Virtue Inverted

by Piers Anthony

  “This sounds like casuistry to me,” Benny said. “To pretend that those who die are not truly dead. How convenient!”

  “You doubt,” Search said, unperturbed. “As I did. Doubt is good; it signals an active mind. But the Protector is not like other deities, who have been anthropomorphized and corrupted; he is above matter itself. We in this single plane see only those who pass through it, and not the larger nature of their being. If we could see the whole of creation, we would be vastly reassured.”

  “I see your point,” Virtue said. “It makes me feel better about the loss of my coven.”

  “Well, I don't see it,” Benny said. “There ought to be a way to spare the innocent from abuse and slaughter. Any god who wants my respect should see to that.”

  “This is something every man or other intelligent being must figure out for himself,” Search said. “Just as every person must find the unique magic that is within him or her.”

  “Magic?” Benny said. “Virtue has magic, but I have none.”

  “Ah, but you are mistaken, Benny,” Search said. “Every person has magic, and you are no exception. Virtue knows.”

  “Benny has magic,” Virtue agreed. “I feel it in him. But I have no idea what it is.”

  “Because he has not yet discovered and invoked it.” He smiled at Benny. “I leave you to that process.” He departed.

  Benny found himself unsatisfied with his own position. Next day he looked for Search, but did not see him. “Please, where is Search?” he asked another monk.

  “Who?”

  “Search. The purple monk we talked with yesterday, in the gold loincloth.”

  “There is no monk by that name or description here.”

  Benny stared at him. “But we talked with him. He gave us the philosophy of the monastery. He told us about the Protector.”

  But all the monks agreed: there was no such person here. The Protector was real, but he had no physical manifestation.

  Virtue put her hand on his, reassuringly. She knew that Search was real and tangible, just as Benny did. But for some reason he wasn't known here in that form.

  Later they discussed it privately. “I did feel the magic in Search's being,” Virtue said. “I thought it was his aura of holiness, his dedication to the work of the monastery. Now I wonder if it wasn't something more.”

  “More?”

  “They say that the Protector has no physical presence. Maybe they just don't see it. Maybe he shows himself only to those who need to see. The imperfect ones who are searching for him, maybe without knowing it.”

  “This is fantasy!” Benny said. But there was a thread of continuing wonder in him. Certainly Search was real. Why had he come to Benny and Virtue?

  In due course Benny healed in everything except his gaping mouth. It was time to move on. They made ready.

  Search appeared. “Wait two more days,” he said. He touched Virtue's hand. Then he was gone, though they did not see him go. Naturally no one else had seen him.

  “I think he is an agent of God,” Virtue said, staring at her hand. “I felt divinity.”

  An agent of God. Benny was almost able to accept that.

  They waited two days, helping the helpers with stray chores. A woman great with child came, unable to birth her baby. Virtue put her hand on her forehead, and the woman relaxed, and then the baby came. A nearby man was in pain; Benny went into the forest and found him with a badly smashed foot, and supported him so that he could make it into the monastery where the helpers could help him.

  Then came grim news: there had been another atrocity. The house of a sisterhood of sylphs had been raided by a severely scarred man, the sylphs raped, and their home burned down.

  “Beranger is signaling us,” Benny said angrily. “He is daring me to come and try to stop him.”

  “He must be stopped,” Virtue agreed.

  “That's why Search told us to wait,” Benny said. “So I would get the news and be ready to go, instead of being out of touch somewhere else.”

  They set out immediately, traveling toward the sylph community. Sylphs were lovely delicate female entities, dedicated to caring for minor forest creatures. There was no reason ever to hurt one.

  Benny struggled with his conscience. “I felt it would be unfair to take advantage of your berserker bite,” he told Virtue. “But if that's what it takes to stop this menace, then I must do it. There is no sense getting myself killed and you raped, which is what will happen otherwise.”

  “Yes,” she agreed simply.

