A New Novel, Part 249 I Did Use Sorcery to Save Them

10 June 2011, A New Novel, Part 249 I Did Use Sorcery to Save Them

For those who haven’t been following this blog, let me introduce it a little. I am currently blogging my 21st novel that has the working title Daemon. The novel is about Aksinya, a sorceress, who, to save her family from the Bolsheviks, called and contracted the demon, Asmodeus. Her family was murdered anyway, and she fled with the demon from Russia to Austria.

The day of Aksinya's ecclesiastical trial has arrived.  Aksinya is acknowledged as a Russian Princess.  Now the Archinquisitor is pursuing the other charges against Aksinya.  He brings witnesses to her sorcery.  Aksinya is speaking to the inquisitor Esposito...

“I insist.  Inquisitor, your job is defense, then defend.  Ask them what was happening.”

“I must swear them in.”

“Then do so.”

Sister Margarethe and Natalya stepped forward, and the Inquisitor swore them in.

Ernst stepped up beside them, “I insist on answering also.”

The inquisitor swore him in too.

Aksinya demanded, “Ask them now.  What was happening outside the Golden Adler?”

The Archinquisitor spat, “Tell us, then, what was happening?”

Ernst held his head up high, “This man along with about ten others were about to rape the Lady Natalya and the Sister.  The Countess stopped them.”

“Using sorcery.”

Ernst continued, “I don’t know what she did.  All I know, is that she stopped them from violating the ladies.”

The Archinquisitor continued, “And what she did caused those men to find themselves in the street later more than a block away.”

“It saved the Lady and Sister’s virtue from rapists.”

Herr Mueller clenched his hands together, “Father, may I go.”

“Yes, go.”

Aksinya’s voice rang clearly, “I did use sorcery to save them.  Those men were tempted by the demon.  My demon is Asmodeus, the demon of lust and luxuria.  It was his doing.  He tempted those men and caused them to act as they did.  As you can see, Herr Taaffe, the Lady Natalya, and Sister Margarethe are innocent.  I can’t vouch for the innocence of Herr Mueller.”

Herr Mueller ran to the door and was let out.

Aksinya is no fool about justice and trials.  Do you remember that her father metted out justice to his holders and that Aksinya believes this is a primary purpose for the nobility.  So, you should expect her to know the questions to ask and how justice should work.  Unfortunately, Aksinya doesn't want to win this trial, she only wants to prevent anyone else from being condemned.

Aksinya demands that the inquisitor ask Herr Mueller what was happening at the Gasthaus.  Herr Mueller doesn't want to answer this question and the inquisitors don't want this to be common knowledge either.  The knowledge won't make Aksinya any less guilty, but it will hurt public opinion.  You can see that this is the work of a very devious mind.  If the information gets out that Aksinya was doing good by her sorcery, this makes the Catholic Church in Wien look bad.  It also makes the inquisitors look bad. 

If Aksinya doesn't insist that Herr Mueller answer the questions, then all those who were there are immediately condemned.  We will see that tomorrow.  Today, Ernst along with the Sister and Natalya insist on acting as witnesses.

Their testimony is that Aksinya prevented a gang rape.  Ernst lies and says he didn't know what Aksinya did.  Herr Mueller doesn't want to hang around.  His crime was hidden only because sorcery was involved.  He certainly doesn't want the information to get around that he and his friends tried to rape a school girl and a nun.  Too late, it will be in the press tomorrow.  He is ruined by this trial as are his friends--they should be ruined, but that isn't the end.

Aksinya uses this testimony as an opportunity to claim her friends are without guilt.  The Archinquisitor will test this--tomorrow.

A New Novel, Part 101 The Great Enchantment

Natalya and Sister Margarethe are about to be raped in the streets.  The demon has proposed multiple solutions most of which will not work.  He is driving Aksinya to some course of action.  The obvious solution is what the demon told Aksinya he could do for her a long time ago--I can murder in your name.  Aksinya is driven into a corner.  She is fighting against the demon and has had a tiny success when he could not strip her to do his will.  Now we will see what Aksinya has decided to do...

Natalya and Sister Margarethe writhed on the ground. Their attackers just now reached for the buttons on their pants and knelt on the hard cobbles before the two women in preparation to violate them. Aksinya lifted up a prayer as a great cry. She grasped the crucifix around her neck through her clothing and dropped her book. It fell at her feet.


The demon leaned toward her. His sulfurous breath touched her face, “That will do you no good. That guy isn’t listening to you. He never did before, and He certainly isn’t going to start now.”

