Light (26 page)

But she is still in the world of dream.

Then the dog barks excitedly.

‘What is it?’

It licks her hand.  She strokes its head.

It changes.

The satyr has returned and again she knows
that it can do with her what it wants.  This was all a ruse to break through
her defences.

‘No, please no,’ but her cry is weak.

She is upon the ground, he is over her. 
His monstrous phallus stretched towards her mouth.

Yes, she has to have it...but he pulls
away.

‘Please.’

‘Beg for it.’

‘Please.’

‘No.  Tell me what you know.’

A warning bell is ringing but she ignores
it.

‘Tell me what the Bent Ferret wants.’

But all she can see is that wonderful
penis.

‘Tell me, tell me!’

‘Yes.  I’ll tell you.  He wanted me to
find someone.’

‘Fiona!’

A familiar voice screaming in the
background and the satyr draws away.

‘Fiona, wake up.  Come back.’

And the vision passes and she understands
that she has been manipulated by their dark adversary.  It had been close.  She
had almost given it what it wanted.

Fiona blinked and found that she was
home.  She was in her bedroom and there was Professor Tiferet.

Involuntarily, she began to cry.

The door was open again.  Jake had not
seen it happen but he had come to realise that the Arka was a world in which
things could occur which did not follow the hallowed laws of cause and effect.

On leaving the chamber, therefore, he was
not particularly surprised to find that the passageway in which he found
himself was not that through which he and Cherry had travelled when they had
come to this place.  Instead he was in an ornately decorated corridor with all
the trappings of a medieval castle.  Ahead of him was a vast double door with a
ghostly medieval guard before it.

The guard reached for his sword but made
no sound.

Jake however was quite unfazed.  For the
moment he would play Lilith’s game.

‘Announce me,’ he commanded.

The guard glided around and, unprompted,
the doors swung inwards.

‘Jacob Tranton, High Priest of the House
of Israel,’ shouted the apparition in a gravelly voice and melted into the
passage to allow Jake to pass.

Jake went through the door into a
magnificent and palatial room.  Yellow and crimson flames burnt from a log fire
with smoke billowing upwards through an immense chimney; vermilion silk and
ermine drapes covered the walls and the floor was covered in cushions of
brilliant iridescence.  This was a room that spelled out luxury and Jake knew
that it had been created for his benefit.  Why, he could not begin to guess.

Curtains parted to reveal upon a dais an
ornate carved throne of solid gold covered in precious stones of every
description.

Sitting in this opulence was the Queen of
Hell herself, Lilith, appearing as radiant and voluptuous as ever.

‘Approach me, mortal.’

This time, Jake was ready for her.  This
time he did not fall for her illusory charms.  Now that he had seen the reality
beneath he would always remember the truth.

He bowed.  It seemed appropriate.

‘So, Jacob Tranton, we meet with you as my
guest.’

‘Return Cherry to me.’

‘Do not be foolish.  To coin a phrase from
your world; she is my insurance policy.’

‘Why do you, the ruler of Gehinnom, need
an insurance policy?’

‘Oh, Jacob Tranton.  Do not pretend to be
naïve.  When you first left your world I could have made you one of mine.  You
were just a mortal man who carried a stone of power but now you have grown in
stature.  You have learnt how to control the binding forces of the world and to
become a master of the hidden mysteries.  Now you have sufficient knowledge to
order the stone to do your bidding and use it against me.  That I cannot
allow.’

‘Why?’

‘Why?  Do not make me laugh, please.  If
you succeed in your task and recreate the
Choshen Mishpat
then those who
sent you here will call upon the divine Light of the
Shechinah
and its
scouring power will wipe my brood from the face of creation.’

‘So you wish to stop me.  And if I insist
on continuing?  You are clearly powerless to stop me.  What then?’

‘Then the girl becomes one of my brood.’

‘So she is not as yet?’

‘Not yet, but she cannot be released, save
for my order.’

‘All right.  I understand.  What if I
agree to your proposal?’

‘You would agree?  I think not.’

‘No, Lilith.  You are wrong.  I am quite prepared
to give up my quest.  Return Cherry to me and let us return to the Heled.’

‘Give me your crystal and bring the other
stones to me and I will return the girl to you.’

‘No.’

‘I thought not; but you will give me your
crystal.

‘Cherry,’ the evil queen commanded.

And the girl materialised on the dais next
to her mistress.

‘Bring me his ring.

