Question Quest by Piers Anthony Page A

“I mean, they are made of soul material, so maybe it's bodies they lack, but the effect—” I broke off, because it was pointless to babble about the nature of demons to a demoness. She would quickly discover how little I knew about her kind.
    “I have a soul.”
    “But—”
    “I don't know how it happened. Maybe a soul got loose from a mortal, and I got caught in it or it got caught in me. I was a normal carefree female demon, and then suddenly I wasn't, because I was concerned about right and wrong. I could no longer play the demon games, because many of them aren't nice. So I went to the oracle to ask how to get rid of the soul, and the priest made me bring a basket of precious stones from the earth in payment, and then they told me that I would have to marry the King of Xanth.”
    “Marry the King!” I exclaimed. “Ebnez would never marry a demoness! Demons have been banned from association with kings ever since one messed up King Gromden in the seventh century.”
    “Yes, the Answer does not seem to be of much use to me,” Dana said sadly. “I thought if I helped you, you might tell the King I'm not such a bad sort, and maybe he would change the rule and—”
    I shook my head. “King Ebnez is a very righteous man. I could tell him, but there's really no hope of—”
    “That is all I can ask of you: to tell him,” she said. “In return I will do anything you want, provided it does not violate my conscience.”
    “How do we know you really have a soul?” MareAnn demanded. “I mean, demons can't be trusted about anything.”
    “Maybe a unicorn could tell if she's innocent,” I said.
    Dana laughed. “I'm not innocent! I was a normal demoness for centuries before I got souled. I couldn't get near a unicorn.”
    “Well, we can't afford to trust you without proof,” MareAnn said.
    “There's a soul sniffer in the North Village,” Dana said. “I will fly there with you, if you wish.”
    “Exactly how can you help us?” I asked. The North Village was a long way away, and this might just be a demon ruse to make us waste our time with a long trip or to lure us into some trap. “It will have to be more than just asking the demons whether they plan to attack.”
    “I understand you are doing a survey.”
    “Yes.”
    “And that you expect trouble trying to talk with the Maenads.”
    “Yes. That's why we went to the oracle.”
    “I could assume your likeness and question the Maenads, or anyone else you wish. They can not hurt me.”
    Suddenly she was making sense! “Let's go to that magic sniffer, tomorrow,” MareAnn said. “If Dana proves out, she can be a big help.”
    So it was decided. The demoness faded out, and we slept, warmly. Next morning we mounted the horses and flew swiftly north, and Dana paced us in the form of an extinct reptilian bird, needing no steed. She resumed human form when we landed, so that no one would know her for what she was.
    There was indeed a soul sniffer at the North Village, which was in other respects a thoroughly unremarkable hamlet. But it wasn't a person or animal, as I had expected; it was a place. “Go down the path to the west to the Key Stone Copse,” the village elder told us. "There is a key there which only a person with a soul can use to open the door.''
    “That's all?” I asked. “Just a door?”
    “Just a door,” the man agreed.
    “What's beyond it?”
    “We're not sure.”
    “You're not sure?” I found this hard to believe. “Haven't you gone there to see?”
    "There used to be a nice valley with wonderful orangeberry patches; our women and children went often to pick them. But the last three who went, two months ago, did not return. We fear that the door has become one-way, so we are now staying clear of it.”
    “But maybe those folk are in trouble!” I said. “Someone should go and see!”
    He merely shrugged and turned away. So much for community spirit.
    “Sometimes I wonder whether souls are as positive as they are supposed to