I have been a willing servant of the Dark Lord, as a Ferryman, for many, many centuries, long enough to see the changes in humanity, wrought by the passing years. Long before the industrial revolution I followed the beast, as it pulled the narrow boat along the waterways towards the Final Lock. My universe lies parallel to the world of the living and is the place that the souls of the dead drop down into the waters that I sail. These are the souls that hang in the balance, that are either not wicked enough to go direct to hell, or pure enough to go beyond the Final Lock.
I can see through the veil that separates the two worlds, quite plainly, but I am forbidden and unable to interfere in the affairs of mortal man. The boat has an instinct for the arrival of souls and always seems to be in a place that is about to receive them. We are a partnership the narrow boat and I. The boat is the ultimate judge and decides which souls go to the front and those who will serve in the engine hold. I am not allowed to interfere in any of these judgements. My task, alone, is to navigate the boat through the network of waterways to that Final Lock and back to the depths of hell. Sometimes I feel a deep frustration at my inability to reach out for the wicked and take their souls to the engine-room to suffer the torments of the damned.
On this bright morning, the waterway had wound itself into a wood; a mile or so from a minor road in the mortal world and the boat had stopped. I looked into the land of the living and found that I was the unwilling witness to the rape of a child. She was about eight or nine years of age and so very pretty. The man was tall and powerful with a strength powered by his lust. His hands were locked around the girl’s neck as he arched his back in ecstasy. Her clothes had been torn off and discarded by the side of the unholy coupling. His trousers had been pulled down to his ankles and his coat had been laid on the grassy bank as mattress. She had bled profusely from his usage and her little face was contorted with agony. Now finished, he strangled the child and lifted her from his still erect penis and threw her down into the undergrowth to lie like a broken doll.
The child’s soul dropped into the water by the front of the boat where many hands reached out to her and helped the frightened little girl aboard where she was comforted. I raged inside that this animal in human form could not be punished. It was obvious to me that this man had done this before. How many more would he send to an early death before he was stopped? More than ever at this time I wished that I could reach the perpetrator of this heinous crime.
The Dark Lord spoke quietly in my ear, “Take him!”
A rift appeared between the two universes and I stepped through.
The man stood up with his trousers still around his ankles, his face contorted with fear and screamed, as I came towards him.
In this world I stood nearly nine foot tall and looked every inch a demon from the depths of hell. I had talons at the ends of my fingertips as long as dinner knives and sharp horns projected from my forehead. My eyes shone with reflected fire and I could have torn a bear in half. With one swift movement I held him by the chest, sinking my claws into his skin and lifted the pervert, one handed into the air. As he wriggled and screamed in terror I slowly enfolded his testicles in my other talon tipped hand and ripped them off. I then slowly disembowelled him and let his intestines fall onto the ground and stared into his face until the light went out from his eyes.
I dropped his body to the ground where it lay now unscathed, all damage repaired as though it had never happened and made my way back to the boat. Once through the rift, it closed over and from the back of the boat I could see the rapist floating in the water. His terrified eyes met mine. I used the boathook to spear him through his chest and dragged him onto the back of the narrow boat, where the hold was open and ready for him. There above the open hold I shook him off the hook and his naked body dropped into the hot chains that the waiting imps had ready. In a very short time, they had him shackled to the wheel with the other sinners. The scent of fresh meat sent the hold-rats crazy and they fed on the newcomer, tearing great lumps from his body. Each bite healed over within a few minutes, but not the pain.
I watched the hold seal over and began to change my appearance back to the grey- haired human being that steered the narrow boat. The boat pulled away from the wood and made its way to the next collection point and I made my way to the front, leaving the boat on automatic. There was a freshly gathered soul to be reassured and to be comforted. All I could tell her was that the nasty man had been punished and would not hurt anyone else. I would do this, knowing that this would not ease the torment of her parents, who were yet to know that she had suffered and died.
Sometimes even the Dark Lord intervenes in the affairs of men, bringing punishment early to a chosen few. The Lord of Hell has much to do in the affairs of men. He is a force of punishment to those who would willingly follow him in the practises that they think he requires. He is the scourge of evil and ultimate judge of mankind’s follies. Those who serve him, serve him willingly and level his justice to his laws.
