Zothique
Clark Ashton Smith
Zothique Table of Contents
The Empire of the Necromancers The Isle of the Torturers The Charnel God The Dark Eidolon The Voyage of King Euvoran The Weaver in the Vault The Tom!"pa#n The Witchcraft of $lua %eethra In the &ook of Vergama The 'ast (ieroglyph "hapes of )damant *+ragment, Necromancy in Naat The &lack )ot of -uthuum The Death of Ilalotha The Garden of )dompha .othi/ue The 0aster of the Cras 0andor1s Enemy *+ragment, 0orthylla The Dead #ill Cuckold 2ou
The Empire of the Necromancers The legend of 0matmuo 0matmuorr and "odosma "odosma shall shall arise only only in the the latt latter er cycl cycles es of Eart Earth3 h3 #h #hen en the the glad glad legends of the prime have een forgotten4 &efore the time time of its tellin telling3 g3 many many epoch epochss shall shall have have passe passed d a#ay3 and the seas shall have fallen in their eds3 and ne# continents continents shall have come to irth4 irth4 -erhaps3 -erhaps3 in that day3 it #ill serve to eguile for a little the lack #eariness of a dying race3 gro#n hopeless of all ut olivion4 I tell the tale as men shall tell it in .othi/ue3 the the last last cont contin inen ent3 t3 ene eneat ath h a dim dim sun sun and and sad sad heav heaven enss #h #her ere e the the star starss come come out out in terr terri ile le rightness efore eventide4
I 0matmuo 0matmuorr and "odosma "odosma #ere necromancer necromancerss #ho came came from from the dark isle isle of Naat3 Naat3 to practi practise se their their aleful arts in Tinarath3 eyond the shrunken seas4 &ut they they did did not not pros prospe perr in Tinar Tinarat ath5 h5 for for deat death h #as #as deem deemed ed a holy holy thing thing y the people people of that that gray gray country6 and the nothingness of the tom #as not lightly to e desecrated6 and the raising up of the dead y necromancy #as held in aomination4
"o3 after a short short interval3 interval3 0matmuor 0matmuor and "odosma "odosma #ere driven forth y the anger of the inhaitants3 and #ere compelled to flee to#ard Cincor3 a desert of the south3 south3 #hich #as people peopled d only only y the ones ones and mummies of a race that the pestilence had slain in former time4 The land into #hich they #ent lay drear and leprous and ashen elo# the huge3 emer!colored sun4 Its crumling rocks and deathly solitudes of sand #ould have struck terror to the hearts of common men6 and3 since they had een thrust out in that arren place #ithout food or sustenance3 the plight of the sorcerers might #ell have seemed a desperate one4 &ut3 smiling secret secretly3 ly3 #ith #ith the air of con/ue con/ueror rorss #h #ho o tread tread the approaches of a long!coveted realm3 "odosma and 0matmuor #alked steadily on into Cincor $nroken efore them3 through fields devoid of trees and grass3 and across the channels of dried!up rivers3 there ran the great high#ay y #hich travelers had gone formerly formerly et#ee et#eea a Cincor Cincor and Tinarath4 Tinarath4 (ere they met no living thing6 ut soon they came to the skeletons of a horse and its rider3 lying full in the road3 and #earing still the sumptuous harness and raiment #hich they had #orn in the flesh4 )nd 0matmuor aad "odosma paused efore the piteous ones3 on #hich no shred shred of corrup corruptio tion n remai remaine ned6 d6 and they they smiled smiled evilly at each other4
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1The steed shall e yours31 said 0matmuor3 1since you are a little the elder of us t#o3 and are thus entitled to precedence6 and the rider shall serve us oth and e the first to ackno#ledge fealty to us in Cincor41
1It is a goodly land31 said 0matmuor3 1and you and I #ill share it et#een us3 and hold dominion over all its dead3 and e cro#ned as emperors on the morro# in 2ethlyreom41
Then3 in the ashy sand y the #ayside3 they dre# a threefold circle6 and standing together at its center3 they performed the aominale rites that compel the dead dead to arise arise from from tran/u tran/uilil nothin nothingne gness ss and and oey oey henc hencef efor or#a #ard rd33 in all all thin things gs33 the the dark dark #ill #ill of the the necroman necromancer4 cer4 )fter#ard )fter#ard they they sprinkle sprinkled d a pinch pinch of magic po#der on the nostril!holes of the man and the horse6 and the #hite ones3 creaking mournfully3 rose up from #here they had lain and stood in readiness to serve their masters4
1)ye31 replied "odosma3 1for there is none living to dis pute pute us here6 and those those that #e have summoned summoned from the tom shall move and reathe only at our dictation3 and may not reel against us41
"o3 as had een agreed et#een et#een them3 them3 "odosma "odosma mounted the skeleton steed and took up the 7e#eled reins3 and rode in an evil mockery of Death on his pale hors horse6 e6 #h #hile ile 0mat 0matmu muor or trud trudge ged d on esi eside de him3 him3 leaning lightly on an eon staff6 and the skeleton of the the man3 man3 #ith #ith its its rich rich raim raimen entt flap flappi ping ng loos loosel ely3 y3 follo#ed ehind the t#o like a servitor4 )fte )fterr a #h #hilile3 e3 in the the gray gray #ast #aste3 e3 they they foun found d the the remnant of another horse and rider3 #hich the 7ackals had spared and the sun had dried to the leanness of old mummies4 These also they raised up from death6 and 0matmuor estrode the #ithered charger6 and the the t#o t#o magi magici cian anss rode rode on in stat state3 e3 like like erra errant nt emperors3 #ith a lich and a skeleton to attend them4 8the 8therr one oness and and char charne nell remn remnan ants ts of men men and and eas easts ts33 to #h #hic ich h they they came came anon anon33 #e #ere re duly duly resurrected in like fashion6 so that they gathered to them themsel selves ves an evers# evers#ell elling ing train train in their their progre progress ss through Cincor4 )long )long the #ay3 as they neared neared 2ethlyre 2ethlyreom3 om3 #hich had een the capital3 they found numerous toms and necropoli3 necropoli3 inviolate inviolate still after after many ages3 and contai containin ning g s#ath s#athed ed mummie mummiess that that had had scarce scarcely ly #ithered in death4 )ll these they raised up and called from sepulchral night to do their idding4 "ome they commanded to so# and till the desert fields and hoist #ater from the sunken #ells6 others they left at diverse tasks3 such as the mummies had performed in life4 The century!l century!long ong silence #as roken roken y the noise and tumul tumultt of myriad myriad activit activities ies66 and and the lank liches liches of #eavers toiled at their shuttles6 and the corpses of plo#men follo#ed their furro#s ehind carrion o9en4 Wear Weary y #ith #ith thei theirr stra strang nge e 7our 7ourne ney y and and thei theirr oft! oft! repeated repeated incantations3 incantations3 0matmuor 0matmuor and "odosma sa# efore them at last3 from a desert hill3 the lofty spires and fair3 unroken domes of 2ethlyreom3 steeped in the darkening stagnant lood of ominous sunset4
"o3 in the lood! lood!red red t#ilig t#ilight ht that that thicke thickene ned d #ith #ith purple3 they entered 2ethlyreom and rode on among the lofty3 lampless mansions3 and installed themselves #ith their grisly retinue in that stately and aandoned palace3 #here the dynasty of Nimoth emperors had reigned for t#o thousand years #ith dominion over Cincor4 In the dusty golden halls3 they lit the empty lamps of ony9 y means of their cunning sorcery3 and supped on royal viands3 provided from past years3 #hich they evoked evoked in like manner4 manner4 )ncient )ncient and imperial #ines #ere #e re poure poured d for them them in moonst moonstone one cups y the fleshless hands of their servitors6 and they drank and feas feaste ted d and and reve revelle lled d in fant fantas asma mago gori ric c pomp pomp33 deferring till the morro# the resurrectiom of those #ho lay dead in 2ethlyreom4 They rose etimes3 in the dark crimson da#n3 from the opule opulent nt palace palace!e !eds ds in #h #hich ich they they had had slept6 slept6 for much much remai remaine ned d to e done4 done4 Every# Every#her here e in that that forgotten city3 they #ent usily to and fro3 #orking their spells on the people that had died in the last year of the the pest pest and and had had lain lain unu unuri ried ed44 )nd )nd havi having ng accomplis accomplished hed this3 this3 they passed passed eyond eyond 2ethlyreo 2ethlyreom m into into that that othe otherr city city of high high tom tomss and and migh mighty ty mausoleums3 in #hich lay the Nimoth emperors and the more conse/uential citi:ens and noles of Cincor4 (ere they ade their skeleton slaves to reak in the sealed doors #ith hammers6 and then3 #ith their sinful3 tyrannous incantations3 they called forth the imperial mummies3 even to the eldest of the dynasty3 all of #hom came #alking stiffly3 #ith lightless eyes3 in rich s#athings s#athings se#n #ith flame!right flame!right 7e#els4 7e#els4 )nd also3 also3 later3 they rought forth to a semlance of life many generations of courtiers and dignitaries4 0oving 0oving in solemn solemn pageant pageant33 #ith dark and haughty haughty and hollo# faces3 the dead emperors and empresses of Cinc Cincor or made made oei oeisa sanc nce e to 0mat 0matmu muor or and and "odosma3 and attended them like a train of captives through all the streets of 2ethlyreom4 )fter#ard3 in the immense throne!room of the palace3 the necro necroman mancer cerss mount mounted ed the high high dou doule le throne throne33 #here #here the rightful rightful rulers rulers had sat #ith their consorts4 consorts4 )mid )mid the assem assemle led d empe emperor rors3 s3 in gorge gorgeous ous and and funereal state3 they #ere invested #ith sovereignty y
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1The steed shall e yours31 said 0matmuor3 1since you are a little the elder of us t#o3 and are thus entitled to precedence6 and the rider shall serve us oth and e the first to ackno#ledge fealty to us in Cincor41
1It is a goodly land31 said 0matmuor3 1and you and I #ill share it et#een us3 and hold dominion over all its dead3 and e cro#ned as emperors on the morro# in 2ethlyreom41
Then3 in the ashy sand y the #ayside3 they dre# a threefold circle6 and standing together at its center3 they performed the aominale rites that compel the dead dead to arise arise from from tran/u tran/uilil nothin nothingne gness ss and and oey oey henc hencef efor or#a #ard rd33 in all all thin things gs33 the the dark dark #ill #ill of the the necroman necromancer4 cer4 )fter#ard )fter#ard they they sprinkle sprinkled d a pinch pinch of magic po#der on the nostril!holes of the man and the horse6 and the #hite ones3 creaking mournfully3 rose up from #here they had lain and stood in readiness to serve their masters4
1)ye31 replied "odosma3 1for there is none living to dis pute pute us here6 and those those that #e have summoned summoned from the tom shall move and reathe only at our dictation3 and may not reel against us41
"o3 as had een agreed et#een et#een them3 them3 "odosma "odosma mounted the skeleton steed and took up the 7e#eled reins3 and rode in an evil mockery of Death on his pale hors horse6 e6 #h #hile ile 0mat 0matmu muor or trud trudge ged d on esi eside de him3 him3 leaning lightly on an eon staff6 and the skeleton of the the man3 man3 #ith #ith its its rich rich raim raimen entt flap flappi ping ng loos loosel ely3 y3 follo#ed ehind the t#o like a servitor4 )fte )fterr a #h #hilile3 e3 in the the gray gray #ast #aste3 e3 they they foun found d the the remnant of another horse and rider3 #hich the 7ackals had spared and the sun had dried to the leanness of old mummies4 These also they raised up from death6 and 0matmuor estrode the #ithered charger6 and the the t#o t#o magi magici cian anss rode rode on in stat state3 e3 like like erra errant nt emperors3 #ith a lich and a skeleton to attend them4 8the 8therr one oness and and char charne nell remn remnan ants ts of men men and and eas easts ts33 to #h #hic ich h they they came came anon anon33 #e #ere re duly duly resurrected in like fashion6 so that they gathered to them themsel selves ves an evers# evers#ell elling ing train train in their their progre progress ss through Cincor4 )long )long the #ay3 as they neared neared 2ethlyre 2ethlyreom3 om3 #hich had een the capital3 they found numerous toms and necropoli3 necropoli3 inviolate inviolate still after after many ages3 and contai containin ning g s#ath s#athed ed mummie mummiess that that had had scarce scarcely ly #ithered in death4 )ll these they raised up and called from sepulchral night to do their idding4 "ome they commanded to so# and till the desert fields and hoist #ater from the sunken #ells6 others they left at diverse tasks3 such as the mummies had performed in life4 The century!l century!long ong silence #as roken roken y the noise and tumul tumultt of myriad myriad activit activities ies66 and and the lank liches liches of #eavers toiled at their shuttles6 and the corpses of plo#men follo#ed their furro#s ehind carrion o9en4 Wear Weary y #ith #ith thei theirr stra strang nge e 7our 7ourne ney y and and thei theirr oft! oft! repeated repeated incantations3 incantations3 0matmuor 0matmuor and "odosma sa# efore them at last3 from a desert hill3 the lofty spires and fair3 unroken domes of 2ethlyreom3 steeped in the darkening stagnant lood of ominous sunset4
"o3 in the lood! lood!red red t#ilig t#ilight ht that that thicke thickene ned d #ith #ith purple3 they entered 2ethlyreom and rode on among the lofty3 lampless mansions3 and installed themselves #ith their grisly retinue in that stately and aandoned palace3 #here the dynasty of Nimoth emperors had reigned for t#o thousand years #ith dominion over Cincor4 In the dusty golden halls3 they lit the empty lamps of ony9 y means of their cunning sorcery3 and supped on royal viands3 provided from past years3 #hich they evoked evoked in like manner4 manner4 )ncient )ncient and imperial #ines #ere #e re poure poured d for them them in moonst moonstone one cups y the fleshless hands of their servitors6 and they drank and feas feaste ted d and and reve revelle lled d in fant fantas asma mago gori ric c pomp pomp33 deferring till the morro# the resurrectiom of those #ho lay dead in 2ethlyreom4 They rose etimes3 in the dark crimson da#n3 from the opule opulent nt palace palace!e !eds ds in #h #hich ich they they had had slept6 slept6 for much much remai remaine ned d to e done4 done4 Every# Every#her here e in that that forgotten city3 they #ent usily to and fro3 #orking their spells on the people that had died in the last year of the the pest pest and and had had lain lain unu unuri ried ed44 )nd )nd havi having ng accomplis accomplished hed this3 this3 they passed passed eyond eyond 2ethlyreo 2ethlyreom m into into that that othe otherr city city of high high tom tomss and and migh mighty ty mausoleums3 in #hich lay the Nimoth emperors and the more conse/uential citi:ens and noles of Cincor4 (ere they ade their skeleton slaves to reak in the sealed doors #ith hammers6 and then3 #ith their sinful3 tyrannous incantations3 they called forth the imperial mummies3 even to the eldest of the dynasty3 all of #hom came #alking stiffly3 #ith lightless eyes3 in rich s#athings s#athings se#n #ith flame!right flame!right 7e#els4 7e#els4 )nd also3 also3 later3 they rought forth to a semlance of life many generations of courtiers and dignitaries4 0oving 0oving in solemn solemn pageant pageant33 #ith dark and haughty haughty and hollo# faces3 the dead emperors and empresses of Cinc Cincor or made made oei oeisa sanc nce e to 0mat 0matmu muor or and and "odosma3 and attended them like a train of captives through all the streets of 2ethlyreom4 )fter#ard3 in the immense throne!room of the palace3 the necro necroman mancer cerss mount mounted ed the high high dou doule le throne throne33 #here #here the rightful rightful rulers rulers had sat #ith their consorts4 consorts4 )mid )mid the assem assemle led d empe emperor rors3 s3 in gorge gorgeous ous and and funereal state3 they #ere invested #ith sovereignty y
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the sere hands of the mummy of (estaiyon3 earliest of the Nimoth line3 #ho had ruled in half!mythic years4 Then all the descendants of (estaiyon3 cro#ding the room room in a great great throng throng33 acclai acclaimed med #ith #ith tonele toneless3 ss3 echo!l echo!like ike voices voices the domin dominion ion of 0mat 0matmu muor or and "odosma4 Thus did the outcast necromancers find for themselves themselves an empire empire and and a su7e su7ect ct peop people le in the the desol desolate ate33 arren arren land #here #here the men of Tinarath Tinarath had driven driven them forth to perish4 perish4 ;eignhg supreme supreme over all the dead of Cincor3 y virtue of their malign magic3 they e9ercised a aleful despotism4 Triute #as orne to them y fleshless fleshless porters from outlying outlying realms6 and plague!e plague!eate aten n corpses3 corpses3 and tall mummies mummies scented scented #ith mortuary alsams3 #ent to and fro upon their errands in 2ethlyreom3 or heaped efore their greedy eyes eyes33 fmm fmm ine9 ine9ha haus usti til le e vaul vaults ts33 the the co# co#e e!! lackened gold and dusty gems of anti/ue time4 Dead laorers made their palace!gardens to loom #ith long!perished flo#ers6 liches and skeletons toiled for them them in the mines3 mines3 or reared reared super super3 3 fantas fantastic tic to#ers to the dying sun4 Chamerlains and princes of old old time time #e #ere re thei theirr cup cupea eare rers rs33 and and stri string nged ed instruments #ere plucked for their delight y the slim hands of empresses #ith golden hair that had come forth untarnished from the night of the tom4 Those that #ere fairest3 #hom the plague and the #orm had not ravaged overmuch3 they took for their lemans and made to serve their necrophilic lust4
II In all things things33 the people people of Cincor Cincor perfo performe rmed d the actions of life at the #ill of 0matmuor and "odosma4 They spoke3 they moved3 they ate and drank as in life4 They heard and sa# and felt #ith a similitude of the senses that had een theirs efore death6 ut their rains rains #ere enthralled enthralled y a dreadful dreadful necroma necromancy4 ncy4 They recalled ut dimly their former e9istence6 and the state to #hich they had een summoned #as empty and troulous and shado#!like4 Their lood ran chill and sluggish3 mingled #ith #ater of 'ethe6 and the vapors of 'ethe clouded their eyes4 Dumly they oeyed the dictates of their tyrannous lords3 lords3 #itho #ithout ut reell reellion ion or prote protest3 st3 ut filled #ith #ith a vague3 vague3 illimitale illimitale #eariness #eariness such as the dead must kno#3 #hen having drunk of eternal sleep3 they are called called ack once more to the itterne itterness ss of mortal eing4 They kne# no passion or desire4 or delight3 only the lack languor of their a#akening from 'ethe3 and a gray3 ceaseless longing to return to that interrupted slumer4
2oungest and last of the Nimoth emperors #as Illeiro3 #ho had died in the first month of the plague4 and had lain in his high!uilt mausoleum for t#o hundred years efore the coming of the necromancers4 ;aised up #ith his people and his fathers to attend the tyrants3 Illeiro had resumed the emptiness of e9istence #ithou #ithoutt /uest /uestion ion and and had felt no surpri surprise4 se4 (e had acce accept pted ed his his o# o#n n resu resurr rrec ecti tion on and and that that of his his ancestors as one accepts the indignities and marvels of a dream4 (e kne# that he had come ack to a faded sun3 to a hollo# and spectral #orld3 to an order of things in #hich his place #as merely that of an oedient shado#4 &ut at first he #as trouled only3 like the others3 y a dim #eariness and pale hunger for the lost olivion4 Drugged y the magic of his overlords3 #eak from the age!l ge!lo ong nulli ullitty of death ath3 he eh eheld like like a somnamulist the enormities to #hich his fathers #ere su7ected4 2et3 someho#3 after many days3 a feele spark a#oke in the sodden t#ilight of his mind4 'ike 'ike some someth thin ing g lost lost and and irre irretr trie ieva val le3 e3 eyo eyond nd prodigious gulfs3 he recalled the pomp of his reign in 2ethlyreom3 and the golden pride and e9ultation that had een his in youth4 )nd recalling it3 he felt a vague stirri stirring ng of revolt revolt33 a ghostl ghostly y resen resentme tment nt agains againstt the magicians #ho had haled him forth to this calamitous mockery of life4 Darkly he egan to grieve for his fallen state3 and the mournful plight of his ancestors and his people4 Day y day3 as a cup!earer in the halls #here he had had rule ruled d afor aforet etim ime3 e3 Ille Illeir iro o sa# sa# the the doin doings gs of 0matmuor and "odosma4 (e sa# their caprices of crue cruelt lty y and and lust lust33 thei theirr gro# gro#in ing g drun drunke kenn nnes esss and and glutt lutton ony y4 (e #atche ched the them #allo# lo# in their necromantic lu9ury3 and ecome la9 #ith indolence3 gross #ith indulgence3 They neglected the study of their art3 they forgot many of their spells4 &ut still they ruled3 mighty and formidale6 and3 lolling on couches of purple and rose3 they planned to lead an army of the dead against Tinarath4 Dreaming of con/uest3 and of vaster necromancies3 they gre# fat and slothful as #orms that have installed thems themselv elves es in a charne charnell rich rich #ith #ith corrup corruptio tion4 n4 )nd pace y pace #ith their la9ness and tyranny3 the fire of reellion mounted in the shado#y heart of Illeiro3 like a flame that struggles #ith 'ethean damps4 )nd slo#ly3 #ith the #a9ing of his #rath3 there returned to him something of the strength and firmness that had een his in life4 "eeing the turpitude of the oppressors3 and kno#ing the #rong that had een done to the helpless dead3 he heard in his rain the clamor of stifled voices demanding vengeance4
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)mong his fathers3 through the palace!halls of 2ethlyreom3 Illeiro moved silently at the idding of the masters3 or stood a#aiting their command4 (e poured in their cups of ony9 the amer vintages3 rought y #i:ardry from hills eneath a younger sun6 he sumitted to their contumelies and insults4 )nd night y night he #atched them nod in their drunkenness3 till they fell asleep3 flushed and gross3 amid their arrogated splendor4 There #as little speech among the living dead6 and son and father3 daughter and mother3 lover and eloved3 #ent to and fro #ithout sign of recognition3 making no comment on their evil lot4 &ut at last3 one midnight3 #hen the tyrants lay in slumer3 and the flames #avered in the necromantic lamps3 Illeiro took counsel #ith (estaiyon3 his eldest ancestor3 #ho had een famed as a great #i:ard in fale and #as reputed to have kno#n the secret lore of anti/uity4 (estaiyon stood apart from the others3 in a corner of the shado#y hall4 (e #as ro#n and #ithered in his crumling mummy!cloths6 and his lightless osidian eyes appeared to ga:e still upon nothingness4 (e seemed not to have heard the /uestions of Illeiro6 ut at length3 in a dry3 rustling #hisper3 he responded5 1I am old3 and the night of the sepulcher #as long3 and I have forgotten much4 2et3 groping ack#ard across the void of death3 it may e that I shall retrieve something of my former #isdom6 and et#een us #e shall devise a mode of deliverance41 )nd (estaiyon searched among the shreds of memory3 as one #ho reaches into a place #here the #orm has een and the hidden archives of old time have rotted in their covers6 till at last he rememered3 and said5 1I recall that I #as once a mighty #i:ard6 and among other things3 I kne# the spells of necromancy6 ut employed them not3 deeming their use and the raising up of the dead an ahorrent act4 )lso3 I possessed other kno#ledge6 and perhaps3 among the remnants of that ancient lore3 there is something #hich may serve to guide us no#4 +or I recall a dim3 duitale prophecy3 made in the primal years3 at the founding of 2ethlyreom and the empire of Cincor4 The prophecy #as3 that an evil greater than death #ould efall the emperors and the people of Cincor in future times6 and that the first and the last of the Nimoth dynasty3 conferring together3 #ould effect a mode of release and the lifting of the doom4 The evil #as not named in the prophecy5 ut it #as said that the t#o emperors #ould learn the solution of their prolem y the reaking of an ancient clay image that guards the nethermost vault elo# the imperial palace in 2ethlyreom41
Then3 having heard this prophecy from the faded lips of his forefather3 Illeiro mused a #hile3 and said5 1I rememer no# an afternoon in early youth3 #hen searching idly through the unused vaults of our palace3 as a oy might do3 I came to the last vault and found therein a dusty3 uncouth image of clay3 #hose form and countenance #ere strange to me4 )nd3 kno#ing not the prophecy4 I turned a#ay in disappointment3 and #ent ack as idly as I had come3 to seek the moted sunlight41 Then3 stealing a#ay from their heedless kinfolk3 and carrying 7e#eled lamps they had taken from the hall3 (estaiyon and Illeiro #ent do#n#ard y suterranean stairs eneath the palace6 and3 threading like implacale furtive shado#s the ma:e of nighted corridors3 they came at last to the lo#est crypt4 (ere3 in the lack dust and clotted co#es of an immemorial past3 they found3 as had een decreed3 the clay image3 #hose rude features #ere those of a forgotten earthly god4 )nd Illeiro shattered the image #ith a fragment of stone6 and he and (estaiyon took from its hollo# center a great s#ord of unrusted steel3 and a heavy key of untarnished ron:e3 and talets of right rass on #hich #ere inscried the various things to e done3 so that Cincor should e rid of the dark reign of the necromancers and the people should #in ack to olivious death4 "o3 #ith the key of untarnished ron:e3 Illeiro unlocked3 as the talets had instructed him to do3 a lo# and narro# door at the end of the nethermost vault3 eyond the roken image6 and he and (estaiyon sa#3 as had een prophesied3 the coiling steps of somer stone that led do#n#ard to an undiscovered ayss3 #here the sunken fires of earth still urned4 )nd leaving Illeiro to #ard the open door3 (estaiyon took up the s#ord of unrusted steel in his thin hand3 and #ent ack to the hall #here the necromancers slept3 lying a!spra#l on their couches of rose and purple3 #ith the #an3 loodless dead aout them in patient ranks4 $pheld y the ancient prophecy and the lore of the right talets3 (estaiyon lifted the great s#ord and struck off the head of 0matmuor and the head of "odosma3 each #ith a single lo#4 Then3 as had een directed3 he /uartered the remains #ith mighty strokes4 )nd the necromancers gave up their unclean lives3 and lay supine3 #ithout movement3 adding a deeper red to the rose and a righter hue to the sad purple of their couches4 Then3 to his kin3 #ho stood silent and listless3 hardly kno#ing their lieration3 the venerale mummy of (estaiyon spoke in sere murmurs3 ut authoritatively3
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Zothique
Clark Ashton Smith
as a king #ho issues commands to his children4 The dead emperors and empresses stirred3 like autumn leaves in a sudden #ind3 and a #hisper passed among them and #ent forth from the palace3 to e communicated at length3 y devious #ays3 to all the dead of Cincor4 )ll that night3 and during the lood!dark day that follo#ed3 y #avering torches or the light of the failing sun3 an endless army of plague!eaten liches3 of tattered skeletons3 poured in a ghastly torrent through the streets of 2ethlyreom and along the palace!hall #here (estaiyon stood guard aove the slain necromancers4 $npausing3 #ith vague3 fi9ed eyes3 they #ent on like driven shado#s3 to seek the suterraaean vaults elo# the palace3 to pass through the open door #here Illeiro #aited in the last vault3 and then to #end do#n#ard y a thousand thousand steps to the verge of that gulf in #hich oiled the eing fires of earth4 There3 from the verge3 they flung themselves to a second death and the clean annihilation of the ottomless flames4 &ut3 after all had gone to their release3 (estaiyon still remained3 alone in the fading sunset3 eside the cloven corpses of 0matmuor and "odosma4 There3 as the talets had directed him to do3 he made trial of those spells of elder necromancy #hich he had kno#n in his former #isdom3 and cursed the dismemered odies #ith that perpetual life!in!death #hich 0matmuor and "odosma had sought to inflict upon the people of Cincor4 )nd maledictions came from the pale lips3 and the heads rolled horrily #ith glaring eyes3 and the lims and torsos #rithed on their imperial couches amid clotted lood4 Then3 #ith no ack#ard look3 kno#ing that all #as done as had een ordained and predicted from the first3 the mummy of (estaiyon left the necromancers to their doom3 and #ent #earily through the nighted layrinth of vaults to re7oin Illeiro4 "o3 in tran/uil silence3 #ith no further need of #ords3 Illeiro and (estaiyon passed through the open door of the nether vault3 and Illeiro locked the door ehind them #ith its key of untarnished ron:e4 )nd thence3 y the coiling stairs3 they #ended their #ay to the verge of the sunken flames and #ere one #ith their kinfolk and their people in the last3 ultinate nothingness4 &ut of 0matmuor and "odosma3 men say that their /uartered odies cra#l to and fro to this day in 2ethlyreom3 finding no peace or respite from their doom of life!indeath4 and seeking vainly through the lack ma:e of nether vaults the door that #as locked y Illeiro4
The Isle of the Torturers &et#een the sun1s departure and return3 the "ilver Death had fallen upon 2oros4 Its advent3 ho#ever3 had een foretold in many prophecies3 oth immemorial and recent4 )strologers had said that this mysterious malady3 heretofore unkno#n on earth3 #ould descend from the great star3 )chernar3 #hich presided alefully over all the lands of the southern continent of .othi/ue6 and having sealed the flesh of a myriad men #ith its right3 metallic pallor3 the plague #ould still go on#ard in time and space3 orne y the dim currents of ether to other #orlds4 Dire #as the "ilver Death6 and none kne# the secret of its contagion or the cure4 "#ift as the desert #ind3 it came into 2oros from the devastated realm of Tasuun3 overtaking the very messengers #ho ran y night to give #arning of its nearness4 Those #ho #ere smitten felt an icy3 free:ing cold3 an instant rigor3 as if the outermost gulf had reathed upon them4 Their faces and odies #hitened strangely3 gleaming #ith a #an luster3 and ecame stiff as long!dead corpses3 all in an interim of minutes4 In the streets of "ilpon and "iloar3 and in +araad3 the capital of 2oros3 the plague passed like an eery3 glittering light from countenance to countenance under the golden lamps6 and the victims fell #here they #ere stricken6 and the deathly rightness remained upon them4 The loud3 tumultuous pulic carnivals #ere stifled y its passing3 and the merry!makers #ere fro:en in frolic attitudes4 In proud mansions3 the #ine!flushed revelers gre# pale amid their garish feasts3 and reclined in their opulent chairs3 still holding the half!emptied cups #ith rigid fingers4 0erchants lay in their counting! houses on the heaped coins they had egun to reckon6 and thieves3 entering later3 #ere unale to depart #ith their ooty4 Diggers died in the half completed graves they had dug for others6 ut no one came to dispute their possession4 There #as no time to flee from the strange3 inevitale scourge4 Dreadfully and /uickly3 eneath the clear stars3 it reathed upon 2oros6 and fe# #ere they #ho a#akened from slumer at da#n4 +ulra3 the young king of 2oros3 #ho had ut ne#ly suceeeded to the throne3 #as virtually a ruler #ithout a people4 +ulra had spent the night of the plague1s advent on a high to#er of his palace aove +araad5 an oservatory to#er3 e/uipped #ith astronomical appliances4 ) great heaviness had lain on his heart3 and his thoughts #ere dulled #ith an opiate despair6 ut sleep #as remote from his eye!lids4 (e kne# the
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many predictions that foretold the "ilver Death6 and moreover he had read its imminent coming in the stars3 #ith the aid of the old astrologer and sorcerer3 Vemdee:4 This latter kno#ledge he and Vemdee: had not cared to promulgate3 kno#ing full #ell that the doom of 2oros #as a thing decreed from all time y infinite destiny6 and that no man could evade the doom3 unless it #ere #ritten that he should die in another #ay than this4 No# Vemdee: had cast the horoscope of +ulra6 and though he found therein certain amiguities that his science could not resolve3 it #as nevertheless #ritten plainly that the king #ould not die in 2oros4 Where he #ould die3 and in #hat manner3 #ere alike doutful4 &ut Vemdee:3 #ho had served )ltath the father of +ulra3 and #as no less devoted to the ne# ruler3 had #rought y means of his magical art an enchanted ring that #ould protect +ulra from the "ilver Death in all times and places4 The ring #as made of a strange4 red metal3 darker than ruddy gold or copper3 and #as set #ith a lack and olong gem3 not kno#n to terrestrial lapidaries3 that gave forth eternally a strong aromatic perfume4 The sorcerer told +ulra never to remove the ring from the middle finger on #hich he #ore it < not even in lands afar from 2oros and in days after the passing of the "ilver Death5 for if once the plague had reathed upon +ulra3 he #ould ear its sutle contagion al#ays in his flesh6 and the contagion #ould assume its #onted virulence #ith the ring1s removal4 &ut Vemdee: did not tell the origin of the red metal and the dark gem3 nor the price at #hich the protective magic had een purchased4 With a sad heart3 +ulra had accepted the ring and had #orn it6 and so it #as that the "ilver Death le# over him in the night and harmed him not4 &ut #aiting an9iously on the high to#er3 and #atching the golden lights of +araad rather than the #hite3 implacale stars3 he felt a light3 passing chillness that elonged not to the summer air4 )nd even as it passed the gay noises of the city ceased6 and the moaning lutes faltered strangely and e9pired4 ) stillness crept on the carnival6 and some of the lamps #ent out and #ere not re!lit4 In the palace eneath him there #as also silence6 and he heard no more the laughter of his courtiers and chamerlains4 )nd Vemdee: came not3 as #as his custom3 to 7oin +ulra on the to#er at midnight4 "o +ulra kne# himself for a realmless king6 and the grief that he still felt for the nole )ltath #as s#ollen y a great sorro# for his perished people4 (our y hour he sat motionless3 too sorro#ful for tears4 The stars changed aove him6 and )chernar glared dovm perpetually like the right3 cruel eye of a mocking demon6 and the heavy alsam of the lack! 7e#eled ring arose to his nostrils and seemed to stifle
him4 )nd once the thought occurred to +ulra3 to cast the ring a#ay and die as his people had died4 &ut his despair #as too heavy upon him even for this6 and so3 at length3 the da#n came slo#ly in heavens pale as the "ilver Death3 and found him still on the to#er4 In the da#n3 King +ulra rose and descended the coiled stairs of porphyry into his palace4 )nd mid#ay on the stairs he sa# the fallen corpse of the old sorcerer Vemdee:3 #ho had died even as he climed to 7oin his master4 The #rinkled face of Vemdee: #as like polished metal3 and #as #hiter than his eard and hair6 and his open eyes3 #hich had een dark as sapphires3 #ere frosted #ith the plague4 Then3 grieving greatly for the death of Vemdee:3 #hom he had loved3 as a foster!father3 the king #ent slo#ly on4 )nd in the suites and halls elo#3 he found the odies of his courtiers and servants and guardsmen4 )nd none remained alive3 e9cepting three slaves #ho #arded the green3 ra:en portals of the lo#er vaults3 far eneath the palace4 No# +ulra ethought him of the counsel of Vemdee:3 #ho had urged him to flee from 2oros and to seek shelter in the southern isle of Cyntrom3 #hich paid triute to the kings of 2oros4 )nd though he had no heart for this3 nor for any course of action3 +ulra ade the three remaining slaves to gather food and such other supplies as #ere necessary for a voyage of some length3 and to carry them aoard a royal arge of eony that #as moored at the palace porticoes on the river Voum3 Then3 emarking #ith the slaves3 he took the helm of the arge3 and directed the slaves to unfurl the road amer sail4 )nd past the stately city of +araad3 #hose streets #ere thronged #ith the silvery dead3 they sailed on the #idening 7asper estuary of the Voum3 and into the amaranth!colored guIf of the Indaskian "ea4 ) favorale #ind #as ehind them3 lo#ing from the north over desolate Tasuun and 2oros3 even as the "ilver Death had lo#n in the night4 )nd idly eside them3 on the Voum3 there floated sea#ard many vessels #hose cre#s and captains had all died of the plague4 )nd +araad #as still as a necropolis of old time6 and nothing stirred on the estuary shores3 e9cepting the plumy3 fanshapen palms that s#ayed south#ard in the freshening #ind4 )nd soon the green strand of 2oros receded3 gathering to itself the lueness and the dreams of distance4 Creaming #ith a #iny foam3 full of strange murmurous voices and vague tales of e9otic things3 the halcyon sea #as aout the voyagers no# eneath the high! lifting summer sun4 &ut the sea1s enchanted voices and its long languorous3 immeasurale cradling could
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Clark Ashton Smith
not soothe the sorro# of +ulra6 and in his heart a despair aided3 lack as the gem that #as set in the red ring af Vemdee:4 (o#eit3 he held the great helm of the eon arge3 and steered as straightly as he could y the sun to#ard Cyntrom4 The amer sail #as taut #ith the favoring #ind6 and the arge sped on#ard all that day3 cleaving the amaranth #aters #ith its dark pro# that reared in the carven form of an eony goddess4 )nd #hen the night came #ith familiar austral stars3 +ulra #as ale to correct such errors as he had made in reckoning the course4 +or many days they fle# south#ard6 and the sun lo#ered a little in its circling ehind them6 and ne# stars climed and clustered at evening aout the lack goddess of the pro#4 )nd +ulra3 #ho had once sailed to the isle of Cymtrom in oyhood days #ith his father )ltath3 thought to see ere long the lifting of its shores of camphor and sandal#ood from the #iny deep4 &ut in his heart there #as no gladness6 and often no# he #as linded y #ild tears3 rememering that other voyage #ith )ltath4 Then3 suddenly and at high noon3 there fell an airless cain3 and the #aters ecame as purple glass aout the arge4 The sky changed to a dome of eaten copper3 arching close and lo#6 and as if y some evil #i:ardry3 the dome darkened #ith untimely night3 and a tempest rose like the gathered reath of mighty devils and shaped the sea into vast ridges3 and aysmal valleys4 The mast of eony snapped like a reed in the #ind3 and the sail #as torn asunder3 and the helpless vessel pitched headlong in the dark troughs and #as hurled up#ard through veils of linding foam to the giddy summits of the illo#s4 +ulra clung to the useless helm3 and the slaves3 at his command3 took shelter in the for#ard cain4 +or countless hours they #ere orne on#ard at the #ill of the mad hurricane6 and +ulra could see naught in the lo#ering gloom3 e9cept the pale crests of the eetling #aves6 and he could tell no longer the direction of their course4 Then3 in that lurid dusk3 he eheld at intervals another vessel that rode the storm!driven sea3 not far from the arge4 (e thought that the vessel #as a galley such as might e used y merchants that voyaged among the southern isles3 trading for incense and plumes and vermilion6 ut its oars #ere mostly roken3 and the toppled mast and sail hung for#ard on the pro#4 +or a time the ships drove on together6 till +ulra sa#3 in a rifting of the gloom3 the sharp and somer crags of an unkno#n shore3 #ith sharper to#ers that lifted palely aove them4 (e could not turn the helm6 and
