This is the second part of THE CODEX LACRIMAE, the first novel in the nine-volume ARTIFACTS OF DESTINY series, and a tale set in a Middle Eastern castle in the twelfth century, where the Crusades ravage the land, two armies led by Saladin and Fafnir have arrived to besiege the Hospitaller castle of the Krak des Chevaliers, and the Codex Lacrimae — a book of ancient evil — is loose again upon the world.
The first part, THE CODEX LACRIMAE, Part 1: The Mariner's Daughter and Doomed Knight, told the story of how the aged Muslim scholar, Khajen ibn-Khaldun, returned to the castle after a half-year's pursuit by Farbauti and Morpeth, unwittingly leading these Huntsmen of Muspelheim to Servius Aurelius Santini, the prophesied Codex Wielder who's lain in hiding for five years since the horrific Battle of Mecina, and whom the Norns predict will ignite the flames of the Final Twilight when he touches the Dark Book.
But the story also revealed that hope remains. Or, at least, the Norns have foretold that two teenagers could stop the impending disaster if they heed the advice of Mimir and the Sisters of Fate.
In "A Fortress Besieged," the first book of THE CODEX LACRIMAE, Ríg, an 18-year-old apprentice to both Brother Perdieu and Ibn-Khaldun, trains to be a warrior-monk in the castle's courtyards and library, seeking only a quiet existence because of a haunted and secret past. His closest friends are two younger boys, Marcus and Pellion, who look up to Ríg as being everything they hope to be in the military-scholastic environment of the Krak. Another teenager, Jacob — a Jewish boy who accepts Ibn-Khaldun's offer of refuge along with his sick mother, Rebecca — befriends all three youths and comes to share the same kind of admiration for Ríg, although with some reservations. Jacob's father was killed at the Christian citadel of Mecina, the site of a battle between Hospitaller Crusaders and one of Saladin's Muslim armies that has a mythic reputation throughout the Levant.
Even though the mysterious Hooded Hospitaller, Servius Aurelius Santini, saved hundreds of pilgrims and defenders of Mecina, the casualties on both sides were fearsome. The battle of Mecina consumed Santini himself, one of Saladin's brothers, and left the young Marcus with a baffling condition that makes communication difficult and apparently reduced the boy to an infantile state. In spite of those setbacks, though, Jacob learns firsthand both that Marcus has a reputation of being one of the best sword fighters in the castle (besides Ríg) and that he plays a mean game of Gluckhaus!
Hundreds of miles away from this strapping young man, the story also introduced 17-year-old Clarinda Trevisan, a beautiful Venetian sea merchant's daughter whose greatest joys are sailing with her father and working to someday command her own fleet. Seeking to avenge her father's murder at the hands of the Templar Grandmaster, Evremar of Choques, and the Black Sea pirate, Kenezki — with the help of Fatima (Ibn-Khaldun's daughter) and Khalil's bedouin tribe, as well as the steadfast loyalty of her childhood friends, Alexander and Genevieve Stratioticus — Clarinda starts fulfilling the Norn prophecies that foretell her becoming Urd. Working with both Khalil's bedouin forces and the army of the ousted King Guy of Jerusalem, Clarinda devises a land and sea assault at Caesarea that overthrows Evremar and causes Kenezki to flee. The experience teaches Clarinda to start trusting the premonitions and dream-visions that start to come even during the waking hours, most of which are filled with images of a handsome knight whom she knows to be Servius Aurelius Santini, a young man for whom she feels attraction and distrust because of the Battle of Mecina.
Clarinda joins Khalil and Fatima's nomads on their way to seek protection from Saladin, who's currently besieging the Krak. Along the way, Clarinda secretly trains to become a Norn, discovering that for every night that passes on her three-day journey across the desert, a month passes in the Norn Grottoes of the Nine Worlds. Aided by Urd (the Norn of Fate who's destined to die at the hands of Morpeth), and the two other Norns (Verdandi and Skuld, who each keep taking the appearances of Genevieve and Fatima) — as well as by magical animals such as Ratatosk the Squirrel, and the wolves Geri and Freki, who guard Yggdrassil, the World tree — Clarinda rapidly develops the skills necessary to survive in the perilous Nine Worlds. Clarinda learns that the Norns watch over the Nine Worlds from Mimir's Well, a supernatural flaming pool that's surrounded by vast grottoes that serve as the living quarters and research libraries for the Witches of Fate.
