Dagger Magic

Aoife nodded, coming around behind him as he took up Tseten's rosary and wound it around his left wrist, then turned his palms upward in his lap. His eyes closed as Aoife briefly set her hands on his shoulders and then extended both hands palm-downward a few inches above his head, the fingertips overlapped. Peregrine caught the wink of a dark emerald at the heart of the gold Claddagh ring on her right hand, and suddenly realized that the green stone in Magnus's signet was also a cloudy emerald, engraved with his coat of arms.

"Ye holy ministers of grace, rulers of the four cardinal elements, riders upon the winds of Heaven, confer upon this your servant the benefits of your guidance and hold him inviolate against the principles of darkness," Aoife murmured, eyes closed and face uplifted in an attitude of supplication.' 'Though he walk for a time in the valley of the shadow of death, let not that shadow fall upon his footsteps, but let the Light be his companion, to his soul's comfort and salvation. Amen, so be it."

She bowed her head, as did Adam, and Peregrine stifled a gasp to see a spark of scintillating fire spring into being beneath the crossing of her hands. As she slowly drew her hands apart, the spark blossomed into a dancing wreath of colored flame that flickered blue and red, gold and green, descending to encircle Adam's brow in a prismatic coronal. An instant it hovered there, before contracting and descending as a single tongue of flame to glow over his heart. Then it dispersed toward his extremities, thinning out as it travelled, until there was nothing more to be seen of it but a rainbow shimmer clinging about his fingertips.

Aoife lowered her hands until they came to rest lightly on the crown of Adam's head. Then, with a final whispered benediction, she took them away. Adam knew that instant, despite his closed eyes. The moment of release was accompanied by a sense of lightness, and he drew a deep, lingering breath to savor gratefully a newfound sense of being strongly protected. That sense of protection was damped but little as Aoife took up the Nazi flag and shook it out, laying it like a stole around his shoulders.

It was like shouldering some noisome living creature, slick, venomous, and cold. His skin crawled at its touch, but the chill had no power to penetrate. Drawing strength from the unseen sources of protection he could feel surrounding him, eyes still closed, he drew off his Adept ring and laid it on the table, setting the tips of both forefingers lightly upon it. He could feel the mala tingling about his left wrist as he projected his consciousness down through his arms and into his fingertips, to wrap around the focus of the ring.

"That which you bear comes from that which you seek," Aoife murmured, lightly touching her hands to his shoulders. "Beneath your hands lies a map encompassing the location of that which you seek. Picture the submarine now, in as complete detail as you can. Let its image form in your mind's eye, and let the link that will lead you back to it focus through the ring beneath your fingertips, drawing it to the place where the submarine now lies - as above, so below."

Adam paused a moment to draw a deep breath, calling up Peregrine's photo of the U-boat, visualizing as much detail as he could. The tingling in the mala increased almost to the point of discomfort, but he refused to back off. Projecting his vision into the image, he narrowed his interior focus until he could read the serial number painted on the conning tower: 656.

Recognition of this detail was accompanied by a slight tug at the ring beneath his fingertips. Obedient to that directive, Adam let his fingers exert the lightest of pressure to push the ring across the map.

"Keep the image of the submarine in your mind's eye," Aoife's voice urged. "Let the link of the flag draw you toward its home, toward the vessel where that flag once flew…."

The ring moved more, somewhat jerkily, then did not seem to want to move any more.

"Tory Sound," came Magnus's voice from off to one side, as hands lifted Adam's hands, though he did not open his eyes. "Horn Head."

"It's plausible," McLeod said. "There's Sheep Haven, where Scanlan's backup lost him."

"Aye, and there was quite a lot of submarine activity in those waters during the war," Magnus replied. "The bottom's littered with wrecks."

"Let's try it again," Aoife said. "Peregrine, turn the map, so it's oriented differently, and let's see if he hits that same location again."

Adam had to stretch across the map the second time, before the ring seemed content to stop. No one commented as his hands again were raised and the rustle of paper told of the map being turned again. Adam could not tell from their reaction whether he had confirmed his first hit or not.

"Let's give it one more try," Aoife murmured, letting his hands rest on the map again.