"Nox won't see us unless she chooses to," Jolie said carefully. "I think we should accept the fact that she's not interested, and get off this mountain before we annoy her."
"Listen, doll, whose side are you on?" Orlene demanded. "I didn't come here just to quit! Where the hell is Nox?"
"This isn't wise!" Jolie said pleadingly. But Orlene turned with masculine arrogance and gestured at the sky with a fist. "A pox on Nox!" she bellowed. "Get your ass down here. Incarnation!"
Horrified, Jolie grabbed at Orlene's arm. "You mustn't!"
Orlene turned, trying to shake her off, but Jolie clung.
She had to get them away from here before something terrible happened!
Then Orlene's eye fell directly on Jolie. Her mouth pursed appraisingly. "Say, I never realized what a piece you are. C'mere, girl." Her muscular arm came around to catch at Jolie's free arm.
Suddenly Jolie was being hauled in and lifted by a body much stronger than hers. "What—?"
"Gimme a kiss!" And their faces were together.
"Stop that!" Jolie cried, amazed and dismayed. She fought to get free, and managed to twist one arm away.
But Orlene didn't stop. She grabbed again, this time catching at Jolie's skirt. Jolie tried to spin away, but the hold on the skirt inhibited her motion, and she fell.
Orlene went down with her, pinning her to the ground. There was no longer any question about the hidden anatomy: it was male and functioning. Jolie realized that the situation was already beyond protest; she was unable to dissipate in ghostly fashion here, and she had either to fight free or fail to. Why hadn't she taken warning when she saw the changes occurring in her companion?
She could, of course, revert back to her drop of blood. But would Orlene come with her—and if so, would she revert back to her original form and nature? Jolie didn't dare risk it. She fought, but knew she was losing.
Then a cloud formed, not black but white, its vapors swirling internally. "What is this?"
"Nox!" Jolie cried, recognizing the strange, soundless way the Incarnation spoke. She had never seen Nox before, but Parry had described it.
Orlene paused, looking up. "The bitch is here?"
"Come to me, man-thing."
Orlene got up. She stared at the Incarnation. The mists formed into a phenomenal woman-shape, naked and beckoning, with writhing tresses of vapor and two compelling dark eyes.
Orlene walked into the shape, embracing it. Her loins thrust and thrust again, and the form wrapped itself about her. The face kissed her ardently. The merged forms floated from the ground, not noticing in their preoccupation.
Jolie's amazement was admixed with disgust. Orlene had tried to rape her, and now was having sex with Nox! How could she ever forgive either of them for such a thing? She had only tried to help a woman find her lost baby!
"There is much you do not understand" Nox said to her directly.
"There is much I do not care to understand!" Jolie retorted, made bold by her shock.
"Here is part of it."
Then Orlene emerged from the white cloud, her female form restored. She stood there, her mouth opening in an 'O' of wonder, horror and dismay.
Simultaneously, Jolie felt herself change. Suddenly she lusted after the woman who stood before her, her passion so compelling that it admitted of no interference. She strode toward Orlene.
Only to be intercepted by the cloud. "Love me instead," Nox said. Her female aspect was the most utterly arousing and inviting thing imaginable, making any human body hopelessly crude and clumsy.
Jolie stepped into it, her member stiffening. She plunged into Nox—and found herself floating, unable to achieve the culmination. The frustration was maddening.
Then the cloud dissipated, depositing her on the ground. "Remember!" Nox cautioned.
The two women stood looking at each other. Both were fully female again, each appalled.
"Oh, Jolie," Orlene said. "I don't know what—I cannot ask you to forgive me—I am so ashamed—"
Understanding was coming. "Nox made you into a man," Jolie said. "And you were overwhelmed by male passion."
"But you were my companion, my friend! How could I—"
Jolie would not have understood, except for the brief lesson Nox had given her. If Orlene, unwarned, had run rampant, what of Jolie, who had seen it all—and run rampant herself the moment the Incarnation afflicted her with the same complaint? She was the one who truly knew better, yet she had been helpless before her abrupt desire.
