Skull of Oghren

by Tuomas Vainio

  Mimas shakes her head in disagreement. 'A bird soul, it'll fly.' She waves and flaps the cloth with her arms, while running around a small circle around her siblings.

  'But you need to get to bed, mum and dad will worry.' Enceladus tries to protest.

  But Hip points out that how the oldest and youngest could just tug something under her blankets, and seal the deal with; saying that she went to bed early, and Loge adds how Bergelmir could sneak to make illusionary puff of hair to fool any goodnight kisses. The smallest of the group nods after some consideration.

  Hip claps his hands together and turns to face Pan. His eyes penetrate towards the thin gap between the swollen flesh. 'But what will we do after you get the skull or skulls?' The others turn to look at Pan with the question.

  'I, uh...' Pan scratches his head. 'We need to make a hammer. Then enchant and transform a skull as best we can. We will leave both broken in the Tower of Judgement to be found.' The boy clears his throat. 'With the hammer, we need to mimic the work of the guilds. Make it seem like they were behind it. As for the skull, the old rat can help with the details.'

  'I see. We will try to fool everyone.' Hip says in turn while rubbing his jaw.

  Some protest but not as loudly as Pandora who claims that the secrecy is nothing but hogwash. But as the thirteen kids stand and talk it over, they are forced to agree that they cannot claim the fame of smashing the skull. The claim would only draw the attention to them, and the Skull of Oghren would be found. What the magisters could do to them in retunr is not the most pleasant thoughts to consider.

  After a moment of lingering, as the bells ring in the distance, all but Pan and Mimas head back down to the ground floor. They get ready to go back to their homes; so they wish goodnight to each other before taking their turns to run across the courtyard under the falling rain.

  Loge stares out into the rain before she closes the door. She closes her eyes and thinks for a moment. She races up the stairs and runs towards the attic. She gets there just in time to finds Pan and Mimas in the attic. Pan is shaking his head as Mimas tries her best to shove her pigeon through the window. Its wings and tail struggle against the girl's meagre efforts.

  A smile rises over Loge's face, a chuckle spurs out from her lips, and the words; 'I want to come with you.' Pan tries to protest, but Mimas quickly points out how the pigeon is hers. She gets to decide who rides with her, and Pan has no choice but to agree.

  Not to mention how Mimas' effort to shove the bird through had only managed to get it stuck within the window frame. Thus the three join forces to pull at the pigeon's tail to free it from the unwitting snare. The final push that frees it, causes them all tumble over along with the bird.

  As Pan crawls under the bird's body, Loge suggests to going down to the courtyard to fly off, but Mimas disagrees and shares her little dirty secret. Mimas spreads her hand out of the window, and field of shimmering light spreads out. The surface that extends from the open window is bombarded with raindrops. A barrier floating in the air. The bird folds on Mimas' touch and she simply leaps out of the window. She does not mind the rain and so she flings out the cloth and whips it back into its bird form.

  Pan and Loge just sit on their bums, watching how Mimas stands on nothing but her barrier. How she pulls open the chest of the bird, and encourages the two others to climb in. She smiles and her confident words fly out; 'This is not the first time I have flown my bird. Trust me.'

  Loge is to first to climb out of the window, although she stops to test the barrier before stepping on it. The rain makes the smooth surface somewhat slippery, but she finds herself soon enough insider the pigeon's chest; waving for Pan to follow.

  The boy hesitates, and he is baffled by his own hesitation. After all, he considers how a moment before he was running along the roofs and balancing over the many ropes of the city. How he has crawled through sewers and hanged on ledges on nothing but his fingers. More than ever before Pan is afraid of falling. Afraid of how that barrier could dissipate the moment he steps on it.

  Reluctantly, he gets up, and dashes towards the pigeon. Pan grabs Loge's extended hand, and she helps him get inside the bird. Mimas finally climbs onto the bird's back, and the barrier shatters. Both Pan and Loge scream, but soon the bird's large black wings spread and catch wind.

  With every push of the wings, the fabric bends and hardens. Mimas clings to the birds neck, giggling madly, and soon the kids at the bird's belly relax to a degree. Both Pan and Loge stick their heads out, to look at the nightly city under the falling rain.