the arge and its companion vessel #ere carried to#ard the looming rocks3 till +ulra thought that they #ould crash thereon4 &ut3 as if y some enchantment3 even as it had risen3 the sea fell aruptly in a #indless calm6 and /uiet sunlight poured from a clearing sky6 and the arge #as left on a road crescent of ochre! yello# sand et#een the crags and the lulling #aters3 #ith the galley eside it4 Da:ed and marveling3 +ulra leaned on the helm3 #hile his slaves crept timidly forth from the cain3 and men egan to appear on the decks of the galley4 )nd the king #as aout to hail these men3 some of #hom #ere dressed as humle sailors and others in the fashion of rich merchants4 &ut he heard a laughter of strange voices3 high and shrill and someho# evil3 that seemed to fall from aove6 and looking up he sa# that many people #ere descending a sort of stair#ay in the cliffs that enclosed the each4 The people dre# near3 thronging aout the arge and the galley4 They #ore fantastic turans of lood! red3 and #ere clad in closely fitting roes of vulturine lack4 Their faces and hands #ere yello# as saffron6 their small and slaty eyes #ere set oli/uely eneath lashless lids6 and their thin lips3 #hich smiled eternally3 #ere crooked4 as the lades of scimitars4 They ore sinister and #icked!looking #eapons3 in the form of sa#!toothed s#ords and douled!headed spears4 "ome of them o#ed lo# efore +ulra and addressed him ose/uiously3 staring upon him all the #hile #ith an unlinking ga:e that he could not fathom4 Their speech #as no less alien than their aspect6 it #as full of sharp and hissing sounds6 and neither the king nor his slaves could comprehend it4 &ut +ulra espoke the people courteously3 in the mild and mello#!flo#ing tongue of 2oros3 and in/uired the name of this land #hereon the arge had een cast y the tempest4 Certain of the people seemed to understand him3 for a light came in their slaty eyes at his /uestion6 and one of them ans#ered rokenly in the language of 2oros3 saying that the land #as the Isle of $ccastrog3 Then3 #ith something of covert evil in his smile3 this person added that all ship#recked mariners and seafarers #ould receive a goodly #elcome from Ildrac3 the king of the Isle4 )t this3 the heart of +ulra sank #ithin him6 for he had heard numerous tales of $ccastrog in ygone years6 and the tales #ere not such as #ould reassure a stranded traveler4 $ccastrog3 #hich lay far to the east of Cyntrom3 #as commonly kno#n as the Isle of the Torturers6 and men said that all #ho landed upon it una#are3 or #ere cast thither y the seas3 #ere imprisoned y the inhaitants and #ere su7ected
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later to unending curious tortures #hose infliction formed the chief delight of these cruel eings4 No man3 it #as rumored3 had ever escaped from $ccastrog6 ut many had lingered for years in its dungeons and hellish torture chamers3 kept alive for the pleasure of King Ildrac and his follo#ers4 )lso3 it #as elieved that the Torturers #ere great magicians #ho could raise mighty storms #ith their enchantments3 and could cause vessels to e carried far from the maritime routes3 and then fling them ashore upon $ccastrog4 "eeing that the yello# people #ere all aout the arge3 and that no escape #as possile3 +ulra asked them to take him at once efore King Ildrac4 To Ildrac he #ould announce his name and royal rank6 and it seemed to him3 in his simplicity3 that one king3 even though cruel!hearted3 #ould scarceIy torture another or keep him captive4 )lso3 it might e that the inhaitants of $ccastrog had een some#hat maligned y the tales of travelers4 "o +ulra and his slaves #ere surrounded y certain of the throng and #ere led to#ard the palace of Ildrac3 #hose high3 sharp to#ers cro#ned the crags eyond the each3 rising aove those clustered aodes in #hich the island people d#elt4 )nd #hile they #ere climing the he#n steps in the cliff3 +ulra heard a loud outcry elo# and a clashing of steel against steel6 and looking ack3 he sa# that the cre# of the stranded galley had dra#n their s#ords and #ere fighting the islanders4 &ut eing outnumered greatly3 their resistance #as orne do#n y the s#arming Torturers6 and most of them #ere taken alive4 )nd +ulra1s heart misgave him sorely at this sight6 and more and nore did he mistrust the yello# people4 "oon he came into the presence of Ildrac3 #ho sat on a lofty ra:en chair in a vast hall of the palace4 Ildrac #as taller y half a head than any of his follo#ers6 and his features #ere like a mask of evil #rought from some pale3 gilded metal6 and he #as clad in vestments of a strange hue3 like sea!purple rightened #ith fresh!flo#ing lood4 )out him #ere many guardsmen3 armed #ith terrile scythe!like #eapons6 and the sullen3 slant!eyed girls of the palace3 in skirts of vermilion and reast!cups of la:uli3 #ent to and fro among huge asaltic columns4 )out the hall stood numerous engineries of #ood and stone and metal such as +ulra had never eheld3 and having a formidale aspect #ith their heavy chains3 their eds of iron teeth and their cords and pulleys of fish!skin4 The young king of 2oros #ent for#ard #ith a royal and fearless earing3 and addressed Ildrac3 #ho sat motionless and eyed him #ith a level3 un#inking ga:e4 )nd +ulra told Ildrac his name and station3 and the calamity that had caused him to flee from 2oros6 and
he mentioned also his urgent desire to reach the Isle of Cyntrom4 1It is a long voyage to Cyntrom31 said Ildrac3 #ith a sutle smile4 1)lso3 it is not our custom to permit guests to depart #ithout having fully tasted the hospitality of the Isle of $ccastrog4 Therefore3 King +ulra3 I must eg you to cur your impatience4 We have much to sho# you here3 and many diversions to offer4 0y chamerlains #ill no# conduct you to a room efitting your royal rank4 &ut first I must ask you to leave #ith me the s#ord that you carry at your side6 for s#ords are often sharp < and I do not #ish my guests to suffer in7ury y their o#n hands41 "o +ulra1s s#ord #as taken from him y one of the palace guardsmen6 and a small ruy!hilted dagger that he carried #as also removed4 Then several of the guards3 hemming him in #ith their scythed #eapons3 led him from the hall and y many corridors and do#n#ard flights of stairs into the soft rock eneath the palace4 )nd he kne# not #hither his three slaves #ere taken3 or #hat disposition #as made of the captured cre# of the galley4 )nd soon he passed from the daylight into cavernous halls illumed y sulfur! colored flames in copper cressets6 and all around him3 in hidden chamers3 he heard the sound of dismal moans and loud3 maniacal ho#lings that seemed to eat and die upon adamantine doors4 In one of these halls3 +ulra and his guardsnen met a young girl3 fairer and less sullen of aspect than the others6 and +ulra thought that the girl smiled upon him compassionately as he #ent y6 and it seemed that she murmured faintly in the language of 2oros5 1Take heart3 King +ulra31 for there is one #ho #ould help you41 )nd her #ords apparently3 #ere not heeded or understood y the guards3 #ho kne# only the harsh and hissing tongue of $ccastrog4 )fter descending many stairs3 they came to a ponderous door of ron:e6 and the door #as unlocked y one of the guards3 and +ulra #as compelled to enter6 and the door clanged dolorously ehind him4 The chamer into #hich he had een thrust #as #alled on three sides #ith the dark stone of the island3 and #as #alled on the fourth #ith heavy3 unreakale glass4 &eyond the glass he sa# the lue! green3 glimnering #aters of the undersea3 lit y the hanging cressets of the chamer6 and in the #aters #ere great devil!fish #hose tentacles #rithed along the #all6 and huge pythonomorphs #ith faulous golden coils receding in the gloom6 and the floating corpses of men that stared in upon him #ith eyealls from #hich the lids had een e9cised4 There #as a couch in one comer of the dungeon3 close to the #all of glass6 and food and drink had
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een supplied for +ulra in vessels of #ood4 The king laid himself do#n3 #eary and hopeless3 #ithout tasting the food4 Then3 lying #ith close!shut eyes #hile the dead men and sea!monsters peered in upon him y the glare of the cressets3 he strove to forget his griefs and the dolorous doom that impended4 )nd through his clouding terror and sorro#3 he seemed to see the comely face of the girl #ho had smiled upon him compassionately3 and #ho3 alone of all that he had met in $ccastrog3 had spoken to him #ith #ords of kindness4 The face returned ever and anon3 #ith a soft haunting3 a gentle sorcery6 and +ulra felt3 for the first time in many suns3 the dim stirring of his uried youth and the vague3 oscure desire of life4 "o3 after a #hile3 he slept6 and the face of the girl came still efore him in his dreams4 The cressets urned aove him #ith undiminished flames #hen he a#akened6 and the sea eyond the #all of glass #as thronged #ith the same monsters as efore3 or #ith others of like kind4 &ut amid the floating corpses he no# eheld the flayed odies of his o#n slaves3 #ho3 after eing tortured y the island people3 had een cast forth into the sumarine cavern that ad7oined his dungeon3 so that he might see them on a#akening4 (e sickened #ith ne# horror at the sight6 ut even as he stared at the dead faces3 the door of ron:e s#ung open #ith a sullen grinding3 and his guards entered4 "eeing that he had not consumed the food and #ater provided for him3 they forced him to eat and drink a little3 menacing him #ith their road3 crooked lades till he complied4 )nd then they led him from the dungeon and took him efore King Ildrac3 in the great hall of tortures4 +ulra sa#3 y the level golden light through the palace #indo#s and the long shado#s of the columns and machines of torment3 that the time #as early da#n4 The hall #as cro#ded #ith the Torturers and their #omen6 and many seemed to look on #hile others3 of oth se9es3 usied themselves #ith ominous preparations4 )nd +ulra sa# that a tall ra:en statue3 #ith cruel and demonian visage3 like some implacale god of the under#orld3 #as no# standing at the right hand of Ildrac #here he sat aloft on his ra:en chair4 +ulra #as thrust for#ard y his guards3 and Ildrac greeted him riefly3 #ith a #ily smile that preceded the #ords and lingered after them4 )nd #hen Ildrac had spoken3 the ra:en image also egan to speak3 addressing +ulra in the language of 2oros3 #ith strident and metallic tones3 and telling him #ith full and minute circumstance the various infernal tortures to #hich he #as to e su7ected on that day4
When the statue had done speaking3 +ulra heard a soft #hisper in his ear3 and sa# eside him the fair girl #hom he had previously met in the nether corridors4 )nd the girl3 seemingly unheeded y the Torturers3 said to him5 1&e courageous3 and endure ravely all that is inflicted6 for I shall effect your release efore another day3 if this e possile41 +ulra #as cheered y the girl1s assurance6 and it seemed to him that she #as fairer to look upon than efore6 and he thought that her eyes regarded him tenderly6 and the t#in desires of love and life #ere strangely resurrected in his heart3 to fortify him against the tortures of Ildrac4 8f that #hich #as done to +ulra for the #icked pleasure of King Ildrac and his people3 it #ere not #ell to speak fully4 +or the islanders of $ccastrog had designed innumerale torments3 curious and sutle3 #here#ith to harry and e9cruciate the five senses6 and they could harry the rain itself3 driving it to e9tremes more terrile than madness6 and could take a#ay the dearest treasures of memory and leave unutterale foulness in their place4 8n that day3 ho#ever3 they did not torture +ulra to the uttermost4 &ut they racked his ears #ith cacophonous sounds6 #ith evil flutes that chilled the lood and curdled it upon his heart6 #ith deep drums that seemed to ache in all his tissues6 and thin taors that #renched his very ones4 Then they compelled him to reathe the mounting fumes of ra:iers #herein the dried gall of dragons and the adipocere of dead cannials #ere urned together #ith a fetid #ood4 Then3 #hen the fire had died do#n3 they freshened it #ith the oil of vampire ats6 and +ulra s#ooned3 unale to ear the fetor any longer4 'ater3 they stripped a#ay his kingly vestments and fastened aout his ody a silken girdle that had een freshly dipt in an acid carrosive only to human flesh6 and the acid ate slo#ly3 fretting his skin #ith infinite pangs4 Then3 after removing the girdle lest it slay him3 the Torturers rought in certain creatures that had the shape of elllong serpents3 ut #ere covered from head to tail #ith sale hairs like those of a caterpillar4 )nd these creatures t#ined themselves tightly aout the arms and legs of +ulra6 and though he fought #ildly in his revulsion3 he could not loosen them #ith his hands6 and the hairs that covered their constringent coils egan to pierce his lims like a million tiny needles3 till he screamed #ith the agony4 )nd #hen his reath failed him and he could scream no longer3 the ay serpents #ere induced to relin/uish their hold y a languorous piping of #hich the islanders kne# the secret4 They dropped a#ay
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and left him6 ut the mark of their coils #as imprinted redly aout his lims6 and around his ody there urned the ra# randing of the girdle4 King Ildrac and his people looked on #ith a dreadful gloating6 for in such things they took their 7oy3 and strove to pacify an implacale oscure desire4 &ut seeing no# that +ulra could endure no more3 and #ishing to #reak their #ill upon him for many future days3 they took him ack to his dungeon4 'ying sick #ith rememered horror3 feverish #ith pain3 he longed not for the clemency of death3 ut hoped for the coming of the girl to release him as she had promised4 The long hours passed #ith a half!delirious tedium6 and the cressets3 #hose flames had een changed to crimson3 appeared to fill his eyes #ith flo#ing lood6 and the dead men and the sea! monsters s#am as if in lood eyond the #all of glass4 )nd the girl came not6 and +ulra had egun to despair4 Then3 at last3 he heard the door open gently and not #ith the harsh clangor that had proclaimed the entrance of his guards4 Turning3 he sa# the girI3 #ho stole s#iftly to his couch #ith a lifted fingertip3 en7oining silence4 "he told him #ith soft #hispers that her plan had failed6 ut surely on the follo#ing night she #ould e ale to drug the guards and otain the keys of the outer gates6 and +ulra could escape from the palace to a hidden cove in #hich a oat #ith #ater and provisions lay ready for his use4 "he prayed him to endure for another day the torments of Ildrac6 and to this3 perforce3 he consented4 )nd he thought that the girl loved him6 for tenderly she caressed his feverous ro#3 and rued his torture!urning lims #ith a soothing ointment4 (e deemed that her eyes #ere soft #ith a compassion that #as more than pity4 "o +ulra elieved the girl and trusted her3 and took heart against the horror of the coming day4 (er name3 it seemed3 #as Ilvaa6 and her mother #as a #oman of 2oros #ho had married one of the evil islanders3 choosing this repugnant union as an alternative to the flaying!knives of Ildrac4 Too soon the girl #ent a#ay3 pleading the great danger of discovery3 and closed the door softly upon +ulra4 )nd after a #hile the king slept6 and Ilvaa returned to him anid the delirious aominations of his dreams3 and sustained him against the terror of strange hells4 )t da#n the guards came #ith their hooked #eapons3 and led him again efore Ildrac4 )nd again the ra:en3 demoniac statue3 in a strident voice3 announced the fearful ordeals that he #as to undergo4 )nd this time he sa# that other captives3 including the cre# and merchants of the galley3 #ere
also a#aiting the malefic ministrations of the Torturers in the vast hall4 8nce more in the throng of #atchers the girl Ilvaa pressed close to him3 unreprimanded y his guards3 and murmured #ords of comfort6 so that +ulra #as enheartened against the enormities foretold y the ra:en oracular image4 )nd indeed a old and hopeful heart #as re/uired to endure the ordeals of that day444 )mong other things less goodly to e mentioned3 the Torturers held efore +ulra a mirror of strange #i:ardry3 #herein his o#n face #as reflected as if seen after death4 The rigid features3 as he ga:ed upon them3 ecame marked #ith the green and luish marling of corruption6 and the #ithering flesh fell in on the sharp ones3 and displayed the visile fretting of the #orm4 (earing mean#hile the dolorous groans and agoni:ing cries of his fello# captives all aout the hall3 he eheld other faces3 dead3 s#ollen3 lidless3 and flayed3 that seemed to approach him from ehind and to throng aout his o#n face in the mirror4 Their looks #ere dank and dripping3 like the hair of corpses recovered from the sea6 and sea!#eed #as mingled #ith the locks4 Then3 turning at a cold and clammy touch3 he found that these faces #ere no illusion ut the actual reflection of cadavers dra#n from the under!sea y a malign sorcery3 that had entered the hall of Ildrac like living men and #ere peering over his shoulder4 (is o#n slaves3 #ith flesh that the sea!things had gna#ed even to the one3 #ere among them4 )nd the slaves came to#ard him #ith glaring eyes that sa# only the voidness of death4 )nd eneath the sorcerous control of Ildrac3 their evilly animated corpses egan to assail +ulra3 cla#ing at his face and raiment #ith half!eaten fingers4 )nd +ulra3 faint #ith loathing3 struggled against his dead slaves3 #ho kne# not the voice of their master and #ere deaf as the #heels and racks of torment used y Ildrac444 )non the dro#ned and dripping corpses #ent a#ay6 and +ulra #as stripped y the Torturers and #as laid supine on the palace floor3 #ith iron rings that ound him closely to the flags at knee and #rist3 at elo# and ankle4 Then they rought in the disinterred ody of a #oman3 nearly eaten3 in #hich a myriad maggots s#armed on the uncovered ones and tatters of dark corruption6 and this ody they placed on the right hand of +ulra4 )nd also they fetched the carrion of a lack goat that #as ne#ly touched #ith eginning decay6 and they laid it do#n eside him on the left hand4 Then3 across +ulra3 from right to left3 the hungry maggots cra#led in a long and undulant #ave444
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)fter the consummation of this torture3 there came many others that #ere e/ually ingenious and atrocious3 and #ere #ell designed for the delectation of King Ildrac and his peopIe4 )nd +ulra endured the tortures valiantly3 upheld y the thought of Ilvaa4 Vainly3 ho#ever3 on the night that follo#ed this day3 he #aited in his dungeon for the girl4 The cressets urned #ith a loodier crimson6 and ne# corpses #ere among the flayed and floating dead in the sea! cavern6 and strange doule!odied serpents of the nether deep arose #ith an endless s/uirming6 and their horned heads appeared to loat immeasuraly against the crystal #all4 2et the girl Ilvaa came not to free him as she had promised6 and the night passed4 &ut though despair resumed its old dominion in the heart of +ulra3 and terror came #ith talons steeped in fresh venom3 he refused to dout Ilvaa3 telling himself that she had een delayed or prevented y some unforeseen mishap4 )t da#n of the third day3 he #as again taken efore Ildrac4 The ra:en image3 announcing the ordeals of the day3 told him that he #as to e ound on a #heel of adamant6 and3 lying on the #heel3 #as to drink a drugged #ine that #ould steal a#ay his royal memories for ever3 and #ould conduct his naked soul on a long pilgrimage through monstrous and infamous hells efore ringing it ack to the hall of Ildrac and the roken ody on the #heel4 Then certain #omen of the Torturers3 laughing oscenely3 came for#ard and ound King +ulra to the adamantine #heel #ith thongs of dragon!gut4 )nd after they had done this3 the girl Ilvaa3 smiling #ith the shameless e9ultation of open cruelty3 appeared efore +ulra and stood close eside him3 holding a golden cup that contained the drugged #ine4 "he mocked him for his folly and credulity in trusting her promises6 and the other #omen and the male Torturers3 even to Ildrac on his ra:en seat3 laughed loudly and evilly at +ulra3 and praised Ilvaa for the perfidy she had practised upon him4 "o +ulra1s heart gre# sick #ith a darker despair then any he had yet kno#n3 The rief3 piteous love that had een orn amid sorro# and agony perished #ithin him3 leaving ut ashes steeped in gall4 2et3 ga:ing at Ilvaa #ith sad eyes3 he uttered no #ord of reproach4 (e #ished to live no longer6 and yearning for a s#ift death3 he ethought him of the #i:ard ring of Vemdee: and of that #hich Vemdee: had said #ould follo# its removal from his finger4 (e still #ore the ring4 #hich the Torturers had deemed a aule of small value4 &ut his hands #ere ound tightly to the #heel3 and he could not remove it4 "o3 #ith a itter cunning3 kno#ing full #ell that the islanders #ould not
take a#ay the ring if he should offer it to them3 he feigned a sudden madness and cried #ildly5 1"teal my memories3 if ye #ill3 #ith your accursed #ine !and send me through a thousand hells and ring me ack again to $ccastrog5 ut take not the ring that I #ear on my middle finger6 for it is more precious to me than many kingdoms or the pale reasts of love41 (earing this3 King Ildrac rose from his ra:en seat6 and idding IIvaa to delay the administration of the #ine3 he came for#ard and inspected curiously the ring of Vemdee:3 #hich gleamed darkly3 set #ith its rayless gem3 on +ulra1s finger4 )nd all the #hile3 +ulra cried out against him in a fren:y3 as if fearing that he #ould take the ring4 "o Ildrac3 deeming that he could plague the prisoner therey and could heighten his suffering a little3 did the very thing for #hich +ulra had planned4 )nd the ring came easily from the shrunken finger6 and Ildrac3 #ishing to mock the royal captive3 placed it on his o#n middle digit4 Then3 #hile Ildrac regarded the captive #ith a more deeply graven smile of evil on the pale3 gilded mask of his face3 there came to King +ulra of 2oros the dreadful and longed!for thing4 The "ilver Death3 that had slept so long in his ody eneath the magical aeyance of the ring of Vemdee:3 #as made manifest even as he hung on the adamantine #heel4 (is lims stiffened #ith another rigor than that of agony6 and his face shone rightly #ith the coming of the Death6 and so he died4 Then3 to Ilvaa and to many of the Torturers #ho stood #ondering aout the #heel3 the chill and instant contagion of the "ilver Death #as communicated4 They fell even #here they had stood6 and the pestilence remained like a glittering light on the faces and the hands of the men and shone forth from the nude odies of the #omen4 )nd the plague passed along the immense hall6 and the other captives of King Ildrac #ere released therey from their various torments6 and the Torturers found surcease from the dire longing that they could assuage only through the pain of their fello#men4 )nd through all the palace3 and throughout the Isle of $ccastrog3 the Death fle# s#iftly3 visile in those upon #hom it had reathed3 ut other#ise unseen and inpalpale4 &ut Ilrac3 #earing the ring of Vemdee:3 #as immune4 )nd guessing not the reason for his immunity3 he eheld #ith consternation the doom that had overtaken his follo#ers3 and #atched in stupefaction the freeing of his victims4 Then3 fearful of some inimic sorcery3 he rushed from the hall6 and standing in the early sun on a palace!terrace aove the sea3 he tore
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the ring of Vemdee: from his finger and hurled it to the foamy illo#s far elo#3 deeming in his terror that the ring #as perhaps the source or agent of the unkno#n hostile magic4 "o Ildrac3 in his turn3 #hen all the others had fallen3 #as smitten y the "ilver Death6 and its peace descended upon him #here he lay in his roes of lood!rightened purple3 #ith features shining palely to the unclouded sun4 )nd olivion claimed the Isle of $ccastrog6 and the Torturers #ere one #ith the tortured4
The Charnel &o' =0ordiggian is the god of .ul!&ha!"air3= said the innkeeper #ith unctuous solemnity4 =(e has een the god from years that are lost to man1s memory in shado# deeper than the suterranes of his lack temple4 There is no other god in .ul!&ha!"air4 )nd all #ho die #ithin the #alls of the city are sacred to 0ordiggian4 Even the kings and the optimates3 at death3 are delivered into the hands of his muffled priests4 It is the la# and the custom4 ) little #hile3 and the priests #ill come for your ride4= =&ut Elaith is not dead3= protested the youth -hariom for the third or fourth time3 in piteous desperation4 =(er malady is one that assumes the lying l ikeness of death4 T#ice efore has she lain insensile3 #ith a pallor upon her cheeks and a stillness in her very lood3 that could hardly e distinguished from those of the tom6 and t#ice she has a#akened after an interim of days4=
ya#ning4 )ll mortal flesh must ecome3 in due time3 the provender of the god4= -hariom shuddered at the oily and portentous declaration4 =Dimly have I heard of 0ordiggian3 as a legend that travellers tell in %ylac3= he admitted4 =&ut I had forgotten the name of his city6 and Elaith and I came ignorantly into .ul!&ha!"air444 Even had I kno#n3 I should have douted the terrile custom of #hich you inform me4 444What manner of deity is this3 #ho imitates the hyena and the vulture> "urely he is no god3 ut a ghoul4= =Take heed lest you utter lasphemy3= admonished the innkeeper4 =0ordiggian is old and omnipotent as death4 (e #as #orshipped in former continents3 efore the lifting of .othi/ue from out the sea4 Through him3 #e are saved from corruption and the #orm4 Even as the people of other places devote their dead to the consuming flame3 so #e of .ul!&ha!"air deliver ours to the god4 )#ful is the fane3 a place of terror and oscure shado# untrod y the sun3 into #hich the dead are orne y his priests and are laid on a vast tale of stone to a#ait his coming from the nether vault in #hich he d#ells4 No living men3 other than the priests3 have ever eheld him6 and the faces of the priests are hidden ehind masks of silver3 and even their hands are shrouded3 that men may not ga:e on them that have seen 0ordiggian4= =&ut there is a king in .ul!&ha!"air3 is there not> I shall appeal to him against this heinous and horrile in7ustice4 "urely he #ill heed me4=
The innkeeper peered #ith an air of ponderous unelief at the girl #ho lay #hite and motionless as a mo#n lily on the ed in the poorly furnished attic chamer4
=-hen/uor is the king6 ut he could not help you even if he #ished4 2our appeal #ill not even e heard4 0ordiggian is aove all kings3 and his la# is sacred4 (ark? < for already the priests come4=
=In that case you should not have rought her into .ul! &ha!"air3= he averred in a tone of o#lish irony4 =The physician has pronounced her dead6 and her death has een reported to the priests4 "he must go to the temple of 0ordiggian4=
-hariom3 sick at heart #ith the charnel terror and cruelty of the doom that impended for his girlish #ife in this unkno#n city of nightmare3 heard an evil3 stealthy creaking on the stairs that led to the attic of the inn4 The sound dre# nearer #ith inhuman rapidity3 and four strange figures came into the room3 heavily gared in funereal purple3 and #earing huge masks of silver graven in the likeness of skulls4 It #as impossile to surmise their actual appearance3 for3 even as the taverner had hinted3 their very hands #ere concealed y fingerless gloves6 and the purple go#ns came do#n in loose folds that trailed aout their feet like un#inding cerecloths4 There #as a horror aout them3 of #hich the macare masks #ere only a lesser element6 a horror that lay partly in their unnatural3 crouching attitudes3 and the eastlike
=&ut #e are outlanders3 guests of a night4 We have come from the land of %ylac3 far in the north6 and this morning #e should have gone on through Tasuun3 to#ard -haraad3 the capital of 2oros3 #hich lies near to the southern sea4 "urely your god could have no claim upon Elaith3 even if she #ere truly dead4= =)ll #ho die in .ul!&ha!"air are the property of 0ordiggian3= insisted the taverner sententiously4 =8utlanders are not e9empt4 The dark ma# of his temple ya#ns eternally3 and no man3 no child3 no #oman3 throughout the years3 has evaded its
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agility #ith #hich they moved3 unhampered y their cumrous hailiments4 )mong them3 they carried a curious ier3 made from inter#oven strips of leather3 and #ith monstrous ones that served for frame and handles4 The leather #as greasy and lackened as if from long years of mortuary use4 Without speaking to -hariom or the innkeeper3 and #ith no delay or formality of any sort3 they advanced to#ard the ed on #hich Elaith #as lying4 $ndeterred y their more than formidale aspect3 and #holly distraught #ith grief and anger3 -hariom dre# from his girdle a short knife3 the only #eapon he possessed4 Disregarding the minatory cry of the taverner3 he rushed #ildly upon the muffled figures4 (e #as /uick and muscular3 and3 moreover3 #as clad in light3 close!fitting raiment3 such as #ould seemingly have given him a rief advantage4 The priests had turned their acks upon him6 ut3 as if they had foreseen his every action3 t#o of them #heeled aout #ith the s#iftness of tigers3 dropping the handles of one that they carried4 8ne of them struck the knife from -hariom1s hand #ith a movement that the eye could arely follo# in its snaky darting4 Then oth assailed him3 eating him ack #ith terrile flailing lo#s of their shrouded arms3 and hurling him half across the room into an empty corner4 "tunned y his fall3 he lay senseless for a term of minutes4 ;ecovering gla:edly3 #ith eyes that lurred as he opened them3 he eheld the fact of the stout taverner stooping aove him like a tallo#!colored moon4 The thought of Elaith3 more sharp than the thrust of a dagger3 rought him ack to agoni:ing consciousness4 +earfully he scanned the shado#y room3 and3 sa# that the ceremented priests #ere gone3 that the ed #as vacant4 (e heard the orotund and sepulchral croaking of the taverner4 =The priests of 0ordiggian are merciful3 they make allo#ance for the fren:y and distraction of the ne#ly ereaved4 It is #ell for you that they are compassionate3 and considerate of mortal #eakness4= -hariom sprang erect3 as if his ruised and aching ody #ere scorched y a sudden fire4 -ausing only to retrieve his knife3 #hich still lay in the middle of the room3 he started to#ard the door4 (e #as stopped y the hand of the hosteler3 clutching greasily at his shoulder4 =&e#are3 lest you e9ceed the ounds of the mercy of 0ordiggian4 It is an ill thing to follo# his priests < and a #orse thing to intrude upon the deathly and sacred gloom of his temple4=
-hariom scarcely heard the admonition4 (e #renched himself hastily a#ay from the odious fingers and turned to go6 ut again the hand clutched him4 =)t least3 pay me the money that you o#e for food and lodging3 ere you depart3= demanded the innkeeper4 =)lso3 there is the matter of the physician1s fee3 #hich I can settle for you3 if you #ill entrust me #ith the proper sum4 -ay no# < for there is no surety that you #ill return4= -hariom dre# out the purse that contained his entire #orldly #ealth3 and filled the greedily cupped palm efore him #ith coins that he did not pause to count4 With no parting #ord or ack#ard glance3 he descended the moldy and musty stairs of the #orm! eaten hostelry3 as if spurred y an incuus3 and #ent out into the gloomy3 serpentine streets of .ul!&ha!"air4 -erhaps the city differed little from others3 e9cept in eing older and darker6 ut to -hariom3 in his e9tremity of anguish3 the #ays that he follo#ed #ere like suterrene corridors that led only to some profound and monstrous charnel4 The sun had risen aove the over7utting houses3 ut it seemed to him that there #as no light3 other than a lost and doleful glimmering such as might descend into mortuary depths4 The people3 it may have een3 #ere much like other people3 ut he sa# them under a malefic aspect3 as if they #ere ghouls and demons that #ent to and fro on the ghastly errands of a necropolis4 &itterly3 in his distraction3 he recalled the previous evening3 #hen he had entered .ul!&ha!"air at t#ilight #ith Elaith3 the girl riding on the one dromedary that had survived their passage of the northern desert3 and he #alking eside her3 #eary ut content4 With the rosy purple of afterglo# upon its #alls and cupolas3 #ith the deepening golden eyes of its lit #indo#s3 the place had seemed a fair and nameless city of dreams3 and they had planned to rest there for a day or t#o efore resuming the long3 arduous 7ourney to -haraad3 in 2oros4 This 7ourney had een undertaken only through necessity4 -hariom3 an impoverished youth of nole lood3 had een e9iled ecause of the political and religious tenets of his family3 #hich #ere not in accord #ith those of the reigning emperor3 Caleppos4 Taking his ne#ly #edded #ife3 -hariom had set out for 2oros3 #here certain allied ranches of the house to #hich he elonged had already estalished themselves3 and #ould give him a fraternal #elcome4 They had travelled #ith a large caravan of merchants3 going directly south#ard to Tasuun4 &eyond the orders of %ylac3 amid the red sands of the Celotian #aste3 the caravan had een attacked
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y roers3 #ho had slain many of its memers and dispersed the rest4 -hariom and his ride3 escaping #ith their dromedaries3 had found themselves lost and alone in the desert3 and3 failing to regain the road to#ard Tasuun3 had taken inadvertently another track3 leading to .ul!&ha!"air3 a #alled metropolis on the south!#estern verge of the #aste3 #hich their itinerary had not included4
0ordiggian claimed them4 In all outlying places3 the fate of those #ho died in .ul!&ha!"air #as a dreadful y#ord and a malediction4 &ut to the people of that city3 reared in the faith of the ghoulish god3 it #as merely the usual and e9pected mode of mortuary disposal4 Toms3 graves3 catacoms3 funeral pyres3 and other such nuisances3 #ere rendered needless y this highly utilitarian deity4
Entering .ul!&ha!"air3 the couple had repaired for reasons of economy to a tavern in the humler /uarter4 There3 during the night3 Elaith had een overcome y the third sei:ure of the cataleptic malady to #hich she #as liale4 The earlier sei:ures3 occurring efore her marriage to -hariom3 had een recogni:ed in their true character y the physicians of %ylac3 and had een palliated y skillful treatment4 It #as hoped that the malady #ould not recur4 The third attack3 no dout3 had een induced y the fatigues and hardships of the 7ourney4 -hariom had felt sure that Elaith #ould recover3 ut a doctor of .ul!&ha!"air3 hastily summoned y the innkeeper3 had insisted that she #as actually dead6 and3 in oedience to the strange la# of the city3 had reported her #ithout delay to the priests of 0ordiggian4 The frantic protests of the husand had een utterly ignored4
-hariom #as surprised to see the people of the city going aout the common usinesses of life4 -orters #ere passing #ith ales of household goods upon their shoulders4 0erchants #ere s/uatting in their shops like other merchants4 &uyers and sellers chaffered loudly in the pulic a:aars4 Women laughed and chattered in the door #ays4 8nly y their voluminous roes of red3 lack and violet3 and their strange3 uncouth accents3 #as he ale to distinguish the men of .ul!&ha!"air from those #ho #ere outlanders like himself4 The murk of nightmare egan to lift from his impressioms6 and gradually3 as he #ent on3 the spectacle of everyday humanity all aout him helped to calm a little his #ild distraction and desperation4 Nothing could dissipate the horror of his loss3 and the aominale fate that threatened Elaith4 &ut no#3 #ith a cool logic orn of the cruel e9igence3 he egan to consider the apparently hopeless prolem of rescuing her from the ghoul god1s temple4
There #as3 it seemed3 a diaolic fatality aout the #hole train of circumstances through #hich Elaith3 still living3 though #ith that out#ard aspect of the tom #hich her illness involved3 had fallen into the grasp of the devotees of the charnel god4 -hariom pondered this fatality almost to madness3 as he strode #ith furious3 aimless haste along the eternally #inding and cro#ded streets4 To the cheerless information received from the taverner3 he added3 as he #ent on3 more and more of the tardily rememered legends #hich he had heard in %ylac4 Ill and duious indeed #as the reno#n of .ul! &ha!"air3 and he marvelled that he should have forgotten it3 and cursed himself #ith lack curses for the temporary ut fatal forgetfulness4 &etter #ould it have een if he and Elaith had perished in the desert3 rather than enter the #ide gates that stood al#ays open3 gaping for their prey3 as #as the custom of .ul! &ha!"air4 The city #as a mart of trade3 #here outland travelers came3 ut did not care to linger3 ecause of the repulsive cult of 0ordiggian3 the invisile eater of the dead3 #ho #as elieved to share his provender #ith the shrouded priests4 It #as said that the odies lay for days in the dark temple and #ere not devoured till corruption had egun4 )nd people #hispered of fouler things than necrophagism3 of lasphemous rites that #ere solemni:ed in the ghoul!ridden vaults3 and nameless uses to #hich the dead #ere put efore
(e composed his features3 and constrained his ferile pacing to an idle saunter3 so that none might guess the preoccupations that racked him in#ardly4 -retending to e interested in the #ares of a seller of men1s apparel3 he dre# the dealer into converse regarding .ul!&ha!"air and its customs3 and made such in/uiries as a traveler from far lands might make4 The dealer #as talkative3 and -hariom soon learned from him the location of the temple of 0ordiggian3 #hich stood at the city1s core4 (e also learned that the temple #as open at all hours3 and that people #ere free to come and go #ithin its precincts4 There #ere3 ho#ever3 no rituals of #orship3 other than certain private rites that #ere celerated y the priesthood4 +e# cared to enter the fane3 ecause of a superstition that any living person #ho intruded upon its gloom #ould return to it shortly as the provender of the god4 0ordiggian3 it seemed3 #as a enign deity in the eyes of the inhaitants of .ul!&ha!"air4 Curiously enough3 no definite personal attriutes #ere ascried to him4 (e #as3 so to speak3 an impersonal force akin to the elements < a consuming and cleansing po#er3 like fire4 (is hierophants #ere e/ually mysterious6 they lived at the temple and emerged from it only in the e9ecution of their funeral duties4 No one kne# the
