Chapter 4 : Twisted Paths

The police arrived within a few minutes, and surprisingly the Inspector was nowhere to be seen.  Apparently even the innate perversity of the universe was forced to bow before Chronos and Gaia in a city this big.  The officers asked some pointed questions, but Alexis’ status and the robber’s previous criminal record made the investigation rather quick.  Once the bloody little detour was complete they had little issue continuing on to their objective.

The library was an odd structure.  It had originally been a bank before its owners moved to a larger location.  And it had been designed in the ‘Roman’ style which meant pillars and stark white carvings in this realm.  Apparently the people of later years believed the Romans never figured out paint? Helena wasn’t quite sure how this oddity had come about.

At least Alexis seemed impressed by the building.  “So the library is stored in here then?”

“No, this is the library.  All of it,” Helena replied.

Alexis blinked at her.  “But… how could any realm without a king afford so many books?”

“The printing press is an amazing invention,” Helena replied as she walked up the shallow steps.  “And this realm has access to all the improvements of the outside world, including simple ways of making paper.  Combine those and books become significantly cheaper. The tomes in my room cost less than a dollar. I imagine the Black Forest will accept many of those innovations soon actually.”

Alexis nodded proudly.  “We are far less obsessive about avoiding technology than most realms.”

In truth the various power players that created the Black Forest weren’t threatened by the printing press.  But Helena kept her mouth shut. People rarely believed in far reaching conspiracies, and for good reasons. Besides even if Alexis did believe her, the only thing that would accomplish would be making the woman feel bad.  The forces that ruled her realm were not going to be overthrown by a couple of plucky heroes. They weren’t organized enough for that.

Alexis’ eyes grew even wider as they entered into the front area and the sheer number of books became obvious.  Helena didn’t comment on that either. The first time she seen a modern library she’d been stunned too.

Instead she headed towards the section which contained the writings on magical spells.  Actual magical grimoires were sealed away in the special archives, but tomes about magic didn’t require the same security.  Mostly because tomes about magic didn’t murder their owners or give people the ability to destroy city blocks.

“So what are we looking for?” Alexis asked as they walked between the packed shelves.

“I’m going to be looking for tomes on curses and curse removal,” Helena said.  “You’re going to be reading through fairy tales.”

Alexis frowned at her.  “I am capable of doing research myself you know.  And I’m tired of being dead weight in this enterprise.”

“I know.  That’s why I want you looking for stories on curses.”  Helena looked up at the noble woman. “While stories about magic rarely reveal how a spell works, they often reveal actual spells.  And if it wasn’t a real spell before, it will be as soon as a wizard reads it and decides to try it.

Alexis looked confused.  “Really? I have read about some pretty ridiculous spells.”

Helena smirked.  “To reach the furthest depths of idiocy requires a genius.  I’ve seen a spell that makes items of a single color, and only that color, invisible.”  She went back to walking through the shelves. “And worst of all, I’m sure someone has thought of a very clever use for it.”

Alexis cocked her head as she considered the matter.  “I suppose you may be correct. That seems like something our court mage might have done in his youth.”  A small grin appeared on her face. “Did you try anything like that when you were small?”

Helena blinked at the question.  “Ah. Well…. Actually when I was a child I tried to create an army from teeth.  Like in the tales of Medea.” She blushed a little at that mess. “I believe that to be one of the few armies defeated by a goat.”

Alexis laughed.  “And when you were a little older?”

“When I was older I was trying to figure out how to blow up boulders with raw magic,” Helena replied.  She smiled smugly at Alexis’ shock. “My tutor was a bad influence.”

She left Alexis shaking her head and wandered over to the shelves she was interested in.  They had a lot of research to do after all.

———–

Helena sat behind a wall of tomes, switching between three of the most relevant, while occasionally grabbing a fourth or fifth to check a citation.  Every now and then she allowed herself to make a note. One page for things that might help with her current case, the other note for things she wanted to research later.

Unfortunately the second list was much longer than the first.

She was learning a lot of interesting things about curses in other realms, and about how curses worked and attacked their victims.  But there wasn’t information about curses like the one on Alexis. It didn’t seem to fit any pattern.

Alexis at least was entertained.  The noblewoman had offered a few stories as possible variants of the curse, but Helena quickly dismissed them.  Fairy tale curses were almost never this subtle. The only ones that came close were the glass splinters that Hans Christian Andersen wrote about, and something like that would have been obvious to a mage.

She finished the relevant section of another tome and closed it, setting it aside.  Another dead end. “Maybe I should switch jobs with Alexis,” she muttered before opening a new book.

The crash of a falling ladder nearby sent her heart racing.  She looked over to where the noise had come from and saw one man nursing his leg, while a woman was breathing heavily in shock.  “You could have killed me with that,” the woman yelled.

“It’s not like I meant to fucking fall,” the man snarled before standing up and limping over to pick up the ladder.

Helena shook her head and turned back to the books.  “It seems it’s an unlucky day for everyone.”

“Very much so,” Alexis replied.  She turned back to her own book. “If I didn’t know better I would think this whole country was suffering its own curse.”

