The capsule stopped at a facility very like an airport, coming to rest beside a large glassy building. An accordion pleated ramp extended out to touch the capsule; there was a click, and the ice dissolved at the point of contact.
"We're here," Ligeia said. "Oh, I wish" But she didn't finish, and Mym understood why.
What use were wishes in Hell?
"You knew this would happen?" Mym asked as they set foot on the walk.
"The moment I saw you," she agreed, her tears in the process of being replaced by fatalism. "Satan told me I was going for ah, never mind. I was a fool, yet again."
"A hearing?" Mym asked. "And instead you were bait for a trap."
She nodded grimly and preceded him to the building.
He realized that she could be lying. But what was the point? Whether demoness or genuine damned soul, she had done the job, and he had been caught. He preferred to believe that she was as much a victim of Satan's deception and cruelty as he.
Satan was waiting in the terminal. "Welcome to Hell, Mars!" he said jovially, stepping forward with his hand extended. Mym considered refusing the hand, but concluded that civility was better than antagonism, even in Hell. He shook the hand.
"I can't say I am completely pleased to be here," Mym said. "What is the point of this device?"
"Merely to get your attention, my dear associate," Satan said, smiling. "I am sure that you and I shall come to a perfect understanding."
"I hope so," Mym said. "It has been my impression that one Incarnation does not interfere with the business of another on a casual basis; there could be a consequence."
If Satan reacted to the thinly veiled threat, he gave no sign. "Incarnations should always cooperate," he agreed. "Come, share the hospitality of My domain, and we shall converse."
"If I may go, now" Ligeia murmured. "By no means. My dear," Satan replied. "This man is a prince; we shall not foist off on him the company of a woman beneath his station. You shall be his escort while he visits."
"But I really would prefer not to"
"Your preference, My dear, is a matter of indifference to Me. I suggest that you put a suitably fair face on the matter."
Evidently reluctant, she nevertheless nerved herself and smiled at Mym. "It seems I must," she said. "I assure you, sir, that my reticence does not reflect on you. Are you really a prince?"
"I was, in life," Mym agreed. "That is behind me, now. Are you really a princess?"
"In life," she echoed.
"Excellent," Satan said. "The Old Smoky House has palatable fare; shall we dine there?"
"It seems we shall," Mym said. He was sure that Satan could not hold him in Hell against his will, but not sure how he was to escape it. He was still too new in this office, so did not yet know how to use his Incarnative powers to their full extent. Until he figured out his best course of action, it was best to make no dramatic and possibly pointless gestures.
Ligeia took his arm, and they followed Satan to another chamber. This was set up like a contemporary occidental restaurant, with dim lighting and soft music and elegantly garbed waiters and waitresses. It surprised Mym to see such an establishment in Hell, but obviously it belonged.
He was sure that neither demons nor damned souls required food for sustenance, but if it made them more comfortable to honor the amenities of life, that was all right. Of course, most of the souls resident in Hell probably did not actually get to eat; probably Satan tortured them by allowing them only to smell the good food.
"Shall we have steak?" Satan inquired, surveying the menu.
"The flesh of a cow?" Mym asked.
"Urn, true," Satan said. "You are from India. Perhaps a nice fancy curry then?"
While they dined on curry and the other aspects of an excellent Indian meal, Satan made his pitch.
"You and I seem to have been working at cross purposes, Mars," he said. "When actually we may have a common purpose."
"I doubt that," Mym replied. "My sympathy is with the force of good, while you represent the force of evil."
"We each represent forces of expedience," Satan said. "Just as you understand that there must be violence in mortal affairs, so I understand that there must be evil. Sometimes violence abates evil; sometimes evil abates violence. But the two can go together."
Mym didn't like the sound of this, but he confined his reaction. "In what way?"
"It is My duty to harvest the souls where evil preponderates. But too many souls are shades of gray, with the good and evil so hopelessly intertwined that Thanatos himself can barely distinguish them. The situation is too complex; I wish to simplify it by generating more action."
