The War Hound and The World

Chapter III

MY SKIN NOW seemed to have turned almost as white as that featureless plain. I observed on my hands details of line, contours of vein and bone, which I had never before noticed.

My nails glittered like glass and appeared extraordinarily fragile.

I possessed virtually no weight at all. I thought that I might have been a crystal ghost.

"This is Hell?" said I to Lucifer.

The Prince of Darkness, too, was pale. Only His eyes, black as weathered iron, were alive.

"This is Hell," He said. "One part, I should say, of my domain. A domain which is, of course, infinite."

"And has infinite aspects?" I suggested.

"Of course not. You speak of Heaven. Hell is the Realm of Restraint and Bleak Singularity." His smile was almost hesitant, His glance sidelong, as if He was concerned that I should not miss His irony.

Lucifer seemed to exhibit a certain shyness with me. I could believe that He hoped for my good opinion. I was puzzled as to why this should be. He still gave off an aura of tremendous power and genius. I was still, against every effort of will, drawn to Him. I was certainly no match for Him in any conceivable terms. Yet it was my impression that He was nervous of me. What might I possess that He could not demand? Why should He be so desperate to own my soul?

But I saw no sense in trying to outguess Satan. Surely He could read every thought, anticipate every argument, forestall every action I chose to take.

It then occurred to me that perhaps He was refusing to do this. Perhaps His apparent delicacy was the result of His own reluctance to use the power that was His. The Prince of Darkness, who could manipulate kings and generals, Popes and cardinals, to whom such manipulation was second nature, was seeking somehow to be direct, was resisting in Himself the habits of an eternal lifetime.

This impression of mine could in itself have been created by means of careful deception.

There was plainly no point in attempting to understand Lucifer's motives or guess His character. Neither should I, I told myself, waste what few mental resources I still had in trying to anticipate either His actions or His needs.

I should merely trust that he would keep His word. I would let Him show me what He wished to show me of His Realm. And I would believe nothing to be wholly what it might seem to be.

"You are a pragmatist, captain," said Lucifer casually, "in your very bones. To your very soul, one might say."

My voice seemed fainter than was normal. There was a slight echo to it, I thought. "Do you see my soul, Your Majesty?"

He linked His arm in mine and we began to walk across the plain.

"I am familiar with it, captain."

I knew no fear at this statement, whereas on Earth I should have shuddered at least a little. Although aware of Lucifer's presence, my body was now neither corporeal nor ethereal, but somewhere between the two. Emotions which should have been strong in me were presently only hinted at; my brain seemed clearer, but that in itself could have been an illusion; my movements were slow and deliberate, yet they followed my thoughts well enough.

This state of being was not uncongenial, and I wondered if it might be the usual condition of angels and the more powerful orders of supernatural entities.

It did not strike me as strange, as I strolled through Hell, side by side with Lucifer, that I had begun to think in terms of spiritual creatures, of realms beyond my earthly world, when, for many years, I had refused to believe in anything but the most substantial and material of phenomena.

Flesh and blood…predominantly the preservation of my own…had been my only reality since my early days of soldiering. My mind and my senses had become blunted, almost certainly, but blunted sensibilities were the only kind one could safely have in the life I led. And the life I led was the only sane one in the world in which I had found myself.

Now, of a sudden, I was not only discovering a return of all my subtlest sensibilities, but exploring sensations…illusory or not…normally denied the bulk of humanity.

It was no wonder that my judgement was confused. Even though I allowed for this, I could not help but be affected. I fought to remember that I must make no pact with Lucifer, that I must agree to nothing, that no matter how tempting any offer He made I must play for time. For not only my life could be at stake, my fate for all Eternity could be the issue.

Lucifer seemed to be trying to console me. "I have given my word to you," He reminded me, "and I shall keep it."

An archway of silvery flames appeared immediately before us. Lucifer drew me towards it.

This time I did not hesitate, but entered the archway and found myself in a city.

