We approached the library soon before the sun set. The air was cooler than usual, and as I led Ayah up the stairs leading to my makeshift room that the girl was in, my anxiety only grew. I couldn't explain it, but watching Ayah's rituals always brought some sort of chill to my spine. But regardless of what was to come, I just wanted this woman to be okay.
As we approached the door, Móðir turned to me and took my hand before speaking. "Ástin mín, I don't know what awaits, or if Guðirnir will even help her. But I can't have you spazzing out in the middle of a ritual. If you can't control your hunger, stay outside." She told me calmly. "I'm fine Ayah, I fed only days ago. The pains are subtle. And I want to be able to help if I'm needed," I responded, pushing the door open. Ayah pushed passed me and walked to the girl gracefully, placing a gentle hand on her head to gauge her temperature. She coughed slightly, wincing from the pain, "Hvíldu núna, child. I'm going to take the pain away," Móðir told her, moving her hand to hold the girl's cheek. "Rainn," she called to me, and I moved closer. Ayah handed to me a smell silver container and a syringe. I knew what she wanted before she even asked, my blood. It had many properties, and in my few weeks of living with her she used it multiple times in her rituals in various different ways. It could be used as a hypnotic potion, a heavy pain killer, or an anesthetic. All I had to do was poke a vein and will it to do mine - or in this case Ayah's- bidding.
I filled the syringe with no reaction and transferred my offering into the silver vial, handing it back to Ayah for her to do what she needed. I took my place at the end of the couch where the girl's head lay, unprepared for what was about to happen. Ayah pulled a glass bowl from out of her travel bag and set it in the middle of the floor. In this bowl, she laid a handful of stones with runes sketched on them in various colors. Along with a few different herbs and a bright red candle in the middle. She lit it with a snap of her fingers and took a deep, steady breath. "Eir, Við köllum til þín," she spoke in a loud, booming voice somewhat different from her own, her eyes almost glowing in the candlelight. "Rainn, inject the syringe. And pray Eyra answers our calling," she spout a blessing at the needle before handing it back to me, my hands slightly shaking against hers. "I'm going to try to heal her bones first, to aid her to speak. If you can, try to get her name. This process is a painful one and I may need it for the next half of the ritual." Móðir told me while dabbing some sort of clear liquid from a flask onto her hands and patting the girl's head with it.
I refilled the syringe and handed the rest of the vial back to Móðir, to which she dumped the remainder of the blood around the herbs in the bowl. "This will only hurt for a moment," I told the girl while stroking her hair, "I promise we're only trying to help. Nothing we do here will harm you." I could hear her heart rate quickening. She had to be terrified, being hurt the way she was amongst strangers. A vampire and a Siedr at that. We probably seemed dangerous to her, regardless of me saving her from the wolves she probably thought I was only fighting for my next meal. I didn't want to be a monster in her eyes. I plunged the needle into the strongest vein in her neck that I could see, her eyelids tightened, her heart rate quickened again, and she let out a whimper as tears rolled down her cheeks. "I know," I whispered. I let out a quick "I'm sorry," before pressing the plunger and feeling her tense up then immediately relax as the properties of the offering took hold. I could tell it eased some of her pain, but not all of it. Her eyelids were still tightly shut, and her breathing still caught around her fractures. She still burned with fever, to the point sitting next to her was making me break a sweat.
Ayah, please hurry. I thought to myself. As if hearing my plea, Móðir spoke again, seemingly more powerful and driven that the last time. I could almost feel the power in the air intensifying with her call. "Eir, hear me!" She boomed. "Ég bið um lækningu þína. See this girl's pain." Her blue eyes now glowed a deep cyan, and though no windows in my library were opened, a slow gust started in the room, moving my hair slightly. "Snúa tímanum til baka. Take her pain. Lækna það sem er brotið. Allow her to breathe. Eir, hear my call!" She yelled, her hair whipping from its braid and flowing rapidly as the breeze picked up with her words. The girl's breathing evened. Her face settled, and to my amazement she took a deep inhale, a sigh of relief escaping her lips. "There you go," I said as I moved her hair out of her face. It had worked, her fractures had healed. "Now this next part will be tricky, I know you still hurt. Can you speak?" I asked her hopefully. Móðir added more herbs to her bowl, throwing in some of the contents of her flask along with it, whispering incoherently as she focused on the next part of the ritual.
The girl coughed in response and shook her head no. "Rainn, I need her name," Móðir demanded. "Come on, we can't just call you 'girl' to Guðirnir. They need a name, can you try for me?" I asked, my voice shaking from the tension in the situation. I leaned my head down close to her as she trembled and tried to speak. "Em.." She started. "Emily?" I guessed, trying to help her. She shook her head no, coughing again. "Em...ber," she sighed finally.
"Ember, Móðir!" I yelled to her. The wind was in a frenzy now, growing more rapidly, whipping the fire in the fireplace and on the candle wick around violently. Ayah was above the ground, floating in the chaos yet still somehow beautiful and graceful. She was chanting Ember's name over and over again, calling to the goddess' Eir and Hel. Asking one to heal her and the other to release her. I moved away from the couch, sensing a different feeling in the air. Suddenly, Ayah's arms flung out behind her and her back arched, she let out a fierce yell, the sound emitting deep within her throat and seeming to carry different voices within it. Ember arose from her spot on the couch, taking the same position as Móðir. "Lækna hana!" Ayah said one final time, the wind pushed against us, and I watched in amazement as the fire went out and the flashing cinders floated around Ember. She let out a petrifying scream before shooting her eyes open. They glowed a sharp ruby red for a quick moment before her and Móðir dropped to the floor and the room went silent.