The Codex Lacrimae: The Book of Tears

Chapter 47: A Norn's Moment: The Tenants of Signore Boccanegra

From her vantage outside of time, Clarinda peered closely at Old Nick as she returned to the present. Stunned, she saw that the devil still clutched a handful of Rebecca's long black hair in his hand, but his body was ... blurring from the Signor Boccanegra form into another disguise, a harlot in a low-cut black shift that could barely be called a nun's habit.

Look at him, I mean her. All he does is keep shifting his appearance. I understand the Devil's Ways, but this is more than just taking a form of a succubus. Think, Clarinda. Why does Old Nick still ring false? Even Urd's memories of Abbadon don't gibe with what I'm seeing here. Hela's remained the same, ever since she was born, an avatar of Death that fulfills her function in the natural order of the cosmos. But, this ... what? What is this thing, this Sister Nikola? A half-naked, almost comical mockery of Evil itself? No ... it's not even a distortion about his presence in the Sight as I felt with Kenezki, there is something qualitatively different here.

If I'm correct, though, that doesn't mean anything, does it? Wouldn't his ... I mean, now, wouldn't her glamour be strong enough to shield her even from those with the Sight? I need to focus on what Old Nick's doing here. I understand his concern with Aurelius and the alliance with the Huntsmen to activate the Codex Lacrimae: Santini's the new Codex Wielder. I even get his irritation with me, even back to Caesarea, because he probably knew I'd truly become Urd. He's always been one step ahead of us, playing a game whose rules he's kept to himself. But what is the game with this mother, Rebecca, and her son, Jacob? Why bother disguising himself as a Signor Boccanegra and driving them from Constantinople? What is the angle here by involving them?

Intent on solving the mystery before she returned to battle, she turned from Rebecca and focused on Jacob. Marcus had joined him and they fought their way through the Wilde Jagdto reach Rebecca's side.

Clarinda, flowing back into normal time, saw that, limping after them, Genevieve had begun to use the Norn's Voice to freeze the motion of whatever enemy neared her.

Good, Clarinda thought, she's following the plan, and also learning how to use her powers. She's manipulating the Present to dodge attacks the moment they're launched, and she's closing the gap between herself and the teenagers.

Clarinda watched Jacob slashing this way and that, the boy's movements precise and fluid as he almost balletically fought his way through his enemies. Beside him, protecting his flank with a sword and the Sampo, Marcus kept pace and laughed as the two boys cut a swath through the undead members of Hela's troop.

Suddenly, Clarinda felt a flash of Codex magic, and then nothing from the enemies who'd set all these plans in motion. The three Huntsmen and the remaining casket were gone!

There could be a chance to end this now, she thought, perhaps, together, Aurelius and we Norns could take Old Nick.

Then she returned her attention to Jacob and recalled the true threat here.

We've already lost this battle in the war.The Codices of Fate have returned to the Nine Worlds.If we try to take the battle to Old Nick now, with only three of the Codices and Aurelius still fighting internally against two of them, and the Codex Regius completely untested, we could lose before we even start to fight.

Something caught her eye. A similarity in posture as Aurelius and Jacob approached Old Nick and Hela from different angles in the ward. From her vantage, Clarinda looked even more closely, comparing the boy to the closing Aurelius.

Clarinda's eyes widened. That's it. It's a different fighting style, but their manner ... their body language, it's completely familiar. Rebecca's the key! No, that's not right, she's partof the key. The other half of the linchpin is—