Red Solstice (Alfheim Book 1)

by Unknown

  “Okay”, I start again, “I am not totally human and I have family in a different reality that are some sort of nobles. These or at least one of these, wanting me back there with them. Is that it in a nutshell?”

  “I should think so”, she says

  “But why?,” I continue.

  “To be honest I cannot answer that, but I do know it is where your mother went in search of your father. She came to see me before she left and told me that it might take time to find a way to help your father and asked, if a time came when it was needed, that I reach out to her children and help them”

  Maybe I need to ask Red why they want me in particular, because I cannot see a sensible enough reason, but then how could I ask him without placing myself in imminent danger. There has to be a way. What he did to me with that rose may not be as hard as it looks as he had little time to set it up, but then if he is an adept he might not need time. It is a conundrum.

  I pour another glass of wine. “Okay, you said that you know my mother.”

  Hilda nods. “I knew her for many years as she was growing up and when she eloped with your father. I think she sought out my council because I was human as was your father. Your grandmother had brought him over to make her some panels for her hall and he was highly regarded for both his beautiful carving and also his musical instruments. Your mother had a flair for the lute and I remember her showing me the one that he specially made for her. They were such a beautiful couple and so deeply in love”

  I laughed, “Yes they were so much in love.”

  She continued,” Rose was the only child of your grandmother. Her father was a high noble who had a special talent not often found in the people. There were hopes that Rose had

  the same and would make a suitable ruler in time. I do not know if she did or didn't inherit her father's ability or even what it was. I was not part of their court and she only befriended me because I was like her lover, and knew some of his ways and customs.” She paused, “In fact I might have met Red before now although the way he presents himself here is not what I would expect from one well placed in the standing of a noble. The hair is rather an unusual affectation, although effective in attracting a young lady of earth's interest.” She chuckled to herself but I did not ask what the joke was. I took another sip of the wine and then stopped. It would be better to think this through sober.

  I was silent for a while and Hilda did not interrupt my thoughts as she could see that I had taken in a a lot of information that needed to be sorted through and somehow filed into place in my head. A sudden suspicion filtered through the morass and I had to ask her “How old are you?”

  “How old do I seem?” she replied.

  “I had you placed at about forty”, I said.

  “Actually I am more about two hundred and forty”, was her answer to that and my jaw dropped. I looked at her and she smiled back at me. I breathed in and was about to say something else but my brain refused to connect with my vocal chords and I exhaled and shut my mouth. An horrific thought struck me, “Aylsa, she is your niece,” I did not want to add on what I was thinking and I think she knew anyway what I was not asking her as she laughed and said “She is a many, many, great niece and one of the family that I had who was willing to take me back on just my word. She had lost her mother to an illness some ten years back and I filled a gap for her. The rest of the family were okay with my taking her on and I had enough money to purchase this house and for us to live comfortably.”

  “Do you not regret not being closer to your sons”

  “I see them, as and when they feel their sense of duty demands it,” she replied laughing. “Sons are notorious for seeking their own way in the world. A daughter might have kept me back largely because they would have needed me at important times in their life, but I had no daughter and Aylsa has been the best thing for me as she took my mind off my loss, as I hope I took hers off of her parents loss.”

  I thought of my brothers and how they rarely made any reference to our parents which fitted with what she said. After that initial first year we had somehow ceased to mention anything in relation to either of them, and maybe that was when I started to bond more with boys than the other girls at school, who still had mothers to confide in and provide support for their developing emotions.

  It is another thing to ponder about at some point but maybe not today as the night is no longer young and tomorrow I have to raid the library. Hilda is also looking a little tired and I am aware how much of her time I am using, and perhaps abusing, as she does have a life to lead which is nothing to do with idiots like me that get into fixes. On this sorry reflection I thank her and head for bed. This breaks up the party which the others have in progress and the games boards are packed away and peace descends for the night.

  Monday 19th

  On Monday I go to the library to do some research. Hilda has walked me as far as the town hall and I am going to see John there, at work, so he will be able to walk me back. It is rather like being a toddler again with everyone acting as a nanny. Still it is better than being abducted by the alien demon beast, well maybe it is but maybe part of me would like an action replay as long as I could escape. I slap that stray thought back down and push myself into sensible mode ready for the research ahead.

  I don't know why they have to make town halls so strange. Ours has white faux marble columns and an imposing set of steps up to the main entrance. There isn't much inside apart from the library that occupies about half the building and co-exists with an information post and a meeting hall that sometimes doubles for weddings and Christmas celebrations. It has bits of plaster stuck to the ceilings and parts of the walls to make it look far older and grander than it actually is and a pompous individual in a red jacket to direct the visitor to where they need to go. I think he doubles as the janitor as it always seems to be him involved in any minor repair work going on. On the plus side the steps are very well brushed every morning.

