Where the Shadows Lie (Fire and Ice)

exhibit, a big hardback book. He was so excited he could barely sit still, and he ignored his coffee.
    ‘Is that it?’ he said. ‘ Gaukur’s Saga ?’
    ‘We think so.’
    ‘Where did you get it?’
    ‘It seems to be an English translation that Agnar made.’
    ‘So that’s what he was working on!’ Moritz said. ‘He was beavering away at something for the last few weeks. He claimed that he was commenting on a French translation of the Laxdaela Saga , but that sounded strange. I’ve known Agnar for years, worked with him on a couple of projects, and he was never one to bother himself unduly over deadlines.’ Moritz shook his head. ‘ Gaukur’s Saga .’
    ‘I didn’t know it existed,’ said Magnus.
    ‘It doesn’t. Or at least we didn’t think it did. But it used to. Look.’
    Moritz opened up the book in front of him. ‘This is a facsimile of the Book of Mödruvellir , from the fourteenth century, one of the most important collections of the sagas. There are eleven of them in all.’
    Magnus walked around the table and stood behind Moritz’s shoulder. Moritz leafed through the book, each brown page a faithful copy of the vellum of the original manuscript. He paused at an empty page on which were written only a couple of faded lines. Indecipherable.
    ‘There is a big gap between Njáls Saga and Egils Saga . No one could read this line until the invention of ultra-violet light. Now they know what it says.’ Moritz quoted from memory. ‘“Insert here Gauks Saga Trandilssonar ; I am told that Grímur Thorsteinsson Esq has a copy.”’ He turned to Magnus and smiled. ‘We knew that there once was a Gaukur’s Saga , but we thought it had been lost, like so many others. Gaukur is mentioned once, very briefly in Njáls Saga ; that he was killed by Ásgrímur.’
    ‘When you read the saga, you will find out how,’ said Magnus with a smile, returning to his seat. The Book of Mödruvellir must have been the instance of the saga’s existence that Ingileif had mentioned.
    ‘The other place he crops up in is extraordinary,’ Moritz said. ‘There are some Viking runes in a tomb in Orkney, graffiti really, which were discovered in the nineteenth century. The runes claim that they were carved by the axe once owned by Gaukur Trandilsson of Iceland. So the man really did exist.’
    Moritz looked at the sheaf of papers in front of Magnus.
    ‘And that’s the English translation? May I read it?’
    ‘Yes. Although you will have to use gloves and you will have to read it here. We need to give it to our forensics people before it can be copied.’
    ‘Do you know where the original is?’
    ‘Yes, I do. There are only scraps of the original vellum, but there’s an excellent seventeenth-century paper copy. We can show it to you tomorrow. Of course, we can’t be sure what we’ve found is genuine. We need you to authenticate it.’
    ‘With pleasure,’ said Moritz.
    ‘And keep this confidential. Don’t say a word to anyone.’
    ‘I understand. But don’t let your forensic people handle either document without my supervision.’
    ‘Of course,’ said Magnus. ‘If the saga is genuine, how much would it bring?’
    ‘It’s impossible to say,’ Moritz replied. ‘The last medieval manuscript on the market was sold by Sotheby’s in the nineteen sixties to a consortium of Icelandic banks. It had belonged to a British collector. Of course this time around the banks haven’t got any money, nor has the Icelandic government.’ He paused. ‘But for this? If it is authentic? There will be plenty of willing buyers outside Iceland. You’re talking millions of dollars.’
    He shook his head. ‘Many millions.’
    *
    As Magnus returned to his desk, Árni was waiting for him, looking excited.
    ‘What is it? Did Ingileif’s fingerprints match?’
    ‘No. But I’ve heard back from Australia.’
    ‘The Elvish expert?’
    Árni handed Magnus a printout of an e-mail.
Dear Detective Holm ,
I have been able to translate most of the two messages you sent me. They are in Quenya, the most popular of Tolkien’s languages. The translations are as follows:
1. I am meeting Haraldsson tomorrow. Should I insist on seeing the story?
2. Saw Haraldsson. He has (??). He wanted much more money. 5 million. We need to talk.
Note – I could not find a translation for the word ‘kallisarvoinen’, which I have marked (??).
It has been a pleasure to find that my knowledge of Quenya has finally been of practical assistance to