Page 16 (2/2)

"Good" I stretch out ive me your hand I will lead you to the pond and ill first wash your sores and then I will sprinkle so on them and they will be all better"

"All better," he mumbles But he stiffens when I try to lead hih his eyes remain closed He is still under my spell, at least I think he is "No," he says

I have to speak carefully "What is the o in the pond, only beside it I need to wash you off"

"I can drown in the pond," he says

Now that I think of it, I have never seen Dante wash beside a pond It is probably one of the reasons he smells

"I will not let you drown There is no way you can fall in"

"No," he says

He appears to be underme as well I am reminded of an earlier tied to evade me--even while in thein his mind, a psychic aberration of some type, that makes it impossible for me to read him clearly Even with all my powers now atexactly

And I should be able to read his mind co on ayou water to clean you Would that be all right?"

He nods with his eyes closed "I&039;ll rest on the rock and be all right"

I lead him back to the stone where he initially rested As he sits, I stroke his head "I will ently, to clean the but relief You understand, Dante?"

"I understand," he whispers

I let go of hihs "Peace"

At the pond the water is very still, more so than ever Like the pond in the desert, it is a perfect mirror of the heavens There are so many stars on its delicate surface, so many constellations that it seems almost a sin to disturb the cool liquid Yet I have stood here before Last tiave Dante my blood and sent him on his way healed of his horrible disease Like now, and then, I felt ive him what I could Certainly he has earned my blood and my trust

I bend to da in the water at the sky There is the familiar constellation, Andro so clear Why, I can aline that I see Perseus&039; wife, chained to the rocks as the Titan slowly approaches, bound as a human sacrifice to appease an evilwomen to appease his oickedness It is incredible, as I look closer, to see Perseus creeping closer to her side, to rescue her, with the Medusa&039;s head hidden in his bag, out of sight He will only show it at the last moment, when the Titan has exposed himself Perseus ise to keep his weapon hidden It was Dante who suggested that Perseus would have been a fool to part with such power

Medusa Perseus Dante

"My lady," Dante whispers at ," I say

I kneel to wet ner&039;s opera returns to ht air The ain it is as if I aainst the round of the constellations Each of the principal characters could be aPolydectes, who sent Perseus after the Gorgon Parsival could be Perseus, who slew the Medusa But ould Klingsor be? Why, of course, the Medusa itself The one who appears fair from the outside, but whose hair--whose aura--is filled with hissing snakes I understand in that moment that the serpents are symbolically placed above the Medusa&039;s head They are there so her true identity cannot be mistaken

"Hurry, my lady," Dante whispers

I will," I say But I cannot sor and Landulf

They had soThe play spoke of this "thing"

Wolfrasor had a special mark

He was s

And I am sick because the truth is horrible beyond belief

I am turned to stone Tears cannot help me They will not come Not before a pain beyond all h I know the truth, I refuse to accept it My faith er than stone, but in time all stones are worn away by water Or tears-- it doesn&039;t matter All I can do now is forcemy shirt, I stand and spy a lizard that slithers near the side of the pond In a moment he is in my hand, in my pocket, and I casually walk back to Dante, who sits expectantly on the rock where I left hih his eyes reently wipe at his burnt and diseased hand and arm My touch pleases him

"Oh, my lady," he says

"Just relax, Dante," I say softly, "I have to clean you and then I can cure you You want me to cure you, don&039;t you?"

"Oh, yes"

"Good" I momentarily close ood"

Seconds later his hand and arm are clean I stand and reach for the lizard in my pocket "Now don&039;t be afraid," I say

"I a the lizard behind my back, I pulverize it in my hands I crush it so hard all the blood squirts into my pal the reptile&039;s blood over his wounds The lizard was cold-blooded; its blood is not so warm as mine would have been But Dante doesn&039;t seelad I cannot takethere, a faint change of expression as his system soaks up my blood An expression I have not seen before An expression of triuance I need to see such a thing to dispel all my questions

But what I see is much worse

As the blood sprinkles over hihtly Curls in an unpleasantto uised contempt I pull my hands away

"Open your eyes, Dante," I say

He opens his eyes and bearin with false pleasure "Alrab him by the collar of his filthy shirt and, before he can react, I drag hie of the pond The water has not coh to show his reflection No wonder he did not want to stand next to the pond with me by his side For in the water, Dante&039;s suppos?edly ruined and pained expression is extraordinary

Literally, he is oddess

I leap back fro, it was you"