When Clarinda, Fatima, and Khalil arrive with the bedouin at Saladin's encampment, they discover that they have come just as Farbauti and Morpeth are completing their machinations. Having successfully made the alliance between Saladin's and Fafnir's armies, the Huntsmen split forces: Morpeth leads the group of Assassins that will try to open the gate of the Krak des Chevaliers, and Farbauti joins with a newly arrived Kenezki (who's just come from the Battle of Caesarea) to torture Saladin's brother, Hamzah al-Adil, for eavesdropping on their plotting with the mysterious leader of the eastern army, a disguised Fafnir the Dragon.
Back at the Krak, Jacob interrupts the meeting of Hospitaller senior staff in Grand Master Arcadian's solarium (where Ibn-Khaldun, Mercedier, Damian, and Perdieu are arguing), alerting all to the fact that Assassins have infiltrated the castle walls. Ríg reacts immediately to the threat, leaping from a window and attacking the intruders single-handedly until aided by a half-clad Marcus, who's still in the clothes from his hospital bed. The youthful fighters succeed in their defense, but at a cost: Marcus is injured in the shoulder by an arrow and — still grappling with one of the Assassins — passes from Ríg's sight down a hill into the stable area.
Realizing that Marcus's distorted cries of "Orí, Orí, Orí" are attempts by the stuttering boy to say, "Aurelius," Morpeth gleefully identifies Ríg as Servius Aurelius Santini, the mythic Crusader from Mecina.
Morpeth corners the young knight, and orders him to "awaken the Codex" or die. As the book concludes, Ríg succumbs to the nick of a poisoned arrow fired by Morpeth and gets transported into the Nine Worlds of Norse mythology.
In "The Roots of Yggdrassil," the second book of THE CODEX LACRIMAE, Ríg awakens in the forest of Alfheim, restored to his true self as Servius Aurelius Santini. Miraculously recovered from the poisoning and wounds, he soon comes upon Grimnir, an old man fishing by the River Perilous. After a brief conversation and receiving a hatchet to cut a fishing rod, Aurelius turns to find that Grimnir and his talking animal friends are gone.
When the youth goes to the river to find them, he's told not to touch the water by a newly arrived Clarinda Trevisan, who's almost completed her training as a Norn and comes to bring Aurelius back to Mimir's Well and the Norn Grottoes for protection against the awakening Codex Lacrimae. Along the way to get him, she's been mysteriously abandoned by the Norns, and meets a Dark Elf, Rudyick, who warns her that an entity named Old Nick has captured a water elemental and is torturing another elf, Volund, across the river.
Aurelius ignores her advice because he wants to retrieve the hatchet that Grimnir gave him, but upon touching the water he's attacked by a force of strömkarlenand nixies — water spirits controlled by the elemental fossegrimwhom Rudyick had warned Clarinda about. In spite of the surprising effectiveness of Grimnir's hatchet against the supernatural enemies, the gigantic creature brings both Hospitaller and Norn as prisoners to Old Nick, whom Clarinda recognizes as her old enemy, the Templar Grand Master from Caesarea, Evremar of Choques.
Using his extensive bookish knowledge of the Bible, foreign languages, and historical literature, Aurelius guesses both that Old Nick's a disguised Satan (who wants the youth to give him the Codex Lacrimae) and that the enchanted fossegrim has a secret name. Aurelius frees the enslaved elemental by uttering that name, and the creature, Hav, takes immediate action against Old Nick. The fossegrim casts the Ancient Enemy into Lake Glittertind, in front of the mountain that's a weird, or magical commonplace to all the Nine Worlds. Upon releasing Aurelius and Clarinda, Hav reveals that Old Nick controlled him because the Devil stole a special blue coral, and the fossegrim asks that the young people retrieve it so that he'll never be captured again.
After lifting a mysterious leather envelope that Hav threw to the ground as a thank-you gift, Aurelius and Clarinda find themselves transported to the Citadel of Hel, high in a tower that rises above the Land of the Dead, Niflheim. They get better acquainted with one another, feeling an undeniable attraction that poses problems for the Sicilian and Italian youths. For his part, any romantic feelings cause a conflict with Aurelius's vows and intention to become a priest; as for Clarinda, besides the fact that she's still grieving over the murder of her father, she's wary of the young man's bloody reputation of violence and unpredictability from the Battle of Mecina.
