“A pity,” he said, checking the girth—at least, I think that’s what the strap thing that holds the saddle on the horse is called. “You look lovely in it.”
“Anybody would—it’s a gorgeous coat,” I said. “But why white again?”
“Pardon?” He raised an eyebrow at me as he helped me climb aboard Kurex who snorted and stamped in the snow.
“Why did you make it white fur? And the rug we, uh slept on too. Why always white? Is the only kind of fur animal they have down here albino or what?”
He looked up as he settled me on the horse and gave me a slow smile.
“I suppose I just like the contrast with your lovely brown skin. I cannot help remembering how beautiful you looked, lying naked on the white fur last night.”
“Laish…” I protested, feeling my cheeks burn despite the cold wind whipping around us.
“What is it, mon ange?” he said, swinging lightly up behind me and taking Kurex’s reins. “Do you wish to forget about the time we spent together last night? Do you wish to pretend that it never happened?”
“I…don’t know,” I confessed as Laish urged the big horse forward onto the road only he and Kurex could see. “I should want that, I guess.”
“But you don’t.” His voice in my ear was low and intimate. “You don’t wish to forget the pleasure we brought each other. Do you?”
“I guess not,” I whispered. It was wrong and I knew it. I shouldn’t dwell on what we’d done the night before. After all, we’d only done it in order to pay the Sin Tax.
The first time, yes, whispered a snarky little voice in my head. But the second time—there was no excuse for that. Letting him touch you and make you come again—that was just for you. Just for pleasure.
I tried to push the guilt out of my mind. The voice sounded disturbingly like Grams and I knew well enough what she’d think of what I’d been doing with Laish last night.
I’ll be careful, I told myself uneasily. I won’t go too far—I won’t!
I just hoped I could keep the promise I’d made to myself.
We rode in silence for about an hour and then we came to the entrance of a long, dark tunnel. Strangely enough, it had nothing on either side of it. It wasn’t set into the side of a mountain as the Jealous Heart had been—it was just a big cylinder made of some dull ivory colored material. Also it was perfectly circular and ribbed at intervals with thick circular supports of the same color. Really, what it reminded me of most was those long collapsible tubes you can get for your kids to crawl through and play in at Ikea. Only this tube was huge—easily big enough for us to ride through while seated on Kurex. Not that I wanted to.
“Oh, no!” I gripped Kurex’s mane hard at the sight of the tunnel’s mouth. “Please tell me we can ride around that and we don’t have to go through it.”
“Alas, we must go through it, I fear. There is no other way,” Laish said calmly.
“But there’s nothing on either side of it—why can’t we just ride around?”
“Because the Tunnel of Sighs is the only entrance to the City of Dis. And it is where the barrier between the fourth and fifth circle is located. There is no other way through.”
“Well at least tell me it’s not filled with Skitterlings or something worse,” I said.
“You have nothing to fear,” Laish said reassuringly. “There are no Skitterlings here—only ghosts.”
“What?” I half turned in the saddle so I could look at him. “What do you mean only ghosts?”
He gave me an annoying little grin.
“Well, they are not ghosts per say—only the voices of ghosts,” he said. “Some say that they hear the words of dead loved ones or other voices from their past as they pass through the tunnel. I must warn you, Gwendolyn, it can be quite disturbing.”
“I bet,” I muttered. “But you say there’s no way around it?”
“I am afraid not.”
“And you’re sure there are no mutant spider things anywhere inside?”
“Positive.”
“Well then…” I sighed. “Let’s just get through it.”
“As you wish. And remember, no matter what the voices say to you, they cannot hurt you.” He looped an arm firmly around my waist and dug his heels into Kurex’s sides. “Here we go.”
“Here we go,” I echoed him, trying to brace for the worst.
I held his arm tightly as Kurex entered the almost perfectly circular entrance of the tunnel. Once inside, his hooves echoed oddly against the curved walls. They made a strange meaty thunk, thunk, thunk instead of the tapping or clattering sound I’d expected. Weird.