The city was of black obsidian stone. Every surface, every wall, every canopy and every flag were black and gleamed. The folk of the city wore clothes of rich, dark colours…of scarlet and deep blue, of bloody orange and moss green…and their skins were the colour of old, polished oak.

"This city exists in Hell?" I asked.

"It is one of the chief cities of Hell," replied Lucifer.

As we passed, the people knelt immediately to the ground and made obeisance to their Lord.

"They recognise you," I said.

"Oh, indeed."

The city seemed rich and the people seemed healthy.

"Hell is a punishment, surely?" I said. "Yet these people are not evidently suffering."

"They are suffering," said Lucifer. "It is their specific fate. You saw how swiftly they knelt to me."

"Aye."

"They are all my slaves. They are none of them free."

"Doubtless they were not free on Earth."

"True. But they know that they would be free in Heaven. Their chief misery is simply that they know they are in Hell for all Eternity. It is that knowledge, in itself, which is their punishment."

"What is freedom in Heaven?" I asked.

"In Hell you become what you fear yourself to be. In Heaven you may become what you hope yourself to be," said Lucifer.

I had expected a more profound reply, or at least a more complicated one.

"A mild enough punishment, compared to what Luther threatened," I observed.

"Apparently. And far less interesting than Luther's torments, as he would tell you himself. There is nothing very interesting in Hell."

I found that I was amused. "Would that be an epigram to sum Hell up?" I asked.

"I doubt if such an epigram exists. Perhaps Luther would believe that it was. Do you wish to ask him?"

"He is here?"

"In this very city. It is called the City of Humbled Princes. It might have been built for him."

I had no wish to encounter Martin Luther, either in Hell, in Heaven or on Earth. I must admit to a certain satisfaction at the knowledge that he had not gained his expected reward but doubtless shared territory in Hell with those churchmen he had most roundly condemned.

"I believe I understand what you mean," I said.

"Oh, I think we both understand Pride, Captain von Bek," said Lucifer almost cheerfully. "Shall I call Luther? He is very docile now."

I shook my head.

Lucifer drew me on through the black streets. I looked at the faces of the citizens, and I knew that I would do almost anything to avoid becoming one of them. This damnation was surely a subtle one. It was their eyes which chiefly impressed me: hard and hopeless. Then it was their whispering voices: cold and without dignity. And then it was the city itself: without any saving humanity.

"This visit to Hell will be brief," Lucifer reassured me. "But I believe it will convince you."

We entered a huge, square building and passed into deeper blackness.

"Are there no flames here?" I asked Him. "No demons? No screaming sinners?"

"Few sinners receive that sort of satisfaction here," said Lucifer.

We stood on the shores of a wide and shallow lake. The water was flat and livid. The light was grey and milky and there seemed no direct source for it. The sky was the same colour as the water.

Standing at intervals in the lake, for as far as I could see, naked men and women, waist-deep, were washing themselves.

The noise of the water was muffled and indistinct. The movements of the men and women were mechanical, as if they had been making the same gestures for aeons. All were of similar height. All had the same dull flesh, the same lack of expression upon their faces. Their lips were silent. They gathered the water in their hands and poured it over their heads and bodies, moving like clockwork figures. But again it was their eyes which displayed their agony. They moved, it appeared to me, against their will, and yet could do nothing to stop themselves.

"Is this guilt?" I asked Lucifer. "Do they know themselves to be guilty of something?"

He smiled. He seemed particularly satisfied with this particular torment. "I think it is an imitation of guilt, captain. This is called the Lake of the False Penitents."

"God is not tolerant," I said. "Or so it would seem."

"God is God," said Lucifer. He shrugged. "It is for me to interpret His Will and to devise a variety of punishments for those who are refused Heaven."

"So you continue to serve Him?"

"It could be." Lucifer again seemed uncertain. "Yet of late I have begun to wonder if I have not misinterpreted Him. It is left to me, after all, to discover appropriate cruelties. But what if I am not supposed to punish them? What if I am supposed to show mercy?" I noted something very nearly pathetic in His voice.