'More violence?"
'Yes. One does not get dirty laundry clean without agitation. Since this aspect falls under your"
'So you want me to stir up more war," Mym said.
'Yes. Not too much, just enough to enable the souls to settle out more rapidly."
"In other words, to have more people die." "That is one way to put it. This activity would of course enhance your position."
"And yours," Mym said. "Because you would reap an earlier and greater harvest of souls.
Because the stresses of war would generate famine and slaughter that would not otherwise have existed."
"Well"
"Not interested," Mym said, rising from the table.
Satan hastened to stay with him. "Of course there could be lagniappe. For example, this borderline soul, the Princess Ligeia, could be made available to you in Purgatory."
"No!" Ligeia cried. Satan glanced darkly at her, and she shrank back, silenced.
Now Mym looked at her. "Satan requires that you remain with us; I do not. I came to help you, not to oppress you. Certainly I would not take you to the Castle of War if you objected."
"Oh, no, Mars," she protested. "It's not that! You are a prince, and there are things that only nobility understands. I am sure you would be compatible, and I would gladly go with you, but"
"But not at the behest of Satan, as part of a corrupt bargain," Mym concluded.
Mutely, she nodded.
Mym liked her attitude. She was correct: there was a camaraderie among those of royal status that commoners accepted but seldom truly grasped things like the importance of appearances, the routines of palace existence, and the use of concubines. There was much that he would never have to explain to Ligeia, just as he had not to Rapture, and much that she would not have to advise him of. But more than that, it was fitting that royalty consort with royalty. This was one thing that had kept him from dealing with Lila or any other woman. He had to establish a relationship with one of his own station first; then the rest would fall into place.
Certainly Ligeia was loath to establish any relationship with him by Satan's directive.
Only her father had the authority to make such a commitment for her. Or, since her father was in another realm, herself. She would make her own commitment, in her own fashion, or make none at all.
"We can arrange other habitation for you, woman," Satan said. "Your mortal rank carries no significance here."
"Let her be," Mym said gruffly. Satan had just demonstrated the ignorance and insensitivity of the commoner. "Isn't it enough that you hold her here illicitly, and that you used her against her will to bring me here? Why try to force further corruption on her?"
"This is my domain. Mars," Satan said evenly, "The determination of treatment is Mine. This slut is overdue for a touch of flame."
Slut? Mym controlled his blaze of anger. There would be a reckoning for such insults in due course.
Satan raised his hand. Ligeia shrank away from him, terrified. Satan pointed, and flame appeared. The fire followed the line traced by his finger, moving toward the woman. Mym stood abruptly, flinging the chair to the rear, and stepped into the path of flame. The fire touched his cloak and turned back, unable to penetrate. "Let her be," Mym repeated.
"You accept my offer?" Satan asked. "The woman's consent does not matter; she fears the flame and will cooperate without limit to avoid it."
"I reject the offer," Mym said.
"Then you may remain the guest of this establishment indefinitely and she will bum while you reconsider." Satan gestured, and a sheet of flame appeared. Ligeia whimpered.
Mym put his arm about her, enfolding her within his protective cloak. The flame leaped up about them both, harming neither. "I believe it is time to see that this woman has a fair hearing," he said.
"You may not be touched," Satan said. "But she is Mine. You can not hold her." He lifted one hand and snapped his fingers.
Huge, menacing demons appeared at the entrance to the restaurant. Some had horns and tails and snorted fire; others had huge crab claws in lieu of hands. They closed in on Mym and the girl.
"Get a good hold on her," Satan directed them. "His substance is not subject to our power, but hers is. Take hold and pull; he will let her go, lest she be torn apart."
Mym bit his tongue. He was here in spirit only, but he felt the pain and tasted the blood.
"Do not touch her," he warned the demons.