  The streets are lit by windows that throw their lights onto the ever darkening network of cobblestone. Like rivers of fireflies, the flickering lights paint and illuminate the streets across the city. The growing pools and streams of rain water add their own touch of natural magic while the wind and rain bombard the bird of cloth.

  They swoop past the tall buildings and towers, the pigeon heads towards the ocean, towards the white sails of the docks. Towards the beam of light shining ever onwards to the sea.

  'Look out for that pit!' Mimas shouts past the wind and rain, and as commanded Pan and Loge peer down, looking for the pitch black market square surrounded by a guard of street lights.

  The pigeon circles around the docks for roughly ten minutes before it finally begins its descent towards the pit. How it falls into the darkness and circles around with nothing to guide but the light rising from Loge's finger tips. Those little tendrils of flames.

  The two girls moan and groan from the stench, and the heavy sounds of running water pooling into the dark vats before it rushes ever onwards to the sea.

  They descend until at long last something white and stringy appears far below. The piles of those who did not survive the fall. Graveyard of the punished, those cursed by the affliction, those who were turned into were-rats. Skeletal remains protrude under the rotting fur and flesh, gnawed my maggots and other critters of the sewers. Disgust twists the children’s' faces, but their descend is not halted.

  The pigeon lands right before the foot of the mountain made of the ghastly remains. A spot before a multitude of passages leading deeper into the sewers. To the Wight-King's palace, to the mines, to perils of certain death by those ill prepared.

  The bird's feet wade into the thick muck raised and loosened by the falling rain water. Mimas peers down, and looks at the heads of Loge and Pan; 'Someone has to jump down and look for a skull.'

  The three kids look at one and other, until Pan finally caves in, and slides out. His feet splash, and the muck finds its way into his boots. The boy visibly shivers, but starts raising his feet to climb towards the bones. Loge focuses onto her index finger and the flame burning over her nail extents to a rope that curls and extends over Pan, following his trail and providing illumination in the dank bottom of the pit.

  The soaking wet Mimas stays on the bird's back, cuddling its neck while shouting out occasional encouragement for the search.

  When Pan steps on the first bone of the mountain, he flips up the eye patch to really see what lies in front of him. The green flames rise upwards from Pan's glass eye as his gaze wanders before the boy begins his climb on the mountain of corpses.

  He first notices a seemingly intact skull and the jaw some three meters above his own head. Thus hand and feet against the bones, the boy climbs the distance like a four legged spider. Some bones shake and fall loose, but Pan's path to the skull is not deterred. He aims towards the minor ledge on the left side, a place where he could kick the skull loose. His hands hold on to a large ribcage while he shoves his right feet against the skull. He swings towards the skull to grant cause that necessary extra nudge. A kick, after a kick. A push after a push.

  The jaw bone is first to drop loose and it bounces before vanishing under the muck. Pan groans loudly as the prospect having to dig it up is not the most pleasant one. Yet there is no denying, he is making progress, and as the rain continues to fall down, the bones are slowly becoming ever more slippery. So P
an decides to get the job done as fast as he can. He slams his feet at the side of the skull, swinging his body entire body to throw more strength with his kick. The large skull twists, creaks under the weight of the slowly shifting bones. Until... Until the skull just falls and tumbles down freely. Bouncing along the way.

  Pan shouts out in victory, but the skull alone is not the only one that shifted enough to fall. The wall of remains begins to rumble and tumble down right before Pan. At first it is all just right before him, an avalanche of bones swirling down and flying past him. Pan almost manages to sigh in relief before the ribcage he was holding on to starts to feel loose. He falls down with the bones.

  Loge cries and jumps out the confines of the bird. She runs towards the bones, and reaches for the hand that is sticking out. The flames from her hand fade as she grabs Pan's hand with both of hers, and pulls as hard as she can. She struggles to pull her brother up.

  Roughened and dirty, Pan slowly gets up. His body feels bruised, but regardless of the mild soreness from the fall; he seems to be all right. Miserable, covered in grime, but all right.