Aksinya’s cries turned into a Latin curse. She began to shout in Latin. Her words flowed faster and faster.

The demon stepped back, “You can’t do that spell without preparation.” He reached for her. The smell of sulfur increased.

The young man stood helpless with his arms at his side. We stared at Aksinya. Natalya and Sister Margarethe stopped moving and stared at Aksinya. Her words were strange and a glow began to encompass her.

The men around Natalya and Sister Margarethe stopped and turned to stare.

Asmodeus’ clawed hand nearly touched Aksinya, but he flinched and pulled it back, “You can’t do that spell without a magic circle. It will bring the force of the world back on you. It may kill you. I can’t allow you to do it.”

Aksinya ignored him or didn’t hear him. She raised her hands and cried out a terrible word in Latin. The world stopped for a moment. All the passion in every person there suddenly disappeared. In that moment, the men from the tavern were gone. They were no longer there. It was as though they disappeared with all the passion and lust and emotion that had encompassed them in that moment.

As if it was an afterthought, the demon was suddenly gone too.

Aksinya let out another cry. She screamed. She felt something powerful around her, suffocating her. Then the pain filled her from head to toe. She heard a snapping like brittle sticks being broken, and fell to her knees. The crucifix on her chest seared her skin. She thought she smelled scorched silk and flesh. She doubled over and heaved and heaved again. She lost her breath and sucked in a lungful of vomit and choked. She collapsed to the street in agony. She couldn’t breath and in a moment blessed oblivion caught her.

Now we have reached the climax of this scene and a pivotal point in the novel.  The men from the tavern are about to rape Natalya and the Sister Margarethe.  Aksinya cries out a prayer.  She drops her book of sorcery.  She grasps her crucifix.  The demon taunts her about her prayer and Aksinya turns her prayer into a "great" enchantment.  This is why I told you all about "big" sorcery and "little" sorcery yesterday.  You didn't really need my explanation to understand what is going on, but with that revelation, everything should make sense (remember, I don't like to tell my readers everything, but I'm reveling trade secrets to you).
 
The demon explains everything to you--you can't do that spell without preparation.  He can't stop her.  Everyone's attention is suddenly on Aksinya.  Her words and her power course through the place.  They all watch her. 
 
The demon gives you more of the revelation, a small piece, you can't make that spell without a magic circle.  The power of the world will be reflected back on you and you might die.  If you wondered why a sorcerer requires a protective circle--this is it.  Aksinya doesn't listen.  We know she wishes to die, but that she is too afraid to die.  We know she wants to be free of the demon.  She has opposed him once with the crosses.  She thinks she can do it again with this spell.  Note that she still opposes God.  She is using her own power and her own knowledge to fight the demon.  She realizes she might die, but she will take that risk.  The demon's fear is interesting.  He doesn't want her to die--will he then be in default?
 
Aksinya's spell is successful.  Suddenly, the passion of the men is gone, and they are gone.  I don't give you a lot of details about what exactly happens--that will be partially answered in the future because Aksinya doesn't know exactly what happened.  This is part of the point I've made before--don't tell your readers everything.  Don't let your readers know more than the main character knows--that's one way you build tension and mystery.  The rest of the answer will be to a degree given in the novel, but not here.  The demon is also gone--for a while.
 
Then we see the results of Aksinya's enchantment as it affects her.  The power of the world hits her.  This is the power of God in the world.  The protective circle protects the sorcerer from the backlash of the power of God, and Aksinya is struck by it.  The sounds of snapping twigs are her bones.  Her injuries are great and we shall see tomorrow the result of her actions.
 
On another note, I finished the third rewrite of the novel and am still working on it.  Yesterday, I put it together for the first time as a single document.  I write in chapters and make each chapter in the document a separate file.  This is for protection in case of loss, and a habit from the days when a full novel wouldn't fit into a single file.  I put the entire novel together in a single linked master outlined document and format it there.  I still work on the individual chapters as single files.  In any case, the novel is about 121,500 words, and is still a very tight novel.  There isn't an extraneous scene in it.

A New Novel, Part 100 Attempted Rape

The demon grabbed Aksinya and pulled her away from the coming action at the tavern.  Now they are observing the events there.  The demon set this up and is the cause of it.

Natalya screamed. One of the men pushed her to the ground. He lifted her skirt and called to the others, “Here’s a beautiful girl to take.”

Aksinya yelled, “Stop. Stop right now.”

The demon’s smile widened, “Do you wish to bring their attention to you. They would gladly rape you even though you are homely and unwomanly. Look they have Sister Margarethe on the ground now.”