"Are you given no instructions?" I asked somewhat weakly. "Tens of millions of souls might have suffered for nothing because of your failure!" I was incredulous.

"I am denied any communion with God, captain." His tone sharpened. "Is that not obvious to you?"

"So you never know whether you please or displease Him? He sends you no sign?"

"For most of my time in Hell I never looked for one, captain. I am, as I have pointed out, forced to use human agents."

"And you receive no word through such agents?"

"How can I trust them? I am excommunicate, Captain von Bek. The souls sent to me are at my mercy. I do with them as I wish, largely to relieve my own dreadful boredom." He became gloomy. "And to take revenge on those who had the opportunity to seek God's grace and rejected it or were too stupid or greedy to recognise what they had lost." He gestured.

I saw a sweep of broad, pleasant fields, with green trees in them. An idyllic rural scene. Even the light was warmer and brighter here, although again there was no sense of that light emanating from any particular direction.

It could have been spring. Seated or standing in the fields, like small herds of cattle, dressed in shreds of fabric, were groups of people. Their skins were rough, scabrous, unclean. Their motion through the fields was sluggish, bovine. Yet these poor souls were by no means contented.

I realised that, although the shape of the bodies varied, every face was absolutely identical.

Every face was lined by the same inturned madness and greed, the same pouched expression of utter selfishness. The creatures mumbled at one another, each monologue the same, as they wandered round and round the fields.

The whined complaints began very quickly to fill me with immense irritation. I could feel no charity for them.

"Every single one of those souls is a universe of self-involvement," said Lucifer.

"And yet they are identical," I said.

"Just so. They are alike in the smallest detail. Yet not one of those men or women there can allow himself to recognise the fact. The closer they get to the core of the self, the more they become like the others." He turned to look sardonically down at me. "Is this more what you expected of Hell, captain?"

"Yes. I think so."

"Every one of these when on Earth spoke of Free Will, of loyalty to one's own needs. Of the importance of controlling one's own destiny. Every one believed himself to be master of his fate. And they had only one yardstick, of course: material well-being. It is all that is possible when one discounts one's involvement with the rest of humanity."

I looked hard at those identical faces. "Is this a specific warning to me?" I asked Lucifer. "I should have thought you would be attempting to make Hell seem more attractive to me."

"And why is that?"

I did not reply. I was too afraid to answer.

"Would you enjoy the prospect of being in my charge, Captain von Bek?" Lucifer asked me.

"I would not," I told him, "for on Earth, at least, one can pretend to Free Will. Here, of course, all choice is denied you,"

"And in Heaven one can actually possess Free Will," said Lucifer.

"In spite of Heaven's ruler?" I said. "It would seem to me that He demands a great deal of His creatures."

"I am no priestly interpreter," said Lucifer, "but it has been argued God demands only that men and women should demand much of themselves."

The fields were behind us now. "I, on the other hand," continued the Prince of Darkness, "expect nothing of humanity, save confirmation that it is worthless. I am disposed to despise it, to use it, to exploit its weakness. Or so it was in the beginning of my reign."

"You speak as one who saw all humanity as His rival. I should not have believed an angel…albeit a fallen one…to admit to such pettiness."

"That rage, I still recall it. That rage did not seem petty to me, Captain von Bek."

"You have changed, Your Majesty?"

"I told you that I had, captain."

"You are frustrated, then, that you have failed to convince God of this?"

"Just so. Because God cannot hear me."

"Are you certain of that, Your Majesty?"

"I am certain of nothing. But I understand it to be the truth."

I felt almost sorry for this great being, this most defiant of all creatures, having come to a point where He was willing to admit to His defeat, and there being no one to acknowledge or perhaps to believe His admission.

"I am weary of the Earth and still more weary of Hell, captain. I yearn for my position in Heaven."

"But if Your Majesty is truly repentant…"

"It must be proved. I must make amends."