  “I think this time I'll use a club. They are better for mindless violence.” He scouted around and found a stout fallen branch that would do.

  They arrived the following morning. The sylphs were gone, having fled the horror stalking them, but Beranger remained. Beranger’s hair had grown significantly since Benny last saw him, shooting out like tentacles, and the man’s eyes jerked constantly in every direction. 'Bout time you showed up, you and your vamp whore,” the man said. He hefted his massive magic spiked club, “This time I'll make sure there's no blood for her to muck in. I knew I'd get her if I brought you in.” There was no doubt that he had a thing for Virtue, an ugly thing.

  “Bite me,” Benny murmured.

  Virtue put her fang to his shoulder and bit. He felt the rush of it immediately, spreading through his body.

  There were no other preliminaries. Benny advanced on Beranger, holding his makeshift club.

  Beranger paused, assessing him. “Uh-oh. I didn't figure on a berserker. I didn't know she could do that.”

  Benny was now well into it. He didn't talk, he just waded in. He swung viciously at Beranger's head. The man barely got his club up in time to block it.

  “They say that no man can stand against a berserker,” Beranger continued. He smiled as he fended off another blow. “Except another berserker.”

  Then he changed. Saliva dripped from the base of his mouth, and his eyes turned lambent. He was turning berserker himself!

  Now Benny understood why the man was such a devastating warrior. He could turn berserker at will, and demolish his opponents with unparalleled viciousness.

  So it was berserker versus berserker. The two were evenly matched. Except for one thing: Benny's club was impromptu, while Beranger's club was a finely crafted and battle tested instrument. Each time the two clubs met, a bit of Benny's club flaked off. Soon he would be without a feasible weapon.

  He had to finish this fast, before that happened. He increased his fury, battering madly at the other man. Beranger was hard put to defend himself, but Benny could not quite put him away.

  He struck one more blow—and club met club, and his own club shattered, leaving only a stump in his hand. It had happened. He had lost his weapon, and thus the match.

  Beranger swung at him, and Benny had no defense. Yet somehow it was not in him to retreat. He stood there, waiting for the end.

  Virtue screamed.

  The club came at his head, and Benny was frozen in place. Then something odd happened. It was as if time stood still.

  He saw Search, standing behind Beranger. And somehow he knew that Search was not merely God's representative, but God himself. What is your will? he asked mentally, knowing that he was about to find out whether there was an afterlife and what his place in it might be.

  Find your magic. And Search was gone.

  Virtue's scream continued as the passage of time resumed. Benny focused as the club came at his head. Then he felt his magic.

  The club passed his head without contact. Beranger stumbled, off-balanced by the lack of resistance. Somehow he had missed.

  Benny whacked Beranger's head with the stump of his club, and the man went down. It had not been a brain-splattering blow, but it had been hard enough.

  Virtue's scream ended.

  Benny stood, looking down at the unconscious man. He had won! But why had Beranger's blow missed? That should not have happened.

  Virtue ran to join him. “He didn't miss,�
� she said, knowing Benny's thought.

  “But then--”

  “The club passed right through you. You became a ghost! That's your magic.”

  “I'm not a ghost,” Benny protested. “I'm as solid as ever.”

  “For only an instant. Just long enough.”

  He realized that it was true. He had invoked his ability to discorporate, and it had saved his life. Because Search had been there to give him the clue.

  “I found my magic,” he agreed as the berserker rage faded. “Because--”

  “I saw Search. I heard him tell you. Now I know he is God.”

  “He is God,” Benny agreed, his belief now complete.

  Chapter 14

  “Now what do we do with Dale?” Virtue asked. Beranger lay unconscious, his deadly club reverted to its small metal rod form.

  “I guess I'm supposed to kill him,” Benny said uneasily. “Maybe in the heat of battle I could, but now that he's down, I don't know.”