‘You see, mortal.  You cannot fight me. 
Even the woman who loves you will do my bidding.  Give her your ring.  I have
its fellow to keep it company.’

Lilith lifted her slender hand and Jake
saw what he expected.  She too was wearing a ring similar to his but in her
case with a violet stone set in its mount.  This, Jake recognised as being the
Achlamah
;
the stone for the tribe of Naphtali.

‘But, Lilith.  I cannot remove the ring,’
he said truthfully, ‘It will not come off.’

‘No?  You forget, I have its fellow. 
Cherry, place my ring upon your finger.  With its energy directed by me at the
mortal, we will release the force that binds them together.  Now we will see
who truly rules in this place and then you will make obeisance to me.’

And, as Jake watched, he saw the ring
being removed and knew that Lilith spoke the truth.  Only when another of the
stones touched his could he be free of his Holy burden.

He drew in a deep breath and waited.

…………………………………………

As Ben took the receiver from Fiona he
could see that she was still overwrought.  It did not surprise him.  Her
encounter with the En Sof, even though the day before, had been enough to
frighten anybody.  Now he was keeping a careful eye on her but it was clear
that she would break if the pressure continued.  There was little he could do
to protect her when she was away from his presence.  At least Alex was away and
could not see her state but he could return at any time.

The voice on the other end came from his one-time
correspondent, Harvey Rudolph.  The man had not failed him.

‘That was quick.’

‘For you, Ben, anything.  I had some
difficulty but you were right.  Hester Linford was born Jewish.  I’ll get the
papers to you shortly but there’s no doubt about it.  She was smuggled out of
Nazi Germany when a baby and she was adopted here by a wealthy
goysha
family.  They brought her up to be a proper little Englishwoman.’

It was just as Ben suspected.  Hester
Linford was Jewish, therefore so was her daughter, Cherry.  Now, all he had to
do was to trace a link between Hester and Jacob Cordozo and that would confirm
everything.

‘I’m already on to it.  That girl, your
student; Yaffa, isn’t it.  She’s investigating and will let me know as soon as
she does.’

‘
Toda rabah
, Harvey.  Thank you
very much.’

And he replaced the receiver.

He did not need Yaffa to tell him that he
was right.  Just like Jake, Cherry was a descendent of Cordozo.  So too was
Shmueli Isaacson; it had to be.  It all fitted together.  No wonder they had
had crystals in their ownership.  It was almost as if the stones themselves had
sought them out and that was probably what had happened.

It was for that reason that the portal had
allowed Cherry and Mitch to pass.  It was nothing to do with Mitch’s possession
by the En Sof.  No, it was because Cherry, like Jake, was of Priestly descent
and, again like Jake, if she had a stone in her control she would have immense
powers if she learnt how to use them.

Now, it was quite clear what he needed to
do.

‘Fiona, I’m afraid I need your help
again.  This won’t take long but I must do it whilst Lapski is away.’

‘What?’

‘I need you to help me call up the En
Sof.  I think...’

But he was not allowed to finish.  Fiona
shook her head and began to scream.

‘No, no, no!’

‘Please, Fiona.’

But, before he could stop her, she was
running out of the house towards her car.  The poor girl was clearly terrified
and who could blame her?  Unfortunately, she was the only person here he
trusted.  The only other one who could help was Alex Lapski but if he
discovered what Ben knew he could use the information for his own purposes. 
That would never do.

Damn.  For now he was stymied.  He would
have to think of a way round the problem.

His mind turned to thoughts of a place far
away.  He still knew nothing of Jake’s fate.  Had the En Sof rescued him from
Lilith?  Unfortunately, there was no way of knowing.

The ring was on Cherry’s finger and Lilith
gloated in her triumph.  Jake, however, was ready and at that moment he acted. 
He raised his hand into the air and an arc of blue light shot from his stone
towards that now worn by Cherry.  It was just as he had suspected.  She was of
true priestly descent as was he.  A direct lineal descendant of the first High
Priest, Aaron, the brother of Moses.

The light wavered and strengthened.  It
was white, so white and pure that it was obvious what it was that had been
released.  With two stones at his command he had tapped into God’s Light and
directed the energy.  It gathered and dispersed, first flowing upwards and then
in each direction flooding the room in its cleansing flames.

Above their heads the ceiling seemed to
dissolve.  Lacerations appeared in the very fabric of the world about them. 
Great rips through everything as the illusion of the throne room was rent apart
in the blinding light of purification to be replaced by the dead walls of Gehinnom,
almost transparent in their decay.  Now quite visible and surrounding them were
the demon brood, Lilith’s offspring. 

