Incarnations of Immortality

by Anthony, Piers

  "Yes. He-he frightened me! I did not want to deal with him, but-"

  "My son, you did wrong," Parry said. "But your deed was understandable. What was the nature of this scourge?" He hoped that the man did not balk now!

  "It is the heathen Tartars," the man said. "They come from afar, as they did eight hundred years ago, but they come in terrible strength. Then they destroyed the empire of the Romans; this time they will destroy all that remains. Already they are overrunning the lands of the Moors, making pyramids of their severed heads! The Moors are our enemies, so our kings are not concerned about their problems, but the Tartars are a worse threat than the Moors! In one, perhaps two years they will come here, and there will be carnage such as we have never seen before!"

  And there it was: the scourge of which Lord Bofort had hinted! The alien Tartars-coming at last to Europe! Suddenly it all made sense. Parry had studied some history himself; he knew how ferocious had been the invasion of the Tartars before, then called the Huns.

  But more information was needed, and there was not much time. One or two years? It would take that long just to prepare a respectable defense, assuming the proper ears could be reached.

  "You can document this?" he inquired. "You can prove your case to those in a position to understand it?"

  "Oh, yes, certainly! But-"

  "But you fear the reprisals of Lucifer or the law," Parry concluded. "Do not be concerned; I will protect you from these. You must come with me, to give evidence about this matter. We must prevent the ravaging of Europe."

  "But my-"

  "We shall provide for your family before we go." Parry walked swiftly to the door and rapped on the wood with his knuckle. "Goaler! Bring the prisoner's clothing! I am taking him out of here!"

  "You have no authority. Father!" the goaler cried. "The criminal is ours!"

  Parry paused to take stock. It was true that the Church did not like to intervene in secular matters directly. He realized that the goaler and his superiors were greedy for the spoils of the prisoner's property; they would not let him go without a horrendous struggle. He didn't have time for that; he had to get the man to his Order as soon as possible.

  "Jolie," he murmured.

  "He has summoned guards," Jolie said, manifesting. "They will not let you take him out."

  Parry nodded. "Then I am constrained to use magic."

  He returned to the prisoner. "I must put you in my pocket for a time," he said. "Do not be afraid; it is temporary."

  "Anything is better than the torture!"

  Parry touched the man's shoulder, and transformed him to a mouse. The creature squatted on the dank floor, astonished. Parry reached down to pick up the mouse and put it in a voluminous pocket. "There is a piece of bread there," he murmured. "Eat of it, and be welcome. But make no sound."

  Then he gestured at the floor, and the likeness of the prisoner appeared there, lying bound as before.

  He turned and strode again to the door. "Then keep what you find here!" he called. "I'll have no further part of this."

  Now the goaler hauled up the bar and hauled open the door. His gaze darted past Parry as he spied the illusion. "I'll see you out. Father!" he said, eager to be rid of this interference so that he could resume the pressure on the prisoner.

  Parry marched sedately out. Soon he was back with his donkey, riding through the town.

  He went to see the local magistrate. "The disposition of the one you charge with heresy has been taken from your hands," he said. "His property is not to be attached until the Church has come to a decision in this matter. His family is blameless, and must be left alone." He knew that when the magistrate learned of the disappearance of the prisoner he would suffer all manner of frustration, but would not dare to go against the expressed wish of the representative of the Inquisition. The Church had ways of enforcing its measures.

  Meanwhile, he would carry the prisoner directly to the monastery in France. The man would realize that both he and his family were better off with this separation; it would not be safe for him to show his face locally for some time.

  The Tartar campaign, as Parry came to understand it, was a juggernaut; a new tribe of heathens, the Mongols, had taken over and was fashioning the most massive and savage empire the world had yet seen. This was indeed the scourge, and Lucifer was shaping its thrust to overrun Europe in the course of 1241 and 1242. At the moment the eastern portion of the Saracen domains were captive, and the Russian principalities were being subjugated. The Mongols were leaving no nation untouched; they were incorporating the entire continent into their cruel empire. Their manner of dealing with resistance was simple: they cut off the heads of the resistors and potential resisters. There were no rebellions in their lands; all who might or could oppose them were dead.

