by Rae Magdon
“Not really. But I have to be, don’t I? It isn’t about the sex,” she hurried to add when she saw Lilith’s face fall. “You know I love feeding you. I just...” Her eyes flicked up to Lilith’s wing. The wound there was mostly healed over, but looking at it made her heart ache anyway.
Lilith noticed where she was looking and reached out to squeeze her shoulder. “You were afraid when I fought Cerberus. You saw me get hurt. I would be upset if that didn’t bother you.”
Eva curled her fingers around Lilith’s, squeezing in reassurance. “I meant what I said. I love you, and I’ll follow you all the way into the deepest pit of Hell. But... I’m afraid. For myself, and for you.”
Lilith pulled her into an embrace, much more tenderly this time. “Don’t be afraid,” she murmured, running a soothing hand between her shoulder blades. “I don’t care what powers He has – I won’t let Him stop us, not when we’re so close. All we have to do is follow the path, and I’ll be walking it right beside you.”
Canto IX:
They clashed together, and then at that point
Each one turned backward, rolling retrograde,
Crying, “Why keepest?” and, “Why squanderest thou?”
“I’m glad to see you’ve recovered,” Lilith heard Lady Godiva say as she rejoined them. She rubbed one shoulder, the same side where her wing had been injured. Her feeding had completely closed the wound, although the freshly-healed skin still itched around the edges. There would probably be a scar, but since several others already streaked her body, she did not care.
“Completely. We should be able to cross the Fourth Circle now.”
“Well then, let’s not delay any further. We still have a long way to go, and I want to move on to the Fifth Circle as quickly as possible.” Lady Godiva started walking, and Lilith followed her with Eva at her side. The cliffs below them still stretched down into empty darkness, but the path was wider than it had been before. They had to pick their way over the rough, uneven ground, but they did not have to walk single file.
“Why are you so eager to get through the Fourth Circle?” Eva asked Lady Godiva. “There aren’t any tornadoes, rainstorms, or giant dogs there, right?”
Lady Godiva shook her head. “No, nothing like that. The Fourth Circle’s punishments are... literal. They are still barbaric, but at least they will not be able to harm us.”
“Literal? The Fourth Circle is Greed. Is everyone buried under piles of money or something?”
Lilith gave Eva a surprised look. “Well... fighting on top of a pile of money. It isn’t one of the Circles that tempts me, but I have been there a few times. How did you know? I don’t think I mentioned it.”
Eva shrugged reached around to rub the back of her neck. “Um… lucky guess? Well, at least money doesn’t have claws and three sets of teeth. And as far as I know, it can’t get demonically possessed.”
Lilith shivered. Eva had voiced one of her fears. Shaitan would not hesitate to possess the other Circle guardians if He thought it might stop her. Cleopatra and Cerberus were dangerous, but they were nothing compared to the guardians that waited in the lower Circles, past the City of Dis. If Shaitan possessed the guardians of the Eighth Circle, or even the Ninth… She pushed those thoughts down. Now was not the time. “The sinners will be too busy fighting each other to notice us,” she said. “We will have to deal with Plutus, but he is one of the more agreeable guardians. Unless he has been possessed as well, he should let us pass.”
Eva glanced over at her, seeming to sense her unease. “We’ve already crossed three Circles so far, Lilith. We’ll cross the others, too.”
Lilith sighed. Passing through the lower circles of Sheol was dangerous enough, but she still had no idea how she was going to reclaim to her soul from Shaitan. She had no plan for when they reached Judecca.
“Hopefully, our visit here will be brief,” Lady Godiva said. “The Fourth Circle is not very large, although it holds a great many people.” Although she tried to keep her words encouraging, their delivery was lackluster, and Lilith noticed the sad shadow that flickered across her face.
“You don’t want to visit the Fourth Circle. Why not?”
Lady Godiva sighed. “You are perceptive for a demon, aren’t you? You’re right. The Fourth Circle has memories that I would rather keep buried. Unfortunately, I don’t have a choice if I’m going to guide you to Judecca. This is the only way.”
The path ended abruptly, dropping down over a steep ledge. It was a relatively short fall compared with the giant cliffs of the earlier Circles, only twenty or thirty feet, and Lilith stared down over the lip. The drop was not another cliff at all, but a wide, deep ditch that ran in a connected circle. Golden coins littered the ground, and though the sky above was an empty gray, the glittering hoard shone with its own light.
She watched as a group of men and women pushed large stones over the glittering hoard. They grunted and huffed, rolling their burdens up and down over the mounds of treasure. Some of the boulders were bigger than their bodies, and they strained to move them as they pushed forward in a ragged, uneven line. “What are they doing?” Eva asked beside her, staring down at the damned souls as they struggled to move the giant rocks.
“Watch.” Lilith gestured at another part of the ditch. Around the next bend came a second group, pushing their own boulders. Much like the first, they were dressed in tatters, and they struggled to walk over the piles of golden coins. None of them moved to help each other.
“Are they going to...?” Eva’s voice trailed off as the two groups drew closer.
