Mammon clenched his jaw and pursed his lips, staring Guyon down. Clearly he had expected him to relent. But Guyon would not give him that satisfaction. He had business to do.
Your second day is almost up, said Una’s voice in his head. He wasn’t sure where that voice was coming from, but he knew he could trust it.
24
He didn’t have much time. It seemed that every moment he spent here resulted in far more time spent in the real world. He had to get out before his remaining time ran out. Speaking again, he said, “Stop stalling, Mammon. I need that amulet.”
Reluctantly, Mammon led the way forward. Guyon had to simply trust that he would not physically restrain him, as would likely have happened in the real world. If he had to guess, he suspected these temptations were the real battle in this place. And he had just won a great victory. Well, if there was anyone who could win in battles of temptation, it was him. He would master this place.
It took some time to cross the enormous room, but at last they reached the small door at the other side. It was a tiny opening, small enough that Guyon had to duck his head to go through. It stood in stark contrast to the giant oak doors they had passed to get into this room in the first place.
But Guyon nearly took a step back as he encountered a giant of a man standing ten paces in front of them. The room they were in was not large, and a door stood on the other side, behind the giant. Perhaps this was just a transition room of some kind, one to house this huge man.
The giant stood at least five feet taller than Guyon, and wielded a club that he gently cradled in both hands. His beady black eyes considered the knight, but Mammon seemed unafraid.
“Yet another guard to ensure no one takes anything that doesn’t belong to them,” he said, facing Guyon. With a wave of Mammon’s hand, the giant stood aside from the door, and Guyon carefully followed Mammon forward.
He knew Mammon had said physical threats were not known in this world, but between the giant and those spiders, Guyon wasn’t entirely sure that was accurate. What would actually happen if he tried to take something?
“For all your talk of giving me the riches of the world, you seem very keen on keeping it for yourself,” he observed.
“All in their proper order,” said Mammon. His smiles were beginning to become tedious. “Wealth can’t be gained without favors.”
“And what favors would you have asked of me if I had accepted your offer?”
“To answer that let me just say that, in my experience, Sir Guyon, you are wrong about one thing.”
“And what is that?”
“Loyalty can be bought.”
With that he opened the door and swung it forward, giving Guyon just enough space to pass him and enter.
Inside was not what he expected. The entirety of the room, which was nearly as large as the one full of treasure, was filled with golden steps. All of them led upward to a throne that crested its peak, nearly touching the ceiling.
“Is this your throne room?” Guyon asked as Mammon closed the door behind them.
“Not mine, no. This is my daughter’s.”
Guyon turned to look at him. “You have a daughter?”
“In a figurative and literal sense,” said Mammon. “Come, I would like you to meet her.”
For once, Guyon was legitimately curious. He followed Mammon up the stairs. As they approached, he saw that there was someone sitting in the throne that he hadn’t noticed before. Mammon’s daughter was slight of build, and covered in enough fineries that Guyon had mistaken her for part of the throne itself when they were at the base of the stairs.
“Father,” she said, alighting from the throne as Mammon and Guyon approached. She was, perhaps, the most beautiful woman Guyon had ever seen.
But rather than stare at her, Guyon took a moment to bend over to support his hands on his knees and take a few deep breaths. That had been quite a climb and not one he cared to repeat.
Although, looking back down the steps, he realized he shouldn’t feel so winded after all that. Sure, he was still in armor, and those were a lot of steps, but he had done far worse before. And when he’d first arrived at this place, he hadn’t felt so fatigued.
Careful, said a now familiar voice in his head. Your time grows short.
“Daughter,” said Mammon, putting his arms out to embrace her. Though Guyon thought he detected the briefest glance in his direction, watching him as he panted from the strain of the climb.
“Who is this you’ve brought me?” The woman said moving closer to Guyon. Now that he could see her more clearly, he could see the woman might not have been as beautiful as he supposed. She wore a heavy amount of makeup, far more than Guyon liked, and that accounted for her perfectly pale face and red lips.
She was also a little too thin, like a woman so devoted to a particular goal that she neglected her own health, wasted away in some desperate pursuit. And the clothes she had on exposed all the wrong things.
Guyon was not one to judge, at least not openly, but from what he could tell, this woman needed help.
“He’s a visitor to our lands, my sweet,” said Mammon. “I thought I’d bring him here to see you.”
“He does seem like an ambitious man,” she said, stepping forward.
“Very ambitious,” Mammon confirmed. “Though not ambitious enough it would seem. He rejected my offer of wealth and power.”
“My ambitions lie elsewhere,” said Guyon, keeping his eyes on the woman. She kept drawing nearer.
“But you have ambition,” she said, stepping ever closer. “Such things are my specialty. I could help you achieve your goals. You could become the greatest knight of the Faerie Queen. You would inspire others to follow your path, to become as temperate and as wise as you.”
As she stepped next to him, she raised her hand to brush his cheek ever so slightly. He did not pull away, but stood his ground. “At what cost?”
“Pardon me?”