  Yet despite the formidable array of information Parry generated, he was unable to convince his superiors of its importance. "The kings have many troops, well seasoned in battle," he was reminded. "The Asiatics have never encountered real Christian fighting men before, and will quickly retreat before them. Meanwhile, if the Saracens are discomfited, so much the better. That may save us the effort of mounting a crusade against them."

  This was sheer folly. Parry knew. But he also knew that if he could not convince those of his order, who were most concerned with heresy, he would have no better luck with the secular authorities. By the time the magnitude of the menace was properly appreciated, it would be too late. That was what had happened to the Saracens.

  But he could not stand idly by while this disaster loomed. Lucifer obviously intended to reap a lavish harvest of souls as the Mongols decimated Europe. Surely evil would flourish under that cruel yoke, without the authority of the Church to suppress it. The Mongols were said to be tolerant of religion; that meant that they would permit any form of it to prosper as long as it did not conflict with their rule. Thus they were like the Holy Roman Empire, only more so. What heresy would manifest under that alien umbrella, unchecked! Truly, Lucifer had crafted a scourge.

  There was no help for it: he would have to do the job of saving Europe himself. All he needed now was to figure out how.

  Chapter 6 - DVINA

  By late 1241 Parry knew that the campaign was almost lost. He had not been able to find any way to stop the approaching Mongol horde. It had annihilated resistance in Poland and Hungary during the summer, and now was orienting on the Holy Roman Empire. The Mongol leader Batu was intent on conquest, and his general Subutai was a military genius. The Europeans remained generally complacent, hardly looking beyond their own borders, but Parry understood now that there was no general and no army who could stand against the Mongol thrust.

  "Well, at least you tried to alert them in time," Jolie said, trying to console him.

  "Even if they had marshaled the finest joint army possible in these two years, it still might not have been enough," Parry said, remaining dispirited. "The Mongols have routed every type of force, in every type of situation. They conquered the Russian states in a winter campaign; no one has done that before, and it may never be done again. I have learned that they are even now pressing for Cathay. They are simply the most effective military force ever seen, because of their training, dedication and leadership. It may have been already too late to stop them, by the time I learned of the menace."

  "But surely Lucifer cannot have the victory so simply!" she protested. "If it was inevitable, why would he have worked so diligently to conceal it?"

  That made him pause. It was true that Lucifer had kept the threat of the scourge hidden for years, and had tried to prevent Parry from learning of it from the accused heretic. If the decision were sure, Lucifer should have gloried in it, encouraging mortal folk to switch loyalty to him from God. Lucifer had not done that, and was not doing it now.

  "There must be a weakness," he said, his pulse accelerating. "Lucifer must have reason-good reason, if that is not a contradiction in terms-to keep the secret longer. But what could it be?"

  "
Something that could even now turn the Golden Horde aside," she said.

  "There is nothing that can turn it aside," he said. "Had any such thing existed, someone would have used it by now. Subutai awaits only the thawing of spring to move against the Empire, and thereafter France and the Papal State. Indeed, he may not wait till then; he is the master of strategic surprise."

  "You keep thinking in terms of force," she chided him. "Isn't there any other way to settle a war?"

  "You mean to try to buy the Mongols off? They seem to be virtually incorruptible; all they want is conquest, until nothing remains to conquer."

  "Suppose something happened to their leader?"

  "You mean, assassinate Batu? That is not a course I would approve, but I'm sure it has been tried. The Mongols are fanatically loyal to their leaders. The fact is, leaders do die, but the campaign continues; they really don't seem vulnerable that way."

  She sighed. "Still, there must be something. Some way to stop them, that we might use, that Lucifer is hiding."

  "I wish I knew how to find out what it is!"

  "Could you do a divination?"

