Chapter Two – What's in a Dagger?
"Ms Rosenberg, could I have a minute of your time?" Willow turned around and saw Robert O'Leary rushing down the hallway.
"For the umpteenth time Robert, its Willow," she responded. "I'm heading to the library, you're welcome to tag along." She allowed Robert to catch up and resumed her course to library.
"Thanks Ms, um Willow. I just received a call from Jerry Cromwell about the museum robbery in Wales over the weekend."
"What robbery in Wales? No wait, Dawn mentioned something this morning about a robbery. Wasn't paying attention. No sleep. Busy researching Quaterro demons all weekend. Some clan seems determined to open the Indonesian Hellmouth. Got a call from Faith about an hour ago, she says things are under control now. So what's up in Wales and Jerry who?"
Robert blinked trying to process everything. He knew how much the world owed this young woman and the other "Scoobies", but times like this he almost missed the stuffy formality of the old Council. "Jerry Cromwell with MI5. They're looking into a museum robbery that occurred Saturday. A guard was killed and a dagger stolen. They want to know any information we can learn about the dagger or why someone would steal it."
Willow frowned. The Initiative left a bad taste in the Scooby's mouths when it came to working with top-secret government agencies. But she was forced to admit, Lady Aydin and MI5 did a good job. They knew enough to stay out the way and occasionally even helped. All they asked was to be kept in the loop on happenings in the world of the weird.
"OK, I think that's the robbery Dawn mentioned. I'll tell her to forward anything she finds to you and you can pass it on to MI5. The usual stipulations apply Robert."
"Lady Aydin understands, if it's demons, the Slayers handle it," with that Robert headed back to his office. Willow waved goodbye as she entered the Council's main library.
---
Dawn Summers, sister to world's oldest living Slayer, occasional Key to the Universe and recently promoted Head of Research for the Watchers Council looked up from the mass of books in front of her to see Willow waving to someone as she entered the library.
"Hey Willow, the world's still here, so I assume the spell worked."
"Yea, Faith called in to report. Demons slayed. Said she's taking the local team out for a post slay party."
"Hope they have fun," Dawn waited for Willow to take the seat opposite her. "So, who were you talking to?"
"Robert. It looks like MI5 is checking into that robbery you mentioned this morning. So what's up?"
"I saw it in the papers yesterday afternoon. Two guys broke into a museum, but didn't open any doors to get in, killed a guard, nobody knows how and stole a dagger. Looked odd to me so I had one of our appraisers who's worked with the museum in the past give them a call to find out more."
Willow nodded, silently applauding Dawn's initiative. Even Buffy admitted Dawn had come into her own over the last five years. After earning her high school diploma during the year she and Buffy spent in Rome, Dawn went to Oxford. She graduated in two years (a virtually unheard of feat) with twin degrees in Mythology and Ancient Languages and a minor in Archeology. She took over the Research department three month after graduating. The protests about her age lasted only until Dawn translated some ancient text before the rest of the department had even figured out what language it was written in.
"So what have you learned?"
"Well, the dagger was originally part of a collection owned by a Ruford Holmes," Dawn answered. "He was murdered fifteen years ago and several items stolen from his collection. The most notable, the Orb of D'Karsh. I got a picture of the dagger off the Museums website and, wouldn't ya' know, right on the handle was the symbol of D'Karsh. The dagger was already on loan the museum when Holmes was murdered so it became part of the museums permanent collection. Looks like someone may be trying to complete the set."
"Fifteen years. That's an awfully long time to wait to complete a set Dawnie."
"Wait, it gets better. I've been spending the last couple of hours looking for anything we have on D'Karsh. He was a very powerful wizard who lived in the late eighth, early ninth century. He created a number of powerful objects designed to protect their bearers from very specific types of magical attacks. The Orb of D'Karsh, let me see," Dawn pulled a book off one of the piles and began flipping through its pages. "Here it is. The translation is a little off, but here it goes; 'the Orb protects from the curses of Vada Koreesh. If one is afflicted by such curses then through the power of the Dagger and the Ritual of D'Karsh they will be restored.'"
"So you're thinking whoever currently has the Orb got hit by one of these Vada Koreesh curses and needs the dagger to heal?" Willow asked. Dawn nodded. "What's involved in the Ritual of D'Karsh?"
"I just found it when you walked in," Dawn shuffled through the books on the table until she found the one she was looking for. After a brief moment reading Dawn sat back with a look of disgust on her face. "Eewww. You know after all those years on a Hellmouth you'd think I'd be use to the gross stuff by now."