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manner of their recruiting3 ut many elieved that they #ere oth male and female3 thus rene#ing their numers from generation to generation #ith no ulterior commerce4 8thers thought that they #ere not human eings at all3 ut an order of suterranean earth!entities3 #ho lived for ever3 and #ho fed upon corpses like the god himself4 Through this latter elief3 of late years3 a minor heresy had risen3 some holding that 0ordiggian #as a mere hieratic figment3 and the priests #ere the sole devourers of the dead4 The dealer3 /uoting this heresy3 made haste to disavo# it #ith pious reproation4 -hariom chatted for a#hile on other topics3 and then continued his progress through the city3 going as forthrightly to#ard the temple as the oli/uely running thoroughfares #ould permit4 (e had formed no conscious plan3 ut desired to reconnoiter the vicinage4 In that #hich the garment!dealer had told him3 the one reassuring detail #as the openness of the fane and its accessiility to all #ho dared enter4 The rarity of visitors3 ho#ever3 #ould make -hariom conspicuous3 and he #ished aove all to avoid attention4 8n the other hand3 any effort to remove odies from the temple #as seemingly unheard of < a thing audacious eyond the dreams of the people of .ul!&ha!"air4 Through the very oldness of his design3 he might avoid suspicion3 and succeed in rescuing Elaith4 The streets that he follo#ed egan to tend do#n#ard3 and #ere narro#er3 dimmer and more tortuous than any he had yet traversed4 (e thought for a#hile that he had lost his #ay3 and he #as aout to ask the passersy to redirect him3 #hen four of the priests of 0ordiggian3 earing one of the curious litter! like iers of one and leather3 emerged from an ancient alley 7ust efore him4 The ier #as occupied y the ody of a girl3 and for one moment of convulsive shock and agitation that left him tremling3 -hariom thought that the girl #as Elaith4 'ooking again3 he sa# his mistake4 The go#n that the girl #ore3 though simple3 #as made of some rare e9otic stuff4 (er features3 though pale as those of Elaith3 #ere cro#ned #ith curls like the petals of heavy lack poppies4 (er eauty3 #arm and voluptuous even in death3 differed from the lond pureness of Elaith as tropic lilies differ from narcissi4 @uietly3 and maintaining a discreet interval3 -hariom follo#ed the sullenly shrouded figures and their lovely urden4 (e sa# that people made #ay for the passage of the ier #ith a#ed3 un/uestioning alacrity6 and the loud voices of hucksters and chafferers #ere hushed as the priests #ent y4 8verhearing a murmured conversation et#een t#o of the to#nsfolk3 he learned that the dead girl #as )rctela3
daughter of @uaos3 a high nole and magistrate of .ul!&ha!"air4 "he had died very /uickly and mysteriously3 from a cause unkno#n to the physicians3 #hich had not marred or #asted her eauty in the least4 There #ere those #ho held that an indetectale poison3 rather than disease3 had een the agency of death6 and others deemed her the victim of malefic sorcery4 The priests #ent on3 and -hariom kept them in sight as #ell as he could in the lind tangle of streets4 The #ay steepened3 #ithout affording any clear prospect of the levels elo#3 and the houses seemed to cro#d more closely3 as if huddling ack from a precipice4 +inally the youth emerged ehind his macare guides in a sort of circular hollo# at the city1s heart3 #here the temple of 0ordiggian loomed alone and separate amid pavements of sad ony93 and funerary cedars #hose green had lackened as if #ith the undeparting charnel shado#s e/ueathed y dead ages4 The edifice #as uilt of a strange stone3 hued as #ith the lackish purple of carnal decay5 a stone that refused the ardent luster of noon3 and the prodigality of da#n or sunset glory4 It #as lo# and #indo#less3 having the form of a monstrous mausoleum4 Its portals ya#ned sepulchrally in the gloom of the cedars4 -hariom #atched the priests as they vanished #ithin the portals3 carrying the girl )rctela like phantoms #ho ear a phantom urden4 The road area of pavement et#een the recoiling houses and the temple #as no# deserted3 ut he did not venture to cross it in the lare of etraying daylight4 Circling the area3 he sa# that there #ere several other entrances to the great fane3 all open and unguarded4 There #as no sign of activity aout the place6 ut he shuddered at the thought of that #hich #as hidden #ithin its #alls3 even as the feasting of #orms is hidden in the marle tom4 'ike a vomiting of charnels3 the aominations of #hich he had heard rose up efore him in the sunlight6 and again he dre# close to madness3 kno#ing that Elaith must lie among the dead3 in the temple3 #ith the foul umrage of such things upon her3 and that he3 consumed #ith unremitting fren:y3 must #ait for the favorale shrouding of darkness efore he could e9ecute his neulous3 doutful plan of rescue4 In the mean#hile3 she might a#ake3 and perish from the mortal horror of her surroundings444 or #orse even than this might efall3 if the #hispered tales #ere true444 )non!Tha3 sorcerer and necromancer3 #as felicitating himself on the argain he had made #ith the priests of 0ordiggian4 (e felt3 perhaps 7ustly3 that no one less clever than he could have conceived and
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e9ecuted the various procedures that had made possile this argain3 through #hich )rctela3 daughter of the proud @uaos3 #ould ecame his un/uestioning slave4 No other lover3 he told himself3 could have een resourceful enough to otain a desired #oman in this fashion4 )rctela3 etrothed to )los3 a young nole of the city3 #as seemingly eyond the aspiration of a sorcerer4 )non!Tha3 ho#ever3 #as no common hedge!#i:ard3 ut an adept of long standing in the most a#ful and profound arcana of the lack arts4 (e kne# the spells that kill more /uickly and surely than knife or poison3 at a distance6 and he kne# also the darker spells y #hich the dead can e reanimated3 even after years or ages of decay4 (e had slain )rctela in a manner that none could detect3 #ith a rare and sutle invultuation that had left no mark6 and her ody lay no# among the dead3 in 0ordiggian1s temple4 Tonight3 #ith the tacit connivance of the terrile3 shrouded priests3 he #ould ring her ack to life4 )non!Tha #as not native to .ul!&ha!"air3 ut had come many years efore from the infamous3 half! mythic isle of "otar3 lying some#here to the east of the huge continent of .othi/ue4 'ike a sleek young vulture3 he had estalished himself in the very shado# of the charnel fane3 and had prospered3 taking to himself pupils and assistants4 (is dealings #ith the priests #ere long and e9tensive3 and the argain he had 7ust made #as far from eing the first of its kind4 They had allo#ed him the temporary use of odies claimed y 0ordiggian3 stipulating only that these odies should not e removed from the temple during the course of any of his e9periments in necromancy4 "ince the privilege #as slightly irregular from their vie#point3 he had found it necessary to rie them < not3 ho#ever3 #ith gold3 ut #ith the promise of a lieral purveyance of matters more sinister and corruptile than gold4 The arrangement had een satisfactory enough to all concerned5 cadavers had poured into the temple #ith more than their usual aundance ever since the coming of the sorcerer6 the god had not lacked for provender6 and )non!Tha had never lacked for su7ects on #hich to employ his more aleful spells4 8n the #hole3 )non!Tha #as not ill!pleased #ith himself4 (e reflected3 moreover3 that3 aside from his mastery of magic and his sleightful ingenuity3 he #as aout to manifest a #ell!nigh une9ampled courage4 (e had planned a roery that #ould amount to dire sacrilege5 the removal of the reanimated ody of )rctela from the temple4 "uch roeries *either of animate or e9animate corpses, and the penalty attached to them3 #ere a matter of legend only6 for none had occurred in recent ages4 Thrice terrile3
according to common elief3 #as the doom of those #ho had tried and failed4 The necromancer #as not lind to the risks of his enterprise6 nor3 on the other hand3 #as he deterred or intimidated y them4 (is t#o assistants3 Narghai and Vema!Tsith3 apprised of his intention3 had made #ith all due privity the necessary preparations for their flight from .ul!&ha!"air4 The strong passion that the sorcerer had conceived for )rctela #as not his only motive3 perhaps3 in removing from that city4 (e #as desirous of change3 for he had gro#n a little #eary of the odd la#s that really served to restrict his necromantic practices3 #hile facilitating them in a sense4 (e planned to travel south#ard3 and estalish himself in one of the cities of Tasuun3 an empire famous for the numer and anti/uity of its mummies4 It #as no# sunset!time4 +ive dromedaries3 red for racing3 #aited in the inner courtyard of )non!Tha1s house3 a high and moldering mansion that seemed to lean for#ard upon the open3 circular area elonging to the temple4 8ne of the dromedaries #ould carry a ale containing the sorcerer1s most valuale ooks3 manuscripts3 and other impedimenta of magic4 Its fello#s #ould ear )non!Tha3 the t#o assistants < and )rctela4 Narghai and Vema!Tsith appeared efore their master to tell him that all #as made ready4 &oth #ere much younger than )non!Tha6 ut3 like himself3 they #ere outlanders in .ul!&ha!"air4 They came of the s#art and narro#!eyed people of Naat3 an isle that #as little less infamous than "otar4 =It is #ell3= said the necromancer3 as they stood efore him #ith lo#ered eyes3 after making their announcement4 =We have only to a#ait the favorale hour4 0id#ay et#een sunset and moonrise3 #hen the priests are at their supper in the nether adytum3 #e #ill enter the temple and perform that #hich must e done for the rising of )rctela4 They feed #ell tonight3 for I kno# that many of the dead gro# ripe on the great tale in the upper sanctuary6 and it may e that 0ordiggian feeds also4 None #ill come to #atch us at our doings4= =&ut3 master3= said Narghai3 shivering a little eneath his roe of nacarat red3 =is it #ise3 after all3 to do this thing> 0ust you take the girl from the temple> )l#ays3 ere this3 you have contented yourself #ith the rief loan that the priests allo#3 and have rendered ack the dead in the re/uired state of e9animation4 Truly3 is it #ell to violate the la# of the god> 0en say that the #rath of 0ordiggian3 though seldom loosed3 is more dreadful than the #rath of all other deities4 +or this reason3 none has dared to defraud him in latter years3 or attempt the removal of any of the corpses from his
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fane4 'ong ago3 it is told3 a high nole of the city ore hence the cadaver of a #oman he had loved3 and fled #ith it into the desert6 ut the priests pursued him3 running more s#iftly than 7ackals 444and the fate that overtook him is a thing #hereof the legends #hisper ut dimly4= =I fear neither 0ordiggian nor his creatures3= said )non!Tha3 #ith a solemn vainglory in his voice4 =0y dromedaries can outrun the priests < even granting that the priests are not men at all3 ut ghouls3 as some say4 )nd there is small likelihood that they #ill follo# us5 after their feasting tonight3 they #ill sleep like gorged vultures The morro# #ill find us far on the road to Tasuun3 ere they a#ake4= =The master is right3= interpolated Vema!Tsith3 =We have nothing to fear4= =&ut they say that 0ordiggian does not sleep3= insisted Narghai3 =and that he #atches all things eternally from his lack vault eneath the temple4= ="o I have heard3= said )non!Tha3 #ith a dry and learned air4 =&ut I consider that such eliefs are mere superstition4 There is nothing to confirm them in the real nature of corpse!eating entities4 "o far3 I have never eheld 0ordiggian3 either sleeping or a#ake6 ut in all likelihood he is merely a common ghoul4 I kno# these demons and their haits4 They differ from hyenas only through their monstrous shape and si:e3 and their immortality4=
y the covert gleam of lamps or tapers from half! closed #indo#s3 he found his #ay once more to the city1s center4 The dusk had thickened into darkness #hen he came to the open area surrounding 0ordiggian1s temple4 The #indo#s of mansions fronting the area #ere shut and lightless as dead eyes3 and the fane itself3 a colossal ulk of gloom3 #as rayless as any mausoleum eneath the gathering stars4 No one3 it seemed3 #as aroad3 and though the /uietude #as favorale to his pro7ect3 -hariom shivered #ith a chill of deathly menace and desolation4 The hoofs of his camel rang on the pavement #ith a startling and preternatural clangor3 and he thought that the ears of hidden ghouls3 listening alertly ehind the silence3 must surely hear them4 (o#ever3 there #as no stirring of life in that sepulchral gloom4 ;eaching the shelter of one of the thick groups of ancient cedars3 he dismounted and tied the dromedary to a lo#!gro#ing ranch4 Keeping among the trees3 like a shado# among shado#s3 he approached the temple #ith infinite #ariness3 and circled it slo#ly3 finding that its four door#ays3 #hich corresponded to the four /uarters of the Earth3 #ere all #ide open3 deserted3 and e/ually dark4 ;eturning at length to the eastern side3 on #hich he had tethered his camel3 he emoldened himself to enter the lackly gaping portal4
The #ords #ere caught y the /uick ears of )nonTha4 =Nay3 there is no /uestion of cheating4 Well have I served 0ordiggian and his priesthood3 and amply have I larded their lack tale4 )lso3 I shall keep3 in a sense3 the argain I have made concerning )rctela5 the providing of a ne# cadaver in return for my necromantic privilege4 Tomorro#3 the youth )los3 the etrothed of )rctela3 #ill lie in her place among the dead4 Go no#3 and leave me3 for I must devise the in#ard invultuation that #ill rot the heart of )los3 like a #orm that a#akens at the core of fruit4=
Crossing the threshold3 he #as engulfed instantly y a dead and clammy darkness3 touched #ith the faint fetor of corruption3 and a smell as of charred one and flesh4 (e thought that he #as in a huge corridor3 and feeling his #ay for#ard along the right!hand #all3 he soon came to a sudden turn3 and sa# a luish glimmering far ahead3 as if in some central adytum #here the hall ended4 0assy columns #ere silhouetted against the glimmering6 and across it3 as he dre# nearer3 several dark and muffled figures passed3 presenting the profiles of enormous skulls4 T #o of them #ere sharing the urden of a human ody #hich they carried in their arms4 To -hariom3 pausing in the shado#y hall3 it appeared that the vague taint of putrescence upon the air gre# stronger for a fe# instants after the figure had come and gone4
To -hariom3 fevered and distraught3 it seemed that the cloudless day #ent y #ith the sluggishness of a corpse!clogged river4 $nale to calm his agitation3 he #andered aimlessly through the thronged a:aars3 till the #estern to#ers gre# dark on a heaven of saffron flame3 and the t#ilight rose like a gray and curdling sea among the houses4 Then he returned to the inn #here Elaith had een stricken3 and claimed the dromedary #hich he had left in the tavern stales4 ;iding the animal through dim thoroughfares3 lit only
They #ere not succeeded y any others3 and the fane resumed its mausolean stillness4 &ut the youth #aited for many minutes3 doutful and trepidant3 efore venturing to go on4 )n oppression of mortuary mystery thickened the air3 and stifled him like the noisome effluvia of catacoms4 (is ears ecame intoleraly acute3 and he heard a dim humming3 a sound of deep and viscid voices indistinguishaly ent3 that appeared to issue from crypts eneath the temple4
="till3 I must deem it an ill thing to cheat 0ordiggian3= muttered Narghai eneath his reath4
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"tealing at length to the hall1s end3 he peered eyond into #hat #as oviously the main sanctuary5 a lo# and many!pillared room3 #hose vastness #as ut half! revealed y the luish fires that glo#ed and flickered in numerous urnlike vessels orne aloft on slender stelae4 -hariom hesitated upon that a#ful threshold3 for the mingled odors of urnt and decaying flesh #ere heavier on the air3 as if he had dra#n nearer to their sources6 and the thick humming seemed to ascend from a dark stair#ay in the floor3 eside the left!hand #all4 &ut the room3 to all appearance3 #as empty of life3 and nothing stirred e9cept the #avering lights and shado#s4 The #atcher discerned the outlines of a vast tale in the center3 carved from the same lack stone as the uilding itself4 $pon the tale3 half lit y the flaming urns3 or shrouded y the umrage of the heavy columns3 a numer of people lay side y side6 and -hariom kne# that he had found the lack altar of 0ordiggian3 #hereon #ere disposed the odies claimed y the god4 ) #ild and stifling fear contended #ith a #ilder hope in his osom4 Tremling3 he #ent to#ard the tale6 and a cold clamminess3 #rought y the presence of the dead3 assailed him4 The tale #as nearly thirty feet in length3 and it rose #aist!high on a do:en mighty legs4 &eginning at the nearer end3 he passed along the ro# of corpses3 peering fearfully into each upturned face4 &oth se9es3 and many ages and differing ranks #ere represented4 Noles and rich merchants #ere cro#ded y eggars in filthy rags4 "ome #ere ne#ly dead3 and others3 it seemed3 had lain there for days3 and #ere eginning to sho# the marks of corruption4 There #ere many gaps in the ordered ro#3 suggesting that certain of the corpses had een removed4 -hariom #ent on in the dim light3 searching for the loved features of Elaith4 )t last3 #hen he #as nearing the further end3 and had egun to fear that she #as not among them3 he found her4 With the cryptic pallor and stillness of her strange malady upon her3 she lay unchanged on the chill stone4 ) great thankfulness #as orn in the heart of -hariom3 for he felt sure that she #as not dead < and that she had not a#akened at any time to the horrors of the temple4 If he could ear her a#ay from the hateful purlieus of .ul!&ha!"air #ithout detection3 she #ould recover from her death!simulating sickness4 Cursorily3 he noted that another #oman #as lying eside Elaith3 and recogni:ed her as the eautiful )rctela3 #hose earers he had follo#ed almost to the portals of the fane4 (e gave her no second glance3 ut stooped to lift Elaith in his arms4
)t that moment3 he heard a murmur of lo# voices in the direction of the door y #hich he had entered the sanctuary4 Thinking that some of the priests had returned3 he dropped s#iftly on hands and knees and cra#led eneath the ponderous tale3 #hich afforded the only accessile hiding!place4 ;etreating into shado# eyond the glimmering shed from the lofty urns3 he #aited and looked out et#een the pillar!thick legs4 The voices gre# louder3 and he sa# the curiously sandaled feet and shortish roes of three persons #ho approached the tale of the dead and paused in the very spot #here he himself had stood a fe# instants efore4 Who they #ere3 he could not surmise6 ut their garments of light and s#arthy red #ere not the shroudings of 0ordiggian1s priests4 (e #as uncertain #hether or not they had seen him6 and crouching in the lo# space eneath the tale3 he plucked his dagger from its sheath4 No# he #as ale to distinguish three voices3 one solemn and unctuously imperative3 one some#hat guttural and gro#ling3 and the other shrill and nasal4 The accents #ere alien3 differing from those of the men of .ul!&ha!"air3 and the #ords #ere often strange to -hariom4 )lso3 much of the converse #as inaudile4 =444 here444 at the end3= said the solemn voice4 =&e s#ift444 We have no time to loiter4= =2es3 0aster3= came the gro#ling voice4 =&ut #ho is this other>444 Truly3 she is very fair4= ) discussion seemed to take place3 in discreetly lo#ered tones4 )pparently the o#ner of the guttural voice #as urging something that the other t#o opposed4 The listener could distinguish only a #ord or t#o here and there6 ut he gathered that the name of the first person #as Vemi!Tsith3 and that the one #ho spoke in a nasal shrilling #as called Narghai4 )t last3 aove the others3 the grave accents of the man addressed only as the 0aster #ere clearly audile5 =I do not altogether approve444 It #ill delay our departure444 and the t#o must ride on one dromedary4 &ut take her3 Vema!Tsith3 if you can perform the necessary spells unaided4 I have no time for a doule incantation444 It #ill e a good test of your proficiency4= There #as a mumling as of thanks or ackno#ledgment from Vema!Tsith4 Then the voice of the 0aster5 =&e /uiet no# and make haste4= To -hariom3 #ondering vaguely and uneasily as to the import of this collo/uy3 it seemed that t#o of the three men pressed closer to the tale3 as if stooping aove the dead4 (e heard a rustling of cloth upon stone3 and an instant later3 he sa# that all three #ere departing among the columns and stelae3 in a
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direction opposite to that from #hich they had entered the sanctuary4 T#o of them carried urdens that glimmered palely and indistinctly in the shado#s4 ) lack horror clutched at the heart of -hariom3 for all too clearly he surmised the nature of those urdens and the possile identity of one of them4 @uickly he cra#led forth from his hiding!place and sa# that Elaith #as gone from the lack tale3 together #ith the girl )rctela4 (e sa# the vanishing of shado#y figures in the gloom that :oned the chamer1s #estern #all4 Whether the aductors #ere ghouls3 or #orse than ghouls3 he could not kno#3 ut he follo#ed s#iftly3 forgetful of all caution in his concern for Elaith4 ;eaching the #all3 he found the mouth of a corridor3 and plunged into it headlong4 "ome#here in the gloom ahead3 he sa# a ruddy glimmering of light4 Then he heard a sullen3 metallic grating6 and the glimmer narro#ed to a slit!like gleam3 as if the door of the chamer from #hich it issued #ere eing closed4 +ollo#ing the lind #all3 he came to that slit of crimson light4 ) door of darkly tarnished ron:e had een left a7ar3 and -hariom peered in on a #eird3 unholy scene3 illumined y the lood!like flames that flared and soared unsteadily from high urns uporne on sale pedestals4 The room #as full of a sensuous lu9ury that accorded strangely #ith the dull3 funereal stone of that temple of death4 There #ere couches and carpets of superly figured stuffs3 vermilion3 gold3 a:ure3 silver6 and 7e#eled censers of unkno#n metals stood in the corners4 ) lo# tale at one side #as littered #ith curious ottles3 and occult appliances such as might e used in medicine or sorcery4 Elaith #as lying on one of the couches3 and near her3 on a second couch3 the ody of the girl )rctela had een disposed4 The aductors3 #hose faces -hariom no# eheld for the first time3 #ere usying themselves #ith singular preparations that mystified him prodigiously4 (is impulse to invade the room #as repressed y a sort of #onder that held him enthralled and motionless4 8ne of the three3 a tall3 middle!aged man #hom he identified as the 0aster3 had assemled certain peculiar vessels3 including a small ra:ier and a censer3 and had set them on the floor eside )rctela4 The second3 a younger man #ith lecherously slitted eyes3 had placed similar impedimenta efore Elaith4 The third3 #ho #as also young and evil of aspect3 merely stood and looked on #ith an apprehensive3 uneasy air4 -hariom divined that the men #ere sorcerers #hen3 #ith a deftness orn of long practice3 they lit the
censers and ra:iers3 and egan simultaneously the intonation of rhythmically measured #ords in a strange tongue accompanied y the sprinkling3 at regular intervals3 of lack oils that fell #ith a great hissing on the coals in the ra:iers and sent up enormous clouds of pearly smoke4 Dark threads of vapor serpentined from the censers3 inter#eaving themselves like veins through the dim3 misshapen figures as of ghostly giants that #ere formed y the lighter fumes4 ) reek of intoleraly acrid alsams filled the chamer3 assailing and trouling the senses of -hariom3 till the scene #avered efore him and took on a dreamlike vastness3 a narcotic distortion4 The voices of the necromancers mounted and fell as if in some unholy paean4 Imperious3 e9igent3 they seemed to implore the consummation of foridden lasphemy4 'ike thronging phantoms3 #rithing and s#irling #ith malignant life3 the vapors rose aout the couches on #hich lay the dead girl and the girl #ho ore the out#ard likeness of death4 Then3 as the fumes #ere riven apart in their aleful seething3 -hariom sa# that the pale figure of Elaith had stirred like a sleeper #ho a#akens3 that she had opened her eyes and #as lifting a feele hand from the gorgeous couch4 The younger necromancer ceased his chanting on a sharply roken cadence6 ut the solemn tones of the other still #ent on3 and still there #as a spell on the lims and senses of -hariom3 making it impossile for him to stir4 "lo#ly the vapors thinned like a rout of dissolving phantoms4 The #atcher sa# that the dead girl3 )rctela3 #as rising to her feet like a somnamulist4 The chanting of )non!Tha3 standing efore her3 came sonorously to an end4 In the a#ful silence that follo#ed3 -hariom heard a #eak cry from Elaith3 and then the 7uilant3 gro#ling voice of Vema!Tsith3 #ho #as stooping aove her5 =&ehold3 8 )non!Tha? 0y spells are s#ifter than yours3 for she that I have chosen a#akened efore )rctela?= -hariom #as released from his thralldom3 as if through the lifting of an evil enchantment4 (e flung ack the ponderous door of darkened ron:e3 that ground #ith protesting clangors on its hinges4 (is dagger dra#n3 he rushed into the room4 Elaith3 her eyes #ide #ith piteous e#ilderment3 turned to#ard him and made an ineffectual effort to arise from the couch4 )rctela3 mute and sumissive efore )non!Tha3 appeared to heed nothing ut the #ill of the necromancer4 "he #as like a fair and soulless automaton4 The sorcerers3 turning as -hariom entered3 sprang ack #ith instant agility efore his onset3 and dre# the short3 cruelly crooked s#ords
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#hich they all carried4 Narghai struck the knife from -hariom1s fingers #ith a darting lo# that shattered its thin lade at the hilt3 and VemaTsith3 his #eapon s#inging ack in a vicious arc3 #ould have killed the youth promptly if )non!Tha had not intervened and ade him stay4 -hariom3 standing furious ut irresolute efore the lifted s#ords3 #as a#are of the darkly searching eyes of )non!Tha3 like those of some nyctalopic ird of prey4 =I #ould kno# the meaning of this intrusion3= said the necromancer4 =Truly3 you are old to enter the temple of 0ordiggian4= =I came to find the girl #ho lies yonder3= declared -hariom4 ="he is Elaith3 my #ife3 #ho #as claimed un7ustly y the god4 &ut tell me3 #hy have you rought her to this room3 from the tale of 0ordiggian3 and #hat manner of men are you3 that raise up the dead as you have raised this other #oman>= =I am )non!Tha3 the necromancer3 and these others are my pupils3 Narghai and Vema!Tsith4 Give thanks to Vema!Tsith3 for verily he has rought ack your #ife from the purlieus of the dead #ith a skill e9celling that of his master4 "he a#oke ere the incantation #as finished?= -hariom glared #ith implacale suspicion at )non! Tha4 =Elaith #as not dead3 ut only as one in a trance3= he averred4 =It #as not your pupil1s sorcery that a#akened her4 )nd verily #hether Elaith e dead or living is not a matter that should concern any ut myself4 -ermit us to depart3 for I #ish to remove #ith her from .ul!&ha!"air3 in #hich #e are only passing travelers4= "o speaking3 he turned his ack on the necromancers3 and #ent over to Elaith3 #ho regarded him #ith da:ed eyes ut uttered his name feely as he clasped her in his arms4 =No# this is a remarkale coincidence3= purred )non!Tha4 =I and my pupils are also planning to depart from .ul!&ha!"air3 and #e start this very night4 -erhaps you #ill honor us #ith your company4= =I thank you3= said -hariom3 curtly4 =&ut I am not sure that our roads lie together4 Elaith and I #ould go to#ard Tasuun4= =No#3 y the lack altar of 0ordiggian3 that is still stranger coincidence3 for Tasuun is also our destination We take #ith us the resurrected girl )rctela3 #hom I have deemed too fair for the charnel god and his ghouls4=
-hariom divined the dark evil that lay ehind the oily3 mocking speeches of the necromancer4 )lso3 he sa# the furtive and sinister sign that )non!Tha had made to his assistants4 Weaponless3 he could only give a formal assent to the sardonic proposal4 (e kne# #ell that he #ould not e permitted to leave the temple alive3 for the narro# eyes of Narghai and Vema!Tsith3 regarding him closely3 #ere alight #ith the red lust of murder4 =Come3= said )non!Tha3 in a voice of imperious command4 =It is time to go4= (e turned to the still figure of )rctela and spoke an unkno#n #ord4 With vacant eyes and noctamulistic paces3 she follo#ed at his heels as he stepped to#ard the open door4 -hariom had helped Elaith to her feet3 and #as #hispering #ords of reassurance in an effort to lull the gro#ing horror and confused alarm that he sa# in her eyes4 "he #as ale to #alk3 aleit slo#ly and uncertainly4 Vema!Tsith and Narghai dre# ack3 motioning that she and -hariom should precede them6 ut -hariom3 sensing their intent to slay him as soon as his ack #as turned3 oeyed un#illingly and looked desperately aout for something that he could sei:e as a #eapon4 8ne of the metal ra:iers3 full of smoldering coals3 #as at his very feet4 (e stooped /uickly3 lifted it in his hands3 and turned upon the necromancers4 Vema! Tsith3 as he had suspected3 #as pro#ling to#ard him #ith upraised3 s#ord3 and #as making ready to strike4 -hariom hurled the ra:ier and its glo#ing contents full in the necromancer1s face3 and Vema!Tsith #ent do#n #ith a terrile3 smothered cry4 Narghai3 snarling ferociously3 leapt fore#ard to assail the defenseless youth4 (is scimitar gleamed #ith a #icked luster in the lurid glare of the urns as he s#ung it ack for the lo#4 &ut the #eapon did not fall6 and -hariom3 steeling himself against the impending death3 ecame a#are that Narghai #as staring eyond him as if petrified y the vision of some Gorgonian specter4 )s if compelled y another #ill than his o#n3 the youth turned and sa# the thing that had halted Narghai1s lo#4 )rctela and )non!Tha3 pausing efore the open door3 #ere outlined against a colossal shado# that #as not #rought y anything in the room4 It filled the portals from side to side3 it to#ered aove the lintel < and then3 s#iftly3 it ecame more than a shado#5 it #as a ulk of darkness3 lack and opa/ue3 that someho# linded the eyes #ith a strange da::lement4 It seemed to suck the flame from the red urns and fill the chamer #ith a chill of utter death and voidness4 Its form #as that of a #orm!shapen column3 huge as a dragon3 its further coils still issuing from the gloom of the corridor6 ut it changed from moment to moment3 s#irling and spinning as if alive #ith the vortical energies of dark eons4 &riefly it took
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the semlance of some demoniac giant #ith eyeless head and limless ody6 and then3 leaping and spreading like smoky fire3 it s#ept for#ard into the chamer4 )non!Tha fell ack efore it3 #ith frantic mumlings of malediction or e9orcism6 ut )rctela3 pale and slight and motionless3 remained full in its path3 #hile the thing enfolded her and enveloped her #ith a hungry flaring until she #as hidden #holly from vie#4 -hariom3 supporting Elaith3 #ho leaned #eakly on his shoulder as if aout to s#oon3 #as po#erless to move4 (e forgot the murderous Narghai3 and it seemed that he and Elaith #ere ut faint shado#s in the presence of emodied death and dissolution4 (e sa# the lackness gro# and #a9 #ith the to#ering of fed flame as it closed aout )rctela6 and he sa# it gleam #ith eddying hues of somer iris3 like the spectrum of a sale sun4 +or an instant3 he heard a soft and flame! like murmuring4 Then3 /uickly and terrily3 the thing eed from the room4 )rctela #as gone3 as if she had dissolved like a phantom on the air4 &orne on a sudden gust of strangely mingled heat and cold3 there came an acrid odor3 such as #ould rise from a urnt!out funeral pyre4
=Go3 for 0ordiggian is a 7ust god3 #ho claims only the dead3 and has no concern #ith the living4 )nd #e3 the priests of 0ordiggian3 deal in our o#n fashion #ith those #ho #ould violate his la# y removing the dead from the temple4= -hariom3 #ith Elaith still leaning on his shoulder3 #ent out into the dark hall3 hearing a hideous clamor in #hich the screams of men #ere mingled #ith a gro#ling as of 7ackals3 a laughter as of hyenas4 The clamor ceased as3 they entered the lue!lit sanctuary and passed to#ard the outer corridor3 and the silence that filled 0ordiggian1s fane ehind them #as deep as the silence of the dead on the lack altar!tale4
The (ark Ei'olon Thasaidon3 lord of seven hells Wherein the single "erpent d#ells3 With volumes dra#n from pit to pit Through fire and darkness infinite < Thasaidon3 sun of nether skies3 Thine ancient evil never dies3 +or aye thy somer fulgors flame 8n sunken #orlds that have no name3 0an1s heart enthrones thee3 still supreme3 Though the false sorcerers laspheme4 !! The Song of Xeethra
=0ordiggian?= shrilled Narghai3 in hysteric terror4 =It #as the god 0ordiggian? (e has taken )rctela?= It seemed that his cry #as ans#ered y a score of sardonic echoes3 unhuman as the ho#ling of hyenas3 and yet articulate3 that repeated the name 0ordiggian4 Into the room3 from the dark hall3 there poured a horde of creatures #hose violet roes alone identified them in -hariom1s eyes as the priests of the ghoul!god4 They had removed the skull!like masks3 revealing heads and faces that #ere half anthropomorphic3 half canine3 and #holly diaolic4 )lso3 they had taken off the fingerless gloves444 There #ere at least a do:en of them4 Their curving talons gleamed in the loody light like the hooks of darkly tarnished metal6 their spiky teeth3 longer than coffin nails3 protruded from snarling lips4 They closed like a ring of 7ackals on )non!Tha and Narghai3 driving them ack into the farthest corner4 "everal others3 entering tardily3 fell #ith a estial ferocity on Vema! Tsith3 #ho had egun to revive3 and #as moaning and #rithing on the floor amid the scattered coals of the ra:ier4 They seemed to ignore -hariom and Elaith3 #ho stood looking on as if in some aleful trance4 &ut the hindmost3 ere he 7oined the assailants of Vema!Tsith3 turned to the youthful pair and addressed them in a hoarse3 hollo# voice3 l ike a tom!revererate arking5
8n .othi/ue3 the last continent on Earth3 the sun no longer shone #ith the #hiteness of its prime3 ut #as dim and tarnished as if #ith a vapor of lood4 Ne# stars #ithout numer had declared themselves in the heavens3 and the shado#s of the infinite had fallen closer4 )nd out of the shado#s3 the older gods had returned to man5 the gods forgotten since (yperorea3 since 0u and -oseidonis3 earing other names ut the same attriutes4 )nd the elder demons had also returned3 attening on the fumes of evil sacrifice3 and fostering again the primordial sorceries4 0any #ere the necromancers and magicians of .othi/ue3 and the infamy and marvel of their doings #ere legended every#here in the latter days4 &ut among them all there #as none greater than Namirrha3 #ho imposed his lack yoke on the cities of %ylac3 and later3 in a proud delirium3 deemed himself the veritale peer of Thasaidon3 lord of Evil4 Namirrha had uilt his aode in $mmaos3 the chief to#n of %ylac3 to #hich he came from the desert realm of Tasuun #ith the dark reno#n of his thaumaturgies like a cloud of desert storm ehind him4 )nd no man kne# that in coming to $mmaos he returned to the city of his irth6 for all deemed him a
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native of Tasuun4 Indeed3 none could have dreamt that the great sorcerer #as one #ith the eggar!oy Narthos3 an orphan of /uestionale parentage3 #ho had egged his daily read in the streets and a:aars of $mmaos4 Wretchedly had he lived3 alone and despised6 and a hatred of the cruel3 opulent city gre# in his heart like a smothered flame that feeds in secret3 iding the time #hen it shall ecome a conflagration consuming all things4 &itterer al#ays3 through his oyhood and early youth3 #as the spleen and rancor of Narthos to#ard men4 )nd one day the prince .otulla3 a oy ut little older than he3 riding a restive palfrey3 came upon him in the s/uare efore the imperial palace6 and Narthos implored an alms4 &ut .otulla3 scorning his plea3 rode arrogantly for#ard3 spurring the palfrey6 and Narthos #as ridden do#n and trampled under its hooves4 )nd after#ard3 nigh to death from the trampling3 he lay senseless for many hours3 #hile the people passed him y unheeding4 )nd at last3 regaining his senses3 he dragged himself to his hovel6 ut he limped a little thereafter all his days3 and the mark of one hoof remained like a rand on his ody3 fading never4 'ater3 he left $mmaos3 and #as forgotten /uickly y its people4 Going south#ard into Tasuun3 he lost his #ay in the great desert3 and #as near to perishing4 &ut finally he came to a small oasis3 #here d#elt the #i:ard 8uphaloc3 a hermit #ho preferred the company of honest 7ackals and hyenas to that of men4 )nd 8uphaloc3 seeing the great craft and evil in the starveling oy3 gave succor to Narthos and sheltered him4 (e d#elt for years #ith 8uphaloc3 ecoming the #i:ard1s pupil and the heir of his demon!#rested lore4 "trange things he learned in that hermitage3 eing fed on fruits and grain that had sprung not from the #atered earth3 and #ine that #as not the 7uice of terrene grapes4 )nd like 8uphaloc3 he ecame a master in devildom and drove his o#n ond #ith the archfiend Thasaidon4 When 8uphaloc died3 he took the name of Namirrha3 and #ent forth as a mighty sorcerer among the #andering peoples and the deep!uried mummies of Tasuun4 &ut never could he forget the miseries of his oyhood in $mmaos and the #rong he had endured from .otulla6 and year y year he spun over in his thoughts the lack #e of revenge4 )nd his fame gre# ever darker and vaster3 and men feared him in remote lands eyond Tasuun4 With ated #hispers they spoke of his deeds in the cities of 2oros3 and in .ul!&ha!"hair3 the aode of the ghoulish deity 0ordiggian4 )nd long efore the coming of Namirrha himself3 the people of $mmaos kne# him as a faled scourge that #as direr than simoom or pestilence4 No#3 in the years that follo#ed the going!forth of the oy Narthos from $mmaos3 -ithaim3 the father of
-rince .otulla3 #as slain y the sting of a small adder that had crept into his ed for #armth on an autumn night4 "ome said that the adder had een purveyed y .otulla3 ut this #as a thing that no man could verily affirm4 )fter the death of -ithaim3 .otulla3 eing his only son3 #as emperor of %ylac3 and ruled evilly from his throne in $mmaos4 Indolent he #as3 and tyrannic3 and full of strange lu9uries and cruelties6 ut the people3 #ho #ere also evil3 acclaimed him in his turpitude4 "o he prospered3 and the lords of (ell and (eaven smote him not4 )nd the red suns and ashen moons #ent #est#ard over %ylac3 falling into that seldom!voyaged sea3 #hich3 if the mariners1 tales #ere true3 poured evermore like a s#iftening river past the infamous isle of Naat3 and fell in a #orld#ide cataract upon nether space from the far3 sheer edge of Earth4 Grosser still he gre#3 and his sins #ere as overs#ollen fruits that ripen aove a deep ayss4 &ut the #inds of time le# softly6 and the fruits fell not4 )nd .otulla laughed amid his fools and his eunuchs and his lemans6 and the tale of his lu9uries #as orne afar3 and #as told y dim outland peoples3 as a t#in marvel #ith the ruited necromancies of Namirrha4 It came to pass3 in the year of the (yena3 and the month of the star Canicule3 that a great feast #as given y .otulla to the inhaitants of $mmaos4 0eats that had een cooked in e9otic spices from "otar3 isle of the east3 #ere spread every#here6 and the ardent #ines of 2oros and %ylac3 filled as #ith suterranean fires3 #ere poured ine9haustily from huge urns for all4 The #ines a#oke a furious mirth and a royal madness6 and after#ard they rought a slumer no less profound than the 'ethe of the tom4 )nd one y one3 as they drank3 the revellers fell do#n in the streets3 the houses and gardens3 as if a plague had struck them6 and .otulla slept in his an/uet!hall of gold and eony3 #ith his odalis/ues and chamerlains aout him4 "o3 in all $mmaos3 there #as no man or #oman #akeful at the hour #hen "irius egan to fall to#ard the #est4 Thus it #as that none sa# or heard the coming of Namirrha4 &ut a#akening heavily in the latter forenoon3 the emperor .otulla heard a confused ale3 a troulous clamor of voices from such of his eunuchs and #omen as had a#akened efore him4 In/uiring the cause3 he #as told that a strange prodigy had occurred during the night6 ut3 eing still emused #ith #ine and slumer3 he comprehended little enough of its nature3 till his favorite concuine3 8e9ah3 led him to the eastern portico of the palace3 from #hich he could ehold the marvel #ith his o#n eyes4