  "The Church really doesn't approve of such magic. In any event, the scale of operations is so vast that I would hardly know how to approach it. It is necessary to have a most specific question in mind, or divination is virtually useless. Many people are worse off with divination than without it, because they misunderstand what it reveals."

  "Perhaps I could look," she suggested. "I can travel far now, and swiftly."

  Parry knew that was true. She had labored over the decades to extend her range, and now could fly to any region of the mortal world. But he remained negative. "Where would you look? You face the same problem as the divination."

  "I might watch Lucifer's mortal minions. If they abruptly stir, that might be a clue."

  Parry nodded. "That may be our only chance."

  "But of course I'll have to spend most of my time away from you. Can you endure that?"

  She was teasing him, but there was substance in it. "Your presence and company have sustained me all these years. I will miss you-but for the preservation of our society from evil, I am prepared to endure it."

  She smiled, and brushed his lips with the image of hers, and faded out.

  In December Jolie brought news: the minions were stirring. They were active in a pattern of locations forming a rough shield toward the east.

  "Surely they aren't trying to stop the Mongols!" he exclaimed.

  "No, they are operating well within the Mongol sphere, behind the armies. They seem to be alert for something from the east, though. They are at the stations of the major trade and travel routes."

  "They must expect something from the east," he said. "But it is winter; the trade routes are mostly shut down. Only a few hardy travelers are abroad now, and the Mongol messenger cadre-"

  He broke off, staring at her. "A message!" he exclaimed. "They want to intercept a messenger!"

  "That must be it," she agreed. "But why? What message?"

  "We must find out! That is surely the news Lucifer fears!"

  "I will go look," she said excitedly, and faded out again. She was gone for several days, and Parry was lonely. He had not realized how much he depended on her company! He had been devastated when she died, but her return in spirit had alleviated much of his grief and enabled him to follow his present course. He wondered how the other friars managed, without spiritual women. Some, he knew, cheated, seducing innocent girls on the sly, but others seemed genuinely uninterested in such relations. Did other friars wonder about him? He had been true to Jolie throughout-because she was always with him. But sometimes he dreamed of living women. He knew he was not a natural celibate; had it been feasible for Jolie to resume mortal form, he would have had to leave the Order to rejoin her. Sometimes he almost wished she would animate the body of a mortal girl for a few hours, so as to-

  But such notions were forbidden! He steeled himself and went about his business, which at this stage was mainly paperwork. Had he not known better, he would have been tempted to think that the parchment and quill were works of Lucifer, devised to destroy men with sheer tedium.

  At last she manifested. "Parry, I found it!" she said excitedly. "The Great Khan is dead! The messengers are riding out to all parts of the Mongol empire with the news!"

  "The Khan Ogedei?" he asked, amazed. "The leader of all the Mongols?"

  "The same! Batu is chief only of the Golden Horde; he owes allegiance to the Great Khan! He will have to return to help elect a new Great Khan!"

  "Then what of the thrust against Europe?" Parry asked, and answered it even as he spoke. "It will have to halt because their leader is dead, and the new one might have different notions! This is what Lucifer has been waiting for. But-"

  "But why should Lucifer be so interested in the stopping of the thrust against Europe?" she put in. "He wants it to continue!"

  "Which means Lucifer intends to stop the message from getting through!" Parry concluded. "Then the thrust will continue, and by the time the news of the Great Khan's death gets through, it will be too late for Europe!"

  "Yes, even if the Mongols withdraw, the damage will be so great that there will be chaos, and Lucifer will reap a monstrous harvest!"

  He nodded. "Now we know. Now we must act. How much time do we have?"

  "Those riders are professionals," she said. "They are using horses in relays, and galloping from station to station. But the stations are farther apart in the wilderness, so they have to rest their horses more. I think it will take about a month to get all the way to Poland; it's over a thousand leagues."

  "But for a message of this importance, they might move faster," Parry said. "Also, they could have magicians to transmit it instantly across some sections."

  "Yes. Lucifer's minions are acting as if they expect the messengers in just a few days."

