It was impossible to spend more than a few hours in Iceland without hearing about the kreppa. 'Just an economy fare and perhaps one night in a motel,' Magnus said. He looked at the bodies around the table. 'You're putting a whole lot of resource into this investigation. An airplane ticket won't make much difference.'

Baldur glared at Magnus. 'I'll think about it,' he said, giving Magnus the distinct impression that he wouldn't.

'OK,' Baldur continued, addressing the group. 'It looks like someone calling himself Isildur was behind the negotiations with Agnar. If this Lawrence Feldman was that man, he had the cash to back a significant deal.'

'But what could they have been negotiating over?' said Vigdis.

'Something to do with The Lord of the Rings?' Magnus said. 'Or the Saga of the Volsungs, maybe. I read it again last night. A magic ring plays an important part in both books. There's a theory that Tolkien was inspired by the Volsung Saga.'

'All the old copies of the saga will be in the arni Magnusson Collection at the University of Iceland,' said Baldur. arni Magnusson was a Danish-educated antiquarian who travelled around Iceland in the seventeenth century gathering up all the sagas he could find. He transported them to Denmark, but they were returned to Iceland in the 1970s, where they were housed in an institute bearing the great collector's name. 'Are you saying Agnar had stolen a copy?'

'He might have switched it for a facsimile,' suggested Vigdis.

'Perhaps,' said Magnus. 'Or perhaps he had some wacko theory that he was selling to Isildur. Maybe he was going to do some research for him.'

Baldur frowned and shook his head.

'It could be narcotics,' Rannveig said. 'I know it's boring, but in Iceland, if it's an illicit deal, it's nearly always drugs.'

There was silence for a moment around the table. The assistant prosecutor had a point.

'Was there anything in Agnar's papers suggesting what this deal could be?' Rannveig asked.

'No, I checked most of them myself,' Baldur said. 'Apart from those e-mails on his computer, there is nothing about a deal with Steve Jubb. And the files on his laptop are all work related.'

'What was he working on?' Magnus asked.

'What do you mean?'

'I mean what was he researching when he died?'

'I'm not sure he was researching anything. He was marking exam papers. And translating a couple of sagas into English and French.'

Magnus leaned forward. 'Which sagas?'

'I don't know,' Baldur said, defensively. He clearly didn't appreciate being interrogated in his own meeting. 'I didn't read through all his working papers. There are piles of them.'

Magnus restrained himself from pushing the point. He didn't want to put Baldur's back up any more than he had to. 'Can I take a second look? At his working papers, I mean.'

Baldur stared at Magnus, making no attempt to hide his irritation. 'Of course,' he said drily. 'That would be a good use of your time.'

There were two places to look: Agnar's room at the university, or the summer house. There would be more papers at the university, and it was closer. On the other hand, if Agnar had been working on something relevant to Steve Jubb it was likely to be at the summer house where it would be available for his meeting.

So arni drove Magnus out to Lake Thingvellir. 'Do you think Baldur will let you go to California?' he asked.

'I don't know. He didn't seem excited by the idea.'

'If you do go, can you take me with you?' arni glanced at Magnus sitting in the passenger seat and noticed his hesitation. 'I did my degree in the States so I am familiar with US police procedures. Plus, California is my spiritual home.'

'What do you mean?'

'You know. The Gubernator.'

Magnus shook his head. arni would be demanding a personal interview with Arnold Schwarzenegger next. Besides, Magnus would rather approach Lawrence Feldman in his own way without his Icelandic puppy at his heels. 'We'll see.'

Deflated, arni drove over the pass beyond Mosfell Heath and down towards the lake. It wasn't actually raining, but there was a stiff breeze that ruffled the surface. Their approach was watched by a posse of sturdy Icelandic horses from the farm behind the cottages, their long golden forelocks flopping down over their eyes.

Magnus noticed a boy and a girl playing by the shore of the lake the boy was about eight, the girl much smaller. Again, only the one summer house with the Range Rover was occupied. Agnar's property was still a crime scene, with yellow tape fluttering in the wind and a police car parked outside, in which sat a solitary constable reading a book. Crime and Punishment by one F.M. Dostojevski, it transpired. Magnus smiled. Cops everywhere liked to read about crime; it wasn't surprising that the Icelanders had a more literary approach to it than their American counterparts.

