Relic: Spear

by Ben Zackheim

  “Calm yer widdle willy, Kane,” he said. “I know me weapons. I won’t misuse it any more’n I’d misuse me own mudder.” He closed one eye and squinted at the Glock, He ran his fingers over the barrel, spit onto a finger and ran it over the grip. He mumbled and whispered to himself as he did all of this. Then he nodded, looked up at me and puffed out his chest. “You’ll teach me to shoot it.”

  “I only teach people I know.”

  “Ach, sorry, boy. Me name is Alix. Short for a name you wouldn’t have a chance of pronouncing.”

  “Alixaspxipomtomleen,” I said, without missing a beat.

  His eyes went wide. “You and mine have crossed noses before, eh?”

  “I knew a dwarf named Alix in India. He was a pain in the ass.”

  “That’s what we do.” He handed me a mug and poured some beer into it. He poured one for himself and raised the cup high.

  “To hitting your target square!” he yelled. He downed the whole mug. I did the same. But I didn’t take my eyes off the Glock in his other hand.

  I felt rushed, but I knew I had to play this game if I wanted to get past Alix, or convince him to help me find the spear. I led him outside and took a closer look at my surroundings. His home was isolated. No sign of civilization anywhere.

  I walked Alix through the basics of gun safety. He didn’t like that I kept repeating the safety warnings over and over, as if he were a child. But I told him a man with his first gun is a child. He seemed to buy that, and eased back into the lesson.

  When it was time for him to take his first shot, I inspected the handgun and asked again, “Where am I?”

  “This is Jotunheim,” he said. “Land of the giants. Friends of mine after we ironed out our differences. You always shoot open doors to other realms without knowing where yer goin’, Kane?”

  “Actually, yeah. All the time. Hazard of the trade.”

  “Heard you fire that thing off and came runnin’. Was wonderin’ when someone would come through that door. You a friend of the gods?”

  “Depends on which gods you mean.”

  “HA. I like you, Kane. The drunkest ones of all. Odin’s clan.”

  “I call Freya and Baldr friends.”

  “Good choices, yes. Yer here for something, eh?”

  “How could you tell?”

  “Yer holdin’ onto that weapon like it’s your last leverage over me. Y’know how much I want to test its mettle.”

  I smiled and handed him the Glock. He smiled back and turned around. He took aim at a post on the other side of the clearing and aimed. He didn’t fire, though. He carefully examined his aim, shifting his grip, and running his finger down the barrel to the sight. He rearranged his stance about twenty times.

  After five minutes of this dance, he took his shot.

  The post splintered at the top. Thousands of pieces of wood arched through the air right when a strong wind kicked in, sending the splinters up and carrying them out of sight.

  Alix turned to me with the wide eyes of a child.

  He handed the Glock back just like I’d taught him. The smile didn’t fade. He walked to the post, without a word. In fact, if I were to guess, I’d say he was holding his breath. He surveyed the damage and then let out a whooping yelp of delight.

  He practically skipped back to me.

  He put his hands on his hips and looked up at me. “I’m yer man, boy!”

  “I’m sorry?”

  “Yer here for me, Kane!”

  “I…” Alix stared at me, as if he was going to reconsider how worthy I was. But I couldn’t just bring someone new along. I didn’t know this guy. I couldn’t put my mission in danger. I couldn’t put him in danger. What if he was some nut who couldn’t defend himself in a fight. He looked tough, competent. But so did Ronin, so… “I’m here for a weapon,” I said.

  “And you found one.”

  “You’re a person. A dwarf. A person. You’re not a weapon.”

  Alix sighed and dropped his hands to his side, nodding his head. “Look, there’s only one reason that door ever opens. It’s to find me. It’s to use me for a higher purpose. Some with evil intent, some not. But if yer here, yer here fer me. Got it?”

  I wanted to ask him what made him a weapon, but thought better of it. I’d find out soon enough, because I decided I’d follow fate again, and see what role Alix had to play.

  “I can tell already that yeh think too much,” Alix said, brushing past me.

  I followed him to the rectangular hole in the ground. “Some people tell me that, yeah. I think I think just enough.”