  "So we may not have much time at all. We have to stop Lucifer's minions from ambushing those messengers."

  "But wouldn't Lucifer be on guard against that?" she asked. "Lucifer has been setting up for this for many years, ready to take advantage of the situation; surely he will not readily be balked."

  "You're right, Jolie! He will be watching! In fact, he will probably be subtle; he won't waylay the messengers, he will simply distract them momentarily and substitute false documents for the originals. Ones that say that the Great Khan is preparing a celebration and wants Europe conquered as swiftly as possible for the occasion. The messengers of course will not know the contents of their packets; those would be only for the eyes of those in charge. We shall have to be as clever as he is-and switch back the original messages."

  So they agreed. Jolie went out again, and used her ability to penetrate the message packet of one of the riders, and memorized the content of the key document. It was written in Uigur script, which complicated matters; she had to describe parts of it, and return for more, in a number of stages. Parry drew on the services of a scholar monk who understood the language to re-create the document.

  By the time they had a reasonable imitation, their deadline was close. Lucifer had made the exchanges, and the messengers were riding toward Europe. It would be impossible to intercept each messenger; they were widely separated, taking different routes, using the major trade lanes. Lucifer, with his many minions and many years of preparation, had been able to cover every one, but Parry could only do one.

  He decided on the one who was now passing through the chief city of the Russian Principality of Novgorod. That was the northernmost trade route, the one that connected to the Baltic Sea. Sections of that route would be virtually impassable in midwinter; if Lucifer's minions were to be careless about any messenger, it would be that one. He might not even get through in time to have any effect; one of the more southerly messengers would be there first.

  "But if false messages arrive first. Prince Batu won't believe the true one!" Jolie protested.

  "He's no fool, and certainly General
Subutai isn't! They will know something is amiss, and will investigate before acting. That's all we need!"

  "I hope so," she said doubtfully.

  "It is all we can do on this short notice. We are going to have to work closely together, and your part is vital."

  "Oh?" she asked archly.

  He explained the plan he had worked out. "Oh," she repeated, no longer archly.

  He changed to duck form and set off. The duck was not the most impressive of birds, but was equipped to fly steadily over a long distance, and so represented his fastest and least conspicuous mode of travel.

  He flew all day, and came to roost exhausted; he had tried to remain in condition, but he had few opportunities as a monk to fly, and he was now fifty years old. The night was freezing. His down insulated him, but foraging and roosting was no fun.

  In the morning, tired and stiff, he resumed his flight, north- west toward Novgorod. He made less progress than the prior day, because of his fatigue and the rising winds, but he fought on. He knew that the fate of Europe was at stake; this was his only chance to blunt Lucifer's malicious device.

  So he continued, struggling, Jolie floating along with him. Every so often she vanished, going to verify the progress of the Mongol rider. That man, too, was cold and tired, but he was toughened to it, and closed inevitably on the city of Novgorod.

  As Parry flew, he reflected on what he knew of Novgorod. About four hundred years before, the Vikings from Sweden had thrust up the river routes of northern Russia, establishing colonies and a trading empire throughout the region. The town of Novgorod became their headquarters, and then the town of Smolensk farther south, and finally Kiev to the south of that, on the approach to the Black Sea. Kiev became the capital of a flourishing empire with strong links to the Byzantine empire of the Mediterranean region. When Kiev broke up, the other cities formed principalities, and Novgorod developed a vast northern fur-trading empire. In recent years, under Prince Alexander Nevski, Novgorod had aggressively extended its domains-until the Mongol onslaught. In 1238, during their winter campaign against the northern principalities, the Mongols had come within twenty leagues of the city of Novgorod. But Alexander had been saved by the luck of the season: the Mongols were steppe fighters who flourished in dry country and in the frozen steppe regions, but were wary of being bogged down and trapped in the marshes by the spring thaw. So they had retreated, sparing Novgorod. Prince Alexander, however, no fool, had yielded sovereignty to the Mongols and paid tribute. Thus they had spared him their next season for campaigning, and moved instead to the west.