  “I have an idea. He could be a good man, if only his bad side didn't rule him. I think he might have spared me before not just because of the blood, but because there was a spark of decency that made him look for a pretext to let me go. If he were good instead of sadly mixed, he could go back to the inn and marry Nadia. That would become the reason Jack thought she would benefit by associating with me. I could bite him, to kill that bad side only.”

  “You can do that?” he asked, amazed.

  “I think I can. It was one of the things we studied in the coven. But he would have to agree. We're not supposed to do such things unasked. I'm not sure he would accept.”

  Beranger stirred. They didn't have much time.

  “This much I think I can do,” Benny said. He picked up his sword. “Dale Beranger,” he said.

  The man looked up dizzily. “Huh?”

  “I defeated you in combat. I now give you a choice: accept Virtue's bite to eliminate your bad side, or die. One or the other. If you try to move, I will cut off your head.” He held his sword ready. It was not a bluff; he knew better than to let the man go without severe reform. Their lives would be the forfeit.

  Beranger considered. “I don't want to be a vampire.”

  “This is not a vampire bite,” Virtue said. “It is a death-to-evil bite. The bad in you will be expunged, and only the good will remain.”

  “No other change?” Beranger asked.

  “No other change,” Virtue assured him. “But you will become an entirely different man.”

  “Sure, then, why not.”

  Benny was wary. Beranger was agreeing too readily. He meant to grab Virtue when she came close to do the bite, maybe using her as a shield against Benny's sword. “Then lie down prone, hands by your sides,” Benny said. “If you move from that position before she bites you, I will cut off your head. Do you care to gamble that I am bluffing?”

  Beranger squinted at him, assessing the odds. He knew that moving would signal his return to combat, putting Benny in combat mode. He realized that it was a bad bet. He stretched out on the ground, hands at his sides. But he might move those hands swiftly when she got close. For a brief moment, Benny saw that the scar on Beranger’s forehead had begun to bleed, split apart from the boy’s winning blow.

  “Bite his leg,” Benny said tersely.

  Virtue nodded. The man could not grab her with his legs. Not from that position.

  Benny stood with sword ready to chop down on the neck. Virtue got down and put her face to one calf. She paused. Beranger did not move. Maybe he was waiting until she actually touched him to make his play. When she was committed to the bite.

  Virtue's head dropped down so suddenly it was a blur. Her fangs stabbed the calf and withdrew.

  Beranger rolled over almost as swiftly, grabbing for her as he jerked his head away from Benny's sword. But she was already out of reach, having anticipated this treachery. Benny stepped forward, ready to swing.

  “Wait,” Virtue warned. Benny stopped.

  Beranger scrambled to his feet, stood a moment, then fell down again. He writhed on the ground.

  “What's he doing?” Benny asked nervously.

  “His good and evil sides are warring against each other,” Virtue answered. “But it is too late. My bite gives the good side power to defeat the bad side. It will be over soon.”

  She was right. Beranger stopped writhing and relaxed. “My name is Dale. Will you believe me if I tell you you can trust me now?” he asked.

  “Yes, Dale,” Virtue said, walking up to him.

  “Wait!” Benny said, not at all trusting this.

  But the man did not try to grab her or strike her. “Would you believe me if I thanked you for freeing me from the monster?”

  “Yes.”

  “I am indeed a changed man.”

  “I know,” Virtue said. “Now we will take you back to Gant, to the inn, where Nadia waits for you.”

  “The sexy barmaid? What does she want with me?”

  “She wants to marry you. This is one of the compensations for going to the light side.”

  Dale considered. “I think not.”

  Benny gripped his sword, alarmed, but Virtue was unconcerned. “Why not? She is a most attractive young woman.”

  “That she is. But I am not an attractive man.”

  “She doesn't care about your scar, any more than I care about Benny's scar.”

  “It's the evil I have done. I can't rest until that is expunged.”

  For a moment Virtue froze, and Benny knew she was remembering her slaughtered coven. Then she recovered. “That can't be done.”

