Exams, no girlfriend, a cantankerous grandfather - George has it tough. And that's even before the assassins come for him, he discovers the magical sword stashed in the attic, and finds out he's responsible for saving a world he didn't even know ex...
"Fascinating, just fascinating. Many of the symbols bear some resemblance to the Elder Futhark alphabet, but with a host of variations I've simply never come across before. And if I didn't know better, I could almost believe there are some Egyptian hieroglyphics up there, as well. Now, that grouping on the left, that could almost pass for—"
Politely but firmly, Kowolski cleared his throat, interrupting the philologist's rambling but increasingly excited monologue. It had taken some convincing to get the little man into the cave, but one look at the rune-covered back wall had been enough for him to completely forget his claustrophobia. "That's great," said the agent, tiredly. "But what does it mean?"
The academic gave him a scornful look. "What does it mean? What it means, young man, is that I have many days, possibly many weeks, of study ahead of me. Who knows how significant this find is? It may be a whole new language. It may even indicate the discovery of a whole new culture. Each rune will need to be carefully documented, catalogued and studied. The orders, the groupings, the orientations, will all need to be assessed and analysed. This could very well be the crowning glory of my career. What does it mean? Oh, please."
Kowolski grimaced, and despite the 'young man' thing, managed to suppress the urge to draw his gun. "Okay, I understand that. But I'm not after an exact translation, here. All I want is some sort of broad sense of what it might mean. Nobody's going to hold it against you if you get it wrong. We have three people missing, and these runes may contain some sort of clue to their whereabouts. Anything you can tell us might be useful—anything."
The philologist harrumphed and seemed about to argue, but the expression on Kowolski's features gave him pause. Gun or no gun—deprived of sleep, full of caffeine, recently stitched back together and then forced to hang about in a dank cave—the agent was still capable of producing a quite significant degree of intimidation.
"Yes, well, let's see. There are many symbols that I don't recognise, which of course might change the meaning entirely. Or there may be several messages. But in any case, there's a symbol there which is very much like 'mannaz', which is the Futhark rune for man. That one on the lower right resembles the hieroglyph for 'bâ' or the soul, and the one next to it is basically the rune 'raidõ', which means travel. So, broadly, and I must stress that this is a very rough reading, which is quite likely to be subject to error, and that I take no responsibility for it, but broadly, it might be detailing some sort of journey or passage, possibly for the soul. Perhaps it might be referring to the afterlife. Or it may even—"
A journey or a passage, thought Kowolski, tuning out the remainder of the academic's speculations, as he placed a hand on the cool rock surface. He felt the slightest of tingles, so faint that he might have imagined it. Or maybe it was just the caffeine. He sighed. But a passage to where? And how do I get a ticket?
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The creak of the door woke Marie from the fitful doze into which she had finally lapsed. For a moment she had no idea where she was, but then the sensation of the bindings around her wrists, and the memory of two red eyes glowing dully at her through the dark of the night, brought it all crashing home. She blinked in the light spilling through the now open doorway—dim, yet momentarily dazzling after the near total darkness of her cell.
