Red Solstice (Alfheim Book 1) Read online

  From what I have noted down most religions have a sound at the point that they believe the universe was created whether this is by a god or the god is in some way the sound, which to be honest does seem a strange idea for everyone to be having at the same time unless there is some truth hidden in there. The trouble with religious texts is they are usually translations and therefore they may carry more of the translators ideas than the original writer and the original writer is probably not where they started out from but just the person who decided to write them down at some point maybe hundreds of years later. But there are similar ideas at work and for that to happen there has to be that core point of truth.

  According to one of Hilda's books, there was a sound or chord at the beginning of the universe. A chord that called matter into being and this is a universal belief in many ancient and still surviving religions. This sound has various names but the most popular seems to be OM or Aum. This ties in with the rest and the fact that it is still used by practitioners today adds some credence to its potential of being that sound that the others have written about. I quite like the big bang theory but when you look at it there are similarities because you have to have some matter there already to make a big bang and the chord thing supposedly calls matter into being, so potentially they could be both correct as they were originally proposed, although I am not certain if I quite understand myself there. Anyway sound supposedly created matter which is roughly what the next group of texts proposes.

  What do I know about sound? Some sounds are so exquisite that they move us to tears and others can be almost too painful to bear like when someone drags their fingernail down a chalk board. Then there are high notes that shatter glass. I have heard of other pitches that will destroy living tissue or even non living matter more substantial than glass, and this is recorded in many places, in fact I believe that weapons were constructed to do this with sound, even if I have no knowledge of them being used for such. This indicates that sound is a very powerful thing and that it does not only affect our emotions but can be crafted in different ways to produce a specific effect.

  This is also something that is fairly universal and in the Eastern religions it sits side by side with the chord sound and in the Western area it has moved out of religion and into something called Alchemy. The proposal in all being that there are four elements that have their being through a fifth element.. There are according to most ancient civilisations elements that are responsible for all matter and these are generally referred to as Fire, Air, Earth, and Water as main. But there is also this fifth element cited and this has various names such as ether, akasha, void, aether with some religions considering this the element of sound. This is going a little too deep for me to take it all in and make sense of it, but it does seem to have a place in this mess to fit into, and maybe in time I can figure out where and what that is.

  According to one text that was written by a Hindu philosopher back in the 9th Century A.D. A deity known as 'the Creator' used the element of aether, which they saw as being the most difficult to control and explain, to create the others and this he supposedly did by using the second to create the third and so forth. The reasoning for this seemed to be that the elements were connected to the five senses held by humans, and these were on a scale so that the finest were at the top and they gradually descended to the lowest which could be appreciated by all five senses; so the aether was actually seen as inaccessible to the any of the senses but from it came Air, which can be felt and heard. This was followed by Fire which can be heard, felt, and seen and then Water that can be heard, felt, seen and tasted and finally Earth which can be touched, seen, heard, smelt and tasted, although I personally wonder why anyone would want to be tasting earth. This philosopher, Vacaspati who wrote of it in the Tattwa Kaumudi, claimed that it is through the elements that we experience our senses, which seems the sensible part of the whole.

  Then there are the chakras which are points on the body through which energy flows. There are lots of these but most are only minor. Many of the Eastern religions use them and so do people that only practice meditation and healing, though they all seem to stem from the same idea. The main points of the chakras align to something called the Kundalini and that is a serpent like structure rising out of the base chakra and connecting through the others to the top of the head where the universal energy flows in, although some say this is where earth energy rises to meet it. I think it may be a two way process depending on what you are doing it for, but for Tantric needs, and here they can be erotic, it definitely goes up, which makes me giggle to myself.

  It seems to be this bit where the Om or Aum fits in with this energy surge as chanting it properly can raise the energy through the Kundalini to the head chakra. The only problem I am getting is finding how to do Om and as I do have to make a trip to the library sooner rather than later, I hope to raid their CD section in the hope of finding a copy of it. John has often talked about the senior librarian's interest in Eastern religions and yoga so I suspect it is the kind of thing she would have in stock, so to speak.

  I am beginning to think that all this concept of energy, and moving it about to utilise it for different things, links in some way to Qi, Chi or Ki , which are some of the words for life force or expressions of it. Ki is the Japanese version of Chi and shows up in Reiki which is a healing practice that draws on the universal element of the ether to re-establish the balance of those who are sick by assuring a steady flow between the main chakra points of the human body. There is a word for 'life force' that is found in various ancient Eastern practices including martial arts, medicine, particularly Indian style medicine, and some elements of the yoga tradition and that is prana which they believed to be energy from the cosmos. At the time that they formulated the idea they thought it might be generated by the sun as that effects growth in plant life, but it does feel that it ought to be more universal than radiation. It is just a thought, but when the books speak of auras then I can connect this to them as they seem to interact with energy from outside ourselves, drawing this in through the chakra points in various measured dosages, rather like a plant using sunlight for photosynthesis to absorb and create the sustenance it needs from its surroundings. It would seem that quite a few of the Tibetan and Hindu practitioners also equate this prana or 'life force' with Qi and the fact that it still seems to have a place in what are both religious and secular practices today must mean it has managed to prove itself either useful or holding more of the truth than is immediately apparent to our western mind sets.