  As for Loge and Mimas, both stare at the glass eye that glows with green flames. Neither says a word at first, but soon Loge conjures her flames once more to locate the skull. 'The bird could help us shift through the bones.' She adds while Pan is already throwing aside the unwanted hip bones, occasional fragments of a spine, and other pieces of originating from multitude of skeletons.

  Loge and Mimas glance at each other, and soon Loge begins to throw bones aside her brother. After a moment or two, Mimas decides to join in and guides her giant pigeon to kick and peck the bones further away.

  The skull itself is not difficult to find, but the jaw bone hidden under the murky grime turns out to be far more complicated matter. Hands submerge into the thick muck to raise the bones found. Bones that get cast aside one after another.

  Of the three, Mimas is the first to grow bored of the task. She kicks her feet at the sides of the bird, and it spreads its wings to fly off. The girl shouts how she will try to find out another skull from air.

  Loge turns to Pan, who in turn nods that it is okay to help Mimas.

  'Might save time.' The boy smirks before continuing to wade for new bones hidden underneath the filth and rain water.

  Thus loge raises her hands. Tendrils of flames rise forth and twist from her nails. The flames reach ever higher and illuminate as much as possible for Mimas to circle around with her pigeon. 'Hah!' She cries out, as she spots a skull and jaw resting among the edge of a massive vat filled with bones. A lucky find considering the pile of fallen bones that resides just behind it.

  The pigeon lands on the edge of the vat and leans towards the skull. Some bones drop and fall as the bird shifts its body, but Mimas manages to reach towards the skull and the jaw. A skull she neatly rests on top of the head of her bird, and the jaw bone she victoriously raises for Pan and Loge to see.

  'Look at this!' She shouts, while pointing the bone with her index finger. 'We should have tried this right a way!' Yet the smile fades from Mimas mouth as curiosity fills her mind. 'What is that?' She points towards the hulking dark shape at the mouth of one of the passages.

  A halberd is thrown before the two other can turn around. The weapon hits the bird of cloth and digs deep into the mountain of bones. The shape of the bird becomes twisted, and it tries to struggle free to no avail. Mimas slips and falls, but somehow manages to grab at the edge of the vat. Clinging on with her both hands and trying frantically climb up while her bird continues to struggle trash to free itself.

  Pan and Loge turn around to face the dark hulking shape. A were-rat of colossal size wearing a makeshift armour gathered of bits and pieces over its hairy body. Its face twisted in a scowl and eyes as pitch dark as death itself. A cold unforgiving stare that pins down towards Pan, to the glass eye glowing with the green flames.

  The were-rat hisses in rage, before its words explode past its fanged teeth along with thick spit. A simple short accusation. 'I know you.' The hulking afflicted beast visibly shakes and twists its limbs in a jerking manner before regaining its composure. The were-rat points its accusing finger; 'You did this to me.'

  'Run Loge, run.' Pan throws the piece of bone he was holding on at the were-rat before he darts to his right. The bone is easily deflected, and the beastly rat turns to chase knowing that the boy cannot escape, he cannot flee from him now. Not in this place.

  'Your petty illusions cannot help you any more.' The were-rat howls as Pan reaches for his slingshot and pebbles in his pockets. The boy stops, turns around with his patchwork cloak spinning around and he takes his quick aim. A stone is released, and it flies towards the left eye. The beast howls, and unwittingly presents the right side of his face for another stone. The howl turns animalistic and ear shattering.

  Pan gulps as he sees how the pebble remains stuck on the beast's right eye socket. How the fur glistens with dark red while the left one continues to blink wildly. The were-rats steps wobble back and forth, as the creature frantically tries to shield its eyes from more pain. To make it stop. But as the boy's heart beat calms down, so does it for the were-rat. The brief relief Pan felt quickly fades once he notices how the were-rats nose twitches. How its ears follow every sound. 'For Io's red buttocks.'

  'I can still smell you. I can still hear you.' The were-rat grunts and shouts along its pained groans. He takes a step, and another towards Pan. The boy tries to back away, he tries to fire his slingshot yet again but his hand shake too much. The stones and pebbles that hit do not hurt like the two first. The were-rat is not slowed down, and so he taunts; 'You have fate far worse than death ahead of you. Far worse than what you brought to me.'