"What does it say Dawn?"
"It's your basic ugly ritual. The key passage goes like this. 'By the bone of the ancestor, unknowingly given, you shall be renewed. By the flesh of the servant, willingly given, you shall be revived. By the blood of the enemy, forcibly taken, you shall be resurrected.' Like I said your basic ugly ritual. You need the dagger for last two parts. It links the ritual back to protective magic of the Orb."
"Anything demony involved?"
"Haven't seen anything so far. Seems to fall into the category of human mages. Not much on D'Karsh in our database beyond what I already told you. He had a student, a Rowena Ravenclaw, who along three others, founded the first enclave and sealed the Covenant. That's all we have on her. We don't even have the name of the other three people."
"OK, that's new," Willow began think. "What's an enclave and Covenant with who?"
"Don't know," Dawn answered. "I get the feeling there was more information about D'Karsh and these other four mages in the old Councils restricted archives. Unfortunately, those records went boom with the old headquarters."
Not for the first time Willow felt the loss of that day. The old Council believed itself above the war and protected from attack. They took no precautions to safeguard their many priceless artifacts and irreplaceable records. Their loss caused a lot of headaches for the new Council. Knowledge, often gained at the price of blood, had to be relearned, too often at the price of even more blood. She hoped the new policies she and Dawn were putting into place could prevent such a tragedy from crippling the new Council in the future.
"OK write up everything you've learned and send it Robert. I think he's scheduled to meet with Lady Aydin on Friday."
"Gotcha. Speaking of Friday, you packed?" Dawn said changing the subject.
"Not yet. Hard to believe it's been five years. I'm looking forward to the anniversary party next week. I haven't spoken to Buffy or Xander in the flesh in three months. I've spent so much time talking to them on video I'm starting to think they're two dimensional," Willow smiled.
"It's been a while for me to. Buffy and I haven't had a chance to power shop since I graduated."
Willow laughed. The Summers sisters got along a lot better with an ocean between them. "Do you think Harrods will ever recover from that day?"
"I doubt it. Almost a year later and I still get funny looks from the sales people when I walk through door."
The library filled with the laughter of two young women.
"Ms Rosenberg, could I have a minute of your time?" Willow turned around and saw Robert O'Leary rushing down the hallway.
"For the umpteenth time Robert, its Willow," she responded. "I'm heading to the library, you're welcome to tag along." She allowed Robert to catch up and resumed her course to library.
"Thanks Ms, um Willow. I just received a call from Jerry Cromwell about the museum robbery in Wales over the weekend."
"What robbery in Wales? No wait, Dawn mentioned something this morning about a robbery. Wasn't paying attention. No sleep. Busy researching Quaterro demons all weekend. Some clan seems determined to open the Indonesian Hellmouth. Got a call from Faith about an hour ago, she says things are under control now. So what's up in Wales and Jerry who?"
Robert blinked trying to process everything. He knew how much the world owed this young woman and the other "Scoobies", but times like this he almost missed the stuffy formality of the old Council. "Jerry Cromwell with MI5. They're looking into a museum robbery that occurred Saturday. A guard was killed and a dagger stolen. They want to know any information we can learn about the dagger or why someone would steal it."
Willow frowned. The Initiative left a bad taste in the Scooby's mouths when it came to working with top-secret government agencies. But she was forced to admit, Lady Aydin and MI5 did a good job. They knew enough to stay out the way and occasionally even helped. All they asked was to be kept in the loop on happenings in the world of the weird.
"OK, I think that's the robbery Dawn mentioned. I'll tell her to forward anything she finds to you and you can pass it on to MI5. The usual stipulations apply Robert."
"Lady Aydin understands, if it's demons, the Slayers handle it," with that Robert headed back to his office. Willow waved goodbye as she entered the Council's main library.
---
Dawn Summers, sister to world's oldest living Slayer, occasional Key to the Universe and recently promoted Head of Research for the Watchers Council looked up from the mass of books in front of her to see Willow waving to someone as she entered the library.
"Hey Willow, the world's still here, so I assume the spell worked."
"Yea, Faith called in to report. Demons slayed. Said she's taking the local team out for a post slay party."
"Hope they have fun," Dawn waited for Willow to take the seat opposite her. "So, who were you talking to?"
"Robert. It looks like MI5 is checking into that robbery you mentioned this morning. So what's up?"
