"Nothing happened for most of the night. We were all too sad and frightened to go to bed. We sat in the kitchens or else went out in the courtyard to see if anything had changed. Even when the clouds of brimstone started to clear, we didn't dare do anything. Then suddenly, toward dawn, our chaplain appeared in the courtyard. He was carrying the big silver crucifix from the chapel altar, and he went right by us as though we weren't even there. When he came back from the cellars, an hour later, he was carrying you."
She fell silent, and I lay back in bed. This explained the faces and voices I had half perceived in the courtyard.
"We knew then that his prayers had been answered," she continued quietly after a moment, "and that you had been returned to life. All day yesterday, he sat with you and wouldn't tell us anything, except that thanks to God you were alive. I think the duchess may have tried to speak to him briefly, but everyone else, even the king, stayed away from your room. But this morning, before service, the chaplain stopped at the kitchens to say you were better."
Gwen suddenly jumped up. "I'm sorry to keep you talking, sir. I'll get your food right away."
"Maybe ask the cook for a cheese omelet this time, to go with the crullers," I said. "And bring another pot of tea. By the way, are you ever going to tell me what Jon gave you for Christmas?"
She shook her head, blushing, and hurried out.
Joachim came in as she was leaving, taking the door from her. "There were a lot of people at chapel service this morning," he commented.
"I'm not surprised," I said. "I'll go tomorrow myself if I can walk that far, or the next morning for sure."
He sat down on the bed next to me and gave me a long look from under his eyebrows. "Whenever you can come to chapel, I'll celebrate a special thanksgiving service for your return to life. You already look better."
"I feel better. Could you hand me the wash basin and a comb?"
I scrubbed my face, getting the last of the aura of brimstone off, and looked critically at the roots of my beard and hair while I was combing them. Three days ago, at the duchess's castle, I had seen chestnut colored roots starting to appear and had thought I would have to apply the grey dye again once I was home. But I had no dark roots now. My hair and beard were coming in white.
"But how about you?" I asked Joachim. "Haven't you let anyone else sit with me?
He shook his head. "I'm responsible for you."
"Have you even gotten any sleep in the last two days?" Several times, during the day and the night that I had slept, I had awakened, but always to see him sitting nearby, to hear his voice saying something, although I had always been asleep again before he had completed the sentence. Now his eyes looked as peaceful as I had ever seen them, but the skin was drawn tight over his cheekbones.
"A little. I dozed in your chair last night. But I didn't want to leave you."
"You should go get some rest now," I said. "I'll be all right by myself."
He stood up, yawning. "Maybe I will."
"But there's one thing I want to ask you, before Gwen comes back. Since I've already died once, with a pure heart, does that count? When I die again, will they have to assess my soul again, or will the previous assessment still stand?"
He smiled, even though I had been perfectly serious. "Maybe some day I really will understand your sense of humor. To answer your question, I don't think enough people have ever come back from the dead to make this point theologically clear. There are things that none of us will ever know on this earth. But if you're asking for my opinion, not the theologians' position, as long as you live you can do good and you can sin, and your soul will be judged accordingly."
"Or will I maybe never die again? Doesn't the Bible say that, after Lazarus was brought back to life, he became immortal?"
This time he laughed. "You're not Lazarus. Besides, that story isn't in the Bible, which only tells us that Christ raised him. It's the kind of story young priests like to tell, but it's not true. All of us are going to die, and you're not an exception."
He smiled cheerfully, as though he had just said something very comforting; and in a way he had. He went out as Gwen came in with my second breakfast.
She hurried away without a word, and when I heard a step outside a few minutes later, I assumed Joachim was returning, having forgotten something. "Come in!" I called, when the step seemed to hesitate.
My door swung open, but it was not the chaplain. It was two wizards, one in a tall red hat and the other with piercing blue eyes and an enormous white beard: Zahlfast and the Master of the wizards' school. "May we indeed come in?"
V
"Yes, yes, come in," I said, flabbergasted. I struggled to raise myself from the bed, to make the wizards the full bow, but fell back without success. "What are you two doing here?"
They entered in a stately manner, closed the door, and found chairs. "The supernatural influence is gone, I note," said Zahlfast. "We saw the remains of the dragon's carcass down by the edge of the forest as we flew in, and then your constable told us you'd overcome a demon! He took us for an escorted tour of the cellars, including the hole he said the demon made when it returned to hell."
"The hole?" I had no idea what he was talking about.
"It's at the very end of the cellars," said Zahlfast soberly, "a black hole about two feet across, and it's still smoking. When you look down, you can't see anything, only darkness so black it's almost solid, and when you drop something down, you can't hear it hit. We put a triple pentagram around it. As you know, nothing should come back up unless summoned, but it seemed to make your constable feel better, and we wanted to save you the trouble. He plans to cover everything over."
That sounded like an excellent plan to me.
"Now," said the Master, "could you tell us exactly what's been happening?"
I told them, although when I had left the City for Yurt and imagined some day telling the Master of my triumphs, I had not imagined doing so sitting up in bed in yellow pajamas. Besides, it wasn't a triumph I was describing.
