No, he could not subject his flesh to the inquisitors' torments again. And if he accepted what Montserrat ordered, he would at least be cheating Oreste of his triumph.
Hoarsely, he said, "If you will grant me asylum, then I accept the exorcism, Holiness."
"On that condition we grant you sanctuary for the remainder of your days."
"Wait!" Captain Diaz had been watching in grim silence. "If we cannot have the man, then I must still claim a certain purple gemstone he possesses. Sergeant Gomez!"
"The amethyst is mine!" Toby roared.
"What is this gem?" Father Vespianaso demanded angrily. "An immured demon?"
"No, it does not contain a demon," said the tutelary. "Give it up, Tobias. You have no further use for it."
"It has great sentimental value for me. My foster mother gave it to me, her last gift. It is my property. Will you tolerate armed robbery in your realm, Montserrat?"
Diaz stepped forward with another soldier at his heels. "You have admitted to being a demonic husk, so you have no rights in law. Give me the stone."
It was another failure, but a man should know when he is beaten. Toby fumbled at his collar to pull the thong over his head; he opened the locket and rolled out the amethyst onto Diaz's waiting palm.
Surrender.
The captain walked over to the closest torch and inspected the purple crystal. "Thank you." He came and took the locket from Toby, replaced the stone in the little bag and turned to his companion, who held out an ivory casket. The locket went in the box, and then the box into a satchel, which Diaz slung over his shoulder.
"I wish I could say that you were welcome," Toby said ruefully. "Do you know why the baron wants it so badly?"
"I do not want to know." Diaz turned to the incarnation. "And the other man, Holiness? My warrant also names Hamish Campbell."
Toby had forgotten that. He stared in horror at Hamish's pale face.
"He is not possessed! He is not guilty of any crime!" He was guilty of knowing the truth about King Nevil, though. Oreste would see him dead for that.
"He has been your accomplice for three years," Father Vespianaso retorted. "It was his duty to aid the authorities in apprehending you."
"The man Campbell belongs to us!" bellowed a new voice.
They had all been too engrossed to pay attention to the newcomers whose clattering and splashing Toby had heard earlier. Heads turned to peer in the downhill direction, where a second troop of soldiers stood in the darkness, a considerably larger force than Captain Diaz had brought. After everything that had happened already, it was not surprising that they were landsknechte.
The tutelary would never be surprised by anything. "Approach and state your claim, Leopold."
In marched the mercenary captain, a solid, powerful-looking young man whose russet beard failed to conceal a monstrous scar deforming his mouth. His doublet was splendid, his ermine-trimmed cloak hung open to display a wealth of gold chains adorning his chest. He saluted the incarnation respectfully, but he merely sneered at Diaz.
"The man slew our comrades!" His Castilian was almost incomprehensible under a harsh Germanic accent. "He to us belongs!"
Captain Diaz cocked one eyebrow. "I have a warrant from the viceroy."
"It is a matter of honor!"
"It is a matter of law. Your presence here violates your contract, Hauptmann von Münster. Why are you absent from your post at Lerida?"
"For honor, Captain. Perhaps a Catalan cannot appreciate honor?"
"My warrant names both men," Diaz said stonily, turning to the incarnation, "as your Holiness is well aware. His Excellency would be highly displeased if—"
"Are you threatening us?"
"Not at all, Holiness. I merely quote my orders."
Lightning on a dark night, claw marks in the sand—of course it was a threat! Toby should have seen the truth much sooner. The Fiend's army was supposedly excluded from Montserrat by treaty, but Diaz and Vespianaso had been waiting up at the monastery. Nevil's viceroy would never let a mere treaty stand between him and the hated Longdirk. And although Montserrat's wisdom and power were legendary, and its mountain realms immune to almost any mundane attack, it would not be able to withstand the baron's demonic legions. Oreste had sent Diaz with an ultimatum, and the spirit had yielded. The tutelary had sold out to the hexer and the Inquisition.
Von Münster was scowling at Toby with hatred and disgust. "About the creature nothing we can do, but the man is ours for justice."
"It is nice to feel wanted," Hamish remarked airily. "Shall we start the bidding at ten ducats?"
Toby shot him an admiring smile. "The fault was not his. Let him go, Hauptmann. Promise me a quick death, and you can take me instead."
"Fools you think us, demon? You stay here. We a witness have." The mercenary turned and barked orders in German.
Two men strutted forward as if they had been waiting for the command, hustling a woman along between them, and of course it was Eulalia, which explained how the landsknechte had tracked Toby into Montserrat so easily. But they must have been close on his heels even before they caught her.
"Tell the friar what you to us told!"
Although she was bedraggled and looked half frozen, her eyes flashed triumph at the sight of the prisoners. "The big one burned up the men with thunderbolts." She tossed her head defiantly and smiled as she pointed to Hamish. "I saw Jaume killing one of the foreigners with a sword."
Father Vespianaso massaged his bony fingers. "This may be more serious than we thought. Did you see evidence that he was possessed, child? Did he behave strangely, talk aloud when there was no one there, fall into trances? Did he use unnatural powers—to take advantage of you in some way, perhaps?"
Eulalia accepted the threads offered and began to embroider. "Oh yes, Father! Oh, yes! He summoned me to his bed by night, and I was unable to resist. I didn't want to go, but he had some terrible power he used that made me helpless to refuse his demands. He violated me many times, and he was supernaturally strong, strong beyond all mortal men, never tiring, never satisfied. And he would mutter strange things I couldn't understand, about foreign places and secret books and—"
"That will do for now, my daughter."
Hell hath no fury...
Oh, Eulalia! Her spite really should be directed at Toby, because Hamish would certainly have forgiven her by bedtime, but she must have heard enough to know that Toby was beyond her reach now. Oh, Hamish, Hamish! See what I have brought you to in return for your loyalty and friendship?
He wanted to scream. He wanted to blast the spirit of Montserrat and its famous monastery to ashes. And the Inquisition. And Oreste, who had won at last. And Nevil the Fiend, demon Rhym, the ultimate cause of all this evil. But he could do none of those things. He had lost everything.
"One hundred ducats?" Hamish said. "Do I hear two hundred? I am flattered, but unfortunately she is lying. Isn't she, Holiness?"
"She was telling the truth about the sword," the spirit said. "Everything else was exaggeration and wishful thinking. Campbell is not possessed."
"Then I take him!" snapped Diaz.
"How far do you think you will get?" the landsknecht sneered. "Spare your men's lives and your own and give him to us."
"What an unseemly squabble!" Hamish remarked, shaking his head. "Why not just agree to let me go?"
Then it was Father Vespianaso's turn again. "We must of course accept the holy spirit's declaration that the accused is not possessed. But he has undoubtedly known for many years that his companion is, and he has done nothing about it. He bears much guilt as an accomplice and must be questioned at length. If the facts are as I have just stated, then justice will be done."