But soon I had other things to listen to besides the horse’s hooves. There was a wind in the tunnel—it swooped and swirled and blew my hair around my face. And in the wind were the voices…
“Gwendolyn, child, what are you doing with your life? whispered a familiar voice in my ear. Why have you been giving yourself to that demon when you know you have to stay pure? Stay pure to stay strong…stay pure to stay protected…”
“I’m trying, Grams,” I whispered, feeling hot and uncomfortable in the fur coat. “I swear I’m trying.”
Then the wind changed.
“Gwendy,” whispered a voice I hadn’t heard in ages. Gwendy, he’s got me and he won’t let me go! I don’t want to be with those men—the ones he sends to me. But he says if I don’t, he’ll cut me off. I can’t help it, Gwendy, I’m so sorry…
“Keisha!” I knew it was a trick of the tunnel but I couldn’t help looking around for the source of the soft, sighing voice. Was she here? Had my baby sister somehow been transported to Hell?
“The voices are not real,” Laish murmured in my ear. “Nothing you hear is real, Gwendolyn.”
“Okay, right.” I nodded and tried to keep the tears that had gathered in my eyes from falling. Goddess, I missed my little sister so much. Even hearing what I knew was a fake of her voice made me long to take her in my arms and hold her close—to save her and comfort her.
The wind changed again and this time it spoke in a deep, masculine voice.
“Laish,” it murmured. “Laish, my brother, you are sorely missed in the celestial circles. Why did you forsake the Heavens? Why did you give up everything for the sake of pride?”
I turned my head to glance at Laish and see what he thought about this but his face was a stony, impenetrable mask. It was impossible to say if the voice was bothering him or not.
“Ignore it, Gwendolyn,” he said, staring straight ahead. “We will be through the tunnel soon.”
I supposed he must hear the same thing every time he had to come to the City of Dis this way. Maybe he had gotten used to it over all the millennia since he’d ended up in Hell. I was beginning to have an idea of what must have happened to him but I didn’t want to ask outright since he’d gotten so defensive the night before. Maybe soon we could talk about it though.
“Gwendolyn, listen to me. Please listen, my friend!”
I frowned. The new voice sounded different somehow—less hollow and windy. In fact it almost sounded real, like someone was whispering right in my ear. Still, I tried to ignore it as Laish had said. It would do no good to get myself all worked up for nothing. But the soft little voice persisted.
“It’s so hard to get you to hear me, but here in the tunnel it’s possible if you’ll only listen,” it went on. “I’m trapped here—he stole me away and he’s kept me here in this awful place for so long. Please help me! Please!”
Who could it be? It didn’t sound like any voice from my past—at least, not anyone I could remember. Although it did seem strangely familiar. Almost like something I’d heard in a dream.
“If you could make a spell…find a way to set me free…just let me leave this terrible place. I’m so afraid he’ll catch me and bring me back and I can’t stay like this forever. Please!”
I couldn’t ignore it any longer.
“Who are you?” I asked.
“I’m—” the little
voice began. But just then we finally reached the end of the tunnel. Kurex cantered out of it and onto a road that seemed to be made of cobblestones. His hooves clattered loudly against the new pavement and the little voice was lost.
“Who were you speaking to?” Laish asked me. “I told you the voices are only imaginary.”
“Yes, but that last one was different,” I said. “I almost felt like I’d heard it before but it wasn’t anyone from my past that I recognized. It was…strange.”
“I heard no one after the last voice that was meant for me.” He sounded like he was frowning.
“You didn’t hear it? That’s weird.”
I shook my head, my hair brushing against the collar of my fur coat. The movement must have startled Eryn, my little moth, because she fluttered up from my shoulder and hovered in front of my face for a moment, her little wings beating in wild agitation.
“Oh, sorry little girl,” I told her, trying to make my voice soothing. “I didn’t mean to upset you. Just settle back down on my shoulder. We’re safe here.”