“The cost. Earlier your father tempted me with gold and riches, but such things have consequences. They would spark wars and bloodshed, and let’s not forget that I would be indebted to one of the Sins. So? What would I lose by joining with you? I assume your father wants us to be...together?” He hid the distain in his voice.
“She is a goddess,” said Mammon. “A daughter of not one but two of the Sins.”
“Born of Acrasia, I suppose,” Guyon folded his arms and took one deliberate step back from the woman. “Greed and Lust are so intimately connected.”
Something in Mammon’s eyes flared. “You would be throwing away your greatest opportunity. I am offering you a chance to be with my daughter, to rule the Earth not with wealth, but with power, with ambition. Together you could be the source of all honor and dignity in the world. Is that not what you want?”
If this was supposed to be a greater temptation than the last, Mammon was doing a poor job. This time Guyon felt no hesitation, no doubt. All he needed to do was let his thoughts stray to Medina, likely still dealing with her squabbling sisters. Yes, his ambition was not as high as Mammon seemed to think. He would be content with a lifetime of service to the Faerie Queen, a temperate life, and a home with Medina.
“I am far too...lowly to marry a goddess,” he said with his tongue in cheek. “And for that matter, I love another. Now stop wasting my time and bring me to the amulet.”
“Father!” suddenly the girl shrank away from Guyon, looking for all the world like Guyon had dealt her an emotional blow of magnificent proportions.
“You will not speak in such a way in front of my girl!” yelled Mammon.
Guyon did not have time for this. If Una’s voice was to be believed, he was running out of it. Mammon was stalling. He needed to up the stakes a little.
Darting forward, he grabbed Mammon by the throat. “I’m not going to repeat myself again. The amulet!”
Mammon struggled underneath his hold. It was odd to see one of the Seven Sins so thoroughly overcome by a single hand at his thr
oat. He seemed to be in very real pain, more pain than Guyon would have expected.
You are winning, Guyon, said Una’s voice. Your mastery of yourself is the opposite of his will. For him, it is like a physical blow.
The voice reminded him that this place did not behave under the same rules that one might find in the real world. Here, the danger to his life was nothing physical but rather from temptation. Conversely, the danger to Mammon lay in Guyon’s refusal to cooperate and give in. Guyon was the perfect foil for the Sin.
“No!” cried Mammon. Suddenly Guyon’s hand was forcibly released from the Sin’s throat, and he was thrown back a few steps.
All had gone dark. The golden chamber, Mammon’s daughter, the halls, the spiders crawling along the ceiling. Only Mammon still remained in his vision, the darkness surrounding him.
“There is one last thing I must show you,” he said with another smile. But this smile was not kind, it was cruel and foreboding. Guyon steeled himself. Whatever Mammon had planned, it wasn’t good, but he could take it. He would take anything the Sin wanted to throw at him.
This time they didn’t walk into another room, they remained where they were. But around them the darkness shifted, rippling until clear images came into view.
Guyon stood in a tall tree, with great golden apples hanging from its branches. They were some of the most beautiful pieces of fruit Guyon had ever seen, twice the size of a normal apple, and unblemished by worm or weather. Yet they did not hold his attention for long.
Mammon hovered in the air next to the tree, and he pointed out into the world beyond. They were still in the underground Shadow Realm, and the same unearthly red glow permeated the place. It was a wonder this tree could grow at all without sunlight, and so high for an apple tree.
“Look,” said Mammon, pointing off away from the tree.
From his vantage point, Guyon could see far into the distance where Mammon pointed. There, his face fell as he caught the sight of a great mass of human beings with no clothing on their backs, all huddled together in a space much like a market square. Surrounding them were demonic beings, creatures of the Shadow Realm. And as he looked, he caught more and more of these people, scattered throughout the streets and in other market squares. Some wandered on mindlessly, like those he had seen when he first arrived in this place. Others were herded about like animals by their captors.
They were human slaves.
25
“My servants bring justice to all who have wronged others,” explained Mammon. “You could say, it was our primary purpose for being, before we escaped the gates of the Otherworld, that is.” He grinned. “We brought our favorites with us. Can’t afford to give them a break after all.”
Guyon winced as he caught the sound of whips cracking, women crying, and the screams of the victims. They were torturing these poor people.
“How can you do this?” he breathed. “These people are…”
“Innocent?” interrupted Mammon. “Hardly. See there…”
Suddenly, Guyon’s attention became hyper-focused as Mammon pointed, and for a moment, it was as though he could see exactly the face that Mammon wanted him to see, one face in a crowd of hundreds.
“That is Judas Iscariot,” said Mammon. “The man who betrayed the one you call Christ. Betrayal is common among your world. He is but one of many, yet one that has become infamous in your history.”
Guyon watched as the wretch of a man screamed while multiple whips tormented him. His back was a mess of red and blood from the lash, and yet it seemed he would continue to feel its sting well into the future, without the release of death, for he was incapable of dying a second time.
“And that one,” Mammon pointed off to his right. Once again, Guyon’s vision followed in an odd blend of awareness and physical sight that pointed to exactly the person Mammon indicated. This one did nothing but push a giant bolder up a hill, sweat glistening on every inch of his body, his muscles thin and weak from too much effort and too little rest. Yet this time, Guyon recognized the victim.
