Firetale (19 page)

And then a fiery serpent
was flying around
the girl, shining, bursting with warmth, blinding the eyes with the
brightness of its flaming scales. The first Caius, the one whose
sense for mongrels had nearly finished him off on the spot, got the
chance to crush the other Caius, the false Caius dwelling in dreams
of hope and redemption. The first Caius, the prime Caius, trampled
down the second Caius somewhere deep in the hell of the
subconscious, and then, not celebrating victory, switched his
attention to the magician who had created the fire
snake.

Fi
re magic. So strong. Judge Caius had never
heard of it during his long career, which had lasted more than
thirty years.

“
They’ve got to kill what we’ve
found.”

Nine Inch
Nails
, “We’re
In This Together”

Evening turned into night, and the
audience broke up. The circus scheduled its shows late for two
reasons, to generate greater mystery and to intrigue the audience.
It also helped to hustle people away from the circus after a
performance, lest they try to take pictures of the artists and
monsters. Lazarus Bernardius watched from a distance as the crowd
dispersed, and then he noticed someone approaching him. The
tentmaster had seen the man in the stands, but the stranger didn’t
look like a gawker who wanted to talk after the show. He was alone,
and most spectators had come as families or couples. Besides, he
didn’t resemble a local. He wore heavy boots and a dusty leather
coat with two rows of buttons—who would wear that for a
show?

His face
express
ed no
joy from a meeting with the manager of the circus, nor the
perplexity of someone who had lost his way. Instead, it reflected
the kind of interest and triumph that a scientist who had
discovered a new chemical element or a new species might have felt.
The stranger was not young. His long hair, pulled back, was almost
gray, and a stubble of the same color bespoke his age. The
stranger’s eyes were hidden behind round sunglasses, and as the man
obviously was not blind, Lazarus thought it was odd that he wore
them in such darkness.

“
Mr. Bernardius, I presume,” the
stranger said to the circus manager.

“
I am. And you?”

“
Judge Caius. I hope you
understand that I’m not working in the district court, Mr.
Bernardius.”

Lazarus tried not to show his
concern, though inside he felt
a cold stab. Judge? In the circus? Lazarus knew
who the Judges were, although the last time he had encountered one
was over a hundred years ago, when he had not been experienced in
the management of the affairs of the circus, and the Judges had
been much more.

“
To what do we owe the honor,
Judge?”

“
Oh, funny question, isn’t it?
You surely know what Judges do. The man running this circus should
know. But if you have forgotten, I will remind you. I’m looking for
mongrels, and if they’re harming people, I will have them.” the
Judge made a gesture like crushing something.

“
I can assure you, Judge Caius,
that we here honor the Pactum, and our inhabitants are totally
harmless. As you can see, even the patasola has renounced her
murderous habits.”

“
Oh, it’s really impressive, Mr.
Bernardius. I came across one patasola twenty years ago. This
creature had ripped three house builders to shreds. She lured them
into the desert, pretending to be a nice little girl, fascinated
them, and killed them. I hope yours is not that type. There was a
lot of blood, along with hands and legs in different places, and
what she did with their heads …”

“
You saw everything,” Lazarus
said, interrupting the Judge. “Our artists do not cause harm to
anyone, they only entertain the public.”

“
I’m sure you will want to talk
about this with the three widows and seven children of those poor
wretches, if you ever go to Albuquerque.” The Judge smiled. “You
have here a very beautiful reserve of cute and good-natured
mongrels. Yes, sorry, I didn’t say it earlier, but you have a great
show, just amazing. It’s a shame there weren’t any such during my
childhood.”

“
Judge Caius, what do you want?”
Lazarus did not like this man or the conversation they were
having.

“
You know, my first thought when
I got to the circus was why, why, for heaven’s sake, had I and
every other Judge gone so many years without noticing
you?”

“
We have never violated the
Pactum.”

“
That’s it, Mr. Bernardius.”
There was a gleam of triumph in Caius’s eyes. “The universe, I
believe, is similar to jelly. Poke a finger in one place, and the
wave gets going anywhere. One of your mongrels has violated the
Pactum, and one of my people learned of it. Simple as
that.”

“
It’s just an assumption, Judge,”
retorted Lazarus.

“
The truth is yours. But you know
the rules. A Judge may render a verdict based on the evidence as he
deems sufficient. We are the court and the jury. And, to my
delight, the executioners.”

Lazarus stepped forward and
leaned
toward
the man in the cloak. “Judge Caius, your threats are meaningless.
You must understand that the long and successful existence of our
circus would not be possible without some patrons.”

“
Of course. However, those
patrons eventually couldn’t conceal you from me, and, hence, from
all other Judges. So you are now under supervision, Mr.
Bernardius.”

“
Let me see you to the door,
Judge Caius.”

Lazarus
pointed
, and
the Judge shrugged and went with Bernardius. As they passed the
main tent, they noticed Martha and Greg coming out of
it.

“
Mongrel love,” said the Judge.
“How nice. During the show I saw how he looked at this gymnast
girl. Interesting specimen. Fire mage. Handles fire like a demon
from hell. You keep an eye on him. With this capability, he could
mess around a lot.” The Judge raised his glasses and winked at
Lazarus. “And what is the secret of this beauty, this flying
trapeze girl. Who is she? I can name every kind of mongrel in your
circus, but not her. Something new?”

“
I’m afraid I can’t answer any of
your questions, Judge Caius,” Lazarus said.

“
Well, Mr. Bernardius. To your
regret, I won’t say goodbye. I’ll look after you.”

