dark eyes beckoned; with a playful snap, she flicked one of her scarves at Alodar's blade. A long swath of cloth was looped around her neck, over her breasts, and tucked into the top of diaphanous pantaloons. The afternoon sun silhouetted her nimble legs. Her bare arms fluttered with the motions of the dance.
'And this is no mortal sorcerer's illusion that is in your mind's eye,' the demon said over Alodar's shoulder. 'Step forward and discover that she is a delight to the touch as well.'
The dancer gracefully advanced and flowed past Alodar's guard. She reached up and ran her fingertips down his cheek and then pressed her body to him.
'Just place your trust in my hands,' the devil continued. 'Delegate your cares of this world to my attention. I will see that all is taken care of, and your petty concerns will trouble you no more.'
The dancer clasped her hands behind Alodar's neck. Rubbing herself against his chest, she stretched on her tiptoes and bent back her head. Alodar shook his head. With his free hand he reached behind his neck and gently pushed the girl away. 'The lass will avail you no better than the water,' he said.
The dancer suddenly vanished, and the demon streaked from behind to face Alodar again. 'Then to the crux of the matter. Perhaps you would prefer pleasure undistorted by the infidelity of your feeble senses.'
Before Alodar could speak, a gentle prickling moved in his mind and seemed to brush against a sensitive nodule buried deep in his consciousness. The pressure expanded with a burst of energy, and a sudden wave of pleasure radiated through his body: the drowsy comfort of falling asleep; the exhilaration of a last-second victory; the breaking of a three day fast; the softness of a woman's body; the spice of the newly mastered craft. The delights mixed together in a jumble that made Alodar gasp. With tears in his eyes he slipped to his knees and let his sword fall from his grasp.
He tried to focus on his peril. Before the thought could be half formed, a second pulse triggered the reaction and he pitched forward to the ground, drowned by the ecstasy that flowed over him. He rolled over onto his back and sprawled on the ground, breathing shallow gulps of air as the feeling slowly faded away.
'It is yours for the asking, continual and everlasting,' the devil said as he floated over Alodar's chest and peered down. 'Merely surrender your will to mine and you will have strokes of bliss that come in an unending procession.
Alodar slowly rose to sitting and looked at the grotesque smile. 'You will never, by your own devices, experience a pleasure so intense,' the demon said. 'And if you do not agree, then what you have felt will be but a distant memory.'
Alodar clamped his teeth and stared at the demon. 'Begone,' he said weakly.
'Such power in your words.' The devil laughed. 'I think one more sample should seal the bargain.'
Alodar tensed, trying to rally a defense against the next onslaught, but at the same time savoring the anticipation. How could anyone resist such an overpowering feeling? He banged his fist against the ground in frustration as he realized what his next answer would be. A pulse of dull pain ran down his arm from a wound not yet completely healed, and he blinked as an idea struck him.
'But a moment,' he said to the devil as he fumbled in his pack. 'I think what I construct here will help me decide.' He withdrew a small forked branch from a fallen tree and then rapidly coiled a hair from his head around the stem. 'You see, with imagination,' he said, holding the figure forward for inspection, 'one can construe this as a simple model of a mortal man. And the most critical element is the piece of wire from a discarded pack clamp I bind to one of the arms, not unlike the fiber that carried sensory messages to the brain. Finally, for the energy, my body heat should be enough.'
Without pause, Alodar raced into a spellbinding. Before the devil could react, the connection was complete. The demon flapped one of his hands on a rubbery wrist. 'Enough stalling,' he ordered. 'Drink again of my sweet nectar and tell me if you can then forsake it ever more.' Alodar felt the touch of the devil's presence. As the rapture spread through his head, he grabbed a sharp rock and pressed it savagely against the wire. A numbing shock exploded in his arm and he screamed with pain. A ripping sting ran up into his head, mingling with the feeling of pleasure before it could completely form. The diluted ecstasy soaked through his body, but the raw intensity was not so great as before. Gasping for breath, Alodar rose to his feet, dangling, his limp arm at his side. 'Begone, I command you,' he whispered hoarsely.