Lucifer continued: "I placed high value on the power of the intellect to create a luxury of wonders upon the Earth. I sought to prove that my logic, my creativity, my mind, could all outshine anything which God made. Then I came to believe that Man was not worthy of me. Then I came to believe that perhaps I was not worthy, that what I had sought to make had no substance, no definition, no future. You have seen much of the world, captain."

"More than most are permitted to see," I agreed.

"Everything is in decay, is it not? Everything. The spirit decays as the flesh and the mind decay." Lucifer uttered a sigh. "I have failed."

His voice became hollow. I found that I was pitying Him, even more than I pitied the souls who were trapped in His domain.

"I wish to be taken back into the certainty, the tranquillity, I once knew," Lucifer continued.

We stood again upon the white plain.

"I sought to show that I could create a more beautiful world than anything God could create. I still do not know what I did wrong. I have been thinking on that for many a century, captain. And I know that only a human soul can discover the secret which eludes me. I must make amends. I must make amends…"

"Have you decided how you can do that?" I asked quietly.

"I must discover the Cure for the World's Pain, Captain von Bek." He turned his dark eyes upon me and I felt my whole being shiver at the intensity.

"A Cure? Human folly, surely, is the cause of that Pain. The answer seems simple enough to me."

"No!" Lucifer's voice was almost a groan. "It is complex. God has bestowed on the world one object, one means of healing humanity's ills. If that object is discovered and the world set to rights again, then God will listen to me. Once God listens, I might be able to convince Him that I am truly repentant."

"But what has this to do with me, Your Majesty? Surely you cannot think that I possess a Cure for human folly."

Lucifer made an almost angry gesture with His right hand.

We were suddenly once more in the library of the castle. We faced one of the great windows. Through it I could see the green, silent forest and noted that very little time had passed. My body was now as solid as it had always been. I felt some relief. My ordinary senses were restored.

Lucifer said: "I asked you to help me, von Bek, because you are intelligent, resourceful and not easily manipulated. I am asking you to embark upon a Quest on my behalf. I want you to find me the Cure to the world's ills. Do you know of what I speak?"

"I have heard only of the Holy Grail, Your Majesty," I told Him. "And I believe that to be a myth. If I were shown such a cup I would believe in its powers as much as I would believe in the powers of a piece of the True Cross, or Saint Peter's fingernail."

He ignored these last remarks. His eyes flamed and became remote. "Ah, yes. It is called that. The Holy Grail. How would you describe it, von Bek?"

"A legendary cup."

"If it existed. What would you say it was?"

"A physical manifestation of God's mercy on Earth," I said.

"Exactly. Is that not the object I have described to you?"

I became incredulous. "Lucifer is commissioning a godless soldier-of-fortune to seek and secure the Holy Grail?"

"I am asking you to seek the Cure for the World's Pain, yes. Call it the Grail."

"The legend says that only the purest of knights is permitted to see it, let alone touch it!"

"Your journey will purify you, I'm sure."

"Your Majesty, what are you offering me, should I agree to this Quest?"

He smiled ironically at me. "Is it not an honour in itself, von Bek?"

I shook my head. "You must have better servants for such a monumental Quest."

Was Lucifer mad? Was He playing a game with me?

"I have told you," He said, "that I have not."

I hesitated. I felt bound to voice my feelings:

"I am suspicious, Your Majesty."

"Why so?"

"I cannot read your motive."

"My motive is simple."

"It defeats me."

His miserable, tortured eyes looked full on me again and He spoke in an urgent whisper: "It is because you fail to understand how great is my need. How great is my need.' Such souls as yours are scarce, von Bek."

"Can I assume that you are trying to buy my soul at this moment, Your Majesty?"

"Buy it?" He seemed puzzled. "Buy your soul, von Bek? Did you not realise that I own your soul already? I am offering you the chance to reclaim it."

I knew at once that He spoke the truth. I had known, within me, for some while.

It was then that Lucifer smiled, and in that smile I saw simple confirmation of what we both knew. He did not lie.

A coldness came into me. That was why He had shown me Hell; not to lure me there, but to sample my eternal doom.