  “More thinkin’ then. Thinkin’ upon yer own thoughts is like fiddlin’ with yerself after yer already spent! Must get lonely in that head of yers with no room to move around. Bah, think a thought, be a twat, is what I say.”

  I didn’t have time to get pissed at the insult because he turned to me and said, “But I’m a fuckin’ idiot, so a thinker is me kind of partner,” before he hopped into the hole.

  Chapter 35

  I pushed the double doors of the library open and sensed an intense energy.

  It felt like walking into a room right after a fist fight. A frantic buzz rode the air.

  Lucas paced back and forth. He ran his fingers through the little hair he had on the sides of his head. His eyes were wide. He muttered to himself.

  “What did I miss?” I asked.

  Ronin aimed her weapon at Alix. “Who the fuck is that?”

  “Damn it, Ronin,” I yelled. “Put that down. He’s a friend.”

  “I’m a weapon,” Alix said with a big, proud nod. “And who might yeh be, girl?”

  “Don’t call her girl, Alix,” I said. “She’s Ronin. She shoots things.”

  “Ronin as in the Japanese wandering samurai? Odd name for a girl.”

  I stepped in between them and asked her again, nice and slow. “What. Did. I. Miss?”

  She harnessed the handgun and snapped it in place with a grandiose gesture. “Your demon had a fit and started running around like a beheaded chicken. I think he found something, but he won’t talk. He keeps shushing me.”

  “And you haven’t shot him yet?” I asked, unable to control myself. “Impressive.”

  “I’m the only other one in the room, genius. I don’t want the Sacrifice Spell to take me out, too. Now that you’re here, though, maybe I’ll take my chances.”

  I took a step toward my librarian. “Lucas?” He mumbled a little louder, but he kept pacing. “Lucas, look at me.” He turned away from me and studied some pieces of the Book of the Dead on the table. “Lucas!” The demon finally blinked and glanced up at me. His crazed face relaxed, and he smiled.

  “Sir. Sir, it’s… It’s astonishing. Well, I’m not sure, but… It’s…”

  I moved slowly toward him. I took a seat as quietly as I could. I didn’t want to startle him. He seemed fragile. Actually, he seemed on the edge of madness — as if this new knowledge he’d gained was breaking him. He put his hands up in front of his lips and webbed them together. He shifted his stare to the scroll pieces on the table. I moved my hand in front of his eyes and laid it on the table next to the piece of parchment that seemed to hold his attention.

  “Tell me, Lucas. Tell me what you’ve found.”

  His eyes filled with tears, but his smile betrayed them.

  “I believe I’ve found everything, sir.”

  He darted off to the other side of the circular table. He collected pieces with one hand as he moved. With the other hand, he pushed three large tomes into a pile.

  “Here, look!” I could hear Lucas’ voice return to normal. The meekness, the fear, was lifting. I breathed a little easier. “The messages from the scroll pieces. Do you remember them?”

  “Yeah. Opposite was one of them.”

  “Opposite,” he said, smiling. He lifted a piece of papyrus from the Book of the Dead and placed it face down on the table.

  “Opposite side of the Book of the Dead?” I asked. “That’s what it
meant?” I started to feel the excitement now. At first, I hadn’t known if Lucas’ behavior was a good sign. I realized in that moment, it was a very good thing.

  I was about to get a lot of answers to a lot of questions.

  “Observe,” the demon said. He laid a small piece of the Book of the Dead flat on the table, then he picked up the three scroll pieces we’d gathered from across the globe.

  “Wait, you taped the scroll pieces together?” I asked. “Isn’t that against everything you ever learned about preservation?”

  He ignored me. He slid the taped scroll pieces over the opposite side of the Book of the Dead.

  Blue symbols appeared on the papyrus surface.

  The symbols glowed bright for less than a second, and then faded away. Lucas ran the taped relics over the parchment again and the glow appeared, only to fade away before I could examine it.

  “What does it say?” I asked.

  “This part? I don’t know. But…” His eyes shifted back and forth over the table and settled on a small sheet of the Book of the Dead. “But this part is an excellent start. This is the beginning of Imhotep’s Book of the Dead. Or at least it was the beginning when it was on display at the Met. But your little collection of three scroll pieces is the actual beginning.”