Rows of wrinkles undulated across the devil's forehead. 'A strong resistance,' he said, 'but surely you cannot withstand one more.'
As the next pulse came, Alodar planted his foot over the simulacrum and ground his heel against the wire. His knees buckled and his vision blurred. He felt as if a red hot saw were slicing his flesh and reopening the wound. The bubble of pleasure grew for an instant but then burst into nothingness. The searing hurt swept it away in a torrent of agony. All feelings were blanked. Alodar struggled to remain conscious in the maelstrom of pain. He gulped for air and tried to focus on the purple demon hovering before him.
The devil backed away a few feet, and then his face sagged into a comic frown. 'What is your wish, master?' he asked. 'Do you desire a woman of a different type, or perhaps to tempt an enemy into the bliss from which he cannot escape?'
Alodar broke the thaumaturgical connection and the pain disappeared. 'I command you to depart this world,' he panted. 'I have no use for your powers until I understand how to use them well.' He stopped and regained his breath. 'And I care not to have the temptation of your presence to distract me as I struggle to my goal. Back to the world of demons from which you came.'
'But it has taken centuries for me to bridge the gap, master. And my duty is to ensure that no one passes. My punishment will not be light if I return with a tale of failure. If you have no need, them let me wrestle with another for his will.'
'Depart,' Alodar said.
The sad expression twisted into a scowl. 'Very well, master, since it is your command. But know that when I return, I will tell others. You proceed to a far greater doom than what I so generously offered.'
Alodar retrieved his sword and waved it in irritation. The purple skin of the devil suddenly glowed into incandescence and then disappeared from view. The air popped as it rushed to fill the void where he had been.
Alodar slowly sheathed his blade and scanned the valley floor. He listened for another rustling but heard instead only the oppressive silence. His arm throbbed, and the thought of immediately plunging ahead was suddenly distasteful. He struggled to recapture the feeling of bliss but the last hint decayed away. With a shudder, he sagged to the ground for a short rest.
Alodar pulled his cloak about him. All along the final upgrade to the base of the tower, the breeze had intensified. Now as he topped the last rise, he squinted to keep the swirling dust out of his eyes. The mountains further west hid the descending sun. The heat of the day was gone, but dustdevils danced along the trail.
A level clearing surrounded the base of the spire, three times as wide as the monolith itself. Around the perimeter, stunted bushes and gnarled trees huddled close to the ground, their branches twisted sideways and leaves tattered and torn. The tower flung itself into the sky, steep, sharp and angular, defying the elements to pull it down. It was cold and unyielding, one huge rock without fissure, a subtle pink flecked with shiny black, totally unlike the surrounding hills which crumbled under his heels.
Alodar ran his hand over the surface. It was a plane extending twenty feet in either direction, straight and flat as if cut by a giant knife. He moved to the side where a second plane intersected the first. They met in a shallow angle and the boundary, sharp as a crystal's, soared into the sky. Like an irregular polyhedron thrust into the ground, all angles, lines, and planes, the spire stood in jarring contrast to its surroundings.
A dike of firm granite, Alodar thought, gradually exposed as the softer rock about it weathered away. He looked up the sheer wall towards the apex, trying to see the tarnished ring of his vision in the failing light. But the peak retreated into the soft shadows. All he could discern were a few possible handholds, barely fingertip wide, strung along the rock. He felt the urge to fling down his pack and race up the side. But it would be safer to wait till morning, when there was enough light to climb safely.
Alodar stepped back a pace, and the wind snapped at his cloak. Puzzled, he approached the tower again and the air fell quiet. He turned his back to the spire and extended his hand outward into the clearing. The breeze rippled through his fingers as if he had thrust them out of the window of a rapidly moving coach. Some sort of barrier kept out the gusts, he mused. He twisted sideways and knelt to the ground. Unfortunately, it was too narrow to make a shelter for his campfire.
Alodar walked back into the quickening breeze. He chopped a few limbs from one of the larger trees and built
