Free The War Hound and the World's Pain by Michael Moorcock

suspicious, Your Majesty.”
    “Why so?”
    “I cannot read your motive.”
    “My motive is simple.”
    “It defeats me.”
    His miserable, tortured eyes looked full on me again and He spoke in an urgent whisper: “It is because you fail to understand how great is my need. How great is my need! Such souls as yours are scarce, von Bek.”
    “Can I assume that you are trying to buy my soul at this moment, Your Majesty?”
    “Buy it?” He seemed puzzled. “Buy your soul, von Bek? Did you not realize that I own your soul already? I am offering you the chance to reclaim it.”
    I knew at once that He spoke the truth. I had known, within me, for some while.
    It was then that Lucifer smiled, and in that smile I saw simple confirmation of what we both knew. He did not lie.
    A coldness came into me. That was why He had shown me Hell; not to lure me there, but to sample my eternal doom.
    I drew away from my Master. “Then I am already forbidden Heaven. Is that what you are telling me, Your Majesty?”
    “You are already forbidden Heaven.”
    “If that is so, I have no choice, surely?”
    “If I rejected you, it would allow you a new chance to be restored in God’s grace—just as I hope to be restored. We do indeed have much in common, von Bek.”
    I had never heard of such a bargain before. Yet by taking it I could only lose my life a little sooner than I had planned.
    I said: “Then in reality I have little choice.”
    “Let us say that your character has already determined your choice.”
    “Yet you cannot promise me that God will accept me into Heaven.”
    “I can promise you only that I will release your soul from my custody. Such souls do not always enter Heaven. But they are said to live forever, some of them.”
    “I have heard legends,” I said, “such as that of the Wandering Jew. Am I to try to save myself from Hell merely so that I may wander the world for Eternity seeking redemption?”
    It occurred to me of a sudden that I was not the first mortal soul to be offered this bargain by Lucifer.
    “I cannot say,” said the Prince of Darkness. “But if you are successful, it is likely, is it not, that God would look with mercy upon you?”
    “You must know more of God’s habits, Your Majesty, than I.” A strange calm was creeping into me now. I felt a degree of amusement.
    Lucifer saw what was happening to me and He grinned. “It is a challenge, is it not, von Bek?”
    “Aye, Your Majesty.” I was still debating what He had said. “But if I am already your servant, why did you go to such elaborate means to ensure this meeting? Why send Sabrina?”
    “I have told you. I am forced to use human agents.”
    “Even though she and I are already your servants?”
    “Sabrina elected to serve me. You have not yet agreed.”
    “So Sabrina cannot be saved?”
    “All will be saved if you find the Grail.”
    “But could I not ask one thing of Your Majesty?”
    Lucifer’s beautiful head turned down towards me. “I think I follow you, von Bek.”
    “Would you release Sabrina from your power if I agreed to what you ask of me?”
    Lucifer had anticipated this.
    “Not if you agree. But if you are successful. Find the Cure for the World’s Pain, and bring it to me, and I promise you I will release Sabrina under exactly the same terms as I release you.”
    “So if I am doomed to eternal life, I shall have a companion with me.”
    “Yes.”
    I considered this. “Very well, Your Majesty. Where shall I seek this Cure, this Grail?”
    “All that I know is that it is hidden from me and from all those already dwelling in infernal regions. It is somewhere upon the Earth or in a supernatural realm not far removed from the Earth.”
    “A realm not of the Earth? How can I possibly go to such a place?”
    Lucifer said: “This castle is such a place, von Bek. I can allow you the power to enter certain parts of the world forbidden to ordinary mortals. It is possible that the Cure lies in one of those realms, or