The War Hound And The World's Pain Part 6

Chapter III.

MY SKIN NOW seemed to have turned almost as white as that featureless plain. I observed on my hands details of line, contours of vein and bone, which I had never before noticed.

My nails glittered like gla.s.s and appeared extraordinarily fragile.

I possessed virtually no weight at all. I thought that I might have been a crystal ghost.

"This is h.e.l.l?" said I to Lucifer.

The Prince of Darkness, too, was pale. Only His eyes, black as weathered iron, were alive.

"This is h.e.l.l," He said. "One part, I should say, of my domain. A domain which is, of course, infinite."

"And has infinite aspects?" I suggested.

"Of course not. You speak of Heaven. h.e.l.l is the Realm of Restraint and Bleak Singularity." His smile was almost hesitant, His glance sidelong, as if He was concerned that I should not miss His irony.

Lucifer seemed to exhibit a certain shyness with me. I could believe that He hoped for my good opinion. I was puzzled as to why this should be. He still gave off an aura of tremendous power and genius. 1 was still, against every effort of will, drawn to Him. I was certainly no match for Him in 53.any conceivable terms. Yet it was my impression that He was nervous of me. What might I possess that He could not demand? Why should He be so desperate to own my soul?

But I saw no sense in trying to outguess Satan. Surely He could read every thought, antic.i.p.ate every argument, forestall every action I chose to take.

It then occurred to me that perhaps He was refusing to do this. Perhaps His apparent delicacy was the result of His own reluctance to use the power that was His. The Prince of Darkness, who could manipulate kings and generals, Popes and cardinals, to whom such manipulation was second nature, was seeking somehow to be direct, was resisting in Himself the habits of an eternal lifetime.

This impression of mine could in itself have been created by means of careful deception.

There was plainly no point in attempting to understand Lucifer's motives or guess His character. Neither should I, I told myself, waste what few mental resources I still had in trying to antic.i.p.ate either His actions or His needs.

I should merely trust that he would keep His word. I would let Him show me what He wished to show me of His Realm. And I would believe nothing to be wholly what it might seem to be.

"You are a pragmatist, captain," said Lucifer casually, "in your very bones. To your very soul, one might say."

My voice seemed fainter than was normal. There was a slight echo to it, I thought. "Do you see my soul, Your Majesty?"

He linked His arm in mine and we began to walk across the plain.

"I am familiar with it, captain."

I knew no fear at this statement, whereas on Earth I should have shuddered at least a little. Although aware of Lucifer's presence, my body was now neither corporeal nor ethereal, but somewhere between the two. Emotions which should have been strong in me were presently only hinted at; my brain seemed clearer, but that in itself could have been an illusion; my movements were slow and deliberate, yet they followed my thoughts well enough.

This state of being was not uncongenial, and I wondered if it might be the usual condition of angels and the more powerful orders of supernatural ent.i.ties.

It did not strike me as strange, as I strolled through h.e.l.l, 54.side by side with Lucifer, that I had begun to think in terms of spiritual creatures, of realms beyond my earthly world, when, for many years, I had refused to believe in anything but the most substantial and material of phenomena.

Flesh and bioodpredominantly the preservation of my ownhad been my only reality since my early days of soldiering. My mind and my senses had become blunted, almost certainly, but blunted sensibilities were the only kind one could safely have in the life I led. And the life I led was the only sane one in the world in which I had found myself.

Now, of a sudden, I was not only discovering a return of all my subtlest sensibilities, but exploring sensationsillusory or notnormally denied the bulk of humanity.

It was no wonder that my judgment was confused. Even though I allowed for this, I could not help but be affected. I fought to remember that I must make no pact with Lucifer, that I must agree to nothing, that no matter how tempting any offer He made I must play for time. For not only my life could be at stake, my fate for all Eternity could be the issue.

Lucifer seemed to be trying to console me. "I have given my word to you," He reminded me, "and I shall keep it."