“I don’t suppose you’ve found anything new?” Helena asked as she began skimming pages.  “I fear the book of Sumerian curses didn’t have what we needed.”

Alexis shook her head.  “Unless I’m actually dead and forever doomed to fly over an ancient battlefield, I fear the tale of the curse of Manfred Von Richthofen will not help.”

Helena sighed.  “Probably not. Though that is an interesting story.  I wonder how people think those things up.” She remembered her childhood friend Lyudmila had a fondness for fantasy stories from the outside world.  And while Helena had never seen the appeal, she had to admit they could come up with some very unique ways of using magic. Or just stories in general.

She leaned back and closed her eyes, her mind wandering from the task for a moment.  Those had been fun days, learning unique spells none of them had ever seen before, and exchanging books and stories of home.

Helena paused and her brow furrowed in thought.  Von Richthofen. Her friend had books that had been written by someone using a similar pen name.  Books pretending to be a research notes on supernatural horrors in a dark realm. What was the name?  And why did it seem like that was important?

Suddenly the answer came to her.  She stood up, slamming her hands into the table.  All the patrons in the library turned at the sudden noise, but she didn’t care.  She spun to Alexis. “Pull out that hina doll please.”

Alexis stared in confusion before slowly removing the doll from her bag.  “Why do you want to see it?”

Helena ignored the woman and stared at the doll, allowing her breathing to fall into a steady rhythm.  She focused on the doll, looking past the layers of sympathetic magic to see the curses it had stored within.

And there was nothing.

Helena sat down and allowed her eyes to relax.  “That’s it. That’s why the spell is acting so strangely.”

“Eh?  Why?” Alexis asked.

She fixed the noblewoman with a stare.  “Because the curse doesn’t care about you.  It’s designed to kill everyone near you.”

The blonde woman’s mouth dropped.  She silently mouthed the start of several sentences, then began to rub her temples.  “But that doesn’t make any sense! I’ve nearly been killed by the curse several times.”

“Indeed.”  Helena spread her arms to placate the woman.  “The curse is willing to kill you. But think back on all the incidents.”  She began ticking off points. “The first incident, when you realized it was a curse was when a woman fell through a railing on top of you, right?  Wasn’t she in far more danger?”

“Then we come to what’s happened in the day since you arrived.”  Helena leaned forward. “Your carriage nearly killed me and the driver.  A set of potted plants nearly killed a passerby. Someone was killed failing a teleport near us.  And a thief chose the worst people in the city to steal from, ending up with a bullet in his head.”

Alexis began to tremble.  “That was… that was all because of me?”

Helena realized her mistake.  “No! No, no, no.” She made her voice sterner.  “That was because of the person who cursed you. You did nothing.  Nothing. There was nothing you could have done to stop it.”

The noblewoman buried her face in her hands.  “But they still died because they were near me.”  Alexis’ head snapped upward as another realization hit her.  “And everyone near me is still in danger!”

The woman jumped up and pushed her chair back, but Helena grabbed her hand before she could flee for the door.  “Calm down,” Helena snapped. “I’m a witch! I can fix this.”

Alexis struggled briefly, then relaxed as Helena’s words registered.  “You mean you can break the curse?”

“Now that I know what it is?  Probably,” Helena said. “More importantly even if I need more time I can set up a ward to keep it from spreading.”  Helena paused. “In fact, let’s do that now.”

“Thank God.”  Alexis nodded quickly.  “Shall we go outside then?”

Helena smiled.  “We won’t need to do that.  This spell is less flashy than some.”  She pulled out a slip of paper, then reached into her hat and removed a jar of ink and a brush from her hat.  “I’ll do it right here.”

With a quick twist the ink bottle was opened and Helena sat down, ready to write.  She had to think up a good spell for this. Something as confusing as the curse itself.  “Is ancient Greek a common language for magicians in your part of the world?”

“You mean the Greek you use in your realm?  I would imagine,” Alexis replied.

Helena nodded.  “So no then, given I was thinking ancient to me.”  She dipped the pen into the ink and wrote carefully on the paper slip in the flowing syllables of the forgotten writing.  “By the will of Helena Aoede, in the name of Hecate, the magical curse currently upon Alexis von Strausfen will do no harm.”

“What is that?” Alexis asked staring at the paper slip.

“It’s an ofuda.  A mystical charm that carries a command on it,” Helena said.  She blew on the ink to dry it then held out the paper. “If you’re asking about the writing, we know it as the old language from before the collapse.”

Alexis picked up the paper charm.  “So this will keep the curse from working?”

“For a limited time.  I’ll need to make new ones daily,” Helena replied.  She stood. “However, that assumes we can’t get rid of this curse right now.  Let’s go find somewhere that I can work a bigger spell.”

“Right!” Alexis carefully placed the ofuda in her belt before helping Helena up.  “Is there anywhere nearby, or must we walk out to the docks again?”

“I’m thinking near the factories,” Helena said.  “No one will care about the noise there.”

Alexis nodded.  “Then lead the way, please.”

They strode out the library, moving with renewed purpose.  As they exited onto the street, Helena pointed down the road.  “We want to go until Tanner Street. Tell me if I move past it.  I’m going to be designing the spell I need along the way.”