  John is part of a team that runs the library. There are three ladies and himself and they work it so at least two of them are in there during the week and three on a weekend. I am not certain why they need three at the weekend as I am sure it is used more during the week but so they have decreed it. Also if they are going to open late which they do on Tuesday and Thursday, then they start later in the day. In this manner they all work only five days each which is reasonable. I guess it works out for them and to avoid confusion the times are listed outside the town hall on a notice board, along with forthcoming events such as lectures and sometimes even plays, or the odd film.

  I need to find a reference book that shows symbols in it and, not having any training in their system, it may take some time. There are cards in an index that you can look through but most of these are just filed by author. Then there are some that are by subject but none of these subjects seems to include the word symbols. I am reluctant to ask for help as I do not want the ladies to get any inkling of what I am about as they would then be questioning John as to why I was about it. There is so little strange going on in our town that everyone is instantly involved in whatever gossip they can dredge up. What I do find, eventually, in the subjects is witchcraft and the occult and so with hope I scuttle to the area indicated. There is not much, in fact they have less books on the subject than Hilda but I grab the few there are retire to a desk for some more in depth reading. To be honest it does seem to be more fantasy than fact in the books I have found. If I had not had real contact with a geas then I doubt I would have done more than laugh at these feeble attempts. It then occurred to me that perhaps the ancient civilisations might hold something more apt and placing the original trove back on their shelf I went in search of these, most of which appeared to be in the outsize section.

  Finally in a book which purported to be about some sort of sacred geometry I found the symbol that had been alluding me. The symbol that I could barely make out on Red's chest was in fact a spiral. By this time I had spent some three hours in the library
and I was getting rather hungry.

  I had brought a notebook and a pen with me so I made a copy of a spiral in it and wrote down some of the description so that I could think about it over some lunch. It would appear that a spiral is probably the oldest symbol known to man and that is was used in spiritual practices, which ties it into magic. It also stated that it shows the pattern of growth or evolution but I was not sure of what exactly this meant. It was also supposed to represent fertility, energy and reproduction by linking it to someone just named the goddess. Part of the reasoning behind these beliefs was the number of times spirals occur in nature and this includes animals, plants , minerals, weather patterns, etc. Some people linked it to regeneration, growth and ultimately death. In a way a sort of journey both into our selves and also outwards making it easier to accept change and to come to terms with our consciousness, our place in the ongoing evolution of life and spirit. To other people it could be used as a personal talisman to remind them about maintaining balance and centring their minds. The really freaky thing was the number of civilisations that has used it and also the the religions that had tried to incorporate it into some part of their ritual systems. It was obviously a strong piece of magic indeed.

  The last thing that I need from the library is anything that deals with the OM sound and I next raid their CD section. And behold tucked away at the back is one that not only uses OM but breaks it down into its parts that co-respond to the chakras parts that I had already been thinking of. I do get a strange look booking this out but I smile and tell the lady at the desk I am working on a new folk song from India. She appears impressed.

  So it is now mid day and I am armed to the teeth with information about spirals and ready to use the same teeth for more delightful things. John is about to do lunch so I tag along with him to the bakery shop a few doors down from the dairy. They make very nice pies there and also sandwiches . I would be quite content to have both at this moment in time so I do.

  Who should we happen to meet on their way, also but Aylsa and I am beginning to suspect this is no coincidental thing but either prearranged or maybe a bit of stalking. I am not bothered as long as I am fed and kept safe from Red so I sit at one end of a bench in the square and feast whilst they blush a lot and exchange monosyllables.

  In the midst of this I see Red sitting almost opposite us and also seemingly engaged in eating. He has a precise manner about him and I suspect he chews each mouthful the correct number of times rather than devours his sandwich in an act of pure passion. I snigger to myself, but John and Aylsa are lost in their own little world and I might as well have been on the moon for all the attention they gave me. I am quite enjoying sitting in safety and watching him from afar. He does not seem to be watching me but I also suspect that he is very good at his job and therefore I would not detect his gaze unless it was turned fully on me.

  Having finished a tuna sandwich I proceed to nibble at the pie. Across from us he stretches out his legs and turns his face up towards the sun. It is all rather like a Sunday afternoon should be rather than a Monday lunch time. I lay bets with myself that he could spring into action from that position in a matter of seconds. He makes for pleasant eye candy, but I am rather drifting from my purpose and I drag myself back to reading the notes I have made. When I check again he has vanished from sight, which does make me uneasy and I do a swift check of the square but where ever he hides it is somewhere obscured from me.