An attack by the skeletal guardian, Modgud, brings them both directly into contact with the Queen of the Underworld, Hela. After addressing the young Hospitaller as a long-expected "Lord Aurelius" — and predicting that Santini will live for almost a thousand years and call Hel his home for part of that time! — Hela brings both youths into a ghastly hall where Old Nick awaits. Trapped, the gigantic wolf at Hela's side attacks Aurelius after he slices the fossegrim's blue coral from Satan's neck, and the scuffle between beast and Hospitaller carries both through a window and into the winds of the perpetual blizzard outside.
Clarinda immediately launches herself at Old Nick — scooping the blue coral from the floor along the way — and succeeds in escaping from the trap thanks to some advice from her new friend, Ratatosk, a talking squirrel who's befriended her during the three months that she's been training in the Norn Grottoes. The Brisingamennecklace that Clarinda uses to transport through the Nine Worlds suddenly works again, and she uses it to teleport from Hel back to the Norn Grottoes.
In a discussion with the Norns, Clarinda guesses correctly that something about Aurelius's presence previously prevented the Brisingamen's magic from working. Urd takes Clarinda to a meeting with Mimir at the Well, and at a council with the Norns, Mimir, and the mysterious Grimnir, she's commanded to find Aurelius in the Wastes of Niflheim and to bring him back to the Well for protection and counsel. Grimnir also magically joins her favored weapon, the quarterstaff, with his magical spear (Gungnir), telling her to keep it always safe and that it will never miss its mark. For protection in Hela's lands, he lends her talking wolves Geri and Freki, and orders Ratatosk the Squirrel to stay close to her.
Meanwhile, Aurelius survives the plunge from Hela's Tower, his fall broken by trees in the forest below as he grapples with the gigantic wolf. When they reach the ground, the wolf changes into a man named Fenris, revealing himself to be the rebellious brother of Hela. Fenris saves Aurelius's life thanks to the help of his mate, Skade the Huntress, who gives Aurelius a magical potion that helps offset the killing frost of Niflheim. There's barely time for getting acquainted before Hela's Wilde Jagd, or "Wild Hunt," finds them and a great battle ensues. The trio emerges victorious because of Skade's beserker-like ferocity, Fenris's ability to grow to the height of a tree, and Aurelius's enchanted hatchet, an unassuming tool that unleashes more devastation upon the enemies than any could expect.
Thanks to the direction given by the wolves, Geri and Freki, Clarinda finds the three warriors at the end of the battle. The entire group hears horns in the distance, and a decision is reached to take flight to the Fenrir-baude, the "hut" of Fenris and Skade that rests on a mountainside overlooking the great Franang Falls, a nexus between the worlds of Midgard and Niflheim. Once inside the refuge, the group recovers for a bit before moving onto the next objective of their journey: reaching Mimir's Well by way of the caverns of the dwarf-kingdom, Nidaveller, via the capital city of Niđafjöll to recruit the dwarvish Arch-Mage, Andvari, who can get them past the blinding Kristallhöllen(Crystal Caves) and Underjordisk Elv (Underground Rapids) of the Døkk River.
Due to Ratatosk's instigation, however, Clarinda and Aurelius get in an argument over the revelation that Clarinda has been keeping secrets. Aurelius feels betrayed because in spite of the vows he's planning to take as a monk, he and Clarinda have grown closer and become more than merely friends. Indeed, as they survive each perilous adventure in the Nine Worlds, the youths have come to increasingly rely on each other, and a romantic relationship seems to be in the making between the two teenagers.
But, Aurelius's anger at the end of the book yields alarming results. As the knight passes her, Clarinda pales at the sight of the once-twittering birds dying and falling from trees everywhere. Ratatosk tells her that the youth's momentary fury unleashed the ‛Codex Light' to devastating effect. The squirrel urges Clarinda to kill Aurelius before he awakens the Codex Lacrimae and becomes too powerful to stop. But, Clarinda also realizes that she's beginning to fall in love with the young knight, and finds it difficult to dismiss all the protective and kind qualities that he's expressed to her since they've met.
A vision of future (or current) events assaults her as she converses with Ratatosk, and the book ends with Clarinda vowing to do whatever it takes to prevent the thousands of death she foresees if Aurelius fully awakens the Codex Lacrimae, but stops herself short of promising to kill the knight. Ratatosk, in turn, tells Clarinda that for all his power, he'll not be able to protect her against Aurelius if (or when) things go wrong.
THE CODEX LACRIMAE, Part II: The Journey to Mimir's Well continues with "The Desert on Midgard," the third book of this epic fantasy romance novel, specifically to events unfolding at the Krak des Chevaliers ...