The policeman was glad of the company and let Magnus and arni into the house. It was cold and still. Fingerprint dust covered most of the smooth surfaces, adding to the sense of desolation, and there were chalk marks around the traces of blood on the floor.

Magnus examined the desk: drawers full of papers, most of them printouts from a computer. There was also a low cupboard just to the left of the desk, in which more reams of paper lay.

'OK, you check out the cabinet, I'll check out the desk,' Magnus said, slipping on a pair of white latex gloves.

The first bundle he examined was a French translation of the Laxdaela Saga, on which were scribbled comments in French. These only covered the first half of the manuscript. Magnus had learned some French at school, and he guessed that arni had been correcting or commenting on the work of another translator, probably an Icelandic-speaking Frenchman.

'What have you got, arni?'

'Gaukur's Saga,' he said. 'Have you ever heard of it?'

'No,' said Magnus. That wasn't necessarily a surprise. There were dozens of sagas, some well-known, some much less so. 'Wait a minute. Wasn't Gaukur the guy who lived at Stong?'

'That's right,' said arni. 'I went there when I was a kid. I was scared out of my wits.'

'I know what you mean,' said Magnus. 'My father took me there when I was sixteen. There was something really creepy about that place.'

Stong was an abandoned farm about twenty kilometres north of the volcano, Mount Hekla. It had been smothered in ash after a massive eruption some time in the middle ages, and had only been rediscovered in the twentieth century. It lay at the end of a rough track which wound its way through a landscape of blackened destruction: mounds of sand and small outcrops of lava twisted into grotesque shapes. When Magnus read of the apocalypse, he thought of the road to Stong.

'Let me take a look.'

arni handed the manuscript to Magnus. It was about a hundred and twenty crisp, newly printed pages, in English. On the cover were the simple words: 'Gaukur's Saga, translated by Agnar Haraldsson'.

Magnus turned the page, scanning the text. On the second page he came upon a word that brought his eyes to an abrupt halt.

isildur.

'arni, look at this!' He flicked rapidly through more pages. isildur. isildur. isildur. isildur.

The name cropped up several times on each page. isildur wasn't a bit player in this saga, he was a main character.

'Wow,' said arni. 'Shall we take it back to headquarters to get forensics to look at it?'

'I'm going to read it,' Magnus said. 'Then forensics can take a look.'

So he sat down in a comfortable armchair, and began to read, passing each page carefully to arni as he finished with it.

CHAPTER TWELVE.

iSILDUR AND GAUKUR were two brothers who lived at a farm called Stong. isildur was strong and brave with dark hair. He had a hare lip and some people thought he was ugly. He was a skilled carver of wood. Gaukur, although two years younger than isildur, was even stronger. He had fair hair and was very handsome, but he was vain. He was an expert with a battleaxe. Both brothers were honest and popular in the region.

Their father, Trandill, wanted to pay a visit to his uncle in Norway and to go on Viking raids. Their mother had died when the boys were small, so Trandill sent them to a friend, Ellida-Grimur of Tongue, to be fostered. Ellida-Grimur agreed to manage the farm at Stong in Trandill's absence. Ellida-Grimur had a son, asgrimur, who was the same age as isildur. The three boys became fast friends.

Trandill was away for three years, spending the summers raiding and trading in the Baltic and in Ireland, and the winters with his uncle, Earl Gandalf the White, in Norway.

One day a traveller returning to Iceland from Norway arrived at Tongue with a message. Trandill had been killed in a fight with Erlendur, Earl Gandalf's son. Gandalf was willing to pay the compensation that was due to Trandill's sons, and to hand over the inheritance if one of the brothers would come to Norway to collect it.

When isildur was nineteen, he decided to travel to Norway to visit his great uncle and claim his inheritance. Gandalf and his son Erlendur welcomed him with great warmth and hospitality. Gandalf said that Erlendur had killed Trandill in self-defence when Trandill had attacked him in a drunken rage. The other men at the court who had witnessed Trandill's death agreed that this was the case.

isildur decided to spend the summer on Viking raids with Erlendur. They went to Courland and Karelia in the East Baltic. isildur was a brave warrior and won much booty. After many adventures, he returned to the house of Gandalf a wealthy man.

isildur told Gandalf that he wanted to return to Iceland. Gandalf gave isildur the compensation he was owed for his father's death, and also Trandill's treasure. But the night before isildur was due to set sail, Gandalf said he had something else to give him. It was locked in a small chest.