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No# the palace stood alone at the center of $mmaos3 and to the north3 #est and south3 for #ide intervals of distance3 there stretched the imperial gardens3 full of superly arching palms and loftily spiring fountains4 &ut to east#ard #as a road open area3 used as a sort of common3 et#een the palace and the mansions of high optimates4 )nd in this space3 #hich had lain #holly vacant at eve3 a uilding to#ered colossal and lordly eneath the full! risen sun3 #ith domes like monstrous fungi of stone that had come up in the night4 )nd the domes3 rearing level #ith those of .otulla3 #ere uilded of death! #hite marle6 and the huge faAade3 #ith multi! columned porticoes and deep alconies3 #as #rought in alternate :ones of night!lack ony9 and porphyry hued as #ith dragons1 lood4 )nd .otulla s#ore le#dly3 calling #ith hoarse lasphemies on the gods and devils of %ylac6 and great #as his dumfoundment3 deeming the marvel a #ork of #i:ardry4 The #omen gathered aout him3 crying out #ith shrill cries of a#e and terror6 and more and more of his courtiers3 a#akening3 came to s#ell the hu! u6 and the fat castradoes diddered in their cloth!of! gold like immense lack 7ellies in golden asins4 &ut .otulla3 mindful of his dominion as emperor of all %ylac3 strove to conceal his o#n trepidation3 saying5 =No# #ho is this that has presumed to enter $mmaos like a 7ackal in the dark3 and has made his impious den in pro9imity and countervie# of my palace> Go forth3 and in/uire the miscreant1s name6 ut ere you go3 instruct the headsman to make sharp his doule! handed s#ord4= Then3 fearing the emperor1s #rath if they tarried3 certain of the chamerlains #ent forth un#illingly and approached the portals of the strange edifice4 It seemed that the portals #ere deserted till they dre# near3 and then3 on the threshold3 there appeared a titanic skeleton3 taller than any man of earth6 and it strode for#ard to meet them #ith ell!long strides4 The skeleton #as s#athed in a loin!cloth of scarlet silk #ith a uckle of 7et3 and it #ore a lack turan3 starred #ith diamonds3 #hose topmost foldings nearly touched the high lintel4 Eyes like flickering marsh!fires urned in its deep eye!sockets6 and a lackened tongue like that of a long!dead man protruded et#een its teeth6 ut other#ise it #as clean of flesh3 and the ones glittered #hitely in the sun as it came on#ard4 The chamerlains #ere mute efore it3 and there #as no sound e9cept the golden creaking of their girdles3 the shrill rustling of their silks3 as they shook and tremled4 )nd the foot!ones of the skeleton clicked sharply on the pavement of lack ony9 as it paused6 and the putrefying tongue egan to /uiver et#een
its teeth6 and it uttered these #ords in an unctuous3 nauseous voice5 =;eturn3 and tell the emperor .otulla that Namirrha3 seer and magician3 has come to d#ell eside him4= (earing the skeleton speak as if it had een a living man3 and hearing the dread name of Namirrha as men hear the tocsin of doom in some fallen city3 the chamerlains could stand efore it no longer3 and they fled #ith ungainly s#iftness and ore the message to .otulla4 No#3 learning #ho it #as that had come to neighor #ith him in $mmaos3 the emperor1s #rath died out like a feele and lustering flame on #hich the #ind of darkness had lo#n6 and the vinous purple of his cheeks #as mottled #ith a strange pallor6 and he said nothing3 ut his lips mumled loosely as if in prayer or malediction4 )nd the ne#s of Namirrha1s coming passed like the flight of evil night!irds through all the palace and throughout the city3 leaving a noisome terror that aode in $mmaos thereafter till the end4 +or Namirrha3 through the lack reno#n of his thaumaturgies and the frightful entities #ho served him3 had ecome a po#er that no secular sovereign dared dispute6 and men feared him every#here3 even as they feared the gigantic3 shado#y lords of (ell and of outer space4 )nd in $mmaos3 people said that he had come on the desert #ind from Tasuun #ith his underlings3 even as the pestilence comes3 and had reared his house in an hour #ith the aid of devils eside .otulla1s palace4 )nd they said that the foundations of the house #ere laid on the adamantine cope of (ell6 and in its floors #ere pits at #hose ottom urned the nether fires3 or stars could e seen as they passed under in lo#ermost night4 )nd the follo#ers of Namirrha #ere the dead of strange kingdoms3 the demons of sky and earth and the ayss3 and mad3 impious3 hyrid things that the sorcerer himself created from foridden unions4 0en shunned the neighorhood of his lordly house6 and in the palace of .otulla fe# cared to approach the #indo#s and alconies that gave thereon6 and the emperor himself spoke not of Namirrha3 pretending to ignore the intruder6 and the #omen of the harem aled evermore #ith an evil gossip concerning Namirrha and his concuines4 &ut the sorcerer himself #as not eheld y the people of that city3 though some elieved that he #alked forth at #ill3 clad #ith invisiility4 (is servitors #ere like#ise not seen6 ut a ho#ling as of the damned #as sometimes heard to issue from his portals6 and sometimes there came a strange cachinnation3 as if some adamantine image had laughed aloud6 and sometimes there #as a chuckling like the sound of shattered ice in a fro:en hell4 Dim shado#s moved in the porticoes #hen there
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#as neither sunlight nor lamp to cast them6 and red3 eery lights appeared and vanished in the #indo#s at eve3 like a linking of demoniac eyes4 )nd slo#ly the emer!colored suns #ent over %ylac3 and #ere /uenched in far seas6 and the ashy moons #ere lackened as they fell nightly to#ard the hidden gulf4 Then3 seeing that the #i:ard had #rought no open evil3 and that none had endured palpale harm from his presence3 the people took heart6 and .otulla drank deeply3 and feasted in olivious lu9ury as efore6 and dark Thasaidon3 prince of all turpitudes3 #as the true ut never!ackno#ledged lord of %ylac4 )nd in time the men of $mmaos ragged a little of Namirrha and his dread thaumaturgies3 even as they had oasted of the purple sins of .otulla4 &ut Namirrha3 still uneheld y living men and living #omen3 sat in the inner #alls of that house #hich his devils had reared for him3 and spun over and over in his thoughts the lack #e of revenge4 )nd the #rong done y .otulla to Narthos in old times #as the least of those cruelties #hich the emperor had forgotten4 No#3 #hen the fears of .otulla #ere some#hat lulled3 and his #omen gossiped less often of the neighoring #i:ard3 there occurred a ne# #onder and a fresh terror4 +or3 sitting one eve at his an/uet!tale #ith his courtiers aout him3 the emperor heard a noise as of myriad iron!shod hooves that came trampling through the palace gardens4 )nd the courtiers also heard the sound3 and #ere startled amid their mounting drunkenness6 and the emperor #as angered3 and he sent certain of his guards to e9amine into the cause of the trampling4 &ut peering forth upon the moon!right la#ns and parterres3 the guards eheld no visile shape3 though the loud sounds of trampling still #ent to and fro4 It seemed as if a rout of #ild stallions passed and re!passed efore the faAade of the palace #ith tumultuous gallopings and capricoles4 )nd a fear came upon the guards as they looked and listened6 and they dared not venture forth3 ut returned to .otulla4 )nd the emperor himself gre# soer #hen he heard their tale6 and he #ent forth #ith high lusterings to vie# the prodigy4 )nd all night the unseen hooves rang out sonorously on the pavement of ony93 and ran #ith deep thuddings over the grasses and flo#ers4 The palm!fronds #aved on the #indless air as if parted y racing steeds6 and visily the tall!stemmed lilies and road!petaled e9otic lossoms #ere trodden under4 )nd rage and terror nested together in .otulla1s heart as he stood in a alcony aove the garden3 hearing the spectral tumult3 and eholding the harm done to his rarest flo#er!eds4 The #omen3 the courtiers and eunuchs co#ered ehind him3 and there #as no slumer for any occupant of the palace6 ut to#ard da#n the
clamor of hooves departed3 going to#ard Namirrha1s house4 When the da#n #as full!gro#n aove $mmaos3 the emperor #alked forth #ith his guards aout him3 and sa# that the crushed grasses and roken!do#n stems #ere lackened as if y fire #here the hooves had fallen4 -lainly #ere the marks imprinted3 like the tracks of a great company of horses3 in all the la#ns and parterres6 ut they ceased at the verge of the gardens4 )nd though everyone elieved that the visitation had come from Namirrha3 there #as no proof of this in the grounds that fronted the sorcerer1s aode6 for here the turf #as untrodden4 =) po9 upon Namirrha3 if he has done this?= cried .otulla4 =+or #hat harm have I ever done him> Verily3 I shall set my heel on the dog1s neck6 and the torture! #heel shall serve him even as these horses from (ell have served my lood!red lilies of "otar and my vein! colored irises of Naat and my orchids from $ccastrog #hich #ere purple as the ruises of love4 2ea3 though he stand the viceroy of Thasaidon aove Earth3 and overlord of ten thousand devils3 my #heel shall reak him3 and fires shall heat the #heel #hite!hot in its turning3 till he #ithers lack as the seared lossoms4= Thus did .otulla make his rag6 ut he issued no orders for the e9ecution of his threat6 and no man stirred from the palace to#ards Namirrha1s house4 )nd from the portals of the #i:ard none came forth6 or if any came there #as no visile sign or sound4 "o the day #ent over3 and the night rose3 ringing later a moon that #as slightly darkened at the rim4 )nd the night #as silent6 and .otulla3 sitting long at the an/uet!tale3 drained his #ine!cup often and #rathfully3 muttering ne# threats against Namirrha4 )nd the night #ore on3 and it seemed that the visitation #ould not e repeated4 &ut at midnight3 lying in his chamer #ith 8e9ah3 and fathom!deep in his slumer from the #ine3 .otulla #as a#akened y a monstrous clangor of hooves that raced and capered in the palace porticoes and in the long alconies4 )ll night the hooves thundered ack and forth3 echoing a#fully in the vaulted stone3 #hile .otulla and 8e9ah3 listening3 huddled close amid their cushions and coverlets6 and all the occupants of the palace3 #akeful and fearful3 heard the noise ut stirred not from their chamers4 ) little efore da#n the hooves departed suddenly6 and after#ard3 y day3 their marks #ere found found on the marle flags of the porches and alconies6 and the marks #ere countless3 deep!graven3 and lack as if randed there y flame4 'ike mottled marle #ere the emperor1s cheeks #hen he sa# the hoof!printed floors6 and terror stayed #ith him henceforth3 follo#ing him to the depths of his
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Zothique
Clark Ashton Smith
ineriety3 since he kne# not #here the haunting #ould cease4 (is #omen murmured and some #ished to flee from $mmaos3 and it seemed that the revels of the day and evening #ere shado#ed y ill #ings that left their umrage in the yello# #ine and edimmed the aureate lamps4 )nd again3 to#ard midnight3 the slumer of .otulla #as roken y the hooves3 #hich came galloping and pacing on the palace!roof and through all the corridors and the halls4 Thereafter3 till da#n3 the hooves filled the palace #ith their iron clatterings3 and they rung hollo#ly on the topmost domes3 as if the coursers of gods had trodden there3 passing from heaven to heaven in tumultuous cavalcade4 .otulla and 8e9ah3 lying together #hile the terrile hooves #ent to and fro in the hall outside their chamer3 had no heart or thought for sin3 nor could they find any comfort in their nearness4 In the gray hour efore da#n they heard a great thundering high on the arred ra:en door of the room3 as if some mighty stallion3 rearing3 had drummed there #ith his forefeet4 )nd soon after this3 the hooves #ent a#ay3 leaving a silence like an interlude in some gathering storm of doom4 'ater3 the marks of the hooves #ere found every#here in the halls3 marring the right mosaics4 &lack holes #ere urnt in the golden! threaded rugs and the rugs of silver and scarlet6 and the high #hite domes #ere pitted po9!#ise #ith the marks6 and far up on the ra:en door of .otulla1s chamer the prints of a horse1s forefeet #ere incised deeply4 No#3 in $mmaos3 and throughout %ylac3 the tale of this haunting ecame kno#n3 and the thing #as deemed an ominous prodigy3 though people differed in their interpretations4 "ome held that the sending came from Namirrha3 and #as meant as a token of his supremacy aove all kings and emperors6 and some thought that it came from a ne# #i:ard #ho had risen in Tinarath3 far to the east3 and #ho #ished to supplant Namirrha4 )nd the priests of the gods of %ylac held that their various deities had dispatched the haunting3 as a sign that more sacrifices #ere re/uired in the temples4 Then3 in his hall of audience3 #hose floor of sard and 7asper had een grievously pocked y the unseen hooves3 .otulla called together many priests and magicians and soothsayers3 and asked them to declare the cause of the sending and devise a mode of e9orcism4 &ut3 seeing that there #as no agreement among them3 .otulla provided the several priestly sects #ith the #here#ithal of sacrifice to their sundry gods3 and sent them a#ay6 and the #i:ards and prophets3 under threat of decapitation if they refused3 #ere en7oined to visit Namirrha in his mansion of
sorcery and learn his #ill3 if haply the sending #ere his and not the #ork of another4 'oth #ere the #i:ards and the soothsayers3 fearing Namirrha3 and caring not to intrude upon the frightful mysteries of his oscure mansion4 &ut the s#ordsmen of the emperor drove them forth3 lifting great crescent lades against them #hen they tarried6 so one y one3 in a straggling order3 the delegation #ent to#ards Namirrha1s portals and vanished into the devil!uilded house4 -ale3 muttering and distraught3 like men #ho have looked upon hell and have seen their doom3 they returned efore sunset to the emperor4 )nd they said that Namirrha had received them courteously and had sent them ack #ith this message5 =&e it kno#n to .otulla that the haunting is a sign of that #hich he has long forgotten6 and the reason of the haunting #ill e revealed to him at the hour prepared and set apart y destiny4 )nd the hour dra#s near5 for Namirrha ids the emperor and all his court to a great feast on the afternoon of the morro#4= (aving delivered this message3 to the #onder and consternation of .otulla3 the delegation egged his leave to depart4 )nd though the emperor /uestioned them minutely3 they seemed un#illing to relate the circumstances of the visit to Namirrha6 nor #ould they descrie the sorcerer1s faled house3 e9cept in a vague manner3 each contradicting the other as to #hat he had seen4 "o3 after a li ttle3 .otulla ade them go3 and #hen they had gone he sat musing for a long #hile on the invitation of Namirrha3 #hich #as a thing he cared not to accept ut feared to decline4 That evening he drank even more lierally than #as his #ont6 and he slept a 'ethean slumer3 nor #as there any noise of trampling hooves aout the palace to a#aken him4 )nd silently3 during the night3 the prophets and magicians passed like furtive shado#s from $mmaos6 and no man sa# them depart6 and at morning they #ere gone from %ylac into other lands3 never to return4444 No#3 on that same evening3 in the great hall of his house3 Namirrha sat alone3 having dismissed the familiars #ho attended him ordinarily4 &efore him3 on an altar of 7et3 #as the dark3 gigantic statue of Thasaidon #hich a devil!egotten sculptor had #rought in ancient days for an evil king of Tasuun3 called -harnoc4 The archdemon #as depicted in the guise of a full!armored #arrior3 lifting a spiky mace as if in heroic attle4 'ong had the statue lain in the desert! sunken palace of -harnoc3 #hose very site #as disputed y the nomads6 and Namirrha3 y his divination3 had found it and had reared up the
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Zothique
infernal image to aide #ith him al#ays thereafter4 )nd often3 through the mouth of the statue3 Thasaidon #ould utter oracles to Namirrha3 or #ould ans#er interrogations4 &efore the lack!armored image there hung seven silver lamps3 #rought in the form of horses1 skulls3 #ith flames issuing changealy in lue and purple and crimson from their eye!sockets4 Wild and lurid #as their light3 and the face of the demon3 peering from under his crested helmet3 #as filled #ith malign3 e/uivocal shado#s that shifted and changed eternally4 )nd sitting in his serpent!carven chair3 Namirrha regarded the statue grimly3 #ith a deep!furro#ed fro#n et#een his eyes5 for he had asked a certain thing of Thasaidon3 and the fiend3 replying through the statue3 had refused him4 )nd reellion #as in the heart of Namirrha3 gro#n mad #ith pride3 and deeming himself the lord of all sorcerers and a ruler y his o#n right among the princes of devildom4 "o3 after long pondering3 he repeated his re/uest in a old and haughty voice3 like one #ho addresses an e/ual rather than the all!formidale su:erain to #hom he had s#orn a fatal fealty4 =I have helped you heretofore in all things3= said the image3 #ith stony and sonorous accents that #ere echoed metallically in the seven silver lamps4 =2ea3 the undying #orms of fire and darkness have come forth like an army at your summons3 and the #ings of nether genii have risen to occlude the sun #hen you called them4 &ut3 verily3 I #ill not aid you in this vengeance you have planned5 for the emperor .otulla has done me no #rong and has served me #ell though un#ittingly6 and the people of %ylac3 y reason of their turpitudes3 are not the least of my terrestial #orshippers4 Therefore3 Namirrha3 it #ere #ell for you to live in peace #ith .otulla3 and #ell to forget this olden #rong that #as done to the eggar!oy Narthos4 +or the #ays of destiny are strange3 and the #orkings of its la#s sometimes hidden6 and truly3 if the hooves of .otulla1s palfrey had not spurned you and trodden you under3 your life had een other#ise3 and the name and reno#n of Namirrha had still slept in olivion as a dream undreamed4 2ea3 you #ould tarry still as a eggar in $mmaos3 content #ith a eggar1s guerdon3 and #ould never have fared forth to ecome the pupil of the #ise and learned 8uphaloc6 and I3 Thasaidon3 #ould have lost the lordliest of all necromancers #ho have accepted my service and my ond4 Think #ell3 Namirrha3 and ponder these matters5 for oth of us3 it #ould seem3 are indeted to .otulla in all gratitude for the trampling he gave you4= =2ea3 there is a det3= Namirrha gro#led implacaly4 =)nd truly I #ill pay the det tomorro#3 even as I have
planned4444 There are Those #ho #ill aid me3 Those #ho #ill ans#er my summoning in your despite4= =It is an ill thing to affront me3= said the image3 after an interval4 =)nd also3 it is not #ise to call upon Those that you designate4 (o#ever3 I perceive clearly that such is your intent4 2ou are proud and stuorn and revengeful4 Do then3 as you #ill3 ut lame me not for the outcome4= "o3 after this3 there #as silence in the hall #here Namirrha sat efore the eidolon6 and the flames urned darkly3 #ith changeale colors3 in the skull! shapen lamps6 and the shado#s fled and returned3 unresting3 on the face of the statue and the face of Namirrha4 Then3 to#ard midnight3 the necromancer arose and #ent up#ard y many spiral stairs to a high dome of his house in #hich there #as a single small round #indo# that looked forth on the constellations4 The #indo# #as set in the top of the dome6 ut Namirrha had contrived3 y means of his magic3 that one entering y the last spiral of the stairs #ould suddenly seem to descend rather than clim3 and3 reaching the last step3 #ould peer do#n#ard through the #indo# #hile stars passed under him in a giddying gulf4 There3 kneeling3 Namirrha touched a secret spring in the marle3 and the circular pane slid ack #ithout sound4 Then3 lying prone on the interior of the dome3 #ith his face over the ayss3 and his long eard trailing stiffly into space3 he #hispered a pre! human rune3 and held speech #ith certain entities #ho elonged neither to (ell nor the mundane elements3 and #ere more fearsome to invoke than the infernal genii or the devils of earth3 air3 #ater3 and flame4 With them he made his contract3 defying Thasaidon1s #ill3 #hile the air curdled aout him #ith their voices3 and rime gathered palely on his sale eard from the cold that #as #rought y their reathing as they leaned earth#ard4 'aggard and loth #as the a#akening of .otulla from his #ine6 and /uickly3 ere he opened his eyes3 the daylight #as poisoned for him y the thought of that invitation #hich he feared to accept or decline4 &ut he spoke to 8e9ah3 saying5 =Who3 after all3 is this #i:ardly dog3 that I should oey his summons like a eggar called in from the street y some haughty lord>= 8e9ah3 a golden!skinned and oli/ue!eyed girl from $ccastrog3 Isle of the Torturers3 eyed the emperor sutly3 and said5 =8 .otulla3 it is yours to accept or refuse3 as you deem fitting4 )nd truly3 it is a small matter for the lord of $mmaos and all %ylac3 #hether to go or to stay3 since naught can impugn his sovereignty4 Therefore3 #ere it
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Zothique
Clark Ashton Smith
not as #ell to go>= +or 8e9ah3 though fearful of the #i:ard3 #as curious regarding that devil!uilded house of #hich so little #as kno#n6 and like#ise3 in the manner of #omen3 she #ished to ehold the famed Namirrha3 #hose mien and appearance #ere still ut a far!rought legend in $mmaos4 =There is something in #hat you say3= admitted .otulla4 =&ut an emperor3 in his conduct3 must al#ays consider the pulic good6 and there are matters of state involved3 #hich a #oman can scarcely e e9pected to understand4= "o3 later in the forenoon3 after an ample and #ell! irrigated reakfast3 he called his chamerlains and courtiers aout him and took counsel #ith them4 )nd some advised him to ignore the invitation of Namirrha6 and others held that the invitation e accepted3 lest a graver evil than the trampling of ghostly hooves e sent upon the palace and the city4 Then .otulla called the many priesthoods efore him in a ody3 and sought to resummon the #i:ards and soothsayers #ho had fled privily in the night4 )mong all the latter3 there #as none #ho ans#ered the crying of his name through $mmaos6 and this aroused a certain #onder4 &ut the priests came in a greater numer than efore3 and thronged the hall of audience so that the paunches of the foremost #ere straightened against the imperial dais and the uttocks of the hindmost #ere flattened on the rear #alls and pillars4 )nd .otulla deated #ith them the matter of acceptance or refusal4 )nd the priests argued3 as efore3 that Namirrha #as no#here#ise concerned #ith the sending 6 and his invitation3 they said3 portended no harm nor ale to the emperor6 and it #as plain3 from the terms of the message3 that an oracle #ould e imparted to .otulla y the #i:ard6 and this oracle3 if Namirrha #ere a true archimage3 #ould confirm their o#n holy #isdom and reBstalish the divine source of the sending6 and the gods of %ylac #ould again e glorified4 Then3 having heard the pronouncement of the priests3 the emperor instructed his treasurers to load them do#n #ith ne# offerings6 and calling unctuously upon .otulla and all his household the vicarious lessings of the several gods3 the priests departed4 )nd the day #ore on3 and the sun passed its meridian3 falling slo#ly eyond $mmaos through the spaces of the afternoon that #ere floored #ith sea!ending deserts4 )nd still .otulla #as irresolute6 and he called his #ine!earers3 idding them pour for him the strongest and most magistral of their vintages6 ut in the #ine he found neither certitude nor decision4 "itting still on his throne in the hall of audience3 he heard3 to#ard middle afternoon3 a mighty and
clamorous outcry that arose at the palace portals4 There #ere deep #ailings of men and the shrillings of eunuchs and #omen3 as if terror passed from tongue to tongue3 invading the halls and apartments4 )nd the fearful clamor spread throughout all the palace3 and .otulla3 rousing from the lethargy of #ine3 #as aout to send his attendants to in/uire the cause4 Then3 into the hall3 there filed an array of tall mummies3 clad in royal cerements of purple and scarlet3 and #earing gold cro#ns on their #ithered craniums4 )nd after them3 like servitors3 came gigantic skeletons #ho #ore loin!cloths of nacarat orange and aout #hose upper skulls3 from ro# to cro#n3 live serpents of anded saffron and eon had #rapped themselves for head!dresses4 )nd the mummies o#ed efore .otulla3 saying #ith thin3 sere voices5 =We3 #ho #ere kings of the #ide realm of Tasuun aforetime3 have een sent as a guard of honor for the emperor .otulla3 to attend him as is efitting #hen he goes forth to the feast prepared y Namirrha4= Then #ith dry clickings of their teeth3 and #histlings as of air through screens of fretted ivory3 the skeletons spoke5 =We3 #ho #ere giant #arriors of a race forgotten3 have also een sent y Namirrha3 so that the emperor1s household3 follo#ing him to the feast3 should e guarded from all peril and should fare forth in such pageantry as is meet and proper4= Witnessing these prodigies3 the #ine!earers and other attendants co#ered aout the imperial dais or hid ehind the pillars3 #hile .otulla3 #ith pupils s#imming starkly in a loodshot #hite3 #ith face loated and ghastly pale3 sat fro:en on his throne and could utter no #ord in reply to the ministers of Namirrha4 Then3 coming for#ard3 the mummies said in dusty accents5 =)ll is made ready3 and the feast a#aits the arrival of .otulla4= )nd the cerements of the mummies stirred and fell open at the osom3 and small rodent monsters3 ro#n as itumen3 eyed as #ith accursed ruies3 reared forth from the eaten hearts of the mummies like rats from their holes and chittered shrilly in human speech3 repeating the #ords4 The skeletons in turn took up the solemn sentence6 and the lack and saffron serpents hissed it from their skulls6 and the #ords #ere repeated lastly in aleful rumlings y certain furry creatures of duious form3 hitherto unseen y .otulla3 #ho sat ehind the ris of the skeletons as if in cages of #hite #icker4 'ike a dreamer #ho oeys the doom of dreams3 the emperor rose from his throne and #ent for#ard3 and the mummies surrounded him like an escort4 )nd
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Zothique
each of the skeletons dre# from the reddish!yello# folds of his loin!cloth a curiously pierced archaic flute of silver6 and all egan a s#eet and evil and deathly fluting as the emperor #ent out through the halls of the palace4 ) fatal spell #as in the music5 for the chamerlains3 the #omen3 the guards3 the eunuchs3 and all memers of .otulla1s household even to the cooks and scullions3 #ere dra#n like a procession of night!#alkers from the rooms and alcoves in #hich they had vainly hidden themselves6 and marshaled y the flutists3 they follo#ed after .otulla4 ) strange thing it #as to ehold this mighty company of people3 going forth in the slanted sunlight to#ard Namirrha1s house3 #ith a cortge of dead kings aout them3 and the lo#n reath of skeletons thrilling eldritchly in the silver flutes4 )nd little #as .otulla comforted #hen he found the girl 8e9ah at his side3 moving3 as he3 in a thralldom of involitent horror3 #ith the rest of his #omen close ehind4 Coming to the open portals of Namirrha1s house3 the emperor sa# that they #ere guarded y great crimson!#attled things3 half dragon3 half man3 #ho o#ed efore him3 s#eeping their #attles like loody esoms on the flags of dark ony94 )nd the emperor passed #ith 8e9ah et#een the louting monsters3 #ith the mummies3 the skeletons and his o#n people ehind him in strange pageant3 and entered a vast and multicolumned hall3 #here the daylight3 follo#ing timidly3 #as dro#ned y the aleful arrogant la:e of a thousand lamps4 Even amid his horror3 .otulla marvelled at the vastness of the chamer3 #hich he could hardly reconcile #ith the mansion1s outer length and height and readth3 though these indeed #ere of most palatial amplitude4 +or it seemed that he ga:ed do#n great avenues of topless pillars3 and vistas of tales laden #ith piled!up viands and thronged urns of #ine3 that stretched a#ay efore him into luminous distance and gloom as of starless night4 In the #ide intervals et#een the tales3 the familiars of Namirrha and his other servants #ent to and fro incessantly3 as if a fantasmagoria of ill dreams #ere emodied efore the emperor4 Kingly cadavers in roes of time!rotted rocade3 #ith #orms seething in their eye!pits3 poured a lood!like #ine into cups of the opalescent horn of unicorns4 'amias3 trident!tailed3 and four!reasted chimeras3 came in #ith fuming platters lifted high y their ra:en cla#s4 Dog!headed devils3 tongued #ith lolling flames3 ran for#ard to offer themselves as ushers for the company4 )nd efore .otulla and 8e9ah3 there appeared a curious eing #ith the full!fleshed lo#er lims and hips of a great lack #oman and the clean!picked ones of some titanic ape from thereup#ard4
Verily3 it seemed to .otulla that they had gone a long #ay into some malignly litten cavern of (ell3 #hen they came to that perspective of tales and columns do#n #hich the monster had led them4 (ere3 at the room1s end3 apart from the rest3 #as a tale at #hich Namirrha sat alone3 #ith the flames of the seven horse!skull lamps urning restlessly ehind him3 and the mailed lack image of Thasaidon to#ering from the altar of 7et at his right hand4 )nd a little aside from the altar3 a diamond mirror #as uporne y the cla#s of iron asilisks4 Namirrha rose to greet them3 oserving a solemn and funereal courtesy4 (is eyes #ere leak and cold as distant stars in the hollo#s #rought y strange fearful vigils4 (is lips #ere like a pale!red seal on a shut parchment of doom4 (is eard flo#ed stiffly in lack! anointed anded locks across the osom of his vermilion roe3 like a mass of straight lack serpents4 .otulla felt the lood pause and thicken aout his heart3 as if congealing into ice4 )nd 8e9ah3 peering eneath lo#ered lids3 #as aashed and frightened y the visile horror that invested this man and hung upon him even as royalty upon a king4 &ut amid her fear3 she found room to #onder #hat manner of man he #as in his intercourse #ith #omen4 =I id you #elcome3 8 .otulla3 to such hospitality as is mine to offer3= said Namirrha3 #ith the iron ringing of some hidden funereal ell deep do#n in his hollo# voice4 =-rithee3 e seated at my tale4= .otulla sa# that a chair of eony had een placed for him opposite Namirrha6 and another chair3 less stately and imperial3 had een placed at the left hand for 8e9ah4 )nd the t#ain seated themselves6 and .otulla sa# that his people #ere sitting like#ise at other tales throughout the huge hall3 #ith the frightful servants of Namirrha #aiting upon them usily3 like devils attending the damned4 Then .otulla perceived that a dark and corpse!like hand #as pouring #ine for him in a crystal cup6 and upon the hand #as the signet!ring of the emperors of %ylac3 set #ith a monstrous fire!opal in the mouth of a golden at5 even such a ring as .otulla #ore perpetually on his inde9!finger4 )nd3 turning3 he eheld at his right hand a figure that ore the likeness of his father3 -ithaim3 after the poison of the adder3 spreading through his lims3 had left ehind it the purple loating of death4 )nd .otulla3 #ho had caused the adder to e placed in the ed of -ithaim3 co#ered in his seat and tremled #ith a guilty fear4 )nd the thing that #ore the similtude of -ithaim3 #hether corpse or an image #rought y Namirrha1s enchantment3 came and #ent at .otulla1s elo#3 #aiting upon him #ith stark3 lack3 s#ollen fingers that never fumled4 (orrily he #as a#are of its ulging3
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Clark Ashton Smith
unregarding eyes3 and its livid purple mouth that #as locked in a rigor of mortal silence3 and the spotted adder that peered at intervals #ith chill ors from its heavy!folded sleeve as it leaned eside him to replenish his cup or to serve him #ith meat4 )nd dimly3 through the icy mist of his terror3 the emperor eheld the shado#y!armored shape3 like a moving replica of the still3 grim statue of Thasaidon3 #hich Namirrha had reared up in his lasphemy to perform the same office for himself4 )nd vaguely3 #ithout comprehension3 he sa# the dreadful ministrant that hovered eside 8e9ah5 a flayed and eyeless corpse in the image of her first lover3 a oy from Cyntrom #ho had een cast ashore in ship#reck on the Isle of the Torturers4 There 8e9ah had found him3 lying ehind the eing #ave3 and reviving the oy3 she had hidden him a#hile in a secret cave for her o#n pleasure3 and had rought him food and drink4 'ater3 #earying3 she had etrayed him to the Torturers3 and had taken a ne# delight in the various pangs and ordeals inflic ted upon him efore death y that cruel3 pernicious people4 =Drink3= said Namirrha3 /uaffing a strange #ine that #as red and dark as if #ith disastrous sunsets of lost years4 )nd .otulla and 8e9ah drank the #ine3 feeling no #armth in their veins thereafter3 ut a chill as of hemlock mounting slo#ly to#ard the heart4 =Verily3 1tis a good #ine3= said Namirrha3 =and a proper one in #hich to toast the furthering of our ac/uaintance5 for it #as uried long ago #ith the royal dead3 in amphorae of somer 7asper shapen like funeral urns6 and my ghouls found it3 #henas they came to dig in Tasuun4= No# it seemed that the tongue of .otulla fro:e in his mouth3 as a mandrake free:es in the rime!ound soil of #inter6 and he found no reply to Namirrha1s courtesy4 =-rithee3 make trial of this meat3= /uoth Namirrha3 =for it is very choice3 eing the flesh of that oar #hich the Torturers of $ccastrog are #ont to pasture on the #ell! minced leavings of their #heels and racks6 and3 moreover3 my cooks have spiced it #ith the po#erful alsams of the tom3 and have farced it #ith the hearts of adders and the tongues of lack coras4= Naught could the emperor say6 and even 8e9ah #as silent3 eing sorely trouled in her turpitude y the presence of that flayed and piteous thing #hich had the likeness of her lover from Cyntrom4 )nd the dread of the necromancer gre# prodigiously6 for his kno#ledge of this old3 forgotten crime3 and the raising of the fantasm3 appeared to her a more aleful magic than all else4
=No#3 I fear3= said Namirrha3 =that you find the meat devoid of savor3 and the #ine #ithout fire4 "o3 to enliven our feasting3 I shall call forth my singers and my musicians4= (e spoke a #ord unkno#n to .otulla or 8e9ah3 #hich sounded throughout the mighty hall as if a thousand voices in turn had taken it up and prolonged it4 )non there appeared the singers3 #ho #ere she!ghouls #ith shaven odies and hairy shanks3 and long yello# tushes full of shredded carrion curving across their chaps from mouths that fa#ned hyena! #ise on the company4 &ehind them entered the musicians3 some of #hom #ere male devils pacing erect on the hind!/uarters of sale stallions and plucking #ith the fingers of #hite apes at lyres of the one and sine# of cannials from Naat6 and others #ere pied satyrs puffing their goatish cheeks at hautoys formed from the osom!skin of Negro /ueens and the horn of rhinoceri4 They o#ed efore Namirrha #ith grotes/ue ceremony4 Then3 #ithout delay3 the she!ghouls egan a most dolorous and e9ecrale ho#ling3 as of 7ackals that have sniffed their carrion6 and the satyrs and devils played a lament that #as like the moaning of desert!orn #inds through forsaken palace harems4 )nd .otulla shivered3 for the singing filled his marro# #ith ice3 and the music left in his heart a desolation as of empires fallen and trod under y the iron!shod hooves of time4 Ever3 amid that evil music3 he seemed to hear the sifting of sand across #ithered gardens3 and the #indy rustling of rotted silks upon couches of ygone lu9ury3 and the hissing of coiled serpents from the lo# fusts of shattered columns4 )nd the glory that had een $mmaos seemed to pass a#ay like the lo#n pillars of the simoom4 =No# that #as a rave tune3= said Namirrha #hen the music ceased and the she!ghouls no longer ho#led4 =&ut verily I fear that you find my entertainment some#hat dull4 Therefore3 my dancers shall dance for you4= (e turned to#ard the great hall3 and descried in the air an enigmatic sign #ith the fingers of his right hand4 In ans#er to the sign3 a hueless mist came do#n from the high roof and hid the room like a fallen curtain for a rief interim4 There #as a ael of sounds3 confused and muffled3 eyond the curtain3 and a crying of voices faint as if #ith distance4 Then3 dreadfully3 the vapor rolled a#ay3 and .otulla sa# that the leaden tales had gone4 In the #ide interspaces of the columns3 his palace!inmates3 the chamerlains3 the eunuchs3 the courtiers and odalis/ues and all the others3 lay trussed #ith thongs on the floor3 like so many fo#ls of glorious plumage4
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Clark Ashton Smith
Zothique
)ove them3 in time to a music made y the lyrists and flutists of the necromancer3 a troupe of skeletons pirouetted #ith light clickings of their toe!ones6 and a rout of mummies o#ed stiffly6 and others of Namirrha1s creatures moved #ith mysterious caperings4 To and fro they leapt on the odies of the emperor1s people3 in the paces of an evil saraand4 )t every step they gre# taller and heavier3 till the saltant mummies #ere as the mummies of )nakim3 and the skeletons #ere oned as colossi6 and louder the music rose3 dro#ning the faint cries of .otulla1s people4 )nd huger still ecame the dancers3 to#ering far into vaulted shado# among the vast columns3 #ith thudding feet that #rought thunder in the room6 and those #hereon they danced #ere as grapes trampled for a vintage in autumn6 and the floor ran deep #ith a sanguine must4 )s a man dro#ning in a noisome3 night!ound fen3 the emperor heard the voice of Namirrha5 =It #ould seem that my dancers please you not4 "o no# I shall present you a most royal spectacle4 )rise and follo# me3 for the spectacle is one that re/uires an empire for its stage4= .otulla and 8e9ah rose from their chairs in the fashion of night!#alkers4 Giving no ack#ard glance at their ministering phantoms3 or the hall #here the dancers ounded3 they follo#ed Namirrha to an alcove eyond the altar of Thasaidon4 Thence3 y the up#ard!coiling stair#ays3 they came at length to a road high alcony that faced .otulla1s palace and looked forth aove the city roofs to#ard the ourn of sunset4 It seemed that several hours had gone y in that hellish feasting and entertainment6 for the day #as near to its close3 and the sun3 #hich had fallen from sight ehind the imperial palace3 #as arring the vast heavens #ith loody rays4 =&ehold3= said Namirrha3 adding a strange vocale to #hich the stone of the edifice resounded like a eaten gong4 The alcony pitched a little3 and .otulla3 looking over the alustrade3 eheld the roofs of $mmaos lessen and sink eneath him4 It seemed that the alcony fle# sky#ard to a prodigious height3 and he peered do#n across the domes of his o#n palace3 upon the houses3 the tilled fields and the desert eyond3 and the huge sun rought lo# on the desert1s verge4 )nd .otulla gre# giddy6 and the chill airs of the upper heavens le# upon him4 &ut Namirrha spoke another #ord3 and the alcony ceased to ascend4 ='ook #ell3= said the necromancer3 =on the empire that #as yours3 ut shall e yours no longer4= Then3 #ith