"No, I will go with them!" Ligeia protested. "It is another trap for you, Mars! Satan means to -"
Six demons pounced, converging. Two grabbed for her feet, hauling them up and apart. Two more grabbed for her hands, doing the same. One grabbed for her silver hair, pulling cruelly on it. The sixth, slavering, opened its tusked face to take a horrendous bite of her bosom.
That sixth received Mym's fist in its teeth. The tusks broke off and the teeth were jammed back into its throat. The demon fell, choking on ivory. It was evident that the powers of Mars remained with him, even in spirit form.
But the strength of the other demons was hauling the girl away from Mym's other arm that held her about the waist. Mym realized that to deal with the demons, he would have to have both hands free which meant letting her go. He didn't trust that; she could be whisked away in an instant, the moment he lost physical contact. How would he ever locate her again in this fell region?
But even though he retained his hold on her, it was no good, because the five demons were trying, literally, to pull her apart. The two on her arms were bracing to haul in opposite directions, the one on her hair was yanking so hard that her eyes were being drawn wide open, and the two on her feet were wedging her legs so far apart that they were spread almost a hundred and eighty degrees. Mym used his free fist to club one of the arm-holding demons on the skull. The skull caved in and the demon fell. Then, moving with the blinding rapidity available to him in the berserker state, he swung his hand across, caught the hair of the hair-pulling demon, and yanked the entire demon up into the air and down against the floor, breaking its hold and body in the process.
But the three remaining demons had not left off. Taking advantage of Mym's own effort, they succeeded in getting Ligeia free of his grasp. He leaped at one of the leg-holding demons, grabbed one of its own legs, lifted it, braced one of his feet against the other leg and forced a split that went into an obtuse angle before the demon's leg broke off.
Mym whirled and saw the two remaining demons dragging Ligeia across the room. Rather, one was dragging, its hands locked under her shoulders and about her bosom, while the other was using its pincers to clasp her thighs apart while it walked into her. In a moment its evident demon lust would --
Ligeia screamed.
Mym had never before heard a sound of that nature. It pierced the atmosphere of Hell, like a power saw cutting through metal, and stunned the demons. They fell away, leaving her collapsed and sobbing.
Mym was unaffected, protected by his office. So was Satan. "Now you see what she is,"
Satan said. "You don't want to get involved with a creature like that."
"What is she?" Mym demanded.
"A siren, of course. One who destroys with her voice. The secret shame of her royal family; such defects are not supposed to run in royal lines. That's what got her sent here."
Secret shame? Mym, the stutterer, understood very well about that sort of thing.
Satan shrugged. "Well, might as well wrap this up; she's of no further use to Me." He raised his hand.
Mym leaped across, again intercepting the flame with his cloak. "I don't care what she is; she's a decent soul!"
"Another reason you can't have her," Satan said. "Had she been willing to cooperate, I would have let her be with you. As it is, I shall treat her unkindly." He glanced about, noting the sprawled demons. "But first I had better gag her." He gestured, and a snake appeared, wrapped about Ligeia's head, its body wedging into her mouth so that she could not speak.
Mym realized that there was no way to protect her from Satan's direct mischief. Not here in Hell. Unless he could manage to hide her, somehow.
He took hold of the woman, heaved her up and ran out of the restaurant. Beyond it was a flat, bare plain no place to hide!
But he was Mars, he reminded himself. He could change his aspect, and the aspect of anyone with him. Simply by touching the Red Sword.
Oops! He had left that with his body.
Still, physical separation did not cut off the Sword's attachment to him. He should be able to do the magic of the office regardless, even here in Hell. All he had to do was will it.
He rendered himself invisible. He hoped. He could still see himself and Ligeia, but --
Several more demons charged out of the restaurant. "And tear her apart!" Satan's voice came after them. "Or you'll be torn in her stead!"
The demons paused, peering about. They saw nothing, though Mym and Ligeia were standing near, she with the snake still wrapped about her head. The three of them man, woman and snake could be perceived only by each other, for the moment. Except Satan himself. As another Incarnation, Satan would not be subject to the illusion. Mym knew he had to get Ligeia away before Satan emerged.