"It seems that men have passions that women do not," Jolie said. "I have indulged those passions in my own man without ever really understanding their nature—until now."
"But men do not—" Orlene faltered, unable to say the word.
"They have learned control. We did not have time. Like a fire which bums out of control when untended—"
"Remember," Nox repeated, her semblance returning.
"How can I endure this shame?" Orlene exclaimed and collapsed.
Jolie ran to her, finding her unconscious. For the moment, that was a relief. "Why did you play with us, Incarnation of Night?" she asked, no longer concerned about manners.
"You have much to learn." That, it seemed, was the extent of the answer they were to have.
"She came to recover her baby, Gaw-Two," Jolie said. "Please, Incarnation, return him to her, now that you have humiliated us."
"I have her baby," Nox agreed. "I lent her his semblance as he will be when grown."
Orlene, stirring, reacted as if struck. Jolie, appreciating her horror, interceded. "A man—like his father."
"No!" Orlene cried in anguish. "Norton is not like that!"
"Like Gawain!" Jolie exclaimed, catching on. "His genetics were changed!"
"Like Gawain," Nox agreed. "As he will be, grown naturally."
"But he died of a genetic malady!"
"Which continues in his Afterlife." Orlene was horrified anew. "My baby—still diseased! Out of control!"
"Leave him to me," Nox offered. "I can control him." That was yet another horror. Orlene fainted again.
"Not that way!" Jolie protested, "Give him back to her; we will cure him somehow!"
"Not readily. His soul has been tarnished; he can never exist free without extensive revamping."
"She'll do whatever needs to be done!" Jolie cried.
"Then you must obtain items from each of the current major Incarnations," Nox said. "Fail in any, and it is lost."
"She won't fail in any!" Jolie promised.
"Here is the list. From Death, a blank soul, that the spoiled one may be reimplanted on a clean sheet, lacking the fatal flaw. From Time, a grain of sand from the Hourglass, that time may be reversed for the transfer. From Fate, a thread of life, to realign the one spoiled. From War, a seed, to generate the violence inherent in man as a healthy competitive spirit. From Nature, a tear, to restore animation in the newly implanted soul. From Evil, a curse, to put the fear of evil into the soul. From Good, a blessing, for this can be done only with that blessing."
Jolie listened, aghast. That was an impossible list!
But she couldn't give up on Orlene! "And when she gets these things, then you will restore her baby to her?"
"Then will I restore him," Nox pledged.
"She'll do it!" But Jolie, experienced in the ways of Incarnations, knew that it would be the miracle of the millennium if she succeeded. No wonder Nox had sought to discourage Orlene, by physical and emotional challenge; it would have been better if she had given up on her quest.
Then Nox faded out, and after her the mountain, too, and great dark mists swirled up to mask everything. When they cleared, the two were standing back at the fringe of Purgatory, just before the path diverged from Clotho's path. In fact, the path they had followed no longer existed.
Chapter 3 - VITA
Jolie literally dragged Orlene back to Purgatory proper, for the woman had reverted to inchoate soul form, intent only on drifting down to damnation. Her balance had
been good, and she had fought to remain as a ghost; now her balance had shifted bad, and she no longer fought. But Jolie refused to let her go—not until she had consulted with Gaea.
Once firmly in conventional Purgatory, Jolie was able to make the jump directly to the Treehouse. She laid the limp soul on the bed—but the moment she let go, it began to sink through the bed, starting its journey toward Hell. She had to grab it again and maintain her hold.
How could this have happened? Souls weren't supposed to change their balance in the Afterlife! Not suddenly, like this! They could have their evil ground out slowly in Hell, or leached out gently in Heaven, but that took centuries. It seemed that Nox had done more than merely tease the woman!
Soon Gaea returned. "You seem to have a problem," she remarked, noting the flaccid soul.
