"Because there are a few things you will need to do between the turning on of the spell and the final acclaiming of your great victory."
"These things—they won't be too difficult?" Sir Oliver asked.
"Now, look here." Azzie's tone was rough. "You'd better be ready to do whatever is required. If there's any doubt about that, give me back the key. It'll go very hard on you if you default."
"Oh, fear not," Sir Oliver said, holding up the key as though to reassure himself.
"As I said, you will receive further instructions."
"Can you give me a hint?"
"You'll have some decisions to make."
"Decisions? Oh, dear," said Sir Oliver. "I'm not entirely sure I like that. Well, never mind. I merely need to do what comes up and it'll all work out well for me, is that correct?"
"That's what I've been telling you," Azzie said. "Evil expects nothing more of a man save that he do his duty and try his best. More cannot be asked in the annals of Bad."
"That's fine," Sir Oliver said. "I'll be off then, eh?"
"Good night," Azzie said.
PART SIX
Chapter 1
After her release from Pandora's box, Ylith went to report to the Archangel Michael. She found him in his office in the Old All-Saints Building in West Heaven, where he was going over a great pile of parchment printouts. It was late, and the other angels and archangels had left hours ago. But in Michael's office, the candles burned bright, for the archangel had been reading reports from his various operatives throughout the universe. What some of them had to tell disturbed him greatly.
He looked up when Ylith came in. "Hello there, my dear. Is anything the matter? You look a bit ruffled."
"As a matter of fact, sir, I've just had an adventure."
"Indeed? Please enlighten me."
"It was nothing, really. This silly man conjured me, and Hermes shut me up in Pandora's magic box, and I finally got free with the help of Zeus."
"Zeus, really? Is that old fellow still knocking around? I thought he was in the Afterglow."
"He was, sir, but he projected himself to me in the magic box."
"Oh, yes. I forgot the old gods can do that sort of thing. But what about the little angels whom you were taking around the English shrines? Is anyone staying with them?"
"As soon as I got free of Pandora's box I turned the children over to the Blessed Damosel and came here to report to you."
"The Blessed Damosel didn't mind baby-sitting?"
"She was glad to leave off leaning on the gold bar of Heaven for a while and do something practical. It's silly, isn't it, sir, the way poems freeze us into postures we can't get out of?"
Michael nodded, then said, "I have important work for you back on Earth."
"That will be fine," Ylith told him. "I like visiting shrines."
"Your work on this one will encompass something more than sightseeing," Michael said. "It involves Azzie."
"Hah!" said Ylith.
"It seems your demonic friend is up to something again. Something decidedly fishy."
"That's strange," Ylith said. "I saw him just recently in York, and he had nothing more on his mind than attending a morality play."
"That play seems to have given him some ideas," Michael said. "Now there are indications that he is attempting something else. My observers bring me word that he has involved Pietro Aretino, that scurrilous limb of Satan. Given Azzie's already established proclivity toward the unexpected, I'm sure he's up to some mischief."
Ylith nodded. "But why should you concern yourself with a mere play?"
"I suspect that it is rather more than 'mere.' " Michael said. "Judging by Azzie's previous excursions, notably the matters of Prince Charming and Johann Faust, this new attempt, whatever it is, could bring the forces of Dark and Light once again into direct conflict, and so involve us all in another do-or-die situation. Just when it seemed we could have some peace in the cosmos! These are only rumors, mind you, yet we must give them some credence, put forth as they are by the turncoats we keep in the midst of the Forces of Bad to observe the enemy and tell us what they are up to. Ylith, I need you to do a bit of looking around."
"By 'looking around' I suppose you mean spying," said Ylith. "And to whom does 'us' refer?"
"Me and God," Michael said. "I'm asking you in His name, of course."
"Yes, you usually do," Ylith said. Her face took on a petulant expression. "Why doesn't He ever speak to me Himself?"
"Many of us have wondered why we do not hear direct from the Deity," Michael said. "He doesn't speak directly to me, either. It is a mystery and we are not supposed to question it."
"Why not?" Ylith asked.
"Very well, then, sir, I'll go at once."
"Do so. And use your own judgment. If you should find that Azzie Elbub has a scheme underfoot for the subversion of mankind and the glorification of Evil, it will do no harm at all to put a spike in his wheels, so to speak, if you should find a chance."
"That's exactly what I was thinking," Ylith said.
Chapter 2
In their room near the kitchen, Puss and Quentin lay in their truckle beds watching the shadows cross and re- cross on the ceiling.
"Do you think Antonio is really a demon?" asked Quentin, who was quite young and not completely sure yet what was real and what was not.
"I think he is," Puss said.
Puss had been thinking long and hard about what she wanted more than anything else in the world. The first thing that had occurred to her was blond hair, like her brother's. Silky and curly and long, and with a flaxen tint to it, not the brassy yellow that some girls affected. But was that really a thing to wish for above all else? Puss felt a little ashamed for having so meager a wish, and so, uncustomarily, she listened attentively as Quentin told her what he'd ask for if he went to ask a favor of the demon.
"My own horse, that's first," Quentin said decisively. "And my own sword. It's ridiculous of Father to say it's too expensive having a sword made for me because I'll outgrow it in a year or two. I mean, what's the sense of being rich if you can't buy things you will outgrow?"
"Very sensible," said Puss. "A sword, then. What else do you want?"
"I don't think I want a kingdom," Quentin said thoughtfully. "I'd have to stay around and take care of it. I don't think King Arthur was too happy despite being in charge of Camelot, do you?"
"I doubt it," Puss said.
"I'd like to go out on a lot of quests," Quentin said.
"Like Lancelot? He wasn't very happy, either."
"No, but that's because he was silly, falling in love with the queen when there were so many other ladies to choose from. Why choose any at all? I'd rather be like Gawaine, traveling around and having different girlfriends and getting into trouble, and winning treasures and then losing them again. That way he had the pleasure of getting stuff without having to take care of it later."
"Like getting all the toys he wanted without ever having to put them away?" Puss asked.
"Exactly," said Quentin.
"Very sound," Puss said. "What else would you want? "
"A magical animal for a pet," Quentin answered without hesitation. "A lion, I should think, who listens only to me and kills people I don't like."
"Well, that's a little much, isn't it?" Puss asked.
"I mean he would kill people I didn't like if I let him. But I wouldn't, of course. If they got too troublesome, I'd kill them myself, in a long duel in which I got grievous wounds. And Mother would bind them up for me."
"Mothers don't bind the wounds of heroes," Puss pointed out.
"They could if it's my adventure," Quentin said. "I could make a rule."
"It's a pity you're too young to make deals with demons."
"I don't know about that," Quentin said. He sat upright in bed and looked very serious. "I've half a mind to go visit him right now."