arms outstretched to#ard the sunset3 he called aloud the t#elve names that #ere perdition to utter3 and after them the tremendous invocation5 Gna padamis devompra thungis furidor avoragomon4 Instantly3 it seemed that great eon clouds of thunder eetled against the sun4 'ining the hori:on3 the clouds took the form of colossal monsters #ith heads and memers some#hat resemling those of stallions4 ;earing terrily3 they trod do#n the sun like an e9tinguished emer6 and racing as if in some hippodrome of Titans3 they rose higher and vaster3 coming to#ards $mmaos4 Deep3 calamitous rumlings preceded them3 and the earth shook visily3 till .otulla sa# that these #ere not immaterial clouds3 ut actual living forms that had come forth to tread the #orld in macrocosmic vastness4 Thro#ing their shado#s for many leagues efore them3 the coursers charged as if devil!ridden into %ylac3 and their feet descended like falling mountain crags upon far oases and to#ns of the outer #astes4 'ike a many!turreted storm they came3 and it seemed that the #orld shrank gulf#ard3 tilting eneath the #eight4 "till as a man enchanted into marle3 .otulla stood and eheld the ruining that #as #rought on his empire4 )nd closer dre# the gigantic stallions3 racing #ith inconceivale speed3 and louder #as the thundering of their footfalls3 that no# egan to lot the green fields and fruited orchards lying for many miles to the #est of $mmaos4 )nd the shado# of the stallions climed like an evil gloom of eclipse3 till it covered $mmaos6 and looking up3 the emperor sa# their eyes half#ay et#een earth and :enith3 like aleful suns that glare do#n from soaring cumuli4 Then3 in the thickening gloom3 aove that insupportale thunder3 he heard the voice of Namirrha3 crying in mad triumph5 =Kno#3 .otulla3 that I have called up the coursers of Thamogorgos3 lord of the ayss4 )nd the coursers #ill tread your empire do#n3 even as your palfrey trod and trampled in former time a eggar!oy named Narthos4 )nd learn also that I3 Namirrha3 #as that oy4= )nd the eyes of Namirrha3 filled #ith a vainglory of madness and ale3 urned like malign3 disastrous stars at the hour of their culmination4 To .otulla3 #holly ma:ed #ith the horror and tumult3 the necromancer1s #ords #ere no more than shrill3 shrieked overtones of the tempest of doom6 and he understood them not4 Tremendously3 #ith a rending of staunch!uilt roofs3 and an instant cleavage and crumling do#n of mighty masonries3 the hooves descended upon $mmaos4 +air temple!domes #ere pashed like shells of the haliotis3 and haughty mansions #ere roken and stamped into the ground
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Zothique
Clark Ashton Smith
even as gourds6 and house y house the city #as trampled flat #ith a crashing as of #orlds eaten into chaos4 +ar elo#3 in the darkened streets3 men and camels fled like scurrying emmets ut could not escape4 )nd implacaly the hooves rose and fell3 till ruin #as upon half the city3 and night #as over all4 The palace of .otulla #as trodden under3 and no# the forelegs of the coursers loomed level #ith Namirrha1s alcony3 and their heads to#ered a#fully aove4 It seemed that they #ould rear and trample do#n the necromancer1s house6 ut at that moment they parted to left and right3 and a dolorous glimmering came from the lo# sunset6 and the coursers #ent on3 treading under them that portion of $mmaos #hich lay to the east#ard4 )nd .otulla and 8e9ah and Namirrha looked do#n on the city1s fragments as on a shard!stre#n midden3 and heard the cataclysmic clamor of the hooves departing to#ard eastern %ylac4 =No# that #as a goodly spectacle3= /uoth Namirrha4 Then3 turning to the emperor3 he added malignly5 =Think not that I have done #ith thee3 ho#ever3 or that doom is yet consummate4= It seemed that the alcony had fallen to its former elevation3 #hich #as still a lofty vantage aove the sharded ruins4 )nd Namirrha plucked the emperor y the arm and led him from the alcony to an inner chamer3 #hile 8e9ah follo#ed mutely4 The emperor1s heart #as crushed #ithin him y the trampling of such calamities3 and despair #eighed upon him like a foul incuus on the shoulders of a man lost in some land of accursed night4 )nd he kne# not that he had een parted from 8e9ah on the threshold of the chamer3 and that certain of Namirrha1s creatures3 appearing like shado#s3 had compelled the girl to go do#n#ard #ith them y the stairs3 and had stifled her outcries #ith their rotten cerements as they #ent4 The chamer #as one that Namirrha used for his most unhallo#ed rites and alchemies4 The rays of the lamps that illumed it #ere saffron!red like the spilt ichor of devils3 and they flo#ed on aludels and cruciles and lack athanors and alemics #hereof the purpose #as hardly to e named y mortal man4 The sorcerer heated in one of the alemics a dark li/uid full of star! cold lights3 #hile .otulla looked on unheeding4 )nd #hen the li/uid uled and sent forth a spiral vapor3 Namirrha distilled it into golets of gold!rimmed iron3 and gave one of the golets to .otulla and retained the other himself4 )nd he said to .otulla #ith a stern imperative voice5 =I id thee /uaff this li/uor4= .otulla3 fearing that the draft #as poison3 hesitated4 )nd the necromancer regarded him #ith a lethal ga:e3 and cried loudly5 =+earest thou to do as I>= and there#ith he set the golet to his lips4
"o the emperor drank the draft3 constrained as if y the idding of some angel of death3 and a darkness fell upon his senses4 &ut3 ere the darkness gre# complete3 he sa# that Namirrha had drained his o#n golet4 Then3 #ith unspeakale agonies3 it seemed that the emperor died6 and his soul float free6 and again he sa# the chamer3 though #ith odiless eyes4 )nd discarnate he stood in the saffron!crimson light3 #ith his ody lying as if dead on the floor eside him3 and near it the prone ody of Namirrha and the t#o fallen golets4 "tanding thus3 he eheld a strange thing5 for anon his o#n ody stirred and arose3 #hile that of the necromancer remained still as death4 )nd .otulla looked at his o#n lineaments and his figure in its short cloak of a:ure samite se#n #ith lack pearls and alas!ruies6 and the ody lived efore him3 though #ith eyes that held a darker fire and a deeper evil than #as their #ont4 Then3 #ithout corporeal ears3 .otulla heard the figure speak3 and the voice #as the strong3 arrogant voice of Namirrha3 saying5 =+ollo# me3 8 houseless phantom3 and do in all things as I en7oin thee4= 'ike an unseen shado#3 .otulla follo#ed the #i:ard3 and the t#ain #ent do#n#ard y the stairs to the great an/uet hall4 They came to the altar of Thasaidon and the mailed image3 #ith the seven horse!skull lamps urning efore it as formerly4 $pon the altar3 .otulla1s eloved leman 8e9ah3 #ho alone of all #omen had po#er to stir his sated heart3 #as lying ound #ith thongs at Thasaidon1s feet4 &ut the hall eyond #as deserted3 and nothing remained of that "aturnalia of doom e9cept the fruit of the treading3 #hich had flo#ed together in dark pools among the columns4 Namirrha3 using the emperor1s ody in all #ays for his o#n3 paused efore the dark eidolon6 and he said to the spirit of .otulla5 =&e imprisoned in this image3 #ithout po#er to free thyself or to stir in any #ise4= &eing #holly oedient to the #ill of the necromancer3 the soul of .otulla #as emodied in the statue3 and he felt its cold3 gigantic armor aout him like a straight sarcophagus3 and he peered forth immovaly from the leak eyes that #ere overhung y its carven helmet4 Ga:ing thus3 he eheld the change that had come on his o#n ody through the sorcerous possession of Namirrha5 for elo# the short a:ure cloak3 the legs had turned suddenly to the hind legs of a lack stallion3 #ith hooves that glo#ed redly as if heated y infernal fires4 )nd even as .otulla #atched this
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Zothique
prodigy3 the hooves glo#ed #hite and incandescent3 and fumes mounted from the floor eneath them4
in the soul of .otulla3 gro#n sick #ith that screaming3 the chill3 a#ful voice of Thasaidon spoke again5
Then3 on the lack altar3 the hyrid aomination came pacing haughtily to#ard 8e9ah3 and smoking footprints appeared ehind it as it came4 -ausing eside the girl3 #ho lay supine and helpless regarding it #ith eyes that #ere pools of fro:en horror3 it raised one glo#ing hoof and set the hoof on her naked osom et#een the small reast!cups of golden filigree egemmed #ith ruies4 )nd the girl screamed eneath that atrocious treading as the soul of one ne#ly damned might scream in hell6 and the hoof glared #ith intolerale rilliance3 as if freshly plucked from a furnace #herein the #eapons of demons #ere forged4
=Go free3 for there is nothing more for thee to do4= "o the spirit of .otulla passed from the image of Thasaidon and found in the #ide air the freedom of nothingness and olivion4
)t that moment3 in the co#ed and crushed and sodden shade of the emperor .otulla3 close!locked #ithin the adamantine image3 there a#oke the manhood that had slumered unaroused efore the ruining of his empire and the trampling of his retinue4 Immediately a great ahorrence and a high #rath #ere alive in his soul3 and mightily he longed for his o#n right arm to serve him3 and a s#ord in his right hand4 Then it seemed that a voice spoke #ithin him3 chill and leak and a#ful3 and as if uttered in#ardly y the statue itself4 )nd the voice said5 =I am Thasaidon3 lord of the seven hells eneath the earth3 and the hells of man1s heart aove the earth3 #hich are seven times seven4 +or the moment3 8 .otulla3 my po#er is ecome thine for the sake of a mutual vengeance4 &e one in all #ays #ith the statue that has my likeness3 even as the soul is one #ith the flesh4 &ehold? there is a mace of adamant in thy right hand4 'ift up the mace3 and smite4= .otulla #as a#are of a great po#er #ithin him3 and giant the#s aout him that thrilled #ith the po#er and responded agilely to his #ill4 (e felt in his mailed right hand the haft of the huge spiky!headed mace6 and though the mace #as eyond the lifting of any man in mortal flesh3 it seemed no more than a goodly #eight to .otulla4 Then3 rearing he mace like a #arrior in attle3 he struck do#n #ith one crashing lo# the impious thing that #ore his o#n rightful flesh united #ith the legs and hooves of a demon courser4 )nd the thing crumpled s#iftly do#n and lay #ith the rain spreading pulpily from its shattered skull on the shining 7et4 )nd the legs t#itched a little and then gre# still6 and the hooves glo#ed from a fiery3 linding #hite to the redness of red!hot iron3 cooling slo#ly4 +or a space there #as no sound3 other than the shrill screaming of the girl 8e9ah3 mad #ith pain and the terror of those prodigies #hich she had eheld4 Then
&ut the end #as not yet for Namirrha3 #hose mad3 arrogant soul had een loosened from .otulla1s ody y the lo#3 and had returned darkly3 not in the manner planned y the magician3 to its o#n ody lying in the room of accursed rites and foridden transmigrations4 There Namirrha #oke anon3 #ith a dire confusion in his mind3 and a partial forgetfulness5 for the curse of Thasaidon #as upon him no# ecause of his lasphemies4 Nothing #as clear in his thought e9cept a malign3 e9oritant longing for revenge6 ut the reason thereof3 and the o7ect3 #ere as doutful shado#s4 )nd still prompted y that oscure animus3 he arose6 and girding to his side an enchanted s#ord #ith runic sapphires and opals in the hilt3 he descended the stairs and came again to the altar of Thasaidon3 #here the mailed statue stood as impassive as efore3 #ith the poised mace in its immovale right hand3 and elo# it3 on the altar3 the doule sacrifice4 ) veil of #eird darkness #as upon the senses of Namirrha3 and he sa# not the stallion!legged horror that lay dead #ith slo#ly lackening hooves6 and he heard not the moaning of the girl 8e9ah3 #ho still lived eside it4 &ut his eyes #ere dra#n y the diamond mirror that #as upheld in the cla#s of lack iron asilisks eyond the altar6 and going to the mirror3 he sa# therein a face that he kne# no longer for his o#n4 )nd ecause his eyes #ere shado#ed and his rain filled #ith the shifting #es of delusion3 he took the face for that of the emperor .otulla4 Insatiale as (ell1s o#n flame3 his old hatred rose #ithin him6 and he dre# the enchanted s#ord and egan to he# there#ith at the reflection4 "ometimes3 ecause of the curse laid upon him3 and the impious transmigration #hich he had performed3 he thought himself .otulla #arring #ith the necromancer6 and again3 in the shiftings of his madness3 he #as Namirrha smiting at the emperor6 and then3 #ithout name3 he fought a nameless foe4 )nd soon the sorcerous lade3 though tempered #ith formidale spells3 #as roken close to the hilt3 and Namirrha eheld the image still unharmed4 Then3 ho#ling aloud the half!forgotten runes of a most tremendous curse3 made invalid through his o#n forgettings3 he hammered still #ith the heavy s#ord!hilt on the mirror3 till the runic sapphires and opals cracked in the hilt and fell a#ay at his feet in little fragments4
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Clark Ashton Smith
8e9ah3 dying on the altar3 sa# Namirrha attling #ith his image3 and the spectacle moved her to mad laughter like the pealing of ells of ruined crystal4 )nd aove her laughter3 and aove the cursings of Namirrha3 there came anon like the rumling of a s#ift!driven storm the thunder made y the macrocosmic stallions of Thamogorgos3 returning gulf#ard through %ylac over $mmaos3 to trample do#n the one house that they had spared aforetime4
The )o*a+e of ,in+ Euoran The cro#n of the kings of $staim #as fashioned only from the rarest materials that could e procured any#here4 The magically graven gold of its circlet had een mined from a huge meteor that fell in the southern isle of Cyntrom3 shaking the isle from shore to shore #ith calamitous earth/uake6 and the gold #as harder and righter than any native gold of Earth3 and #as changeale in color from a flamelike red to the yello# of young moons4 It #as set #ith thirteen 7e#els3 every one of #hich #as uni/ue and #ithout fello# even in fale4 These 7e#els #ere a #onder to ehold3 starring the circlet #ith strange un/uiet fires and fulgurations terrile as the eyes of the cockatrice4 &ut more #onderful than all else #as the stuffed ga:ola!ird #hich formed the superstructure of the cro#n3 gripping the circlet #ith its steely cla#s aove the #earer1s ro#3 and to#ering royally #ith resplendent plumage of green3 violet and vermilion4 Its eak #as the hue of urnished rass3 its eyes #ere like small dark garnets in e:els of silver6 and seven lacy3 miniated /uills arose from its eon! dappled head3 and a #hite tail fell do#n in a straightly spreading fan like the eams of some #hite sun ehind the circle4 The ga:ola!ird #as the last of its kind3 according to the mariners #ho had slain it in an almost legendary isle eyond "otar3 far to the east of .othi/ue4 +or nine generations it had decked the cro#n of $staim3 and the kings looked upon it as the sacred emlem of their fortunes3 and a talisman inseparale from their royalty3 #hose loss #ould e follo#ed y grave disaster4 Euvoran the son of Karpoom3 #as the ninth #earer of the cro#n4 "uperly and magnificently he had #orn it for t#o years and ten months3 follo#ing the death of Karpoom from a surfeit of stuffed eels and 7ellied salamander1s eggs4 8n all state occasions3 levees and daily grantings of pulic audience and administerings of 7ustice3 it had graced the ro# of the young king and had conferred upon him a dreadful ma7esty in the eyes of the eholders4 )lso3 it had served to conceal the lamentale increase of an early aldness4
It came to pass3 in the late autumn of the third year of his reign3 that King Euvoran rose from a goodly reakfast of t#elve courses and t#elve #ines3 and #ent forth as #as his custom to the hall of 7ustice3 #hich occupied an entire #ing of his palace in the city of )ramoam3 looking do#n in several! colored marle from its palmy hills to the rippled la:uli of the orient ocean4 &eing #ell fortified y his reakfast3 Euvoran felt himself prepared to unravel the most involute skeins of legality and crime3 and #as like#ise ready for the meting of s#ift punishment to all malefactors4 )nd eside him3 at the right arm of his kraken!sculptured throne of ivory3 there stood an e9ecutioner leaning on a huge mace #ith a leaden head that #as tempered to the hardness of iron4 +ull often3 #ith this mace3 the ones of the more flagitious offenders #ere roken immediately3 or their rains #ere split in the kings presence on a floor that #as stre#n #ith lack sand4 )nd eside the left arm of the throne3 a professional torturer usied himself continually #ith the scre#s and pulleys of certain fearsome instruments of torture3 as a #arning of their fate to all evil!doers4 )nd not al#ays idle #ere the turnings of these scre#s and the tightenings of these pulleys3 and not al#ays empty #ere the metal eds of the machines4 No#3 on that morning3 the constales of the city rought efore King Euvoran only a fe# petty thieves and suspicious vagrants6 and there #ere no cases of felony such as #ould have #arranted the #ielding of the mace or the use of the torture!implements4 "o the king3 #ho had looked for#ard to a pleasurale session3 #as some#hat alked and disappointed6 and he /uestioned #ith much severity the minor culprits efore him3 trying to e9tort from each of them3 in turn3 an admission of some graver crime than that #hereof he #as accused4 &ut it seemed that the pilferers #ere innocent of aught ut pilfering6 and the vagrants #ere guilty of naught #orse than vagrancy6 and Euvoran egan to think that the morning #ould offer scant entertainment4 +or the astinado #as the heaviest punishment that he could legally impose on such misdemeanants4 =)#ay #ith these mackerel?= he roared to the officers3 and his cro#n shook #ith indignation3 and the tall ga:ola!ird on the cro#n appeared to nod and o#4 =)#ay #ith them3 for they pollute my presence4 Give each of them a hundred strokes #ith the hard#ood riar on the are sole of each foot3 and forget not the heels4 Then drive them forth from )ramoam to#ard the pulic refuse!grounds3 and prod them #ith red!hot tridents if they linger in their cra#ling4=
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Clark Ashton Smith
Zothique
Then3 ere the officers could oey him3 there entered the hall of 7ustice t#o elated constales3 haling et#een them a peculiar and most unsavory individual #ith the long!handled3 many pointed hooks that #ere used in )ramoam for the apprehending of malefactors and suspects4 )nd though the hooks #ere seemingly emedded in his flesh as #ell as the filthy rags that served him for raiment3 the prisoner ounded perpetually aloft in the manner of a goat3 and his captors #ere oliged to follo# in these lively and undignified saltations3 so that the three presented the appearance of tumlers4 With a final volitation in #hich the officers #ere dra#n through the air like the tails of a kite3 the incredile personage came to a pause efore Euvoran4 The king regarded him in ama:ement3 linking rapidly3 and #as not prepossessed y the singular suppleness #ith #hich he louted to the very floor3 upsetting the scarce! recovered e/uilirium of the officers3 and causing them to spra#l at full length in the royal presence4 =(a? What have #e no#>= said the king in an ominous voice4 ="ire3 1tis another vagaond3= replied the reathless officers3 #hen they had regained a more respectfully inclined position4 =(e #ould have passed through )ramoam y the main avenue in the fashion that you ehold3 #ithout stopping3 and #ithout even lessening the altitude of his saltations3 if #e had not arrested him4= ="uch ehavior is highly suspicious3= gro#led Euvoran hopefully4 =-risoner3 declare your name3 your nativity and occupation3 and the infamous crimes of #hich3 eyond dout3 you are guilty4= The captive3 #ho #as cross!eyed3 appeared to regard Euvoran3 the royal mace!#ielder3 and the royal torturer and his instruments all in a single glance4 (e #as ill!favored to an e9travagant degree3 his nose3 ears and other features #ere all possessed of unnatural moility3 and he grimaced perpetually in a manner that caused his unclean eard to toss and curl like sea#eed on a oiling #hirlpool4 =I have many names3= he replied3 in an insolent voice #hose pitch #as peculiarly disagreeale to Euvoran3 setting his teeth on edge like the grating of metal on glass4 =)s for my nativity and occupation3 the kno#ledge of these3 8 king3 #ould profit you little4= ="irrah3 you are malapert4 Give ans#er or tongues of red!hot iron shall /uestion you3= roared Euvoran4 =&e it kno#n to you3 then3 that I am a necromancer3 and #as orn in the realm #here the da#n and the sunset come together and the moon is e/ual in rightness to the sun4=
=(a? ) necromancer?= snorted the king4 =Kno# you not that necromancy is a capital crime in $staim> Verily3 #e shall find means to dissuade you from the practice of such infamies4= )t a sign from Euvoran3 the officers dre# their captive to#ard the instruments of torture4 0uch to their surprise3 in vie# of his former eullience3 he allo#ed himself to e chained supinely on the iron ed that produced a remarkale elongation of the lims of its occupants4 The official engineer of these miracles egan to #ork the levers3 and the ed lengthened little y little #ith a surly grating3 till it seemed that the prisoner1s 7oints #ould e torn apart4 Inch y inch #as added to his stature6 and though3 after a time3 he had gained more than a half!cuit from the stretching3 he appeared to e9perience no discomfort #hatever6 and to the stupefaction of all present3 it ecame plain that the elasticity of his arms3 legs and ody #as eyond the e9tensiility of the rack itself6 for the latter #as no# dra#n to its limits4 )ll #ere silent3 vie#ing this prodigy6 and Euvoran rose from his seat and #ent over to the rack3 as if doutful of his o#n eyes that testified to a thing so enormous4 )nd the prisoner said to him5 =It #ere #ell to release me3 8 King Euvoran4= ="ay you so>= the king cried out in a rage4 =(o#ever3 it is not thus that #e deal #ith felons in $staim4= )nd he made a private sign to the e9ecutioner3 #ho came for#ard /uickly3 rearing his massive3 leaden!headed mace aloft4 =8n your o#n head e it3= said the necromancer3 and he rose instantly from the iron ed3 reaking the onds that held him3 as if they had een chains of grass4 Then3 to#ering to a terrile height3 #hich the #renchings of the rack had given him3 he pointed his long forefinger3 dark and sere as that of a mummy3 at the king1s cro#n6 and simultaneously he uttered a foreign #ord that #as shrill and eldritch as the crying of migrant fo#l that pass over to#ard unkno#n shores in the night4 )nd lo? )s if in ans#er to that #ord3 there #as a loud3 sudden flapping of #ings aove Euvoran1s head and the king felt that his ro# #as lightened y the cro#n1s goodly and #ell!accustomed #eight4 ) shado# fell upon him3 and he3 and all #ho #ere present3 eheld aove them in the air the stuffed ga:ola!ird3 #hich had een slain more than t#o hundred years efore y sea!faring men in a remote isle4 The #ings of the ird3 a living splendor3 #ere outspread as if for flight3 and it carried still in its steely cla#s the rare circlet of the cro#n4 'irating3 it hung for a little over the throne3 #hile the king #atched it in #ordless a#e and consternation4 Then3 #ith metallic #hirring3 its #hite tail deployed like the eams of a
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Zothique
Clark Ashton Smith
flying sun3 it fle# s#iftly through the open portals3 and passed sea#ard from )ramoam into the morning light4 )fter it3 #ith great ounds and goatish leapings3 the necromancer follo#ed6 and no man tried to deter him4 &ut those #ho sa# him depart from the city s#ore that he #ent north along the ocean!strand3 #hile the ird fle# directly east#ard3 as if homing to the half! faulous isle of its nativity4 Thereafter3 as if he had gone at a single ound into alien realms3 the necromancer #as not seen in $staim4 &ut the cre# of a merchant galley from "otar3 landing later in )ramoam3 told ho# the ga:ola!ird had passed over them in mid!main3 a several!colored glory still flying to#ard the sources of the dayspring4 )nd they said that the cro#n of changeale gold3 #ith its thirteen fello#less gems3 #as still carried y the ird4 )nd though they had trafficked long in the archipelagoes of #onder3 and had seen many prodigies3 they deemed this thing a most rare and une9ampled portent4 King Euvoran3 so strangely reft of that avian head! gear3 #ith his aldness rudely ared to the ga:e of thieves and vagrants in the hall of 7ustice3 #as as one on #hom the gods have sent do#n a sudden olt4 If the sun had turned lack in heaven3 or his palace #alls had crumled aout him3 his dumfoundment #ould hardly have een more e9cessive4 +or it seemed to him that his royalty had flo#n #ith that cro#n #hich #as the emlem and the talisman of his fathers4 )nd3 moreover3 the thing #as #holly against nature3 and the la#s of god and man #ere annulled therey5 since never efore3 in all history or fale3 had a dead ird taken flight from the kingdom of $staim4 Indeed3 the loss #as a dire calamity3 and Euvoran3 having donned a voluminous turan of purple samite3 held council #ith the sagest ministers regarding the state dilemma that had thus arisen4 T he ministers #ere no less trouled and perple9ed than the king5 for the ird and the circlet #ere oth irreplaceale4 )nd in the mean#hile3 the rumor of this misfortune #as orne aroad through $staim3 and the land ecame filled #ith lamentale dout and confusion3 and some of the people egan to murmur covertly against Euvoran3 saying that no man could e the rightful ruler of that country #ithout the ga:ola!cro#n4 Then3 as #as the custom of the kings in a time of national e9igence3 Eurovan repaired to the temple in #hich d#elt the god Geol3 #ho #as a terrestrial god and the chief deity of )ramoam4 )lone3 #ith are head and unshod feet3 as #as ordained y hierarchal la#3 he entered the dim adytum #here the image of Geol3 pot!ellied3 and #rought of earth!ro#n faience3 reclined eternally on its ack and regarded
the motes in a narro# eam of sunlight from the slotted #all4 )nd3 falling prone in the dust that had gathered around the idol through ages3 the king gave homage to Geol3 and implored an oracle to illuminate and guide him in his need4 )nd after an interim3 a voice issued from the god1s navel3 as if a suterrene rumling had ecome articulate4 )nd the voice said to King Eurovan5 =Go forth and seek the ga:ola in those isles that lie eneath the orient sun4 There3 8 king3 on the far coasts of da#n3 thou shalt again ehold the living ird #hich is the symol and the fortune of thy dynasty6 and there3 #ith thine o#n hand3 thou shalt slay the ird4= Euvoran #as much comforted y this oracle3 since the utterances of the god #ere deemed infallile4 )nd it seemed to him that the oracle implied in plain terms that he should recover the lost cro#n of $staim3 #hich had the reanimated ird for its superstructure4 "o3 returning to the royal palace3 he sent for the captains of his proudest argosies of #ar3 #hich lay then at anchor in the tran/uil haror of )ramoam3 and ordered them to make immediate provision for a long voyage into the east and among the archipelagoes of morning4 When all #as made ready3 King Euvoran #ent aoard the flagship of the fleet3 #hich #as a to#ering /uadrireme #ith oars of eef!#ood and sails of stout #oven yssus dyed in yello#ish scarlet3 and a long gonfalon at the mast head3 earing the ga:ola ird in its natural colors on a field of heavenly coalt4 The ro#ers and sailors of the /uadrireme #ere mighty Negroes from the north6 and the soldiers #ho manned it #ere fierce mercenaries from %ylac in the #est6 and #ith him3 going aoard3 the king took certain of his concuines and 7esters and other ministrants3 as #ell as an ample store of li/uors and rare viands3 so that he should lack for nothing during the voyage4 )nd mindful of the prophecy of Geol3 the king armed himself #ith a longo# and a /uiver filled #ith parrot! feathered arro#s6 and he also carried a sling of lion! leather and a lo#gun of lack amoo from #hich tiny poisoned darts #ere discharged4 It seemed that the gods favored the voyage6 for a #ind le# strongly from the #est on the morning of the departure6 and the fleet3 #hich numered fifteen vessels3 #as orne #ith ellying sails to#ard the sea! risen sun4 )nd the fare#ell clamors and shoutings of Euvoran1s people on the #harves #ere soon stilled y distance6 and the marle houses of )ramoam on its four palmy hills here dro#ned in that s#iftly foundering ank of a:ure #hich #as the shoreline of $staim4 )nd3 thereafter3 for many days3 the iron!#ood eaks of the galleys clove a softly #eltering sea of indigo that rose
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Zothique
unroken on all sides to a cloudless3 dark!lue heaven4 Trusting in the oracle of Geol3 that earthen god #ho had never failed his fathers3 the king made merry as #as his #ont6 and reclining eneath a saffron canopy on the poop of the /uadrireme3 he s#illed from an emerald eaker the #ines and randies that had lain in his palace!vaults3 storing the #armth of elder3 ardent suns #hereon olivion1s lack rime #as fallen4 )nd he laughed at the rialdries of his fools3 at un/uenchale ancient a#dries that had #on the laughter of other kings in the sea!lost continents of yore4 )nd his #omen diverted him #ith harlotries that #ere older than ;ome or )tlantis4 )nd ever he kept at hand3 eside his couch3 the #eapons #here#ith he hoped to hunt and slay again the ga:ola!ird3 according to the oracle of Geol4 The #inds #ere unfailing and auspicious3 and the fleet sped on#ard3 #ith the great lack oarsmen singing gaily at their oars3 and the gorgeous sailcloths flapping loudly3 and the long anners floating on the air like straight!lo#n flames4 )fter a fortnight they came to "otar3 #hose lo#!lying coasts of cassia and sago arred the sea for a hundred leagues from north to south6 and in 'oithe3 the chief port3 they paused to in/uire for the ga:ola!ird4 There #ere rumors that the ird had passed aove "otar6 and some of the people said that a cunning sorcerer of that isle3 named Iffios3 had dra#n it do#n through his sorcery and had closed it in a cage of sandal#ood4 "o the king landed in 'oithe3 deeming his /uest perhaps already nigh to its end3 and #ent #ith certain of his captains and soldiers to visit Iffios3 #ho d#elt in a retired vale among the mountains at the island1s core4 It #as a tedious 7ourney3 and Euvoran #as much annoyed y the huge and vicious gnats of "otar3 #hich #ere no respecters of royalty3 and #ere al#ays insinuating themselves under his turan4 )nd #hen3 after some delay and divagation in the deep 7ungle3 he came to the house of Iffios on a high3 precarious crag3 he found that the ird #as merely one of the right!plumaged vultures peculiar to the region3 #hich Iffios had tamed for his o#n amusement4 "o the king returned to 'oithe3 after declining some#hat rudely the invitation of the sorcerer3 #ho #ished to sho# him the unusual feats of falconry to #hich he had trained the vulture4 )nd in 'oithe the king tarried no longer than #as needful for the laying aoard of fifty 7ars of the sovereign arrack in #hich "otar e9cels all other lands4 Then3 coasting the southern cliffs and promontories3 #here the sea ello#ed prodigiously in mile!deep caverns3 the ships of Euvoran sailed eyond "otar3 and Tosk3 #hose people #ere more akin to apes and
lemurs than to men4 )nd Euvoran asked the people for ne#s of the ga:ola3 and received only a chattering as of apes in ans#er4 "o the king ordered his men!at!arms to catch a numer of these savage islanders and crucify them on the coco!palms for their incivility4 )nd the men!at!arms pursued the nimle people of Tosk for a full day among the trees and oulders in #hich the isle aounded3 ut #ithout catching a single one of them4 "o the king contented himself y crucifying several of the men!at!arms for their failure to oey him and sailed on to the seven atolls of 2umatot3 #hose inhaitants #ere mostly cannials4 )nd eyond 2umatot3 #hich #as the usual limit of eastern voyaging from $staim3 the vessels entered the Ilo:ian "ea3 and egan to touch at partly mythic shores and islands charted only in story4 It #ere tedious to relate the full particulars of that voyage3 in #hich Euvoran and his captains #ent ever to#ard the sources of the da#n4 Various and #ithout numer #ere the strange marvels they found in the archipelagoes eyond 2umatot6 ut no#here could they find a single feather such as had formed part of the ga:ola1s plumage6 and the /uaint people of those isles had never seen the ird4 (o#eit3 the king eheld many a flock of unkno#n3 fiery!#inged fo#l that #ent over the galleys in mid! sea3 passing et#een the unmarked islets4 )nd3 landing often3 he practiced his archery on lorikeets and lyreirds and ooies3 or stalked the golden cockatoos #ith his lo#gun4 )nd he chased the dodo and dinornis on shores that #ere other#ise unpeopled4 )nd once3 in a sea of high!eetling arren rocks3 the fleet #as assailed y mighty griffins that fle# do#n from their crag! uilt eyries3 #ith #ings shining like feathery rass under the meridian sun3 and making a harsh clangor as of shields shaken in attle4 )nd the griffins3 eing oth ferocious and pertinacious3 #ere driven a#ay #ith much difficulty y oulders hurled from the catapults of the vessels4 Every#here3 as the ships drove east#ard3 there #ere multitudes of fo#l4 &ut at the sunset of a day in the fourth moon follo#ing their departure from )ramoam3 the vessels approached a nameless isle that to#ered mile!high #ith cliffs of lack3 naked asalt3 around #hose ase the sea cried #ith affled anger3 and aout #hose precipices there #ere no #ings nor voices of irds4 The isle #as topped #ith gnarly cypresses that might have gro#n in a #indy graveyard6 and sullenly it took the afterglo#3 as if drenched #ith a gore of darkening lood4 +ar up in the cliffs there #ere strange columned eaves like the d#ellings of forgotten troglodytes3 ut seemingly inaccessile to men6 and the caves to all appearances #ere unoccupied y any kind of life3
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Zothique
Clark Ashton Smith
though pitting the face of the isle for leagues4 )nd Euvoran ordered his captains to drop anchor3 meaning to search for a landing!place on the morro#5 since3 in his an9iety to retrieve the ga:ola3 he #ould pass no isle of the da#n#ard main3 not even the unlikeliest3 #ithout due in/uiry and e9amination4
the night #ore on6 and the vampires3 it seemed3 #ere not to e slain y mortal #eapons3 though the lood they had gorged came forth in spouting rills from their #ounded odies4 )nd thicklier they clustered upon the fleet3 till the iremes egan to founder3 and the ro#ers #ere dro#ned in the sunken lo#er decks of certain triremes and /uadriremes4
@uickly fell the darkness3 #ithout moon3 till the close! anchored ships #ere visile to each other only y their lanterns4 )nd Euvoran sat at supper in his cain3 sipping the golden arrack of "otar et#een mouthfuls of mango!7elly and phenicopter1s meat4 )nd3 saving a small #atch on each of the vessels3 the sailors and men!at!arms #ere all at evening mess6 and the ro#ers ate their figs and lentils in the oar!decks4 Then3 from the #atches3 there #as a #ild shouting of alarm3 and the shouting ceased in a moment3 and each of the vessels rocked and sagged in the #ater3 as if a monstrous #eight had settled upon it4 No man kne# the thing that had happened3 ut every#here there #as turmoil and confusion3 some saying that the fleet #as attacked y pirates4 Those #ho peered from the ports and oar!holes sa# that the lanterns of their neighors had een /uenched3 and perceived a milling and seething as of lo#!driven clouds in the darkness3 and sa# that foul lack creatures3 large as men and #inged like oupires3 #ere clinging to the ranged oars in myriads4 )nd those #ho dared to approach the open hatches found that the decks3 the rigging and the masts #ere cro#ded #ith similar creatures3 #ho3 it seemed3 #ere of nocturnal hait and had come do#n in the manner of ats from their caves in the island4
King Euvoran #as #roth at this unseemly turmoil that had interrupted his supper6 and #hen the golden arrack #as spilt and the dishes of rare meat #ere emptied on the floor y the vessel1s violent rocking3 he #ould have issued from his cain3 fully armed3 to try conclusions #ith these piacular miscreants4 &ut3 even as he turned to fling #ide the cain!door3 there #as a soft infernal pittering at the port!holes ehind him6 and the #omen #ho #ere #ith him egan to shriek3 and the fools cried out in terror4 )nd the king sa# in the lamplight a grisly face #ith the teeth and nostrils of a flittermouse3 that leaned in through one of the cain! ports4 (e sought to repel the face3 and thereafter3 till da#n3 he fought the vampires #ith those very #eapons he had designed for the slaying of the ga:ola6 and the ship1s captain3 #ho #as #ith him at supper3 guarded a second port #ith his claymore6 and the others #ere held y t#o of the king1s eunuchs3 armed #ith scimitars4 In this #arfare they #ere favored y the smallness of the ports3 #hich could hardly in any case have allo#ed the free passage of their #inged assailants4 )nd3 after lightless hours of tedious3 horrid struggle3 the darkness ecame thinned #ith ro#n t#ilight3 and the vampires lifted from the vessels in a lack cloud and returned to their caves in the mile!high cliffs of that unnamed island4
Then3 like things of nightmare3 the monsters egan to invade the hatches and assail the ports3 cla#ing #ith hellish talons at the men #ho opposed them4 )nd3 eing some#hat hampered y their #ings3 they #ere driven ack #ith spears and arro#s3 ut returned again and again in a thickening press #ithout numer3 cheeping #ith a faint and at!like sound4 It #as plain that they #ere vampires3 for #henever they had dragged a man do#n3 as many of them as could gain mouthhold #ould fasten on him incontinently3 and suck his lood till little more remained than a skinful of ones4 The upper oar!decks3 eing half open to the sky3 #ere /uickly usurped3 and their cre#s overcome #ith a hideous s#arming6 and the ro#ers in the orlops cried that the sea!#ater #as pouring in through the oar!holes as the ships sank deeper eneath an ever!gathering #eight4
(eavy #as the heart of Euvoran #ithin him #hen he surveyed the damage done to his proud argosies of #ar5 for3 among the fifteen vessels3 seven had sunk in the night3 orne under and s#amped y those oscenely clinging hordes of oupires6 and the decks of the others #ere loody as aatoirs6 and half of the sailors and ro#ers and men!at!arms #ere lying flat and flaccid as empty #ineskins after the greedy drinking of the great ats4 )nd the sails and anners #ere shredded into rags6 and every#here3 from eak to rudder of Euvoran1s galleys3 there #as the stain and reek of a "tymphalian foulness4 "o3 lest another eve should find them #ithin #ing!shot of that accursed isle3 the king ordered his remaining captains to #eigh anchor6 and the other ships3 #ith sea!#ater still a#ash in their orlops3 and some #ith dro#ned ro#ers still at the oars of their nether anks3 dre# slo#ly and heavily to east#ard3 till the pitted #alls of the isle egan to sink eneath the main4 )t eve there #as no land in sight any#here6 and after t#o days3 still unharried y the vampires3 they came to a coral island3 lo# in the #ave3 #ith a calm lagoon that #as haunted only y