"Nox teased us cruelly," Jolie explained. "She caused my companion to become a man, who was then overcome by his passion, and he tried to ravish me. For a moment she changed me, too, and I too was overcome. I have been attacked before, and have sinned before; I was able to endure it. But my companion—"
"It isn't like Nox to tease without reason," Gaea said. "She seldom concerns herself with our activities, and seems to have little interest in them. There may be more here than we understand."
"She did agree to help the baby—but gave an impossible list of requirements. We would have to get something from each of the Incarnations."
"It is also unlike Nox to bargain in such fashion. This is strange indeed."
"Now this soul is weighted down with evil, and I dare not let go. I feel responsible, for I was with her, encouraging her to visit Nox, thus bringing this humiliation upon us both. I don't want to let her go to Hell on such basis, after she fought so hard to avoid Heaven so that she could help her baby."
Gaea hesitated a moment. If she did not know the identity of Jolie's friend, whom Jolie had carefully avoided naming, she surely suspected. She was being circumspect in her comments, speaking generally rather than specifically. "Do you wish help in this matter?"
Here was the crux. Gaea could not help without discovering for certain that it was her daughter at issue. How could Jolie confirm that at this stage? Not only would it bring personal grief to the Incarnation, it would represent a conflict of interest.
"Forgive me, Gaea. I think I do need help, but I prefer not to ask for yours. You have been generous in giving me leeway here, and I do not want to inflict the consequences of my error on you." Which was true, as far as it went.
"Perhaps another Incarnation?"
"Have I the right to ask?" What she meant was that though Gaea would help because of Jolie's closeness to her, other Incarnations might be more cynical. Jolie knew them all, except God, and they all accepted her, but this was a matter of courtesy rather than respect. They were apt to consider her request seriously only if Gaea asked them to—and Jolie didn't want to ask for that, either. What a predicament she had gotten into, unawares!
"My mortal cousin Luna is an understanding person," Gaea said. "She might be able to advise you."
Jolie hadn't thought of that. Luna was the one, of all mortals, most in touch with the affairs of the Incarnations. She was related to several of them in one way or another, and kept company with Thanatos. She was a Senator in the mortal realm, and so had considerable power in both the mortal and immortal spheres. She would be ideal for the kind of advice Jolie needed.
"Yes," Jolie said gratefully. "I will ask her."
Luna lived at an estate guarded by a fence of iron spikes and two hungry griffins. "Hello, Griffith!" Jolie called to the red male. "Hello, Grissel!" to the female. The two reared up on their hind feet and struck at the air in salute: they remembered her. Because she was a ghost, they could not have hurt her anyway, but she never made a point of that.
She floated through the door, dragging Orlene's soul. "It's me, Muir!" she called, for the guardian within could touch her. Muir was a moon moth, a ferocious flying spirit Luna's magician father had tamed for her before his death. Like some demons, he could manifest physically when he chose to, but he was mainly a protection against supernatural threats.
Muir recognized Jolie and folded his wings. They formed a black cloak around his insectoid torso, hiding his formidable talons. Woe betide the one he attacked! He remained hovering in the air despite closing his wings, because he was not subject to mortal gravity any more than Jolie was.
"Is Luna available?" Jolie asked.
Muir flickered. That meant he had darted to find Luna and returned here so swiftly that the motion was barely evident. He nodded his head briefly forward, his antenna flexing: she was available.
Then Luna entered the room. She was a beautiful woman of about forty, with brown hair. Jolie had wondered before how the two almost-sisters, Luna and Orb, could be so similar in other respects but differ in this one—and suddenly, for the first time, she realized that Luna had dyed her hair, or magically changed its color. All the women of her family had honey hair of one shade or another, similar to Jolie's own, through three generations; Luna must have, too, as a child. Why had she changed it?
"Why Jolie," Luna said. "With a lost soul. You must have come to see Zane." That was the private name she called Thanatos.
"I have a problem," Jolie said. "I need advice, and I think help."
"And not from Orb?" Luna inquired, lifting an eyebrow. Her eyes were gray, like mist over a placid lake: these at least were natural.
"May I speak in confidence?"