Inside was an ancient ring.

Gandalf explained that Trandill had won the ring on a raid in Frisia when he had fought the famous warrior chieftain, Ulf Leg Lopper. Ulf Leg Lopper was ninety years old, but he appeared to be no older than forty and he was still a fearsome fighter. After a long struggle, Trandill felled him. He saw the ring on Ulf Leg Lopper's finger and chopped the finger off.

Despite the fact that he was dying, Ulf Leg Lopper smiled. 'I give you thanks for relieving me of my burden. I found this ring in the River Rhine seventy years ago. I have worn it every day since then. During that time I have won great victories and wealth in battle. Yet although I wear the ring, I feel that the ring owns me. It will bring you great power, but then it will bring you death. And now I can die, in peace at last.'

Trandill examined the ring. Inside were inscribed in runes the words 'The Ring of Andvari'. He was going to ask Ulf more about the ring, but when he looked down, Ulf was dead, a smile on his face, no longer a great warrior, but a wrinkled old man.

Gandalf told isildur the legend of the ring. It had belonged to a dwarf named Andvari, who used to fish by some waterfalls. The ring was seized from Andvari, together with a hoard of gold, by Odin and Loki, two ancient gods. Andvari laid a curse on the ring, saying it would take possession of its bearer and use the bearer's power to destroy him, and would continue to do so until it was taken home to Hel. [Translator's footnote: Hel was the domain of Hel, the goddess of death and Loki's daughter.]

Odin, foremost of the gods, reluctantly gave the ring to a man named Hreidmar as compensation for killing his son. The ring had drawn great power from Odin. In the following years the ring fell into the possession of a number of keepers, each of which was corrupted, including Hreidmar's son Fafnir, who became a dragon; the hero Sigurd; the Valkyrie Brynhild and Sigurd's sons Gunnar and Hogni. Everywhere it went it left a trail of treachery and murder in its wake, until finally it was hidden by Gunnar in the Rhine so that his father-in-law Atli could not get hold of it.

There it lay for centuries until it was found by Ulf Leg Lopper.

When Trandill returned to Norway he was a changed man: secretive, cunning and selfish. He constantly taunted Erlendur and one evening, in a drunken rage, he attacked him. Erlendur killed him with a lucky blow.

Erlendur was going to take the ring, but Gandalf laid claim to it. That evening he put it on. At once he felt different: stronger, powerful, and also greedy.

Later that evening a Sami sorceress from the North knocked at the door of Gandalf's house seeking shelter. She saw that Gandalf was wearing the ring. She was overcome with terror and tried to leave into the night, but Gandalf stopped her. He demanded to know what she had seen.

She said that the ring had a terrible power. It would consume all who owned it, until a man so powerful wore it that he would rule the world and destroy everything good in it. The world would be plunged into eternal darkness.

Gandalf was concerned. He could feel the effect that the ring was having on him, but he was not yet in its power. He took off the ring at once and told the sorceress that he would destroy it. She said that the only way the ring could be destroyed was as Andvari had prophesied; it must be thrown into the mouth of Hel.

'Tell me, woman, where is Hel?'

'It is a mountain in the land of fire and ice,' the sorceress replied.

'I know where she means,' said Erlendur. 'Trandill told me of it. It is Hekla, a great volcano near his farm at Stong.'

So Gandalf decided never to wear the ring again and to keep it safe for Trandill's sons. He told isildur to take the ring to Hekla in Iceland and throw it into the volcano.

That night isildur had a dream that he was leading a glorious raiding party through England and he won a hoard of gold. He woke up before it was light and put on the ring. Immediately he felt taller, stronger, invincible. And he was determined to earn an even greater fortune overseas.

He went to Gandalf and demanded that the earl give him a ship and permit him to lead a raiding party to England. Gandalf saw he was wearing the ring and ordered him to take it off. isildur felt a surge of anger shoot through him. He took up an axe and was just about to split Gandalf's skull when Erlendur grabbed him from behind.

As they struggled, Erlendur shouted: 'Stop, isildur. You don't know what you are doing! It is the ring! You will make me have to kill you just like I killed your father!'

isildur felt a burst of strength course through his veins and he threw Erlendur off him. He raised his axe high above the defenceless Erlendur. But when he looked down on his cousin and his friend with whom he had shared so many adventures that summer, he stopped himself. He threw down the axe and pulled the ring off his finger. He replaced the ring in its box and left for Iceland immediately.

