Prospero Regained (56 page)

Lilith finished speaking to the imp and turned back to Mab. “Where was I? Oh yes. Mammon, my servant, rules the markets and the hearts of men, who strive day and night for ever more trinkets and gadgets, each one more useless than the last. Satan himself rages, encased in ice, but his top minions have enflamed love of wrath, until rudeness rules, while politeness is ridiculed. And Lucifer, my great love and hated enemy, has made pride the glory of the known world.

“As for me, I am personally responsible for the weakening of the sacred rite of marriage, something of which I am rightly proud.” She lowered her eyes demurely and gestured gracefully at herself. The crowds of imps,
lilim,
and demons went wild, hooting and cawing. “Wedding vows mean so little these days that young maidens are encouraged to eschew chastity, and their loss of virtue is met with celebration. When public figures are caught in the very act of adultery, no one even cares. Every type of carnal excess is applauded, and the perpetrators are urged to greater excess. And every day the Swamp of Uncleanness grows larger!

“But the true marvel, the crowning jewel of our achievements, is Abbadon’s work.” Lilith laughed, a noise that sounded pretty at first but then grew raucous and harsh. “Nothing in our Adversary’s kingdom is more sacred than motherly love—personified by the love of the unaccursed Virgin for her precious Son—and yet, Beelzebub has convinced millions of your innocent young would-be mothers that it’s no sin to slaughter their own children.

“Oh, the numbers of souls we’ve pulled in on that one alone! It’s brilliant! Even more cunning than my previous victory, when I convinced all the known, civilized cultures of the ancient Middle East to practice temple prostitution!

“If we cannot go back to Paradise…” Lilith raised her white arms, haranguing the gathered crowds. Her face shone with such glory and sorrow that, for an instant, I felt as if I had been granted a glimpse of what she might have been like, back when she was an angel. “Then we shall make sure no one goes! We shall not lose our place to clay worms or a one-horned mare! We shall destroy mankind’s champion, the Unicorn, and all that she stands for. Rip the Horn of Life from her head and drag everyone into the darkness, where they can squat in the squalor with us.

“After all, once everyone is in Hell,” the Queen of Air and Darkness said, her voice suddenly breaking. “God will have to lower His impossibly high standards and accept us as we are, won’t He?”

There was a pause, a momentary lull, during which the denizens of Hell ceased their eternal yowling and muttering—as if the curtain had been pulled back upon their pretense of pleasure in debauchery, and they felt exposed.

“I say!” Ulysses murmured under his breath. “That’s rather pathetic, really.”

The Queen of Air and Darkness was all seamless beauty again, as if no crack in her wickedness had appeared. She clapped her hands twice. “It is midnight. The time has come for Erasmus Prospero to die! Antonio, unsheathe the ceremonial knife. Here lies your victim!”

Antonio, who had been gazing worshipfully at Lilith, when he was not exchanging sly, flirtatious glances with Logistilla, looked toward the cage for the first time and started, appalled.

“My Fair Queen,” my uncle called. “What is the meaning of this? Why is my nephew here? Where is my brother whose life you have promised to me?”

Lilith scowled, gesturing at the incoherent Erasmus. “This whelp stole him from us. We will have to make do with him.”

“No!” cried Antonio. “You promised me my brother Lucretius! I feel no ill will toward my nephew. He once did me a good turn!”

“The great magician Lucretius Prospero has escaped us. Fear not, we will capture him again in time, but for the nonce, here lies your victim. Show us the knife!” She raised her hands, and the crowd responded, hooting and roaring.

“I will not!” Antonio declared. “I have no desire to slay Erasmus! I love my nephew!”

“A pity”—Lilith folded her hands and rested her pretty chin upon them—“for I was so hoping not to have to put you back where I found you. But,” she spread her hands, “you are of no use to me now—since your connection to your nephew will do us no more good. Back to the ice for you.”

“No! Wait! This is unfair! Did I not just bring you Miranda, whom you have yearned to have as your prisoner?”

“That is true.…” Lilith tapped upon her cheek with one slender finger. “Very well, I will allow you to stay by my side and serve me, but you must show your devotion to me by slaying your nephew.”