)ll night3 at the ports and hatches3 the men of Euvoran fought the vampires3 taking turns in shifts #hen they #earied4 0any of them #ere sei:ed and their lood sucked efore the eyes of their fello#s as
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Zothique
ocean! ocean!fo# fo#l4 l4 )nd there there33 for the the first first time3 time3 Euvora Euvoran n paused to repair his tattered sails3 and pump the sea from his holds3 and clean the lood and vileness from his decks4 (o#ever3 in spite of this disaster3 the king aated not in any degree his purpose3 to sail ever on to#ard the fountains of the day3 until3 as Geol had predicted3 he should come again on the flo#n ga:ola and slay it #ith his o#n royal hand4 "o3 for another moon3 they passed amid other and stranger archipelagoes3 and pene penetra trate ted d deepl deeplier ier into into the region regionss of myth myth and story4 &ravely they drove into mornings of amaranth crossed y gilded gilded lories lories33 and and noont noontide idess of darkly darkly ardent ardent sapphire #here the rose flamingoes #ent efore them to lost3 inviolate inviolate strands4 strands4 The stars changed changed aove aove them3 and under the alien!figured "igns they heard the the #ild #ild33 mela melanc ncho holy ly cryi crying ng of s#an s#anss that that fle# fle# south#ard fleeing the #inter of realms indiscoverale3 and seeking the summer in trackless #orlds4 )nd they held speech #ith faulous men #ho #ore for mantles the ell!#ide pennons of the roc3 trailing far on the earth ehind them6 and men #ho arrayed themselves themselves in apyornis plumes4 )nd they spoke also #ith antic people #hose odies #ere covered #ith a do#n like that of a ne#!hatched fo#l3 and others #hose flesh #as studded as if #ith pin!feathers4 &ut no#here could they learn aught of the ga:ola4 )t mid! mid!fo fore reno noon on33 earl early y in the the si9t si9th h mont month h of the the voyage3 a ne# and unheard!of shore ascended from the deep3 curving for many miles3 from northeast to south# south#est est33 #ith #ith shelte sheltered red haro harors3 rs3 and cliffs cliffs and and pinnacled crags that #ere interspaced #ith lo#!lying verd verdur urou ouss dale dales4 s4 )s the the galle galleys ys hove hove to#a to#ard rd it3 it3 Euvo Euvora ran n and and his his capt captai ains ns sa# sa# that that to#e to#ers rs #e #ere re uilded on certain of the highmost crags6 ut in the haven elo# them there #ere no ships at anchor nor oats oats moving6 moving6 and the shore shore of the haven haven #as #as a #ilderness of green trees and grass4 )nd3 sailing still nearer3 nearer3 and entering entering the haror3 haror3 they descried descried no evide evident nt sign sign of man3 man3 other other than than the the crag!r crag!rea eared red to#ers4 The place3 place3 ho#eve ho#ever3 r3 #as #as full full of an e9trao e9traordi rdinar nary y numer and variety of irds3 ranging in si:e from little tits and passerines to creatures of greater #ingspread than eagle or condor4 They circled the ships in coveys and great3 motley flocks3 seeming to e oth curious and #ary6 and Euvoran sa# that a #inged concourse3 as it #ere3 #ent to and fro aove the #oods and aout the cliffs and to#ers4 (e ethought him that here #as a likely haunt in #hich to track do#n the ga:ola6 so3 arming himself for the chase3 he #ent ashore in a small oat #ith several of his men4
The irds3 even the largest3 #ere patently timid and inoffensive6 for #hen the king landed on the each3 the very trees appeared to take flight3 so numerous #ere the fo#l that soared and fle# inland3 or sought the crags and pinnacles that rose eyond o#!shot4 None remained of the multitude visile shortly efore6 and and Euvo Euvora ran n marv marvel elle led d at such such cunn cunnin ing6 g6 and and moreo moreover ver he #as some# some#hat hat e9aspe e9asperat rated3 ed3 for he #ished not to depart #ithout ringing do#n a trophy of his skill3 skill3 even even though though he should should fail to find find the ga:ola itself4 )nd he deemed the ehavior of the irds irds all all the more curiou curiouss ecau ecause se of the island island1s 1s solitu solitude5 de5 for here here there there #e #ere re no paths paths other other than than #ould e made y forest animals6 and the #oods and meado#s #ere #holly #ild and incult6 and the to#ers #ere seemingly desolate3 #ith sea!fo#l and land!fo#l flying in and out of their empty #indo#s4 The king and his men comed the deserted #oods along the shore3 and came to a steep slope of ushes and d#arf cedars3 #hose upper incline approached the the talle tallest st to#er to#er at one one side4 side4 (ere3 (ere3 at the the slope slope1s 1s ottom3 Euvoran sa# a small o#l that slept in one of the cedars3 as if #holly una#are of the commotion made y the other irds in their flight4 )nd Euvoran traine trained d an arro# arro# and shot do#n do#n the the o# o#l3 l3 though though ordinarily he #ould have spared a prey so paltry4 )nd he #as aout to pick up the fallen o#l3 #hen one of the the men #ho accompa accompanie nied d him cried cried out as if in alarm4 Then3 turning his head as he stooped eneath the foliage of the cedar3 the king eheld a race of colossal irds3 larger than any he had yet descried on that isle3 #ho came do#n from the to#er like falling thunderolts4 &efore he could fit another arro# to the string3 they #ere upon him #ith the drumming of their mighty vans3 and eating him instantly to the ground3 so that he #as a#are of them only as a storm of dreadfull dreadfully y rushing rushing plumes plumes and a hurlyurl hurlyurly y of cruel cruel eaks and talons4 )nd3 efore his men could rally to assist him3 one of the irds fastened its huge cla#s in the shoulder!cap shoulder!cape e of the king1s mantle3 mantle3 not sparing sparing the flesh eneath in its fell clutch3 and carried him a#ay to the to#er on the crag as easily as a ger! falcon #ould have carried a small leveret4 The king #as #holly helpless3 and he had dropped his longo# eneath the onset of the irds3 and his lo#gun had een een shak shaken en loos loose e from from the the gird girdle le at #h #hic ich h it depended3 and all his darts and arro#s #ere spilled4 )nd )nd he had no #e #eap apon on rema remaini ining3 ng3 other other than than a sharp misericordia6 and this he could not use to any purpose against his captor in mid!air4 "#iftly he neared the to#er3 #ith a flock of lesser fo#l circling aout him and shrieking as if #ith derision till he #as deafened y their din4 )nd a sickness came upon him ecause of the height to #hich he had een een carrie carried d and the violen violence ce of his ascen ascent6 t6 and and
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Clark Ashton Smith
giddily he sa# the #alls of the to#er sink past him #ith #ide and portal!like #indo#s4 Then3 as he egan to retch in his sickness3 he #as orne in through one of the #indo#s and #as dropped rudely on the floor of a high and spacious chamer4 (e spra#led at full length on his face and lay vomiting for for a#hi a#hile le33 heed heedle less ss of his his surr surrou ound ndin ings gs44 Then Then33 recoverin recovering g some#ha some#hat3 t3 he raised raised himself himself to a sitting sitting position3 and eheld efore him3 aove a sort of dais3 an enorm enormou ouss perch perch of red red gold gold and yello# yello# ivory ivory #rou #rough ghtt in the the form form of a ne# ne# cres cresce cent nt arch archin ing g up#ard4 The perch #as supported et#een posts of lack 7asper flecked as if #ith lood3 and upon it there sat a most most gigant gigantic ic and uncomm uncommon on ird3 ird3 eyeing eyeing Euvoran Euvoran #ith a grim and dreadful dreadful and austere austere mien3 as an emper emperor or might might eye the gutte gutter!sc r!scum um that that his guards guards have have haled haled efor efore e him for some some oscen oscene e offense4 The plumage of the ird #as Tyrian purple3 and his eak #as like a mighty pick!a9 of pale ron:e that that darke darkened ned green greenly ly to#ard to#ard the point3 point3 and he clutched clutched the perch perch #ith iron talons talons that #ere longer than the mailed fingers of a #arrior4 (is head #as adorne adorned d #ith #ith /uills /uills of tur/u tur/uois oise e lue lue and ame amerr yello# yello#33 like like many many a point pointed ed cro#n6 cro#n6 and aout aout his long3 unfeathered unfeathered throat3 rough as the scaled skin of a dragon3 he #ore a singular necklace composed of human heads3 and the heads of various ferine easts such as the #easel3 the #ildcat3 the stoat and the fo93 all of #hich had een reduced to a common si:e and #ere no larger than groundnuts4 Euvoran #as terrified y the aspect of this fo#l6 and his alarm #as not lessened #hen he sa# that many other irds of a si:e inferior only to his #ere sitting aout the chamer on less costly and less elevated perches3 even as grandees of the realm might sit in the presence of their sovereign4 )nd ehind Euvoran3 like guards3 guards3 there there stood stood together together #ith its fello# the creatures that had rapt him to the to#er4 No#3 No#3 adding adding to his utter utter confou confoundi nding3 ng3 the great great Tyri Tyrian an!f !fea eath ther ered ed ird ird addr addres esse sed d him him in huma human n spee speech ch44 )nd )nd the the ird ird said said to him him in a hars harsh h ut ut magnilo/uent magnilo/uent and ma7estic voice5 =Too hardily3 8 filth of mankind3 thou hast intruded on the peace of 8rnava3 isle that is sacred to the irds3 and #antonly thou hast slain one of my su7ects4 +or kno# that I am the monarch of all irds that fly3 #alk3 #ade or s#im on this terra/ueous gloe of Earth6 and in 8rnava is my seat and my capital4 Verily3 7ustice shall e done upon thee for thy crime4 &ut if thou hast aught to say in thy defence3 I #ill give thee hearing no#3 for I #ould not that even the vilest of earthly vermin3 and the most pernicious3 should accuse me of ine/uity or tyranny4=
Then3 Then3 lustering lustering some#hat3 some#hat3 though though sorely sorely afraid afraid at heart3 Euvoran gave ans#er to the ird3 and said5 =I came hither seeking the ga:ola3 #hich adorned my cro#n in $staim3 and #as feloniously reft from me together #ith the cro#n through the spell of a la#less necromancer4 )nd kno# that I am Euvoran3 King of $sta $staim im33 and and I o# o# me to no ird ird33 not not even even the the mightiest of that species4= Thereat the ruler of the irds3 as if ama:ed and more indignant than efore3 made /uestion of Euvoran and interroga interrogated ted him sharply sharply concerning concerning the ga:ola4 ga:ola4 )nd3 learning that this ird had een slain y sailors and after#ards stuffed3 and that the #hole purpose of Euvo Euvora ran n in his his voya voyage ge #as #as to catc catch h and and kill kill it a second time and re!stuff it if necessary3 the ruler cried in a great and #rathful voice5 =This helpeth not thy case ut sho#eth thee guilty of a t#ofold and a triple infamy5 for thou hast o#ned a most most aomin aomina ale le thing thing and and one that that suve suverte rteth th nature4 In this my to#er3 as is right and proper3 I keep the odies of men that my ta9idermists have stuffed for me6 ut truly3 it is not allo#ale nor sufferale that man should do thus to irds4 "o3 for the sake of 7ustice and retriution3 I shall presently commit thee to one of my ta9idermists4 Indeed3 methinks that a stuffed king *sin *since ce even even the the verm vermin in have have king kings, s, #ill #ill serv serve e to enhance my collection4= )fte )fterr that that33 he addr addres esse sed d Euvo Euvora ran1 n1ss guar guards ds and and en7oined them5 =)#ay #ith this vileness4 Confine it to the man!cage3 and maintain a strict #atch efore it4= Euvoran3 urged and directed y the pecking of his guards guards33 #as #as comp compell elled ed to clim clim a sort sort of slopin sloping g ladder ladder #ith road road rungs of teak3 teak3 that that led from the chamer to one aove it in the to#er1s top4 In the cente centerr of this room room there there #as a amo amoo o cage cage of capacity more than ample for the housing of si9 men4 The king #as driven driven into the cage3 cage3 and the irds irds olte olted d the door upon upon him #ith #ith their their cla#s3 cla#s3 #hich seemed seemed to have the deftness deftness of fingers4 fingers4 Thereaft Thereafter er one of them remained y the cage3 eyeing Euvoran vigila vigilantl ntly y throu through gh the the spaces spaces of the ars6 ars6 and the other fle# a#ay through a great #indo# and did not return4 The king sat do#n on a litter of stra#3 since the cage contained no etter provision for his comfort4 Despair #as heavy upon him3 and it seemed that his plight #as oth dreadful and ignominious4 )nd sorely #as he astonished3 that a ird should speak #ith human speech speech33 insult insulting ing and and revilin reviling g human humankin kind6 d6 and and he deeme deemed d it an e/uall e/ually y monstr monstrous ous thing that that a ird ird should d#ell in royal state3 #ith servitors to do his #ill3 and the pomp and po#er of a king4 )nd3 pondering
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these unholy prodigies3 Euvoran #aited for his doom in the man!cage6 and after a#hile3 #ater and ra# grain #ere rought to him in earthen vessels6 ut he could not not eat eat the grain4 grain4 )nd still still later3 later3 as the day dre# to#ard afternoon3 he heard a shouting of men and a shrieking of irds elo# the to#er6 and aove these noises3 anon3 there #ere clashings as of #eapons and thuddings as of oulders loosened from the crag4 "o Euvoran kne# that his sailors and soldiers3 having seen him orne into captivity in the to#er3 #ere assailing the place in an effort to succor him4 )nd the noises #a9e #a9ed3 d3 moun mounti ting ng to a most most trem tremen endo dous us and and atroci atrocious ous din3 din3 and and there there #e #ere re cries cries as of peop people le morta mortally lly #o #ound unded3 ed3 and and a venge vengeful ful shrilli shrilling ng as of harpies in attle4 Then3 presently3 the clamor eed a#ay3 a#ay3 and the shouti shoutings ngs gre# gre# faint3 faint3 and Eurova Eurovan n kne# that his men had failed to take the to#er4 )nd hope #aned #ithin him3 dying in a darker murk of despair4 "o the afternoon #ent over3 declining sea#ard3 and the sun touched Euvoran #ith its level eams through a #estern #indo# and colored the ars of his cage #ith a mockery mockery of gold4 gold4 -resentl -resently3 y3 the light flo#ed flo#ed from from the room3 and and after after a#hil a#hile e the the t#ilig t#ilight ht rose3 rose3 #eaving a tremulous phantom #e of the pale air4 )nd et#een the sunset and the darkness3 a night! guard guard came came in to relie relieve ve the the day!f day!flyin lying g o# o#ll #ho #ard #arded ed the the capt captiv ive e king king44 The The ne#c ne#com omer er #as #as a nyctalop nyctalopss #ith glo#ing yello# eyes3 and he stood stood talle tallerr that that Euvora Euvoran n himsel himself3 f3 and #as #as forme formed d and feathered some#hat in the urly fashion of an o#l3 and he had the stout legs of a megapode4 Euvoran #as uncomforta uncomfortaly ly a#are a#are of the ird1s eyes3 eyes3 #hich #hich urne urned d upon upon him #ith a right righter er ale ale as the dusk deepened4 (ardly could he sustain that ever vigilant scrutiny4 &ut anon the moon rose3 eing ut little past the the full3 full3 and poured poured a spectr spectral al /uicks /uicksilv ilver er into into the room3 and paled the eyes of the ird6 and Euvoran conceived a desperate plan4 (is (is capt captor ors3 s3 deem deemin ing g all all his his #e #eap apon onss lost lost33 had had neglected to remove from his girdle the misericordia3 #hich #as long and doule!edged and needle!sharp at the the tip4 tip4 )nd )nd stealt stealthil hily y he gripped gripped the the hilt hilt of his misericordia under his mantle3 and feigned a sudden illness illness #ith groanings groanings and tossings tossings and convulsio convulsions ns that thre# him against the ars4 )nd3 even as he had schemed3 the great nyctalops came nearer3 curious to learn #hat ailed the king6 and stooping3 he leaned his o#l!like head et#een the ars aove Euvoran4 )nd the king3 pretending a more violent convulsion3 dre# dre# the miseri misericor cordia dia from from its sheath sheath and struck struck /uickly at the outstretched throat of the ird4 "hre#dly the thrust #ent home3 piercing the deepest veins3 and the s/ua#king of the ird #as choked y
his o#n lood6 and he fell3 flapping noisily3 so that Euvoran feared that all the occupants of the to#er #ould e a#akened y the sound4 &ut it seemed that his his fear fearss #e #ere re oot ootle less ss66 for for none none came came to the the chamer6 and soon the flappings ceased3 and the nyctalops lay still in a great heap of ruffled feathers4 Thereupon the king proceeded #ith his plan3 and shot ack the olts of the #ide!latticed amoo door #ith small difficulty4 Then3 going to the head of the teak! #ood #o od ladder ladder #hich ran to the the room room ene eneat ath3 h3 he looked do#n and eheld the ruler of the irds asleep in the moonlight on his chryselephantine perch3 #ith his terrile pick!a9 eak under his #ing4 )nd Euvoran #as afraid to descend into the chamer3 lest the ruler should a#ake and see him4 )nd also3 it occurred to him that the lo#er stories of the to#er might #ell e guarded y such fo#l as the nocturnal creature he had slain4 )gain his despair returned upon him6 ut eing of a sleightful and crafty ent3 Euvoran ethought him of anot anothe herr sche scheme me44 Wit With much much lao laor3 r3 usin using g the the misericord misericordia3 ia3 he skinned skinned the mighty mighty nyctalops nyctalops33 and cleaned the lood from its plumage as est he could4 Then Euvoran Euvoran #rapped #rapped himself in the skin3 #ith the head of the nyctalops rearing aove his o#n head3 and and eyeho eyeholes les in its urly throa throatt throug through h #h #hich ich he could look out amidst the feathers4 )nd the skin fitted him #ell enough ecause of his pigeon!reast and his potelly6 and his spindle shanks #ere hidden ehind the heavy shanks of the ird as he #alked4 Then3 imitating the gait and carriage of this fo#l3 the king descended descended the ladder3 ladder3 treading treading cautiously cautiously to avoid a fall and making little noise3 lest the ruler of the irds should a#aken and detect his imposture4 )nd the ruler #as all alone3 and he slept #ithout stirring #hile #h ile Euvora Euvoran n reache reached d the floor floor and and crosse crossed d the chamer stealthily to another ladder3 leading to the ne9t room elo#4 In the ne9t room there #ere many great irds asleep on perches3 and the king #as nigh to perishing #ith terror as he passed among them4 "ome of the irds moved a little and chirped dro#sily3 as if a#are of his presence presence66 ut none challenge challenged d him4 )nd he #ent #ent do#n do#n into into a third third room room33 and and #as #as star startl tled ed to see see therein the standing figures of many men3 some in the gar of sailors3 and others clad like merchants3 and others nude and ruddled #ith right ores like savages4 )nd the men #ere still and stark as if enchanted6 and the king feared them little less than he had feared the irds4 &ut rememering that #hich the ruler had told him3 him3 he divine divined d that that these these #ere perso persons ns #h #ho o had een captured even as he himself3 and had een slain y the irds and preserved through the art of an avian ta9idermy4 )nd3 tremling3 he passed do#n to
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another room3 #hich #as full of stuffed cats and tigers and serpents and various other enemies of irdkind4 )nd the room elo# this #as the ground story of the to#er3 and its #indo#s and portals y several gigantic night!fo#l similar to those #hose skin #as #orn y the king4 (ere3 indeed3 #as his greatest peril and the supreme trial of his courage6 for the irds eyed him alertly #ith their fiery golden ors3 and they greeted him #ith a soft #hoo!#hooing as of o#ls4 )nd the knees of Euvoran knocked together ehind the ird! shanks6 ut3 imitating the sound in reply3 he passed among the guards and #as not molested y them4 )nd3 reaching an open portal of the to#er3 he sa# the moonlight rock of the crag lying at a distance of no more than t#o cuits elo# him6 and he hopped from the doorsill in the manner of a fo#l3 and found his #ay precariously from ledge to ledge along the crag3 till he reached the upper eginning of that declivity at #hose ottom he had slain the little o#l4 (ere his descent #as easier3 and he came anon to the #oods around the haror4 &ut3 ere he could enter the #oods3 there #as a shrill singing of arro#s aout him3 and the king #as #ounded slightly y one of the arro#s3 and he roared out in anger3 and dropped the mantling irdskin4 Therey3 no dout3 he #as saved from death at the hands of his o#n men3 #ho #ere coming through the #oods #ith intent to assail the to#er at night4 )nd3 learning this3 the king forgave the 7eopardy in #hich their arro#s had placed him4 &ut he thought it est to refrain from attacking the to#er3 and to /uit the isle #ith all dispatch4 "o returning to his flagship3 he ordered all his captains to set sail immediately6 for3 kno#ing the aleful po#er of the ird!monarch3 he #as more than apprehensive of pursuit6 and he deemed it #ell to place a #ide interval of sea et#een his vessels and that isle ere da#n4 "o the galleys dre# from the tran/uil haror3 and rounding a northeastern promontory3 they #ent due east in a course contrary to the moon4 )nd3 Euvoran3 sitting in his cain3 regaled himself #ith a variety and plenitude of viands to make up for his fasting in the man!cage6 and he drank a #hole gallon of palm!#ine and added thereto a 7arful of the puissant pale!gold arrack of "otar4 (alf#ay et#i9t midnight and morn3 #hen the isle of 8rnava #as left far ehind3 the steersmen of the vessels eheld a #all of eon cloud that rose s#iftly ath#art the heavens3 spreading and toppling in to#ers of thunder3 till the storm overtook Euvoran1s fleet and drove it on as if #ith the loosed hurricanes of hell through a #elter of unstarred chaos4 The ships #ere sundered in the gloom and #ere orne far apart6 and at dayreak the king1s /uadrireme #as alone in a prone!rushing tumult of mingled #ave and
cloud6 and the mast #as shattered3 along #ith most of the eef!#ood oars6 and the vessel #as a toy for the demons of the tempest4 +or three days and nights3 #ith no glimmer of sun or star discerned through the ever!oiling murk3 the vessel #as hurled on#ard as if caught in a cataract of elements pouring to some ottomless gulf eyond the fringes of the #orld4 )nd early on the fourth day the clouds #ere some#hat riven6 ut a #ind still le# like the reath of perdition4 Then3 lifting darkly through the spray and vapor3 a half!seen land arose efore the pro#3 and the helmsman and the ro#ers #ere #holly helpless to turn the doomed ship from its course4 )nd shortly after3 #ith a great crashing of its carven eak3 and a terrile rending of timers3 the vessel struck on a lo# reef hidden y the flying foam3 and its lo#er decks #ere flooded /uickly4 )nd the vessel egan to founder3 #ith the poop tilting sharply and more sharply3 and the #ater frothing at the lee ul#arks4 Gaunt and cragged and austere #as the shore eyond the reef3 eheld only through the veils of the sea1s foaming fury4 )nd scant3 it seemed3 #as the hope of reaching land4 &ut3 ere the #recked argosy had gone eneath him3 Euvoran lashed himself #ith ropes of coir to an empty #ine!arrel3 and cast himself from the sloping deck4 )nd those of his men #ho #ere not already dro#ned in the hold or s#ept overoard y the typhoon3 leapt after him into that high #allo#ing sea3 some trusting only to their might as s#immers and others clinging to casks or roken spars or planks4 )nd most #ere dra#n under in the seething maelstroms or #ere eaten to death on the rocks6 and of all the ship1s company3 the king alone survived and #as cast ashore #ith the reath of life un/uenched #ithin him y the itter sea4 (alf!dro#ned and senseless3 he lay #here the surf had spe#ed him on a shelving each4 "oon the gale forgot its violence3 and the illo#s came in #ith falling crests3 and the clouds #ent over in a rack of pearl3 and the sun3 climing aove the rock3 shone do#n upon Euvoran from a deep immaculate a:ure4 )nd the king3 still da:ed from the uffeting rudeness of the sea3 heard dimly and as if in a dream the shrilling of an unkno#n ird4 Then3 opening his eyes3 he eheld et#i9t himself and the sun3 lirating on spread #ings3 that various!colored glory of plumes and feathers #hich he kne# as the ga:ola4 Crying again #ith a voice that #as harsh and shrill as that of the peafo#l3 the ird hung aove him for a moment3 and then fle# inland through a rift among the crags4 +orgetful of all his hardships and the loss of his proud galleys of #ar3 the king unound himself in haste from the empty arrel6 and3 rising giddily3 he follo#ed the ird4 )nd3 though he #as no# #eaponless3 it seemed
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to him that the fulfillment of the oracle of Geol #as at hand4 )nd hopefully he armed himself #ith a great cudgel of drift#ood and gathered heavy peles from the each as he pursued the ga:ola4 &eyond the cleft in the high and rugged crags3 he found a sheltered valley #ith /uiet!flo#ing springs3 and #oods of e9otic leaf3 and fragrant orient shrus in lossom4 (ere3 from ough to ough efore his astounded eyes3 there darted great numers of fo#l that #ore the gaudy plumage of the ga:ola6 and among them he #as unale to distinguish the one he had follo#ed3 deeming it the avian garniture of his lost cro#n4 The multitude of these irds #as a thing eyond his comprehension5 since he and all his people had thought the stuffed fo#l uni/ue and fello#less throughout the #orld3 even as the other components of the cro#n of $staim4 )nd it came to him that his fathers had een deceived y the mariners #ho had slain the irds in a remote isle3 s#earing later that it #as the last of i ts kind4 (o#ever3 though #rath and confusion #ere in his heart3 Euvoran ethought him that a single ird from the flock #ould still stand as the emlem and the talisman of his royalty in $staim3 and #ould vindicate his /uest among the isles of da#n4 "o3 #ith a valiant hurling of sticks and stones3 he tried to ring do#n one of the ga:olas4 )nd ever efore him as he chased them3 the irds fle# from tree to tree #ith a horrid shrieking3 and a flurry of plumes that #rought an imperial splendor on the air4 )nd at length3 y his o#n good aim or the cast of chance3 Euvoran sle# him a ga:ola4 )s he #ent to retrieve the fallen ird3 he sa# a man in tattered raiment of an uncouth cut3 armed #ith a rude o#3 and carrying over his shoulder a race of ga:olas tied together at the feet #ith tough grass4 )nd the man #ore in lieu of other headgear the skin and feathers of the same fo#l4 (e came to#ard Euvoran3 shouting indistinctly through his matted eard6 and the king eheld him #ith surprise and anger3 and cried loudly5 =Vile serf3 ho# darest thou to kill the ird that is sacred to the kings of $staim> )nd kno#est thou not that only the kings may #ear the ird for headgear> I3 #ho am King Euvoran3 shall hold thee to a dire accounting of these deeds4= )t this3 eyeing Euvoran strangely3 the man laughed a long and derisive laugh3 as if he deemed the king a person some#hat addled in his #its4 )nd he seemed to find much merriment in the aspect of the king3 #hose garments #ere draggled and #ere stiff and stained #ith the drying sea!#ater3 and #hose turan had een snatched a#ay y the felon #aves3 leaving
his aldness #ithout disguise4 )nd #hen he had done laughing3 the man said5 =Verily3 this is the first and only 7est that I have heard in nine years3 and my laughter must e forgiven4 +or nine years agone I #as ship#recked on this isle3 eing a sea!captain from the far south#estern land of $llotroi3 and the sole memer of my ship1s company that survived and came safe to shore4 In all those years I have held speech #ith no other man3 since the isle is remote from the maritime routes3 and has no people other than the irds4 )nd as for your /uestions3 they are readily ans#ered5 I kill these fo#l to avert the pangs of famine3 since there is little else on the isle for sustenance3 apart from roots and erries4 )nd I #ear on my head the skin and feathers of the fo#l ecause my taroosh #as stolen y the sea #henas it flung me rudely upon this strand4 )nd I #ot not of the strange la#s that you mention6 and moreover3 your kingship is a matter that concerns me little3 since the isle is kingless3 and you and I are alone thereon3 and I am the stronger of us t#ain and the etter armed4 Therefore e #ell advised3 8 King Euvoran6 and since you have slain yourself a ird3 I counsel you to pick up the ird and come #ith me4 Truly3 it may e that I can help you in the matter of spitting and roiling this fo#l5 for I must deem that you are more familiar #ith the products of the culinary art than #ith the practice4= No#3 hearing all this3 the #rath of Euvoran sank #ithin him like a flame that fails for oil4 Clearly he sa# the plight to #hich his voyage had rought him in the end6 and itterly he discerned the irony that #as hidden in the true oracle of Geol4 )nd he kne# that the #reckage of his fleet of #ar #as scattered among lost islands or lo#n into seas unvoyageale4 )nd it came to him that never again should he see the marle houses of )ramoam3 nor live in pleasant lu9ury3 nor administer the dooms of la# et#een the torturer and the e9ecutioner in the hall of 7ustice3 nor #ear the ga:ola!cro#n amid the plaudits of his people4 "o3 not eing utterly ereft of reason3 he o#ed him to his destiny4 )nd he said to the sea!captain3 =There is sense in #hat you say4 Therefore lead on4= Then3 laden #ith the spoils of the chase3 Euvoran and the captain3 #hose name #as Na: 8amar3 repaired companionaly to a cave in the rocky hill! slope of the isle1s interior3 #hich Na: 8amar had chosen for his aode4 (ere the captain made a fire of dry cedar oughs3 and sho#ed the king the proper manner in #hich to pluck his fo#l and roil it over the fire3 turning it slo#ly on a spit of green camphor!#ood4 )nd Euvoran3 eing famished3 found the meat of the ga:ola far from unpalatale3 though some#hat lean and strongly flavored4 )nd after they had eaten3 Na:
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8amar rought out from the cave a rough 7ar of the island clay containing a #ine he had made from certain erries6 and he and Euvoran drank from the 7ar y turns3 and told each other the tale of their adventures3 and forgot for a #hile the rudeness and desolation of their plight4 Thereafter they shared the isle of ga:olas3 killing and eating the irds as their hunger ordained4 "ometimes3 for a great delicacy3 they sle# and ate some other fo#l that #as more rarely met on the isle3 though common enough3 perhaps in $staim or $llotroi4 )nd King Euvoran made him a headdress from the skin and plumes of the ga:ola3 even as Na: 8amar had done4 )nd this #as the fashion of their days till the end4
The .eaer in the )ault The instructions of +amorgh3 fifty!ninth king of Tasuun3 #ere minutely circumstantial and e9plicit3 and3 moreover3 #ere not to e disoeyed #ithout the incurring of penalties that #ould make mere death a pleasant thing4 2anur3 Grotara3 and Thirlain 'udoch3 three of the king1s hardiest henchmen3 riding forth at morn from the palace in 0iraa3 deated #ith a thin semlance of 7ocosity #hether3 in their case3 oedience or disoedience #ould prove the direr evil4 The commission they had 7ust received from +amorgh #as no less singular than distasteful4 They #ere to visit Chaon Gacca3 the long!forsaken seat of the kings of Tasuun3 lying more than ninety miles to the north of 0iraa amid the desert hills6 and3 descending into the urial vaults eneath the ruined palace3 #ere to find and ring ack to 0iraa #hatever remained of the mummy of King Tnepree:3 founder of the dynasty to #hich +amorgh elonged4 No one had entered Chaon Gacca for centuries3 and the preservation of its dead in the catacoms #as uncertain6 ut even if only the skull of Tnepree: #as left3 or the one of his little finger3 or the dust of mummia into #hich he had crumled3 the men!at!arms #ere to fetch it carefully3 guarding it like a holy relic4 =1Tis an errand for hyenas rather than #arriors3= grumled 2anur in his lack and spade!shaped eard4 =&y the god 2ululun3 Keeper of the Toms3 I deem it an ill thing to distur the peaceful dead4 )nd truly it is not #ell for men to enter Chaon Gacca3 #here Death has made his capital3 and has gathered all the ghouls to do him homage4= =The king should have sent his emalmers3= opined Grotara4 (e #as the youngest and hugest of the
three3 eing taller y a full head than 2anur or Thirlain 'udoch6 and like them3 he #as a veteran of savage #ars and desperate perils4 =2ea3 I said it #as an errand for hyenas3= re7oined 2anur4 =&ut the king kne# #ell that there #ere no mortal eings in all 0iraa3 saving ourselves3 #ho #ould dare to enter the accursed vaults of Chaon Gacca4 T#o centuries ago3 King 0andis3 #ishing to retrieve the golden mirror of @ueen )vaina for his favorite leman3 commanded t#o of his ravos to descend #ithin the vaults3 #here the mummy of )vaina sits enthroned in her separate tom3 holding the mirror in her #ithered hand4444)nd the ravos #ent to Chaon Gacca444ut they did not return6 and King 0andis3 eing #arned y a soothsayer3 made no second attempt to procure the mirror3 ut contented his leman #ith another gift4= =2anur3 thy tales #ould gladden those #ho a#ait the scything of the e9ecutioner3= said Thirlain 'udoch3 the oldest of the trio3 #hose ro#n eard #as faded to a hempen hue y desert suns4 =&ut I chide thee not4 It is common kno#ledge that the catacoms are ridden #ith #orse hauntings than those of liches or phantoms4 "trange devils came there long ago from the mad3 unholy desert of Dloth6 and I have heard it told that the kings forsook Chaon Gacca ecause of certain "hado#s3 that appeared at full noon in the palace!halls3 #ith no visile form to cast them3 and #ould not depart thereafter3 eing changeless amid all the changings of the light3 and #holly undimmed y the e9orcisms of priests and sorcerers4 0en say that the flesh of any #ho dared to touch the "hado#s3 or to tread upon them3 ecame lack and putrid like the flesh of month!old corpses3 all in a mere instant4 &ecause of such testing3 #hen one of the "hado#s came and sat upon his throne3 the right hand of King )gmeni rotted to the #rist3 and fell a#ay like the sloughing of a leper4444 )nd after that3 no man #ould d#ell in Chaon Gacca4= =Verily3 I have heard other stories3= said 2anur4 =The to#n1s aandonment #as due mainly to the failure of the #ells and cisterns3 from #hich the #ater vanished follo#ing an earth/uake that left the land riven #ith hell!deep chasms4 The palace of the kings #as sundered to its nethermost vault y one of the chasms6 and King )gmeni #as sei:ed y a violent madness #hen he inhaled the infernal vapors issuing from the rent6 nor #as he ever #holly sane in his latter lifetime3 after the /uitting of Chaon Gacca and the rearing of 0iraa4= =No# that is a tale that I can elieve3= said Grotara4 =)nd surely I must deem that +amorgh has inherited the madness of his forefather3 )gmeni4 0ethinks that the royal house of Tasuun rots and totters to its fall4
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(arlots and sorcerers s#arm in the palace of +amorgh like charnel#orms6 and no#3 in this princess 'unalia of %ylac #hom he has taken to #ife3 he has found a harlot and a #itch in one4 (e has sent us on this errand at the prompting of 'unalia3 #ho desires the mummy of Tnepree: for her o#n unhallo#ed purpose4 Tnepree:3 I have heard3 #as a great #i:ard in his time6 and 'unalia #ould avail herself of the potent virtue of his ones and dust in the re#ing of her philtres4 -ah? I like not the task of such purveyance4 There are mummies eno# in 0iraa for the making of potions to madden the @ueen1s lovers4 +amorgh is utterly esotted and efooled4= =&e#are3= admonished Thirlain 'udoch3 =for 'unalia is a vampire #ho lusts ever for the young and strong444and thy turn may come ne9t3 8 Grotara3 if fortune rings us ack alive from this enterprise4 I have seen her #atching thee4= =I #ould sooner mate #ith the #ild lamia3= protested Grotara in virtuous indignation4 =Thy aversion #ould help thee not3= said Thirlain 'udoch4 4 4 =for I kno# others #ho have drunk the potions4444 &ut #e are no# nearing the last #ineshop in 0iraa6 and my throat is dusty eforehand #ith the very thought of this 7ourney4 I shall need a #hole stoup of #ine from 2oros to #ash the dust a#ay4= =Thou sayest sooth3= agreed 2anur4 =)lready3 I have ecome dry as the mummy of Tnepree:4 )nd thou3 Grotara>= =I #ill /uaff any drink3 if it e not the philtre!re# of @ueen 'unalia4= 0ounted on s#ift3 untiring dromedaries3 and follo#ed y a fourth camel earing on its ack a light #ooden sarcophagus for the accommodation of King Tnepree:3 the three henchmen had soon left ehind them the right and noisy streets of 0iraa3 and the fields of sesame3 the crofts of apricot and pomegranate3 lying for miles aout the city4 &efore noon3 they had parted from the route of caravans3 and had taken a road that #as seldom used y any ut lions and 7ackals4 (o#ever3 the #ay to Chaon Gacca #as plain3 for the ruts of olden chariots #ere still deeply marked in the desert soil3 #here rain no longer fell at any season4 8n the first night3 they slept eneath the cold and cro#ding stars3 and kept #atch y turn lest a lion should come upon them una#are3 or a viper should cra#l among them for #armth4 During the second day3 they passed amid steepening hills and deep ravines that retarded their progress4 (ere there #as no rustling of serpent or li:ard3 and naught ut their o#n voices and the shuffling of the camels to reak the
silence that lay upon all things like a mute malediction4 "ometimes3 on the desiccating tors aove them3 against the darkly litten sky3 they sa# the oughs of century!#ithered cacti3 or the oles of trees that immemorial fires had lasted4 The second sunset found them in sight of Chaon Gacca3 rearing its dilapidated #alls at a distance of less than four leagues in a road open valley4 Coming then to a #ayside shrine of 2uckla3 the small and grotes/ue god of laughter3 #hose influence #as elieved to e mainly enignant3 they #ere glad to go no farther on that day3 ut took shelter in the crumling shrine for fear of the ghouls and devils3 #ho might d#ell in such vicinage to those accursed ruins4 They had rought #ith them from 0iraa a #ineskin filled #ith the fervent ruy #ine of 2oros6 and though the skin #as no# three!fourths empty3 they poured a liation in the t#ilight on the roken altar3 and prayed to 2uckla for such protection as he might give them against the demons of the night4 They slept on the #orn and chilly flags aout the altar3 #atching y turn3 as efore4 Grotara3 #ho kept the third #atch3 eheld at last the paling of the close! hung stars3 and aroused his companions in a da#n that #as like a sifting of ashes through the cinder! lack darkness4 )fter a scanty meal of figs and dried goat!flesh3 they resumed their 7ourney3 guiding their camels do#n the valley3 and #eaving ack and forth on the ouldered slopes #hen they came to aysmal rents in the earth and rock4 Their approach to the ruins #as rendered slo# and tortuous y such divagations4 The #ay #as lined y the stocks of orchard trees that had perished long ago3 and y cotes and granges #here even the hyena no longer made his lair4 &ecause of their many detours3 it #as hard upon noon #hen they rode through the hollo#!ringing streets of the city4 'ike ragged purple cloaks3 the shado#s of the ruining houses #ere dra#n close to their #alls and portals4 Every#here the havoc of earth/uake #as manifest3 and the fissured avenues and mounded mansions served to verify the tales that 2anur had heard concerning the reason of the city1s aandonment4 The palace of the kings3 ho#ever3 #as still pre!eminent aove the other uildings4 ) tumled pile3 it fro#ned in dark porphyry on a lo# acropolis amid the northern /uarter4 +or the making of this acropolis3 a hill of red syenite had een stripped of its covering soil in elder days3 and had een he#n to sheer and rounding #alls3 circled y a road that #ound slo#ly aout it to the summit4 +ollo#ing this road3 and nearing the portals of the courtyard3 the henchmen of +amorgh