  I cannot remember a time when I was not writing down lyrics or rather small poems that were not very good in retrospect, but I know I have got a lot better with age and some of my latest stuff Benjamin has been kind enough to set to music. He can do the really hard bit better than I could ever hope to. What I know about poetry and lyrics is they need to evoke feelings without being perhaps straight forward, so that you can take the feeling from inside yourself and apply it to the picture created by the words. Also evoking is a very close word to invoking which is what a spell should do, so spell or geas I feel if you have the ability to push this over into the lyrics, I can see how a geas can be formed from a song because the lyrics can be tailored to what the adept needs to do. This then can be connected back with the correct sounds to push it forward and make it happen, and some songs lend themselves to this as if their music was purposefully written to enthral. So by bending these to a different set of lyrics and having the knack of delivering them to the correct target it should be possible to create almost anything that you need. For a special geas you could write the words of your intent as song lyrics, but be very precise. Then if you set it to music or subvert an already produced piece of music it should be possible to even link words to the notes of the chakras to enhance this.

  It was very late by the time we had finished looking at the papers and trying to place them into some order. I do not even know if any of this is the correct way it just feels as if it might be the
best I can do in the small amount of time that I have. It is the one thing that I have some knowledge of and maybe that added to the small portion of magic that seems to be mine, will be the best defence for me. I would like an offensive weapon too but that will have to be a reliance on the martial arts skills that I barely have. And maybe general trickery if that counts. I am exhausted, as I suspect is Hilda, even though she tries to hide it. In fact it is she who finally says that we should call it a day and she has my instant agreement on that subject. I will go through all these notes again over the next few days when my head has caught up with it all.

  Sunday 18th

  It was late on Sunday morning and Aylsa was not yet up, which was hardly surprising considering the time she actually came home. I had joined Hilda in the kitchen and we were now having some coffee and thick buttered scones that we had baked together, earlier. I was beginning to enjoy this domestic touch as it reminded me of being with my mother, which also prodded me to ask her about her experiences of Alfheim. She seemed happy to reminisce.

  “A long time ago, a really long time ago,” she laughed “When I was a young girl not much older than you are now, I was working in my families herb garden. I had a way with herbs and could make ointments and possets for healing. This helped us when times were hard to live a better life than some of my contemporaries. I was not very worldly, not like you young things are now days.”

  I looked at her closely. She had similar dark blonde hair to her niece and very attractive blue eyes, which I rather envied as mine had always seemed to me a watery shade of green. There was not an ounce of fat on her and her movements were fairly graceful, rather like a dancers. She could not be much older than forty but then people judge themselves by how they feel more than how they look, I have found.

  “Yes, I was working in the herb garden gathering those that were ready to dry and store when a young man approached me. He was beautiful. Not masculine or heavy muscled but beautiful, I thought he looked like an angel. He told me he had been on a hunting trip and met with an accident. He had a gash in his left side where dark blood had dried. I remember his eyes were a pale shade of blue rather like an aquamarine but they held such sparkle, and his hair was very long and fair, almost white. It looked like someone had turned silk into human hair and I really wanted to reach out and touch it”

  Her words echoed through my head. “His eyes were a pale shade of blue rather like an aquamarine” His eyes were that pale shade of blue, eyes that I had once thought of as red were like sparkling aquamarines. I suddenly felt cold.

  She looked at me half smiling, “No it was not Red”. His kind live a long time and rarely show their age but this was not Red”, she sighed then. “Anyway I took him into the house and bathed the wound for him. It oozed a little fresh blood so I packed it with feverfew and

  applied a bandage to keep it there. He did not complain although it must have hurt him. I gave him a drink of some fresh herbal tea and then he took his leave. Beguiled is I think the right word for how I felt then. I was beguiled and for weeks I searched each crowded place that I went to in case I could see his face again. It was months before I did and then it had turned to winter and he came then to ask me if I would go away with him and become his wife. I did not need asking twice and walked away from my home and family with a small bundle of my potions and some clothing. He took me to a place where it was still summer, through a portal into summer.” Her eyes had become shadowed with pain

  “Where is he now “, I asked

  “Dead”, she replied, “Long dead”.

