The demon waved his hand airily. “You ought to know that the reckoning of mortal years means little to us. Do you imagine that a child who plotted and executed the deaths of all his playmates would be safe just because he desisted the day before his seventh birthday? And, as I am sure she will confirm if you ask, she did not actually ask me to ‘save’ Cyrus, which I would have not done anyway. She only asked me to return another demon to hell.”
“And she asked for your help only from the purest of motives,” I insisted again. “Someone who selflessly gives his life to save another goes straight to heaven. How much more then someone who gives his soul?”
“Nice try, Daimbert,” said the demon, showing all his teeth. “But how could the devil take one soul in exchange for another if you claim that the second thereby saved itself? You’ll be trying to assert that hell has no claims to anyone at this rate.”
“She didn’t even know she was selling her soul,” I said, retreating to a backup position. “Souls are always judged on intention. If you now claim her it is on the merest technicality.”
I had nearly forgotten Elerius was there. Concentrating on the demon and on withstanding my own fears left me no time for anything else. When he suddenly spoke I jerked convulsively.
“The protocol between wizardry and demons has always been clear on this point,” he said, managing to sound impressively calm and assured. “A soul that might be forfeit, although only on the shakiest grounds, can be redeemed by the offering of a human life, not another soul.”
“And therefore,” I said, fast before my lips could freeze in terror, “I am here to offer my own life in return for Antonia’s soul.”
Both Elerius and the demon spoke together. “Not you, Daimbert!” Elerius hissed. “I’m trying to give him Vlad.”
“Not this bargain again, Daimbert!” said the demon with a laugh that made his enormous belly shake. “I unwisely agreed to such a bargain with you once long ago, and you managed to wiggle out of it. Did you think I would be so easy to mislead a second time?”
“All right, then,” said Elerius briskly. I was for the moment unable to speak, filled both with bitter despair that the one way I hoped I might have to rescue Antonia wasn’t going to work, and with a wild, desperate, and shameful relief that I might still live. “We’ll offer you another life instead, the life of a wizard right here in the castle.”
“Elerius, I’m so pleased to have a chance to meet you at last,” said the demon, the flames shooting from his eyes spoiling the effect of his friendly words. The room by now was as hot as a stove. “I can see you’ll be much more engaging to deal with than Daimbert, who always seems suicidally bent on throwing away his life. But you do have to understand something first. If you want me to take the life of this wizard-frog in return for the girl-and that was what you had in mind, was it not? — then it would have to be his own sacrifice. You could if you like give your own soul to the devil by murdering that wizard in cold blood, but if you want to bargain with me there must be less messy ways to do it.”
“There are other protocols to turn to in that case,” said Elerius, sounding abruptly much less assured.
Both my life and my soul, I thought. I could offer them together for Antonia’s release. That might do it. If I was dead as well as damned then I wouldn’t need to worry about the evil I would do to all the people I loved for the next two centuries. I found my mouth too dry to speak.
“Unlike Daimbert,” said the demon to Elerius, shifting his belly to a more comfortable position, “you have never paid much attention to the prattle of your religion. I’m sure you assume you’ll be going to hell in the end anyway, and therefore would be more than willing to gain some spectacular benefits in this world in exchange for a soul that would never have much chance for salvation.”
Suppose, because I was trying to save Antonia, the devil thought my motives were too pure and wouldn’t accept the bargain, even when I offered body and soul together? I might have to have an additional and entirely impure motive. Maybe I could stipulate murdering Cyrus as part of the agreement: an appealing possibility.
“Do not try to tempt me with talk of benefits, Demon,” said Elerius sternly. “We are here to talk about Antonia.”
“And I am delighted to do so. Since you seem so concerned about her, why don’t we arrange a simple trade, your soul for hers? Now before you start to tell me this is an unequal trade,” holding up a huge red hand, “wait until I tell you what else I can give you as part of the bargain.”
“You cannot give me anything I could not obtain on my own,” said Elerius. It came out low and thick.
“Elerius-” I started to say, but he motioned me to silence.
“Don’t interrupt,” he said in an undertone. “I should be able to negotiate better than you can, because I don’t have personal feelings to interfere.”
“You wizards must be the most exasperating mortals there can be to deal with,” said the demon with an evil chuckle. “Even priests aren’t nearly as stubborn, once they get past their initial hesitation. Of course there are things you want, Elerius, that you could not obtain without me. To start with, how about the immediate leadership of the wizards’ school?”
There was a long pause while I waited for Elerius to answer, and he did not.
So far my knees had been holding up fairly well. Now they started to shake so badly that I had to sit down quickly before I fell.
“The school already has a Master,” Elerius brought out at last in a thin, tight voice, completely unlike his normal way of speaking.
“Your choice then. Shall he have a little accident, or will he suddenly decide that failing health makes it necessary for him to step aside?” That was the problem of trying to deal with a demon. He might not know someone’s higher thoughts and aspirations, but he knew all too well the dark imaginings and cravings that one tried to hide even from oneself.
“I choose neither one,” replied Elerius after only a brief pause, appearing to rally slightly. “I plan to take over the school’s direction with my own unaided powers, but not for some years yet.”
“You’re certainly quick now to reject what you know you’ve always wanted,” said the demon softly. I tried unsuccessfully to speak, but this had nothing to do with me. “Why waste the best years of your life, the years of your greatest strength and mature abilities, waiting for an old man whose only real skill is an unusual ability to prolong his own life? Daimbert, I see, would like to give you an argument, but he’ll come around quickly when he realizes that I’ll let his daughter have her soul back as part of our bargain.”
Elerius ran his tongue along dry lips and barked out a very unconvincing laugh. “If I take over the school it will be to help humanity, not to further your own evil plans. This bargain will not help me at all.”
“Just too dismissive,” said the demon, shaking his horned head, “that’s your problem, just too dismissive of good ideas if they don’t accord with your own prejudices. Suppose we add a little rather unusual twist to our agreement? I’ll make sure you take over the school at once, but then I’ll step aside. I won’t try to tempt you further or direct your plans; you’ll be able to do all the ‘good’ you want without my interference. I promise!” He laid a heavy hand over what would have been his heart if he had one.