I drew away from my Master. "Then I am already forbidden Heaven. Is that what you are telling me, Your Majesty?"

"You are already forbidden Heaven."

"If that is so, I have no choice, surely?"

"If I rejected you, it would allow you a new chance to be restored in God's grace…just as I hope to be restored. We do indeed have much in common, von Bek."

I had never heard of such a bargain before. Yet by taking it I could only lose my life a little sooner than I had planned.

I said: "Then in reality I have little choice."

"Let us say that your character has already determined your choice."

"Yet you cannot promise me that God will accept me into Heaven."

"I can promise you only that I will release your soul from my custody. Such souls do not always enter Heaven. But they are said to live forever, some of them."

"I have heard legends," I said, "such as that of the Wandering Jew. Am I to try to save myself from Hell merely so that I may wander the world for Eternity seeking redemption?"

It occurred to me of a sudden that I was not the first mortal soul to be offered this bargain by Lucifer.

"I cannot say," said the Prince of Darkness. "But if you are successful, it is likely, is it not, that God would look with mercy upon you?"

"You must know more of God's habits, Your Majesty, than I." A strange calm was creeping into me now. I felt a degree of amusement.

Lucifer saw what was happening to me and He grinned. "It is a challenge, is it not, von Bek?"

"Aye, Your Majesty." I was still debating what He had said. "But if I am already your servant, why did you go to such elaborate means to ensure this meeting? Why send Sabrina?"

"I have told you. I am forced to use human agents."

"Even though she and I are already your servants?"

"Sabrina elected to serve me. You have not yet agreed."

"So Sabrina cannot be saved?"

"All will be saved if you find the Grail."

"But could I not ask one thing of Your Majesty?"

Lucifer's beautiful head turned down towards me. "I think I follow you, von Bek."

"Would you release Sabrina from your power if I agreed to what you ask of me?"

Lucifer had anticipated this.

"Not if you agree. But if you are successful. Find the Cure for the World's Pain, and bring it to me, and I promise you I will release Sabrina under exactly the same terms as I release you."

"So if I am doomed to eternal life, I shall have a companion with me."

"Yes."

I considered this. "Very well, Your Majesty. Where shall I seek this Cure, this Grail?"

"All that I know is that it is hidden from me and from all those already dwelling in infernal regions. It is somewhere upon the Earth or in a supernatural realm not far removed from the Earth."

"A realm not of the Earth? How can I possibly go to such a place?"

Lucifer said: "This castle is such a place, von Bek. I can allow you the power to enter certain parts of the world forbidden to ordinary mortals. It is possible that the Cure lies in one of those realms, or that it lies in a most ordinary place. But you will be enabled to travel more or less where you wish or need to go."

"Do you mean to make a sorcerer of me, Your Majesty?"

"Perhaps. I am able to offer you certain privileges to aid you in your Quest. But I know that you take pride in your own intelligence and skills and it is those which shall be most valuable to both of us. And you have courage, von Bek, of several kinds. Although you are mortal, that is another quality we have in common. That is another reason I chose you."

"I am unsure if I am entirely complimented, Your Majesty. To be Satan's representative upon Earth, some Anti-Pope." I changed the subject. "And what if I should fail you?"

Lucifer turned away from me. "That would depend, let us say, on the nature of your failure. If you die, you travel instantly to Hell. But should you betray me, in any way at all, von Bek…well, there is no way in which I cannot claim you. You shall be mine soon enough. And I shall be able to debate my vengeance upon you for all Eternity."

"So if I am killed in pursuit of my Quest, I gain nothing, but am transported at once to Hell?"

"Just so. But you have seen that Hell can take many forms. And I am able, after a fashion, to resurrect the dead…"

"I have seen your resurrections, Your Majesty, and I would rather be wholly dead. But I suppose I must agree to your bargain, because I have so little to lose."

"Very little, captain."

How radically had my life been turned about in the past twenty-four hours! I had over the years managed successfully to rid myself of all thoughts of damnation or salvation, of God or the Devil, during my career as a soldier. I had served many masters, but felt loyal to none of them, had never let them control my fate. I had believed myself my own man, through and through, for good or ill.

