by Rae Magdon
The woman raised her eyebrows. “Really? Somehow, that doesn’t surprise me, despite what I saw before I introduced myself.”
“Wait a moment,” Lilith said as she pulled on her pants and boots, “I thought I heard you say that you were sent here to be our guide? Who sent you, and why do we need a guide? I know my way down to the Ninth Circle.”
“It wasn’t my idea. If you come with me to the castle, I promise to explain everything,” said the woman, gesturing into the distance.
Eva looked at Lilith, shrugged, and stood up, readjusting her clothes. She felt much more confident with pants on her legs and the grip of her staff in her hand. “Wait, a castle?” she asked, throwing her bag over her shoulder. “In Hell? Are you sure?”
“Yes. That is where the residents of the First Circle live.”
“So, you get to live in a castle surrounded by a pretty forest?” The strange woman led them back onto the path, but trees continued to line their way. Soft green grass covered the ground, and although Eva could not tell where the light was coming from, since there was no visible sun, the sky above them was clear and blue. “It doesn’t seem very... torturous.”
“It’s not meant to be a torment,” their guide said, “although technically, I don’t live here. I normally stay in one of the first spheres of Heaven, but I was called down to the First Circle to help you.”
“Who called you?” Lilith asked.
“The Archangel Michael brought me here.” The woman gave Lilith a long look. “He thought you might not be comfortable under the protection of a saint or an angel. After he explained your history, I understood why.”
Lilith frowned. “How much of my history did he explain?”
“Just that after thousands of years wandering the earth as a succubus, you begged God to forgive you and broke free of Satan’s power.”
“That much is true. I needed to feed, and I even chose a victim, but…” Lilith’s voice broke, and Eva reached out to take her hand, lacing their fingers together. She knew that Lilith did not like telling this story. “Something stopped me. A miracle, I suppose. I asked for forgiveness instead.”
The woman smiled. “A wise choice. Many souls in heaven have similar stories of repentance.”
Eva stared deliberately at their guide’s naked form. The long, silky sheet of her hair ended just above the dip in her back, and it washed around her generous hips. “I hope you don’t mind my asking, but what made you decide to come down from heaven without any clothes?”
“It makes me feel liberated. Besides, the two of you don’t seem to take very good care of your own clothes anyway.” She cast a glance at Lilith’s shoulder. “Is that blood?”
Eva followed her gaze. The fabric of Lilith’s shirt was indeed covered in blood. However, most of it was dry, and her own shirt was not much better. She had a feeling that their clothes were only going to get dirtier as they went. “So, do lots of people in Heaven walk around naked?” she wondered aloud.
“No. I like to think of it as my own personal fashion statement. Or lack thereof. When people on Earth think of me, they usually picture me naked anyway.”
“Wait. You’re famous for being naked?”
“I got into a fight with my husband once, and I might have ended up riding through Coventry naked on a horse in retaliation.” The woman rolled her eyes. “He was never very good at resolving conflicts.”
Eva blinked. Their guide was even stranger than she had first appeared. “That story sounds familiar.”
“Have you ever heard the name Lady Godiva?”
“That’s it,” Eva said. The pitch of her voice rose with excitement. “I remember now. Didn’t someone look at you and die or something?”
“Of course not. That would be ridiculous. My husband put his eyes out with a poker.” Lady Godiva sighed. “I really should stop calling that man my husband. I haven’t seen him since he died, although I know he’s somewhere in one of the middle circles of Hell.”
“I suppose it wasn’t a happy marriage,” Lilith drawled.
“That would be an understatement. Marrying him was definitely not my choice... although I have to admit, it was nice to inherit his lands.”
Lady Godiva stopped speaking as they climbed a low hill, and when they reached the top, Eva gasped. Stretching before them was a giant, green valley. Flowers grew in brilliant, colorful patches, and a large stone castle reached above them, surrounded by several walls. The first one was low, not even the height of a person, but they grew progressively taller, and she counted seven, including the sides of the castle itself. A small river ran around the first wall, and a little wooden bridge cut over the water, leading to an open gate.