An archway of silvery flames appeared immediately before us. Lucifer drew me towards it.

This time I did not hesitate, but entered the archway and found myself in a city.

The city was of black obsidian stone. Every surface, every wall, every canopy and every flag were black and gleamed. The folk of the city wore clothes of rich, dark coloursof scarlet and deep blue, of b.l.o.o.d.y orange and moss greenand their skins were the colour of old, polished oak.

"This city exists in h.e.l.l?" I asked.

"It is one of the chief cities of h.e.l.l," replied Lucifer.

As we pa.s.sed, the people knelt immediately to the ground and made obeisance to their Lord.

"They recognise you," I said.

"Oh, indeed."

The city seemed rich and the people seemed healthy.

"h.e.l.l is a punishment, surely?" I said. "Yet these people are not evidently suffering."

"They are suffering," said Lucifer. "It is their specific fate. You saw how swiftly they knelt to me."

"Aye."

55."They are all my slaves. They are none of them free."

"Doubtless they were not free on Earth."

"True. But they know that they would be free in Heaven. Their chief misery is simply that they know they are in h.e.l.l for all Eternity. It is that knowledge, in itself, which is their punishment."

"What is freedom in Heaven?" I asked.

"In h.e.l.l you become what you fear yourself to be. In Heaven you may become what you hope yourself to be," said Lucifer.

I had expected a more profound reply, or at least a more complicated one.

"A mild enough punishment, compared to what Luther threatened," I observed.

"Apparently. And far less interesting than Luther's torments, as he would tell you himself. There is nothing very interesting in h.e.l.l."

I found that I was amused. "Would that be an epigram to sum h.e.l.l up?" I asked.

"I doubt if such an epigram exists. Perhaps Luther would believe that it was. Do you wish to ask him?"

"He is here?"

"In this very city. It is called the City of Humbled Princes. It might have been built for him."

I had no wish to encounter Martin Luther, either in h.e.l.l, in Heaven or on Earth. I must admit to a certain satisfaction at the knowledge that he had not gained his expected reward but doubtless shared territory in h.e.l.l with those churchmen he had most roundly condemned.

"I believe I understand what you mean," I said.

"Oh, I think we both understand Pride, Captain von Bek," said Lucifer almost cheerfully. "Shall I call Luther? He is very docile now."

I shook my head.

Lucifer drew me on through the black streets. I looked at the faces of the citizens, and I knew that I would do almost anything to avoid becoming one of them. This d.a.m.nation was surely a subtle one. It was their eyes which chiefly impressed me: hard and hopeless. Then it was their whispering voices: cold and without dignity. And then it was the city itself: without any saving humanity.

"This visit to h.e.l.l will be brief," Lucifer rea.s.sured me. "But I believe it will convince you."

56.We entered a huge, square building and pa.s.sed into deeper blackness.

"Are there no flames here?" I asked Him. "No demons? No screaming sinners?"

"Few sinners receive that sort of satisfaction here," said Lucifer.

We stood on the sh.o.r.es of a wide and shallow lake. The water was flat and livid. The light was grey and milky and there seemed no direct source for it. The sky was the same colour as the water.

Standing at intervals in the lake, for as far as I could see, naked men and women, waist-deep, were washing themselves.

The noise of the water was m.u.f.fled and indistinct. The movements of the men and women were mechanical, as if they had been making the same gestures for eons. All were of similar height. All had the same dull flesh, the same lack of expression upon their faces. Their lips were silent. They gathered the water in their hands and poured it over their heads and bodies, moving like clockwork figures. But again it was their eyes which displayed their agony. They moved, it appeared to me, against their will, and yet could do nothing to stop themselves.

"Is this guilt?" I asked Lucifer. "Do they know themselves to be guilty of something?"

He smiled. He seemed particularly satisfied with this particular torment. "I think it is an imitation of guilt, captain. This is called the Lake of the False Penitents."

"G.o.d is not tolerant," I said. "Or so it would seem."