He ran across the plain, carrying her, for she was not moving voluntarily. He knew why; she did not want to be either a drag or a corrupting influence on him. She was a decent girl who meant no harm, yet had been required to be the agent of much mischief. Probably she would have let the demons take her away to the torture, had one not threatened to rape her on the spot.
Suddenly the plain ended. Mym stopped abruptly. This was not a plain, it was the level top of a mesa! The drop-off was sheer and seemed to extend a kilometer. It was awesome.
The demons were spreading out, going over the entire area, searching. Satan had not yet emerged, but could do so at any moment.
Mym hurried along the brink, searching for some way down. He didn't want to have to jump.
He was a soul, and Ligeia was a soul, so they couldn't be killed, but he was sure the fall would incapacitate her for a time and be extremely painful. He might suffer himself; he wasn't sure whether his office protected him from acts of sheer folly in Hell.
There was a path, a niche, a crevice leading down! Mym walked down it, getting them out of the line of sight to the restaurant. For the moment, Satan would not be able to spy them; that was all that counted.
Ligeia struggled, still unable to speak. "Don't do that!" Mym warned. "Look where we are!"
She craned her head to look, stiffened, and went slack. She didn't like that sort of height any better than he did.
"They've got to be here somewhere!" Satan's voice came. "If not on the mesa, then on the slope. Did you check the slope?"
Mym knew that in moments this scant path would be swarming with demons. They would not be able to see the fugitives but would they be able to feel them? In life. Mars could make himself intangible, invisible, or both at once. But this was not life, and he feared that one spirit could not be made insubstantial to another spirit. After all, Ligeia had become tangible to him when he encountered her in spirit form in the capsule in the palace of ice. He could not afford to risk contact with a demon.
Yet the invisibility ploy was working, so maybe --
Now the silhouette of a demon showed at the rim of the mesa. The demon started down the path.
Mym looked ahead. The path wended on down and around the mountain. He had to follow it; there was nowhere else to go. He would not risk contact with any demons unless he had no other alternative.
"I'm setting you down; stay with me," he whispered to Ligeia.
She shook her head in negation, still unable to speak because of the snake.
Mym reached across and took hold of the snake. Quickly he caught its head, and squeezed it just hard enough to make the reptile realize that it was in his power. Then he unwound it, freeing the woman. "You have been very good about this, wanting to spare me further trouble," he whispered. "But now I'm in trouble, and so are you. Neither of us has anything to gain at this point by having the demons capture you. If you leave me now, all it could do would be to give away my location. Do you want that?"
She shook her head no.
"Then follow me," Mym said. "As long as you stay close, you will remain invisible." He turned, holding the snake with one hand, and proceeded down the path.
A short distance down, the path widened, and an overhang developed. This was a relief, because any slip would send them tumbling off the mountain. Mym saw that there was a hole in the overhang; perhaps this was the remains of an ancient cave. But the path continued on down, and the demon had been joined by others behind, so Mym didn't pause.
Then he heard something. Demons ahead! They were coming up the path from below!
"We're trapped!" Ligeia moaned. "But I can scream at them"
"And alert the whole of the rest of Hell to our location!" Mym returned. "Keep your mouth shut!" He considered momentarily. "We'll have to try that cave."
"Oh, I hate caves!" she said.
He ignored that. They moved back up the path, and to the cave. The demons above were getting close.
"I'll boost you up," he said. "Then I'll follow." He wished he had the Red Sword; with that he could have flown right off the mountain.
Well, maybe he could do that anyway. After all, if the invisibility worked --
He tried it, willing himself into the air, while Ligeia made her way cautiously up the rock. Nothing happened. Evidently he could change his appearance by himself, but had to have the Sword right with him in order to travel. Perhaps it needed to see exactly where he was going in order to operate. Or maybe he simply didn't have the right mental key for remote control. Too bad.