“So this will be a custom spell,” Alexis asked with raised eyebrow.  “Don’t spells require a great deal of research?”

“Well it won’t be a new spell so much as a combination of old spells,” Helena said.  “If it were a true magic, yes I’d need more time. But this shouldn’t be on that level.”

Alexis cocked her head.  “True magic?” But Helena didn’t reply.  She did need some time to think up what she’d need, and explaining the difference between magic and true magic would take up that time and then some.

Ideas flowed through Helena’s mind as she walked along the streets.  First she considered a scapegoat. But that led to the possibility of a cursed area in the middle of the city with her magical signature mixed into it.  In addition any faithful priest should have been able to remove a spell that allowed a scapegoat. Jesus as the sacrificial lamb was a powerful belief in the Black Forest, and there was no way any witch would bother with a curse that could be cured by taking communion.

She considered trying to convince the spell Alexis was dead, but that was similarly tricky.  The spell might linger, or worse start looking for Alexis’ corpse. That would quickly fall apart if the spellcaster had been competent, or even incompetent in the right ways.

In the end Helena decided on the brute force method.  She’d use the fact that it was targeting Alexis as a hook, then shatter the spell from the inside.  With normal curses that would be dangerous to the victim. But since this curse wasn’t designed to hurt its subject, Alexis would be fine.

“Which way should we turn?”

“Huh?”  Helena looked around to find Alexis staring at her.

The noblewoman pointed a sign saying Tanner Street.  “Which way should we turn?”

“Left,” Helena replied and took the lead again.  “Sorry. I was considering our options.” She looked down the street and saw the park she was aiming for.  “There. That’s where we can do some spellcraft. Assuming no one else is there.”

“A popular place for magicians?” Alexis asked with a smile.

Helena sighed.  “Yes. Normally I wouldn’t go here at all because of all the lingering energy, but this curse isn’t something I want to leave in someone else’s backyard.  Even if it is blown to tiny pieces.”

A brief walk proved her worries were unfounded.  There was no one in the park aside from a few street vendors, and they all were staying clear of the ‘observation area’ that the magicians used for their rituals.

Helena led Alexis to the area, and began rummaging around in her hat for the components she’d need.  She chose amaranth and daffodils for this spell, the twin forces of eternal life and restful death would give her the ability to capture the curse and destroy it.  She also brought a spool of thread, to help her follow the threads of magic back to the curse. “I fear I will have to ask you to stand in a circle again,” she said to Alexis.

“If that’s all it takes to be rid of this curse, then I’ll do it happily,” Alexis replied, taking a spot on the concrete.  Helena sketched a circle around the woman then began filling in runes again. This time she used runes for finding and searching.  For fate and connections. A mesh to catch the spell.

When she finished the circle she stood back and collected the two flowers.  “So, one last thing. I need you to give me your full birth name.”

Alexis frowned but nodded.  “I am Lady Alexis Von Strausfen daughter of Pfalzgraf Holdst Von Strausfen and Sigrun Von Strausfen.”

Helena slowly committed the name to memory, then closed her eyes and threw it through the circle in her mind.  It flew out like bait, searching for all the magic attached to it. The name flew out farther and farther…

And then stopped.  The only things clinging to it an old family blessing.

Helena gripped the spool tightly and twisted the line of fate attached to the name, trying to get something, anything to attach.  But it just sat there, like a fishing hook in a clear fountain.

She threw down the spool of thread and let out a strained scream of frustration.  The power bound within her welled up at the insult and she flung out her left hand.  Raw magic surged out and blasted a pigeon to ash. Alexis paled and stepped back as the rest of the birds scattered.  Helena’s fury subsided as she noticed the woman didn’t break the circle, despite her outburst. “Sorry. That was really rude of me.  You can leave the circle now.”

“I take it that your spell failed,” Alexis said.

“It didn’t even have a chance to fail,” Helena muttered.  “There is something very strange going on here, and I just can’t figure it out.”  She shook her head. “It’s like the spell not only doesn’t care about killing you, it just doesn’t care about you at all.  It should be attached to your name, or your aura, or soul or something! But it isn’t. It’s nowhere near anything that makes you, well, you.”

Alexis shook her head.  “But it followed me here, across the realms.”

“I know,” Helena replied as she began pacing.  “This spell just doesn’t make any sense. Magic can do anything yes, but it can’t do anything without intending to do something.  Magic is built on will and desire. It can be unconscious, but never undirected.”

“So you’re saying this curse is harder to track than any spell you’ve seen before,” Alexis asked.

Helena shook her head.  “I’m saying this curse isn’t a curse on you.”  She held up a hand. “And yes I know that’s impossible.  But when it comes to magic sometimes the impossible is more reasonable than the alternatives.”

“But I can promise you one thing.”  Helena stopped pacing and turned to Alexis.  “I’m going to figure out what’s going on, and then I’m going to blast this curse to tiny bits.  You have my word on that.”

“I’m glad to hear,” Alexis replied.  “What shall we do next?”

Helena sighed.  “That… I’m still working on.  Let’s head back to my apartment.  I’ve got thinking to do.”