Famous Last Words
LJ Idol Week 2 - Three Little Words
(Please suspend belief, as well as knowledge of history, chemistry and archaeology :D )
Famous Last Words
THE PAST
Although few were aware of it, the life of a druid was not constrained to law and lore, arbitration and divination and poetry. There could also be magic; strong, dangerous magic. It wasn't widely known because the prestige of being a druid already ensured far too many applicants - and supplicants; better that they put their problems before the Gods. Few people understood the limitations - or the extent - of real magic.
She, Maeve, knew.
Standing on dirt dried to dust in a cave, wreathed in smoke from a circle of small fires burning a mixture of herbal stimulants and poisons, she prepared herself to unlink her mind from her body and journey into the parallel realms where the knowledge of magic was found. The smoke was strong as the need was great - you didn't need divinations and oracles to see that the empire of Rome was to be a danger as much to those in Britain as to those over the sea. Maeve would have preferred to be outdoors, in a grove or a field or in a great circle, but the knowledge she was to seek was too dangerous, and the mission itself would remain a secret from everyone but her and Connor.
Connor waited outside with his spear and short sword, guarding the entrance, although his reputation and word alone would have been enough to deter most intruders. As the chief of the local tribe and the nominal leader of all Celts in this area, to cross him would likely be an act of war, and they weren't at war with anyone, yet. The smoke issuing from the cave made his eyes sting and the drugs made his head swim, and the sun beating down didn't help either. But he stood and stared at the distant line of trees growing alongside the river beyond the grasslands, and he didn't turn around no matter what he heard behind him, as instructed.
Maeve didn't know how long she was in the cave, and she didn't know how long Connor stood there or what he heard. She chanted and danced the ritual, which caused her to breathe ever more deeply of the smoke. Eventually, she passed through the curtain of the realms to meet her spirit guides on the other side, in a massive forest of trees over 100 metres tall. Each tree was a doorway to a different world, a different future or past. Through these doorways lay immense knowledge, if only one could find it, and if one could bring it back. She told her guides what she needed - a weapon to destroy the head of the snake - and they searched for it and took her to it and helped her fight her way back with it, against those guardians who seek to prevent powerful magic crossing between the worlds.
THE PRESENT
Brian, quite simply, loved his job. He loved being outdoors, he loved the people he worked with, he loved that all across England, and the British Isles and Europe beyond, no matter where you dug you almost couldn't help but come across some relic of the past that was. Farmers ploughing their fields, hobbyists with metal detectors, construction workers digging foundations, all of them coming across the archaeological find of the century with surprising frequency.
That was not what they were expecting today. But still, this dig looked fascinating. They'd unearthed some spears, and a brooch, and there was a scrap of fabric still attached to the pin, preserved by the metal. This was always a good find as fabric rotted so quickly normally. It was a hot day, by English standards, although every year summer seemed to get hotter. Emily called to him from across the field where they'd been digging another trough, to see how far the artefacts extended. She was waving. She had found something.
When Brian reached her, she had brushed away the dirt covering the metal box, covered in bronze and gold decoration. Brian almost didn't believe what they had found, that it could be authentic, but the depictions were exactly right for the period of the other artefacts. After they had carefully dug around it, and under it, and wrapped it, Brian took it back to the dig's headquarters. They had rented a property nearby, one of the perks of digging in a populated area rather than the back-end of a desert, Brian thought.
THE PAST
The ritual had left her sick for days, but that just gave her time to unravel the magic in her mind as she slipped in and out of sleep. Planning it's construction gave her something to distract herself from a ritual hangover that lingered for weeks afterwards. She still worked in the cave, sparsely furnished with a table and bench, and mats to sleep on, and herbs hung from strings tied between posts. Three days before the new moon Connor came to see her, perfect timing; she had finished the weapon and he had received intelligence of a Roman military leader passing nearby on a "diplomatic mission". The plan was more than simple. They present the weapon as a gift, and it destroys them. Despite that, Connor was confused when Maeve showed him the box.
