But Kelley did notspeak. He was trying to detach himself from the medium, who nowyelled as if his bowels were being torn. The medium struggled totake back what he had produced, clawing the air. "Kelley, earlessKelley, don't cheat again," Madame Olcott cried. Kelley, unable toseparate himself from the medium, was now trying to smother him,turning into a kind of chewing gum, from which the last Fox brotherwas unable to extricate himself. Theo, too, sank to his knees,choking, entangled in the parasite blob that was devouring him; herolled and writhed as if enveloped in flame. The thing that hadbeen Kelley covered him like a shroud, then melted, liquefied,leaving Theo on the floor, the drained, gutted mummy of a childembalmed by Salon. At that same moment, the four dancers stopped asone, flailed their arms¡Xdrowning men, sinking like stones-thencrouched, whined like puppies, and covered their heads with theirhands.
Aglie had returned tothe ambulatory. He wiped the sweat from his brow with the littlehandkerchief that adorned his breast pocket, took two deep breaths,and put a white pill in his mouth. Then he called forsilence.
"Brother knights. Youhave seen the cheap tricks this woman inflicts on us. Let us regainour composure and return to my proposal. Give me one hour with theprisoner in private."
Madame Olcott,oblivious, bent over her mediums, was stricken with an almost humangrief. But Pierre, who had followed everything and was still seatedon the throne, resumed control of the situation. "Non," he said."There is only one means: le sacrifice humain! Give to me theprisoner."
Galvanized by hisenergy, the giants of Avalon grabbed Belbo, who had watched thescene in a daze, and thrust him before Pierre, who, with theagility of an acrobat, jumped up, put the chair on the table, andpushed both giants to the center of the choir. He grabbed the wireof the Pendulum as it went by and stopped the sphere, staggeringunder the recoil. It took barely an instant. As if the thing hadbeen prearranged¡Xand perhaps, during the confusion, some signalshad been exchanged¡Xthe giants climbed up on the table and hoistedBelbo onto the chair. One giant wrapped the wire of the Pendulumtwice around Bel-bo's neck, and the other held the sphere, then setit at the edge of the table.
Bramanti rushed to thismakeshift gallows, flashing with majesty in his scarlet cloak, andchanted: "Exorcizo igitur te per Pentagrammaton, et in nomineTetragrammaton, per Alfa et Omega qui sunt in spiritu Azoth.Saddai, Adonai, Jotchavah, Eieazereie! Michael, Gabriel, Raphael,Anael. Fluat Udor per spiritum Eloim! Maneat Terra per Adamlot-Cavah! Per Samael Zebaoth et in nomine Eloim Gibor, veniAdramelech! Vade retro Lilith!"
Belbo stood straight onthe chair, the wire around his neck. The giants no longer had torestrain him. If he took one step in any direction, he would fallfrom that shaky perch, and the noose, tightening, would stranglehim.
"Fools!" Aglie shouted."How will we put it back on its axis now?" He was concerned for thesafety of the Pendulum.
Bramanti smiled. "Do notworry, Count. We are not mixing your dyes here. This is thePendulum, as They conceived it. It will know where to go. And toconvince a Force to act, there is nothing better than a humansacrifice."
Until that moment, Belbohad trembled. But now I saw him relax. He looked at the audience, Iwill not say with confidence, but with curiosity. I believe that,hearing the argument between the two adversaries, seeing before himthe contorted bodies of the mediums, the dervishes still jerkingand moaning to the side, the rumpled vestments of the dignitaries,Belbo recovered his most genuine gift: his sense of theridiculous.
I believe that at thatmoment he decided not to allow himself to be frightened anymore.Perhaps his elevated position gave him a sense of superiority, asif he were watching, from a stage, that gathering of lunaticslocked in a Grand Guignol feud, and at the sides, almost to theentrance, the little monsters, now uninterested in the action,nudging each other and giggling, like Annibale Cantalamessa and PioBo.
He only turned ananxious eye toward Lorenza, as the giants again grasped her arms.Jolted, she came to her senses. She began crying.
Perhaps Belbo wasreluctant to let her witness his emotion, or perhaps he decidedinstead that this was the only way he could show his contempt forthat crowd, but he held himself erect, head high, chest bared,hands bound behind his back, like a man who had never knownfear.
Calmed by Belbo's calm,resigned to the interruption of the Pendulum, but still eager toknow the secret after a lifetime's search (or many lifetimes), andalso in order to regain control over his followers, Aglie addressedhim again: "Come, Belbo, make up your mind. As you can see, you arein a situation that, to say the least, is awkward. Stop thisplayacting."
Belbo didn't answer. Helooked away, as if politely to avoid overhearing a conversation hehad chanced upon.
Aglie insisted,conciliatory, paternal: "I understand your irritation, yourreserve. How it must revolt you to confide an intimate and precioussecret to a rabble that has just offered such an unedifyingspectacle! Very well, you may confide your secret to me alone,whispering it in my ear. Now I will have you taken down, and I knowyou will tell me a word, a single word."
Belbo said: "You thinkso?"
Then Aglie changed histone. I saw him imperious as never before, sacerdotal, hieratic. Hespoke as if he had on one of the Egyptian vestments worn by hiscolleagues. But the note was false; he seemed to be parodying thosewhom he had always treated with indulgent commiseration. At thesame time, he spoke with the full assumption of his authority. Forsome purpose of his own¡Xbecause this couldn't have beenunintentional¡Xhe was introducing an element of melodrama. If hewas acting, he acted well: Belbo seemed unaware of any deception,listening to Aglie as if he had expected nothing else fromhim.
"Now you will speak,"Aglie said. "You will speak, and you will join this great game. Ifyou remain silent, you are lost. If you speak, you will share inthe victory. For truly I say this to you: this night you and I andall of us are in Hod, the Sefirah of splendor, majesty, and glory;Hod, which governs ritual and ceremonial magic; Hod, the momentwhen the curtain
