The Codex Lacrimae: The Book of Tears

Chapter 32: A Lore Master's Moment: The Dragon Fafnir

Aurelius returned from his thought-speech with Dietrich and realized that only moments had passed here on the plateau of Hisn al-Akrad.

"What if you were given a choice, Santini?" Fafnir was saying.

"Um ... what kind of choice?" he asked, trying to focus on the dragon's words.

"A choice that met the condition of the Codex Lacrimae, yet didn't cost you what you thought it would?"

"I don't want to sacrifice one of my friends."

"Would you sacrifice yourself?"

"What?"

"My mistress is Hela, the daughter of him who created the Codex Lacrimae. I believe that you've already met her a few times?"

"She wouldn't 'help' me, dragon, save to further her own ends. And even if such a condition were possible, I'd merely be trading the darkness of the Codex for the greater one of Hel." He looked up at the rampart and shouted, "Morpeth, release them now!"

"Not yet, Santini!" Morpeth replied. "Will you give us the Codex or not?"

"They are in earnest, Hospitaller," Fafnir said. "Through me, Hela offers you one other option besides claiming the Dark Book. Kill yourself, and live in her citadel for a thousand years. She's foreseen this possibility and will honor her side of the bargain. Then no one can claim the Codex Lacrimae."

The dragon smiled a horrific, yellow fanged smile. "Except, if I may, she must think you a fool. We both know that you come from a large family. Don't tell her I told you this, but if you die, there's always the possibility that the Codex Lacrimae might find a new master or mistress in your parents in Sicily, or even among your brothers and sisters. They are of the old 'Santinius' line, aren't they?"

Aurelius was alarmed, the dragon giving words to a fear he'd had since first translating the inscription in the tome. In spite of his reservations about what roles Paolo and his father might have had in getting him to come to the Holy Land, he wished this fate on no one in his family.

"Typical. A devil's choice, and not of—" Aurelius murmured, then stopped short, his conversation with Dietrich was ending.

"Eh?" the dragon boomed. "Not of what?"

Santini smiled at Fafnir. "I was going to say, that's a devil's choice, and not of the subtlety I'd expect from a dragon. You tell me that Hela offers suicide as an alternative to accepting the Codex's price."

He gave Fafnir a nod and began his conversation with the Codex Lacrimae. "You want something as well. A way back into the Nine Worlds, restored to your life and not just one of Hela's undead lieutenants."

"What? I assure you, my young friend, as you can plainly see, I am here. I live. I have no need of a cursed book to wander the Nine Worlds."

Aurelius paused, not wanting the Codex Lacrimae to hear what he'd say next to Fafnir. A plan was forming in his mind. "Ich befehle dir zu schlafen," he whispered aloud, repeating Dietrich's spell.

"I ... heard that command," Fafnir said. "Were you speaking to a codex?"

Aurelius ignored the question. He had too little time. "Would you live again, Dragon?"

The creature's laugh rivaled the thunder in skies above them. "I am not dead, Santini! Look upon my glory. I have lived longer than most of my kind."

"You've been dead for over half a millennium, Fafnir," Aurelius said, repeating the information he'd gained from Dietrich and the Dark Book. "Sigurd slew you, and gained the knowledge of birdsong upon partially eating your heart."