Before she could answer the question, the stones collided. Both groups kept pushing, trying to struggle past each other. They started shouting, and several fights broke out as they climbed over each other, scrabbling and tearing like wild animals. Some ignored the fight and continued to push their stones, rolling over any unfortunate bodies that happened to be in the way. A few of the sinners sank into the piles of treasure, lost beneath the golden coins.
“The first group is made up of the Prodigals,” Lady Godiva explained for Eva’s benefit. “They squandered and wasted their money on trivial things in life without regard for anyone else.” Beneath them, the prodigals reluctantly stopped fighting against the other group and began to retreat, gathering their boulders and pushing them back the way they had come. Several people with broken and crushed limbs were left behind to nurse their wounds.
“And what’s the second group?”
Lady Godiva’s frown was unmistakable. “The Avaricious,” she said bitterly. “They hoarded their wealth, cutting themselves off from every other facet of their lives and declining to help anyone in need. Their hearts were so hardened that they refused to repent or change their ways.”
“Speaking from experience?” Lilith murmured as the two groups began moving towards each other on the opposite side of the circular ditch. Soon, they would clash again, leaving many more mangled bodies behind. Unlike the other Circles, the sinners here were not punished by outside forces. They were the creators of their own torment.
“Intimate experience,” Lady Godiva said. She turned away from the group and stepped onto the narrow ledge that surrounded the ditch. “Come. I want to leave this place as quickly as possible.”
The three of them circled the giant furrow, trying to ignore the sounds of shouting and fighting when the Prodigals and the Avaricious collided again, their boulders slamming against each other as golden coins scattered beneath their feet. After several minutes of placing her feet carefully, Lilith came to a place where the ledge spread out. Several large boulders, not unlike the ones that the damned souls were fighting with, littered the place, and stalagmites shot up through the ground, ending in wicked looking points. She leaned down, whispering beside Eva’s ear and tucking aside a strand of her hair. “Be careful. This is Plutus’s domain. He should let us pass, but so far, Shaitan has possessed th
e guardians of each Circle. He can’t be trusted.”
As she began to draw away, high-pitched, wild laughter echoed around them, seeming to come from everywhere at once. Her face twisted at the unpleasant noise, and beside her, Eva clutched her ears to block it out.
“There.” Lady Godiva pointed at a huddled figure crouched behind one of the stalagmites. It stepped out into what little light there was, revealing its twisted form. Its shoulders sloped like an ape’s, but the face was some variation of human, half-covered by a wild, coarse beard. His pointed teeth were rotting in his mouth, and like her, he sported a pair of horns, although his were gnarled and uneven instead of sleek and curved. His skin was a pallid gray color, and his eyes glowed.
“Papé Satan, Papé Satan, Aleppe!” he cackled, sneering at them with his black fangs. He began to creep toward them with a jerking, unnatural gait, still spouting gibberish. Lilith growled at him, and even in her human form, her presence seemed to intimidate him from approaching. He stopped and went temporarily silent.
“At least he doesn’t seem possessed,” Lady Godiva said.
Eva cast a doubtful look at Plutus as his head swayed from side to side like a snake’s. “That isn’t possessed?” she asked as he stuck out his slimy, forked tongue. “Because he definitely doesn’t look right to me.”
Lilith snorted. “It’s normal for him. Don’t worry, he won’t harm you.”
“You are the First One. You descend to challenge Him.” Plutus’s words were understandable this time. He stared at her with shifting, burning eyes, continuing to weave and crouch, scurrying in a hunch like an animal. “You harm yourself.”
“Someone greater than your Master has sent us here – the Highest Power,” Lady Godiva said. “Let us pass.”
Plutus began speaking in tongues again, his words tearing out in a strange, violent rhythm that almost seemed like an incantation. Lilith felt the unmistakable presence of evil strengthening around them. Even though Shaitan had not bothered to possess Plutus, the guardian had powers of his own.
Lady Godiva stepped forward, un-intimidated even in her nakedness. “Be silent!” she ordered, causing Plutus to scurry backwards several paces. “You have your treasures. Stay here to rot and let your own rage consume you.”
Plutus hovered back as if scalded by her words, and Lilith was impressed despite herself. Lady Godiva had not struck her as the type of person to make such forceful demands. “You are more intimidating than I expected for someone who isn’t wearing any clothes,” she said as they passed the cringing demon.
“I know how to deal with creatures like him. Selfishness twists them in familiar ways.” Lady Godiva gestured forward at the lip of the ditch. “Let’s go on. This place disgusts me.”
They picked their way around the circle, eventually reaching the other side just in time to watch the Prodigals and the Avaricious clash again. They met on the opposite side of the ditch this time, crashing their boulders together as they struggled in vain against each other. No one managed to pass over the glittering piles and continue on their way, although several bodies were crushed in the middle as they fought.
The two groups finally grew frustrated with their inability to move and began turning around, shouting and cursing at each other. Inevitably, they would run in to each other again back where they had started. “What about the ones that get crushed?” Eva asked, staring down at the casualties on the latest battlefield. “They’re already dead. They can’t die again.”