"I saw it in the papers yesterday afternoon. Two guys broke into a museum, but didn't open any doors to get in, killed a guard, nobody knows how and stole a dagger. Looked odd to me so I had one of our appraisers who's worked with the museum in the past give them a call to find out more."
Willow nodded, silently applauding Dawn's initiative. Even Buffy admitted Dawn had come into her own over the last five years. After earning her high school diploma during the year she and Buffy spent in Rome, Dawn went to Oxford. She graduated in two years (a virtually unheard of feat) with twin degrees in Mythology and Ancient Languages and a minor in Archeology. She took over the Research department three month after graduating. The protests about her age lasted only until Dawn translated some ancient text before the rest of the department had even figured out what language it was written in.
"So what have you learned?"
"Well, the dagger was originally part of a collection owned by a Ruford Holmes," Dawn answered. "He was murdered fifteen years ago and several items stolen from his collection. The most notable, the Orb of D'Karsh. I got a picture of the dagger off the Museums website and, wouldn't ya' know, right on the handle was the symbol of D'Karsh. The dagger was already on loan the museum when Holmes was murdered so it became part of the museums permanent collection. Looks like someone may be trying to complete the set."
"Fifteen years. That's an awfully long time to wait to complete a set Dawnie."
"Wait, it gets better. I've been spending the last couple of hours looking for anything we have on D'Karsh. He was a very powerful wizard who lived in the late eighth, early ninth century. He created a number of powerful objects designed to protect their bearers from very specific types of magical attacks. The Orb of D'Karsh, let me see," Dawn pulled a book off one of the piles and began flipping through its pages. "Here it is. The translation is a little off, but here it goes; 'the Orb protects from the curses of Vada Koreesh. If one is afflicted by such curses then through the power of the Dagger and the Ritual of D'Karsh they will be restored.'"
"So you're thinking whoever currently has the Orb got hit by one of these Vada Koreesh curses and needs the dagger to heal?" Willow asked. Dawn nodded. "What's involved in the Ritual of D'Karsh?"
"I just found it when you walked in," Dawn shuffled through the books on the table until she found the one she was looking for. After a brief moment reading Dawn sat back with a look of disgust on her face. "Eewww. You know after all those years on a Hellmouth you'd think I'd be use to the gross stuff by now."
"What does it say Dawn?"
"It's your basic ugly ritual. The key passage goes like this. 'By the bone of the ancestor, unknowingly given, you shall be renewed. By the flesh of the servant, willingly given, you shall be revived. By the blood of the enemy, forcibly taken, you shall be resurrected.' Like I said your basic ugly ritual. You need the dagger for last two parts. It links the ritual back to protective magic of the Orb."
"Anything demony involved?"
"Haven't seen anything so far. Seems to fall into the category of human mages. Not much on D'Karsh in our database beyond what I already told you. He had a student, a Rowena Ravenclaw, who along three others, founded the first enclave and sealed the Covenant. That's all we have on her. We don't even have the name of the other three people."
"OK, that's new," Willow began think. "What's an enclave and Covenant with who?"
"Don't know," Dawn answered. "I get the feeling there was more information about D'Karsh and these other four mages in the old Councils restricted archives. Unfortunately, those records went boom with the old headquarters."
Not for the first time Willow felt the loss of that day. The old Council believed itself above the war and protected from attack. They took no precautions to safeguard their many priceless artifacts and irreplaceable records. Their loss caused a lot of headaches for the new Council. Knowledge, often gained at the price of blood, had to be relearned, too often at the price of even more blood. She hoped the new policies she and Dawn were putting into place could prevent such a tragedy from crippling the new Council in the future.
"OK write up everything you've learned and send it Robert. I think he's scheduled to meet with Lady Aydin on Friday."
"Gotcha. Speaking of Friday, you packed?" Dawn said changing the subject.
"Not yet. Hard to believe it's been five years. I'm looking forward to the anniversary party next week. I haven't spoken to Buffy or Xander in the flesh in three months. I've spent so much time talking to them on video I'm starting to think they're two dimensional," Willow smiled.
"It's been a while for me to. Buffy and I haven't had a chance to power shop since I graduated."
Willow laughed. The Summers sisters got along a lot better with an ocean between them. "Do you think Harrods will ever recover from that day?"
"I doubt it. Almost a year later and I still get funny looks from the sales people when I walk through door."
The library filled with the laughter of two young women.