He boosted her by the pert bottom, and she scrambled up into the hole. "Very well, here's the snake," he said, handing up the reptile. Ligeia seemed less than eager to handle it again, but took it. Then he fitted his hands to the edges of the hole and heaved himself up. She was there to help him navigate the edge.
It was a small cave, hardly more than an etching in the mountain, but large enough to hold them comfortably. The snake settled down to the side, seeming satisfied.
The demons reached the overhang, talking gruffly among themselves. "Oh, I'm afraid!" Ligeia whispered.
Mym put his arm about her shoulders. "Remember, they can not see us. Just be quiet, and they'll pass."
She was quiet, though her body shivered. The demons tromped by from the upper path, grumbling; evidently they felt that this search was so much foolishness. Mym wondered how they could be so similar to mortals in their minor reactions, if they were soulless constructs of ether. They should have no personality, but that was obviously not the case. Perhaps demons were crafted in Satan's image, much the way man, according to the occidental mythos, was crafted in God's image. Of course that was illusory; how could such imperfection come from perfection?
Man had a delusion of grandeur. Mym was glad that he did not share such confused thinking. Reincarnation made so much more sense that any sensible person should be able to understand it.
The upper demons met the lower demons. There was an outcry, and the sound of a brief skuffle; then a descending wail as one of them fell or was thrown off the ledge. Irascible creatures, demons!
Now the demons tromped back up the path. "Not on this ledge," one was muttering. "I don't care what His Foulness says! We'd have found them, if"
"The cave did you check the cave, you moron?" another demanded.
"What cave, imbecile?" the other asked.
"That cave, idiot!" the other retorted. "The one we use to entertain that demoness in our slack time."
"Oh, that cave," the first demon said. "Where is that demoness, now? I haven't seen her in a century."
"She's on sunside duty," the second replied. "Seducing some mortal."
"Some mortals have all the luck," the first muttered. His tusked face poked into the cave from below.
Ligeia stiffened, for the demon was staring right at them. But the creature's gaze passed through them, and it saw nothing but the cave. They truly were invisible.
Then the demon spotted the snake, which was separate from Mym, and just beyond the ambiance of his power. The demon reached for the snake, but the snake rose up hissingly and opened its jaws wide, and the demon thought the better of it. His head ducked down. "Nothing but wildlife here."
"Well, let's go back," the other demon said. "Either they fell off the mountain, or they never were on this path. I don't know why Satan's so hot to get them; they can't escape Hell anyway."
"He wants to torture the woman, rot face," the first said. "She was supposed to corrupt the Incarnation, and she tried to bug out, so she's in for it."
"Yeah, I hope Satan gives her to me to play with," the second said as they resumed their tromp up the path. "I'd bring her right back here to this cave and really work her over! Did you see those legs others when we held her?"
"I was on one of those legs, snotpuss! I saw all the way up..." The sound faded as they departed.
"Oh, I hate those demons!" Ligeia whispered. "All they think about is lust and torture!"
"Well, Hell is supposed to be an unpleasant place," Mym responded, "to make the damned souls regret their crimes in life."
"But I don't belong in Hell!" she exclaimed.
"I think we'd better wait here until the demons give up the search," Mym said. "That could be some time. Why don't you tell me how you came to be here? I came here to help you and I still hope to do so."
"You can't help me," she retorted. "I can only hurt you. You should get away from me right now."
"Why? You seem like a nice young woman, apart from your obvious virtue as a princess."
"I am a nice young woman, apart from that virtue. You'd probably like me if you knew me, especially since you seem to be immune to my scream. That's why you need to get away."
"Maybe I'm being dense. I don't follow the logic."
"Because that's what Satan wants!" she exclaimed. "He wants you to-"
"To treat you as the demons would? I wouldn't do that, Ligeia."
"To fall in love with me," she blurted.