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came to a fissure that clove their path from #all to precipice3 ya#ning far in the cliff4 The chasm #as less than a yard in #idth6 ut the dromedaries alked efore it4 The three dismounted6 and3 leaving the camels to a#ait their return3 they leapt lightly across the fissure4 Grotara and Thirlain 'udoch carrying the sarcophagus3 and 2anur earing the #ineskin3 they passed eneath the shattered arican4 The great courtyard #as heavily stre#n #ith the #reckage of once!lofty to#ers and alconies3 over #hich the #arriors climed #ith much #ariness3 eyeing the shado#s closely3 and loosening their s#ords in the sheath3 as if they #ere surmounting the arricades of a hidden foe4 )ll three #ere startled y the pale and naked form of a colossean female3 #hich they sa# reclining on the locks and rule in a portico eyond the court4 &ut3 dra#ing nearer3 they found that the shape #as not that of a she!demon3 as they had apprehended3 ut #as merely a marle statue that had once stood like a caryatid among the mighty pillars4 +ollo#ing the directions given them y +amorgh3 they entered the main hall4 (ere3 eneath the chasmed and collapsing roof3 they moved #ith the utmost caution3 fearing that a light 7ar3 a #hisper3 #ould ring the suspended ruin upon their heads like an avalanche4 8verturned tripods of greening copper3 tales and trivets of splintered eony3 and the shards of gayly painted porcelains3 #ere mingled #ith the huge fragments of pedestals and fusts and entalatures6 and upon a shivered dais of green3 lood!spotted heliotrope3 the tarnished silver throne of the kings careened amid the mutilated sphin9es3 carved from 7asper3 that kept eternal guard eside it4 )t the further end of the hall3 they found an alcove3 still unlocked y fallen deris3 in #hich #ere the stairs that led do#n#ard to the catacoms4 They paused riefly ere eginning their descent4 2anur applied himself #ithout ceremony to the skin #hich he carried3 and lightened it consideraly efore giving it into the hands of Thirlain 'udoch3 #ho had marked his potations3 #ith solicitude4 Thirlain 'udoch and Grotara drank the remainder of the vintage et#een them6 and the latter did not grumle at the thick lees #hich fell to his lot4 Thus replenished3 they lit three torches of pitchy tereinth3 #hich they had rought along in the sarcophagus4 2anur led the #ay3 daring the tenerous depths #ith dra#n s#ord3 and a torch flaming smokily in his left hand4 (is companions follo#ed3 earing the sarcophagus3 in #hich3 y raising the hinged lid slightly3 they had socketed the other torches4 The potent #ine of 2oros mounted #ith them3 driving a#ay their shado#y fears and apprehensions6 ut all three #ere seasoned drinkers3
and they moved #ith great care and circumspection3 and did not stumle on the dim3 uncertain steps4 -assing through a series of #ine!cellars3 full of cracked and sharded 7ars3 they came at last3 after many :ig:ag plungings of the stairs3 to a vast corridor he#n in the nether syenite3 elo# the level of the city streets4 It stretched efore them through illimitale gloom3 its #alls unshattered3 and its roof admitting no crevice!filtered ray4 It seemed that they had entered some impregnale citadel of the dead3 8n the right hand #ere the toms of the elder kings6 on the left3 #ere the sepulchers of the /ueens6 and lateral passages led to a #orld of susidiary vaults3 reserved for other memers of the royal family4 )t the further end of the main hall3 they #ould find the urial! chamer of Tnepree:4 2anur3 follo#ing the right!hand #all3 soon came to the first tom4 )ccording to custom3 its portals #ere open3 and #ere lo#er than a man1s stature3 so that all #ho entered must o# in humleness to death4 2anur held his torch to the lintel3 and read stumlingly the legend graven in the stone3 #hich told that the vault #as that of King )charnil3 father of )gmeni4 =Verily3= he said3 =#e shall find nothing here3 other than the harmless dead4= Then3 the #ine he had drunk impelling him to a sort of ravado3 he stooped efore the portals and thrust his flickering flameau into the tom of )charnil4 "urprised3 he s#ore a loud and soldierly oath3 that made the others drop their urden and cro#d ehind him4 -eering into the s/uare3 concamerated chamer3 #hich had a kingly spaciousness3 they sa# that it #as unoccupied y any visile tenant4 The tall chair of mystically graven gold and eony3 in #hich the mummy should have sat cro#ned and roed as in life3 #as addorsed against the farther #all on a lo# dais4 In it3 there lay an empty roe of sale and carmine3 and a miter!shaped cro#n of silver set #ith lack sapphires3 as if the dead king had doffed them and had gone a#ay? "tartled3 #ith the #ine dying s#iftly in their rains3 the #arriors felt the cra#ling chill of an unkno#n mystery4 2anur3 ho#ever3 steeled himself to enter the vault4 (e e9amined the shado#y corners3 he lifted and shook the raiment of )chamil3 ut found no clue to the riddle of the mummy1s disappearance4 The tom #as clean of dust3 and there #as no visile sign nor faintest odor of mortal decay4 2anur re7oined his comrades3 and the three eyed each other in eerie consternation4 They resumed their e9ploring of the hall6 and 2anur3 as he came to the door#ay of each tom3 paused efore it and thrust
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his flameau into the #avering murk3 only to discover a vacant throne3 and the cast!off regalia of royalty4 There #as3 it seemed3 no reasonale e9planation for the vanishing of the mummies3 in #hose preservation the po#erful spices of the 8rient had een employed3 together #ith natron3 rendering them virtually incorruptile4 +rom the circumstances3 it did not appear that they had een removed y human roers3 #ho #ould hardly have left ehind the precious 7e#els3 farics and metals6 and it #as even more unlikely that they had een devoured y animals5 for in that case the ones #ould have remained3 and the vestments #ould have een torn and disordered4 The mythic terrors of Chaon Gacca egan to assume a darker imminence6 and the seekers peered and listened fearfully as they #ent on in the hushed sepulchral hall4 -resently3 after they had verified the vacancy of more than a do:en toms3 they sa# the glimmering of several steely o7ects efore them on the floor of the corridor4 These3 on investigation3 proved to e t#o s#ords3 t#o helmets and cuirasses of a slightly anti/uated type3 such as had formerly een #orn y the #arriors of Tasuun4 They might #ell have elonged to the unreturning raves sent y King 0andis to retrieve the mirror of )vaina4 2anur3 Grotara and Thirlain 'udoch3 vie#ing these sinister relics3 #ere sei:ed y an almost frantic desire to accomplish their errand and regain the sunlight4 They hurried on3 no longer pausing to inspect the separate toms3 and deating3 as they #ent3 the curious prolem that #ould e presented if the mummy sought y +amorgh and 'unalia should have vanished like the others4 The king had commanded them to fetch the remains of T nepree:6 and they kne# that no e9cuse or e9planation of their failure to do this #ould e accepted4 $nder such circumstances3 their return to 0iraa #ould e inadvisale6 and the only safety #ould lie in flight eyond the northern desert3 along the route of caravans to .ul!&ha!"air or %ylac4 It seemed that they traversed an enormous distance3 among the more ancient vaults4 (ere the formation of the stone #as softer and more friale3 and the earth/uake had #rought considerale damage4 The floor #as littered #ith detritus3 the sides and roof #ere full of fractures3 and some of the chamers had partially fallen in3 so that their vacancy #as revealed to the casual peering of 2anur and his companions4 Nearing the hall1s end3 they #ere confronted y a chasm3 dividing oth floor and roof3 and splitting the sill and lintel of the last chamer4 The gulf #as aout four feet #ide3 and the torch of 2anur could not disclose its ottom4 (e found the name of Tnepree:
on the lintel3 #hose anti/ue inscription3 telling the deeds and titles of the king3 had een sundered in t#ain y the cataclysm4 Then3 #alking on a narro# ledge3 he entered the vault4 Grotara and Thirlain 'udoch cro#ded ehind him3 leaving the sarcophagus in the hall4 The sepulchral throne of Tnepree:3 overturned and roken3 #as lying across the fissure that had rifted the #hole tom from side to side4 There #as no trace of the mummy3 #hich3 from the chair1s inverted position3 had doutless fallen into those ya#ning depths in the hour of its overthro#4 &efore the seekers could voice their disappointment and their dismay3 the silence aout them #as roken y a dull rumling as of distant thunder4 The stone tremled eneath their feet3 the #alls shook and #avered3 and the rumling noise3 in long3 shuddering undulations3 gre# louder and more ominous4 The solid floor appeared to rise and flo# #ith a continuous sickening motion6 and then3 as they turned to flee3 it seemed that the universe came do#n upon them in a roaring deluge of night and ruin4 Grotara3 #akening in darkness3 #as a#are of an agoni:ing urden3 as if some monumental shaft #ere uilded on his crushed feet and lo#er legs4 (is head throed and ached as if from the stroke of a stunning mace4 (e found that his arms and ody #ere free6 ut the pain in his e9tremities ecame insufferale3 causing him to s#oon ane#3 #hen he tried to drag them from eneath their encumrance4 Terror closed upon him like the clutch of ghoulish fingers3 as he reali:ed his situation4 )n earth/uake3 such as had caused the aandonment of Chaon Gacca3 had occurred6 and he and his fello#s #ere entomed in the catacoms4 (e called aloud3 repeating the names of 2anur and Thirlain 'udoch many times6 ut there #as no groan nor rustle to assure him that they still lived4 ;eaching out #ith his right hand3 he encountered numerous pieces of rule4 "le#ing himself to#ard them3 he found several ouldersi:ed fragments of stone3 and among them a smooth and roundish thing3 #ith a sharp ridge in the center3 #hich he kne# for the crested helmet #orn y one of his companions4 Even #ith the most painful striving3 he could reach no further3 and #as unale to identify the o#ner4 The metal #as heavily dented3 and the com #as ent as if y the impact of some ponderous mass4 In spite of his predicament3 the fierce nature of Grotara refused to yield itself to despair4 (e dre# himself to a sitting position3 and3 douling for#ard3 he contrived to reach the enormous lock that had
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fallen across his nether lims4 (e pushed against it #ith herculean effort3 raging like a trapped lion3 ut the mass #as immovale4 +or hours3 it seemed3 he strove as if #ith some monstrous cacodemon4 (is fren:y #as calmed only y e9haustion4 (e lay ack at length6 and the darkness #eighed upon him like a live thing3 and seemed to gna# him #ith fangs of pain and horror4 Delirium hovered near3 and he thought that he heard a dim and hideous humming3 far elo# in the stony o#els of the earth4 The noise gre# louder3 as if ascending from a riven hell4 (e ecame a#are of a #an3 unreal light that #avered aove him3 disclosing in doutful glimpses the shattered roof4 The light strengthened6 and lifting himself a little3 he sa# that it poured from the earth/uake chasm in the floor4 It #as a light such as he had never seen5 a livid luster3 that #as not the reflection of lamp or torch or firerand4 "omeho#3 as if the senses of hearing and sight #ere confused3 he identified it #ith the hideous humming4 'ike a sourceless da#n3 the luminosity crept upon the ruin #rought y the temlor4 Grotara sa# that the #hole entrance of the tom3 and much of its concameration3 had caved in4 ) fragment3 striking him on the head3 had knocked him senseless6 and a huge section of the roof had fallen across his e9tremities4 The odies of Thirlain 'udoch and 2anur #ere lying close to the roadened chasm4 &oth3 he felt sure3 #ere dead4 The gri::led eard of Thirlain 'udoch #as dark and stiff #ith lood that had run do#n from the crushed cranium6 and 2anur #as half!uried in a pile of locks and detritus3 from #hich his torso and left arm #ere emergent4 (is torch had urned itself out in his stiffly clutching fingers3 as if in a lackened socket4 )ll this Grotara noted in a vague dream!like manner4 Then he perceived the real source of the strange illumination4 ) coldly shining3 hueless gloe3 round as a puffall and large as a human head3 had risen from the fissure and #as hovering aove it like a mimic moon4 The thing oscillated #ith a slight ut ceaseless viratory motion4 +rom it3 as if caused y this viration3 the heavy humming poured3 and the light fell in ever! tremling #aves4 ) dim a#e #as upon Grotara6 ut he felt no terror4 It seemed that the light and sound #ere #oven upon his senses like some 'ethean spell4 ;igid he sat3 forgetful of his pain and despair3 #hile the gloe hovered for a fe# instants aove the chasm3 and then floated slo#ly and hori:ontally3 till it hung directly over the upturned features of 2anur4
With the same delierate slo#ness3 the same ceaseless oscillation3 it descended upon the face and neck of the dead man3 #hich appeared to melt a#ay like tallo# as the gloe settled lo#er and lo#er4 The humming deepened3 the gloe flamed #ith an eerie luster3 and its death!like pallor #as mottled #ith impure iris4 It s#elled and loated oscenely3 #hile the #hole head of the #arrior shrank #ithin the helmet3 and the plates of his cuirass fell in as if the very torso #ere shrivelling eneath them4 Grotara1s eyes eheld the horrific vision clearly6 ut his rain #as numed as if y a merciful hemlock4 It #as hard to rememer3 hard to think 4 4 4 ut someho# he recalled the empty toms3 the o#nerless cro#ns and vestments4 The enigma of the missing mummies3 over #hich he and his companions had pu::led vainly3 #as no# resolved4 &ut the thing that attened upon 2anur #as eyond all mortal kno#ledge or surmise4 It #as some ghoulish deni:en of a nether #orld3 set free y the demons of earth/uake4 No#3 in the catalepsy that thralled him3 he sa# the gradual settling of the piled dris in #hich the legs and hips of 2anur #ere inhumed4 The helmet and ody!mail #ere like empty shards3 the outflung arm had #ithered3 had shortened3 and the very ones #ere d#indling a#ay3 appearing to melt and li/uefy4 The gloe had gro#n enormous4 It #as flushed #ith unclean ruy3 like a vampire moon4 +rom it3 there issued palpale ropes and filaments3 pearly3 shuddering into strange colors3 that appeared to fasten themselves to the ruined floor and #alls and roof3 like the #eaving of a spider4 Thickly and more thickly they multiplied3 forming a curtain et#een Grotara and the chasm3 and falling upon Thirlain 'udoch and himself3 till he sa# the sanguine urning of the gloe as through araes/ues of aleful opal4 No# the #e had filled the entire tom4 It ran and glistened #ith a hundred changing hues3 it dripped #ith glories dra#n from the spectrum of dissolution4 It loomed #ith ghostly lossoms3 and foliages that gre# and faded as if y necromancy4 The eyes of Grotara #ere linded6 more and more he #as meshed in the #eird #e4 $nearthly3 chill as the fingers of death3 its gossamers clung and /uivered upon his face and hands4 (e could not tell the duration of the #eaving3 the term of his enthralment4 Dimly3 at last3 he eheld the thinning of the luminous threads3 the retraction of the tremling araes/ues4 The gloe3 a thing of evil eauty3 alive and a#are in some holocryptic fashion3 had risen no# from the empty armor of 2anur4 Diminishing to its former si:e3 and putting off its colors of lood and opal3 it hung for a little aove the chasm4 Grotara felt that it #as #atching him444 #as
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#atching Thirlain 'udoch4 Then3 like a satellite of the nether caverns3 it fell slo#ly into the fissure3 and the light faded from the tom and left Grotara in deepening darkness4
With none to ehold the glory of its #eaving3 #ith darkness efore and after3 the Weaver spun its final #e in the tom of Tnepree:4
)fter that3 there #ere ages of fever3 thirst and madness3 of torment and slumer3 and recurrent strugglings against the massive lock that held him prisoner4 (e aled insanely3 he ho#led like a #olf6 or3 lying supine and silent3 he heard the multitudinous3 muttering voices of ghouls that conspired against him4 Gangrening s#iftly3 his crushed e9tremities seemed to thro like those of a Titan4 (e dre# his s#ord #ith the strength of delirium3 and endeavored to sa# himself free at the shins3 only to s#oon from loss of lood4
The Tom/-Spa0n
)#akening feely3 and scarce ale to lift his head3 he sa# that the light had returned3 and heard once more the incessant virant humming that filled the vault4 (is mind #as clear3 and a #eak terror stirred #ithin him5 for he kne# that the Weaver had risen again from the chasm444and kne# the reason of its coming4
=Great #as 8ssaru3 eing oth king and #i:ard4 (e ruled over half the continent of .othi/ue4 (is armies #ere like the rolling sands3 lo#n y the simoom4 (e commanded the genii of storm and of dark!ness3 he called do#n the spirits of the sun4 0en kne# his #i:ardry as the green cedars kno# the lasting of levin4
(e turned his head laoriously3 and #atched the glo#ing all as it hung and oscillated3 and then came do#n in leisurely descent on the face of Thirlain 'udoch4 )gain he sa# it loat oscenely3 like a loodflushed moon3 fed #ith the #asting of the old #arrior1s ody4 )gain3 #ith da::led eyes3 he eheld the #eaving of the #e of impure iris3 patterned #ith deathly splendor3 veiling the ruinous catacom #ith its #eird illusions3 )gain3 like a dying eetle3 he #as meshed in its chill3 unearthly strands6 and its necromantic flo#ers3 looming and perishing3 latticed the void air aove him4 &ut3 ere the retracting of the #e3 his delirium came upon him and rought a demon!peopled darkness6 and the Weaver finished its toil unseen3 and returned unheeded to the chasm4
=(alf immortal3 he lived from age to age3 #a9ing in his #isdom and po#er till the end4 Thasaidon3 lack god of evil3 prospered his every spell and enterprise4 )nd during his latter years he #as companioned y the monster Nioth Korghai3 #ho came do#n to Earth from an alien #orld3 riding a fire!maned comet4
(e tossed in the hells of fever3 or lay at the lack3 undivined nadir of olivion4 &ut death tarried3 still aloof6 and he lived on y sheer virtue of his youth and giant strength4 8nce more3 to#ard the end3 his senses cleared3 and he sa# for the third time the unholy light and heard again the odious humming4 The Weaver #as poised aove him3 pale3 shining and virant444and he kne# that it #as #aiting for him to die4 'ifting his s#ord #ith #eak fingers3 he sought to drive it a#ay4 &ut the thing hovered3 alert and vigilant3 eyond his reach6 and he thought that it #atched him like a vulture4 The s#ord dropped from his hand4 The luminous horror did not depart4 It dre# nearer3 like an eyeless3 pertinacious face6 and it seemed to follo# him3 s#ooping through the ultimate night as he fell death#ard4
Evening had come from the desert into +araad3 ringing the last stragglers of caravans4 In a #ine!shop near the northern gate3 many traveling merchants from outer lands3 parched and #eary3 #ere re! freshing themselves #ith the famed vintages of 2oros4 To divert them from their fatigue3 a story!teller spoke amid the clinking of the #ine!cups5
=8ssaru3 y his skill in astrology3 had foreseen the coming of Nioth Korghai4 )lone3 he #ent forth into the desert to a#ait the monster4 in many lands people sa# the falling of the comet3 like a sun that came do#n y night upon the #aste6 ut only King 8ssaru eheld the arrival of Nioth Korghai4 (e returned in the lack3 moonless hours efore da#n #hen all men slept3 ringing the strange monster to his palace3 and housing him in a vault eneath the throne!room3 #hich he had prepared for Nioth Korghai1s aode4 =D#elling al#ays thereafter in the vault3 the monster remained unkno#n and uneheld4 It #as said that he gave advice to 8ssaru3 and instructed him in the lore of the outer planets4 )t certain periods of the stars3 #omen and young #arriors #ere sent do#n as a sacrifice to Nioth Korghai6 and these returned never to give account of that #hich they had seen4 None could surmise his aspect6 ut all #ho entered the palace heard ever in the vault eneath a muffled noise as of slo# eaten drums3 and a regurgitation such as #ould e made y an un!derground fountain6 and sometimes men heard an evil cackling as of a mad cockatrice4 =+or many years King 8ssaru #as served y Nioth Korghai3 and gave service to the monster in return4 Then Nioth Korghai sickened #ith a strange malady3
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and men heard no more the cackling in the sunken vault6 and the noises of drums and fountain!mouths gre# fainter3 and ceased4 The spells of the #i:ard king #ere po#erless to avert his death6 ut #hen the monster had died3 8ssaru surrounded his ody #ith a doule :one of enchantment3 circle y circle3 and closed the vault4 )nd later3 #hen 8ssaru died3 the vault #as opened from aove3 and the king1s mummy #as lo#ered therein y his slaves3 to repose forever eside that #hich remained of Nioth Korghai4 =Cycles have gone y since then6 and 8ssaru is ut a name on the lips of story!tellers4 'ost no# is the palace #herein he d#elt3 and the city thereaout3 some saying that it stood in 2oros3 and some3 in the empire of Cincor3 #here 2ethlyreom #as later uilt y the Nimoth dynasty4 )nd this alone is certain3 that some#here still3 in the sealed tom3 the alien monster aides in death3 together #ith King 8ssaru4 )nd aout them still is the inner circle of 8ssaru1s enchantment3 ren!dering their odies incorruptile throughout all the decay of cities and kingdoms6 and around this is another circle3 guarding against all intru!sion6 since he #ho enters there y the tom1s door #ill die instantly and #ill putrefy in the moment of death3 falling to dusty corruption ere he strike the ground4 ="uch is the legend of 8ssaru and Nioth Korghai4 No man has ever found their tom6 ut the #i:ard Namirrha3 prophesying darkly3 foretold many ages ago that certain travelers3 passing through the desert3 #ould some day come upon it una#are4 )nd he said that these travel!ers3 descending into the tom y another #ay than the door3 #ould ehold a strange prodigy4 )nd he spoke not concerning the nature of the prodigy3 ut said only that Nioth Korghai3 eing a creature from some far #orld3 #as oedient to alien la#s in death as in life4 )nd of that #hich Namirrha meant3 no man has yet guessed the secret4= The rothers 0ila and 0araac3 #ho #ere 7e#el! merchants from $staim3 had listened raptly to the storyteller4 =No# truly this is a strange tale3= said 0ila4 =(o#ever3 as all men kno#3 there #ere great #i:ards in the olden days3 #orkers of deep enchantment and #onder6 and also there #ere true prophets4 )nd the sands of .othi/ue are full of lost toms and cities4= =It is a good story3= said 0araac3 =ut it lacks an ending4 -rithee3 8 teller of tales3 canst tell us no more than this> Was there no treasure of precious metals and 7e#els entomed #ith the monster and the king> I have seen sepulchers #here the dead #ere #alled #ith gold ingots3 arid sarcophagi that poured forth ruies like the gouted lood of vampires4=
=I relate the legend as my fathers told it3= affirmed the story!teller4 =They #ho are destined to find the tom must tell the rest < if haply they return from the finding4= 0ila and 0araac had traded their store of uncut 7e#els3 of carver3 talismans and small 7asper and carnelian idols3 making a good profit in +araad4 No#3 laden #ith rosy and purple!lack pearls from the south!ern gulfs3 and the lack sapphires and #iny garnets of 2oros3 they #ere returning north#ard to#ard Tasuun #ith a company of other merchants on the long3 circuitous 7ourney to $staim y the orient sea4 The #ay had led through a dying land4 No#3 as the caravan ap!proached the orders of 2oros3 the desert egan to assume a profounder desolation4 The hills #ere dark and lean3 like recument mummies of giants4 Dry #ater!#ays ran do#n to lake!ottoms leprous #ith salt4 &illo#s of grey sand #ere driven high on the crumling cliffs3 #here gentle #aters had once rippled4 Columns of dust arose and #ent y like fugitive phantoms4 8ver all3 the sun #as a monstrous emer in a charred heaven4 Into this #aste3 #hich #as seemingly unpeopled and void of life3 the caravan #ent #arily4 $rging their camels to a s#ift trot in the narro#3 deep!#alled ravines3 the merchants made ready their spears and claymores and scanned the arren ridges #ith an9ious eyes4 +or here3 in hidden caves3 there lurked a #ild and half!estial people3 kno#n as the Ghorii4 )kin to the ghouls and 7ackals3 they #ere eaters of carrion6 and also they #ere anthropophagi3 susisting y preference on the odies of travelers3 and drinking their lood in lieu of #ater or #ine4 They #ere dreaded y all #ho had occasion to 7ourney et#een 2oros and Tasuun4 The sun climed to its meridian3 searching #ith ruthless eams the nethermost umrage of the strait3 deep defiles4 The fine ash!light sand #as no longer stirred y any puff of #ind4 No li:ards lifted or scurried on the rocks4 No# the road ran do#n#ard3 follo#ing the course of some olden stream et#een acclivitous anks4 (ere3 in lieu of former pools3 there #ere pits of sand dammed up y riffles or oulders3 in #hich the cam! els floundered knee!deep4 )nd here3 #ithout the least #arning3 in a turn of the sinuous ed3 the gully s#armed and seethed #ith the hid!eous earth!ro#n odies of the Ghorii3 #ho appeared instantaneously on all sides3 leaping #olfishly from the rocky slopes or flinging themselves like panthers from the high ledges4
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These ghoulish apparitions #ere unspeakaly ferocious and agile4 $ttering no sound3 other than a sort of hoarse coughing and spitting3 and armed only #ith their doule ro#s of pointed teeth and their sickle
+or t#o days3 on a po#dery terrain that #as like the ituminous dust of mummies3 they traveled to#ard the ever!receding domes that had seemed so near4 Their plight ecame desperate6 for et#een them they possessed only a handful of dried apricots and a #ater!ag that #as three!fourths empty4 Their provisions3 together #ith their stock of 7e#els and carvings3 had een lost #ith the pack!dromedaries of the caravan4 )pparently there #as no pursuit from the Ghorii6 ut aout them there gathered the red demons of thirst3 the lack demons of hunger4 8n the second morning 0ila1s camel refused to rise and #ould not respond either to the cursing of its master or the prodding of his spear4 Thereafter3 the t#o shared the remaining camel3 riding together or y turns4 8ften they lost sight of the gleaming city3 #hich appeared and disappeared like a mirage4 &ut an hour efore sunset3 on the second day3 they follo#ed the far!thro#n shado#s of roken oelisks and crum! ling #atch!to#ers into the olden streets4 The place had once een a metropolis6 ut no# many of its lordly mansions #ere scattered shards or heaps of do#nfallen locks4 Great dunes of sand had poured in through proud triumphal arches3 had filled the pavements and courtyards4 'urching #ith e9haustion3 and sick at heart #ith the failure of their hope3 0ila and 0araac #ent on3 searching every#here for some #ell or cistern that the long desert years had haply spared4 In the city1s heart3 #here the #alls of temples and lofty uildings of state still served as a arrier to the engulfing sand3 they found the ruins of an old a/ueduct3 leading to cisterns dry as furnaces4 There #ere dust!choked fountains in the market places6 ut no#here #as there anything to etoken the presence of #ater4 Wandering hopelessly on3 they came to the ruins of a huge edifice #hich3 it appeared3 had een the palace of some forgotten monarch4 The mighty #alls3 defying the erosion of ages3 #ere still e9tant4 The portals3 guarded on either hand y green ra:en images of mythic he!roes3 still fro#ned #ith unroken arches4 0ounting the marle steps3 the 7e#elers entered a vast3 roofless hall #here cyclopean columns to#ered as if to ear up the desert sky4 The road pavement flags #ere mounded #ith deris of arches and architraves and pilasters4 )t the hall1s far e9treme there #as a dais of lack!veined marle on #hich3 presumaly3 a royal throne had once reared4 Nearing the dais3 0ila and 0araac oth heard a lo# and indistinct gurgling as of some hidden stream or fountain3 that appeared to rise from underground depths elo# the palace pavement4
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Eagerly trying to locate the source of the sound3 they climed the dais4 (ere a huge lock had fallen from the #all aove3 perhaps re!cently and the marle had cracked eneath its #eight3 and a portion of the dais had roken through into some underlying vault3 leaving a dark and 7agged aperture4 It #as from this opening that the #ater!like regurgitation rose3 incessant and regular as the eating of a pulse4 The 7e#elers leaned aove the pit3 and peered do#n into #ey darkness shot #ith a doutful glimmering that came from an indis!cernile source4 They could see nothing4 ) dank and musty odor touched their nostrils3 like the reath of some long!sealed reservoir4 It seemed to them that the steady fountain!like noise #as only a fe# feet elo# in the shado#s3 a little to one side of the opening4 Neither of them could determine the depth of the vault4 )fter a rief consultation they returned to their camel3 #hich #as #aiting stol!idly at the palace entrance6 and removing the camel1s harness they knot!ted the long reins and leather ody!ands into a single thong that #ould serve them in lieu of rope4 Going ack to the dais3 they secured one end of this thong to the fallen lock3 and lo#ered the other into the dark pit4 0ila descended hand over hand into the depths for ten or t#elve feet efore his toes encountered a solid surface4 "tiff gripping the thong cautiously3 he found himself on a level floor of stone4 The day #as fast #aning eyond the palace #alls6 ut a #an glimmer #as afforded y the hole in the pavement aove6 and the outlines of a half!open door3 sagging at a ruinous angle3 #ere revealed at one side y the feele t#ilight that entered the vault from unkno#n crypts or stairs eyond4 While 0araac came nimly do#n to 7oin him3 0ila peered aout for the source of the #ater!like noise4 &efore him in the undetermined shado#s he discerned the dim and pu::ling contours of an o7ect that he could liken only to some enormous clepsydra or fountain surrounded #ith grotes/ue carvings4 The light seemed to fail momentary4 $nale to decide the nature of the o7ect3 and having neither torch nor candle3 he tore a strip from the hem of his hempen urnoose3 and lit the slo#!urning cloth and held it aloft at arm1s length efore him4 &y the dull3 smouldering luminance thus otained3 the 7e#elers eheld more clearly the thing that ulked prodigious and monstrous3 rearing aove them from the fragment!lit!tered floor to the shado#y roof4 The thing #as like some lasphemous dream of a mad devil4 Its main portion or ody #as urn!like in form and
#as pedestalled on a /ueerly tilted lock of stone at the vault1s center4 It #as palish and pitted #ith innumerale small apertures4 +rom its osom and flat! tened ase many arm!like and leg!like pro7ections trailed in s#ollen nightmare segments to the ground6 and t#o other memers3 sloping tautly3 reached do#n like roots into an open and seemingly empty sarcophagus of gilded metal3 graven #ith #eird archaic ciphers3 that stood eside the lock4 The urn!shaped torso #as endo#ed #ith t#o heads4 8ne of these heads #as eaked like a cuttlefish and #as lined #ith long oli/ue slits #here the eyes should have een4 The other head3 in cose 7u9ta!position on the narro# shoulders3 #as that of an aged man dark and regal and terrile3 #hose urning eyes #ere like alas!ruies and #hose gri::led eard had gro#n to the length of 7ungle moss on the loathsomely porous trunk4 This trunk3 on the side elo# the human head3 dis!played a faint outline as of ris6 and some of the memers ended in human hands and feet3 or possessed anthropomorphic 7ointings4 Through heads3 lims and ody there ran recurrently the mysteri!ous noise of regurgitation that had dra#n 0ila and 0araac to enter the vault4 )t each repetition of the sound a slimy de# e9uded from the monstrous pores and rilled sluggishly do#n in endless drops4 The 7e#elers #ere held speechless and immoile y a clammy ter!ror4 $nale to avert their ga:e3 they met the aleful eyes of the human head3 glaring upon them from its unearthly eminence4 Then3 as the hempen strip in 0ila1s fingers urned slo#ly a#ay and failed to a red smoulder3 and darkness gathered again in the vault3 they sa# the lind slits in the other head open gradually3 pouring forth a hot3 yello#3 intoleraly flaming light as they e9panded to immense round orits4 )t the same time they heard a singular drum!like throing3 as if the heart of the huge monster had ecome audile4 They kne# only that a strange horror not of earth or ut partially of earth3 #as efore them4 The sight deprived them of thought and memory4 'east of all did they rememer the storyteller in +araad3 and the tale he had told concerning the hidden tom of 8ssaru and Nioth Korghai3 and the prophecy of the tom1s finding y those #ho should come to it una#are4 "#iftly3 #ith a dreadful stretching and straightening3 the monster lifted its foremost memers3 ending in the ro#n3 shrivelled hands of an old man3 and reached out to#ard the 7e#elers4 +rom the cuttlefish eak there issued a shrill demonian cackling6 from the mouth of the kingly greyeard head a sonorous voice
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egan to utter #ords of solemn cadence3 like some enchanter1s rune3 in a tongue unkno#n to 0ila and 0araac4 They recoiled efore the ahorrently groping hands4 In a fren:y of fear and panic3 y the streaming light of its incandescent ors3 they sa# the anomaly rise and lumer for#ard from its stone seat3 #alking clumsily and uncertainly on its ill!assorted memers4 There #as a trampling of elephantine pads!and a stumling of human feet inade/uate to ear up their share of the lasphemous hulk4 The t#o stiffly sloping ten!tacles #ere #ithdra#n from the gold sarcophagus3 their ends muffled y empty3 7e#el!se#n cloths of a precious purple3 such as #ould e used for the #inding of some royal mummy4 With a ceaseless and insane cackling3 a malign thundering as of curses that roke to senile /uavers43 the doule!headed horror leaned to#ard 0ila and 0araac4 Turning3 they ran #ildly across the roomy vault4 &efore them3 illumined no# y the pouring rays from the monster1s orits3 they sa# the half!open door of somer metal #hose olts and hinges had rusted a#ay3 permitting it to sag in#ard4 The door #as of cyclopean height and readth3 as if designed for eings huger than man4 &eyond it #ere the dim reaches of a t#ilight corridor4 +ive paces from the door#ay there #as a faint red line that fol!lo#ed the chamer1s conformation on the dusty floor4 0araac3 a little ahead of his rother3 crossed the line4 )s if checked in mid!air y some invisile #all3 he faltered and stopped4 (is lims and ody seemed to melt a#ay eneath the urnoose < the urnoose itself ecame tattered as #ith incalculale age4 Dust floated on the air in a tenuous cloud3 and there #as a momentary gleaming of #hite ones #here his outflung hands had een4 Then the ones too #ere gone < and an empty heap of rags lay rotting on the floor4 ) faint odor as of corruption rose to the nostrils of 0ila4 $ncom!prehending3 he had checked his o#n flight for an instant4 Then3 on his shoulders3 he felt the grasp of slimy3 #ithered hands4 The cackling and muttering of the heads #as like a demon chorus ehind him4 The drum!like eating3 the noise of rising fountains3 #ere loud in his ears4 With one s#iftly dying scream he follo#ed 0araac over the red line4 The enormity that #as oth man and star!orn monster3 the name!less amalgam of an unearthly resurrection3 stiff lumered on and did not pause4 With the hands of that 8ssaru #ho had forgotten his o#n enchantment3 it reached for the t#o piles of empty rags4 ;eaching3 it entered the :one of death and dissolution #hich 8ssaru himself had estalished to
guard the vault forever4 +or an instant3 on the air3 there #as a melting as of misshapen cloud3 a falling as of light ashes4 )fter that the darkness returned3 and #ith the darkness3 silence4 Night settled aove that nameless land3 that forgotten city6 and #ith its coming the Ghorii3 #ho had follo#ed 0ila and 0araac over the desert plain4 "#iftly they sle# and ate the camel that #aited pa!tiently at the palace entrance4 'ater3 in the old hall of columns3 they found that opening in the dais through #hich the 7e#elers had de!scended4 (ungrily they gathered aout the hole3 sniffing at the tom eneath4 Then3 affled3 they #ent a#ay3 their keen nostrils telling them that the scent #as lost3 that the tom #as empty either of life or death4
The .itchcraft of lua "amon the anchorite #as famed no less for his piety than for his prophetic #isdom and kno#ledge of the dark art of sorcery4 (e had d#elt alone for t#o generations in a curious house on the rim of the northern desert of Tasuun5 a house #hose floor and #alls #ere uilt from the large ones of dromedaries3 and #hose roof #as a #attling composed of the smaller ones of #ild dogs and men and hyenas4 These ossuary relics3 chosen for their #hiteness and symmetry3 #ere ound securely together #ith #ell! tanned thongs3 and #ere 7oined and fitted #ith marvelous closeness3 leaving no space for the lo#n sand to penetrate4 This house #as the pride of "amon3 #ho s#ept it daily #ith a esom of mummy1s hair3 till it shone immaculate as polished ivory oth #ithin and #ithout4 Despite his remoteness and reclusion3 and the hardships that attended a 7ourney to his aode3 "amon #as much consulted y the people of Tasuun3 and #as even sought y pilgrims from the farther shores of .othi/ue4 (o#ever3 though not ungracious or inhospitale3 he often ignored the /ueries of his visitors3 #ho3 as a rule3 #ished merely to divine the future or to ask advice concerning the most advantageous government of their affairs4 (e ecame more and more taciturn #ith age3 and spoke little #ith men in his last years4 It #as said3 perhaps not untruly3 that he preferred to talk #ith the murmuring palms aout his #ell3 or the #andering stars that #ent over his hermitage4 In the summer of "amon1s ninety!third year3 there came to him the youth )mal:ain3 his great!nephe#3 and the son of a niece that "amon had loved dearly in days efore his retirement to a gymnosophic seclusion4 )mal:ain3 #ho had spent all of his one!and!
