Amulet of Doom (15 page)

The king rose from the throne. He was tall, taller even than the prince, with a great gray beard that flowed over his chest. He wore a thin circle of gold on his brow. His face was deeply troubled.

He went to the woman.

“Behold!” he cried to the court. “Behold, the lamia!”

Reaching out, he grasped her hand.

Marilyn recoiled in horror as the woman dropped her human shape and revealed herself for what she really was.

Her skin blistered over, turning red and scaly. Great peaked wings shot out behind her. Dark claws curved out from her fingertips.

Prince Suleiman flinched. This was the woman he had loved, the mother of his child.

Two guards held her, but it was the power of the king that kept her in check. She writhed in their hands, cursing the king, cursing the race of the Suleimans. Her eyes were like fire. Her tongue, flickering out between blackened lips, was like a cleft snake.

“Will anyone speak in her defense?” asked the king.

The court was silent, a silence that seemed to fill the great hall with a heavy sense of doom.

The lamia wrenched herself around to face the prince. Her demon shape faded and she was a woman again, soft and desirable. Her eyes pleaded with him.

Prince Suleiman shuddered, but remained silent. Blood trickled down his thigh where his half-demon son was sinking childish claws into the flesh. The prince tightened his grip on the demon child's shoulder.

“Father?” whispered Guptas.

The prince said nothing.

The woman faded, and the lamia reappeared.

They brought in the ice, and she began to scream.

They were back in their own bodies, in the echoingly empty Hall of the Kings.

“What happened?” cried Marilyn. “Why did you bring us back?”

Guptas turned on her in fury.

“Wasn't that enough?” he cried. “Must I watch my own mother be executed a second time just to satisfy your curiosity?”

He strode away from her. “Ice,” he whispered. He spun back, and his voice rose to a shout. “They did it with ice! She was a creature of fire, and ice was fatal to her. They brought in a great jagged block of it and slowly pushed her into it. The first bits of it that touched her hissed and melted against her flesh.”

He shuddered.

“Her skin began to peel off. She screamed and cried to my father for help. I turned his leg to ribbons with my claws.

“But there was no help for her. No compassion from anyone in that hall—because she was a lamia, a mother of demons, and had tricked the prince into loving her. So they stood in silence as the king's murdering guards pushed her into the ice and her skin sizzled away from her body.”

The demon's image walked back and stood before Marilyn. “Do you still wonder,” he whispered, his voice intense, harsh with pain, “why I had mixed feelings about my father?”

He paused, then stretched his claws upward and screamed, “Or about myself? Look at me. Look at what they made me! I was the firstborn child of the firstborn child! I have royal blood coursing through my veins! I should have been king. I should have been Suleiman!

“But my father loved a lamia, and then let her die.”

He turned away and sat huddled into himself.

“That was the beginning of the end of the Demon Wars,” he said after a while. “My father fought as no Suleiman ever had before. He led the people into battle, and they were invincible. But I know that with every slash of his sword he was slashing at his own heart. I know his guilt. I know his fury at himself for remaining silent.

“I even understand it! That's the hardest part of all! I can't even condemn him totally. She should never have come to him. She was wrong. He was wrong. Everybody suffered. And in the end I destroyed their world. And my own.”

“I'll let you go now,” said Marilyn.

Guptas turned to her in astonishment.

“What?”

“I'll let you go now. You've suffered long enough.”

He threw himself at her feet. “Thank you!” he cried. “Thank you. Oh, thank you!”

“Stop it!” she said in disgust. “Remember who you are!”

He stood, a strange expression on his face, pride and surprise mingling together.

She lifted the amulet and began to speak.

“Don't!” cried a voice behind her.

She spun around. It was Eldred Cooley. Beside him stood Zenobia. She held Brick in her arms.

“You must not do this,” said Cooley sternly.

Guptas howled in despair.

17

JUDGE AND JURY

“Never trust a demon,” said Eldred Cooley. He glared at Guptas so fiercely that for a moment Marilyn thought he might actually attack the creature.