Now, suddenly, I had been informed by Lucifer Himself that I was damned and that I was to be offered at the same time a chance of salvation. My feelings, needless to say, were mixed. From a pragmatic agnostic I had been changed not only into a believer, but into a believer called upon to take part in that most fundamental of all spiritual concerns, the struggle between Heaven and Hell. And I had become an apparently important piece in the game. It was hard for me to accept so much at once. enquiringly I understood what Sabrina had meant when she had told me, also, that only souls already owned by Lucifer could exist in the castle and its environs.

I had originally refused to accept that knowledge, but it was no longer possible for me to resist it. The evidence had been presented to me. I was damned. And I had already begun (mote than I would have admitted then, I think) to hope for salvation. As a result, I had committed myself, against all former habit, to a cause.

I bowed to Lucifer. "Then I am ready to embark upon this Quest, Your Majesty, whenever you wish."

It was ironic, I thought, that Hope had been revived in me by the Fallen One and not, as should be traditional, by a vision of the Madonna or a meeting with some goodly priest.

"I would like you to begin almost immediately," said the Prince of Darkness.

I looked outside. It was not yet noon.

'Today?" I asked Him.

"Tomorrow. Sabrina will spend some time with you."

At this hint of manipulation of my private emotions I bridled. "Perhaps I have no further desire to spend tune with her. Your Majesty."

Lucifer clapped his hands lightly and Sabrina entered the library and curtseyed.

"Captain von Bek has agreed to my bargain," Lucifer told her. "You must now do as I instructed you, Sabrina." His voice had become gentle, almost kindly.

She curtseyed again. "Yes, Your Majesty."

I looked upon her beauty and I marvelled all the more. My feelings for her had not changed. At once! became almost grateful to Lucifer for sending her to me.

Lucifer returned to the central table, taking another book with Him, for all the world like a rural nobleman preparing himself for a little solitude before lunch.

"And Captain von Bek has involved you in this bargain, my dear. He has news for you which you might find palatable."

She frowned as she rose. She looked enquiringly from her Master to myself. There was nothing I was prepared to say to her at that moment.

He was plainly dismissing us both. Yet I hesitated.

"I had expected a somewhat more dramatic symbol of our bargain, Your Majesty."

Lucifer smiled again. His wonderful eyes were, temporarily at least, free of pain.

"I know few mortals who would feel that a visit to Hell was, captain."

I bowed again, accepting this.

"Should you be successful in your Quest," Lucifer added, "you will return to this castle with what I have asked you to find. Sabrina will await you."

I could not resist one last question: "And if Your Majesty is displeased with what I bring Him?" I said.

Lucifer put down His book. The eyes had become hard again as they looked into mine. I knew, then, that He must surely own my soul, He understood it so well.

"Then we shall all go back to Hell together," He said.

Sabrina touched my arm. I bowed to my Master for the third and last time. Lucifer returned to His reading.

As she led me from the room, Sabrina said: "I already know the nature of your Quest. There are maps I must give you. And other things."

She curtseyed. She closed the library doors on the Prince of Darkness. Then she took my hand and led me through the castle to a small chamber in one of the northwestern towers. I could not remember having explored this particular region of the castle.

Here, on a small desk, was a case of maps, two small leather-bound books, a ring of plain silver, a roll of parchment and a brass flask of the ordinary kind which soldiers often carried.

These objects had been arranged, I thought, in some sort of pattern. Perhaps Sabrina's habits of witchcraft, with their emphasis on shapes and symbols, influenced her without her being aware of it.

By way of experiment, I stretched a hand towards the flask. I moved it slightly. She made no objection.