  The Beast raises his hand to strike, and it pummels down through the air and falling rain. Pan just barely manages to jump out of the way. The boy falls and finds his face submerged into the dank and murky waters, he has to raise his head for air, and so he sees how the beast prepares for another blow. Pan knows he cannot avoid those forever, and as he stares at that raised paw with its sharp long claws; he thinks that perhaps death would be better than the affliction with mutilated and torn body.

  Pan closes his eyes and hopes best when faced with worst.

  Yet after a while the blow does not land, and so Pan opens his eyes. What he sees is how the air in front of him sparkles in red. It is Mimas' barrier. The boy sighs in relief, while the fiery whips extended out of Loge's hands strike and lash against the were-rat causing it flinch and turn around. The stench of burnt hair fills the air as the metallic makeshift armour glisten with scalding marks that hiss as the falling rain hits.

  Pan watches as Mimas and Loge work together to tire down the were-rat. How Mimas remains perched over the wall of the vat, conjuring her barriers to stop the beasts rampage, and to buy time for Loge to move out of the way. The boy watches how the fiery whips curve and cut through the air turning raindrops into steam before lashing and wrapping against the body hulking monster.

  For a while it seems that the two could do it. That they could bring down a full-grown and enraged were-rat to its knees. But Pan notices how Mimas' barriers grow weaker, how Loge's steps grow slower as her fiery whips slowly begin dwindle out. How the were-rat continues to howl in pain transformed into mindless rage.

  While the barriers might have bruised and stunned as the whips burned both hair and metal against the beast's flesh, their effort is not enough. The beast's clawed hand trashes through the air, and finally manages to cut Loge's forehead. Blood gushes out. The girl wobbles. Mimas tries her best to conjure barriers to protect her friend, but the beast's blows strike through time and time again.

  The fiery whips begin to slowly die out. The boy shouts out, trying to attract the beast's attention but it feels all too late. The end is near, the world slows down and freezes.

  Pan's heart is beating loud like thunder. The flames from the glass eye rise higher than ever before, and an acorn drops into the murky waters. An aco
rn in the bottom of the pit, without trees anywhere nearby. The absurdity of it draws the boy's entire focus, and so he reaches for it, and when he raises his gaze; he sees a massive shadow painted onto the walls with the last flickers of the fading light. A gargantuan shadow of a three-eyed fox, laughing, before it vanishes behind the mountain of bones.

  He does not know what to think, but the acorn lies in his hand and so the boy draws his slingshot. He feels the echo of life inside that acorn. He shouts once more; 'It is me you want you red-coated son of a fat rat!'

  The were-rat freezes, its ears twitch as it turns to face Pan. It howls out in rage. Bloodied spit flies through the rain, and Pan lets go of the sling's holder. The acorn flies, almost dances through the falling rain before it hits its mark. Before it vanishes into the throat of the were-rat. The beast chokes and coughs, it tries to spit it out or swallow, but it remains lodged in the beast's throat.

  'DIE, DIE, DIE!' Shouts Pan as loud as he can. But the hunched over were-rat straightens up, and finally manages to swallow the acorn.

  The creature takes its wheezing breaths. It fills its lungs with air and replies: 'No, it is you who shall die. Slowly, ever so slowly.' As saliva begins to drip down from its snout.

  Pan's chin begins to rattle, a fact that brings great amusement for the beastly nigh immortal were-rat. Mimas continues her tries to stop the passage of the were-rat, but unfortunately her barriers are simply cast aside and shattered by the sheer weight of the were-rats body. The bright glimmer has faded into faint distortions.

  Step by step the beast gets closer, sniffing the air and listening to the boy's jaw rattle. Loge lies in the distance, bloodied and unmoving.

  Yet not all hope is lost. As the were-rat takes his time to torment the boy, a spark appears inside Pan's mind. He can still feel the acorn, even when it is inside the beast's stomach, and how it is almost within his reach. A spark of life waiting for a nudge, just like the seeds once planted within his room.