"It's...nice," he said. "What does it do?" It was a box about two hand-spans long and one wide and one tall, so inlaid and overlayed with metal figures that the wood could no longer be seen. Maeve took the box and opened it, and there just under the lid stood a fine figure of a dancer, made from gold and silver, with an turn-key beside her. The lower two thirds of the box was covered by the base plate the dancer and key were inserted into.
"When you turn the key, the dancer dances." She demonstrated.
"The mechanism is inside the box. As the dancer turns, she unwinds a pin inside the box, and when she stops, a gate opens." She removed the plate to first expose the turning mechanism, and then removed another and showed him the very bottom of the box.
"Into these two halves, I just have to pour two magical liquids. On their own, nothing happens. When they mix, when the gate opens, they release a ball of fire." Maeve pointed to the hillside opposite the cave.
"Look, I did a few small tests, it works."
Connor looked over and saw several large, black circles of scorched earth. He felt a chill. He didn't know what he had expected from the magic, but this scared him.
"When will it be ready?" he asked grimly.
"I just need to add the liquid, and I'm done. Just make sure nobody turns the key unless they are willing to die.”
Connor and Maeve waited, and waited, for news of a ball of fire that would destroy a small village, but it never came. They had delivered the box successfully to the Romans, but the Romans had soon after been attacked by another band of Celts. They had feared whose hands it had fallen into, and whose deaths they would be responsible for, but no report had been heard and the box had been lost, presumed taken back into the realm from which its magic had come. But although Maeve crossed the curtain again and again, searching for it to be sure, she never found it.
THE PRESENT
Brian, wearing gloves, carefully opened the metal box. It seemed to be stuck, but with a brief woosh of air it opened. He stared at the box in amazement. The metal inside was like new, and when he worked out how to remove the baseplate, he saw that not a scrap of dirt had got into the mechanism beneath the dancer, and the workings were free of corrosion. Beneath the mechanism were two containers of sludgy liquid. He figured water had got in during the long time underground, but they would have it tested.
"Does it go?" asked one of his students assisting on the dig. Brian turned the key and the dancer started turning.
"Works like clockwork," he said.
LJ Idol Week 2
(Please suspend belief, as well as knowledge of history, chemistry and archaeology :D )
Famous Last Words
THE PAST
Although few were aware of it, the life of a druid was not constrained to law and lore, arbitration and divination and poetry. There could also be magic; strong, dangerous magic. It wasn't widely known because the prestige of being a druid already ensured far too many applicants - and supplicants; better that they put their problems before the Gods. Few people understood the limitations - or the extent - of real magic.
She, Maeve, knew.
Standing on dirt dried to dust in a cave, wreathed in smoke from a circle of small fires burning a mixture of herbal stimulants and poisons, she prepared herself to unlink her mind from her body and journey into the parallel realms where the knowledge of magic was found. The smoke was strong as the need was great - you didn't need divinations and oracles to see that the empire of Rome was to be a danger as much to those in Britain as to those over the sea. Maeve would have preferred to be outdoors, in a grove or a field or in a great circle, but the knowledge she was to seek was too dangerous, and the mission itself would remain a secret from everyone but her and Connor.
Connor waited outside with his spear and short sword, guarding the entrance, although his reputation and word alone would have been enough to deter most intruders. As the chief of the local tribe and the nominal leader of all Celts in this area, to cross him would likely be an act of war, and they weren't at war with anyone, yet. The smoke issuing from the cave made his eyes sting and the drugs made his head swim, and the sun beating down didn't help either. But he stood and stared at the distant line of trees growing alongside the river beyond the grasslands, and he didn't turn around no matter what he heard behind him, as instructed.
Maeve didn't know how long she was in the cave, and she didn't know how long Connor stood there or what he heard. She chanted and danced the ritual, which caused her to breathe ever more deeply of the smoke. Eventually, she passed through the curtain of the realms to meet her spirit guides on the other side, in a massive forest of trees over 100 metres tall. Each tree was a doorway to a different world, a different future or past. Through these doorways lay immense knowledge, if only one could find it, and if one could bring it back. She told her guides what she needed - a weapon to destroy the head of the snake - and they searched for it and took her to it and helped her fight her way back with it, against those guardians who seek to prevent powerful magic crossing between the worlds.
