The Codex Lacrimae (55 page)

Clarinda turned her attention back to Skade. “That doesn't sound like Mimir at all — every time I see him, I feel as if he's exasperated that he has to take time to talk with me, and
I'm
training to be one of the Norns!”

“Ah, if only you knew the story…,” Ratatosk chirped wistfully, continuing to whistle as he looked back and forth.

“I don't mind if the squirrel tells the tale,” Skade approved, slipping her feet from her sandals and tucking them under her legs as she leaned closer to Fenris, “but it'll have to be another time. We all need sleep before tomorrow's journey.” She caught Aurelius's attention with a thoughtful stare from electric-blue eyes. “Perhaps, though, when you eventually hear our tale, it will help you...understand certain things, Master Santini.”

Fenris laughed. “I'm just glad that your story now includes me, my love.”

Skade smiled. “I will tell you, Clarinda, that Mimir's bark is worse than his bite. He offered me shelter when I fled a very bad marriage, and even gave me my first bow and pair of skies to start a new life.”

“That's how we met!” Fenris exclaimed. “Fighting for the same kill in the mountains of Jotunheim. It was love at first sight.”

Aurelius was surprised at the calmness of Skade's tone, and the reassuring message that she was obviously trying to impart before everybody retired. Both were in marked contrast to her earlier carefree attitude that always bordered on seeming recklessness. He merely nodded and glanced at Clarinda.

“She makes a good point,” the Venetian girl agreed, raising an eyebrow. “When we get to the Well, let's just ask Mimir what to do — he might have a better answer about the Codex than anybody can guess, and perhaps confronting him directly is the way to do it.”

Fenris rose to his feet. “Well, if we're going into the caves tomorrow, it'll be an early start. Glittertind is at least a week's journey of long marches, and there are places where rock giants have been known to lurk. We should all get some sleep.” He helped Skade to her feet, and they bade everyone a good night.

“Did they show you where we're supposed to sleep?” Aurelius asked Clarinda.

“
Mm-hmm
,
” she said, leaning against his shoulder and staring at the fire. “Skade showed me the stairwell off the kitchen. We're at the back of the house in bedrooms close to theirs.”

Aurelius started to rise, but Clarinda kept her shoulder pressed against his.

“Let's just sit here for a moment, can we?” she said, her voice thick with sleep as she pulled a pelt over their bodies. “It's been a long day and...house...finally...quiet....”

A glance around the hall proved her words. He saw that the chamber was half as populated as when they'd first entered, but didn't feel any rush to leave Clarinda's side. She was a comfort to him, forestalling the reckoning he needed to make with his past about things he'd learned from Hela and Old Nick.

Oh, put that sword down, Santini — you're not going to hurt your Old ‘Uncle Servius,' are you?

Then the fiend's laughter:
Are you that foolish? You live twelve years in the world, and one autumn you return from your little summer trips to find a ‘long-lost uncle' waiting for you. Six months of getting to know the family, and then it was off to the Holy Land for you with him? Come on, Servius. Didn't you think Paolo's conversion was a bit sudden and strange?

Aurelius winced, pushing his thoughts away. This had to be a nightmare and somehow he had to stay strong and see it through, whatever pain it caused.

He felt Clarinda shift, and looked down to see her lips fall partly open as she fell into a deep sleep. He put an arm over her shoulder and leaned back, thinking about all that had happened since the return of Ibn-Khaldun and the siege of two armies at the Krak.
Was
this a dream, and if so, what would he do in a world without a Clarinda Trevisan when he awakened? If it wasn't, what effect would knowing she was somewhere in the world have on all the plans he'd made for his life after Mecina?

He had no answer, so he simply held her, watching the flames of the fire for a long while.

Chapter 10

The Descent to Niđafjöll

“Trust me, my friends,” Fenris chortled. It was the next morning, and he crossed his hairy arms over his chest, taking in his guests. The company had gathered near an alcove at the back of the
Fenrir-baude.