“As safe as you are likely to be anywhere in the Infernal Realm, anyway,” Laish said as the moth settled reluctantly back on my shoulder. “This is, after all, my dominion. Yet that which seeks you is relentless. We must still exercise caution, even here.”
I knew he was talking about the HellSpawn and it made me shiver.
“All right,” I said whole heartedly. “I’ll do whatever you say to stay safe.” I’d had more than enough near misses lately—I swore to myself I’d listen to Laish’s advice and do as he said.
“It’s good to know you’re finally willing to be attentive,” he said dryly.
“I just don’t want to get killed or have my soul sucked out before I can close that damn door and get back home,” I told him.
We paused for a moment to climb off Kurex and change since the winter things Laish had given me that morning were now much too hot. There was no one in sight in either direction but I still changed quickly, taking off the warm clothing he’d given me and putting on a much lighter garment that reminded me of a sundress with short sleeves. It was deep purple and looked good against my skin.
Laish changed as well with a wave of his hand, putting himself back into an immaculate black suit that wouldn’t have looked out of place on Wall Street. I noticed that instead of making my old winter clothes vanish he tucked them carefully into one of Kurex’s saddle bags. Except for the coat, that was.
“I believe you wished to keep this?” he asked, handing it to me after he’d helped me up into the saddle again.
“Thank you.” I stroked the soft fur gratefully. It might be silly but I had decided I did want to keep it—even if I would never have a chance to wear it at home. It was simply too pretty to leave behind.
“You’re very welcome, Gwendolyn.” Laish swung up behind me and we resumed our journey.
The road was leading into a city now—or was it a town? The cobbled streets were crowded but not with the horrible looking creatures I’d seen in the crowds at Baator. Oh, some of them were clearly demons but many were just people and they were almost all dressed in long, scholarly robes. Also, none of them was doing anything obviously horrible or illegal. I didn’t see any prostitutes or anyone selling body parts (I had seen both those things and worse in Baator.) Instead, everyone seemed to be going about their business with serious looks on their faces. The traffic in the streets was brisk but remarkably quiet.
“What’s the deal with this place?” I asked, looking around. “How come nobody’s being horrible to anyone else or trying to kill or rob or rape anyone?”
“The fifth circle is for narcissists, self-centered individuals, and intellectuals,” Laish answered. “Those who were either too wrapped up in their own pursuits and vanity to seek the Creator, or those who willfully denied his existence and his role in the universe.”
“What—like atheists?” I asked, frowning.
“Among others. ‘The fool has said in his heart, there is no God.’ Psalms 14, verse 1,” Laish quoted, surprising me.
I looked back at him. “That’s from the Bible, right? How do you know that?”
“No one knows the scriptures so well as we demons do,” Laish said seriously. “We study them well to know our enemy.”
“So everyone in this circle has either ignored God or denied him?” I asked. “Your circle must be crowded! I believe in God and Heaven and obviously Hell—I mean here we are. But there are so many people who don’t. People who believe everything—the Earth, the solar system—the whole universe just happened by accident.”
“Of course—it is one of the more convincing lies we tell,” Laish said, shrugging. “Though I often wonder why humanity is so willing to swallow it. After all, one only need look at the stars and planets, so perfectly aligned in their courses, or the cellular structure of any organism to know that there has to be a Creator.”
“I guess everyone just believes everything evolved the way it is,” I said.
“As to that, perhaps if they would do some reading they might see that it isn’t so simple. There is a book in my own private library called The Case for a Creator. It’s quite thought provoking—I think if more mortals would read it, there would be fewer of them in my dominion,” Laish remarked.
“Well, maybe people don’t want to believe in Heaven or Hell,” I pointed out. “I mean, it can be a pretty heavy concept.”
“That is likely. For if there is no Heaven and no Hell, there is also no accountability after death.” Laish sighed. “As you can see, that is not true.”