“Oh, they put themselves back together eventually,” Lady Godiva said. “Slowly and painfully...” Her voice trailed off, and her eyes narrowed as she leaned forward, trying to get a look at the bodies down below. Her beautiful expression hardened with recognition, and Lilith knew that one of them had caught her attention. “I hate to ask you to ruin that new shirt, but if you can bear my weight, I need you to fly me down into the ditch before the rest of them come back. I want to speak with my husband.”
“Husband? I see why you didn’t want to come here.” She glanced between Lady Godiva and Eva, trying to judge their weight. “I can carry both of you, but we will have to be quick. I don’t want to be caught in the middle of the next fight.” With a low grunt of effort, she took her other form, claws sprouting from her fingers as her horns twisted up from her skull. Her wings erupted from her back, stretching out to test their newfound freedom. She sighed with relief as she flexed them, pleased to find that all of the pain was gone.
Eva glanced nervously over the edge of the ditch. “How are you going to take us down?”
“One on each side, I think,” she said. She hitched one of her elbows beneath Eva’s arms, pulling her lover against her left side. She opened the other arm for Lady Godiva, and soon, she had both of them securely under wing. The muscles in her legs coiled, tensed, and then released as she pushed off, defying gravity and dragging the two women into the air with the sheer force of her strength.
Although she breathed a little heavier after carrying their weight, Lilith had no difficulty lowering them to the bottom of the ditch. Eva held on to her arm for a moment to get her bearings, but Lady Godiva pulled away from her quickly, stepping over to the soul that she had identified. She stood tall before him, staring down her nose with a look of disgust. “Leofric. So, the weight of your own greed has finally crushed you.”
The man crouched before her looked up. One of his legs bent at an angle that was painful just to look at. The lower half of his face was covered in an unkempt brown beard, and he was naked except for a few tatters and scraps of clothing. He might have been handsome once, but Sheol’s constant torment had worn his features down. “You... judge me?” he asked. “The slut who rode through Coventry naked, parading in front of the peasants?”
“The same peasants that you starved with your taxes. I followed your ridiculous, cruel demands to help them.” Lady Godiva paused, and when she spoke again, Lilith could hear sadness in her voice. “You had everything a person could want or need, Leofric, and it still wasn’t enough for you. You always wanted more. Why?”
The Earl’s face twisted with loathing. “I gave to the monastery,” he stammered, unwilling to accept such an unflattering description of himself.
“No, I gave to Saint Mary’s, and the monastery at Coventry,” Lady Godiva corrected him. “I hoped it would cure you of your greed in addition to helping them. Apparently, I was wrong. You never repented, and you never learned.”
“What Circle did Minos send you to?” he asked, staring up at Lady Godiva with hateful eyes. “The Second? What was your judgment?”
“I do not live in Sheol. I earned my salvation through good deeds... like agreeing to your absurd bargain.” Leofric stared up at her, speechless at the revelation that she had not been punished. “You tried to shame me, but I had nothing to be ashamed of. The only ugliness in my life was you. And now, you are nothing more than a waste of my time.”
Lady Godiva turned, walking towards Lilith and Eva as her former husband screamed his rage at her back. She ignored his curses, only stopping when she had reached them. She did not look back. “We need to leave this place. There is nothing of any importance here.”
Without answering, Lilith stretched her wings and opened her arms. She clasped Eva and Lady Godiva to her sides as she flew them out of the ditch, leaving the Prodigals and the Avaricious behind.
Canto X:
And I, who stood intent upon beholding,
Saw people mud-besprent in that lagoon,
All of them naked and with angry look.
It did not take long to descend to the Fifth Circle. The steep downward path flattened out into a soft dirt road, soggy with swamp water around the edges. They had to make their way carefully, because each step threatened to send them sinking into the bog. Fortunately, Lady Godiva seemed to know the way. She led the group in a wide circle around the marsh. “Follow my footsteps. This Circle is full of sin
kholes, and that’s the least of its dangers.”
“How do you know the way?” Eva asked. She kept her eyes trained on their guide’s feet, careful to watch where she stepped.
“I’ve been here before,” Lady Godiva explained. She changed course suddenly, and Eva hurried to follow her. “You aren’t the first travelers I have escorted through Hell.”
“Others have come here before us?”
Lady Godiva nodded. “They were already dead, late-repentant souls that Satan tried to take unjustly. They were meant to earn their salvation through Purgatory instead of suffering in Hell, but the devil has always been a cheat. I also deliver messages to the Fallen City.”
“The City of Dis,” Lilith clarified. “The home of the Fallen Angels, and several other creatures too horrible to mention. The last four Circles of Sheol are inside its walls.”
“I can’t imagine anything much worse than where we are,” Eva said as she picked her way over the muddy ground. She wrinkled her nose, trying to shake off the globs of mud and slimy water that clung to her shoes. “This is the most disgusting Circle we’ve crossed so far, even worse than Gluttony, and we haven’t even seen any people yet.”
“You don’t want to see the people here,” Lady Godiva said. “The Fifth Circle punishes wrath. Most of the sinners here are driven mad by their anger. It consumes them even more in death than it did in life.”
Eva glanced cautiously around the marsh, searching for movement in the thick mud beneath their feet. It remained still except for a few bubbles that rose to the surface as they walked, bursting open and releasing a terrible stench with them.