  He ran the scroll pieces over the papyrus. The flowing symbols emerged from the page, glowing blue, as if written by a ghost’s hand in front of our eyes. Then it disappeared.

  Ronin, Alix, and I waited for Lucas to speak. His breath was fast. His smile was even bigger than before.

  “Damn it, Lucas. Speak to me.”

  “It reads, ‘The balance of life is not death. The balance of death is not life. The afterlife is a choice. This is the path.’”

  Chapter 36

  “What the fuck is that supposed to mean?”

  “I don’t know yet. But let’s find out together, shall we?” Lucas asked, like the studious demon he was.

  Lucas placed the relic next to the first section of the Book of the Dead. It fit into place like the last piece of a puzzle. The room shone bright in the blue glow of the symbols as they illuminated across the entire span of the scroll, covering the table in flowing hieroglyphs.

  I broke the silence in the room with, “The scroll pieces that Skyler scattered and that we gathered…”

  “They’re a key,” Lucas said, all smiles. “A key in more ways than one, too, sir. They’re a key to unlocking this spell, and a key to the symbology.”

  “You mean like a map’s key,” Ronin added.

  Lucas nodded as he walked along the table. His big black eyes reflected the blue light, which seemed to reveal his wisdom. He looked old, at peace, as if his entire life had led to this moment, in this room. “The symbols gave us everything we needed to understand what we were looking at.” Lucas’ voice began to drift. I worried he was about to shift into his catatonic state again.

  “Stay with us, demon,” I said.

  He blinked, and smiled at me. “I believe it was you who asked me to make sure you stayed with us, wasn’t it sir?”

  “True, yeah. We’ll watch out for each other.”

  Ronin scowled. “What are you two talking about?”

  “I’ll explain later,” I said. “What does the scroll say, Lucas?”

  “I don’t know yet.” Again, he turned his eyes to the glowing unrolled scroll in front of us. “It will take me awhile to read it.” He stepped up to the first page.

  When he didn’t speak for a minute, Alix and I stepped out into the hall. Ronin followed us. She pointed her thumb at Alix. “What’s the hairy guy doing here? I don’t know him. I don’t trust him.”

  “Ronin, listen to me…”

  I didn’t get a chance to finish because the dwarf pulled a red rose out of thin air and handed it to Ronin. She took it before she knew what she was doing.

  “They say a black rose is a sign of death,” Alix said. “I now know this to be false, for I have never felt so alive.”

  “What is he talking about?” Ronin asked me.

  “I think he’s flirting with you. I’ll ask him.” I turned to the dwarf. “We want to know what you’re talking about.”

  “Her black hair glistens with the sheen of a raven’s feather. Her eyes pull me to the skies like its wings.”

  Ronin pointed at him and frowned at me. “This is what you found? I thought Freya said you could take any weapon you found. What about the spear?”

  “I found him. He’s a good guy!”

  “Where is the spear, Kane?” she yelled.

  “I have no idea, Ronin,” I yelled back. “Why don’t you ask your family?”

  She put her finger in my face, ready to continue the pointless argument. “Why don’t you…” She kept her finger in my face, but she looked over my shoulder. I looked too. No one was there. I turned back to her. She lowered her hand.

  “Rebel,” she whispered.

  Alix thumped his chest. “If rebels are yer type, that’s me!”

  “Rebel is her sister,” I explained. Alix and I watched Ronin wander down the hall, thinking.

  “Rebel and Ronin?” Alix whispered. “Her parents must’a been cruel.” He said this with a sadness that made it clear his fascination with my temporary partner just got stronger. He glanced up at me. “Maybe we should give her a new name, eh? How ‘bout Sally? That’s a strong name for a girl! Sally!” he called after her. But Ronin kept walking, deep in thought.

  “Alix, I don’t think…”

  “Blanche!” he yelled as Ronin turned a corner and walked out of sight. “GERTRUDE!”

  Ronin came storming back around the corner. Her long, angry strides didn’t bode well for our new ally. I stepped in front of him. But instead of hitting me, Ronin grabbed my shoulders and gave me a small shake.

  “You’re brilliant!” she hollered.

  “So I’ve been told. By other people. Never you.”