“I didn't fight off the forces of the
Wilde Jagd
yesterday,” he continued, “only to have you plummet to your death today. This device is very reliable, and quite simple to operate. You just have to step on, hold the rail or,” he winked at Clarinda and Aurelius, “to each other, if you need to — and then down we'll go!”

He pointed to the room behind him that was unadorned by anything except eight cables that rose vertically up the walls, a pulley system with six on one side and two on the other for stabilization.

“This lift is the only way into Nidaveller from our home,” Skade repeated, impatience and irritation in her voice. “It's a direct drop — I mean, ‘
descent
' — to the city of the dwarves. Fenris is correct — we must move with some haste. We need a wizard's help.  Since Andvari's one of the nine Arch-Mages and we're seeking his counsel, we ought to respect his work habits.  He's a bit odd. Some think he doesn't sleep at all, but he's known for getting most of his work done in the morning.  By that reckoning, we've lost half the day already.”

“Just let me make sure I understand,” Aurelius said, “this isn't a room, but the top of some kind of shaft that goes into the earth?”

Fenris nodded. “Only for a little while, then there's complete open space all around us until we reach the cavern floor.”

Aurelius shrugged in resignation. “We'll take it, then — but, I'm not that great with heights.”

“Nor am I,” Clarinda added, similarly suspicious.

“Don't look down, then,” Ratatosk advised, leaning against the threshold of the room and crunching on a nut. “It's peculiar that
this
part is bothering you, and he's not even talked about the lower chambers where we could run into everything from bottomless pits and phantom bridges to Nidhogg the Dragon.”

The squirrel moved aside at a growl from Geri, who evidently trusted
that Aurelius and Clarinda were going to be taking the lift, regardless of the misgivings they'd just expressed.

“Fine, fine,” the squirrel added hastily as Freki, too, snarled. “But, you should tell them that if those cables were to break, they'll fall straight to Nidaveller Road for a half-league. Very messy if that happens. Very messy.”

“Hush, Little One,” Fenris said dismissively. “In all the centuries of operation, the lift has never failed.”

Aurelius glanced at Clarinda and moved forward.

“We don't have a choice,” he told her. “It's either this or back outside to Niflheim.”

When Clarinda stepped onto the platform with him, they both walked to the rear of the room where an iron rail ran horizontally across the walls.

“What do we do?” he asked Fenris.

Fenris laughed, making room for Skade to join the group. When all were standing on the platform, they looked expectedly at Ratatosk.

The squirrel returned the gazes and shook his furry head.

“I'll find my own way, thanks.”

Fenris shrugged, dropped a bar from its vertical position and then tugged firmly on the cord. A bell chimed and then within half a moment the platform shuddered before slowly beginning to descend.

The three walls appeared to slide upward as the floor went down, and Aurelius was glad when he felt Clarinda move toward him the same time that he began moving toward her.

“The
Brisinga
necklace can take me anywhere,” she whispered, “but, I think I'm more afraid of this than —
whoa
!” She stepped forward near him and then stayed close for the rest of the descent.

Girded only by the four horizontal bars of the iron frame, they suddenly found themselves completely free of any walls or substructure to the
Fenrir-baude.
They hung in open space, moving downward steadily. Aurelius felt as if the entire company were floating downward into the chasm on some invisible force. The slender tethers on which their lives depended and the great height gave him a feeling of vertigo until he saw the beauty of the underground world.

Limestone walls cascaded downward along the vault of the immense cavern. The stony pastel-colored folds and suspended waves of rock were a wondrous sight, their hues enhanced by the light of hundreds of orbs, burning collectively like a star-field with the same flaring intensity as the fire-globe Aurelius had borrowed from Fenris.

He glanced at Clarinda. The sight of her chagrined smile elicited recent memories and he tried to focus on recalling the last few hours as a distraction from the lift's downward movement.

