And Eternity (37 page)

That made her think of something. They had caused the man’s critical injury, or even death, but had it been only them? Or had a deeper part of Kane truly wanted to believe Jolie’s story, despite his conscious denial of it, and caused that hand to turn in that critical way, placing the knife? What punishment would a man see as suitable for the one who attacked the one truly pristine woman in the world? The one who called him by his name at the very end, when he had never told it to his captive. Something very like the one he had received, perhaps.

“Quite possibly,” Gaea said, reading her thought.

“But God, where was God when that awful man grabbed that innocent girl?” Orlene asked. “Why didn’t He stop it? Why does He let this sort of thing go on all the time, all over the world?”

“You would handle things differently?” Gaea inquired,lifting a brow.

“Oh, I didn’t mean to criticize God!” Orlene said quickly. “I just, there is so much I don’t understand!”

“Perhaps you can ask Him that, too, when you see Him,” Gaea said, unsmiling.

They retired to Hell’s Acres, where they spent a comfortable night. Theoretically they needed neither food nor sleep here, but the experiences they had had with War and Nature needed digesting. What a huge amount of misery there was in the mortal realm! So much of it appeared ultimately unnecessary, yet even the Incarnations seemed largely helpless to ameliorate it.

You know, I thought it would be fun, meeting Incarnations and all.
Vita thought.
But each time, I get another glimpse of the awful stuff they have to deal with, and I wonder how they stand it.

“It isn’t always that bad,” Jolie said, in charge of the body for the evening. “They do have their pleasures too. But with their enormous power comes enormous responsibility, and they all feel it. Every so often one gets too tired and retires, and then a new one has to be broken in. We saw how it was with an Aspect of Fate-but there, at least, there are always two experienced Aspects to help. It is worse with the others.”

It must be!
the girl agreed.
To have all that responsibility, and to know so little at first, I think I’m glad I’m mortal! At least I’m the only one I can mess up.

Even our effort to deflect Ilka from getting pregnant almost got her killed, Orlene agreed.
I can appreciate better than ever why Incarnations don’t like to interfere in mortal affairs. There are so many variables, so many ways for something well-intended to go wrong. Even God must get tired!

“Well, it will be Hell tomorrow,” Jolie reminded them cheerfully.

They let Vita peer out a turret window for a while, watching the cavorting flame figures on the moat.
Gee, I wish I was doing that with Roque right now
, she thought.

“What you call a hot time,” Jolie said, smiling. But she understood; she wanted to be with Satan similarly, but knew this was not the occasion.

They slept, letting that bit of unconsciousness put some space between the horror of the recent events and their next challenge.

In the morning they made their way to the Hellevator and headed down, this time all the way to the basement stop. The mock flames of it loomed higher and fiercer as they descended past the mortal realm, until at last they came to a stop in what appeared to be a phenomenal bed of blazing coals. It was as if their precarious chamber were being flame roasted.

Jolie opened the door. “I will get us in, then Orlene will take over, as it remains her mission,” she reminded them.

I never thought I’d get to go to Hell before I died!
Vita thought brightly.

The door opened and Jolie started to step out. But a demon stopped her. It was huge and masculine, with hooves and horns, and its trident had sharp points. “Halt!” he barked gruffly. “Mortals can’t come here!”

“I am a ghost,” Jolie explained. “I am not evil, so can’t come here in my natural state, but it is possible in a mortal host. We have come to see Satan.”

“No mortals here!” the demon insisted. “Go back where you came from.”

“But I just explained-”

“I have my orders. Go!” The trident moved menacingly.

Tell him to sit down hard on his pitchfork!
Vita thought.
Endwise!

Jolie considered whether to identify herself specifically. As Satan’s consort, she was permitted in Hell. But this wasn’t her mission, and she did not want to misrepresent it. Orlene had to be allowed to do it on her own, to the extent possible.

She stepped back into the Hellevator. “There is another way,” she murmured.

“No way!” the guardian demon cried as the door closed. “First you die, then you come here!”

Go have a hotfoot!
Vita thought back at him.