Antonio moaned and grabbed his head dramatically. Slowly, his hand inched toward the hilt of a cruel knife which he wore on his hip.

“Oh, for Heaven’s sake, Uncle!” I declared. “Show some backbone!”

Antonio backhanded me, but I was calmer now. His hand passed through my face. “How dare you talk to me, wench!”

I lifted my chin and said nothing.

“Don’t you understand? If I do nothing, she’ll put me back in the ice!”

Glaring, I continued to say nothing.

“Don’t you judge me! I cannot afford to live up to your lofty ideals!”

Even though I continued to say nothing, Uncle Antonio let out an inarticulate cry and buried his face in his hands. Perhaps, there was a drop of decency left within him somewhere.

“I am waiting, Antonio,” Lilith called sweetly, tapping her fingers on the edge of her chariot.

“Stop!”
King Vinae’s voice rang out across the ice.

“Who speaks?” Lilith glanced about.

“It is I, King Vinae. These mortals are under my protection.”

That was unexpected!

A great deal of our plan hinged upon whether or not the
Club of Wisdom
had told us the truth. So in many ways, we staked our lives upon King Vinae’s word. But I had not expected him to come to our defense himself.

“Yours?” Lilith gestured toward Caliban. “You are stuck in a flute!”

“I am the master of thirty-six legions, nor have my rights and perquisites been stripped from me. I am still recognized here,”
the voice issuing from the
Club
replied. Caliban kept the club and the flute together, so that there would be no opportunity for Lilith to discover her mistake and anticipate our plan.

Lilith pursed her rosy lips. “What do you want?”

“I call upon the right of last request. By ancient law, I cannot be refused.”

“King Vinae!” Lilith frowned. “Whose side are you on?”

“I am on their side—the side of Solomon’s Heirs,”
replied the demon’s voice.

There was a protracted gasp across the entire makeshift stadium. In all my long life, I had never been so surprised. I gawked at the club. Was this a trick? Could he … could the demon actually mean it?

The Queen of Air and Darkness laughed. “Fool! You will never be welcomed back into Heaven!”

“Heaven?”
snorted the club.
“Who said anything about Heaven? If they win, you lose. As long as I am doomed to live in the eternal darkness forever, you might as well be as miserable as I. Besides,”
King Vinae added,
“I have become fond of them. I would suffer my torment more cheerfully knowing they had made it to Paradise.”

Lilith gnashed her teeth, screaming with rage at the mention of Paradise. Then, she regained her self-control and smiled charmingly.

“Shall I allow their brother his last request as Vinae asks?” Lilith addressed the crowd. “It is more pathetic that way!”

There was a roar of approval and more hoots. Lilith waved a hand at the Torturers, and they made several passes over Erasmus and his cage with their sickles. Erasmus’s screams ceased, and he hung limply against the thorns. Logistilla broke from the rest of us and, running to him, wiped the blood from his face. Erasmus raised his head and recognition came into his eyes. He seemed very surprised to see her.

“What is the meaning of this?” my brother cried. There was a faint glimmer of hope in his eyes. “How did you get here so quickly?”

“I have come to play you one last song,” I said, struggling against the Torturer’s grip.

The hope died in Erasmus’s eyes, and he gave a shaky laugh. “Came to kill me by your own hand, have you? Quite sporting of you to travel all this way just for that. You could just as easily have killed me from the camp … though I suppose that would lack the added pleasure of being able to rub it in.” He tried to raise his hand, but could not. “That was not gracious of me. Please forgive me. I’ve had a hard day.”

Erasmus’s eyes narrowed as he took in me, Logistilla, Ulysses, Caliban, and Mab. “Odd bunch to send to see me off.”

Moving closer, Logistilla hissed through the bars, “How could you do this, Erasmus? You of all people! I thought you wanted to live more than any of us.”

“Only because I feared I’d end up here.” Erasmus tried to shrug and then winced. Apparently, even with the supernaturally painful effect dampened, the thorns were still sharp. “But I am already here, so what is there to be afraid of now? I have failed everyone in my life! Father, Maria…” his voice trailed off.

“Not everyone,” I replied softly. “You have never failed Cornelius.”

