Read Online The Adventures of Lazarus Gray by Barry Reese - Free Book Online Page A
Authors: Barry Reese
Ads: Link
table.
Gray sat at the head of the
table, the papers arranged in two rows of four in front of him. He
was dressed in black slacks and a white shirt today, the sleeves of
which were rolled up to the midpoint of his forearms. It was a
fairly casual look for Gray but even so his ever-present tie was in
place. "We have an interesting case before us," Gray said at last.
"These pages are extracted from a tome known as the Codex
Gigas."
Morgan leaned forward. "How
do you know that?"
"The content of the pages
leads me to that conclusion but it’s borne out by the size of the
sheets themselves. The Codex Gigas is the largest extant medieval
manuscript in the world. It weighs over 160 pounds and has
measurements of 36 inches in height, nearly 20 inches in width and
over 8 inches in thickness."
Morgan glanced over at Eun,
who gave a shrug of his shoulders. None of them were surprised that
their leader would be able to quote such figures off the top of his
head, but it was impressive nonetheless. Despite the fact that his
own past was a mystery to him, Gray’s head was filled with data
about subjects both famous and obscure. "Okay. So it’s an old book.
What’s it about?"
Gray picked up on one of
the pages and studied it. "The tome contains the Vulgate Bible, as
well as many historical documents. The entire thing is written in
Latin and legend has it that Herman the Recluse compiled it in the
Benedictine monastery of Podlazice near Chrudim. It’s drifted from
hand to hand since then but was seized in 1648 as plunder by the
Swedish army. The rest of the book is currently part of the
National Library of Sweden. People have known for years that there
were eight missing pages and these appear to be them."
"Are we going to contact
the Swedes, then?" Eun asked.
"No. Not yet. You see,
there is a bit more to the story. There is a legend attached to it
and these pages may shed some further illumination upon that. I
daresay the secrets contained here are worth dying for."
Morgan sat back and
grinned. "Well don’t keep us in suspense, Chief. Spin the yarn for
us."
Gray stood up, clasping his
hands behind his back as he began to pace slowly back and forth.
His voice remained low and even but all of his aides found
themselves leaning forward as he talked, drawn in by the tale he
was weaving. "The story goes that Herman the Recluse broke his
monastic vows and was sentenced to be walled up alive in the
monastery."
"Must have been some nasty
business he took part in," Morgan muttered, drawing a stern frown
from Samantha.
Gray continued as if he
hadn’t heard Morgan’s interruption. "In order to avoid this fate,
the monk promised that he would create a book that would contain
all the knowledge of man. The other monks, hungry to see his fall
from grace, demanded that he do this in a single night. Having no
other choice, he agreed and began to work. At some point in the
night, he gave in to despair, knowing that he would never have a
hope of succeeding. And so he turned to the one being who might
help him: the Devil himself. Satan claimed the monk’s soul and
completed the book for him, going so far as to insert a
self-portrait on page 577. The image is a horrific depiction of the
Devil and all those who gaze upon it feel a shiver go down their
spines. It’s like staring into the abyss. Modern scholars who have
studied the manuscript are adamant that a single hand wrote it all,
with no discrepancy due to age, sickness or simply the passage of
time. It’s estimated that it would have taken twenty years or more
for a single person to create such a work."
"So the work isn’t cursed?"
Samantha asked. "I can’t believe Satan would create something like
that and not have it be something incredibly evil."
Gray looked at her. "In
addition to all the histories included in the tome, there are also
magical spells. These are mostly exorcisms but it’s been rumored
for centuries that the missing eight pages contained spells of
summoning,
Gray sat at the head of the
table, the papers arranged in two rows of four in front of him. He
was dressed in black slacks and a white shirt today, the sleeves of
which were rolled up to the midpoint of his forearms. It was a
fairly casual look for Gray but even so his ever-present tie was in
place. "We have an interesting case before us," Gray said at last.
"These pages are extracted from a tome known as the Codex
Gigas."
Morgan leaned forward. "How
do you know that?"
"The content of the pages
leads me to that conclusion but it’s borne out by the size of the
sheets themselves. The Codex Gigas is the largest extant medieval
manuscript in the world. It weighs over 160 pounds and has
measurements of 36 inches in height, nearly 20 inches in width and
over 8 inches in thickness."
Morgan glanced over at Eun,
who gave a shrug of his shoulders. None of them were surprised that
their leader would be able to quote such figures off the top of his
head, but it was impressive nonetheless. Despite the fact that his
own past was a mystery to him, Gray’s head was filled with data
about subjects both famous and obscure. "Okay. So it’s an old book.
What’s it about?"
Gray picked up on one of
the pages and studied it. "The tome contains the Vulgate Bible, as
well as many historical documents. The entire thing is written in
Latin and legend has it that Herman the Recluse compiled it in the
Benedictine monastery of Podlazice near Chrudim. It’s drifted from
hand to hand since then but was seized in 1648 as plunder by the
Swedish army. The rest of the book is currently part of the
National Library of Sweden. People have known for years that there
were eight missing pages and these appear to be them."
"Are we going to contact
the Swedes, then?" Eun asked.
"No. Not yet. You see,
there is a bit more to the story. There is a legend attached to it
and these pages may shed some further illumination upon that. I
daresay the secrets contained here are worth dying for."
Morgan sat back and
grinned. "Well don’t keep us in suspense, Chief. Spin the yarn for
us."
Gray stood up, clasping his
hands behind his back as he began to pace slowly back and forth.
His voice remained low and even but all of his aides found
themselves leaning forward as he talked, drawn in by the tale he
was weaving. "The story goes that Herman the Recluse broke his
monastic vows and was sentenced to be walled up alive in the
monastery."
"Must have been some nasty
business he took part in," Morgan muttered, drawing a stern frown
from Samantha.
Gray continued as if he
hadn’t heard Morgan’s interruption. "In order to avoid this fate,
the monk promised that he would create a book that would contain
all the knowledge of man. The other monks, hungry to see his fall
from grace, demanded that he do this in a single night. Having no
other choice, he agreed and began to work. At some point in the
night, he gave in to despair, knowing that he would never have a
hope of succeeding. And so he turned to the one being who might
help him: the Devil himself. Satan claimed the monk’s soul and
completed the book for him, going so far as to insert a
self-portrait on page 577. The image is a horrific depiction of the
Devil and all those who gaze upon it feel a shiver go down their
spines. It’s like staring into the abyss. Modern scholars who have
studied the manuscript are adamant that a single hand wrote it all,
with no discrepancy due to age, sickness or simply the passage of
time. It’s estimated that it would have taken twenty years or more
for a single person to create such a work."
"So the work isn’t cursed?"
Samantha asked. "I can’t believe Satan would create something like
that and not have it be something incredibly evil."
Gray looked at her. "In
addition to all the histories included in the tome, there are also
magical spells. These are mostly exorcisms but it’s been rumored
for centuries that the missing eight pages contained spells of
summoning,
Similar Books
