For Love of Evil (14 page)

"But it's dangerous! Who knows what horror will menace you next?"

"Accomplishment is seldom without risk. I trust you will keep watch over me, as you have these thirty years."

"I have no choice," she grumbled. "You hold my blood hostage."

He glanced at the stain on his wrist. Her soul was still housed there. "Certainly it has been good to have you always with me, always as pretty as you were in life."

"I think you like me better as a spirit than as a living woman!" That stung him. "I would give anything to have you alive,

Jolie! But since even the semblance of that poses horrendous complications, I must be satisfied with that aspect of you that is available. Yet if I could release your spirit to go to Heaven where it belongs, I would do so."

"Oh, it's not so bad being a ghost," she said, mollified.

"Though I do wonder what the great evil can be that keeps me fixed in perfect balance. I have seen no evil in your life since my death, and it is true that I would be old and fat by now if I had lived."

"And I would not be in the Church," he added. "I agree: it was terrible to have you die, but I perceive no evil apart from that. I can only presume that it has not yet manifested."

"But now Lucifer knows you. Oh, Parry-I fear that evil is close upon us!"

"We shall oppose it together," he said with conviction.

"Together," she agreed, and floated close for an ethereal kiss. Then she faded out.

There were no further episodes with evil as he completed his journey. Parry concluded that Lucifer was not truly aware of him, just of the fact that a friar had been dispatched to handle this case. So a contingent of demons had been sent to eliminate that friar. The fact that no others had come meant either that the Lord of Evil had not been paying close attention, this being a minor matter, or that he lacked other forces at the moment in this vicinity. Probably the former. Still, if this heretic did have critical information, and Parry were able to get it, then Lucifer would certainly pay attention. Then things could become difficult.

The heretic was an old man, gray of beard and frail. He was not comfortable when Parry saw him; he was in a dank dungeon, naked on the floor on his back. His wrists and ankles were roped to stakes so that he could not move them. There was a flat board on his front, and on this were set metal weights. The man was breathing only in shallow gasps, unable to inhale properly because of the pressure on his chest.

"What is this?" Parry demanded, outraged.

"It is the peine forte etdure. Father," the gaoler said. "The strong and hard pain."

"I know what it is!" Parry snapped. "What I mean is, why is this punishment being practiced on this person? I was told he has not made a plea."

"This is not punishment. Father. It is merely an inducement to cause him to make his plea."

"An inducement? It looks like torture to me!"

"By no means. Father. He is not being cut, his bones are not being dislocated, he is not being burned or starved. He is merely being encouraged to plead."

"Because if he does not plead guilty or innocent, you cannot try him," Parry said, disgusted.

"True, Father. Criminals are becoming obstinate; they dally forever, clogging the processes of justice. They must be made to plead."

"But under such duress, any man would plead, even if he had no guilt!"

"No, Father. Some die rather than plead."

"Some most plead guilty? What happens to them?"

"They forfeit all their goods, and are let go."

"And what of those who plead innocent?"

"They are found guilty, and punished for their intransigence, and their property is forfeit."

"I can see why they try to avoid making pleas," Parry said dryly. "Their alternatives are starvation or torture and starvation. Did it ever occur to you that a man might be innocent, undeserving of any punishment?"

"No, Father," the gaoler said, surprised by his naivete. "We have only guilty here."

Jolie appeared. "Stop talking and get him out of this!" she exclaimed. "The poor man!"

Parry agreed. "Release the prisoner," he said.

"But he has not yet made his plea!"

"I wish to talk to him. That would be hard to do if he can't breathe."

"Oh. In that case I will lessen the weights just enough to enable him to answer."

"No. Remove them all, and unbind him. I want him free of fetters."

"But Father, this is most irregular!" Parry delivered a steely stare. "Gaoler, do you value your soul?" The man gave way, grudgingly. In due course the prisoner was free. But he was unable to rise; he lay where he was, his gasps diminishing.

Parry tried to help him, but the man groaned. He had been bound so long that the circulation had suffered in his hands and feet, and his joints hardly functioned. Parry had to let him be; it was the kindest thing he could do.

"I have come to talk to you," Parry said gently. "I regret that you were put under such duress; I did not know of it until I saw you. I will do what I can to help you escape this situation, if you will return to the bosom of our Lord and tell me what I wish to know."

"I cannot!" the man gasped.

"Surely you can," Parry said gently. "God is forgiving, for the truly penitent."

"No, I cannot, for I dare not make a plea!"

Parry nodded. If the man confided that he had dealings with Lucifer, that would be confirmation of his guilt, and the savage retribution of the law would wipe him out. If he denied it, and in so doing swore falsely, there would be no salvation for him. It was certainly a difficult situation.

But the order thought there was evidence that this was a true heretic, and Lucifer had tried to prevent Parry's arrival to interview him. This could be the source of the information Parry had to ferret out. He could not let it go without making his utmost effort.

"Let me speak candidly," he said. "It is my desire to save your soul from the eternal fires of damnation if at all possible. It is also my desire to learn certain information. I am not without influence. Cooperate with me, and perhaps your situation will ameliorate."

The man's eyes nicked to the gaoler. He looked like a hunted animal. He did not speak.

That was enough for Parry. The suspect did know something!

Parry addressed the gaoler. "Allow me to interview this man alone, if you please."

The goaler's look was crafty. "I do not please. Father. This criminal is dangerous! I must remain here to protect you from possible harm."

