Confused, they linked paws, as the shaking of the cave increased. Orb sang the Song of the Morning again, and the setting tore apart. A new setting was revealed behind it and she and the demons were in it, standing on a cloud.
Their cloud was floating above a tranquil landscape of crosshatched fields and trees. But the tend was far below, and there seemed to be no safe way down. Meanwhile, then feet were sinking into the stuff of the cloud: it would not support them long.
"Must try again," Orb said, linking hands. She sang, and once again the fabric tore.
They were in what seemed to be giant intestines. Fluids pulsed through the flexing walls, and substances oozed. Thick fluid coursed along the base. Some of it touched the foot of one demon, and the creature jerked its foot away. Digestive add, evidently!
Orb linked and sang again. The intestines tore. They emerged into a landscape of garbage.
Cans, banana peels, coffee grounds, automobile bumpers, and soiled sheets formed a mountain of refuse. The smell was terrible. Even the demons shied away from it.
Orb grabbed their paws and sang again. The garbage tore, and a new scene started to form—but this time she did not stop singing. She knew she had to break the endless cycle of settings somehow; perhaps this would do it.
The new setting tore even as it formed, and the one after that. Now they were in a mixture of settings, as parts of partly formed scenes overlapped other parts. It was like the pages of a picture book being flipped; by the time one scene could be glimpsed, it was gone. Then Orb saw a castle. She stopped singing, trying to catch that scene, and succeeded. They stood in a lush garden replete with statuary, and ahead was a large stone castle. "Maybe we can get help here," she said. The demons, bemused, shrugged and shuffled after her as she marched toward the castle.
They came across three people near the back entrance.
Two women and a man had evidently been relaxing on a stone patio. Both women were supremely beautiful, and the man Orb made a little scream of astonishment. "Mym!" she cried. "Orb!" he replied. He rose gracefully to his feet and, in a moment, was embracing her. "How did you come here?"
"That's a complicated story," she said. "Just where are we?"
"In Purgatory. Didn't you know?" Then he stiffened.
"Don't tell me you're dead!"
"Dead? Why should I be dead?"
"Very few living folk come here."
Then she absorbed what he had said. "This is Purgatory? Where the dead get sorted? What are you doing here?"
He gestured to the demons to make themselves comfortable, then led her to a chair. "I live here, now. I am Mars."
"Mars?" she repeated blankly.
"The Incarnation of War. I assumed the office, after—oh, we have much to catch up on!"
"I should think so," she agreed. "Perhaps you should introduce me to your friends."
"Oh, yes, of course," he said. "But first I must explain that—" He spread his hands, looking embarrassed.
"That our romance is over," Orb said. "Of course." Then she did a double-take. "You aren't stuttering or singing!"
"The Green Mother took my stutter," he said. "We Incarnations do things for each other." He turned to the beautiful fair young woman. "This is Ligeia, my beloved. She is a dead princess; I met her in Hell." He smiled, realizing how that sounded. "Li, this is Orb, my first love."
Ligeia extended her hand. "He has told me much about you," she said graciously.
"And this is Lila, my mistress," Mym said, turning to the dusky woman. "She is a demoness, who can assume any form."
Lila extended her hand. "I can see why he loved you," she said huskily.
Orb's mouth worked twice before she connected it to her voice. "A demon mistress? Do I misunderstand?"
Ligeia laughed. "A prince can not be satisfied by a single woman," she explained. "He is best off with a harem. Since Lila can assume any form, she serves in lieu of a harem. But only when I am indisposed."
"You have been indisposed rather often, Li," the demoness remarked. "Do you think I don't realize that you are releasing him to me when you don't have to?"
"It becomes a princess to be generous, Li," the dead woman replied. "It is also known that no decent woman can match the performance of a damned creature." Both smiled; evidently no insult was intended.
"In my day, it seemed that one was enough," Orb said, deciding to take this lightly.
"After you, no single woman sufficed," Ligeia said.
