Last Rituals

access to archives. Then he chose witch hunts to give the theme of his dissertation more credibility. Of course that was plain sailing, with his grandfather's collection in front of him and the old man's passion in his blood.'

'So your grandfather was kind to him?' Thora asked, knowing the answer would be positive but nonetheless wanting it confirmed.

'Oh, yes,' Elisa said. 'They spent a lot of time together. Harald always sought his company, even when Grandfather was in the hospital on his deathbed. Understandably, Grandfather was much fonder of him than he was of the rest of us. Maybe because he felt Harald was the odd one out with our parents. Harald inherited his interest in history. They seemed able to pore over it endlessly.'

'And did his research lead anywhere?' asked Thora. 'Did he find anything out from all this?'

'Yes,' replied Elisa. 'So Harald claimed, at least. Through the university in Berlin he gained access to the Vatican archives and went to Rome after his second year. He spent a long time there, probably most of the summer. He said he'd found a document from Kramer demanding permission for a second witch hunthe claimed they'd stolen a copy of a book he had written. Kramer apparently said the book was invaluable to him, a manual on how to uproot sorcery and prosecute witches. He was worried they could use the book to curse him and wanted to reclaim it whatever the cost. Harald couldn't find the Vatican's answer to his request, but because Kramer apparently didn't go back to Innsbruck, it was probably rejected.

'Anyway, Harald became incredibly excited and thought he had discovered what was stolen from Kramer and sent all the way to hell: Kramer's draft of The Witches' Hammer, the oldest known version of that famous book. It wasn't identical to the edition published a year later, Harald said; presumably it was illustrated and handwritten. Kramer's coauthor, Springer, still had to make his contribution, and this was one of the main reasons for Harald's interest. Kramer's original manuscript would dispel all doubt as to who wrote what. Some people claim Springer had no hand in it at all.'

'But didn't the thief send the manuscript straight to hell? Wasn't that the phrase?' asked Thora. 'The obvious conclusion is that it was burned.'

Elisa smiled. 'The last letter to the Bishop of Brixen mentioned an emissary who was bound on a journey to hell and asked the Church to assist him on his way. So the book wasn't burned, at least not immediately.'

Thora raised her eyebrows. 'An emissary on a journey to hell, yes. Sounds like the most natural thing in the world.'

Matthew smiled. 'Quite.' He took a sip of his wine.

'In those days it wasn't so absurd,' Elisa said seriously. 'Hell was considered to be a real placein the bowels of the earth. There was even supposed to be a hole down to it in Iceland. On some volcano whose name I can't remember.'

'Hekla.' Thora helped her out before Matthew tried to pronounce it. So that was itHarald's motive for coming to Iceland. He was looking for hell, just as Hugi claimed he had whispered to him.

'Yes, right,' said Elisa. 'That was where the manuscript was supposed to be sent. Or so Harald claimed, at least.'

'Then what? Did it ever get there?' asked Thora.

'Harald told me he'd been looking for information on this emissary's journey and had found a reference to it in a church chronicle from Kiel from 1486at least he thought it was the same man. The chronicle mentions a man on his way to Iceland with a letter from the Bishop of Brixen asking for him to be given lodgings and provisions on his journey. He arrived on horseback carrying something that he guarded jealously. He could not even accept the sacrament because the package couldn't be taken into church, and he never let it out of his sight. It says he stayed for two nights, then continued on his way north.'

'Did Harald find any clues about how the journey ended?' asked Matthew.

'No,' responded Elisa. 'Not immediately, at any rate. Harald came here to Iceland after he gave up trying to trace it on the mainland. At first he made little headway, then he got hold of an old letter from Denmark that mentioned a young man who had died of measles at a bishop's see whose name escapes mehe was on his way to Iceland. He staggered into the see at night, desperately ill, and died a few days later. But before he died he managed to entrust to the bishop a package that he was supposed to take to Iceland and throw into Heklawith the blessing of the Bishop of Brixen. Some years later the Danish bishop wrote to ask the Catholic authorities in Iceland to finish the task. The bishop said he would hand over the package to a man who was on his way to Iceland, if I remember correctly, to sell pardons for the pope to finance the building of St. Peter's Church in Rome.'

'When was this?' Thora asked.

'I think Harald said it was quite a while later, probably around 1505. The bishop was old by then and wanted to clear up unfinished businesshe'd kept the package for almost twenty years without passing it on.'

'So the package came to Iceland?' mused Thora.

'Harald was adamant that it did,' Elisa replied. She ran her right index finger in circles around the rim of her wineglass.

'Didn't they throw the manuscript into the volcano then?' Matthew asked.

'Harald said that couldn't be right, because no one would have dared climb the mountain then. The first recorded ascent is much closer to our day. Then it erupted a few years later. Harald thought any potential candidate for the job would have been put off once and for all by that.'

'So where did the manuscript end up?' asked Matthew.

'At a bishop's see, something beginning with s, Harald thought.'

'Skalholt?' Thora guessed.

'Yes, that sounds right,' replied Elisa. 'At least, that was where the pardoner went with the money he'd collected.'

'Then what? No manuscript of The Witches' Hammer has ever been found in Skalholt,' said Thora, pouring herself more coffee.

'Harald claimed it was kept there until the first printing press arrived in Iceland, when it was sent to another see. This one began with p, I think.'

'Holar,' declared Thora, even though there was no p in the name. Iceland only had two sees, so it was an easy guess.

'I don't remember,' said Elisa. 'But it could well be.'

'Did Harald think they were going to print it there?'

'Yes, I had that impression. It was the most widely published book in Europe at the time, apart from the Bible, so they probably considered it at least.'

'Presumably someone opened the package then and saw what it contained. Surely they were tempted to take a peek,' said Matthew. 'But what happened to the book? It was never published here, was it?' he asked Thora.

'No,' she said. 'Not as far as I know.'

'Harald said he had traced it,' said Elisa. 'He said he'd gone on a wild-goose chase looking for the printing press and that place beginning with p'

'Holar,' Thora interjected.

'Yes, right,' said Elisa. 'He thought the bishop had sent the book somewhere else before he was executed, but then he became convinced that it was never removed from the other seethat S-place.'

'Skalholt,' said Thora.

'Whatever,' Elisa replied. 'Anyway, he located the book when he started investigating that anglehe said it had been hidden away to save it from being sent out of Iceland.'

'And where was it?' asked Thora.

Elisa took a sip of wine before answering. 'I don't know. He wouldn't tell me. He said he'd save the rest of the story until he could show me the trophy.'

Thora and Matthew made no attempt to conceal their frustration. 'Didn't you ask any more about it? Didn't he imply anything?' Thora asked impatiently.

'No, it was late by then and he was so delighted about the whole business that I didn't want to ruin his pleasure by nagging on about it.' Elisa smiled apologetically. 'The next day we talked about completely different things. Do you think it's linked to the murder?'

'I honestly don't know,' Thora said in disappointment. Suddenly Mal crossed her mind. Maybe Elisa knew Harald's friends. They seemed to have been close, judging by everything she said. This Mal might have the missing