Mym smiled. "I have been in love before and I can't say that that is a fate worse than death. They were good women, very good women. If you are a good woman"
"Because you're an Incarnation, Satan can not hold you any longer than he can fool you, which shouldn't be long. But I'm a damned soul, and he can hold me; if you fall in love with me, then you won't leave without me and so you won't be able to leave at all and you'll be trapped forever in Hell and Satan'11 have his way with the mortal realm!" she exploded.
So that was Satan's plot! No wonder Lila had told him of the imprisoned Princess! And was it Lila that the demons had taken to this same cave? An interesting coincidence that they should happen to mention it just when he was here to hear.
Coincidence? Deception, more likely! Wasn't it possible that Satan knew exactly where he was and had instructed the demons to leave him here, because he was doing what Satan wanted - being with Ligeia? And Ligeia, by all the signals, was a genuinely loveable woman, no part of this plot. Had she been in on it, she should not have warned him of its nature.
Yes, this was very interesting. The demons had gotten Ligeia away from Mym and could have removed her to some far reach of Hell so that he could never have found her. But they had paused, seemingly foolishly, and threatened to rape her. That had triggered her devastating scream, so that Mym had had a renewed chance to rescue her. It was possible that the demons had been stupid and had given away to their lusts prematurely but Satan had merely stood and watched. Satan had not started organizing the pursuit until it was too late. Satan was no fool; therefore his lack of initiative must have been deliberate. He had wanted Ligeia to scream, so as to enable Mym to rejoin her.
That scream that was a most remarkable thing. Others might consider it an ugly thing. But Mym, who had a problem with his own voice, was in a position to understand a liability like that. He felt some empathy. He wasn't stuttering now, but he was in Hell, where Satan's power eliminated it; his consciousness of it remained. Ligeia was a fellow sufferer and Satan had wanted him to see that. Naturally a man who had suffered because of a problem with his voice would be attracted to a woman with another type of voice problem. A cunning trap indeed!
"You are silent," Ligeia said. "Now you understand. I thank you for being the man you are and now I shall do what I must do and leave you." She started to move toward the cave entrance.
Mym held her back. "I am not leaving without you," he said.
"But I told you why that can't be! You have a responsibility on Earth!"
"I came to Hell to rescue you and rescue you I shall," Mym said. "This has nothing to do with love, but with what is right. If I should fall in love with you in the process, perhaps you will agree to be with me after you have had your hearing and are free of Hell. If not - I still mean to do what I know to be right."
"You're a fool!" she said.
"I'm a man."
"A prince," she said, more gently.
"An Incarnation."
'I could get very pleased with that kind of a fool," she confessed: "But I can't let you do it. I am only one soul; your work affects millions. So" She got up again He hauled her back, held her down, and kissed her.
She sighed. "You know you really aren't being fair about this," she said. Then she kissed him back.
"Let's get to know each other," he said.
"You already know my curse. When I get excited"
"I know about curses. I'm a stutterer."
She laughed. "Not that I've noticed!"
"In life. Here in Hell I am spared it. I think it's Satan's way of subverting me. He offered me a demon concubine and free speech, but I prefer to make my own way."
"But if your curse is gone in Hell, why does mine remain?" she asked plaintively.
"Perhaps because Satan isn't trying to subvert you. He's trying to degrade you. He probably would not bother to abate my stuttering if I weren't an Incarnation."
"The Incarnation of War," she agreed. "You rate special treatment."
"So if stuttering bothers you, you will not want to associate with me, once we get out of Hell."
"When I saw you, there in the Palace of Ice, you looked so bold and handsome, really like a prince coming to rescue me," she said. "I knew it was a trap and I tried to warn you away.
But you wouldn't go, and now the trap is sprung, and maybe the second one too, because you still won't go. I suppose it's academic, because I'll never get out of Hell, but if I were out, and you got me out, I'd always know that it was the stutterer who did it and I wouldn't care what you looked like or sounded like; I'd want to be with you. But you really didn't come to the Palace of Ice just to pick up a woman, did you? Not when you had a demoness at your beck?"