The men eyed Natalya’s body. She twisted left and right and tried to push her dress back over her thighs, but the held it up and another man stepped behind her and grabbed her arms. Sister Margarethe lay on the ground now and one of the men had raised her skirts. Another pulled off her habit.

The demon laughed again, “Now they will rape them. The only thing you can do to help them is to use sorcery to stop them. You know how too.”

“You stop them. Stop them, I demand it.”

“Those men are mostly innocent. I can only stop them after they have raped the lady and the nun. Then I will be able to act in your name. I will torture and kill them for you. That will be on your soul. If you wish, you can kill them now. Then your actions will clearly be murder.”

“Murder in the protection of their virtue. To prevent rape.”

“Do it now. I’ll encourage you. I can’t forget how you hate the cold along with your false modesty.” The demon made a motion as if he pulled something from the air.

The hem of Aksinya’s dress and heavy cloak rose an inch but then settled back.

The demon stood awestruck, “What have you done? There are crosses everywhere on it.”

Aksinya forced a laugh, “You can’t take my clothing so easily this time.”

“Then I must encourage you in a different way. Look around, Countess. No one except you will come help them. Observe that gentleman there.” The demon pointed to the alleyway across from them. A handsome young man stood at the edge of it and watched the others as they held the women to the ground, and as yet, gaped at them and groped them. He trembled, about to move to stop them, but obviously fearful, so he didn’t do anything.

Aksinya screamed at him, “Stop them. Stop them, please. Help my friend.”

The young man walked out of the alleyway toward the men, then halted. One of them pulled a knife and pointed it at him, “It isn’t worth your life is it?”

The young man stepped cautiously toward the men again. His voice was hesitant, “It may be worth my life.”

Asmodeus cackled, “He’ll be killed, you know. Killed or raped himself if they are of that mind. Perhaps both. It isn’t that uncommon after I have touched their hearts.”

The men at the tavern have been excited by the demon to a fever pitch.  They attack the nun and Natalya.  They prepare to rape them.  Aksinya tries to do something, but the demon warns her that the men will turn on her and attack her too.  The demon gets a dig at her, and I use the demon's words to tell you what is happening at the tavern--this is a writing technique.

Then the demon tells Aksinya what he expects her to do--use sorcery to stop the men.  There is a problem with the demon's demand.  I haven't told you much about sorcery, but you may have guessed it.  Aksinya had to make a protective circle to do "big" sorcery.  What exactly is big sorcery?  You might have discovered it from the evidence trail I left, but if you didn't that's still good--I purposely didn't leave enough direct crumbs.  "Small" sorcery is sorcery that basically doesn't change the world.  "Big" sorcery changes the world (calls demons, changes appearance, heals, makes real changes in the world).  Again, "little" sorcery doesn't change the world.  The demon asks Aksinya to potentially do "big" sorcery, and she knows it.  That's why she demands that the demon stop what is going on. 

Asmodeus' response is what we should have expected.  He claims he can't act until the women are raped.  At that point, the demon can torture and kill the perpetrators.  The demon wants Aksinya to do "big" sorcery and murder the men.  He has tried to get her to do this before, but not so directly.  His desire is obvious--then Aksinya would have committed murder.  The actuality is not obvious, but it can be discovered, the demon doesn't want Aksinya to act at all.  If she doesn't, the women will be raped, the men will be guilty, Aksinya will likely ask the demon to revenge them, that will result in murder of the men and their torture.  This is exactly what happened to Aksinya's family.  The demon's plans are not obvious, but they are very specific.  If I don't lay it all out like this, many readers might not figure it out, but that isn't important.  All the details aren't critical to the novel.  The reader will understand many of the reasons and motivations without any explanation.

Aksinya's point is well taken: “Murder in the protection of their virtue. To prevent rape.”  She is correct.  If she could kill the men, that might be a completely ethical and moral position.  The demon seems to agree with her, then he tries some of the motivational force he used before.  The demon attempts to strip her of her clothing in the street, and finally, Aksinya has a tiny victory. 

The demon thinks of everything.  He didn't imagine that Aksinya would be able to resist or successfully plot against him.  The demon is surprised, but he has more plans within plans.  He points out a young gentleman who is across the street.  You might imagine that if the demon set up everything else, he set up this too.  The gentleman is somewhat a coward, but Aksinya encourages him.  The man has a choice to make--he might give his life to help the women and it might not do any good anyway.  The demon makes this obvious.  That is a direct discouragement against the man and Aksinya.  The demon has backed Aksinya into a corner--the question is what will she do about it?