Now Luna realized that this was no casual matter. "You know I cannot commit to that in any matter that affects my objective. Does this?"
Her objective was to thwart the efforts of Satan to take over either the mortal or immortal realms, and it was generally known that there was a major crisis coming in perhaps four years, where her action would be critical. Satan had been trying desperately to nullify that situation before it occurred, and all the Incarnations had battled him to preserve it. Jolie, as the consort of Satan, therefore had to be treated cautiously; she understood that. Her relations with Luna and the Incarnations were positive, but she was technically an agent of the enemy. Thus it was necessary that Luna qualify any offer to help; she wouldn't help Satan win against God.
"I don't think it does," Jolie said. "Not directly. But if nothing is done, it could bring mischief to both sides."
"Will you trust my discretion, if you tell me without my prior commitment to confidence?"
"Yes." For Luna cared about Gaea as much as any mortal could, having been raised with her in Ireland before the one became the companion of an Incarnation and the other became an Incarnation herself.
"Then tell me as much as you need to, as quickly as you can." This was Luna's first indication that she had pressing other business, but of course she did.
"I watched over Orb's daughter Orlene," Jolie said. "She was doing well, raised by an adoptive mortal family. She married a ghost and had a child by her lover, in the ghost's name; this is a legitimate device among mortals today, though technically sinful."
"Of course," Luna agreed. "I remember that Orb had a child but could not marry the father; I am glad to learn that that child did well."
"Not well enough," Jolie said, plunging on. "During my inattention her baby was afflicted with a fatal malady. After he died, she suicided, determined to join him. But she was good and bound for Heaven, while he was in balance and went to Purgatory, where Nox took him. I helped Orlene's spirit go to seek Nox, but Nox turned her into a man who tried to rape me and then had relations with Nox herself. Now Orlene is burdened with evil and will not struggle to stay out of Hell. I cannot tell Gaea, and dare not let the soul go lest it be lost. I am convinced that Orlene is not evil but was overwhelmed by the mischief of the Incarnation of Night. I need some way to keep her here, as a ghost, until she realizes this and will resume her quest for her baby. Then she may be all right, and I can tell Gaea without bringing her more grief than is warranted."
Luna nodded. She
possessed the lawmaker's ability to grasp complex matters quickly. "This is not Satan's doing?"
"It is not his doing. It was his bidding that sent me to Orlene when she was a child. He—when he and I were married, as mortals, we had no child, and—" Then Jolie was crying, caught off guard by the tragedy. Orlene had been much like a daughter to her, as she watched her in the way that Gaea would not. She cursed herself again for relaxing at what turned out to be a critical time.
"It occurs to me that our interests may coincide," Luna said gently. "I am organizing for the issue to come, what may be the final showdown between Good and Evil of this sequence. I have need of a soul to animate a mortal who is in a similar state to Orlene's, for different but sufficient reason. A soul that animates a mortal host cannot descend to Hell until it leaves that host. Would Orlene be willing to animate that host until the host recovers?"
"No. It is my will that holds her here, not hers."
"Then would you be willing to keep Orlene in that host, and animate the host yourself, until you can persuade Orlene to do it? This action would have a devious but significant effect in the war between Good and Evil, so you would be serving Good."
"But I am Satan's consort!" Jolie protested. "Even Satan knows the meaning of honor—and so do you. Satan cannot openly support your action in preventing that soul from descending to him, but the forces of Good have no such conflict of interest. Can you serve Good to this extent, in order to buy time for Orlene to recover her initiative?"
Jolie saw how cleverly this offer was designed. Satan indeed did not want Orlene in Hell! He wanted her in as good a situation as possible before Gaea learned of it. So, just as Gaea would not openly consummate her marriage to Satan, Satan would not openly support Good. But his interest in this particular matter was the same as Gaea's and Jolie's.
"Yes, I can do this," Jolie agreed. "It will not be easy," Luna warned. "I think it best not to tell you the manner this relates to my interest, but you will be charged with serving that interest as it becomes apparent to you, until you leave that host."
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