Frisson crowed his approval, then caught himself, eyeing the queen fearfully.
Suettay reddened, and her eyes narrowed. "Attempt it, and she will wake into agony while you chant."
"Not if the torturer knows you'll gobble him up the next minute - or do you really think you'd be able to resist the temptation? You're not too good at that, you know."
"I think I shall still be as I am, and you shall be a toad!" I raised my hands, ready to gesture. "Ready to try it? On the count of three "Be still!" Suettay watched me with narrowed eyes. Beyond her, I saw Frisson's abstracted gaze, and knew I could count on magical help from an unexpected quarter. On the other hand, I wasn't sure what the effects of that help would be - if inspiration struck, he was apt to forget practicalities.
"You prevaricate," the sorceress guessed, "for you would not chance the woman's life."
I said slowly, "Not if there's a way to guarantee her safety, and that of my friends, no. Trouble is, I don't see any such way."
"There is one," Suettay said, with a leer. "Ally yourself with myself and with evil, and the maid shall go free." I lay rigid with shock - but beside me, Gilbert called out, "Nay, Master Saul! She would smite the lass nonetheless!"
"I would not," Suettay retorted, "for if I did, the wizard might turn against me."
"That ... makes sense," I said slowly.
"Surely you are not tempted!" Frisson cried.
"Tempted, sure." I shrugged. "Anybody can be tempted, right? Can't avoid that. Giving in to it is another matter - but yes, I am tempted."
"Tempted most shrewdly." Suettay's leer broadened. "Come, Wizard! Swear allegiance to me and to Satan, and the soul of the lass shall go free. Nay, further - I'll remove the spell that keeps her body alive, so that her soul may fly to Heaven."
It was a good deal, and it was very tempting; I loved Angelique dearly, and sending her to eternal bliss would have made her very happy. Unfortunately, it would have made me very sad - I finally admitted to myself just how thoroughly I'd fallen in love with her, and how much I wanted her with me. With me, in body as well as spirit, I might add - I might have been substantially in a state of grace, but I was no plaster saint. I wanted Angelique and I wanted her alive, well, and corporeal.
But that was selfish.
"No, Master Saul!" Gilbert cried. "You must not! Without you, we should all be-" Suettay nodded at a guard, who slapped Gilbert hard across the mouth, then stuffed a gag in, but he'd said enough. Without me, this whole complex of forces that was gathering to oust Suettay and clean up Allustria might falter and fail. I know that sounds conceited, but I didn't really know what my part in the whole scheme was-only that I was definitely a part of it, and if one part failed, all the rest probably would, too.
But more importantly, Suettay still needed Angelique for that virgin sacrifice - and once I committed myself to the power of evil, I would be under her authority, and powerless to stop her.
"He hesitates," Suettay snapped. "He is a fool, and will do us no good." The torturers rumbled agreement - of course - and Suettay stepped up to Angelique's body. She handed the flask to one of her henchmen.
"Pull the cork when I bid you, and the spirit shall be sucked back into the clay." Then she began to weave a pattern of strange, vaguely obscene gestures over the corpse, chanting in that strange, eerie language.
I had a sudden vision of that poor, gentle body coming alive, convulsing in pain, screaming in agony. "No, wait!"
"Will you join me?"
My heart twisted within me, and my whole body twisted with it. All the fears and horrors of the evil I'd seen flitted through my memory, and an intuitive impulse such as i,d never had surged through me, adding up to a panic of denial - but there lay Angelique's body, with her ghost ready to hand
"No."
"Curses!" Suettay spat. "How strong is your love, then, if you will not sell your soul to save the maiden from pain?" That suddenly made everything clear, and I felt the peace of certainty flow back through me - for I realized that selling my soul would be the denial of love. Love is healing, love pulls the soul toward Heaven, because it's a tiny taste of Heaven - so if I sold my soul, dedicated it completely to evil, I'd be locking myself away from love. If I signed up with Suettay, I would no longer really be able to love Angelique.
But I would still desire her - and what might I do to her then, with no conscience and no empathy?
"No," I said. "if I sold my soul, then I'd be placing her completely in your power - there would be no one left to shield her."
"A curse upon the spirit that has told you that!" Suettay snarled.
I suddenly realized where all these inspirations had been coming from. "Won't work. He's curse-proof."
Suettay's eyes narrowed. "Then I'll proffer you another bargain. Cease your hold on this world, and I shall let the girl's ghost go free."
Panic again, at the thought of leaving Angelique - but the logic of it made me hesitate. Sure, if Suettay could augment her power by converting a wild card of a wizard to her side, it would make her that much stronger, and her enemies that much weaker - but if she couldn't subvert me, she could at least get rid of me. That would give her one less thing to worry about.
A return to my own world was what I wanted anyway, right? Except that I was trying to find Matt - but I'd sure found out where he had gone, and there was no particular reason to think he wasn't alive and well. If I really wanted to find out, all I had to do was go back to my own world, find the parchment he had used, and read whatever spell it contained - it would take me to him. Nice double cross for Suettay, too.
But what would happen to my friends in the meantime?
I summoned all my nerve and said, "No."
"That was my final kindness, fool!" Suettay screamed. "Why do you disdain it?"
"Because," I said, "as soon as I'm out of the way, you'll go ahead and sacrifice Angelique, then start in on my friends."
"But you would have no knowledge of that! You would not care!"
"Oh, I would care," I assured her, "very much." Her eyes narrowed to glitters of malice. "Then we shall remove all the sources of that care - by simple murder! I am loath to waste objects of pleasure in quick killing - but if it will speed you hence, I shall do it! Guards! Slay-"
"No!" I shouted. "You kill them, and I'll hang on in this universe just to get revenge on you!" She broke off, looking up at me with a strange, malicious smile.
"'Tis tempting - for revenge is sinful, and in letting yourself be consumed with hatred and the desire for vengeance, you would succumb to the lure of evil, and be subsumed in it."
My heart sank.
"Sweet though that would be," she said regretfully, "it would be of no aid to me, myself - and might hinder me, in your rebellion." I saw my chance. "Yeah! And the sinfulness of my revenge might even be balanced by the good I did in getting rid of you!"
"'Tis even so." Her eyes were back to the nasty glitters again.
"So it would seem that you must join me, or die."
I felt my stomach drop down to the bottom of the shaft, but I set my jaw and said, "Death. Definitely death." And I tried to sneak in one more spelclass="underline"
"He took the Wine and blessed it,
He blessed and broke the Bread"
"Enough!" Suettay screamed. "Silence him!" A hard hand backhanded me across the mouth. I saw stars, and wondered if I'd need a dentist or an orthodontist.
"To the dungeons with them!" Suettay ranted. "The wench shall remain imprisoned in this flask, till I incorporate her to watch his final agonies! Let them rot in my most dreary cell, while I begin preparations for a revenge dealt in a manner that will most please my master! " Then I was running to try to keep from falling as the apprentice torturers hustled the three of us down the hallway and into a cell.