“Welcome to the First Circle,” Lady Godiva said. “Enjoy it while you can. This will be the last pleasant place you’ll see for a while.”
Lilith began following the path as it descended towards the bridge. “Oh, I don’t know. The Second Circle can be nice.”
A line of confusion formed on Eva’s brow as she tried to remember what Lilith had told her about the geography of Hell. “The Second Circle? What’s in the Second Circle? More pretty scenery? A dessert bar?”
“Not exactly,” Lady Godiva said. “The Second Circle punishes the sin of lust. That is where we are headed next.”
“Well, that explains why Lilith likes it,” Eva muttered as they crossed the bridge, her footprints echoing on the damp wood. The small stream gurgled cheerfully beneath her, but the water only looked to be a few feet deep, and it was so clear that she could see individual rocks at the bottom.
As she stepped through the small wooden gate, she found herself in the midst of a crowd. They walked in groups, conversing quietly among each other, and many of them were dressed in strange, outlandish outfits. “Who are these people?” she whispered to Lady Godiva, staring around the courtyard in awe.
“Poets, philosophers, warriors, kings... people who lived a virtuous life on Earth and contributed to the human race without dedicating themselves to God.” They continued down the path, which had transitioned from a dusty road to a cobblestone walkway beneath even more trees. “Not a bad way to spend the afterlife.”
“A little boring, but it’s better than eternal torture,” Lilith said. Eva ignored the dry comment and continued staring at a group of men sitting beneath the trees. They seemed to be in heated discussion, but Lilith steered her away from them. “Don’t,” she warned. “Homer and Ovid never stop talking once they’ve started.”
“Homer? As in, the Greek poet?”
“He’s wearing a tunic, isn’t he?” Lilith pointed out, continuing after Lady Godiva as she passed through the next gate. Eva glanced back longingly over her shoulder, but followed after a few moments.
The closer they came to the castle, the more people they encountered. Some stopped and stared, and others deliberately ignored them, but none of the souls tried to speak with them. Several of the shades looked familiar, and although she could not place all of them, Eva came up with names for a few faces. “I think I just saw a president,” she said to Lilith, speaking through the corner of her mouth.
“Better to leave politics out of it,” Lady Godiva advised her. “It will be irrelevant in a few centuries anyway. Trust me.”
“Look, there’s someone you might find interesting.” Lilith pointed toward a small, dark-haired woman stretched out on her stomach some distance away. She was wearing a tunic similar to Homer’s, and her bare legs kicked in the air as she lounged on the grass. A piece of parchment was rolled out in front of her, and she was writing, engrossed in her work.
“Friend of yours?” Eva asked Lilith, slightly relieved that the writer did not appear to notice them.
“Demons don’t have friends, but I fed from her once.” Lilith’s eyes flashed dark, and a shudder ran down Eva’s spine. “Her emotions were... particularly intense.”
&nb
sp; They were silent for a long moment as Lady Godiva led them further down the path, pretending not to hear the conversation. The walls before them stretched higher, well above their heads, and it was impossible to see what was behind them anymore. “Who was she?” Eva asked once they were well away from the dark-haired woman.
“A poet. I flatter myself that a few of her surviving lines were at least partially inspired by me.”
“Really? Which ones?”
The smile that Lilith gave her was almost serpent-like. In these moments, even in her human form, it was impossible for Eva to forget what she really was. “I can’t speak — my tongue is broken. A thin flame runs under my skin. Seeing nothing, hearing only my own ears drumming, I drip with sweat. Trembling shakes my body.” Lilith paused, considering the lines. “It sounds better in the Greek.”
“Well, it definitely sounds like she had sex with you if she wrote that,” she said.
“She was actually writing about jealousy, but I suppose the two aren’t that far apart.”