So Mym told her about Orb, about Rapture, and his desire for a woman of that level, rather than a protean demoness whose ultimate loyalty was to Satan. "Though Lila did shed a tear," he said at the end. "I don't know why a demoness would do that."
"Because it was her business to corrupt you or to send you to Hell; either way, she knew you would be doomed. Demons do t^ave some little emotion, otherwise they couldn't enjoy the base desires. They can't animate the human form without picking up a bit of human nature, so as to act well enough to fool real people. She probably liked you a trifle, or maybe liked her assignment in Purgatory, which is a better place than Hell, so was sorry when she knew it was over. Her will is subservient to Satan, but, when it doesn't conflict with her assignment, she can afford some emotion. Especially if showing it might cause you to react in a manner helpful to her mission."
"You seem to know a lot about demons," Mym said ruefully.
"I have had recent experience." Then she told him how she had come to Hell.
Ligeia had been a European princess. When she came of age and was versed in the things needful for her role, her father the King had begun shopping about for a suitable match for her. "These things are seldom left to individual choice, you know," she said.
"I know," Mym agreed.
Part of that shopping entailed showing the wares. Contemporary monarchs had become canny, as their sons acquired modernistic notions of independence, and facilitated cooperation by seeking brides who were not only advantageously connected, but who were personally attractive. In fact, it was often possible to use a young prince's idealistic notions to keep him in line, because, once he was smitten by the beauty of the prospective bride, he paid little heed to anything else until it was too late. He was trapped by love. "I know," Mym repeated, remembering how well that ploy had worked with Rapture. "Well, you don't have to agree so readily!" she said. "I am already blinded by your beauty," he said. He intended it as humor, but realized as he spoke that it was not. Ligeia evidently had a similar realization, for she blushed. It was dark in the cave, but he knew she was blushing because her whole body seemed to radiate heat. The embarrassment of royalty was a more potent thing than that of ordinary folk.
So, she continued after a delicate pause, she was to be shipped to a Mid-East kingdom for a visit, nominally a routine courtesy, actually a demonstration of exactly what her kingdom had to offer. Her father knew there was no princess currently on the market to match her appearance. She was, of course, under strict orders to prevent her liability from being exposed.
But international terrorists had seen their chance to strike. They managed to skyjack the airplane she was on. They demanded a phenomenal ransom for her, even while the plane was still in flight one billion Eurodollars, release of all political prisoners, a public apology for misgovernment, that sort of thing. If the King paid, they would land the plane in a neutral country and let her go; if not -
The King refused to acknowledge their demands. The money was easy, the release of prisoners problematical, and the apology impossible, of course.
"Of course," Mym agreed, understanding perfectly.
The King approached the matter forthrightly. He put out notice that a reward would be given for the severed heads of the conspirators.
They arranged to show their determination by putting her image on a magic mirror. They set up the mirror, but Ligeia refused to perform; she would not demean herself by begging her father to buy her freedom.
Balked for the moment and running low on fuel, the hijackers decided on a more direct demonstration. They stripped her naked, and one of them prepared to rape heron camera, as it were. It was evident that they had had some such notion in mind ever since seeing her, for they were men.
"Not all men are like that," Mym protested.
"You don't desire my body?" she inquired challengingly.
Mym sighed. There was no respectable answer he could give to that.
Seeing that practically all was lost, and with the fell pirate almost upon her, Ligeia had screamed. After all, submission to public rape was no more possible for a princess than a public apology was for a king. In private, a different standard obtained. After a princess got married, both rape and apology were likely, perhaps even necessary.
But not desirable, Mym remarked.
Every other person aboard the plane had lost consciousness. Ligeia, of course, did not know how to pilot it. So the plane crashed, and all aboard were killed, including her.
"And so I found myself in Hell," she concluded.
"But you did nothing worthy of damnation!" Mym protested.
