Tallu was left standing there wondering and staring out of the window. She had gotten a room at a hotel by now; at least her magic had not robbed her of her wallet. She had plenty of money left, so that wasn't a worry.
She walked up and down the door when she noticed a power behind her appear, fae magic. Turning, she saw the old fae appear. The one she had met during the morning, the one with a lost daughter.
"You are a fox. I made some inquiries; a sorcery fox belonging to the Skulk of Rivers. You call most of that National Park there your skulks territory." He said, and she nodded. She had intended to stay anonymous, but now he knew there was no use in hiding it.
"You are a fae, high in rank and fairly old." She answered him.
"Right, you can call me Alistair." He advised her. "For ease's sake, having a conversation without a name to be called by is difficult. This concerns my daughter, so I cannot afford to daddle around either."
"Tallu." She gave him her name, and he settled down.
"Secrecy matters little to me with my daughter's life at stake, Fox; most sorcery foxes have little magic but highly specified skills. You deal in knowledge more than anything else. The police can do little if we deal with magic, but your knowledge may be able to achieve a lot." He said and had her almost choking on her own air. Did she have illusions?
"I have no idea why you are here, and frankly, I don't care; I want you to help me find my daughter. I want your knowledge."
She sat down in front of him and looked straight at Alistair. "I have little to no magic." She stated. "Less than most foxes, but I know quite a lot; I would help you...my magic tells me to do so. I learned to listen to the hard way."
"Good." Alistair conjured up a few photographs. They were of victims and faces. "These are images from previous victims after they were found." He said, and she picked up the images, studying them. These carvings made little sense, but there was something about them; she recognized them. But not from her magic studies.
"Norse Runes." She said. "I don't know what they mean, but they mean something that is not good."
"Norse. I have never had much to do with them." Alistair said.
"Neither did I; we need to go to a library." She said and then mustered the magic again. "It would also help if I could see a body; magic leaves traces. Maybe I could draw some information from them. I am more sensitive than most."
"I can arrange for the meeting; the library we can go to now," Alistair said and stood up. "Give me your hand. I will teleport us."
"Can't we just go...on foot?" She asked, eyeing the hand skeptically; she wasn't sure if she could trust the man, even if his motives seemed sincere.
"I promise I will not harm you; until we have found my daughter, you will be under no threat from me." Tallus's eyes widened in surprise. Fae never promised anything; their promises bound them to their word more tightly than anything else. A Fae was always true to their word. He had to truly care for his daughter to make such a promise. "I have also learned to listen to my magic."
She took his hand and found herself teleported through his magic. Together they ended up in a closed-down library. She couldn't make out where it was.
"We are in Norway; this is a cloister Library. If we search for Norse, we will find it here."
All the way to Norway? In a single teleport without a catalysator?
She held her shock, barely contained.
"What are we searching for?"
"Translations, especially letters," She answered like an automaton and nodded, making his way so he could go and search for the books they needed making her own way through the library. Outside, the sun was shining; going to the history books section, she opened the first on Nore mythology and flipped through it. Nothing. The process dragged on for hours as she searched the books.
"I think I found something." She heard Alistair say behind her, and she turned around. Taking the book, he held out to her and opened it. It really had been what she had been searching for.
"Do you still have the photos?" She asked, and he nodded.
Making her way to the table, she settled down and read through it. There was something about it; she couldn't quite put her finger on it. Then she connected the dots. If she combined the runes and rearranged them differently.
"There...." She whispered, and her finger went over the book and trailed the photos' signs."I cannot make out the exact meaning with only the photographs as reference, but context while it is something with taming...evil intent and this should mean power, or might and violence." She told him. "But if you ask me, it seems like a witch's work...and either she is not very good, or this is a remote spell usable by anyone, and the person doesn't remember it well."
"A remote spell?"
"Yes, it works like potions. A crafter makes a magic catalysator and imbues it with a certain spell. Then gives it a source it takes the magic from, and every time it gets into contact with an energy source, it gathers its magic, and once an activation phrase is articulated, the spell activates itself." She explained. "It's a simple process. But the Katalysators are hard to make; there are only a few who can make them, none of them witches though in my memory."
"No witches?" Alistair asked. "Who else can do it?"
"Sorcery Foxes like me, a few at least. A few faes and I remember a sorcerer." She counted down. "But those are only those I know...none works in Norse. The foxes work mainly in Asian writing forms, the fae in Irish or Welsh, older forms admittingly, the sorcerer in Latin and ancient Greek."
"No Norse."
"No one norse I know of....which doesn't mean there is no one. Witches are as secretive and exclusive as most in the supernatural world, crafters are rare, they wouldn't make a crafter in their mist pubic if they can help it."
"I understand."
Krikot· Jun 23, 2023