They came in every shape and size
imaginable.  Hideous mutant creatures that were neither human nor demon.  Their
faces rippled and undulated as if there were worms beneath their skin; their
eyes bulged and stared with a baleful blood-red glow; and their misshapen
mouths moaned in agony.  The only thing that they all had in common was the
great pair of clawed bats’ wings that they all raised over their heads to
protect themselves from the rays of divine Light that Jake was releasing into
their world.  These were the demons that fed on little children; these were the
vampires of whom peasants told stories.

 ‘Stop it,’ Lilith cried in despair as she
returned to her true crone-like form.

‘No!

‘You’re destroying my children.’

‘A fitting end bearing in mind how many
human children they have taken.’

‘No, please, I beg you.’

How pitifully she cried.

‘Return Cherry to me and I will consider
it.’

She did not even to think about it. 
Lilith may have been a monster but she was also a mother and like any mother
she had to protect her young.  She waved her hand, ‘There, she is yours.’

And Cherry’s eyes blinked and she stared
at Jake in confusion but the Light remained and the demon horde shivered in
abject terror.

‘Stop it.’

Jake nodded and, with a snap, the light
ceased as if a switch had been operated.  The room did not return to its former
magnificence but stayed the dowdy place it really was.

He turned to Cherry who stood there in
confusion and then her eyes met his and it appeared to them that electricity
flowed between them.

‘Jake.  What happened to me?  Where are
we?’

And then she saw the demon monstrosities
all around and screamed.

Jake rushed towards her and held the girl
until her hysteria subsided.

‘It’s all right.  They cannot harm you. 
We command here.’

Then he looked at the still ancient
Lilith, ‘You accept that, I hope.  I have defeated you.’

The crone bowed her head low, ‘You have
defeated me.  How?’

‘I knew all along that Cherry was in your
power.  It was just too convenient me finding her like that and then, when she
brought me to this world, I was convinced.  Long before we became your
prisoners I had touched her with my crystal and I knew that she was also a
crystal-bearer.  Then it was just a matter of biding my time.

‘I guessed you would use Cherry to take my
ring.  It was the only way you could humiliate me and I knew that with a stone
on her finger I could use that to my advantage.  I just had to wait for the
right moment.’

‘And I gifted to her my ring,’ she said,
full of resignation, ‘All right.  You have defeated me but I still cannot allow
you to complete your quest.  The Arka is a dangerous world with many perils that
even you will not be able to survive without my help and that is something that
I will not give.’

‘No, Lilith.  I told you before that I was
prepared to give up my quest.  In that I lied to you but you should know that I
have no intention of releasing the
Shechinah
into the world.  Now is not
the time.  I must complete my mission for another purpose.  There is another
power involved.  A primordial creature that seeks the Light to enable it to
live.  If it succeeds, it will destroy everything, your world included.  It
waits for me to bring it the crystals and it holds one of my friends captive in
the
Toho
and
Vohu
between the worlds.  I propose an alliance
between us.’

‘An alliance?’

‘Yes.  The creature, (it calls itself the
En Sof), is as much your enemy as it is mine.’

‘You speak truth.  I have seen something
of this creature.’

‘Until it releases my friend I have no
choice other than to do as it says.  Your children, however, can pass freely
between the worlds.  If they rescue my friend then I will be free to oppose
it.  I will use the Light to return the En Sof to the limbo from which it came
and then all can return to the way it was before.’

‘And you will not use the Light to bring
the Messiah?’

Jake laughed, ‘Not yet.  The Moshiach will
come when Hashem is ready and not before.  It is not for me to interfere in the
Divine plan.’

‘Then High Priest of Israel, I know that
you speak truth.  I will assist you in your quest and we will defeat the En
Sof.’

‘Thank you, Lilith; great Queen of Hell. 
For now, the En Sof must not know of our alliance.  I will communicate with you
when the time is ready to rescue my friend.  All I ask is for you to provide
directions to Abaddon and Sheol, where lie the next of the crystals.’

‘I will do better than that.  I will give you
a guide.’

‘No.  The En Sof will learn of it and it
will be suspicious.  Just provide the directions.’

‘But, without a guide you are bound to
fail.  When you descend into Sheol you will have to face your deepest fears. 
That is the land of the dead who have not passed to Heaven.  It is the place
from which I take my slaves.’