"G.o.d is G.o.d," said Lucifer. He shrugged. "It is for me to interpret His Will and to devise a variety of punishraemts for those who are refused Heaven."

"So you continue to serve Him?"

"It could be." Lucifer again seemed uncertain. "Yet of late I have begun to wonder if I have not misinterpreted Him. It is left to me, after all, to discover appropriate cruelties. But what if I am not supposed to punish them? What if I am supposed to show mercy?" I noted something very nearly pathetic in His voice.

"Are you given no instructions?" I asked somewhat weakly. "Tens of millions of souls might have suffered for nothing because of your failure!" I was incredulous.

"I am denied any communion with G.o.d, captain." His tone sharpened. "Is that not obvious to you?"

"So you never know whether you please or displease Him? He sends you no sign?"

"For most of my time in h.e.l.l I never looked for one, captain. I am, as I have pointed out, forced to use human agents."

"And you receive no word through such agents?"

"How can I trust them? I am excommunicate, Captain von Bek. The souls sent to me are at my mercy. I do with them as I wish, largely to relieve my own dreadful boredom." He became gloomy. "And to take revenge on those who had the opportunity to seek G.o.d's grace and rejected it or were too stupid or greedy to recognise what they had lost." He gestured.

I saw a sweep of broad, pleasant fields, with green trees in them. An idyllic rural scene. Even the light was warmer and brighter here, although again there was no sense of that light emanating from any particular direction.

It could have been spring. Seated or standing in the fields, like small herds of cattle, dressed in shreds of fabric, were groups of people. Their skins were rough, scabrous, unclean. Their motion through the fields was sluggish, bovine. Yet these poor souls were by no means contented.

I realised that, although the shape of the bodies varied, every face was absolutely identical.

Every face was lined by the same inturned madness and greed, the same pouched expression of utter selfishness. The creatures mumbled at one another, each monologue the same, as they wandered round and round the fields.

The whined complaints began very quickly to fill me with immense irritation. I could feel no charity for them.

"Every single one of those souls is a universe of self-involvement," said Lucifer.

"And yet they are identical," I said.

"Just so. They are alike in the smallest detail. Yet not one of those men or women there can allow himself to recognise the fact. The closer they get to the core of the self, the more they become like the others." He turned to look sardonically down at me. "Is this more what you expected of h.e.l.l, captain?"

"Yes. I think so."

58."Every one of these when on Earth spoke of Free Will, of loyalty to one's own needs. Of the importance of controlling one's own destiny. Every one believed himself to be master of his fate. And they had only one yardstick, of course: material well-being. It is all that is possible when one discounts one's involvement with the rest of humanity."

I looked hard at those identical faces. "Is this a specific warning to me?" I asked Lucifer. "I should have thought you would be attempting to make h.e.l.l seem more attractive to me."

"And why is that?"

I did not reply. I was too afraid to answer.

"Would you enjoy the prospect of being in my charge, Captain von Bek?" Lucifer asked me.

"I would not," I told him, "for on Earth, at least, one can pretend to Free Will. Here, of course, all choice is denied you,"

"And in Heaven one can actually possess Free Will," said Lucifer.

"In spite of Heaven's ruler?" I said. "It would seem to me that He demands a great deal of His creatures."

"I am no priestly interpreter," said Lucifer, "but it has been argued G.o.d demands only that men and women should demand much of themselves."

The fields were behind us now. "I, on the other hand," continued the Prince of Darkness, "expect nothing of humanity, save confirmation that it is worthless. I am disposed to despise it, to use it, to exploit its weakness. Or so it was in the beginning of my reign."

"You speak as one who saw all humanity as His rival. I should not have believed an angelalbeit a fallen oneto admit to such pettiness."

"That rage, I still recall it. That rage did not seem petty to me, Captain von Bek."

"You have changed, Your Majesty?"

"I told you that I had, captain."

"You are frustrated, then, that you have failed to convince G.o.d of this?"

"Just so. Because G.o.d cannot hear me."