“I don’t know,” she said. “I have seldom thought upon it. I have tried to keep from thinking on it. With Cuthbert gone, it would be lonely here. I don’t know what I’d do. There’d be no place in the outside world for me. I am not used to it, would not know what to do, have had no chance to know what one should do. And I could not for long keep hidden that I had wizard blood in me. The outside world, I am afraid, would not take kindly to me if that were known.”
“The world can be cruel,” said Duncan. “I wish I could tell you that it isn’t, but it is.”
She leaned toward him, kissed him swiftly on the cheek. “The world can be kind,” she said. “You have been kind to me. You have talked of my problem with a very gentle kindness.”
“I thank you, milady,” said Duncan gravely. “I thank you for your words. And for the kiss. it was a lovely kiss.”
“You make fun of me,” she said.
“Not at all, Diane. It is true gratitude, the more grateful because I have done nothing to deserve it.”
“Cuthbert,” she said, changing the subject abruptly, “has expressed a desire to see you.”
“It must be soon,” said Duncan. “We tarry here too long. We must be on our way.”
She protested, somewhat flustered. “Why so soon? You should take several days to rest. All of you need rest. You’ve had no easy time.”
“We’ve been held up,” said Duncan, “by many misadventures. By this time we should have been in Oxenford.”
“Oxenford can wait,” she argued.
“I’m sorry, milady, but I don’t believe it can.”
She rose swiftly to her feet. “I must be going in to see how Cuthbert is. I cannot leave him long.”
“I’ll go with you,” he said. “You said he wanted to see me.”
“Not now,” she told him. “I’ll call you when he is ready for you.”
23
As Duncan crossed the reception hail, Scratch, the demon, perched upon his pedestal, called out to him.
“Are you in a hurry, sire?” he asked. “Would you, perhaps, have a little time to spare? If so, it would be merciful of you to halt a while and chat. Despite all this magnificence of stone and fancy scrollwork, despite the elevated and exalted throne they have provided for me, there are times when the hours hang heavy on my hands.”
Duncan altered his course and walked toward Scratch’s column. “I have not a thing to do,” he said. “Mistress Diane is gone to see how the wizard fares and my companions apparently have pursuits of their own. I would treasure a little time with you.”
“Now, that is fine,” the demon said. “Two men with the selfsame thought, a way in which to pleasantly while away some time. But there’s no need for you to stand there, getting a crick in your neck from staring up at me. If you’d only help me down, we could sit on that stone bench a step or two away. My chain is long enough for me to reach it handily and with some to spare.”
Duncan moved closer to the column and reached up his hands. The demon leaned forward and Duncan grasped him about the waist and helped him down.
“Except for this clubfoot of mine, which additionally is weighted down by the chain, I could get down quite easily myself,” said Scratch. “In fact, I often do, but not in a manner that you could call easily.” He held out his arthritis-crippled hands. “And these don’t help, either.”
They walked to the bench and sat down, side by side. Scratch lifted his clubhoof and crossed his knees. He jiggled the hoof up and down and the chain clanked.
“I was explaining to you the other day,” he said, “that my name is Scratch–formerly Young Scratch, now simply Scratch, but never Old Scratch, for that is the vulgar designation of His Nibs, who runs the Infernal Operation. Since the name has been given me, I suppose I must abide by it, but I have never liked it. It is the kind of name one might give a dog. Why, even milady’s griffin is given the honest name of Hubert, which is a far better name than Scratch. Through the years I have squatted on my column and have thought, among many other things, of a name that I’d enjoy bearing. A more suitable name, with more dignity and a more euphonious sound. I have paraded hundreds of names through my mind, taking my time, for I have all the time there is, weighing each name as I think of it, twisting and turning it in my mind, so I can get a critical look at it from every angle, rolling it around in my mouth to get the sound and feel of it. And after all these years and all the examination, I think I have finally found a name that would fit me well and that I’d be proud to have. I’ll wager you cannot guess what that name might be.”
“I have no faintest idea,” said Duncan. “How could I have?”
“It is Walter,” said Scratch triumphantly. “It is a splendid name. Do you not think it is? It has a full round sound to it. It is a name that is complete of itself and not a bobtailed name. Although I am aware it could be shortened to Walt. If I had such a name I should frown upon its shortening. It is not a fancy name. It has no flair to it. It is a solid name, an honest name, fashioned to fit a solid and an honest man.”
“So that is how you spend your time,” said Duncan. “Thinking up a new name for yourself. I suppose it is as good a device as any to make the time go by.”
“It is only one of many things I do,” said Scratch. “I do a lot of imagining. I imagine how it might have been for me had events gone differently. If I had worked out as an apprentice demon, if I could have cut the mustard, by now I would be a senior demon or, just possibly, a junior devil. I would be much larger than I am now, although maybe there would not have been that much change in size. I am a runt, you know; I have always been a runt. It may be that therein lies my trouble. Perhaps a runt is foreordained to failure, perhaps a runt never can make good. But even when I know this, I still can keep on imagining. I can envision myself as a senior demon or a junior devil, with a big paunch of a belly and hair upon my chest and a very dirty laugh. That’s one thing I never was able to achieve, that very nasty laugh that can chill a human’s blood and shrivel up his soul.”
“You seem to me,” said Duncan, “to be quite philosophical about your plight. You have not grown bitter. Many lesser ones would have grown bitter. And you do not whine for pity.”
“What would be accomplished,” asked Scratch, “should I rant or rave or whine? No one would love me more; in fact, they’d love me less. No one loves a bellyacher. Although I do not know why I talk of love, for there’s no one who loves me. Who could love a demon? There are those who may feel some small pity of me, but pity is not love. What they mostly do is laugh at me–at my twisted tail, at my clubhoof, at my crumpled horn. And laughter, my lord, is very hard to take. If they’d only shrink from me in horror, or even in disgust, I’d be better satisfied. I could live with that.”
“I have not laughed at you,” said Duncan, “nor have I felt overwhelming pity for you. But I’ll not claim I love you.”
“That is not expected,” said Scratch. “I would have some suspicion of a human who professed love for me. I then would look for motive.”
“And well you might,” said Duncan, “but since I have proclaimed no love of you and thus have not attempted to put you in my debt, could I ask an honest question?”
“I would be pleased to have you.”
“Then what can you tell me about the Horde of Evil? I would imagine that in this castle, from wizard talk, you may have heard some mention of it.”
“That I have. What is it you would know? Although it occurs to me you may know something of it personally. I have been informed that you and your band stood them off not too long ago.”
“Only a small party of them, mostly the hairless ones, although there were others. I don’t know how many of them or how many kinds.”