Lilith’s eyes clouded for a moment, and Eva reached out to catch her arm. “I feed you because I want to, you know,” she whispered. “Because I enjoy it.”
“That’s what I’m afraid of.”
Eva shot another glance at Lady Godiva to make sure she was still several paces ahead of them. Then, she slowed down even further. “Because I enjoy it,” she repeated. “Not because you make me enjoy it.”
“And it doesn’t bother you that I could make you enjoy it if I wanted to?”
“It doesn’t,” she said. “I told you before I followed you here… I trust you.”
“I know you do. I just hope your trust in me isn’t misplaced.”
“It isn’t.” She took Lilith’s hand, pulling her forward in an effort to catch up with their guide, and that was the end of the discussion.
At last, they passed through the sixth gate and stood before the great stone walls of the castle. It had seven circular turrets, and an arch beneath each of them led inside. The one in the center was the largest, and Eva expected them to pass through, but instead, Lady Godiva halted. “The path continues behind the castle. It leads down to the Second Circle and beyond. We will have to pass Minos, but other than that, we should be able to continue safely just by following the road.”
“‘Safely’ is a relative term in Sheol,” Lilith said. “Several of the Circles have guardians, and I doubt any of them want to see me.”
“What are the other Circles?” Eva asked. At various times, Lilith had tried to explain the dangers they would be facing, but she had not listened very closely, convinced that Lilith was simply trying to talk her out of coming. Now, she wished she had paid more attention.
“Each Circle punishes a different type of sin,” Lady Godiva explained. “The more serious sins are in the lower circles. There are nine in all, but a few of them have subdivisions.”
“Malebolge,” Lilith muttered, spitting out the name like a curse. “I always hated it there.”
Lady Godiva clicked her tongue in rebuke. “If you don’t let me go in order, I’m going to forget my place. Passive sins are punished in the Upper Circles of Hell. The Second Circle punishes lust, the Third Circle punishes gluttony, the Fourth Circle punishes greed, and the Fifth Circle punishes anger. The Lower Circles are inside the City of Dis.”
“Getting into the City of Dis might be a problem,” Lilith admitted. “Our purpose here isn’t a secret, and the Furies will be under orders not to let us through the gate.”
“He knows?” For the first time, Lady Godiva’s cheerful disposition faded into something that looked like fear.
Lilith nodded once, blinking slowly at her with owlish eyes. “He knows.”
Lady Godiva frowned. “We are in more danger than I thought, and our chances weren’t good to start. You have a noble goal, though.” Her mouth softened slightly as she looked at Lilith. “I admire you for wanting to reclaim your soul.”
Lilith brushed off the compliment, turning to her instead and continuing Lady Godiva’s explanation. “Past the Stygian marshes and inside the walls of Dis, the Sixth Circle punishes heretics. The river Phlegethon runs through the Seventh Circle, punishing violence. The Eighth Circle is called Malebolge, and it is divided into several small pockets. Different kinds of fraud are punished in each one.”
“And the Ninth Circle, where your soul is?” Eva asked in a whisper. “Which sin is punished there?”
“Treachery,” Lilith answered in a shaking voice. “I know the taste of that sin best of all. The outer ring is called Caina. The inner ring is Judecca. My soul is there, in the deepest pit of Sheol.” She looked from Eva to Lady Godiva. “This journey is mine. Neither of you need to come with me.”
Eva opened her mouth to protest, but Lady Godiva spoke first. “The Archangel Michael gave me this task personally,” she said. “He ordered me to take you as far as the edge of the Ninth Circle, and that is exactly what I intend to do. Besides, as I said, I admire your purpose.”
Lilith turned to her next, worry written clearly on her face. “You could stay here and wait for me to come back, Eva. No one in the First Circle will hurt you. That way, you won’t be in any danger.”