"You know I didn't leave you voluntarily," Mym said. "I was kept under palace arrest until I agreed to spend a month with the princess selected for a political marriage. She was Rapture of Malachite, and she was no better pleased with the notion than I was."
"I saw a picture," Orb said. "Evidently you worked it out."
"I did not want to love her, but I did," Mym admitted. "Then I became Mars and brought her with me, but this existence wasn't right for her, and she left me. Now I love Ligeia. It is no affront to you, Orb. Had things been otherwise—"
"I understand," Orb said, beginning to. As a prince, Mym had been subject to the peculiar discipline of his office. Now he was filling the role of a prince in the form of an Incarnation, and women were indeed part of it.
"But now you must tell us how you came here in the company of demons," Mym said.
"I was looking for someone, and I sang the Llano incorrectly and got locked into a melange of settings," Orb said. "Each had some threat for me, but I could escape it by singing for the next. The demons were in one; their cave was collapsing, so I brought them along. Now I need to find them a place to be." Lila rose. "I will see to that," she said. "I know their kind."
"Another demon is my friend," Orb said. "I know you aren't necessarily bad folk."
"Not when we come under the influence of good human beings," Lila said. She approached the other demons and spoke to them in gutterals.
They clustered about her. At last someone spoke their language!
"Who were you looking for?" Mym inquired. Orb feared she was starting a blush. "Like you, I have found other company. But we had a—a difference, and he left. So I was looking for him."
"I have no jealousy of your friend," Mym said. "I can have no further relationship with you. Ligeia knows that no demoness could ever replace her in my life, but you—I think I never stopped loving you, but now it must be the love of friendship. So it is best that you have your own companion. Tell me his name, and I will try to find him for you."
"Natasha," she said.
He cocked his head. "It is a man? I never thought—"
It was Orb's turn to laugh. "He is a man. He sings—as well as I do, with the same magic."
"Now I am jealous," Mym said, smiling.
"Of course you must love him." Lila returned. "They will take up residence in our garden," she said. "There is a cave that resembles the one they knew. They say Orb healed one of them."
"He was ill," Orb said.
"I heard you mention Natasha," Lila said.
"Yes. He is the one I—"
"I knew one by that name once," the demoness said. "Before I departed Hell."
"A demon of Hell?" Orb asked. "Surely a coincidence of names."
"I hope so. This was no demon. He was a pseudonym of Satan himself."
Orb's breath caught. Speechless, she stared at the demoness.
"Orb would not have any interest in Satan!" Mym said.
"I realize that. But I have known Satan for millennia. It is hard for any living person to appreciate the levels of his deviousness. If he wished to make an impression on Orb—"
"He does," Orb said. "He tried to marry me. Natasha saved me."
"I would not trust that," Lila said. "Such a scene could readily have been staged."
"But I tested him," Orb protested. "I made him touch the cross, sing a hymn—that's why he was angry."
Ligeia nodded. "Those are good tests. Surely, then, this is a legitimate man."
"Not necessarily," Lila said. "While it i
s true that no creature of Hell, including Satan, can do these things, Satan can seem to do them when he chooses to. He could devise a cross from infernal material—"
"It was a silver cross, worn by a pure-minded friend," Orb said.
"That would be very hard for him to get around," Lila admitted. "Still, he might wear a glove, or even generate an illusory hand, so that he only appeared to touch it. There are ways and ways, and Satan knows them all."
Orb was becoming increasingly upset. "I—I think I am close to loving this man. I can not bear to think that he could be—"
"Surely he is not," Ligeia said.
But Mym remained doubtful. "It would be better to be absolutely sure," he said. "Is there any way we can set Orb's mind at ease? The notion of her being with Satan is appalling."
"He can generate an illusion for any purpose," Lila said. "Only through his actions can you know him absolutely, for he is the Incarnation of Evil."
"What action could Satan never take?" Mym asked.
"He could never do genuine good or side with right against wrong. Evil must do evil, though he may try to clothe it in a semblance of good."