Zenobia broke the tension by speaking. “Marilyn, are you and Kyle all right?”

Marilyn nodded. “How did you get here?”

“Brick.”

Kyle laughed. “You mean that cat is actually good for something?”

“Cats are good for a great deal more than most people realize,” said Cooley sternly. “Their ability to track down demons is one of the reasons they were highly valued in the ancient world. It's interesting,” he said, turning to Zenobia. “You would think they would have lost the ability over the last several thousand years, since there was no use for it.”

“Stick to the point, Eldred,” she replied tartly.

“The point right now,” he said, turning back to Marilyn, “is how to dispose of that creature you have gained control of.”

“Why can't I just let him go?”

Cooley looked at her incredulously. “Do you really want to release such a monstrosity on the modern world?”

“He's had a difficult life,” said Marilyn defensively.

Cooley roared with laughter. “Let him go free and you'll find out what difficult is. How do you know he had a difficult life? Did he tell you? He is a master of lies. I repeat: never trust a demon.”

“He didn't tell us,” said Kyle. “He showed us.”

Zenobia dropped Brick, who strolled over to sniff at Guptas. “What do you mean, he showed you?”

“Well, he took us back in time.…”

“He touched your minds!” cried Cooley. “Oh, we've got trouble, Zenobia. Lord only knows what he's done to these two kids. They could be completely under his control.”

“No!” shouted Guptas.

The sudden shout caused Brick—who had been trying without success to catch a scent from the demon's image—to jump a foot into the air. When he landed he hissed and arched his back.

“I wouldn't do that to them,” said Guptas firmly. He made a little slashing motion at the cat, which scurried over to hide behind Marilyn.

“It is pointless for you to say anything,” said Cooley, “since we can't believe a word of it anyway.”

“Use your brain, you old fool! What is the curse that was laid on me? I cannot be freed of the amulet until someone trusts me enough to let me out. What good would it do me to put them in my power? I could gain obedience, maybe even acceptance. But never true trust. I could never break the binding that way.”

“Don't try to use your persuasive ways on me,” said Cooley. “I'm too wise for that.”

Guptas made a noise of disgust, then vanished.

“Now see what you've done!” said Marilyn.

Cooley was at her side before she finished speaking. Positioning himself in front of her, he began to stare into her eyes. It reminded Marilyn uncomfortably of the meeting in the cavern, when the old demon had looked at Guptas the same way. She shivered.

“I can't tell for certain,” he muttered to Zenobia, who was standing at his side. “But I think she's all right.”

“Of course I'm all right!” snapped Marilyn, pushing at his hand. Her arm passed through his, and she suddenly remembered that she was dealing with a ghost.

“This is too much,” she said.

Kyle came over, holding the cat. “Where are we, sir?”

Cooley turned to him. “Somewhere at the edge of your world. When the last Suleiman left the castle, he pushed it over some magical border, to move it away from the world we know.”

“Then what would it hurt to let Guptas free here? It's not as if we'd be letting him go in the real world.”

“Other than the fact that he might kill you instantly, you should be able to see that he can transport himself between our world and this castle with no trouble. He'd be back on earth raising hell in no time flat. No, there is no way around it. He must be destroyed.”

“I'll bet you support the death penalty, too,” said Kyle, scratching Brick between the ears.

“I won't destroy him,” said Marilyn flatly.

“Marilyn, be reasonable,” said Zenobia. “He's an evil creature. Look what he did to me!”

“He didn't mean to,” said Marilyn uncertainly. “He just wanted you to give him the amulet.”

“Why?” cried Cooley, pouncing like a cat that had spotted a mouse. “Why did he want the amulet back?”

“Because I was afraid she might be as much of a fool as you were!” roared Guptas, suddenly reappearing beside them.

Marilyn was sure that if Cooley hadn't been a ghost, he would have gone pale at that moment.

“The owner of the amulet has power over me,” continued Guptas. “I don't like that, so I don't want anyone to own the amulet. I don't want anyone to control me. Most of all, I want to be free. But it was clear you had poisoned the woman's mind against me. If I couldn't get her to free me, I wanted at least to be free of her control. I never meant for her to die. I was terrified when her heart gave out. I had had no idea that might happen. You people are much weaker than the Suleimans.”