"So I guess it's all right now," I finished, "even though I'll know, if it ever happens again, to get a demonology expert right away. Someone else, more expert, might have been able to negotiate a settlement with the demon without having to offer it his own life. But what are you doing here? Did the chaplain send you a message?"
"No," said Zahlfast, "we got no message, unless that was you calling a month ago. The phone rang at the school, yet there was no one on the line. When I heard about it, at first I just thought someone had called us by mistake, or was doing so for a joke, but then I remembered you and your far-seeing but inaudible telephones."
"That was me," I said. "The demon had grown bold and was teasing us by running around the castle in daylight, while the chaplain was away. It was afraid of the chaplain."
Zahlfast and the Master looked at each other, the same slightly skeptical look they had given each other when I told them Joachim had miraculously brought me back from the dead. "I want to show you these telephones, Master," said Zahlfast. He reached one of them down from their shelf and spoke the name attached to the wizards' school instrument.
This time it worked perfectly. The base lit up, as it always had, but when the tiny figure of a young wizard picked up the receiver, he could hear Zahlfast.
They spoke for several minutes. "Yes, that's right," said Zahlfast. "So we'll probably be home tomorrow or maybe the day after. No, there's no problem now."
"Congratulations, young wizard," said the Master, his frost blue eyes sparkling. "You've made an original contribution to wizardry and will probably have your name in the new edition of Ancient and Modern Necromancy. Not bad, for someone not yet thirty."
"It works!" I gasped. "I'd told the constable an anti-telephonic demonic influence was affecting my phones, and I was actually right!"
"You'll have to teach us that spell," said Zahlfast.
I thought ruefully that they seemed more impressed by my telephones than my return to life. "But wha
t are you two doing here?" I asked, returning to my original question, wondering if I could possibly reconstruct the sequence of spells I had tried on the telephones over the past few months. "Were you just so busy it took you a month to get here after my call?"
"Well," said Zahlfast, looking surprisingly embarrassed, "at first I didn't think anything of it, though I should have realized immediately it was you asking for help. It wasn't until we heard about the dragon going over on Christmas day that I began to think there might be something seriously wrong in Yurt.
"First we got telephone calls from the wizards in courts with telephones, and then the next day the messages started coming in from the pigeon relay station. When we plotted them on a map, it became clear that the dragon had been heading for Yurt, for no one south of Yurt had seen it."
"And even then," said the Master with a chuckle, "we had an idea that you might be a competent enough wizard to handle a dragon, although we probably should have considered the likelihood of a demon as well."
"Didn't you," I said accusingly, "even for a minute, suspect that I was practicing black magic and might have brought the dragon down for my own purposes?"
Zahlfast blushed, which I had never seen him do before.
"Not at all," said the Master. "At most, one or two people had momentary doubts. Besides, we knew there was another wizard here, the retired wizard of Yurt, who could help you."
"He did help me with the dragon. I never could have killed it without him. But what do you know about the old wizard?"
"I've only met him once," said the Master, "this summer. That's when he came to the City to try to find out about you."
"He came to the City?" I cried in amazement. "You didn't tell me this, Zahlfast."
"That's because I only found out about it myself the other day."
The Master laughed. "He said when he arrived that he would talk to the head of the school or to no one, so he had to talk to me."
"But I always thought he didn't want to have anything to do with the wizards' school."
"I don't think he ever does. But he wanted to know about you. He said he'd left you sleeping among his herbs for the whole day, while he flew down to the City. Said he'd never been to the school before, hoped he'd never come there again, but he thought this was the fastest way to find out about someone he called a ‘young whipper-snapper.’ Took me a few minutes to realize he meant you."
"So what did you tell him?" I asked, feeling highly inadequate. Once again, everyone else seemed to know my business much better than I did.
"I told him you had flair and promise, if you ever applied yourself. And from the look of the telephones, it's clear that you have. To say nothing of killing a dragon and defeating a demon, even if you nearly got yourself killed in the process."
"Did get myself killed," I corrected, but they pretended not to notice.
Zahlfast stood up. "You look tired. I think we should let you rest."
"Just don't leave Yurt yet," I said. "Most of the guest chambers are still sound, in spite of the dragon. And you'll want to try our cook's excellent holiday meals. I hear they had to leave the boar at the duchess's castle, but I'm quite sure she wouldn't have left the Christmas cookies."
"We'll stay tonight at least," said the Master. "Sleep now, and we'll talk more later."
I still did not feel strong enough to climb the chapel stairs the next morning, but the following morning, leaning on the constable's arm, I ascended by the light of my own magic lamps. The others respectfully stood aside for me and made sure I was comfortably seated in the front pew. Joachim led the thanksgiving service, and while I had good reason to be highly thankful myself, I was rather surprised to see that everyone else in the castle was also delighted to have me alive. Even Dominic smiled at me, and the queen gave me a radiant look that made my heart turn over.
