"I suppose you want me to save the king and queen."
"What you do is entirely up to you, of course," Mephistopheles said. "But it would be a notable deed."
"What should I do?"
"There are other key points?"
"Several others," Mephistopheles said. "Once the flight is underway, a certain Drouet will recognize the king as his coach passes through the village of Saint-Menehould. Drouet gives the alarm that leads to His Majesty's capture. His seeing the king is a matter of pure luck. If Drouet could be diverted…"
"I'm beginning to get the idea," Mack said.
"Or, failing that, the king and queen might still be saved if the bridge at Varennes were open rather than blocked. The blocked bridge prevents the royal coach from crossing to the Belgian frontier and safety.
So there are three chances; Marie Antoinette's delay, Drouet's recognition, and the blocked bridge at Varennes. Change any of these and you change history. Are. you ready, Faust?"
"I think so," Mack said. "As ready as I'll ever be."
"Excellent. And please, Johann, try to make this a good one. It is the last, you know. I'll look in on you from time to time and see how you're getting on. Maybe even lend a hand." He winked. 'Till later!" And with that, Mephistopheles vanished.
By asking a passing fishwife, Mack learned that Marie Antoinette was at Versailles, some leagues outside of Paris. In the Place Saint-Michel he found a public coach and paid a centime for a place on it. The streetcar, as it was called, drawn by four horses, clanged through Paris, stopping here and there to take on and discharge passengers, until it passed beyond the city limits into a country lane that meandered through green fields and tasteful clumps of trees.
Mack got off at the palace of Versailles and walked up to the main entrance. The armed guard at the door, resplendent in the crimson and white of the queen's livery, raised his pike to the ready. "You, there!
What do you want?"
"I crave an audience with the queen," Mack said.
"She's not seeing anyone today," the guard said.
"Yes, I know. But this is urgent."
"I told you, she's not seeing anyone."
"Tell her Dr. Faust is here," Mack said. "She'll reward you. And I have something for you myself." He handed the guard a gold piece.
"Thanks, citizen," the guard said, pocketing the coin. "Now get out of here or I'll have you arrested for bribery."
CHAPTER 2
The Archangel Michael's house was set on an elevated half-acre lot in an exclusive suburb of Heaven.
Michael was in the front yard working on his roses. He looked up to see Ylith, the student angel and former witch, coming up the marble steps.
"Ah, there, Ylith, how nice to see you." He put down his trowel and wiped his hands. "Can I get you some lemonade? It's quite a hot day, though dry, a typical heavenly or good sort of day."
"No, thanks," Ylith said. "I came because there's something I'm perplexed about."
"Well then," Michael said, "you must tell me all about it. What seems to be the matter?"
Ylith said, "I've found evidence that Mephistopheles is cheating."
"Aha!" said Michael, but rather mildly. "But that's only to be expected, considering who he is."
"What is more disconcerting," Ylith said, "I have also found evidence of you cheating."
"Me?" Michael said.
"Yes, you," Ylith said.
Michael was silent for a moment, thinking. Then he said, "You are new to our circles, aren't you?"
"Yes, I am," Ylith said. "But what difference—" Michael held up a hand.
"And therefore you are inexperienced, and lacking in knowledge of the great harmony that holds Good and Bad together in a single unity and dictates the rules of their behavior." "I never even heard of this great harmony," Ylith said. "Does it really make a difference? I'm talking out-and-out cheating."
"All the difference in the world, my dear. For consider: If Light and Dark are to contest at all, they must do so as equals in an ongoing contest, and with the knowledge that to struggle does not mean to win once and for all. Both Good and Bad are interdependent. For the one must exist for there to be the other. Do you understand?" "I think so," Ylith said doubtfully. "But what difference—"
"So there is a sense," Michael went on, "in which Good and Bad are equal outcomes. On the level of interaction, we espouse one cause or the other. We play to win, and we try to put down our foe forever; even though, on a higher level, we know that true victory is neither possible nor practicable, nor even desirable. Are you following?"
"I'm not sure," Ylith said. "But please go on."
"It follows that, as equals in the game of Good and Bad, each of us must have access to the same techniques. Good must not be handicapped by being forbidden 'bad' alternatives that are available to Dark. Since Bad from time to time uses 'good' means for its own Bad ends, it follows that Good can use
'bad' for its own purposes. The final issue, my dear Ylith, is not what is good and what is bad, but what is in here." And Michael touched himself in the region of the heart.
Dark. Since Bad from time to time uses 'good' means for its own Bad ends, it follows that Good can use
'bad' for its own purposes. The final issue, my dear Ylith, is not what is good and what is bad, but what is in here." And Michael touched himself in the region of the heart.
.
Michael smiled and looked away. "It means that we have as much right to cheat as Bad does."
"And you think it's right to cheat in order to win?"
"I would say instead, it's not wrong," Michael said.
"Well, now I've heard everything. I must go think this over."
CHAPTER 3
It was evening in the Tuileries. The windows were ablaze with a thousand candles. People hurried in and out the high carved front doors. They were wearing republican blue and gray rather than royalist white and crimson. On a little bench across the street from the ceaseless crowds, Mack sat and considered the situation.
Breezes stirred the small, carefully trimmed trees that bordered the palace. And then Mack felt something, something more palpable than a breeze. It was a thin, disembodied voice that quested up and down the tree-lined avenue, saying, "Faust! Faust! Where are you, Faust?"
Mack looked around. "Did someone call me?"
Ylith materialized beside him. She was wearing magnificent riding attire of black velvet and sueded leather. Her riding boots had a deep shine, and her long dark hair was caught up in a white chiffon scarf.
"Remember me?"
"Indeed I do," Mack said. "You locked me in a mirror maze in Peking when you thought I was cheating."
"I've learned a thing or two since then," Ylith said. "What are you planning now?"
It was in Mack's mind to turn away and sulk and not tell this good-looking but impetuous and very judgmental spirit-woman anything at all. If she was so smart, let her figure it out for herself! But, sensing advantage, he conquered his pique and said, "I'm trying to rescue the king and queen of France."
"Why do you want to save them?" Ylith asked.
"I scarcely know. I haven't met them, you understand. But it seems I have to do something in this contest, and that looks like quite a good thing. I mean, what the hell, they are rather silly people whose main crime was to be born noble. And anyway, Mephistopheles thought it would be a good thing for me to do."
"I see," Ylith said. "So of course, since Mephistopheles wants it, Michael is opposed to it."
"I suppose that follows," Mack said. "And since you are on Michael's side—"
"I don't know what side I'm on anymore," Ylith said. "But I did you a wrong before and I'm here to make up for it now. What can I do to help?"
"I'll see what I can do," Ylith said. With a graceful double gesture of her long hands she faded out of Mack's sight.