"That is my claim," she agreed. "Technically I did commit suicide but it was to protect my virtue. And I was responsible for many deaths but it was self-defense, and they were evil men. I feel that if I could only get a fair hearing, the powers who be should agree that I should go to Heaven. But it seems that my scroll was charged with both murder and suicide, and so I was damned.
Of course I would have been damned had I submitted, too." "Damned if you do and damned if you don't," Mym agreed. "And then Satan had the temerity to force me to tried to warn you away, but"
"The thing to do," Mym said firmly, "is to turn Satan's trap against him. To get out of Hell. That would serve him right."
"But I keep telling you, that can't be done!" she protested. "Only you alone can win free, if you know how. I can only do it if I get my hearing, and Satan will never allow that."
"How can he prevent it?" Mym asked, nettled. "Doesn't God have anything to say about it?"
"God doesn't interfere in the affairs of mortals or with the Incarnations," she said despairingly.
"Well, I am under no such restriction," Mym said. "I shall get you out."
"That is exactly what Satan wants you to try," she reminded him.
"I am disinclined to disappoint him." Mym considered. "Do you think Satan is listening to us now?"
"Well, we're hiding from him"
"It is in my mind that Satan permitted us to reach this place," he said. "He surely can tune in on us. This is, after all, his domain."
"I hadn't thought of that," she confessed. "But Hell is a very big region. I'm sure he can't devote his attention to every little detail all the time. Once he knew we were together, he probably went on to other business."
"Probably," Mym agreed. "So we can consider our conversation private."
She shrugged. "I suppose so. But it doesn't matter. I can't get out and, as long as I prevent you from getting out, I am serving his purpose. I don't like that, though I do like being with you."
She was probably correct, Mym thought. She had served as the lure to bring him in, and now served as the chain to keep him here. Satan had no need to watch them.
Yet it was hardly unpleasant, being here with Ligeia. She was a nice girl, with compatible values, and extraordinarily pretty, and he had always been fascinated by that -type.
He changed his position, as the stone was not really comfortable. His eye fell on the snake.
The snake was watching him.
Mym completed his adjustment as if he had not noticed, but his mind was suddenly awhirl.
Surely it was true that Satan had worse things to do than watch two people get acquainted. But Mym was an Incarnation, and, though Satan could penetrate the veil of invisibility Mym had invoked, he probably couldn't do it from any distance. One Incarnation could not interfere with another from a distance. So Satan probably wasn't tuning in on them directly.
But Satan would not want to let an Incarnation move about Hell unsupervised. He would have to have some way to keep track. And what better way would there be than to assign a lesser minion?
The snake was that minion. It would report on Mym's location at all times and on any important activity Mym indulged in. That would certainly be a convenient way to keep track.
He could touch the snake, phase in with it, and learn for sure. But that might alert Satan that he, Mym, had caught on. Better to seem not to have caught on.
But how could he tell Ligeia, without the snake hearing? And how could he get away from the snake, without alerting it and Satan?
Well, he could phase in to Ligeia and plant a thought in her mind. But at this point he preferred not to do that, because it would be an invasion of what little privacy she might have, and because she was, indeed, a young woman he was quite ready to like and perhaps love. Too great an intimacy could spoil such a relationship.
Or was he afraid that if he phased in to Ligeia he would discover that she was merely another agent of Satan's?
It was a possibility he had to consider. If she was, not only would he be disappointed, but his verification of her could betray his suspicion to Satan himself. That would leave him with nothing.
He considered some more and decided that he would have to keep whatever escape plan he might have to himself.
For, abruptly, he realized that he did have a plan a bold, wild one that only he had any chance of implementing. If he could implement it successfully, not only would he rescue Ligeia, he would be able to rescue many other unfairly damned souls. In addition, it would amply repay Satan for his audacity in trying to trap another Incarnation in Hell and force him to do Satan's will.
It wasn't the nice way and certainly it wasn't the easy way. But Mym was Mars and he felt that the honor of his office was at stake. He wanted to teach Satan a lesson about interfering with Mars.