He returned home to Iceland with the ring and his treasure. Gaukur had taken over the management of the farm at Stong, and was betrothed to a woman named Ingileif. When asgrimur heard that isildur had returned he travelled to Stong to meet his foster-brother. isildur told his brother and his foster-brother about his adventures in Norway and the Baltic. Then he told them all about Andvari's Ring, and Earl Gandalf's instruction that he toss it into Hekla. He described the immense sense of power he had felt when he put on the ring, and the constant temptation to try it on again. He said that he intended to take the ring up the mountain the very next day and he asked Gaukur and asgrimur to accompany him to make sure that he went through with the quest.

Hekla had a fearsome reputation and no one had climbed it before. But the three men were brave and undaunted, so early the next morning they set off for the volcano. On the second day, they were most of the way up the mountain when asgrimur slipped down a gully and broke his leg. He could not continue further, but he agreed to wait until the brothers returned from the summit.

He waited until nearly midnight before he heard the sound of footsteps scrambling down the mountain. But there was only one man, Gaukur. He told asgrimur what had happened. He and his brother were standing by the crater at the top of the mountain. isildur took the ring from its box and was about to toss it into the crater, but he seemed unable to do so. He said that the ring was very heavy. Gaukur urged him to throw it, but isildur became angry and put the ring on his finger. Then he turned and before Gaukur could grab him, he leaped into the crater.

'At least the ring is destroyed,' said asgrimur. 'But at a very high price.'

In the years afterwards, Gaukur changed. He became vain and quarrelsome, cunning and greedy. But he was even stronger and braver in battle and had a fearsome reputation. Despite all this, his foster-brother asgrimur remained steadfast in his loyalty. He frequently supported Gaukur in the various disputes Gaukur was involved in at the annual gathering of the Althing in Thingvellir.

Gaukur married Ingileif. She was a wise woman and beautiful. She had a strong temper, but she was usually quiet. She noticed the change in Gaukur and she did not like it. She also noticed that Gaukur spent much time at Steinastadir, the farm of his neighbour Ketil the Pale.

Ketil the Pale was a clever farmer, wise and peaceful and a gifted composer of poetry. He was popular with everyone, except perhaps his wife. Her name was Helga. She had fair hair and long limbs and was contemptuous of her husband, but admired Gaukur.

There was a marsh between the two farms, on Ketil the Pale's land. It was waterlogged in winter, but in spring it produced very sweet grass. One spring Gaukur decided to graze his own cows on the land and chased Ketil the Pale's cows away. Ketil the Pale protested, but Gaukur brushed him off. Ketil the Pale did nothing. Helga scolded her husband for being so weak.

After midsummer, when Gaukur was returning from the Althing at Thingvellir, he passed by Ketil the Pale's farm. He came across a slave of Ketil the Pale who was slow to get out of his way. So Gaukur chopped off his head. Once again, Ketil the Pale did nothing.

Helga was again contemptuous of Ketil the Pale. She scolded him from morning until night, vowing never to share his bed again until he had demanded compensation from Gaukur.

So Ketil the Pale rode over to Stong to speak to Gaukur.

'I have come to demand compensation for the unlawful killing of my slave,' Ketil said.

Gaukur snorted. 'His killing was perfectly lawful. He blocked the way back to my own farm and would not let me pass.'

'That is not my understanding of what happened,' said Ketil.

Gaukur laughed at him. 'You understand very little, Ketil. Everyone knows that every ninth night you are the woman to the troll of Burfell.'

'And they know that you could not sire anyone because you were gelded by the troll's daughters,' Ketil replied, for at that time Gaukur and Ingileif had no children.

Whereupon Gaukur picked up his axe and after a brief struggle chopped off Ketil the Pale's leg. Ketil dropped down dead.

Afterwards Gaukur made even more visits to Ketil the Pale's farm, where Helga was now the mistress. Ketil's brother's demanded compensation from Gaukur, but he refused to pay, and his foster-brother asgrimur supported him loyally.

Ingileif was jealous, and determined to stop Gaukur. She spoke to Thordis, asgrimur's wife and told her a secret. isildur had not jumped into the crater of Hekla while wearing the ring. He had been killed by Gaukur, who had taken the ring, and then pushed his brother into the crater. Gaukur had hidden the ring in a small cave watched over by a troll's hound.