The Codex Lacrimae: The Book of Tears

Chapter 16: Grimnir the Far-Seeing

Two levels below Ríg and Clarinda, Marcus grasped Jacob's shoulder and cried, "No, Jake, no! Orí, Orí, Orí! Orí hurt!"

"That's enough, Marcus," Jacob replied curtly, wrenching his arm from the other boy. "We're going to find the people I poisoned and get them to Alex for help." He strode on down the corridor.

"Perhaps you should listen to him," Genevieve suggested, coming up behind the two arguing boys. "We just delivered the supplies to Alex for your mother and those other men in the cells. I don't know who this Orí is, but Marcus is really upset. Hasn't he lived here awhile?"

"I think I know what I'm doing," Jacob asserted somewhat haughtily, furious with himself for poisoning everyone in sight—fool, fool, fool! You should never trust any Crusaders! The boy just wanted to undo all the harm he'd done while listening to the Hospitaller, Old Nick. "People are going to die if we don't get them to the pilgrim cells quickly. God, they might already be dead!"

"Who's this Orí?" Genie asked.

"He's a squire in the library," Jacob explained, as they rounded another corner. "He and Marcus fought some intruders at the gate. We'll see him after we help these people. There are only a couple of others, just down the stairs here."

"Genie, those stairs will lead elsewhere," Verdandi said quietly from behind the Greek girl. "I sense a runeporte ahead, and Grimnir is involving himself now. I'll see to the other two Jacob poisoned, but then I must go. Skuld's body has already made the translation."

"What?" Genevieve exclaimed. Verdandi stood where an entryway led up a stairwell.

The Norn smiled. "Farewell, Genevieve Stratioticus. When next we meet, you'll understand what I must do now, and where I need to go."

She glanced at the backs of Jacob and Marcus. "Protect them and, if possible, do not let Jacob know that Ríg and Santini are one and the same. Both boys' paths glow brightly for us, but there's great anger in Jacob that might cause a divergence if he learns the truth about Santini too soon. Actions will always mean more than words with this one. Let him see the true actions of Aurelius before he learns the truth."

Genevieve frowned, then nodded and waved a hand toward Jacob and Marcus, who were halfway down the length of the hallway.

Verdandi pressed a silver triquerta brooch and Brisingamen necklace into Genevieve's hand. "Skuld foresees that the runeporten will be almost impossible to use for some time after these events, so keep this safe. Beware, though. Kenezki stole one from Clarinda, and I've lost track of it in the Fjords of Asgard."

Genie's eyes grew wide. "Verdandi, what does this mean?"

Verdandi grinned and hugged her younger companion tightly to her. "Thank you, Sister-Me, for reminding me of what I used to be like, and who I shall be again!" She looked past the teenager's shoulder and her tone hardened. "Now, go! You'll need to run, Genie—they're about to go to another place."

If Genie had learned anything from working alongside Verdandi the last six weeks, it was the need to move without thinking when demanded by the Present. She ran after the boys.

"Orí, Orí, Orí!" Marcus kept saying, as they began to descend a long stairwell.

Jacob frowned, partly irritated by the continual repetition of the squire's name, and partly confused. He couldn't place this winding stair. Smoke began billowing into the narrow space, and the boy coughed, wondering what was burning in the castle and fearing that it might be the library. He heard the shouts of men and the racing of feet, and then Marcus again reached for his shoulder.