The winter sun burned red through the chapel's stained glass. Listening to Joachim read from the Bible, I decided I was not worthy either of a miracle on my behalf or of the friendship of all these excellent people. When the congregation sang the final hymn, I did not trust my voice and stood silent.
Once Joachim had pronounced the final benediction, every person there, from King Haimeric down to the stable boys, came up to me. Most said a few words, of how glad and grateful they were to have me again with them, though a few just touched my arm hesitantly and turned away as though overcome with profound awe and wonder. Not daring to speak, I nodded at all of them and tried to smile.
But my foray into sentimentality was cut short by talking to Zahlfast and the Master of the school. They had ended up staying two nights in Yurt, but this morning they were ready to go, waiting only until I returned from the chapel to say goodbye. We stood by the castle gate, talking for a minute, with me well wrapped up in two coats and a muffler. The two wizards were the only people in the castle who had not been at chapel service.
"We're delighted you're feeling better," said Zahlfast briskly. "Now that your telephones are working, I hope you realize you should call us if you run into any other problems this serious. I hadn't realized you'd take my warning against calling the school for every little problem so literally!"
I nodded glumly.
"Though I must say I should have credited you with more courage than I did," Zahlfast continued. "Most wizards wouldn't have gone down alone to face a demon, even those who did a lot better on the demonology exam than I happen to know you did. I hope you aren't going to turn into one of those rash young wizards who think of themselves of indestructible."
There didn't seem to be much danger of that. I had never expected to have a second chance at life, and I knew I would never get a third.
"Just remember you're a wizard," said the old Master. "Don't start relying too much on the priests."
"This makes it all very symmetrical," I said. "The bishop is worried about my possible evil influence on the chaplain."
The two glanced at each other. "Coming close to death doesn't seem to have changed you very much," said Zahlfast.
I had noticed the same thing myself. One might have hoped that if I came back from the dead I'd come back better, but I was too happy to be back at all to care.
The old Master looked at me with a twinkle in his eye. "I hope you realize we are very glad to have you still alive. In a few weeks, after all of you here have had a chance to repair some of the damage to the castle, we'll send up some wizards from the technical division. They'll take down the details of how you put the spells on your telephones so we can start putting far-seeing attachments on other instruments."
After watching them fly away, I sat on a bench in the courtyard for a few minutes to catch my breath, wondering how soon the new edition of Ancient and Modern Necromancy would come out and what it would say about me. I hoped it wouldn't say that I had made a brilliant invention but that no one could ever duplicate it because I hadn't kept good notes. The sunlight was almost warm here in the shelter of the castle wall, even though there was still a dusting of snow on the ground, left behind by the stable boys' brooms. But in ten minutes, as soon as my strength returned enough to walk again, I went inside in search of Joachim.
He was sitting in his room, finishing breakfast. "Thank you again for interceding with the saints for me," I said, sitting down and breathing hard. "I've just been seeing off the wizards; they're on their way back to the school. But I wanted to find out if you'd spoken to the Lady Maria."
"Yes, I spoke to her yesterday. I told you I would."
When he seemed unwilling to continue, I said with an exasperated laugh, "What is this, Joachim, the secrets of the human soul that a priest can never reveal? Since I realized she'd sold her soul to the devil long before either you or she did, and then got myself killed negotiating for her soul, I should at least be able to find out what she's going to do now that her soul is safe again."
Joachim looked at me gravely a moment, then slowly started to smile. "You're right this time; but I may have difficulty explaining this to th
e bishop.
"She had worked much of it out for herself already," he continued after a brief pause. "So when I sent her a message to come to my room, she had a good guess what I was going to say. She seemed to have the strangest idea, however, of how to act in such a situation. She came in as though she were a naughty schoolgirl caught in some mischief."
I could have told her this would never work with Joachim. It wouldn't even work with me.
"But it all seemed to be a facade, behind which she was genuinely terrified and repentant at what she had done. Even though she kept referring to the demon as a ‘little magic man,’ she realized how close she had come to damning her soul for eternity. She agreed at once when I explained to her that a few years of vain youth and beauty in this world could never be worth an eternity in hell. She had also had a chance to realize that asking to ‘see a dragon’ was not the innocuous request she had originally imagined.
"In fact," continued Joachim, looking somewhat uncomfortable, "once she stopped pretending she thought of it as a naughty joke gone wrong, she broke down and sobbed. I was trying to impress on her the need to beg God's forgiveness, and she kept on asking if I thought you would ever forgive her."
"I hope you told her I would."
"I told her that you were not angry with her personally, that you had been willing to die to save both her and the kingdom because you were following the high purposes of God."
Joachim's black eyes were completely sober, and I began to wonder uneasily if he was going to start treating me with the awe and reserve that everyone else in the castle seemed to be demonstrating. Of course, in his case it was harder to tell. But it was no use coming back from the dead if I then spent the next two hundred years being treated like some saint. In the next few days, I would have to think of something outrageous to do to remind everyone that it was, after all, only me.
"I did warn her very sternly against further experiments with pentagrams."
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