A Touch of Magic

Chapter 11: What Now?

I sat cross-legged on the floor, the bag of runes in front of me and everything I could find that might help; the amethyst crystal, the spiral disc, several candles and two bind-runes I'd printed off the Internet. They were for farsightedness and protection and I'd tried to consecrate them with a pin pick of blood laced over the symbols. I needed to know who was trying to kill me and stop them.

None of the formal rune casting methods appealed, not even the gentle way Minty would spill her runes on the floor and choose the ones she was most drawn to. I put my hand in the velvet bag and just hoped my fingers knew what they were doing.

"Lagu." I thought hard, pondering over the notes I'd taken. "Ermm. Sea... no, life energy... lack of control, danger. I'll pass on this rune." I put it aside and immersed my fingers back in the bag.

"Eh, strange name, means horse. Something about warriors being around. Protection? Is that Gladys? That's not helpful; I know I need protection. Loyalty."

Dawlish, thumped his tail up and down impatiently.

"Look cat, I'm sitting with the window open for you. As I said, you can go but I'm not moving out this house until I know how to defend myself. If only Gladys used the phone."

I drew out another rune. "Eolhx. What was that one? Wounds grimly, so keeps away evil, yuck. What else, I don't like that. "Clarity of mind and personal wisdom. Ouch." Another twinge in my brow.

I rubbed my temple. I kept getting headaches in the centre of my forehead, a tingle, not painful as such, but irritating and distracting.

And, "Rad. Riding. Physical journey. Spiritual journey. Maybe change. Change what?"

Sighing, I placed the runes down. Lagu, Eh, Rad and Eolhx. I wanted them to speak to me. It would be a whole lot easier if they translated themselves. Was there a spell for that in the book? I instinctively picked up the spiral charm off the floor and placed it on my burn. It relieved an itch and quietened my mind where the headache still raged. I could hear nothing except my breath and as my eyes closed, saw nothing apart from a single white spiral spinning around and around.

Minty's voice resonated in my ears. Words I'd forgotten, words that meant nothing at the time. 'Runes are tools of self-awareness not the oracle of a future. The reader has the answers inside. Runes are pages in a book only the diviner can read.'

As dawn broke outside my house, confusion melted away. "Of course. I'm the diviner." And this diviner wanted to know the cause and the meaning of the violent dreams, what she had to do about it and what would be the outcome of it all.

Enlightened, I stared at each rune and this time they spoke to me, telling me parts of a story I already knew. "...and what do we have when we put it in order, Dawlish?" My hand ran over the surface of the runes. There were four. I placed the first three in a line from right to left. The forth, Eh, I placed instinctively below.

I filled my lungs with the cold winters air and exhaled slowly. "Lagu tells the past. Something nasty has been following me. For the present, Eh, I need to accept everyone's protection. My action, Eolhx, I must follow my instincts until in the future, when Rad says, I will change whatever I need to change to stop the evil." I looked down at Dawlish. My instincts told me I was becoming everything Gam wanted me to be.

Strengthened I took another rune. The outcome. 

"Ger; I will survive".

*

By the time I left the house, I'd had a busy morning. I'd not only had a flash of inspiration and magically cleaned and washed-up the kitchen, convinced of the runes worth, I drew my own bind-runes for help on writing my 'to do' list.