He approached the only locked cell and looked through the small iron-barred opening.
“Brother Adelard?” he whispered.
Adelard’s face appeared. “Ramiro! Have you news? Have they decided what?”
“I am sorry. I have heard nothing. I feel terrible for betraying you.”
“I know. But you had no choice. I might have done the same. I don’t… I don’t know what came over me. Almost as if that book had put a spell on me. Against all reason, I had to have it, I had to save it.”
Ramiro nodded. He knew the feeling well.
He reached through a slit in his robe into a pouch strapped to his ample abdomen. From it he withdrew a small wineskin.
“Here,” he said, pushing it between the bars. “For strength. For courage.”
Adelard pulled off the stopper and drank greedily.
“They don’t feed me and give me very little water.”
How does it feel? Ramiro thought. How many have you treated the same to make them weak and more easily persuaded by your tortures?
When Adelard finished the wine he pushed the empty skin back through the opening.
“Thank you. I had no hope of any kindness here.”
“I will save you some bread from the midday meal and return with it.”
Adelard sobbed. “Bless you, Ramiro. Bless you!”
“I must go. I have no business here and do not wish to be caught.”
“Yes. Go. I anxiously await your return.”
“Good-bye, brother.”
As Ramiro climbed the steps to the ground floor, he knew he would have no reason to return. The poison in the wine would kill Adelard within the hour.
He sighed with relief when he reached the library on the second floor. As usual, he had the library to himself at his time of day.
At the rear of the room he lifted one of the larger tiles and gazed at the Compendium of Srem where it rested in the space he had hollowed out for it. He ran his fingers over the cover.
The crimes I have committed for you…
The Compendium had been under his family’s care seemingly forever, handed down from father to first-born son for more generations than he could count. But no generation had taken credit for fashioning it. The book simply was.
Ramiro had not been his family’s first son, but after the Battle of Toro he was the only son left. He had guarded the Compendium then, from the Inquisition and from others who had been searching for it down the ages. But as the Inquisition progressed, strengthening its hold on the populace and penetrating deeper and deeper into the lives of all within reach, he realized that possessing such a magical tome endangered his life. His anxiety grew to the point where he knew he had to change his ways: either flee to a different land, or hide in the belly of the beast.
He chose the latter and joined the Dominicans. He brought the Compendium with him, thinking the last place anyone would look for a heretical book would be in a monastery inhabited by the very order running the Inquisition. His family had never followed any religion, merely pretending to be Christians to fit in. After joining, Ramiro had found it easy to pretend, and came to enjoy the serene life of a monk.
But still his anxiety grew. He kept the Compendium hidden in a false bottom of his tiny bureau of drawers, but if someone found it, he would end up on the rack. He decided that he wanted to be done with guarding the Compendium. That had been his family’s tradition, but he could no longer honor the commitment. He had to rid himself of the book, hide it for some future generation to find. But he could not allow himself to know where it was hidden, for he did not think he could resist digging it up and paging through it one more time. And one more time after that. And again after that…
So he had wrapped it and tied it and given it to Pedro the carpenter. He trusted the simple man to follow his instructions: Do not disturb the wrapping and bury it somewhere safe of his own choosing; he was to tell no one the location, not even Ramiro. Pedro had agreed and hurried off into the night.
Days later, Ramiro had almost swooned with shock when Adelard had invited him into his room to see the wondrous new book he had bought in the marketplace.
Pedro had betrayed him.
Right then and there Ramiro had known he wanted it back. The Compendium had to be his again.
He pretended to be ignorant of the book and followed along with Adelard until the trail led them to Pedro. When he’d entered the carpenter’s hovel alone, he drew a knife from the sleeve of his robe and stabbed him in the heart. He had felt no remorse then and felt none now. He had trusted Pedro with a task and the man had betrayed him in a way most foul, a way that could have cost him his own life.
Ramiro knew from his family tradition across the generations that the Compendium had survived flood and blade and fire. That was why he had attacked it so enthusiastically with the headsman’s axe: He had known the book would be impervious.
And then Adelard’s pathetic attempt to fool them into thinking he had found a solvent to destroy the Compendium. Torquemada’s eyes were poor, but Ramiro knew the book too well and had recognized the decoy for what it was. After that it was a simple matter of finding where Adelard had hidden the original.
Regaining possession had been the easiest. After making sure Torquemada had tied up the Compendium himself, Ramiro pretended to see a falling star. While the old man was searching the sky, Ramiro reached through the slit in his robe into the same pouch where he had hidden Adelard’s wine this morning. He removed Adelard’s tin fake, wrapped identically as the original. The true Compendium took its place in the pouch and Adelard’s fake went into the earth.
Ramiro shook his head. He had lied for the Compendium, killed for it, betrayed and killed a friend for it, then stolen it back from the Grand Inquisitor himself.
Perhaps you are from hell, he thought, touching the raised lettering. Look what you’ve made me do.
But no, the Compendium was not from hell. Adelard had been right: It came from the past, from before the Deluge. Indeed, it was the Eighth Wonder of the Ancient World. But it must remain hidden from the modern world. Not for Torquemada’s reason of a threat to the Faith—Ramiro cared not for any faith—but because the world did not need it yet.
He replaced the tile and headed for the fields.
Pedro and Adelard and the two relapsos were dead. One look at Torquemada and anyone could tell that the Grand Inquisitor would soon be joining them. The Morisco from the marketplace was practically illiterate and had no idea what treasure he had held. Only Asher ben Samuel remained, and as a converso targeted by the tribunal, he would never talk about it.
The Compendium seemed safe… at least for the moment.