"Then can we arrange one more test?" Mym asked. "It has become doubly important to me to set Orb's mind at ease. I would not have her hurt in any way, for she was my first love and my salvation. Also, I would not give Satan any satisfaction of any nature whatsoever; he is my absolute enemy."
"I don't want any more tests!" Orb said. "I can't even find Nat now, and if—"
"This is for me more than for you," Mym said. "I must be assured that you are in good company, on a personal and professional level."
"Professional level?"
"I am the Incarnation of War," he reminded her. "If Satan is trying to subvert you, we may be sure it is for nefarious purpose, and it behooves me to prevent it."
Orb was swayed. She knew that Mym would not play her false, even if their romance was over. Lila's words had instilled in her a new doubt, and it was indeed best to have it laid to rest. She did feel guilty, yet still could not see a better course.
She temporized. "I don't even know where he is, now," she said. "Or exactly how I got here. If I sing again, this reality may tear across, and I'll be lost again."
"The Llano is a dangerous tool," Lila said. "You have to use it properly, or reality does get compromised."
"You know of it?" Mym asked her. "I have heard of it, but never had experience with it."
"The Llano can move a person in and out of Hell itself," the demoness said. "It is one of the fundamental tools of magic. The tiniest portion of it can work what some call miracles. When she misapplied it, naturally she was in trouble. But all she has to do is neutralize the imperfection, and the problem will end."
"You know how to do that?" Orb asked, excited.
"That much, yes," Lila said. "Of course it won't work for me, because of my origin, and I don't know the rest of it, but that much I picked up from a former lover, some centuries back. It's just an elementary counter theme that resets things at their nominal values."
"Will you teach it to me?"
"Certainly. It goes like this." She paused. "Just a moment while I assume my singing form." She shimmered, and was abruptly in the form of a stout opera singer, complete with medieval robe.
She sang a rather simple melody that nevertheless had an eerie quality. It lasted only a few bars.
"That's it?" Orb asked.
"That's it," the demoness said, shifting back to her sultry, sexy format. "As I said, it can have no effect when I sing it, but you should be able to make it work. It's the same theme the Purgatory Computer now uses to cancel its own glitches, but it long predates the computer."
Orb sang it, exactly as she heard it. She felt the magic operating, subtly adjusting what was around her, as if something that had been unseated was now settling into its proper place.
"I felt it!" Lila said. "Now you can travel under control."
"You mean I can use the same mechanism to change voluntarily?" Orb asked. "I can go to any of those settings?"
"Of course. Wasn't that what you intended to do before?"
"No. I just got caught up in it."
"That must have been a harrowing experience," Ligeia said sympathetically.
"It was. If I hadn't happened to land here, there's no telling where I would have finished."
"Oh, you would have been all right," the demoness said. "You were just skipping randomly about the globe. You would have come to somewhere you recognized, eventually."
"But there was danger everywhere I went!" Orb said. "Bad waves, cave-ins, or satyrs chasing me in a bedroom—" Now, belatedly, she became aware of her attire: the demons fur draped somewhat haphazardly across her bare body. She must be a sight!
"Probably because of the error in the Llano," Lila said. "It tended to put you at the dangerous fringe of reality. This site is no exception: Purgatory is the brink of Hell for many souls."
"Do you—I'm not properly dressed—" Orb said, embarrassed.
"Of course, my dear," Ligeia said immediately. "I have many suitable gowns. Except—"
"They won't hold up beyond Purgatory," Lila finished. "Because they are of supernatural stuff. Let me make her present material into an outfit." She approached.
"But I can't take it off!" Orb protested, glancing at Mym.
"No need," Lila said. "He's gotten quite enough ogling for this hour." She touched the fur, and it writhed, changing shape on Orb, becoming a snugly fitting sleeveless dress.
"You are a well-formed woman."
"Mym's taste runs to that," Orb said, glancing at each of the other females significantly.
"But only your flesh is mortal," Ligeia said. "Therein lies its special appeal."
"Yours is mortal!" Mym told her.