Lazarus showed the Judge to
his
car and
watched silently as Caius got into it. He didn’t move until the
Judge’s strange car had disappeared. The situation was unpleasant,
but Lazarus was calm. If his immortality had taught him anything,
it was patience. Mr. Bernardius and his circus had remained outside
the purview of the Judges for so long that these people had become
only a ghostly threat, but deep inside he knew that one day some
Judge would come for him or his fosterlings.

He must have made a mistake somewhere,
lost sight of something, been lulled by how many decades the plan
devised by Louie Louis had worked so smoothly. Lucifer. Lazarus
would have to tell Pietro about the visit of the Judge, and the
archivist would report to Lucifer. The demon wouldn’t be pleased,
but he might offer a solution.

The doors of
Astaroth
’s
chamber sprang open as the walls shook from the loud, rumbling
voice of the supreme demon.

“
Astaroth!” Lucifer barely kept
his human form. Tongues of flames, like sprouts, penetrated the
skin on his face, and his wings flapped wildly. The demon
practically flew into Astaroth’s chambers.

“
Traitor!” Lucifer shouted,
snatching Astaroth out of a huge carved chair and elevating him
toward the ceiling.

My plan
failed
,
Astaroth thought, but he did not try to resist. He knew the forces
were unequal, and he would rather just endure until Lucifer, his
brother and mentor, vented his anger on him. Meanwhile, the supreme
demon broke through the chamber’s ceiling using Astaroth’s body as
a ram. Two demons, two brothers, broke through every floor until
they reached a small ruined room that crowned the main tower of the
palace of Astaroth.

The room offered a view of the dull gray
landscape, infernal plains occasionally crossed by fiery red
rivers, and of the city in the center of the plain, which opened
now beneath the two demons. The thin spires of the city’s towers
were like needles piercing an almost-black sky, from which ash
showered continually. If not for the strong winds, the towers of
Hell would have long since collapsed under the weight of ash
covering them.

“
Damned traitor!” roared Lucifer.
The supreme demon pressed his face close to Astaroth’s. Lucifer’s
face was furious, Astaroth’s was sad.

“
Why did you do that? Why did you
tell His servants?” Lucifer’s voice brimmed with anger.
Equivocating was pointless, and Astaroth did not deny what he had
done.

“
I miss it.”

“
What? What are you talking
about?”

“
I miss home.”

“
What home? Here is your home,
ungrateful scum.”

“
Here?” Apathy instantly
disappeared from Astaroth’s face. “Our home is not here, Lucifer.
Here is our prison. Look around you.” Astaroth threw his hands up,
pointing at the landscape below. “I’m tired of this place. This is
not our home. Not mine. You came here and made this place a
headquarters of your holy war against Him. You haven’t asked any of
us!”

The expression of rage on Lucifer’s face
changed to bewilderment, and then pity. He loosened his
grip.

“
Missed? Tired? Did you really
think that if you blow upon several mongrels, He will forgive you
and let you come back?”

“
Not just mongrels, but those
whom you hid from Him. Among them are those who have broken the
Pactum. You knew about this and kept silent. It will give him an
excuse to start a war with you.”

“
War.” The flames on Lucifer’s
face went out. Now his face was more like a cracked clay mask, with
smoke belching through the crevices. “War on your brothers,
Astaroth.”

“
I wanted to go home.” The
demon’s voice was weak and broken.

“
So what? You got there? To
Heaven? To Him? You told him, you betrayed us, and you’re still
here. If he appreciated your offering, then why are you still here?
Why do you not flutter in the little white pastures of Heaven with
Him? Did you think he would forgive you? Think He would take you
back? You wanted to buy a ticket back? He is not like you,
Astaroth. I am like you. Our brothers who will remain here are like
you.”

“
Who will remain
here?”

“
Yes, brother. I cannot kill you,
you know that. But here I stand and you will not. I cast you out.
From now on, you have no place in His palace or in Hell. And you
will never be like humans. But if you want to do something stupid,
something to get back at me, to get into Lazarus’s affairs, seek a
meeting with him. I’ll find you. Just give me a reason to regret
the fact that I’ve saved your life.”

For the first time in ages, Astaroth was
frightened. He had lost everything. He felt as if his body was
melting. His arms and legs were like jelly, as the gray world
became whitish, and the red rivers lost their brightness. He tried
to cling to Lucifer as an anchor, joining him on this plane of
reality, but he failed. Astaroth was powerless. He wanted to
scream. He was ready to beg for Lucifer’s mercy, but he knew that
he would not back down.

So Astaroth lost a second home. Thus
began his second exile.

“
The shadows purr, murmuring me
away from you.”

The Cure
, “Burn”

Lazarus, Greg,
Martha
, and
the archivist gathered in the big top immediately after the show.
Greg tried to remain cheerful, but he guessed that such a meeting
clearly did not bode well. Lazarus was thoughtful and almost angry,
something the magician had rarely seen.

“
Tonight a Judge was at the
show,” Lazarus began, looking around the company. Only Pietro
acknowledged the significance of these words.

Greg tried to laugh it
off.
“A
Judge? Are we in trouble with the law?”

“
In a certain sense. Pietro?”
Lazarus looked at the archivist. The chubby man started, and the
folds of his embroidered robe came to life.

“
The Judges are special people in
the Church. Once they helped the Holy Inquisition in its fight
against what it called evil spirits. Judges can feel the presence
of people like you. They, uh, call you mongrels. Judges themselves
are ordinary people and have no magical abilities. After the
abolition of the Inquisition, they were gathered in a special
division of the Church, whose task is to ensure that demionis do
not violate the Pactum. The Judges have special authority
…”

Greg interrupted him. “Enough, we all know
who these Judges are. You and Lazarus tell us about them as soon as
we join the circus. I thought it was a myth to make us follow the
rules.”