The other Landulf was just a puppet Just a disciple of the real master, Dante The duke in the castle was just a minion

Dante was the real power behind the throne

Dante was Landulf

He stares down at his face for a long ti Perhaps he has not seen his reflection in a while--I don&039;t know When he finally does speak, his voice is reentle, not unlike it was before, yet withtihtens as he speaks, as if his physical disease has no real hold over him But I am not sure if that is the case He speaks with authority but there is disap?pointuessed you would return with greater wisdom," he says "Last time you were easily tricked But now I arown, Sita, in the last thousand years"

"Because I chose wisdolances at me "In a sense It is easier for humans to pass a test of love than a test that requires wisdom Because even love often obscures wisdoht to speak to me of love"

He has been tricked but he still has the ability to smile "But I do admire you even if I don&039;t love you," he says "Adets to love It serves us well I never feel the lack of this love you constantly crave"

"You i"

"Yet you cherished Dante&039;s love," he says

"I was merely bewildered on the path You are lost here at the end"

"Perhaps" He pauses "How did you guess?"

"Parsival I saw it in Vienna before World War Two The character of Klingsor was Landulf He had been castrated by the pope" I mock his"

A wave of anger rolls over his face but he quickly masters himself "You have an excellent memory No doubt I made other mistakes with you as well"

"Yes But I aive me the clue of the Medusa&039;s head?"

"It was necessary For you to be totally mine, you had to be warned by ht and the left When you intentionally killed that girl, then and only then were you made ready to ?"

"Yes"

"And had I willingly given you my blood, I would have completed the third step?"

"Precisely Then your blood would have been of the uess now you&039;re not going to have it"

He stares at me I see him clearly now, his supernat?ural beauty, even the faint tendrils of black that crawl around the field above his head Yet I realize he still has leprosy

"You are wrong on that point," he says softly

I take a step back "You are still about to die You need my blood to live even a few ive you leprosy

He takes a step in my direction "That is correct The work has its price But I need your blood to sustain this physical body, and continue my work in this third density But unlike last time, I will now be unable to pass er be convinced to be ative polarization Still, your blood will be useful to er from under his dirty shirt It is the same one that the maid stabbed me with It is stained withto run fro to harm me My psychic powers are beyond yours"

I find it impossible to turn away fros

The Medusa My body has turned to stone

"It doesn&039;t matter what you do to ue "I have defeated you and the rest of your kind In the future there will be no ars to confuse humanity Your cancer has been cut froo forward the way it was intended You have lost, Landulf, admit it"

He steps to within two feet ofhair with his knife Then he licks the tip of the blade, the dried blood, and s," he says "But I will say that I would have enjoyed your continuing adoration almost as h it" He scratches the skin below ht fills him with pleasure "A vampiric tear, Sita Cried for er afraid

The stain on ret is the tears I cried for you," I say "Other than that I have none I am at peace And you are still a monster One day you will be forced to look in Perseus&039; mirror, and you will see your own reflec?tion, and see just how foul you are to behold And on that day you will turn to stone, Landulf You will die and rot, and the world will be relieved of a great burden" I stop "Kill usting creature!"

I spit in his face He does not like that

He wipes the saliva away and raises his knife

"I was going to kill you quick," he says "But now, Sita, it ht"

He moves to slit open my side and then pauses, puzzled

I alow The pond shines as well, with the light of the heavens It is as if the constellations in the sky have been awakened, and been inspired to send down their light to Earth The white light that fills my body comes from the direction of the pond as well as the sky Landulf see and is filled with dismay But this stellar current fills me with euphoria I have experi?enced it before, just before I rescued the child from the Setians Landulf is like one of those creatures, I see, only worse He struggles to cut into h

"I guess you&039;re going to have to rerows faint "But don&039;t take it too hard You&039;re not going to be around er Yaksha is still soht try to find hiet to him in time As far as you&039;re concerned, I am the last vampire Your last chance, Landulf How does that feel?"

His rage is incredible to behold The fair face of the god is transformed into a demon The all but invisible serpents above his head hiss poisonous vapors They surround him in a noxious cloud It is as if his whole body has been sed by his leper&039;s sores He tries to grabhis efforts are useless, he strains to regain his pleasant demeanor, to make one last stab at my soul But he still has the knife in his hand and in either case I will never be fooled by hirant you powers uniinable You have only to join us, and ill rule this world together"

I ah

"You shouldn&039;t have etherness part," I reply "I can&039;t think of anything more dull"