Eva took Lilith’s hand in hers, running the pad of her thumb over the dips and rises in her knuckles. “You know I have to come with you,” she whispered. She brought Lilith’s fingers to her lips and brushed a soft kiss over them. “It’s my soul now, too.”
Canto V:
There standeth Minos horribly, and snarls;
Examines the transgressions at the entrance;
Judges, and sends according as he girds him.
The path beneath Eva’s feet became rocky and steep once again as she passed through the inner courtyard of the castle and stepped out the back gate. The cobblestones ended a few feet beyond the archway, and the path dropped off the face of a cliff, climbing down steeply along the edge of the rocky crag. She frowned at the narrow walkway. The three of them would have to proceed single file, hugging the edge of the cliff to avoid the long drop into darkness.
“Be careful, and stay on the path,” Lady Godiva warned her as they peered down.
Eva took an extra step back toward the wall of rock for good measure. “It’s not like there’s anywhere else to step,” she said.
“I’ll go first.” Lilith pushed past Lady Godiva and began making her way down the steep incline, stepping over cracks and uneven patches of rock.
Eva fell into step behind her, unable to resist peering down into the never-ending blackness below. The sun that had shone down on the castle and the meadow of the First Circle had been swallowed up somehow, and she could not tell where the dim, pulsing red light that surrounded them was coming from.
They picked their way along the path, following the contour of the cliff. As they climbed down, descending into the pit, the sound of a low, distant wind echoed through the vast nothingness. “What was that?” she tried to ask, but the sound swallowed her whisper. She had to raise her voice and repeat the question.
“The Second Circle,” Lady Godiva answered from behind her. “And it’s only going to get louder after we meet Minos.”
“Minos?”
“He chooses which Circle each soul is assigned to for punishment. Passing him will be difficult. I have already been judged in heaven, you are a living soul, and Lilith... well, she is an unusual case.”
Lilith did not seem to hear them conversing. Instead, she stopped a few steps ahead, halting as the rock evened out into a large, flat plateau. Unlike the treacherous path down from the First Circle, this place was wide enough to host what looked like an endless line of lost souls. They stood nearly on top of each other, stretching off into the unfathomable distance.
“These people are here to be judged, aren’t they?” Eva whispered, standing beside Lilith again as soon as there was enough room
. She clutched the grip of her staff a little tighter.
“Yes. They are.” Eva followed Lilith’s stare, watching as the line of people wound in on itself again and again in complicated, unending patterns. “I am one of the few that was never judged here,” Lilith added after a long moment. “When God cast me out of the Garden, I chose my own punishment. My own curse.”
“You broke free of that curse,” Eva said. “That’s more than these poor souls will ever say.”
Lilith reached out, brushing the line of her arm. “I just hope that he doesn’t try and judge you.” She stepped forward, letting the crowd of souls part for her. Some of them were unwilling, but her mere presence seemed to force them aside.
Eva watched in awe until she felt a nudge at the middle of her back. “Go,” Lady Godiva urged her. The two of them followed Lilith’s path, pushing through the sea of cursed shades until they could not see back the way they had come. A large black wall rose in front of them, stretching up endlessly just as the cliff below them had stretched down.
Eva’s toe stubbed against something, and she cursed softly, pulling back her foot and wincing in pain. “Damn it, what was that?” she muttered, looking down to see what she had inadvertently kicked. It was a step, and as she climbed up onto it, she realized that the ghosts had all stopped beneath a giant set of stairs. None of them seemed willing to follow her. She could see Lilith’s silhouette just ahead, and she hurried up the steps, closing the distance between them.
When she stopped even with Lilith, Eva could see the top of the stairs. Seated in a throne of rock was a horrible, twisted nightmare. Its upper half was a large human torso, but the similarities to a person ended there. The creature’s face was flat and reptilian, with a slitted nose and glowing eyes. Its lower half was nothing more than a giant snake’s tail. Its muscular coils were as wide and thick as a tree trunk, and bulk of its form was curled beneath its body.