Ligeia put her hand to her mouth. "Oh, so it is, now! I forgot! I animated a mortal body for you." She turned to him. "So why were you ogling her, dear?"
"She didn't realize what she was showing," he said, shamefacedly.
"And there we have the voyeuristic truth of the male nature," Ligeia said. "Always seeking the illicit thrill. I'm sure he never stared like that when you offered it to him openly, Orb." She frowned. "Do you realize what this means?"
"I'm banished to the harem," Mym said, chastened. Ligeia turned to Lila. "Can you assume the form of a zombie?"
"Of course," the demoness agreed, "Exactly how rotten did you have in mind?"
Then, seeing Mym's look of horror, all three women burst out laughing. "Actually, I can play the role perfectly well myself," Ligeia said. "I was dead a long time before he rescued me from Hell."
Obviously Ligeia was very sure of her man. Orb envied her the relationship, and not just because it was with Mym.
"If I may change the subject," Mym said determinedly, "we do have a test to run. Let me look up this man Natasha." He turned and walked into the castle.
"I tease him, but he is a good man," Ligeia said.
"I know," Orb agreed.
"Is it true you had his baby?"
"It is true," Orb said, surprised. "How did you know?"
"I looked you up in the record, of course. I thought it best to learn his past history. It was terrible, what happened to you."
"I suppose I can't object, since my mother is Fate."
"Do you know why Satan should be interested in you?"
"There was an old prophecy, dating from before my birth, that indicated I might marry Evil," Orb said. "I suppose that attracted his attention."
"It could simply be the challenge of it," Lila said. "Satan has no shortage of women, demon, dead, and mortal alike. But like our Incarnation here, he prefers what is forbidden. A lovely mortal woman, daughter of an Incarnation, forewarned against him—there, perhaps, is the ultimate challenge."
"And so it can remain," Orb said hotly. "I have absolutely no interest in the Prince of Evil!"
"Of course you don't," Ligeia agreed.
Mym emerged from the castle
. "I found a listing for a male singer named Natasha," he said. "That must be him. I noted his summoning theme, so Orb can reach him."
"Summoning theme?" Orb asked.
"Every person has one," Mym explained. "That's how we Incarnations locate individuals accurately and quickly. I'm sure Thanatos and Fate couldn't operate without that tool."
"And what of the test, dear?" Ligeia inquired.
"There is an action coming up now," he said. "An encroachment on a reservation that could escalate into bloodshed. I was going to squelch it outright, but it should do for this purpose. The sides of good and evil are solidly established. Satan is unable to associate with good, so if he's involved, it will be clear enough."
"A possible escalation into war—and you wish to suppress it?" Orb asked, surprised.
"An irony," he responded. "As Mars, I try to control war, not incite it. Otherwise much evil would accrue, as Satan well knows."
"And you say I can summon Nat?" Orb asked, not at ease about this. "Yes. I suggest you bring him to the site and ask him for help in righting wrong. A true mortal will be able to do that; Satan will not."
"But if I test him again—"
"I will intercede," Mym said. "He will listen to me." She sighed. "I hope so. I don't want another man taken from me in the manner of the first."
"I think your mother would not do that to you again," he said. "Actually, she was not in the office when it happened.
Now take my hand." She took his hand. A great red sword appeared in his free hand, glowing. Then the scene was moving around them, with blurred rapidity. Suddenly they were standing at the fringe of an American Indian village. Women and children were packing dried herbs, evidently preparing them for sale.
"They are magic herbs," Mym explained. "The native Indian magic remains the most potent; they have had many generations to perfect it. Those herbs are extraordinarily valuable and represent the major source of income for the tribe."
"Why aren't they reacting to us?" Orb asked.
"We are invisible and inaudible. You will become evident to them when you lose physical contact with me; my sword does it. But first I must give you the summoning theme. The action is just about to break."
"But isn't there danger, then?" He brought out a colored stone. "Hold this; it will protect you from physical harm." She took it. "It looks like one of the Magician's charms that Luna inherited."