“Sisyphus,” he breathed. “The man cursed with eternal futility, to push a stone up a hill only to…”
Yet even as he said it, the stone rolled down the hill, leaving the man with no choice but to follow after. Once he reached the base of the hill, he began pushing it up again.
“Like I said,” Mammon smiled. “We brought our favorites with us. The rest remain on the other side of that great gate. They are beyond us now, but we couldn’t allow the worst of the worst to go without our punishment.”
“No one deserves punishment to this degree,” said Guyon, shaking his head. “Half these people probably didn’t even know of the existence of Annwyn, of this place. They could not have known that their actions in life would lead to such torment in death.”
“Oh? And what of the human conscious? Are they not responsible for their actions when that conscious tells them what is wrong.”
“Those who do evil are imbalanced. Restore that balance, and both men and women will adjust to do good.”
“And yet, so many never see this balance you speak of. All fall, eventually. See here…” Once again, Guyon’s attention was directed at a group of men all naked and wincing under a demon’s whip, but Guyon’s eyes widened the moment he caught sight of their faces. He knew those faces, he would never forget them until the day he died.
“The men who robbed and murdered your parents,” Mammon remarked. “Do they not deserve punishment?”
Guyon’s eyes burned, his blood boiled, and he clenched his fists. These were the men who had turned his whole life upside down. These men had done horrific things in front of him, in front of a child. Those were images that had and would continue to scar him for life.
“Come now, Sir Guyon,” Mammon went on at his silence. “Surely they do not deserve your pity. They cannot be forgiven for what they have done.”
“All,” said Guyon through clenched teeth. “All deserve a chance at redemption, even here.”
“They had their chance in life.”
“And only now do they realize the error of their ways. Hardship can teach a man temperance, as it once did me.”
Mammon’s eyes flashed. “Are you truly saying that these men and others like them all deserve forgiveness?”
“Perhaps not all, but many. Most are simply slaves to their own addictions, their own lusts for power and wealth.” Guyon turned to face Mammon. “Temptations brought on by those like you and Acrasia. You are those who truly deserve to suffer for eternity.”
A flicker of a new emotion passed over Mammon’s eyes. Fear.
“Then if you’re so determined to save someone, what about these two,” Mammon waved a hand and Guyon’s vision focused in on a couple hovering on the edges of the crowd, closest to the whips of their tormentors.
Guyon’s grip tightened on the branches of the apple tree. “No. Not them.”
“All men and women fall short,” Mammon’s cruel smile had returned. “Your father was unfaithful to your mother, so she tried to have him assassinated. Who would have thought those assassins would be her downfall as well.”
Guyon’s hands trembled. No, it couldn’t be. Those were his parents out there, they did not belong in such a place. They were good people!
And yet, what if Mammon spoke the truth? Had the bandits that attacked them on the road truly been planned?
Don’t listen to him, Guyon, said Una’s voice in his head. He will deceive you if he can.
Mammon waved his hand at the couple, hovering on the ground in pain as great, barbed whips came crashing down onto their backs. “I could stop their suffering. I could even return them to you.”
Guyon forgot about Una’s words, he turned to meet Mammon’s eyes. “You can do that? Bring people back from the dead?”
“If they reside here. Orpheus nearly brought his lover back with him. You could do the same.”
Guyon’s thoughts turned inward. If his parents truly had brought this sufferin
g on themselves, he could bring them back. He could give them the very second chance they needed, the second chance he was so sure everyone deserved. He could teach them balance, the very lessons he had learned. And best of all, he could simply get to know his family in a way he never could before.
“Yes, it would be like they never left,” said Mammon, drawing closer. “Think about it. You together with your parents again. How proud they would be of you, of the knight you’ve become.”
Yes, everything would be set right. They would be a family again. They could settle down in some remote island where neither the Britons nor the Saxons would ever bother them again. The Holy Island maybe. He could settle down with Medina, his parents would be there, and they would live long and happy lives with children and grandchildren.
Guyon, Una’s voice was very insistent. Snap out of it, Guyon. He’s lying. He wants something from you.
Guyon took a deep, shuddering breath, then faced Mammon. “And in return?”
“Not much,” said the Sin. “I would simply require a favor or two. Nothing immediate, just the occasional mission. You would serve me and the Sins for a time, then be left to enjoy the pleasures of home once more. It would be little inconvenience.”
Guyon closed his eyes, pushing out the tears that had formed there. They fell down his cheeks. “And when I die, what then?”
“I’m sorry?”
“When I’m dead, with a lifetime of pleasure and service to the very Sins my conscious tells me to control. What possible hope could I have of never-ending happiness?”
“Whoever said death held any happiness whatsoever?”
“Everything has its opposite,” said Guyon. “If the Otherworld exists, if hell as we know it is a real place, I see no greater evidence for the existence of heaven as well.” “You delude yourself,” said Mammon with an irritated wave. “Your time to be alive is now. Either choose the path of greatest pleasure with all your family, or choose a life of hardship and loneliness.”
Knight Purged Page 18