“So how are the people here being punished?” I asked, looking around. “Nobody seems like they’re being whipped or beaten or tortured in any way. Or do you have some of those horrible pits like they had in Minauros and Stygia?”
“No—none of the people here did anything reprehensible or particularly evil—they simply denied God,” Laish said. “So their Hell is never to be in his presence—never to know his light and majesty and joy. Say what you will of the Almighty but He is a gentleman. If you wish nothing to do with him then He will not force you. If you turn your back on him, He will turn his back on you…for all eternity.”
I didn’t know why but his words made me sad. There was a deep longing in them…a wistfulness that made me want to ask him questions. But once again I bit my tongue.
“Tell me about the buildings,” I said instead. “What are they made of?” Every building we’d passed by was made of the same ivory-white material and some of the supports seemed to curve in strangely organic ways.
“As to that, I believe I will allow Belial to tell you the history of Dis.”
“Belial? Who’s he? Or she?” I added as an afterthought.
Laish smiled. “Belial is an elder statesman—the demon I trust to run Dis during my long absences. Oh don’t worry, mon ange,” he said quickly, correctly interpreting the reluctance on my face. “He is nothing like Druaga or the others of my kind you’ve been unfortunate enough to encounter. Belial is an intellectual—a historian. He loves to tell the story of Dis and how it came to be. And since we will be staying with him in the Citadel of Knowledge, I don’t wish to deprive him of the pleasure of being first to enlighten you.”
“The Citadel of Knowledge?” I asked. “Is that some kind of hotel?”
“Not quite—the bottom half of it is the House of Parliament, where the Council of Elder Demons rule on cases throughout Hell. The top half has been converted into a very cozy living quarters. It is where I stay every time I come to Dis.”
“Okay, so we’re going to your penthouse,” I said. “Sounds good to me, especially after sleeping on the floor last night. Where is it?”
“Just there.” Laish raised an arm and pointed.
I’d had my head turned around, talking to him but now I looked up, following his finger. There, standing before us at the end of the cobbled road was an immense structure that had to be at least five stories high.
And it was sh
aped like a gigantic skull.
* * * * *
Laish
“We’re staying there? In a skull?” Gwendolyn sounded fascinated and also a bit disgusted. I was amused at her reaction and her wonder at the Citadel. It truly is an awe inspiring structure—very surprising if one has never seen it before.
“That is the Citadel of Knowledge,” I said, nudging Kurex with my knees to get him trotting. It had been years since I’d visited Dis and I found myself eager to see my old mentor, Belial, again.
“Okay, there has to be a good story behind this. Is it a real skull?” she asked.
“Of course.” I was about to say more but as we rode into the courtyard of the Citadel a small imp, no higher than my knee, came scampering out of the cavernous hole in the lower jaw which served as a door.
“Master, Master—they are here at last! Lord Laish is here! I told you so,” he squeaked excitedly.
“Yes, yes, so you did.” Belial came out behind the little imp, leaning on a cane. He was an ancient knowledge demon—the kind called on by astrologers and alchemists—and his back was crooked and humped from bending over his books for untold years. His skin was the bluish-gray of his kind and quite wrinkled. The curly ram’s horns on the sides of his head were pure, glossy black in contrast to his long gray beard. He was a welcome sight.
“Lord Laish!”
As I swung off Kurex, he shuffled forward. I clasped arms with him eagerly.
“Belial—it’s good to see you again,” I said, truly meaning it. After my fall, Belial had been the first to help and instruct me. Despite all my power, I’d had no intimate knowledge of the Infernal Landscape—without him I would have been lost. I had become Belial’s pupil and he had become my friend and mentor. It was a relationship that continued to this day.
“We’ve been expecting you, my Lord.” He looked up at Gwendolyn who was still mounted on Kurex. “Both of you. Good afternoon to you, young lady.”
“Good afternoon.” Gwendolyn’s face said she didn’t quite know what to make of my old mentor.