Ramiro’s family tradition said the Compendium was a thing of destiny, with an important role to play in the future. Ramiro had rededicated himself to preserving it for that future. It would be safer hidden under the library floor than in the chest of drawers in his room or buried in a field. Someday it would find its place in the future and fulfill its destiny.
One day he would leave the order and find a wife. He would have a son and start a new tradition of protecting the Compendium.
But until then it would belong to him and him alone. No one else could touch it or read of the marvels described and pictured within. Only him.
Ramiro liked it that way.
~
We hope you enjoyed this book.
For more information, click one of the links below:
F. Paul Wilson
About the Death Sentences Series
About the Series Editors
An invitation from the publisher
About The Compendium of Srem
In the fifteenth century, the Spanish Inquisition spreads terror throughout the land, with Prior Tomás de Torquemada serving as the ultimate judge of who will live and who will be consigned to the purifying flames. Never has Torquemada questioned his own faith or his sacred duty to rid the world of heretics, blasphemers, and nonbelievers.
> Now, however, an extraordinary volume has come into his possession – an ancient book that radiates pure evil. The prior realizes this abomination must be destroyed along with anyone who has come into contact with it, for it is surely the devil’s work, corrupting and possessing all those who touch it. But whom can Torquemada trust to help him achieve his mission now that The Compendium of Srem has passed through numerous hands... including his own?
Reviews
PRAISE FOR DEATH SENTENCES
“What treats you have in store! All these stories show their authors to be masters of their craft.”
Ian Rankin
PRAISE FOR F. PAUL WILSON
“F. Paul Wilson is a great storyteller and a thoughtful one.”
David Morrell
About F. Paul Wilson
F. PAUL WILSON is a New York Times bestselling author specializing in thriller, science fiction and horror. He won the Prometheus award in 1979 and 2004, as well as a special Prometheus Lifetime Achievement award in 2015.
About the Series Editors
OTTO PENZLER is the proprietor of The Mysterious Bookshop in New York City and an Edgar-award winning anthologist.
IAN RANKIN is the bestselling author of the Rebus series.
About Death Sentences
Sigmund Freud deals with an unwelcome visitor; Columbo confronts a murderous bookseller; a Mexican cartel kingpin with a fatal weakness for rare books; deadly secrets deep in the London Library: who knew literature could be so lethal? Here are 27 short stories to die for from the world’s best crime writers.
Includes original, specially commissioned stories about deadly books from Jeffrey Deaver, Joyce Carol Oates, Andrew Taylor, R. L. Stine, Laura Lippman, C.J. Box, Anne Perry, Ken Bruen, Thomas H. Cook, Micky Spillaine & Max Adam Collins, Nelson DeMille and John Connolly.
Remaindered
A puzzler of a tale about a dead bookshop owner, a priceless cache of first editions, and a deadly secret taken to the grave.
Remaindered is available here.
Mystery Inc.
Have you ever wanted something so badly you would kill for it?
Mystery Inc. is available here.
The Compendium of Srem
The most evil book ever conceived falls into the hands of the leader of the Spanish Inquisition.
The Compendium of Srem is available here.
The Gospel of Sheba
A librarian is tormented by a lethal volume of black magic.
The Gospel of Sheba is available here.
The Sequel
Writer’s block shows up in person to terrorize a bestselling author.
The Sequel is available here.
Pronghorns of the Third Reich
In frigid Wyoming lies a mystery that stretches back to Nazi Germany.
Pronghorns of the Third Reich is available here.
An Acceptable Sacrifice
A pair of federal agents from either side of the US–Mexico border target a cartel kingpin.
An Acceptable Sacrifice is available here.
The Book Thing
A bibliophile PI sets out to save a bookshop from a serial thief.
The Book Thing is available here.
The Scroll
An ancient scroll draws a bookseller into a chilling mystery.
The Scroll is available here.
The Long Sonata of the Dead
In pursuit of the find of a lifetime, an academic confronts an old rival.
The Long Sonata of the Dead is available here.
The Final Testament
As World War II draws near, a dying genius fights against hate to preserve his legacy
The Final Testament is available here.
The Book of Virtue
With his hated father dead, a man’s life takes a dangerous turn
The Book of Virtue is available here.
The Book of Ghosts
The lie that bought Jacob Weisen a new life cannot help him escape the past
The Book of Ghosts is available here.
Book Club
When a bibliophile is murdered, it takes a bookseller to solve the crime
Book Club is available here.
Rides a Stranger
After the death of his father, a literature professor is drawn into the murder investigation of a bookstore owner…
Rides a Stranger is available here.
What’s in a Name
A rare book collector finds a manuscript that might have changed the course of WWI.
What’s in a Name is available here.
Death Leaves a Bookmark
Attempting the perfect murder, a killer encounters the perfect cop
Death leaves a Bookmark is available here.
It’s in the Book
A new Mike Hammer story from the archives of Mickey Spillane.
It’s in the Book is available here.
A Letter from the Publisher
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The story starts here.
First published in the United States in 2014 by MysteriousPress.com/Open Road Integrated Media
This eBook edition first published in the UK in 2015 by Head of Zeus Ltd
Copyright © F. Paul Wilson, 2014
The moral right of F. Paul Wilson to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act of 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission of both the copyright owner and the above publisher of this book.
This is a work of fiction. All characters, organizations, and events portrayed in this novel are either products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.
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A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
ISBN (E) 9781784974046
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Contents
Cover
Welcome page
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
About The Compendium of Srem
Reviews
About F. Paul Wilson
About the Series Editors
About Death Sentences
An Invitation from the Publishers
Copyright
The Compendium of Srem Page 5