They trundled back up to Purgatory. “We shall have to enlist the aid of Gaea,” Jolie explained. “But I think she won’t mind giving it.”

Gaea can help us get to Hell?
Vita thought, surprised.

“She knows someone who can.”

They exited at Purgatory and hurried to Gaea’s Treehouse. Jolie explained how they had been balked by an ignorant demon. “I didn’t want to identify myself, because this is Orlene’s business. But I thought that if Natasha were willing to help-”

Who is she?
Vita asked.

Gaea smiled. She fetched a small harp. She went outside and sat on the soft turf, setting the harp between her lifted knees. Her fingers caressed the strings, touching without playing. Then, facing the cloudbank horizon, she began to play.

The sound of it was exquisite. Jolie had heard this many times before, but was always entranced anew. She was Satan’s first wife, and Gaea was his second; there had never been any competition between them, but had there been, Gaea’s magic with music would have been decisive. Every note was perfect, and the theme was transcendent.

Then Gaea sang. The whole region seemed to come alive, resonating to the sound of her voice. The distant clouds turned color, passing through the spectrum of the rainbow. Dawn seemed to come, and sunset, and all between. No earthly voice could match this; it was the melody of the Incarnation, a fragment of what was called the Llano.

Both Orlene and Vita were rapt. There had been no hint of this potential before. Gaea had seemed like an ordinary woman in command of potent magic. Now, through Orlene’s own magic, Jolie saw Gaea glow. More than that; her glow extended out into the environment, as far, in fact, as her music did.

After a brief passage, Gaea paused. All Purgatory seemed to wait with bated breath.

Then mere came an answering song. It was a man’s voice, without accompaniment, but so vibrant and feeling that all the world seemed to be the accompaniment. A few notes only, a few words, and then silence.

Gaea sang again, and accompanied herself on the harp. Again the region responded, joining her evocation. Then she paused a second time.

The male response came, closer now, stronger. It had seemed that in all the universe there could be no equal to Gaea’s voice, but now it was clear that there was an equal in this hidden man.

After a momentary pause, Gaea sang a third time, and the man joined her. They made a harmony so beautiful that there was nothing for the listeners to do but be transported by it. The counterpoint was perfect.

Now the man came into view, walking swiftly toward the Treehouse. He was young and handsome, and he sang as he walked, still keeping time with Gaea. He wore ordinary slacks and shirt and shoes; were he not singing, he would have seemed to be just another man. Obviously he was not.

Jolie knew him, of course, but she kept her thought quiet. Let Orlene and Vita have this experience for themselves!

The man came to stand before Gaea. Their song climaxed and abruptly ended.

The plain before the Treehouse had been blank. Now it was covered with flowering trees, and a crystal stream wound through it. Warblers perched in the trees, listening.

Gaea set aside her little harp and stood. She had been middle-aged, but now she was in her lovely young state and her housecoat had become a summer dress which caressed her contours. Bright daisies formed a diadem in her hair. She was as lovely as a summer creature could be.

She stepped into the man and kissed him. They made a perfect couple, and they certainly seemed to be in love. Both Orlene and Vita were astounded.

I thought she was married to-
Orlene thought.

Who the hell is this guy?
Vita thought.

Now Jolie spoke. “Girls, meet Natasha, the handsomest man of the realm,” she said as the couple broke from their close embrace.

Natasha’s a MAN?
Vita thought.

The man turned from Gaea. “Ah, Jolie,” he said. “Come to me.”

Jolie did. She stepped into his embrace exactly as Gaea had, and kissed him as ardently.

Holy refuse!
Vita thought. Orlene, stunned, thought nothing.

“And Natasha,” Jolie said as the kiss ended, “meet my present host. Vita, and Orlene, Gaea’s daughter. I am turning the body over to her.”

Orlene, suddenly thrust into control, stood in Natasha’s loosening embrace. “How glad I am to meet you, Orlene,” he said. “You are the daughter of one of the women I love.”

“But Gaea’s married!” Orlene exclaimed.

Natasha glanced at Gaea, smiling. “Oh, is she? So am I. Why should Mars be the only one with two lovely women?”