  I wanted her to continue but I could wait until she was ready to do so. I searched the kitchen for some tea and made her a strong cup of it. She thanked me almost absent mindedly as she was still wrapped up in her thoughts and I went to sit quietly until she was ready.

  Some thirty minutes passed before she abruptly straightened up and took a deep breathe. “I am sorry” she said, “Sometimes I forget how much the past can hurt.”

  “That's okay”, I say as there is not much else I can say.

  “I had a very good life with my husband”, she continues. “His people have difficulty bearing children, a lack of natural fertility which is probably a good thing considering that they are long lived, but not one they are too happy with. We did manage two sons and this was considered a great thing by the people. They stayed behind when I came back home. It was not the same for me after he died. I did get other offers of marriage as I was admired by many at the time but I wanted my memories and that was all I needed.”

  she paused again and looked around the kitchen. “I am not being very professional about this”, she laughed. “You need to know about Mr Red and why he is here and I should think you are also overdue to hear about your parents. Let's get some dinner on the go and after that we will continue this chat in my office”.

  “I make a mean steak pudding , if that would please, madam,”I said.

  “Ah yes the steak you bought yesterday. I gather we are feeding your brother John tonight “

  “Yes” I said tongue in cheek. “He seems to like it here all of a sudden.

  We spend a comfortable half hour chopping up onions and browning the steak. I request my favourite herbs and they are all there which is wonderful and even better there is fresh stock available as well. I make a suet crust and fill a large bowl with the pudding tying down the top with some butter muslin and string. As the thing does take its own good time to cook I help prepare the potatoes and fresh garden vegetables ready and then pop outside to do a work out. Aylsa comes to join me about half way through this. I gather they had a little bit of a party last night after the gig as she is looking just slightly worse for wear and I wonder how bad my brother is. I mention we have the bottle of wine that I bought yesterday and she grimaces slightly then adds that John said he would bring some more with him as well. When we finally return to the kitchen Hilda has put on some fresh bread to bake and the smells filling the house are to die for.

  Time is suddenly running away with us and somehow we do not get back out to the 'office' before we are inundated with dinner guests. So it is much later in the evening when Hilda and I leave the others to play some silly board game, which requires a lot of shouting and general laughter, and head on over to the out building. I take a glass of wine with me as I have a feeling I may need it.

  “The reason that my husband had waited such a long time to come back for me was that he firstly had to ask permission of his lord and secondly he could not move between our realities except at an Equinox or a Solstice. He had originally arrived at the Solstice and it had taken him until the Equinox to actually track and kill his target. His encounter with myself had left a lasting impression and he thought me as fair as I had found him. His original reason for being here was to chase after one of his kind who had stolen from their lord. It was his job to bring him back or kill him. He was one who stood high in their military command and because of his abilities he was chosen to be his lord's Hunter.” I do not much like the concept of this as I have certainly, as far as I know, not done anything to be kidnapped or murdered. Hilda laughs at my expression and continues “I do not think that Mr Red is sent to kill you but I can imagine that there are those in Alfheim that would like to have you in their power.”

  “But why?”, I ask.

  She sighs, “Your mother is a high born woman and very important to her mother.”

  “But John said that she came from another country,” my voice trails off. Why can't people just tell me the truth. I voice this, “Why can't people just tell me the truth”

  “Because they are trying to protect you and then they are forgetting that you need to know certain things that will keep you safe, and possibly they do not have the ability to defend you, as you could them. Your elder brother is a fine, young man and has good intentions but he does not have the same abilities as you do. He is definitely his father's son and your father was exactly as he seemed, a kind, talented artist. No more and no less”.


  “Which must mean,” I say, “that Red should have arrived similarly at the last Equinox and needs to leave at the coming Solstice, or else he is trapped here for a further three months. So, I take it that Red is also a Hunter and therefore someone highly trained in weaponry?”

  “He would have to be as it could be a matter of his survival and also your own as there are many factions in Alfheim that would like to thrust a proverbial spanner in your grandmother's works. She is reported to have made at least one enemy in high places and she deems herself untouchable because of her, let us say, sexual charms. He would also need to be an adept to have created the geasa that he has used on you. How strong he is I cannot tell as that is not my field of study. I am a healer. I can only recognise some things and offer my conjecture as to others.”

  “But he seems so young, almost as if he is a similar age to myself, and there is a vulnerability about him.”

  She shrugs, “Perhaps that is a good disguise on his part. We have no way of telling, but his kind are very good at creating a glamorous image of themselves in the eyes of mortals. Which,” she laughs, “could also apply to yourself.”

  I have the grace to blush as I can remember a few hotties that I have reeled in during my short career. Then it fully hits me, I am not totally human. I knock back the entire glass of wine in one hit. I then excuse myself briefly to go back to the kitchen and this time I bring the rest of the bottle with me.