What no Scholar knows

Spears with Souls

Come and learn about the deepest secrets of Telmori spears. I told you already that they are part of the wolves' bodies. But this is only the first link and it is not the most powerful one.

When the young Telmori has passed the Grav-hrug-rihr and defeated a Telmori warrior he himself is admitted to be a warrior. From this day on he is a protector of the pack and is respected by all who need his protection and by many more. Yet his spear is like one of his paws, deadly and useful, but it can become much more than a limb. After several winters the warrior has become skilled enough to do the Hrug-hror-rihr or Soul-spear-ritual. This ritual is very dangerous and must be prepared well else the warrior and his wolfbrother may die.

It begins after a wildday and must be ended before the next. The first task for the Telmori and his wolfbrother is to find a Tergavifr, though this may be one they already know. The Tergavi prays for blessings from Telmor for all the warriors and wolfbrothers who are participating in the Hrug-hror-rihr at the found Tergavifr. He is wake all night and no foreigner is allowed to see this. If one is present he must be hunted down and sacrificed before the ritual may continue.

The next day all the warriors and wolfbrothers wake, the Tergavi's body lies without his spirit near the Tergavifr and his spirit is visible praying to Telmor. The warriors are guided by his spirit to the grove where dead Telmori Kings lie. It is full of spiritwolves and they howl so loud that nothing else is heard. Here the Tergavi invokes the help of all the dead Kings and pleads them to help all participants in their following quest. Then they return to the Tergavifr and await the next day.

When each warrior wakes he finds himself lonely, lost somewhere in an unknown dense forest with strange plants and paths. It is dusk and before the dawn arrives he has to find his wolfbrother. This is a test of his sense of smell. The whole forest is dead only his wolfbrother has a scent of life. When he succeeds he finds the wolfbrother sleeping near the Tergavifr with the other wolfbrothers. Everyone who fails will be found by the Tergavi and is to guard the Tergavifr for the rest of the ritual. They may try when the next ritual takes place. All the participants sleep and dream of the following tasks.

This day is the day of the hunting test. The whole day every Telmori band, i.e. warrior and wolfbrother, try to hunt the most impressive and challengeous prey. Most do not get it but this is not a failure. At the end of the day when the sun has gone down every warrior and wolfbrother returns with prey or nothing to the Tergavifr. All the meat is eaten and the Tergavi asks everyone what is it that makes him most inconvenient.

Every Telmori says something, e.g. that one is not fast enough or that one is not brave enough or that like. Only fools say that there is nothing for this is a sign of failing the test of hunting which is there to recognise one's weakness. After all had replied the Tergavi nodes and explains that tomorrow they will face their greatest weakness and that they must deal with it with honour and defeat it. If they do, it will be banished into their spear and never released but vanishing more and more. With this promise all go to sleep again.

At dawn all bands awake alone with their spears. Again they are in the strange unknown forest but it is not night, it is bright day. During this day they will face their greatest weakness. Praise them, who know what this is and are prepared to deal with it. But many are surprised by their weakness and have a hard time during the whole day. Some that fail are scared that much that they never try this ritual again but those who succeed are changed. After dusk they all meet at the Tergavifr which is always only some steps away. They share their scary stories of victory as much as failure and the Tergavi praises all not only the victorious for it is always good to know one's weaknesses even when one cannot overcome them.

But those who had mastered their weakness find that their spear somehow is filled with more than life. It has now its own memory beginning with it's birth, i.e. the defeat of the Telmori's weakness and it's own soul. From that day on the spear will always remember every battle fought and everything done with it and will develop an own will always trying to remind his bearer of his greatest weakness.

Thus the Telmori and his wolfbrother have formed to final bond with the spear. They share not only their bodies but also their souls.