They still didn’t realize what was happening in the chapel, and I had no intention of telling them. “Prince Ascelin,” I said, my voice coming out indescribably weary, “could you do me a favor?”
He looked up, extremely weary himself, but nodded.
“Somewhere, probably down in the lower, darker parts of the castle, there’s an ensorcelled frog. Find him. But if you start to smell brimstone at any point or hear bones clattering, get right back here and tell me. The frog may have started turning back into a wizard, so he could be dangerous. I sent Evrard to find him-you remember Evrard, the red-headed wizard of Caelrhon-but he’s not returned.”
“I’ll go, Father,” said Hildegarde, jumping up. “You did all the tracking but I haven’t done anything yet this trip.” She hurried happily away before either Ascelin or I could say anything. He took two steps after her but then turned back with a smile. “I think Hildegarde can manage a frog on her own, even an ensorcelled one.”
Joachim lifted his eyebrows at me from across the room, where he stood a little distance away from the rest. I walked slowly over to him. Cyrus lay on his face at the bishop’s feet.
“All I ever wanted to do,” the Dog-Man choked out between sobs, “was to be recognized and admired for doing well. When I realized how evil my master was I decided to break away from him and help little children to make up for killing Daimbert, which of course I had promised my master to do. I didn’t mean to do magic in the guise of religion. That’s why originally I avoided you when the people of Caelrhon started to talk of my doing miracles. But when I finally met you and realized that if I became as pure as you I really could do real miracles, and when the angels told me I had restored the burned street-”
“You have sinned, my son,” said Joachim gravely, “and sinned grievously. You have fallen through your pride and false belief that you can become truly good through your own, unaided human efforts. But-”
“I’ll say he’s sinned,” I growled, not caring if I was interrupting a confession. “He’s just let a demon loose. And it’s still got Antonia’s soul.”
“But God always listens to the prayers of a contrite heart,” the bishop continued as though he had not heard me. “He who sent His own Son to die for our sins will not forget us, if we are truly penitent and seek the redemption He offers.” I decided not to mention that Joachim himself had once told me that someone who sold his soul to the devil would not be saved until the devil himself was redeemed, at the end of infinite time.
“I want to make restitution for all of it,” Cyrus babbled. “For kidnapping the children, for my pride, for attacking Daimbert-even if he did have it coming! — for endangering sweet Antonia, the dearest of little girls.” I didn’t like the way it sounded on his tongue, even though I agreed with the sentiment. “If I can only become worthy of you again, Holy Father-”
“Do not try to be worthy of me,” said the bishop sternly, “a sinning mortal like yourself. Prepare yourself rather to accept God’s grace, which He brings to all of us though none of us are deserving.”
I turned away in despair and disgust as Cyrus began kissing the bishop’s ring in abject gratitude. “Elerius,” I said. “We’ve got a new problem. The demon’s loose. I don’t think I could fly a hundred yards, so we’ve got to wait for the carpet. But when we get everybody out of here and back to Caelrhon, you’re going to call the demonology experts at the school. You’re the one who plans to be in charge over them, so you can just find a way to persuade them that after they catch the demon again, they’ve got to negotiate for Antonia’s soul before sending it back to hell.”
He glanced up, looking disoriented. “That sounds like a good idea,” he said without any conviction.
“Unless you and I and Evrard can catch it first,” I said with even less conviction.
“Where is Evrard?” he asked.
Maybe I should look for him while waiting for the carpet. I pushed away from the wall, against which I had slumped, and headed for the stairs. I realized I probably hadn’t eaten in twenty-four hours, so part of the hollowness in my belly might be hunger-but most of it was fear. My feet felt encased in lead, and I didn’t even have the will left to keep going, only an inertial movement that wouldn’t let me stop.
But I hadn’t even left the room before Evrard himself staggered in.
He was covered with mud and trembling. But he managed a grin. “Who did you say transformed that wizard into a frog? You sure it wasn’t you, Daimbert? Because I remember that mess you made way back in Zahlfast’s exam, and this looks like your work. He must have gotten himself at least half-way turned back into a man.”
Just what we needed: Vlad at large in the castle again when the demon was already loose. Evrard settled himself gingerly next to Elerius and me. His good humor had not yet deserted him. “A pretty sorry spectacle we make,” he commented, “for three Royal Wizards.”
He had found the damp prints of a frog on stairs going down to the storage cellars and followed them, finding his way through the dark passages by repeated spells of light. When his spells suddenly wouldn’t work he knew that Vlad must have recovered enough of his powers to be able to block them. He never actually saw him, having quite sensibly retreated, but in the darkness he had become lost and at one point thoroughly mired in what must once have been the castle’s cess pit. He had not seen Hildegarde.
Elerius and I looked at each other. “We can’t wait for the demonology experts,” I said. “We’ve got to find Vlad at once, now, before he finishes breaking out of Antonia’s spell and gets his own weather spells working again. If we have to deal with him and a loose demon at the same time … Light’s the only advantage we have. Torches might do: not damp ones kept alight by fire magic, but clear-burning ordinary torches.”
“There are some dead pines growing out of the ruins lower down,” said Evrard. “Some of the wood should have been protected from the rain. I’d have thought of that myself, but I didn’t realize I’d need a torch until it was too late.”
I put a hand to my aching head, trying to plan. If I could just put everything in the right order, it might make sense. First get the final carpet-load of children out of here, along with the bishop and the duchess with her family. Then go after Vlad. Three western wizards ought to be able to catch him, even three as weary as we were, as long as any of Antonia’s spell held. Then contact the demonology experts and, with luck, have the demon back in the pentagram by tomorrow. Then make the bargain for Antonia’s soul that Elerius had kept me from making today.
So I still had a day to live. Instead of feeling grateful for the reprieve, I just felt at this point that I wanted to get it over.
Or maybe we should look for Vlad first, even before the carpet returned from Caelrhon. And we had to find Hildegarde. I shook my head. My thoughts felt so fuzzy-
Antonia trotted over. “Is Vlad that bad person I turned into a frog? I can help you catch him. The demon said he could do things for me, so I’ll make him do it. He has to obey me because I’m Mistress of the Pentagrams.”
“Antonia, no!” Elerius and I shouted together.
“I would just have him do it as a demonstration,” she said, puzzled.
Theodora lifted her up. “Remember, you yourself said a demon can’t be someone’s friend,” she said sternly. “Don’t even think of talking to him again.”
At the moment we still had some hope of saving Antonia. But at this rate, I thought grimly, the best negotiators from the school wouldn’t be able to save her-if they even cared to try.