Deals. It has gone wrong.'

  'No, she said she wouldn't. She promised!' Shouts Enceladus behind Pan's back.

  Loge's eyes are far and wide. The realization causes her to gag and cough, but her mind is strong and it works fast. Loge shouts out to Pan; 'How do I conclude her deal?'

  Loge's sternness somewhat calms Pan down, it stops him from trying to touch the eye that is no longer there. 'You need to draw a line over the rings of runes. You need to make them your own.' Pan says with a voice that is not truly his.

  Loge stands up, she raises her left hand, and each of her nails burst and change into fire. Into long and narrow tendrils of fire that she lashes out draw over Mimas' runes. The flames consume and burn turning Mimas' runes to nothing but black charcoal marks on the wooden floor. As the result, Mimas finally stops stroking and takes a one long deep breath before she lies perfectly still.

  Loge stumbles. Her eyes lack the strength to remain open. She just falls over and hits the floor unconscious. Yarnsaxa tries to ask Pan what happened to her, but Pan can only answer; 'I do not know.' Over and over again with his own voice.

  ***

  Loge finds her standing over nothingness. Above a massive slowly turning golden ring far below her feet, among thousands of strange stars shaped oddly like spirals. And she gulps. Before her waits a winged humanoid shape so dark that the black empty space around it feels lighter. The creature's eyes and mouth glow bright, too bright for Loge to look directly at them. The creature's massive wings just move around and Loge cannot tell the exact number of them.

  'I RECOGNICE THAT FOUL STENCH OF SULPHUR AND ASH EVER BURNING.' Booms and echoes the voice of the Lord of all Trades beyond everything in the existence. 'AH, IT COMES WITH THE SCENT OF A MORTAL BODY, SO PERHAPS THERE IS A DEAL TO BE MADE.'

  'Let my friend go.' Loge demands outright.

  The Lord of All Deals just laughs, and conjures an image of Mimas playing by herself in a distant cabin; 'SHE HAD HER PIGEON CLOAK, AND ALL SHE PAID FOR IT WAS A SMALL PORTION OF HER MIND; HER SENSE OF FEAR. THOUGH, I CANNOT SAY THERE WAS MUCH OF IT TO BEGIN WITH.'

  'So her mind is stuck in here because she doesn't feel the fear for her own life?'

  'INDEED, AND THE PERCEPTION OF THIS PLACE CAN BE SHAPED BY HOW YOU WISH TO PERCIEVE IT. IN FACT, EVEN I DO NOT KNOW HOW YOU PERCIEVE ME. YOUR OLD MASTER SURTUR CLAIMED TO SEE ME AS NOTHING BUT A SEASLUG, ALBEIT OF COLOSSAL SIZE.'

  'What do you want for setting Mimas free?'

  'OH DEAR LOGE, IT IS NEVER ABOUT WHAT I WANT. IT IS ABOUT WHAT YOU WANT. IT IS WITHIN MY POWER TO SEND HER MIND BACK TO HER BODY, AS IT IS IN MY POWER TO END THAT FOUL DEAL BETWEEN YOU AND YOUR BROTHER PAN. SO TELL ME, MY LITTLE FLICKER OF STAR DUST BOUND WITHIN MORTAL FLESH, WHAT DO YOU REALLY LONG FOR?'

  'I want Pan to live, but not at the cost of Mimas' life. If I choose her life, he is bound to die. A choice between an instant death, and a slow one. I... I choose Mimas.'

  'A WISE AND PRUDENT CHOICE MY LITTLE MAGISTER; YOUR FRIEND WILL BE FOREVER IN YOUR DEBT AND YOU CAN DEVOUR THE BOY'S LIFE FORCE UNTIL THE MOMENT HE FINALLY DIES.'

  'That is not what I want!' Loge tries to cry back.

  But the Lord of All Trades just chuckles bemused. 'TRUST ME, ONE DAY YOU WILL GROW TRULY POWERFUL. BUT AS FOR WHAT YOU OFFER FOR SENDING HER MIND BACK; WILL IT BE PERHAPS A PORTION OF YOUR OWN MIND, OR A PIECE OF YOUR MORTAL FLESH, OR PERHAPS THE FLESH OF THOSE GATHERED AROUND YOU? I AM TRULY OPEN FOR ALL OFFERS.'

  Loge blinks. She hesitates, until the words come out: 'The memories of my existence before this mortal vessel are slowly fading away. I offer to you what is left of those memories.'