"This man can hardly breathe, let alone stand," Parry pointed out. "He represents no threat to me. He is alarmed by your presence; I believe he will talk more freely in private with me."

The canny look intensified. The goaler thought there might e revelation of hidden money. "I cannot-"

Parry fixed him with an imperial glare. "Leave us!"

Reluctantly, the man retreated. He exited the cell, but stood ust beyond it, well within hearing range.

"Go elsewhere," Parry said, his patience fraying.

"But I cannot leave the cell unlocked!"

"Lock it, then!"

The man hauled the heavy door shut, and barred it from outside. Parry knew he was standing just beyond it, his ear straining, but was assured that low voices would not carry sufficiently to satisfy the man.

"Now the gaoler is gone," he told the suspect. "You may speak freely to me, and I will keep your confidence."

"I-wish I could," the man said.

Parry realized that the man needed help. "I understand the situation you are in. You cannot plead, because no matter what you plead, they will deprive you of your property and perhaps your life." He saw the agreement in the haunted eyes. "You have perhaps a family, who would suffer privation, and you do not wish that." Again the muted agreement. "But if there were only some way you could get out of this without hurting those you love, you would take that course."

"Yes!" the man breathed. Now he was recovered enough to struggle to sit up, and Parry assisted him.

"Therefore your problem may be material rather than spiritual. Suppose you were to be found innocent of the charge against you?"

For a moment the man brightened; then he slumped. Parry continued to read the signals. This man had dealt with Lucifer! But now regretted it.

"You were in need-your family was in need-so you did what you thought you had to do, to deliver them from grief. What did you offer Lucifer? Surely not your soul!"

"Not my soul!" the man agreed.

"But what else would the Lord of Evil desire of you?"

The man struggled. "My-my silence."

Parry concealed his mounting excitement, and spoke calmly.

"Your silence about what?"

"I-" But the man balked, hesitant to convict himself.

"And for your silence on this score, Lucifer paid in gold," Parry said, as if there had been no balk. "It came as if by accident; you found buried coins-" The man was nodding as he spoke; he was hitting close enough to the mark.

"And when you spent them, the neighbors became suspicious, or rapacious, and turned you in, hoping to gain those coins for themselves."

"Yes!"

"And now if you confess to dealing with Lucifer, you are lost, and if you do not confess, you will be tortured until you do confess. In either case you will lose the money, and your family will be worse off than before you started."

"Yes. Father."

Parry fixed him with a gentle variant of his stare. "Did it not occur to you that Lucifer broke his bargain with you? He gave you the money-then alerted the neighbors so that you would lose it and be worse off than before."

The man's mouth fell open.

"Lucifer reneged," Parry continued relentlessly. "You owe the Lord of Evil nothing!"

"Nothing!" the man echoed.

"But you may redeem your soul and perhaps your family if you cooperate with God. God does not renege. God will welcome you back to His fold. All that He requires is genuine repentance and dedication to His will."

"My family . . ."the man said, daring to hope.

"First we must ascertain what we have," Parry said. "Tell me the thing about which Lucifer bought your silence, and I will see what I can do."

Suddenly it poured out. "Father, I am a historian! All my life I have studied the scrolls of the ancients, and tried to fathom the courses of mankind. I have questioned travelers, learning about their homelands, piecing together the tapestry of the mortal realm. Oh, the tragedies that abound, the wasted lives! But recently I learned of a terrible scourge that is building-"

The man paused to recover his breath. That was just as well, because Parry needed a moment to steady himself. The scourge! Here it was at last!

"And I saw that it was coming this way," the man continued. "Others have not noticed, because it is as yet far away. But it is coming here, to the ruin of us all! I sought to publish my discovery, but lacked the money, and then-"

"Then Lucifer proffered much greater wealth-for your silence," Parry said.

"Yes. He came to me in the form of an ordinary man, but I knew him for what he was. He told me where to find the coins, and said I could do whatever I liked with them, as long as I kept silent about my discovery. And I-my wife was ailing, she needed better food-"

"And you realized that if you did not agree to do as Lucifer wished for gold, he might coerce you by some less amicable means," Parry said.

"Yes. He-he frightened me! I did not want to deal with him, but-"

"My son, you did wrong," Parry said. "But your deed was understandable. What was the nature of this scourge?" He hoped that the man did not balk now!

"It is the heathen Tartars," the man said. "They come from afar, as they did eight hundred years ago, but they come in terrible strength. Then they destroyed the empire of the Romans; this time they will destroy all that remains. Already they are overrunning the lands of the Moors, making pyramids of their severed heads! The Moors are our enemies, so our kings are not concerned about their problems, but the Tartars are a worse threat than the Moors! In one, perhaps two years they will come here, and there will be carnage such as we have never seen before!"

And there it was: the scourge of which Lord Bofort had hinted! The alien Tartars-coming at last to Europe! Suddenly it all made sense. Parry had studied some history himself; he knew how ferocious had been the invasion of the Tartars before, then called the Huns.

But more information was needed, and there was not much time. One or two years? It would take that long just to prepare a respectable defense, assuming the proper ears could be reached.

"You can document this?" he inquired. "You can prove your case to those in a position to understand it?"

"Oh, yes, certainly! But-"

"But you fear the reprisals of Lucifer or the law," Parry concluded. "Do not be concerned; I will protect you from these. You must come with me, to give evidence about this matter. We must prevent the ravaging of Europe."