“And me,” said Cooley. “What about what you did to me?”

“You,” said Guptas simply, “deserved to die. But I didn't do it. It was your own greed that did you in.”

“What do you mean?” cried Cooley. “I ordered you to lead me to something valuable in this castle.” He stopped and looked around him, then added defensively, “Because I wanted to prove to Zenobia what kind of possibilities I had uncovered.”

“You've been here before?” gasped Zenobia.

“Of course. This creature led me to a valuable artifact, all right. But it was a trap. When he took me back to my hotel room and I opened the thing—”

“When you opened it, you found death,” said Guptas.

“That's right!” shouted Cooley. He turned to the others. “He admits he tricked me! He showed me a precious box, but inside was some curse of the Suleimans.”

Even now, as a spirit, the memory made him shudder. “When I opened the box, a hideous centipede scuttled out. It was a great purplish thing, mottled and twice as long as my hand. It slithered up my sleeve.” His eyes grew wide with remembered horror. “It ran up my shirt, and while I was trying to tear open my collar—it bit me.”

“It had a very powerful poison,” said Guptas softly.

“You see!” screamed Cooley. “I asked him for a treasure, and he gave me death!”

For a moment no one said a word. Then Zenobia began to chuckle.

Guptas smiled. “I see you understand.”

Comprehension dawned in Cooley's face. “You tricked me,” he repeated bitterly.

“Not at all,” said Guptas. “You merely leapt to conclusions. That box was a mere trifle for the Suleimans. The treasure was inside. You asked for something valuable, and I gave you the most precious thing I could think of, the thing I have longed for for ten thousand years. I gave you death.”

Cooley was furious. “Give me that amulet!” he said, snatching at Marilyn's hand. His fingers passed right through hers, and he made a gesture of impatience.

“It's hers by right,” said Guptas calmly. “You might take it from her, but it will do you no good. The amulet can be stolen, but its power must pass freely.”

“Marilyn,” said Cooley, forcing himself to be calm, “please give me the amulet. This creature must be dealt with now.”

“No,” said Marilyn. Her voice was shaking.

“Now, listen here, young lady—”

“Eldred, shut up!” said Zenobia sharply.

To Marilyn's surprise, Cooley backed off like a whipped dog.

“Marilyn, be reasonable,” said Zenobia. “This creature is evil. He is a demon!”

“Half
demon,” said Marilyn.

“Well, that's interesting,” said Zenobia, raising a ghostly eyebrow. “But it doesn't make any difference. In his heart he is wicked. And he is powerful. All the time the amulet lay in the desert, the world was safe from him.” She glanced at Cooley. “Far better the amulet should have remained there,” she said pointedly. “But it didn't. It was brought out into the world. And now it is an unbelievable menace. If you do not free Guptas, somehow, someday, someone else will. And when that happens, I fear the whole world will pay.”

She paused for a moment, then touched her niece's cheek with a hand that wasn't really there. Marilyn shivered at the sensation.

“It isn't fair,” said Zenobia. “But it has come down to you. You must decide for everyone.”

“So I'm judge and jury,” said Marilyn softly.

“That's right,” said Zenobia. “No matter what Eldred thinks, we cannot force you to make this decision.”

“What do
you
think I should do?”

“I'm not certain,” said Zenobia. Her face was troubled. “In a way, I could say it makes no difference to me. After all, what happens to the world now is little of my concern. But I don't want to see innocent people suffer.”

“Is he so guilty?” asked Marilyn. “He didn't ask to be born. Do you know his story?”

“Do you believe it?” asked Zenobia. “And even if you do, does it make any difference? He is too powerful—and he is a creature out of time. Once the world could hold him, because there were others with power great enough to keep him in check. But free him now and you unleash an uncontrollable force. There is no one left who can master him, no safe place to put him. He can wreak unimaginable destruction.”