The Codex Lacrimae: The Book of Tears

Chapter 6: Hela's Smile (or, The Suicide of Thaqib)

"Here, Venerable One, get up," urged the black-cloaked woman, her tone clipped and impatient as she hove close and inspected Ibn-Khaldun's side."Modgud's bloodletting...that is, her method of collecting a fee;it can be painful, but you'll heal."

The old man accepted help to his feet, trusting that the woman would steady him, but she seemed somehow unstable, as if weaving back and forth, so he stepped back.

Tip-tap, tip-tap. The skeletal Modgud retreated, passing into a side chamber.

"You confused her," Hela said. "All mortals eventually come to my realm, but usually after death. This isn't Valhalla, so it's a rarity to see one such as you walking alive among us."

"Your words ... confuse me," Ibn-Khaldun gasped as he made his own inspection of the wound. No blood stained his hand."You speak truly. The pain in my side's gone ... and ... I —" His own words faltered as he gazed fully upon her. Although he'd seen her from a distance during nightmares, Hela's ghastly appearance stunned him.

Her narrow face and sunken features evoked an insatiate hunger whose malnourishment showed in alabaster skin, jaundiced eyes, and a torso whose ribcage bones figured more prominently through her low-cut dress than the deflated sacks of her breasts. At the waist, however, Ibn-Khaldun saw why she seemed so unsteady; instead of legs and feet, Hela had a serpent's tail that writhed sinuously upon the marble floor.

"I told you, you'll recover. As with Servius Aurelius Santini, your time hasn't yet come."

Ibn-Khaldun looked sidelong at the woman, his interest piqued.

"Ah, you say nothing, not wanting to betray a trust," she guessed, clasping her hands behind her back. "You needn't worry. Mysteries left behind at death are revealed upon entering my realm. No, his secrets are safe here. We may call him Santini, or 'Ríg,' Codex Wielder, or Fool — I care not. He and I know each other. You might find it interesting that we both met him within moments of each other: shortly after the battle of Mecina. I departed as you arrived."

It took him a moment to realize that the sound coming from her was a chuckle.

"Perhaps I should have remained at his uncle's funeral pyre and introduced myself to you."

Misreading her ghastly laughter for a measure of warmth, the old man met her gaze and again almost physically recoiled. No smile reached that woman's eyes, eyes that regarded him as stonily as agate chips inset into the sculpted sockets of a marble bust.

"Come." The woman moved forward quickly and slipped her arm through his."I am Hela, and you're a mystery to me, Master Khajen ibn-Khaldun ibn-Khalid al-Hārūn.I don't like mysteries.You've somehow entered my realm while still alive."

Wary of the serpentine tail that moved behind him, he pulled back and stepped aside, withdrawing his arm because it had started to go numb from an icy coldness.

"You're, Maut then?" he asked, using the Arabic word for Death.

"You needn't fear me," she said quietly, sliding backward to give him space."I welcome you with the same guarantee of safety that I offered your protégé."

This time Ibn-Khaldun chuckled, and it was a real laugh."I'd imagine that would be no safety at all." He crossed his arms over his chest and thoughtfully scanned his surroundings." I stand forewarned."

"You really don't fear me, do you?" she asked.

"Oh, I fear what you could do to me, the variety of ways that you could make me die, but, no, I don't fear the idea of you."

"That's better put." She walked to one of the high arched windows, reflecting, "There are many whowouldcall me evil."

"A man is born, he lives, then he dies." Ibn-Khaldun shrugged. "We do what we can in the in-between."