The War Hound and the World's Pain (8 page)

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 realize 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.

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 (more 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 marveled all the more. My feelings for her had not changed. At once I 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 undramatic, 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 realized 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 kill 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 have 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, Ulrich.”

“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.”