  “I know it, but maybe I can make up for it by saving as many lives as I destroyed, so that there is a balance of my account. That will take me a lifetime, if I can do it at all. I will be busy. Too busy to settle down with a good woman, however much I might like to. She will have to find another man.”

  “She will do nothing of the kind,” Virtue said evenly. “She will marry your burden of debt when she marries you, and help you abate it.”

  “But she'll never be able to rest!”

  “I know her, Dale. She is looking for her mission in life. This will be it. She will be restless with you, for life, until it is settled.”

  He was taken aback. “I do not deserve this.”

  Virtue smiled. “You will earn it. You assume that you must be miserable until your accounts balance. This is not the case. You can be happy. The point is that you will constantly be doing good. That will gratify you.”

  Slowly he nodded. “You seem to know something about doing good.”

  “It is my orientation. Now let's be on our way.”

  Dale glanced at Benny. Benny shrugged, similarly bemused. Could it really be this clear-cut? Or was Virtue inverting things in her desire to help people? He couldn't be sure, but he loved her for it. Her inner beauty outshone her external beauty, impossible as that might seem.

  They got on their way. Dale did indeed seem to be a changed man, behaving perfectly, not even looking at Virtue except when he spoke with her. When they made camp for the night, he did more than his share, hacking poles to make a lean-to and collecting wood for a cookfire. Could he be faking it?

  “Your distrust does not become you,” Virtue murmured.

  “I'm sorry.”

  She smiled, then went to the nearby stream where she stripped and washed. The very water seemed to flow more brightly from her touch. Dale ignored her. If it was an act, it was complete.

  In the night there was a nearby howling. Dale was immediately on his feet, sword in hand, sniffing the air. “Werewolves on the hunt,” he said. “Not coming this way.” He lay down again.

  It would be a foolish werewolf who attacked such a man. It seemed that the light side was just as competent with a weapon as the dark side.

  They arrived at the Fox Den by mid-morning. The halfling Nap came out to greet them. “Who are you, frogface?” he demanded of Benny.

  Virtue stepped forward and kissed him on the to
p of the head. “That's Benny. I cut his hair, and he got injured in a fight.”

  “Oh.” Nap looked away, embarrassed by his own reaction. Then he dashed inside to tell Jack.

  In moments both Jack and Nadia emerged. The two girls hugged. Then Virtue introduced the men. “This is Benny after a bad fight. This is Dale, who has turned from the dark side to the light side. He will marry Nadia.”

  “Oh!” Nadia exclaimed, taken aback.

  “I have to tell you--” Dale began.

  “That he has a mission to do as much good as he has already done harm,” Virtue said. “He will be quite busy.”

  “I'll help!” Nadia said promptly.

  Dale had trouble believing that. “But there's so much, and I'll have to travel so far, you probably won't want to--”

  “Kiss him,” Virtue said. “That will shut him up.”

  Nadia strode forward and kissed Beranger. He shut up. Benny knew how that sort of thing was. Women had special magic.

  In due course they told Jack, Nadia, and Nap the whole story. Then the giant Liverwart arrived, visiting from his new stronghold. He paused when he saw Beranger.

  “Dale has changed,” Virtue said. “He is sorry for what he did to my coven and your clan, and means to make amends. He will help you find a pretty giantess to share your residence.”

  “Uh, yes, sure,” Dale agreed, surprised. “I know where there are some giant lasses just coming of age. I'll take you there.”

  Liverwart looked at Benny. “Do?”

  What could he say? “Do.”

  The giant trusted Benny and Virtue. He took off his shirt, which was a huge purple tunic with white polka dots, converted from a bed sheet, and put it on Dale as a sign of acceptance. In the mountain giant culture that was a sign of love, respect, and forgiveness. At any other time, Benny would’ve laughed at how ridiculous Dale looked, but for Dale and Liverwart this was a very serious matter.