He'd awakened earlier to the sounds of serving staff setting tables and an ice-storm beating against the shuttered windows of the great hall, thankful for the warmth of the common room and its burning lamps and fires. Seeing the blizzard outside made him realize that, between Hela's citadel and the wastes of Niflheim, he'd become too used to the whites and grays of the death queen's realms, and almost forgotten what color was like.

Aurelius and Clarinda pleasantly discovered that they were in each other's arms on the same couch before the hearth where they'd fallen asleep. There'd been an awkwardness as they detached themselves, leaving the cozy warmth of each other and the furs to rise and start the day. They were mutually unsure of what to do about their feelings, but not denying that those feelings were there.

Aurelius mumbled something about trying to stoke the fire, while Clarinda said she'd find fresh coffee in the kitchen. She'd found a full staff of dwarves busily tending the ovens, and preparing a variety of breakfasts for the guests who'd soon be coming from their rooms for the descent into Nidaveller or (more rarely, according to Fenris) to venture forth across the nearby Giöll Bridge that led to the Port of Niflheim.

Later, when the company had again gathered, Aurelius clarified a point about that day's travel plans.

“So, although you're advising we take the dwarf caves to reach Mount Glittertind,” Aurelius asked Fenris at the breakfast table, “there is a Rune Gate on the Sea of Niflheim?”

“A
runeporte
that's only a half-day's journey from here,” Clarinda added, “and not the week that we'll be traveling under the earth?”

Fenris nodded. “
Ja
, it's possible to cross there, if you can secure a craft and get to the emerald gate that hovers over the water. In normal times, it's the main passage to and from Niflheim for trading. As you can see from the occupants in this inn, not everyone is dead who travels through these lands.”

“But, these aren't typical times,” Skade observed.

“No. My sister's been planning something for years now, and just recently she's restricted much of the usual traffic through the port. Hela's building a large ship at the harbor on the Shoals of the Dead — she's no fool, three garrisons of her fiercest orcs, goblins, and frost giants guard that rune gate.” Fenris grimaced. “I know you have need of haste, but, trust me, the extra days in Nidaveller will be well spent: you'll both reach Mimir alive and well.” 

“Couldn't we somehow find a way to disguise ourselves and sneak to the Niflheim Gate to get to Mount Glittertind?” Clarinda persisted. “I feel as if we need to get to Mimir as quickly as possible.”

Skade shook her head.  “We'd still have to retrace the path we took yesterday…
and then get past the goblins and orcs that patrol the entire sea there. If we take the lift down to Nidaveller, though, we then use Andvari as a guide to get past rock giants or goblin gangs. Trust me, the dwarvish ways from our house are much quicker”

“I think you're leaving a lot out,'” Clarinda commented with a smile.

“There are many leagues underground ahead of us,” Skade rejoined with a shrug. “I'll not lie to you; I don't look forward to the crystal cave nor the underground rivers.”

“Well-guarded?” Aurelius asked.

“No,” Skade said, shaking her head with a sympathetic cast to her eyes, “those places have no need of guards. Their very nature is defense enough.”

He returned his attention to the present.

“Austri, Vestri,” Fenris said, introducing the two dwarves, who stepped forward and bowed. “You know everyone here, except for our guests. This is Servius Aurelius Santini, and Clarinda Trevisan, Urd-Yet-to-Be.”

Both dwarves were long-bearded, with black leather overalls tucked into heavy work boots. They wore safety belts and harnesses slung across their barrel-like torsos, and helmets that looked like steel caps. They looked like twins, different only in that Austri wore a bright blue tunic under his overalls and Vestri a crimson one.

“You took your time,” Austri grumbled after he and Vestri curtly returned introductions to the small company. “Fenris, Andvari's doing you a favor because you said—” he peered upward haughtily at Aurelius, his bushy white eyebrows considering the youth disapprovingly over pince-nez glasses, and repeated, “—you
said
that the Codex Lacrimae was back in the Nine Worlds.” He sighed as if the disappointment he felt in looking at Aurelius exhausted him. “
Hmph
,
” he sniffed. “I'd say that if
he's
the Codex Wielder, the Dark Book should've stayed lost.”