That action of mine, however, gave me pause. I realised that I had already begun to think in terms which a day or two earlier would have been ridiculous. My world was no longer what it had seemed to be. It was not the world I had trained myself to see. It was a world, in some ways, which threatened action. Imposed upon my world was another, a world in which the smallest detail possessed an extra significance. I attempted to dismiss this unwelcome awareness, at least from my conscious mind. It would not do, I thought, to observe potential danger in the way a bird flew across the sky, or see importance in the manner in which two tree branches intersected. This was the madness of those who thought themselves seers or artists, and I should always remind myself that I was a soldier. My concerns were with the physical world, with the reading of another man's eyes to see if he meant to loll me or not, with the signs of groups of infantry on the move, with the detection of a peasant's secret storehouse.

I turned to Sabrina. It was almost a plea for help.

"I am afraid," I said.

She stroked my arm. "You regret your bargain with our Master?"

I was unable to reply directly. "I regret the circumstances which have put us both in His power," I said. "But if it is so, I nave little choice but to do what He asks of me."

"He suggested that something you had agreed with Him would be of significance to me." She spoke carelessly, but I think she was eager to hear what had been agreed. "The bargain you struck?"

"I am attempting to regain your soul as well as my own," I said. "If I find this…this Grail, we are both free."

At first she looked at me with hope and then, almost immediately, with despair. "My soul is sold, Ulrica."

"He has promised to restore it to you. If I am successful in my Quest."

"I am moved," she said, "that you should think of me."

"I believe that I love you," I said.

She nodded. I understood from her expression that she also loved me. She said: "He has commissioned you, has He not, to seek the Cure for the World's Pain?"

"Just so."

"And the chances of your success are poor. Perhaps that Cure does not exist. Perhaps Lucifer is as desperate as we are." She paused, almost whispering: "Could Lucifer be mad?"

"Possibly," I said. "But mad or not, He owns our souls. And if there is even a little hope, I must follow it."

"I shall forget hope, for my own part." She came towards me. "I cannot afford to hope, Ulrich."

I took her in my arms. "I cannot afford not to hope," I told her. "I must take action. It is in my nature."

She accepted this.

I kissed her. My love for her was growing by the moment. I had become increasingly reluctant to leave. Yet Lucifer, sane or insane, had convinced me that our only chance to be truly together lay in my fulfilling the terms of our bargain.

I drew away from her. I contained my emotions. I looked down at the desk.

"Show me what these things are," I said to her.

She could hardly speak. Her hand trembled as she picked up the map-case and gave it to me.

"The maps are of the world, both known and unknown. There are certain areas marked on them which are not marked on ordinary maps. These are the lands which exist between Earth and Heaven, between Heaven and Hell.

"This"…she picked up a box from the desk…"is a compass, as you can see. It will lead you through the natural world as surely as any good compass can. And it will point towards the entrances and exits of those supernatural lands."

She put down the compass and pointed to the brass flask. "That contains a liquid which will restore you to energy and help heal any wounds you might sustain. The books are grimoires, so that you may summon aid if you need it. They are to be used judiciously."

"And the ring?" I asked.

She took it from the desk and placed it carefully on the second finger of my right hand.

"That is my gift to you," she said. Then she kissed the hand.

I was moved. "I have no gift for you, Sabrina."

"You must bring yourself safely back," she said. "For surely if you are dutiful in your Quest, even if you fail, our Master win allow us some time together in Hell."

She was afraid of hope. I understood her.

There were tears in her eyes. I realised that I, too, was weeping. I forced control on myself again and said unsteadily:

"The parchment? You have not told me what it is." 'The parchment is to be opened if you succeed." Her voice, too, was trembling. "It informs you how you may return to the castle. But you must not open it before you find the Cure for the World's Pain."

She leaned down and picked up a pouch from the floor. "There are provisions in this," she said, "as well as money for your journey. Your horse will carry more provisions and will await you in the courtyard when you are ready to leave."

She began to pack the maps and the other objects into the pouch. She buckled it carefully and gave it into my hands.

"What next?" I asked her.

Her smile was no longer bold, no longer challenging. It was almost shy. I smelted roses again. I touched her hair, the soft skin of her cheek.

"We have until the morning," she said.