  'I FIND YOUR OFFER AGREEABLE.' The Lord of All Deals raises his hand up, and slams it down on Loge's forehead, and on that very moment the whole universe around her seems to implode.

  She wakes up on the floor with her eyes flaring up. She takes a deep breath. Her lungs fill with air. She hears the relieved sighs with the tired yawn of Mimas waking up. Loge does not know what to think at first, and so she struggles to sit up. Mimas seems to have no reservations, she simply casts aside the dead pigeon and pulls up the cloak. A cloak that stirs to life, that bends and twists into the shape of a giant pigeon consuming most of the room.

  'Ooh. I cannot wait to make another one.' Mimas says without a worry in the world.

  Pan's face flinches. 'You cannot, not by trading with the Lord of all Trades. The ritual you used can only be used once.' Mimas does not seem to listen to what he says, as the pigeon draws her attention more and more. She pets the creature's beak.

  Yarnsaxa kneels before Loge and asks if she al right, if she wants something to clear her head. Loge just shakes her head and turns to stare at Pan.

  He asks; 'What did you pay for her?'

  'I, I think it was memories. I do not remember what.'

  They eyes of Mimas, Yarnsaxa, and Enceladus all turn the two unlikely siblings, they listen quietly to his question; 'Loge, what is the first thing you remember?'

  'The fire. I remember when you dragged me from the fire. No, maybe I dragged you from a burning house. One of us saved the other, and I... I do not think I saved you. I think I am killing you.' Confusion fills Loge's eyes as she tries to make sense of her memories.

  Pan slowly gets up by using the wall as his leverage. 'I am not dead yet, and I am not about to give up living quite yet. I like the sun, I would make a terrible wight.'

  Enceladus pulls his sleeve, and as the two look at each other, the youngest of the three siblings finally asks; 'What is wrong with you?'

  Pan chuckles; 'I once made a deal with the Lord of all Trades. Hence my life is bound to hers, and it is not in balance. I am slowly dying. No trade with that monster ever comes without a great cost.' Pan recalls the words of the old rat.

  Yarnsaxa turns to Mimas, inquiring what she had to pay for her pigeon cloak. The reply is but one word at fist; fear. Loge adds how it almost got her killed already, but Mimas does not seem to mind too much. She says the trade was well worth the cost as the pigeon cloak floats down over and folds over her shoulders. Mimas words are full of confiden
ce; 'The Skull of Oghren is kept in a tower, this cloak of my can fly us in and out if the need be. It can carry an adult or three kids inside. We can soar the skies!'

  Yarnsaxa grabs the hands of Loge and Pan, and she asks her final question; 'Does smashing the Skull of Oghren help both of you live longer?' Pan and Loge look at each other's eyes, and both of them nod quietly. 'Do you want me to work on some kind of elixir of life?'

  Pan is hesitant at first, but the words blurt out; 'Not yet, but how about making paint of invisibility? You know, just like on the walls of the attic.'

  'I guess I could try to figure out what it contains...'

  'Great.' Smiles Pan. 'It could become really handy.'

  'Ooh, invisible flying giant pigeon cloak.' Adds Mimas to the sudden distraught of her brother Enceladus.

  All in all, their hearts begin to relax with the realisation how they all made through it. At least they all put up their bravest faces, some more genuinely than others. Pan's heart feels colder by the appearance of the three-eyed fox in plain sight. Loge cannot help but to feel that there is a piece of her missing, a piece of who she is. Enceladus fears for what might become of her sister, and Yarnsaxa is not quite sure what to think of it all.

  ***

  On the ground floor. The twins Hati and Narvi are standing in front of the fireplace. And using their tongs they pull out the bright orange piece of metal. They place it on the anvil, and as Narvi keeps his hold on the tongs, Hati begins to hammer it to rough enough shape. Blow after blow the sparks fly all around, and so Atlas dashes after them to cool down any kindling fire on the floor. The metal is still too hot for the twins to touch it by hand. Little further apart, Hip gazes on the various jars and bottles Yarnsaxa left behind for them to use. He maintains the notes on what they have already tried, what they could try next, and how different combinations performed in the past.

  What they are doing has already gone past the point of curious fun. It has transformed to something closer to meticulous work. Hip enjoys the brain puzzle. Hati and Narvi are doing what they would end up doing at their home on their spare moments as their father carries great expectations for their future. As for Atlas who continues to put out kindling flames, he takes it all as endurance training of his own. How he could perhaps some day keep a whole storage hall cold with his own ice, cut out the ice shipping middleman and magisters alike, and make a fortune selling fresh meat.