  At this point John comes back to earth and prods at me to get up and follow him back to Hilda's. It is rather like having a body guard and I feel a little smug as we walk off down Abalone road. He has just enough time to drop me off and get back to his shift at the library and I am certain that we are being followed even though I cannot see him. Part of me feels his presence now and I wish I was not revelling in it so much. Aylsa is walking with us so they are in conversation and ignoring me once again, which is a good thing in that it gives me space to think, particularly now about spirals. They must have a deep significance for him to have one tattooed in such a visible place, well visible if half naked anyway. Maybe he is a member of some strange religious sect. I must ask Hilda what religious beliefs his people have. Also I am beginning to perceive a way of using the design to fit in with my thoughts on magic and how to harness some of the bits I have seen into some of the bits I have read.

  I appear to have a little skill so if I am going to use what small magic I have, it will have to be through something that will amplify this and amplify it a lot. The fact that music seems to be significant for me has indicated that I pursue this angle rather than stumble blindly with some of the strange diagrams and words that the books contain. I have already looked at the sounds of the primeval mantra OM and how this appears to raise power along the kundalini line of chakras so maybe if I work with this concept in relation to the spiral symbol then I could focus and enhance what I have enough to generate something similar to a vision such as Red had made.

  It has occurred to me that in some ways the spiral seems to be like a music stave wrapped around itself. Sort of like the way a Möbius strip works, but without being attached to form an infinity symbol, or to be more precise like the inside of a shell and I have read about conch shells and how they act as an amplifier by channelling the sound round from one end of their spiral channel to the other. Well it seems at first glance plausible to me, and it is also a start. I can only fail after all, and there again if I do, by some mad chance, succeed it will be of massive benefit.

  Hilda says that most mages and adepts talk of the power coming from their solar plexus and that she has also heard of this from those that have no magic ability apart from they can read the future, or commune with those that are now spirits. I personally cannot see why being able to see the future is not quite magic or even for that matter why speaking to the dead is not so regarded, but I do not have time to start a debate.

  So to raise energy from the root of the kundalini I need to evoke three chakras. First the Muladhara which is a C vibrating at 256 Hz and aligned with Earth and Thunder. Secondly the Swadhisthara which is a D and C sharp at 288Hz vibrations standing for Water and Life energy and finally the Manipura which is an E or E flat and involving Fire and raw Power. Luckily the library has a CD which contains these sounds broken down into parts of the OM mantra and this will give me the correct tonality for each note that I need as I move through my intended spiral. I have jotted most of this down on paper and drawn a picture of what I have to make. I am hopeful, as it is only three notes I am attempting in a spiral, that it will fit into Hilda's work room out back. And that it can be contained in a circle. As I also need to be able to walk through the note spaces and sit in the middle it may prove too big but we shall see.

  To begin we need to clear a space and this then has to be cleaned . Aylsa helps me to move furniture and carpet back against one wall and we give the place a good hoover. I then take a mop and wash the floor underneath which is luckily smooth concrete. I draw the centre using chalk and a piece of string attached to a stick which Aylsa holds in place for me. We are now having to work barefoot so that things stay clean. Then taking the centre of the small circle as the centre of the spiral I work outwards making lines that are roughly one foot apart which just fits as long as part of the spiral is incorporated into the final circle. As I am using chalk it is getting a little difficult to avoid stepping back on the lines and smudging them. However after a brief spell of touching up in places it looks okay and Hilda is quite impressed by it, if not by my reasoning. I think Aylsa is excited by the entire thing rather than impressed, after all it is just a little out of the usual town entertainment comfort zone. I do advise her that maybe John should be kept out of the loop on this and she actually agrees. Maybe she does not want him to think that she may be weird as well! So we three ladies are all rather pleased with ourselves.

  I have been practising the notes on the CD and it has occurred to me that I will need some form of transition point to indicate where each be
gins and ends. They do not have to be that long just equal in length and sufficient to focus my mind totally on raising power and building a vision. I can start off with the looking in another reality bit that Hilda has already shown me and considering the small amount of time I have had to put into it I am very happy with myself and how fast I am getting along. There is a still small voice in the back of my mind that is reminding me of such truisms as 'pride coming before a fall' and I will have to over ride that when I actually attempt this vision but for the moment, yes, I need to take that on board for it is the only thing that will make me take precautions and hopefully, keep me safe.

  We are having a break for coffee in the kitchen and I voice some of my misgivings to Hilda. It is strange how in such a small amount of time I feel I can confide almost anything to her and my hopes and fears are treated as valid. I have never really had to be responsible before and I appreciate that she is treating me as if I am an adult although I really do not feel like one most of the time. It is during this that I remember the goddess reference in the spiral book so I ask Hilda if they have anything like a religion.

  “Yes”, she replies, “They have a lady that they call just 'the goddess' and she is the source of all their magic that they term 'Wild Magic'. They hold her in reverence and at times small offerings are made to her which may involve the death of animals, although I believe they sometimes tie this into a practice that they have which is known as 'The Wild Hunt' when it can involve the blood of a man.”

  “Nice,” I say through gritted teeth.