  Alix shoved his way between us. “Hey! That name was my idea! He had nothing to do with it, Gertrude.”

  She looked down at the little man like she’d forgotten about him. “Not you, snot nostril. Kane. You were right. We need to ask my family. Rebel. Rebel will know where the spear is. I’m sure of it.”

  Chapter 37

  Alix and I followed her down the hall.

  I yelled after her, “But if Merlin wants the spear, and he already has Rebel, then how…”

  “Don’t bug me with questions!” she yelled.

  “Lucas!” I yelled over my shoulder. “I’ll be right back!” I heard the demon mumble something. It was clear he was too deep in his work to care.

  “Where’s she leading us?” Alix asked me, jogging to keep up.

  “No idea. But we’re going in the direction of the dining hall.”

  Indeed, Ronin pushed open the doors of the high-ceilinged hall like she owned the place. The room was empty.

  “FREYA!” Ronin screamed. No response. “Freya! Kane wants to suck face!”

  “Really?” I asked, annoyed.

  Ronin smiled and put her hands on her hips. “I bet it works, Arkwright.”

  “Hello, Alix,” Freya’s voice said from behind us. She was next to the dog, who stood dutifully by her side — until he spotted me. He bowled me over with one nudge of his big, wet nose. “You did well to find the dwarf, Kane.” Freya smiled as I got back to my feet and brushed off the slobber.

  “Freya,” Ronin said, too forcefully. Freya didn’t even glance in Ronin’s direction. My comrade was going to get the silent treatment — and probably worse if she didn’t control her knee-jerk mouth. “Look, I know we got off on the wrong foot, but we need your help with something.”

  Freya faced Ronin, eyes half-mast. “You’ve needed me for something from the moment you stepped into my house, girl.”

  Ronin gritted her teeth and managed to swallow her pride. “You’re right. But, to be fair, that was Kane. I didn’t want to come here.”

  “Just speak your mind, annoying one,
and be done with it. I can’t stand simpering.”

  “I know where the spear is,” Ronin said. Freya’s eyes lit up and then went black, like a shark about to feast. “I think,” Ronin added.

  “Do you? Where?”

  Ronin swallowed hard and glanced at me. It must have been tough for her to turn to me for advice, but she knew I was the only one who could tell her how to handle a pissed off goddess. I nodded and gestured for her to go ahead and speak her mind.

  “Ah,” Freya said in a sing-song tone. “So you are the leader after all, Kane.”

  Again, Ronin chomped her jaw down tight enough to make a diamond from coal. “My sister is being held by Merlin. I don’t know what he wants from her, but he does want the spear. He may already have it.”

  “He does not have it,” Freya said.

  “How do you know?” I asked.

  “I would know. Do you know the tale of Gungnir, the spear of Odin, Kane?”

  “I know the myth of it. I doubt I know the real story.”

  She stood still, waiting for me to continue. I tapped my limited memory and was relieved when I recalled some of the details. “The shaft was fashioned from the wood of Yggdrasil.”

  “The Tree of Life,” Ronin added.

  I nodded. “The spear was Odin’s. It was either the source of all of Odin’s powers, or just a weapon that could not miss.”

  “Or both,” Freya added with a slight nod.

  “If you say so.” Memories of the story flooded my brain. My mouth tried to keep up. “Loki stole it once before when he was supposed to secure gifts for Sif from some smiths who were working on it.” The memories burned away like an elusive dream. I wished Lucas was there to take over because everything went hazy. My brain was struggling to find the knowledge. I’d been so accustomed to being an expert on powerful relics, I’d taken it for granted. The feeling of not being able to remember the details was suffocating.

  Freya must have noticed my struggle. She took over the story.

  “The spear came at great cost to Odin. Its iron tip holds runes of power that he draws upon, but also that all life needs. Odin held the spear for many years, fought and hunted with it, always searching for a battle or an ally who could show him the meaning of the runes. When none came, he took the matter into his own hands. He hung himself from the tree of life and would not allow anyone to help him. Many moons passed. Indeed, many wars passed. Odin shrunk to a shell of himself, but still would not allow us to help him. He stared into the tip of that spear until his eyes went blind and his soul left him.”