THE PRESENT
Brian, quite simply, loved his job. He loved being outdoors, he loved the people he worked with, he loved that all across England, and the British Isles and Europe beyond, no matter where you dug you almost couldn't help but come across some relic of the past that was. Farmers ploughing their fields, hobbyists with metal detectors, construction workers digging foundations, all of them coming across the archaeological find of the century with surprising frequency.
That was not what they were expecting today. But still, this dig looked fascinating. They'd unearthed some spears, and a brooch, and there was a scrap of fabric still attached to the pin, preserved by the metal. This was always a good find as fabric rotted so quickly normally. It was a hot day, by English standards, although every year summer seemed to get hotter. Emily called to him from across the field where they'd been digging another trough, to see how far the artefacts extended. She was waving. She had found something.
When Brian reached her, she had brushed away the dirt covering the metal box, covered in bronze and gold decoration. Brian almost didn't believe what they had found, that it could be authentic, but the depictions were exactly right for the period of the other artefacts. After they had carefully dug around it, and under it, and wrapped it, Brian took it back to the dig's headquarters. They had rented a property nearby, one of the perks of digging in a populated area rather than the back-end of a desert, Brian thought.
THE PAST
The ritual had left her sick for days, but that just gave her time to unravel the magic in her mind as she slipped in and out of sleep. Planning it's construction gave her something to distract herself from a ritual hangover that lingered for weeks afterwards. She still worked in the cave, sparsely furnished with a table and bench, and mats to sleep on, and herbs hung from strings tied between posts. Three days before the new moon Connor came to see her, perfect timing; she had finished the weapon and he had received intelligence of a Roman military leader passing nearby on a "diplomatic mission". The plan was more than simple. They present the weapon as a gift, and it destroys them. Despite that, Connor was confused when Maeve showed him the box.
"It's...nice," he said. "What does it do?" It was a box about two hand-spans long and one wide and one tall, so inlaid and overlayed with metal figures that the wood could no longer be seen. Maeve took the box and opened it, and there just under the lid stood a fine figure of a dancer, made from gold and silver, with an turn-key beside her. The lower two thirds of the box was covered by the base plate the dancer and key were inserted into.
"When you turn the key, the dancer dances." She demonstrated.
"The mechanism is inside the box. As the dancer turns, she unwinds a pin inside the box, and when she stops, a gate opens." She removed the plate to first expose the turning mechanism, and then removed another and showed him the very bottom of the box.
"Into these two halves, I just have to pour two magical liquids. On their own, nothing happens. When they mix, when the gate opens, they release a ball of fire." Maeve pointed to the hillside opposite the cave.
"Look, I did a few small tests, it works."
Connor looked over and saw several large, black circles of scorched earth. He felt a chill. He didn't know what he had expected from the magic, but this scared him.
"When will it be ready?" he asked grimly.
"I just need to add the liquid, and I'm done. Just make sure nobody turns the key unless they are willing to die.”
Connor and Maeve waited, and waited, for news of a ball of fire that would destroy a small village, but it never came. They had delivered the box successfully to the Romans, but the Romans had soon after been attacked by another band of Celts. They had feared whose hands it had fallen into, and whose deaths they would be responsible for, but no report had been heard and the box had been lost, presumed taken back into the realm from which its magic had come. But although Maeve crossed the curtain again and again, searching for it to be sure, she never found it.
THE PRESENT
Brian, wearing gloves, carefully opened the metal box. It seemed to be stuck, but with a brief woosh of air it opened. He stared at the box in amazement. The metal inside was like new, and when he worked out how to remove the baseplate, he saw that not a scrap of dirt had got into the mechanism beneath the dancer, and the workings were free of corrosion. Beneath the mechanism were two containers of sludgy liquid. He figured water had got in during the long time underground, but they would have it tested.
"Does it go?" asked one of his students assisting on the dig. Brian turned the key and the dancer started turning.
"Works like clockwork," he said.
LJ Idol Week 2