Orlene pulled herself away, actually spluttering. “I don’t know who you are, but-”

“He is here to guide you to Hell,” Gaea said. “I believe he knows a secret access.”

Orlene realized that there was some kind of joke going on. “He’s a damned soul?”

“Close enough,” Natasha said. “Come with me; I believe we can get in unobserved, if we move quickly.”

“But-”

Go with him
, Jolie thought.

Why should she go with this handsome freak?
Vita demanded.
He’s two-timing his wife; how can we trust him? He is the world’s greatest liar
, Jolie agreed.
But we can trust him.

Orlene, disgruntled, knowing that she wasn’t quite catching something obvious, shrugged. “I will go with you, Natasha. But I would like an explanation.”

Natasha put his hand on her elbow. “You shall surely have it. Tell me about yourself; I want very much to know.”

Tell him
, Jolie thought.

Bemused, Orlene started in. “I am Gaea’s natural. daughter, given up as a baby for adoption. I married a ghost-”

She broke off, for they were sinking through the ground. The layers of cloud were passing like the vapors they were.

“Continue,” he said.

“And had a baby for him, but my baby died, and I killed myself. Now I am trying to recover him from Nox, and I need Satan’s help.”

“Nox? The Incarnation of Night?”

“Yes. She has my son. She set me a list of things I must get from each major Incarnation, and from Satan I need a curse. Only when the list is complete can I recover my baby and cure him of his malady of the soul.”

The cloud dissipated. They stood in a stony cell. Ahead was a curving passage, lighted by guttering and smoky torches. “Follow this passage,” Natasha said. “It will lead you to Satan’s suite. I will conduct you back from this spot when you are finished with him.”

“I have to walk alone through Hell?” Orlene asked, appalled.

“This is a privileged passage. No demon will molest you as long as you remain in it. Be sure you do not leave it, however.” He urged her forward, letting go her elbow.

Orlene took a step, then turned. “I really don’t-”

But Natasha was gone.

It’s all right
, Jolie said.
What he said is true: this is a passage only special guests may use. We are quite safe here, though it passes through the center of Hell to reach Satan’s suite. We may pause and look at anything along the way, as long as we do not go astray.

Orlene started walking. There were windows along the sides, opening into assorted chambers. In each chamber was some activity, but the nature of it wasn’t clear at a casual glance.

Orlene paused at one, in which a man sat, holding a wound in his chest. Blood was oozing, and he seemed to be in extreme pain. “Is he alive?” she asked, horrified. “I thought there were only damned souls here!”

The man heard her. “I am a damned soul,” he gasped. “I am suffering what seems like eternal agony.”

“What did you do to deserve this?” she asked, morbidly interested.

“I drag-raced a motorcycle.” He seemed to be able to speak well enough, if haltingly, despite the wound.

“What?”

“I was in a pickup truck, on the nonmagic level of the highway. This motorcycle challenged me, so naturally I gunned my motor. I won, but I wasn’t looking where I was going. I caromed off a slow car and vaulted into the opposite lane at high speed. I crashed head-on into a school bus, killing twenty-seven people. I died myself, and woke at the entrance to Hell. That was twenty years ago, and I still have a thousand years or so to work off.”

“But that looks like a bullet wound!” Orlene said. “How could that happen in a highway crash?”

“It didn’t. I was never shot.”

“But-”

He made an agonized smile. “This isn’t my injury I’m suffering. Nor is it that of any of the passengers who died in the crash. It is that of a dog.”

“A dog!”

“You see, most of those passengers killed in the wreck were young schoolchildren, in fact. They did not have a lot of sin on their souls, but they did have some. They would have been detained in Purgatory for a while, or somewhere, until they had absolved their sins and were ready for Heaven. But they weren’t supposed to be dead yet. Probably they would have absolved those sins in life, before dying naturally at some later date. That’s where I come in.”

“Because you denied them that chance!” Orlene said,catching on.

“Right. I must endure their punishments, because they might not have had them on their records if I hadn’t caused them to die early. It will take me centuries to catch up on all those sins of all those people, but it’s worth it, because at least I am repaying some measure of what I took from them.”