Erasmus looked up, puzzled. Before he could speak, Caliban loped forward until he was in the center of the ring of demons. Head thrust forward and shoulders hunched, he looked the image of a wild brute. He scratched his chest and his armpits.

“What funny creature is this?” Lilith leaned over, her interest piqued.

He spoke in the slow slurred speech of an idiot. “Great Queen. I am Caliban, whose rightful island Prospero stole and made his own. I salute you and offer to lay my club at your feet, if you will but raise me up as you have done unto Antonio.”

“Sounds intriguing. Tell me more.”

“Great Lilith, you promised pretty Miranda to your cat. I, too, will be your cat and lap at your feet, if you will give her to me as well. Surely, there will be something left of her once your servant is done with her. Long have I longed to beget little Calibans upon her.”

My skin crawled, and I felt suddenly weak and clammy. This, too, was part of our plan, or rather, Caliban’s distraction was—King Vinae had predicted that Lilith and her minions would be amused by crude antics. Nothing had been said, however, about what Caliban should say.

Only now, when I was helpless and trapped, did I realize the flaw in our plan. With a word, Caliban could reveal our plot and deliver us all into Lilith’s grasp. If he was loyal to us, to Father, to Mephisto, all was well.

But, could we trust him?

A cold sweat now coated the back of my neck. What if Caliban betrayed us? After all, he was not fam …

But he was family. He was my half-brother, the son of my father, as much my family as Ulysses, or Titus, or Theo. Silently, I committed my life into his hands, convinced that he was worthy of my trust.

Lilith laughed, “We might enjoy seeing that, mightn’t we, my subjects?” The crowd roared. “You are an entertaining thing; what else can you do?”

“I can sing.” Caliban danced about before Erasmus’s cage, belting out words Shakespeare had written for him:

No more dams I’ll make for fish

Nor fetch in firing

At requiring;

Nor scrape trencher, nor wash dish

’Ban, ’Ban, Cacaliban

Has a new master: get a new man.

Freedom, hey-day! hey-day, freedom! freedom,

hey-day, freedom!

“I can tell stories, too! Would you like to hear one?” Turning toward Erasmus’s cage, Caliban declared in a loud voice, “And the cat in the boots said to the young man, ‘Behold, if you wish to make your fortune, you must do exactly as I say!’”

As he said this, Caliban looked directly into Erasmus’s eyes and extended his club in a dramatic flourish. I heard nothing, but Erasmus started and looked rapidly from the club to me.

Caliban had done it! He had given King Vinae a chance to fill Erasmus in on the plan. The hardest part had been accomplished! From here on, everything would go smoothly—unless someone betrayed us.

It was out of my hands. I would have to trust my family.

Caliban babbled on a bit, mixing lines from various fairy tales. Lilith yawned. “Enough! The time has come for Erasmus Prospero to die.”

“Remember. Last request,”
King Vinae’s voice called, as Caliban quickly moved the club next to the flute again.

“Ah. Right.” The Queen of Air and Darkness directed her attention toward my brother. “Erasmus Prospero, do you have a last request before we kill you—which is when the real torture will begin?” The hordes of demons and goblins cackled gleefully. Lilith continued, “You may ask for anything you desire, except for your release. Do you wish us to allow one soul out of Hell? I will escort the lucky person myself. You could grant freedom to your uncle Antonio here. Then he would not be constrained to sully his soul further by striking the blow against you, for he would no longer need to fear what I could do to him. He would be free to spend eternity in Limbo.

“Or, you could ask that your own soul be escorted to Limbo. Or that your body be returned to your father, who could then use his new
Staff of Eternity
to resurrect you, undoing all our wicked work.

“Or, you may ask for the life of your son Fiachra. Otherwise, seven years after Mab here takes the Last Walk, Fiachra Swan-Lord will be the next denizen of Fairyland to be tithed.”

“Rather decent of her,” Ulysses murmured to Mab and Logistilla, “to make cracking suggestions. That idea about letting us take his body back is the dog’s bollocks! We’d get Erasmus back, and everything would be fine.”

“Not really,” Mab growled back. “She’s got Miss Miranda!”

“Oh! Bloody Hell!” Ulysses exclaimed. “That’s no good!”