The image posited a million questions that needed to point to one unifying answer. What was the key? August put the pen to the notebook:

Four—Blue Man and Swan

“There’s something wrong about this swan,” August said, fixing his attention on it. “The feathers, the neck, even the top of the head are right. But look at the mouth.”

Xandria took a closer look. “It has teeth.”

“Exactly,” August said. “So what is this illumination trying to say?”

Xandria closed her book. “Did the Bestiaire explain imagery involving swans?”

“Most definitely. Birds were a favorite device of painters, and especially illuminators, because they usually depicted the inner wars of the church. The swan was used as a symbol of the martyr. First the swan sings, then it dies.”

“Swan song.”

“Right.”

“But what about the teeth?”

August looked more closely at the swan. “The teeth are suspiciously like that of the dog we saw before. Maybe the reference is related as well.”

Xandria got out her laptop and dug up the image of the two fighting dragons. “It looks like you might be right. Are you saying that this new illumination has the same meaning as the last one?”

“No,” August said. “Only that the reference of the dragon is the same. But there’s something new here. Something we didn’t have before.”

He took the laptop and launched the Internet browser.

“What are you doing?”

“I’m searching for medieval factions of the church that used the dragon as their primary symbol,” August explained. He clicked through a few Web sites until he landed on one that displayed a picture of a dragon curled in a circle, its tail curved and wrapped around its own neck. A pair of scaly wings was folded on its back, creased in half by what August remembered to be the Red Cross of Saint George. He enlarged the image on the screen and positioned it next to the illumination. “Eerily similar,” he said. “And who does this symbol belong to?”

“The Order of the Dragon,” Xandria whispered.

August scrolled down the screen and confirmed Xandria’s proclamation. “How did you know that?”

“They were assassins, a covert arm of the Holy Roman Empire,” she said. “They almost entirely destroyed the Orphans during the 1400s.”

“Is the Order of the Dragon still around today?”

“Yes and no,” Xandria said. “There are some people who claim to be part of it, but for the most part, they’re just Dracula enthusiasts.”

“Dracula?”

“Vlad II Dracul was one of the first members of the Order. His son was Vlad III the Impaler, the historical Dracula.”

“But is there still a true Order of the Dragon?”

Xandria nodded, examining a piece of lint on her skirt. “I’ve been told that there are members of their society within most of the Western governments.”

“Sounds a bit far-fetched.”

She placed her hand over his. “Says the man holding the ancient book, searching for mysterious clues.”