August said.
”That's the image of Aries. It is a key figure in Hermeticism, especially Hermetism related to Giordano Bruno. Where exactly have you found that sign?”
”On a lot of different places, almost every book in here. It seems to act as some kind of marker, for what I do not know yet.”
August nodded and directed a lamp on the table. He picked out a book on Swedenborg. The front was worn and the pages were bleached by sunlight. He hit into it at random and stopped when he found a ram.
He turned to Ludwig.
”Show me some more examples.”
Ludwig wanted to ask what the purpose was of the sign because he could sense that August knew more than he led on.
He pulled out some books from the stacks.
”Here, for instance. In Timaeus by Plato.”
Ludwig turned the page until he came to a bookmark.
”Here you have one of those signs next to something that's about a crater or something. It's about some sort of reincarnation.”
In the end, Ludwig could not bear it any longer. He closed the book and asked.
”Who is it that has made these notes?”
August said nothing. He stared straight ahead and waited for Ludwig to continue, which he did when he noticed that he wasn´t going to get a reply.
He showed the ram in books by Plutarch, Orpheus, Stobaeus, Justin the Martyr. He put them back in the right pile. Fixed the piles, so that they were orthogonal to each other on the table. It was important for him to maintain order.
After a while, August said.
”I think that will be enough, Ludwig.”
”I have a little hard to understand what all this means, August.”
August sat quietly and thought of Victoria.
”I'm afraid that I understand as little as you, Ludwig.”
Ludwig showed the notebook to August. He recognized the notes as he read earlier. Saw that there was more text on the page.
”Just one more question. Can´t you just answer who have written these diary entries? You know, don´t you?”
When Ludwig got wind of something he had always found it difficult to let go, often it was positive, but sometimes it was just stupid. Anyway, he always wanted to know more. But August did not want to say.
”But”, August said almost stammering. ”Have you, have you found more notes?”
Ludwig nodded. He directed the lamp at the book and read to August. He read again the notes he read earlier that neither he nor Ludwig could understand what they really meant. At least not yet.
August 17
Remember: The Law of the Light = Caravaggio´s light
September 24
Should I tell?
November 25
Where in Reproba and Über is the CE-cipher?
December 14
5 signs in the Four-leaf clover x 3 signs (Capita et bos) x (Lateranense, Matteiano, Flaminio) = Illustro. As he wrote: Priscus Latina.
January 9
Despite Loretta´s warnings - could it really be them? I must try, it is soon the summer solstice.
August approached the text cautiously. Before him there were words that had been hidden from him for too long. He got stuck on the note that was written on November 25. The titles that Victoria had written reminded him of something but he did not know what. He closed his eyes and thought about it.
The penny fell. It was the pamphlets she wrote about. When he figured it out, he wanted to be alone, to be alone with Victoria.
”Ludwig, I have to be alone down here for a while.”
”I like to work, August, if I may.”
Something black came across August´s eyes. Ludwig saw the Bishop of Bergman´s Fanny and Alexander before him.
”Okay. But you, I'm wondering, you don´t have a computer I can borrow? I would like to check my email. But you may not have Internet up here?”
”Of course, Ludwig. On the computer that is in my office on the bottom floor, ai username and password 18371901 Good night.”
August did not move for a long time. The stillness and the absence of sound amplified his sense of loneliness. The panic wave had ebbed since a while back and left only emptiness.
The library was completely silent. He heard when Ludwig shut the doors down to the rotunda. The silence played something that could not be called anything else than an emptiness requiem.
He watched over the books, the words, as if he protected the world from some secret evil ruler.
Victoria's notes lay like a dead child in front of him. For August the silence was a requiem.
He bent down over an old coffin that stood in the back of the room. It was so dark that it was barely noticeable from where it stood in the corner. On the floor of the coffin were the two pamphlets with the titles:
Reproba informatio ab Deus - occultus venalicium in praedestino vicis versus and Über die drei Juristen, die das Ende der Welt vorausgesagt haben und wie die Welt geendet hat.
They were dusty and worn. They were written around the year 1600. August read a few lines in the leather-bound notebook. Repeated Victoria's secret word.
November 25
Where in Reproba and Über is the CE-cipher?
He read about Tabula Smaragdina in the Reproba-pamphlet. Read about all that is above is all that is below. The pamphlets were one of Thoth´s Brotherhood´s many attacks on the church in ancient Rome and their thoughts on the legendary Theatre.
An hour later, the pamphlets lay on the desk. A light shone on the desk. August closed the pamphlets. He muttered something quiet and looked up at the ceiling.
He was sure that the key to Victoria's secrets were in the pamphlets, but he didn´t find the opening.