Witch, Wolf, Woods

CHAPTER 11: THE LIBRARY

Katja finished the rest of her work, eventually having nothing left to repair except for the damaged mirror, although she kept her eyes averted from the reflective surface as much as possible.

To distract herself, she began explaining what she was doing to the wolf pendant, enjoying feeling like she was having a conversation for a change, even though she was really delivering a monologue. The wolf dangled over the mirror as she leaned forward and rubbed the repaired silver edge with a polishing cloth one final time.

"You're lucky," she told the wolf, glancing at its shiny reflection while ignoring her own face as much as possible. "You look lovely from any angle."

If only she could smooth the scars on her own skin the way she could smooth imperfections in metal!

"What were you doing out in the Schwarzwald, anyway?" she asked the wolf, even though she knew it couldn't answer. "Is one of those spells to keep you clean? Because you ought to be in need of polishing after so much time in the dirt, but you look as if you were just pulled out of a jewelry box. I bet whoever lost you misses you."

She still couldn't come up with a satisfactory answer as to how the necklace had become lost in the first place. There was nothing wrong with it to explain how it might have slipped from someone's neck—the clasp looked brand new, and none of the links on the chain were weak or even close to popping open. Had it been left in the forest on purpose, perhaps?

But by who?

And why?

Each question Katja asked seemed to lead only to another question. At least her work was done, though, which meant the rest of the night was hers.

She put the parchment with the symbols she'd copied down into her apron pocket, then ate the evening meal as quickly as she could, sitting alone at a table near the far corner of the Essen Hall, keeping her eyes on her plate and trying to hide in the loud buzz of happy conversations.

When she'd finished, she made her way to the library, relieved to find it nearly empty, as most everyone else was eating or engaged in more communal evening activities, playing card games or drinking by the one of the large fireplaces or listening to an impromptu performance by one of the Hexen musicians or poets.

Tante Winola was sitting at the desk just inside the library entrance, but since she was talking to someone else, Katja simply dipped her head in greeting, receiving a wave and a smile in return. While she knew the senior librarian would have been more than happy to help, she was familiar enough with the library to find spell books by herself.

The library was open any time, day or night, and many nights when she'd woken from pain or a nightmare, she'd come here and walked up and down between the stacks, exploring whatever titles caught her eye. She hadn't explored every stack, of course, as the library encompassed three entire floors each the full length of the castle, but she did know where general books about spells were kept...on the first floor, towards the back, in a section near a nice alcove that housed a small table and chair.

Heading there now, Katja gathered three books that looked promising, took them to the table, then removed the piece of parchment from her pocket, smoothing it flat beside the books.

It was unfortunate there wasn't one single book cataloging every mark used in spellcasting. Perhaps someday someone would compile one, but Katja imagined it would be so heavy as to be unwieldy. It also didn't help that individual marks could be joined into countless combinations to create different spells, making it even more difficult to list them all in one place.

Currently, marks tended to be categorized based on their purpose, whether they were used for binding or loosening, concealing or revealing, strengthening or weakening, heating or cooling...which meant she would have to start with the basics of individual sigils and work her way up to what they could do when combined.

Sliding onto the cushioned red seat of the chair, Katja whispered the spell to increase the lighting overhead as she flipped open the first volume. Then, looking at her parchment, she studied the first mark she hadn't recognized.

"I suppose it's as good a place to start as any," she whispered to the necklace.

Turning the thick pages of the book slowly, her eyes wandered over the ornately drawn marks, noting the provided explanations. This was going to be a slow process, but she couldn't think of another way to get the information, so she turned another page, then another, until suddenly she gasped and leaned closer, glancing back at her parchment to make sure.

There it was, the mark she'd been searching for! It was a symbol for secrecy, and she jotted down the information beneath the mark, thoroughly pleased with herself.

"That's one down!" She squeezed the wolf gently between her thumb and forefinger. "One mark at a time, and we'll get to the bottom of this before we know it."

A few hours later, she'd deciphered roughly half of the unknown symbols, and she pushed her shoulder blades against the back of the chair and closed her eyes. They were tired from scrutinizing the drawings so closely, staring almost without blinking for page after page, and she rubbed her palms against them as she stifled a yawn.

"We'll do more tomorrow," she promised the necklace, before getting to her feet and returning the books to the shelves. While it was clear she wouldn't be deciphering the spells as quickly as she'd hoped, at least she was making measurable progress.

When she returned to her room, Katja was surprised to see a glowing yellow diamond outlined on her bedroom door. Not wanting to wake anyone this late, she stepped into her room, where the yellow diamond still glowed on the backside of the wood. Closing the door gently, she pressed her fingertips against the shimmering yellowing light, wondering what was so important that it required a message to be sent to the entire coven.

"Good evening, Katja," said a pleasant voice from the diamond, which was spelled to address each witch individually. "Please be in the Treffen Hall no later than seven o'clock tomorrow morning for a special address from Sprechen Dorothea. Thank you."

Katja fingered the wolf pendant as she considered the message. It wasn't unusual for the full Hexen to meet; they gathered every month at the time of the new moon for the naming of the next Sprechen, and when they met outside of that, it was usually to vote on something or review changes in certain procedures or protocols.

Katja had no reason to expect tomorrow's meeting would be any different, although for a moment she briefly wished it might be about something exciting for a change. Work would have to wait until after the meeting, as no one would miss an address from the Sprechen without a very good reason, which was generally limited to being away from the castle or being ill.

Katja yawned again, her thoughts shifting from the upcoming meeting to what a long day it had been, and she quickly changed into her nightdress and crawled into bed. Rolling onto her side and dimming the overhead lighting until it was little more than a faint orange glow, she reached up and touched the wolf once more.

"Goodnight, Wolf," she whispered, enjoying the weight of the meteorite against her neck as she closed her eyes, imagining the wolf wishing her a pleasant night, as well. Tomorrow she would listen to the Sprechen's address, complete her work, then return to deciphering more sigils as quickly as she could.

(Artwork by Free-Photos from Pixabay)