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t#enty years in the upland home of his parents3 #as on his #ay to 0iraa3 the capital of Tasuun3 #here he #ould serve as a cup!earer to +amorgh the king4 This post3 otained for him y influential friends of his father3 #as much coveted among the youth of the land3 and #ould lead to high advancement if he #ere fortunate enough to #in the king1s favor4 In accord #ith his mother1s #ish3 he had come to visit "amon and to ask the counsel of the sage regarding various prolems of #orldly conduct4 "amon3 #hose eyes #ere undimmed y age and astronomy and much poring over volumes of archaic ciphers3 #as pleased #ith )mal:ain and found in the oy something of his mother1s eauty4 )nd for this reason he gave freely of his hoarded #isdom6 and3 after uttering many profound and pertinent ma9ims3 he said to )mal:ain5 =It is indeed #ell that you have come to me5 for3 innocent of the #orld1s turpitude3 you fare to a city of strange sins and strange #itcheries and sorceries4 There are numerous evils in 0iraa4 Its #omen are #itches and harlots3 and their eauty is a foulness #herein the young3 the strong3 the valiant3 are limed and taken4= Then3 ere )mal:ain departed3 "amon gave to him a small amulet of silver3 graven curiously #ith the migniard skeleton of a girl4 )nd "amon said5 =I counsel you to #ear this amulet at all times hencefor#ard4 It contains a pinch of ashes from the pyre of 2os Eni3 sage and archimage3 #ho #on supremacy over men and demons in elder years y defying all mortal temptation and putting do#n the insuordination of the flesh4 There is a virtue in these ashes3 and they #ill protect you from such evils as #ere overcome y 2os Eni4 )nd yet3 peradventure3 there are ills and enchantments in 0iraa from #hich the amulet can not defend you4 In such case you must return to me4 I shall #atch over you carefully3 and shall kno# all that occurs to you in 0iraa5 for I have long since ecome the o#ner of certain rare faculties of sight and hearing #hose e9ercise is not dearred or limited y mere distance4= )mal:ain3 eing ignorant of the matters at #hich "amon hinted3 #as some#hat e#ildered y this peroration4 &ut he received the amulet gratefully4 Then3 idding "amon a reverential fare#ell3 he resumed his 7ourney to 0iraa3 #ondering much as to the fortune that #ould efall him in that sinful and many!legended city4 +amorgh3 #ho had gro#n old and senile amid his deaucheries3 #as the ruler of an aging3 semi!desert land6 and his court #as a place of farsought lu9ury3 of
oli/uitous refinement and corruption4 The youth )mal:ain3 accustomed only to the simple manners3 the rude virtues and vices of country!d#elling folk3 #as da::led at first y the syaritic life around him4 &ut a certain innate strength of character3 fortified y the moral teachings of his parents and the precepts of his great!uncle3 "amon3 preserved him from any grave errors or lapses4 Thus it #as that he served as a cup!earer at achannalian revels3 ut remained astemious throughout3 pouring night after night in the ruy! crusted cup of +amorgh the maddening #ines that #ere drugged #ith cannais and the stupefying arrack #ith its infusion of poppy4 With untainted heart and flesh he eheld the infamous mummeries #herey the courtiers3 vying #ith each other in shamelessness3 attempted to lighten the king1s ennui4 +eeling only #onder or disgust3 he #atched the nimle and lascivious contortions of lack dancers from Doo:a Thom in the north3 or saffron!odied girls from the southern isles4 (is parents3 #ho elieved implicitly in the superhuman goodness of monarchs3 had not prepared him for this spectacle of royal vice6 ut the reverence they had instilled so thoroughly into )mal:ain led him to regard it all as eing the peculiar ut mysterious prerogative of the kings of Tasuun4 During his first month in 0iraa3 )mal:ain heard much of the -rincess $lua3 sole daughter of +amorgh and @ueen 'unalia6 ut since the #omen of the royal family seldom attended the an/uets or appeared in pulic3 he did not see her4 The huge and shado#y palace3 ho#ever3 #as filled #ith #hispers concerning her amours4 $lua3 he #as told3 had inherited the sorceries of her mother 'unalia3 #hose dark3 lu9urious eauty3 so often sung y e#itched poets3 #as no# fallen to a haggish decrepitude4 The lovers of $lua #ere innumerale3 and she often procured their passion or insured their fidelity y other charms than those of her person4 Though little taller than a child3 she #as e9/uisitely formed and endo#ed #ith the loveliness of some female demon that might haunt the slumers of youth4 "he #as feared y many and her ill #ill #as deemed a dangerous thing4 +amorgh3 no less lind to her sins and #itcheries than he had een to those of 'unalia3 indulged her in all #ays and denied her nothing4 )mal:ain1s duties left him much idle time3 for +amorgh usually slept the doule sleep of age and into9ication after the evening revels4 0uch of this time he gave to the study of algera and the reading of olden poems and romances4 8ne morning3 #hile he #as engaged #ith certain algeraic calculations3 there came to )mal:ain a huge negress #ho had een pointed out to him as one of $lua1s #aiting!#omen4 "he told him
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Clark Ashton Smith
Zothique
peremptorily that he #as to follo# her to the apartments of $lua4 &e#ildered and ama:ed y this singular interruption of his studies3 he #as unale to reply for a moment4 Thereupon3 seeing his hesitation3 the great lack #oman lifted him in her naked arms and carried him easily from the room and through the palace halls4 )ngry3 and full of discomfiture3 he found himself deposited in a chamer hung #ith shameless designs3 #here3 amid the fuming of aphrodisiac vapors3 the princess regarded him #ith lu9urious gravity from a couch of fire!right scarlet4 "he #as small as a #oman of the elf!folk3 and voluptuous as a coiled lamia4 The incense floated aout her like sinuous veils4 =There are other things than the pouring of #ine for a sottish monarch3 or the study of #orm!eaten volumes3= said $lua in a voice that #as like the flo#ing of hot honey4 ="ir cup!earer3 your youth should have a etter employment than these4= =I ask no employment3 other than my duties and studies3= replied )mal:ain ungraciously4 =&ut tell me3 8 princess3 #hat is your #ill> Why has your serving! #oman rought me here in a fashion so unseemly>= =+or a youth so erudite and clever3 the /uestion should e needless3= ans#ered $lua3 smiling oli/uely4 ="ee you not that I am eautiful and desirale> 8r can it e that your perceptions are duller than I had thought>= =I do not dout that you are eautiful3= said the oy3 =ut such matters hardly concern a humle cup! earer4= The vapors3 mounting thickly from golden thuriles efore the couch3 #ere parted #ith a motion as of dra#n draperies6 and )mal:ain lo#ered his ga:e efore the enchantress3 #ho shook #ith a soft laughter that made the 7e#els upon her osom t#inkle like living eyes4 =It #ould seem that those musty volumes have indeed linded you3= she told him4 =2ou have need of that euphrasy #hich purges the sight4 Go no#5 ut return presently
This3 ho#ever3 #as not all5 for her undesired image egan to troule his nightly dreams6 and a#akening3 he heard the #arm dulcet languor of her voice3 and felt the caress of light and sutle fingers in the darkness4 -eering at the pale moon that #a9ed eyond the #indo#s3 aove the lack cypresses3 he sa# her dead3 corroded face assume the living features of $lua4 The lithe and migniard form of the young #itch appeared to move among the faulous /ueens and goddesses that thronged the opulent hangings #ith their amours4 &eheld as if through enchantment3 her face leaned eside his in the mirrors6 and she came and vanished3 phantom!like3 #ith seductive murmurs and #anton gestures3 as he ent over his ooks4 &ut though he #as pertured y these appearances3 in #hich he could scarce distinguish the real from the illusory3 )mal:ain #as still indifferent to#ard $lua3 eing surely protected from her charms y the amulet containing the ashes of 2os Eni3 saint and sage and archimage4 +rom certain curious flavors detected more than once in his food and drink3 he suspected that the love!potions for #hich she had ecome infamous #ere eing administered to him6 ut eyond a light and passing /ualmishness3 he e9perienced no ill effect #hatever6 and he #as #holly ignorant of the spells #oven against him in secret3 and the thrice!lethal invultuations that #ere designed to #ound his heart and senses4 No# *though he kne# it not, his indifference #as a matter of much gossip at the court4 0en marvelled greatly at such e9emption5 for all #hom the princess had chosen heretofore3 #hether captains3 cup! earers or high dignitaries3 or common soldiers and grooms3 had yielded easily to her e#itchments4 "o it came to pass that $lua #as angered3 since all men kne# that her eauty #as scorned y )mal:ain3 and her sorcery #as impotent to ensnare him4 Thereupon she ceased to appear at the revels of +amorgh6 and )mal:ain eheld her no longer in the halls and gardens6 and neither his dreams nor his #aking hours #ere haunted any more y the spell!#rought semlance of $lua4 "o3 in his innocence3 he re7oiced as one #ho has encountered a grave peril and has come forth unharmed4 Then3 later3 on a moonless night3 as he lay sleeping tran/uilly in the moonless hours efore da#n3 there came to him in his dream a figure muffled from cro#n to heel #ith the vestments of the tom4 Tall as a caryatid3 a#ful and menacing3 it leaned aove him in silence more malignant than any curse6 and the cerements fell open at the reast3 and charnel!#orms and death!scaras and scorpions3 together #ith shreds of rotting flesh3 rained do#n upon )mal:ain4 Then3 as he a#oke from his nightmare3 sick and stifled3
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Zothique
Clark Ashton Smith
he reathed a carrion fetor3 and felt against him the pressure of a still3 heavy ody4 )ffrighted3 he rose and lit the lamp6 ut the ed #as empty4 2et the odor of putrefaction still lingered6 and )mal:ain could have s#orn that the corpse of a #oman3 t#o #eeks dead and teeming #ith maggots3 had laid closely at his side in the darkness4 Thereafter3 for many nights3 his slumers #ere roken y such foulnesses as this4 (ardly could he sleep at all for the horror of that #hich came and #ent3 invisile ut palpale3 in his chamer4 )l#ays he a#oke from ill dreams3 to find aout him the stiffened arms of long! dead succui3 or to feel at his side the amorous tremling of fleshless skeletons4 (e #as choked y the natron and itumen of mummied reasts6 he #as crushed y the unremoving #eight of gigantic liches6 he #as kissed nauseously y lips that #ere oo:ing tatters of corruption4 Nor #as this all6 for other aominations came to him y day3 visile and perceived through all his senses3 and more loathsome even than the dead4 Things that seemed as the leavings of leprosy cra#led efore him at high noon in the halls of +amorgh6 and they rose up from the shado#s and sidled to#ard him3 leering #hitely #ith faces that #ere no longer faces3 and trying to caress him #ith their half!eaten fingers4 )out his ankles3 as he #ent to and fro3 there clung lascivious empusae #ith reasts that #ere furred like the at6 and serpent!odied lamiae minched and pirouetted efore his eyes3 like the dancers efore the king4 No longer could he read his ooks or solve his prolems of algera in peace5 for the letters changed from moment to moment eneath his scrutiny and #ere t#isted into runes of evil meaning6 and the signs and ciphers he had #ritten #ere turned into devils no igger than large emmets3 that #rithed foully across the paper as if on a field3 performing those rites #hich are acceptale only to )lila3 /ueen of perdition and goddess of all ini/uities4 Thus plagued and edevilled3 the youth )mal:ain #as near to madness6 yet he dared not complain or speak to others of aught that he eheld6 for he kne# that these horrors3 #hether immaterial or sustantial3 #ere perceived only y himself4 Nightly3 for the full period of a moon3 he lay #ith dead things in his chamer6 and daily3 in all his comings and goings3 he #as esought y ahorrent specters4 )nd he douted not that all these #ere the sendings of $lua3 angered y his refusal of her love6 and he rememered that "amon had hinted darkly of certain enchantments from #hich the ashes of 2es Eni3 preserved in the silver amulet3 might e po#erless to defend him4 )nd3 kno#ing that such enchantments #ere upon him
no#3 he recalled the final in7unction of the old archimage4 "o3 feeling that there #as no help for him save in the #i:ardry of "amon3 he #ent efore King +amorgh and egged a short leave of asence from the court4 )nd +amorgh3 #ho #as #ell pleased #ith the cup! earer3 and moreover had egun to note his thinness and pallor3 granted the re/uest readily4 0ounted on a palfrey chosen for speed and endurance3 )mal:ain rode north#ard from 0iraa on a sultry morning in autumn4 ) strange heaviness had stilled all the air6 and great coppery clouds #ere piled like to#ering3 many!domed palaces of genii on the desert hills4 The sun appeared to s#im in molten rass4 No vultures fle# on the silent heavens6 and the very 7ackals had retired to their lairs3 as if in fear of some unkno#n doom4 &ut )mal:ain3 riding s#iftly to#ard "amon1s hermitage3 #as haunted still y leprous larvae that rose efore him3 posturing foully on the dun sands6 and he heard the desirous moaning of succui under the hooves of his horse4 The night #aylaid him3 airless and starless3 as he came to a #ell amid dying palms4 (ere he lay sleepless3 #ith the curse of $lua still upon him5 for it seemed that the dry3 dusty liches of desert toms reclined rigidly at his side6 and ony fingers #ooed him to#ard the unfathomale sand!pits from #hich they had risen4 Weary and devil!ridden3 he reached the #attled house of "amon at noon of the ne9t day4 The sage greeted him affectionately3 sho#ing no surprise3 and listened to his story #ith the air of one #ho harkens a t#ice!told tale4 =These things3 and more3 #ere kno#n to me from the eginning3= he said to )mal:ain4 =I could have saved you from the sendings of $lua ere no#6 ut it #as my #ish that you should come to me at this time3 forsaking the court of the dotard +amorgh and the evil city of 0iraa3 #hose ini/uities are no# at the full4 The imminent doom of 0iraa3 though unread y her astrologers3 has een declared in the heavens6 and I #ould not that you should share the doom4= =It is needful3= he #ent on3 =that the spells of $lua should e roken on this very day3 and the sendings returned to her that sent them6 since other#ise they #ould haunt you for ever3 remaining as a visile and tangile plague #hen the #itch herself has gone to her lack lord3 Thasaidon3 in the seventh hell4= Then3 to the #onderment of )mal:ain3 the old magician rought forth from a cainet of ivory an elliptic mirror of dark and urnished metal and placed it efore him4 The mirror #as held aloft y the muffled hands of a veiled image6 and peering #ithin it3
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Clark Ashton Smith
Zothique
)mal:ain sa# neither his o#n face nor the face of "amon3 nor aught of the room itself reflected4 )nd "amon en7oined him to #atch the mirror closely3 and then repaired to a small oratory that #as curtained from the chamer #ith long and /ueerly painted rolls of camel!parchment4 Watching the mirror3 )mal:ain #as a#are that certain of the sendings of $lua came and #ent eside him3 striving ever to gain his attention #ith unclean gestures such as harlots use4 &ut resolutely he fi9ed his eyes on the void and unreflecting metal6 and anon he heard the voice of "amon chanting #ithout pause the po#erful #ords of an anti/ue formula of e9orcism6 and no# from et#een the oratory curtains there issued the intolerale pungency of urning spices3 such as are employed to drive a#ay demons4 Then )mal:ain perceived3 #ithout lifting his eyes from the mirror3 that the sendings of $lua had vanished like vapors lo#n a#ay y the desert #ind4 &ut in the mirror a scene limned itself darkly3 and he seemed to look on the marle to#ers of the city of 0iraa eneath overlooming astions of ominous cloud4 Then the scene shifted3 and he sa# the palace hall #here +amorgh nodded in #ine!stained purple3 senile and drunken3 amid his ministers and sycophants4 )gain the mirror changed3 and he eheld a room #ith tapestries of shameless design3 #here3 on a couch of fire!right crimson3 the -rincess $lua sat #ith her latest lovers amid the fuming of golden thuriles4 0arvelling as he peered #ithin the mirror3 )mal:ain #itnessed a strange thing6 for the vapors of the thuriles3 mounting thickly and voluminously3 took from instant to instant the form of those very apparitions y #hich he had een edevilled so long4 Ever they rose and multiplied3 till the chamer teemed #ith the spa#n of hell and the vomitings of the riven charnel4 &et#een $lua and the lover at her right hand3 #ho #as a captain of the king1s guard3 there coiled a monstrous lamia3 enfolding them oth in its serpentine volumes and crushing them #ith its human osom6 and close at her left hand appeared a half!eaten corpse3 leering #ith lipless teeth3 from #hose cerements #orms #ere sifted upon $lua and her second lover3 #ho #as a royal e/uerry4 )nd3 s#elling like the fumes of some #itches1 vat3 those other aominations pressed aout the couch of $lua #ith oscene mouthings and fingerings4 )t this3 like the mark of a hellish randing3 horror #as printed on the features of the captain and the e/uerry6 and a terror rose in the eyes of $lua like a pale flame ignited in sunless pits6 and her reasts shuddered eneath the reast!cups4 )nd no#3 in a trice3 the mirrored room egan to rock violently3 and the censers #ere overturned on the tilting flags3 and
the shameless hangings shook and ellied like the lo#n sails of a vessel in storm4 Great cracks appeared in the floor3 and eside the couch of $lua a chasm deepened s#iftly and then #idened from #all to#all4 The #hole chamer #as riven asunder3 and the princess and her t#o lovers3 #ith all her loathly sendings aout them3 #ere hurled tumultuously into the chasm4 )fter that3 the mirror darkened3 and )mal:ain eheld for a moment the pale to#ers of 0iraa3 tossing and falling on heavens lack as adamant4 The mirror itself tremled3 and the veiled image of metal supporting it egan to totter and seemed aout to fall6 and the #attled house of "amon shook in the passing earth/uake3 ut3 eing stoutly uilt3 stood firm #hile the mansions and palaces of 0iraa #ent do#n in ruin4 When the earth had ceased its long tremling3 "amon issued from the oratory4 =It is needless to morali:e on #hat has happened3= he said4 =2ou have learned the true nature of carnal desire3 and have like#ise eheld the history of mundane corruption4 No#3 eing #ise3 you #ill turn early to those things #hich are incorruptile and eyond the #orld4= Thereafter3 till the death of "amon3 )mal:ain d#elt #ith him and ecame his only pupil in the science of the stars and the hidden arts of enchantment and sorcery4
eethra "utle and manifold are the nets of the Demon3 #ho follo#eth his chosen from irth to death and from death to death3 throughout many lives4
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Zothique
Clark Ashton Smith
visited4 (ere a cool and shado#y tarn #as #atered y hidden #ell!springs6 and the ledgy slopes aout the tarn #ere mantled #ith herage and ushes that had not #holly lost their vernal greenness4 "urprised and enchanted3 the young goatherd follo#ed his capering flock into this sheltered paradise4 There #as small likelihood that the goats of -ornos #ould stray afield from such goodly pasturage6 so %eethra did not troule himself to #atch them any longer4 Entranced y his surroundings3 he egan to e9plore the valley3 after /uenching his thirst at the clear #aters that sparkled like golden #ine4 To him3 the place seemed a veritale garden! pleasance4 +orgetting the distance he had already come3 and the #rath of -ornos if the flock should return late for the milking3 he #andered deeper among the #inding crags that protected the valley4 8n every hand the rocks gre# sterner and #ilder6 the valley straitened6 and he stood presently at its end3 #here a rugged #all forade further progress4 +eeling a vague disappointment3 he #as aout to turn and retrace his #anderings4 Then3 in the ase of the sheer #all3 he perceived the mysterious ya#ning of a cavern4 It seemed that the rock must have opened only a little #hile efore his coming5 for the lines of cleavage #ere clearly marked3 and the cracks made in the surrounding surface #ere unclaimed y the moss that gre# plentifully else#here4 +rom the cavern1s creviced lip there sprang a stunted tree3 #ith its ne#ly roken roots hanging in air6 and the stuorn tap!root #as in the rock at %eethra1s feet3 #here3 it #as plain3 the tree had formerly stood4 Wondering and curious3 the oy peered into the inviting gloom of the cavern3 from #hich3 unaccountaly3 a soft almy air no# egan to lo#4 There #ere strange odors in the air3 suggesting the pungency of temple incense3 the languor and lu9ury of opiate lossoms4 They distured the senses of %eethra6 and3 at the same time33 they seduced him #ith their promise of uneholden marvellous things4 (esitating3 he tried to rememer certain legends that -ornos had once told him5 legends that concerned such hidden caverns as the one on #hich he had stumled4 &ut it seemed that the tales had faded no# from his mind3 leaving only a dim sense of things that #ere perilous3 foridden and magical4 (e thought that the cavern #as the portal of some undiscovered #orld
torch a dry3 resinous ough that had fallen from the tree in the cliff4 &eyond the mouth he #as s#allo#ed y a rough! arched passage that pitched do#n#ard like the gorge of some monstrous dragon4 The torch1s flame le# ack3 flaring and smoking in the #arm aromatic #ind that strengthened from unkno#n depths4 The cave steepened perilously6 ut %eethra continued his e9ploration3 climing do#n y the stair!like coigns and pro7ections of the stone4 'ike a dreamer in a dream3 he #as #holly asored y the mystery on #hich he had happened6 and at no time did he recall his aandoned duty4 (e lost all reckoning of the time consumed in his descent4 Then suddenly3 his torch #as e9tinguished y a hot gust that le# upon him like the e9pelled reath of some prankish demon4 +eeling the assailment of a lack panic3 he tottered in darkness and sought to secure his footing on the dangerous incline4 &ut3 ere he could relume the lo#n!out torch3 he sa# that the night around him #as not complete3 ut #as tempered y a #an3 golden glimmering from the depths elo#4 +orgetting his alarm in a ne# #onder3 he descended to#ard the mysterious light4 )t the ottom of the long incline3 %eethra passed through a lo# cavern!mouth and emerged into sun! right radiance4 Da::led and e#ildered3 he thought for a moment that his suterranean #anderings had rought him ack to the outer air in some unsuspected land lying among the 0ykrasian hills4 2et surely the region efore him #as no part of summer! stricken Cincor5 for he sa# neither hills nor mountains nor the lack sapphire heaven from #hich the aging ut despotic sun glared do#n #ith implacale drouth on the kingdoms of .othi/ue4 (e stood on the threshold of a fertile plain that lapsed illimitaly into golden distance under the measureless arch of a golden vault4 +ar off3 through the misty radiance3 there #as a dim to#ering of unidentifiale masses that might have een spires and domes and ramparts4 ) level meado# lay at his feet3 covered #ith close!gro#n curling s#ard that had the greenness of verdigris6 and the s#ard3 at intervals3 #as studded #ith strange lossoms appearing to turn and move like living eyes4 Near at hand3 eyond the meado#3 #as an orchard!like grove of tall3 amply spreading trees amid #hose lush leafage he descried the urning of numerless dark!red fruits4 The plain3 to all seeming3 #as empty of human life6 and no irds fle# in the fiery air or perched on the laden oughs4 There #as no sound other than the sighing of leaves5 a sound like the hissing of many small hidden serpents4
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Clark Ashton Smith
Zothique
To the oy from the parched hill!country3 this realm #as an Eden of untasted delights4 &ut3 for a little #hile3 he #as stayed y the strangeness of it all3 and y the sense of #eird and preternatural vitality #hich informed the #hole landscape4 +lakes of fire appeared to descend and melt in the rippling air6 the grasses coiled #ith verminous #rithings6 the flo#ery eyes returned his regard intently6 the trees palpitated as if a sanguine ichor flo#ed #ithin them in li eu of sap6 and the undernote of adder!like hissings amid the foliage gre# louder and sharper4 %eethra3 ho#ever3 #as deterred only y the thought that a region so fair and fertile must elong to some 7ealous o#ner #ho #ould resent his intrusion4 (e scanned the unpeopled plain #ith much circumspection4 Then3 deeming himself secure from oservation3 he yielded to the craving that had een roused #ithin him y the red3 lu9uriant fruit4 The turf #as elastic eneath him3 like a living sustance3 as he ran for#ard to the nearest trees4 &o#ed #ith their shining gloes3 the ranches drooped around him4 (e plucked several of the largest fruits and stored them thriftily in the osom of his threadare tunic4 Then3 unale to resist his appetence any longer3 he egan to devour one of the fruits4 The rind roke easily under his teeth3 and it seemed that a royal #ine3 s#eet and puissant3 #as poured into his mouth from an overrimming cup4 (e felt in his throat and osom a s#ift #armth that almost suffocated him6 and a strange fever sang in his ears and #ildered his senses4 It passed /uickly3 and he #as startled from his emusement y the sound of voices falling as if from an airy height4 (e kne# instantly that the voices #ere not those of men4 They filled his ears #ith a rolling as of aleful drums3 heavy #ith ominous echoes6 yet it seemed that they spoke in articulate #ords3 aleit of a strange language4 'ooking up et#een the thick oughs3 he eheld a sight that inspired him #ith terror4 T#o eings of colossean stature3 tall as the #atchto#ers of the mountain people3 stood #aist!high aove the near trretops4 It #as as if they had appeared y sorcery from the green ground or the gold heavens5 for surely the clumps of vegetation3 d#arfed into ushes y their ulk3 could never have concealed them from %eethra1s discernment4 The figures #ere clad in lack armor3 lusterless and gloomy3 such as demons might #ear in the service of Thasaidon3 lord of the ottomless under#orlds4 %eethra felt sure that they had seen him6 and perhaps their unintelligile converse concerned his presence4 (e tremled3 thinking no# that he had trespassed on the gardens of genii4 -eering fearfully from his covert3 he could discern no features eneath the frontlets of
the dark helms that #ere o#ed to#ard him5 ut eye! like spots of yello#ish!red fire3 restless as marsh!lights3 shifted to and from in void shado# #here the faces should have een4 It seemed to %eethra that the rich foliage could afford no shelter from the scrutiny of these eings3 the guardians of the land on #hich he had so rashly intruded4 (e #as over#helmed y a consciousness of guilt5 the siilant leaves3 the drum!like voices of the giants3 the eye!shaped flo#ers
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Zothique
Clark Ashton Smith
goatherd4 (e #as returning to another aode than the s/ualid hut of -ornos3 uilt of clay and rush#ood4 In a high!domed city3 gates of urnished metal #ould open for him3 and fiery!colored anners #ould stream on the perfumed air6 and silver trumpets and the voices of londe odalis/ues and lack chamerlains #ould greet him as king in a thousand!columned hall4 The ancient pomp of royalty3 familiar as air and light3 #ould surround him3 and he3 the King )mero3 #ho had ne#ly come to the throne3 #ould rule as his fathers had ruled over all the kingdom of Caly: y the orient sea4 Into his capital3 on shaggy camels3 the fierce southern triesmen #ould ring a levy of date! #ine and desert sapphires6 and galleys from isles eyond the morning #ould urden his #harves #ith their semi!annual triute of spices and strange!dyed farics444 "urging and fading like pictures of delirium ut lucid as daily memories3 the madness came and #ent6 and once again he #as the nephe# of -ornos3 returning elated #ith the flock4 'ike a do#n#ard!thrusting lade3 the red moon had fi9ed itself in the somer hills #hen %eethra reached the rough #ooden pen in #hich -ornos kept his goats4 Even as %eethra had e9pected3 the old man #as #aiting at the gate3 earing in one hand a clay lantern and in the other a staff of riar#ood4 (e egan to curse the oy #ith half!senile vehemence3 #aving the staff3 and threatening to eat him for his tardiness4 %eethra did not flinch efore the staff4 )gain3 in his fancy3 he #as )mero3 the young king of Caly:4 &e#ildered and astonished3 he sa# efore him y the light of the shaken lantern a foul and rancid!smelling ancient #hom he could not rememer4 (ardly could he understand the speech of -ornos6 the man1s anger pu::led ut did not frighten him6 and his nostrils3 as if accustomed only to delicate perfumes3 #ere offended y the goatish stench4 )s if for the first time3 he heard the leating of the tired flock3 and ga:ed in #ild surprise at the #attled pen and the hut eyond4 =Is it for this3= cried -ornos3 =that I have reared my sister1s orphan at great e9pense> )ccursed moon! calf? Thankless #help? If you have lost a milch!goat or a single kid3 I shall flay you from thigh to shoulder4= Deeming that the silence of the youth #as due to mere ostinacy3 -ornos egan to eat him #ith the staff4 )t the first lo#3 the right cloud lifted from %eethra1s mind4 Dodging the riar#ood #ith agility3 he tried to tell -ornos of the ne# pasture he had found among the hills4 )t this the old man suspended his lo#s3 and %eethra #ent on to tell of the strange cave that had conducted him to an unguessed
garden!land4 To support his story he reached #ithin his tunic for the lood!red apples he had stolen6 ut3 to his confoundment3 the fruits #ere gone3 and he kne# not #hether he had lost them in the dark or #hether3 perhaps3 they had vanished y virtue of some ind#elling necromancy4 -ornos3 interrupting the oy #ith fre/uent scoldings3 heard him at first #ith open unelief4 &ut he gre# silent as the youth #ent on3 and #hen the story #as done3 he cried out in a tremling voice5 =Ill #as this day3 for you have #andered among enchantments4 Verily3 there in no tarn such as you have descried amid the hills6 nor3 at this season3 has any herder found such pasturage4 These things #ere illusions3 designed to lead you astray6 and the cave3 I #ot3 #as no honest cave ut an entrance into hell4 I have heard my fathers tell that the gardens of Thasaidon3 king of the seven under#orlds3 lie near to the earth1s surface in this region6 and caves have opened ere this3 like a portal3 and the sons of men3 trespassing una#are on the gardens3 have een tempted y the fruit and eaten it4 &ut madness comes thereof and much sorro# and long damnation5 for the Demon3 they say3 forgetting not one stolen apple3 #ill e9act his price in the end4 Woe? #oe? the goat!milk #ill e soured for a #hole moon y the grass of such #i:ard pasture6 and3 after all the food and care you have cost me3 I must find another stripling to #ard the flocks4= 8nce more3 as he listened3 the urning cloud returned upon %eethra4 =8ld man3 I kno# you not3= he said perple9edly4 Then3 using soft #ords of a courtly speech ut half!intelligile to -ornos5 =It #ould seem that I have gone astray4 -rithee3 #here lies the kingdom of Caly:> I am king thereof3 eing ne#ly cro#ned in the high city of "hathair3 over #hich my fathers have ruled for a thousand years4= =)i? )i?= #ailed -ornos4 =The oy is daft4 These notions have come through the eating of the Demon1s apple4 Cease your maundering3 and help me to milk the goats4 2ou are none other than the child of my sister )skli3 #ho #as delivered these nineteen years agone after her husand3 8uthoth3 had died of a dysentery4 )skli lived not long3 and I3 -ornos3 have reared you as a son3 and the goats have mothered you4= =I must find my kingdom3= persisted %eethra4 =I am lost in darkness3 amid uncouth things3 and ho# I have #andered here I cannot rememer4 8ld man3 I #ould have you give me food and lodging for the night4 In the da#n I shall 7ourney to#ard "hathair3 y the orient main4=
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Clark Ashton Smith
Zothique
-ornos3 shaking and muttering3 lifted his clay lantern to the oy1s face4 It seemed that a stranger stood efore him3 in #hose #ide and #ondering eyes the flame of golden lamps #as someho# reflected4 There #as no #ildness in %eethra1s demeanor3 ut merely a sort of gentle pride and remoteness6 and he #ore his threadare tunic #ith a strange grace4 "urely3 ho#ever3 he #as demented6 for his manner and speech #ere past understanding4 -ornos3 mumling under his reath3 ut no longer urging the oy to assist him3 turned to the mil king444 %eethra #oke etimes in the #hite da#n3 and peered #ith ama:ement at the mud!plastered #alls of the hovel in #hich he had d#elt since irth4 )ll #as alien and affling to him6 and especially #as he trouled y his rough garments and y the sun!s#art ta#niness of his skin5 for such #ere hardly proper to the young King )mero3 #hom he elieved himself to e4 (is circumstances #ere #holly ine9plicale6 and he felt an urgency to depart at once on his home#ard 7ourney4 (e rose /uietly from the litter of dry grasses that had served him for a ed4 -ornos3 lying in a corner3 still slept the sleep of age and senescence6 and %eethra #as careful not to a#aken him4 (e #as oth pu::led and repelled y this unsavory ancient3 #ho had fed him on the previous evening #ith coarse millet!read and the strong milk and cheese of goats3 and had given him the hospitality of a fetid hut4 (e had paid little heed to the mumlings and o7urgations of -ornos6 ut it #as plain that the old man douted his claims to royal rank3 and3 moreover3 #as possessed of peculiar delusions regarding his identity4 'eaving the hovel3 %eethra follo#ed an east#ard! #inding footpath amid the stony hills4 (e kne# not #hither the path #ould lead5 ut reasoned that Caly:3 eing the easternmost realm of the continent .othi/ue3 #as situated some#here elo# the rising sun4 &efore him3 in vision3 the verdant vales of his kingdom hovered liked a fair mirage3 and the s#elling domes of "hathair #ere as morning cumuli piled in the orient4 These things3 he deemed3 #ere memories of yesterday4 (e could not recall the circumstances of his departure and his asence6 ut surely the land over #hich he ruled #as not remote4 The path turned among lessening ridges3 and %eethra came to the small village of Cith3 to #hose inhaitants he #as kno#n4 The place #as alien to him no#3 seeming no more than a cir/ue of filthy hovels that reeked and festered under the sun4 The people gathered aout him3 calling him y name3 and staring and laughing oafishly #hen he in/uired the road to
Caly:4 No one3 it appeared3 had ever heard of this kingdom or of the city of "hathair4 Noting a strangeness in %eethra1s demeanor3 and deeming that his /ueries #ere those of a madman3 the people egan to mock him4 Children pelted him #ith dry clods and peles6 and thus he #as driven from Cith3 follo#ing an eastern road that ran from Cincor into the neighoring lo#lands of the country of .hel4 "ustained only y the vision of his lost kingdom3 the youth #andered for many moons throughout .othi/ue4 -eople derided him #hen he spoke of his kingship and made in/uiry concerning Caly:6 ut many3 thinking madness a sacred thing3 offered him shelter and sustenance4 )mid the far!stretching fruitful vineyards of .hel3 and into Istanam of the myriad cities6 over the high passes of 2morth3 #here sno# tarried at the autumn1s eginning6 and across the salt! pale desert of Dhir3 %eethra follo#ed that right imperial dream #hich had no# ecome his only memory4 )l#ays east#ard he #ent3 travelling sometimes #ith caravans #hose memers hoped that a madman1s company #ould ring them good fortune6 ut oftener he #ent as a solitary #ayfarer4 )t #hiles3 for a rief space3 his dream deserted him3 and he #as only the simple goatherd3 lost in foreign realms3 and homesick for the arren hills of Cincor4 Then3 once more3 he rememered his kingship3 and the opulent gardens of "hathair and the proud palaces3 and the names and faces of them that had served him follo#ing the death of his father3 King Eldama/ue3 and his o#n succession to the throne4 )t mid#inter3 in the far city of "ha!Karag3 %eethra met certain sellers of amulets from $staim3 #ho smiled oddly #hen he asked if they could direct him to Caly:4 Winking among themselves #hen he spoke of his royal rank3 the merchants told him that Caly: #as situated several hundred leagues eyond "ha!Karag3 elo# the orient sun4 =(ail3 8 King3= they said #ith mock ceremony4 ='ong and merrily may you reign in "hathair4= Very 7oyful #as %eethra3 hearing #ord of his lost kingdom for the first time3 and kno#ing no# that it #as more than a dream or a figment of madness4 Tarrying no longer in "ha!Karag3 he 7ourneyed on #ith all possile haste444 When the first moon of spring #as a frail crescent at eve3 he kne# that he neared his destination4 +or Canopus urned high in the eastern heavens3 mounting gloriously amid the smaller stars even as he had once seen it from his palace!terrace in "hathair4
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(is heart leapt #ith the gladness of homecoming6 ut much he marvelled at the #ildness and sterility of the region through #hich he passed4 It seemed that there #ere no travellers coming and going from Caly:6 and he met only a fe# nomads3 #ho fled at his approach like the creatures of the #aste4 The high#ay #as overgro#n #ith grasses and cacti3 and #as rutted only y the #inter rains4 &eside it3 anon3 he came to a stone terminus carved in the form of a rampant lion3 that had marked the #estern oundary of Caly:4 The lion1s features had crumled a#ay3 and his pa#s and ody #ere lichened3 and it seemed that long ages of desolation had gone over him4 ) chill dismay #as orn in %eethra1s heart5 for only yesteryear3 if his memory served him rightly3 he had ridden past the li on #ith his father Eldama/ue3 hunting hyenas3 and had remarked then the ne#ness of the carving4 No#3 from the high ridge of the order3 he ga:ed do#n upon Caly:3 #hich had lain like a long verdant scroll eside the sea4 To his #onderment and consternation3 the #ide fields #ere sere as if #ith autumn6 the rivers #ere thin threads that #asted themselves in sand6 the hills #ere gaunt as the ris of unceremented mummies6 and there #as no greenery other than the scant herage #hich a desert ears in spring4 +ar off3 y the purple main3 he thought that he eheld the shining of the marle domes of "hathair6 and3 fearing that some light of hostile sorcery had fallen upon his kingdom3 he hastened to#ard the city4 Every#here3 as he #andered heartsick through the vernal day3 he found that the desert had estalished its empire4 Void #ere the fields3 unpeopled the villages4 The cots had tumled into midden!like heaps of ruin6 and it seemed that a thousand seasons of drouth had #ithered the fruitful orchards3 leaving only a fe# lack and decaying stumps4 In the late afternoon he entered "hathair3 #hich had een the #hite mistress of the orient sea4 The streets and the haror #ere alike empty3 and silence sat on the roken housetops and the ruining #alls4 The great ron:e oelisks #ere greened #ith anti/uity6 the massy marmorean temples of the gods of Caly: leaned and slanted to their fall4 Tardily3 as one #ho fears to confirm an e9pected thing3 %eethra came to the palace of the monarchs4 Not as he recalled it3 a glory of soaring marle half veiled y flo#ering almonds and trees of spice and high!pulsing fountains3 ut in stark dilapidation amid lasted gardens3 the palace a#aited him3 #hile the rief3 illusory rose of sunset faded upon its dome3 leaving them #an as mausoleums4 (o# long the place had lain desolate3 he could not kno#4 Confusion filled him3 and he #as #helmed y
utter loss and despair4 It seemed that none remained to greet him amid the ruins6 ut3 nearing the portals of the #est #ing3 he sa#3 as it #ere3 a fluttering of shado#s that appeared to detach themselves from the gloom eneath the portico6 and certain duious eings3 clothed in rotten tatter3 came sidling and cra#ling efore him on the cracked pavement4 -ieces of their raiment dropped from them as they moved6 and aout them #as an unnamed horror of filth3 of s/ualor and disease4 When they neared him3 %eethra sa# that most of them #ere lacking in some memer or feature3 and that all #ere marked y the gna#ing of leprosy4 (is gorge rose #ithin him3 and he could not speak4 &ut the lepers hailed him #ith hoarse cries and hollo# croakings3 as if deeming him another outcast #ho had come to 7oin them in their aode amid the ruins4 =Who are ye that d#ell in my palace of "hathair>= he in/uired at length4 =&ehold? I am King )mero3 the son of Eldama/ue3 and I have returned from a far land to resume the throne of Caly:4= )t this3 a loathsome cackling and tittering arose among the lepers4 =We alone are the kings of Caly:3= one of them told the youth4 =The land has een a desert for centuries3 and the city of "hathair had long lain unpeople save y such as #e3 #ho #ere driven out from other places4 2oung man3 you are #elcome to share the realm #ith us5 for another king3 more or less3 is a small matter here4= Then3 #ith oscene cachinnations3 the lepers 7eered at %eethra and derided him6 and he3 standing amid the dark fragments of his dream3 could find no #ords to ans#er them4 (o#ever3 one of the oldest lepers3 #ell!night limless and faceless3 shared not in the mirth of his fello#s3 ut seemed to ponder and reflect6 and he said at last to %eethra3 in a voice issuing thickly from the lack pit of his gaping mouth5 =I have heard something of the history of Caly:3 and the names of )mero and Eldama/ue are familiar to me4 In ygone ages certain of the rulers #ere named thus6 ut I kno# not #hich of them #as the son and #hich the father4 (aply oth are no# entomed #ith the rest of their dynasty3 in the deep!lying vaults eneath the palace4= No#3 in the greying t#ilight3 other lepers emerged from the shado#y ruin and gathered aout %eethra4 (earing that he laid claim to the kingship of the desert realm3 certain of their numer #ent a#ay and returned presently3 earing vessels filled #ith rank #ater and mouldy victuals3 #hich they proffered to %eethra3 o#ing lo# #ith a mummery as of chamerlains serving a monarch4
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%eethra turned from them in loathing3 though he #as famished and athirst4 (e fled through the ashen gardens3 among the dry fountain!mouths and dusty plots4 &ehind him he heard the hideous mirth of the lepers6 ut the sound gre# fainter3 and it seemed that they did not follo# him4 ;ounding the vast palace in his flight3 he met no more of these creatures4 The portals of the south #ing and the east #ing #ere dark and empty3 ut he did not care to enter them3 kno#ing that desolation and things #orse than desolation #ere the sole tenants4 Wholly distraught and despairing3 he came to the eastern #ing and paused in the gloom4 Dully3 and #ith a sense of dream!like estrangement3 he ecame a#are that he stood on that very terrace aove the sea3 #hich he had rememered so often during his 7ourney4 &are #ere the ancient flo#er!eds6 the trees had rotted a#ay in their sunken asins6 and the great flags of the pavement #ere runneled and roken4 &ut the veils of t#ilight #ere tender upon the ruin6 and the sea sighed as of yore under a purple shrouding6 and the mighty star Canopus climed in the east3 #ith the lesser stars still faint around him4 &itter #as the heart of %eethra3 thinking himself a dreamer eguiled y some idle dream4 (e shrank from the high splendor of Canopus3 as if from a flame too right to ear6 ut3 ere he could turn a#ay3 it seemed that a column of shado#3 darker than the night and thicker than any cloud3 rose up#ard efore him from the terrace and lotted out the effulgent star4 8ut of the solid stone the shado# gre#3 to#ering tall and colossal6 and it took on the outlines of a mailed #arrior6 and it seemed that the #arrior looked do#n upon %eethra from a great height #ith eyes that shone and shifted like firealls in the darkness of his face under the lo#ering helmet4 Confusedly3 as one #ho recalls an old dream3 %eethra rememered a oy #ho had herded goats upon summer!stricken hills6 and #ho3 one day3 had found a cavern that opened portal!like on a garden!land of strangeness and marvel4 Wandering there3 the oy had eaten a lood!dark fruit and had fled in a terror efore the lack!armored giants #ho #arded the garden4 )gain he #as that oy6 and still he #as the King )mero3 #ho had sought for his lost realm through many regions6 and3 finding it in the end3 had found only the aomination of desolation4 No#3 as the trepidation of the goatherd3 guilty of theft and trespass3 #arred in his soul #ith the pride of the king3 he heard a voice that rolled through the heavens like thunder from a high cloud in the spring night5
=I am the emissary of Thasaidon3 #ho sends me in due course to all #ho have passed the nether portals and tasted the fruit of his garden4 No man3 having eaten the fruit3 shall remain thereafter as he #as efore6 ut to some the fruit rings olivion3 and to others3 memory4 Kno#3 then3 that in another irth3 ages agone3 you #ere indeed the young King )mero4 The memory3 eing strong upon you3 has effaced the rememrance of your present life3 and has driven you forth to seek your ancient kingdom4= =If this e true3 then douly am I ereft3= said %eethra3 o#ing sorro#fully efore the shado#4 =+or3 eing )mero3 I am throneless and realmless6 and3 eing %eethra3 I cannot forget my former royalty and regain the content #hich I kne# as a simple goatherd4= =(arken3 for there is another #ay3= said the shado#3 its voice muted like the murmur of a far ocean4 =Thasaidon is the master of all sorceries3 and a giver of magic gifts to those #ho serve him and ackno#ledge him as their lord4 -ledge your allegiance3 promise your soul to him6 and in fee thereof3 the Demon #ill surely re#ard you4 If it e your #ish3 he can #ake again the uried past #ith his necromancy4 )gain3 as King )mero3 you shall reign over Caly:6 and all things shall e as they #ere in the perished years6 and the dead faces and the fields no# desert shall loom again4= =I accept the ond3= said %eethra4 =I plight my fealty to Thasaidon3 and I promise my soul to him if he3 in return3 #ill give me ack my kingdom4= =There is more to e said3= resumed the shado#4 =Not #holly have you rememered your other life3 ut merely those years that correspond to your present youth4 'iving again as )mero3 perhaps you #ill regret your royalty in time6 and if such regret should overcome you3 leading you to forget a monarch1s duty3 then the #hole necromancy shall end and vanish like vapor4= ="o e it3= said %eethra4 =This3 too3 I accept as part of the argain4= When the #ords ended3 he eheld no longer the shado# to#ering against Canopus4 The star flamed #ith a pristine splendor3 as if no cloud had ever dimmed it6 and #ithout sense of change or transition3 he #ho #atched the star #as none other than King )mero6 and the goatherd %eethra3 and the emissary3 and the pledge given to Thasaidon3 #ere as things that had never een4 The ruin that had come upon "hathair #as no more than the dream of some mad prophet6 for in the nostrils of )mero the perfume of languorous flo#ers mingled #ith salt sea!alsams6 and in his ears the grave murmur of ocean #as pierced y the amorous plaint of lyres and a shrill laughter of
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slave!girls from the palace ehind him4 (e heard the myriad noises of the nocturnal city3 #here his people feasted and made 7uilee6 and3 turning from the star #ith a mystic pain and an oscure 7oy in his heart3 )mero eheld the effulgent portals and #indo#s of his father1s house3 and the far!mounting light from a thousand flameau9 that paled the stars as they passed over "hathair4 It is #ritten in the old chronicles that King )mero reigned for many prosperous years4 -eace and aundance #ere upon all the realm of Caly:6 the drouth came not from the desert3 nor violent gales from the main6 and triute #as sent at the ordained seasons to )mero from the su7ect isles and outlying lands4 )nd )mero #as #ell content3 d#elling superly in rich!arrased halls3 feasting and drinking royally3 and hearing the praise of his lute!players and his chamerlains and lemans4 When his life #as little past the meridian years3 there came at #hiles to )mero something of that satiety #hich lies in #ait for the minions of fortune4 )t such times he turned from the cloying pleasures of the court and found delight in lossoms and leaves and the verses of olden poets4 Thus #as satiety held at ay6 and3 since the duties of the realm rested lightly upon him3 )mero still found his kingship a goodly thing4 Then3 in a latter autumn3 it seemed that the stars looked disastrously on Caly:4 0urrain and light and pestilence rode aroad as if on the #ings of unseen dragons4 The coast of the kingdom #as eset and sorely harried y pirate galleys4 $pon the #est3 the caravans coming and going through Caly: #ere assailed y redoutale ands of roers6 and certain fierce desert peoples made #ar on the villages lying near to the southern order4 The land #as filled #ith turmoil and death3 #ith lamentations and many miseries4 Deep #as )mero1s concern3 hearing the distressful complaints that #ere rought efore him daily4 &eing ut little skilled in kingcraft3 and #holly untried y the ordeals of dominion3 he sought counsel of his courtlings ut #as ill advised y them4 The troules of the realm multiplied upon him6 uncured y authority3 the #ild peoples of the #aste gre# older3 and the pirates gathered like vultures of the sea4 +amine and drouth divided his realm #ith the plague6 and it seemed to )mero3 in his sore perple9ity3 that such matters #ere eyond all medication6 and his cro#n #as ecome a too onerous urden4
"triving to forget his o#n impotence and the #oeful plight of his kingdom3 he gave himself to long nights of deauch4 &ut the #ine refused its olivion3 and love had no# forfeited its rapture4 (e sought other divertissements3 calling efore him strange makers and mummers and uffoons3 and assemling outlandish singers and the players of uncouth instruments4 Daily he made proclamations of a high re#ard to any that could emuse him from his cares4 Wild songs and sorcerous allads of yore #ere sung to him y immortal minstrels6 the lack girls of the north3 #ith amer!dappled lims3 danced efore him their #eird lascivious measures6 the lo#ers of the horns of chimeras played a mad and secret tune6 and savage drummers pounded a troulous music on drums made from the skin of cannials6 #hile men clothed #ith the scales and pelts of half!mythic monsters ramped or cra#led grotes/uely through the halls of the palace4 &ut all these #ere vain to eguile the king from his grievous musings4 8ne afternoon3 as he sat heavily in his hall of audience3 there came to him a player of pipes #ho #as clad in tattered homespun4 The eyes of the man #ere right as ne#ly stirred emers3 and his face #as urned to a cindery lackness3 as if y the ardor of outland suns4 (ailing )mero #ith small servility3 he announced himself as a goatherd #ho had come to "hathair from a region of valleys and mountains lying se/uestered eyond the ourn of sunset4 =8 King3 I kno# the melodies of olivion3= he said3 =and I #ould play for you3 though I desire not the re#ard you have offered4 If haply I succeed in diverting3 I shall take my o#n guerdon in due time4= =-lay3 then3= said )mero3 feeling a faint interest rise #ithin him at the old speech of the piper4 +orth#ith3 on his pipes of reed3 the lack goatherd egan a music that #as like the falling and rippling of #ater in /uiet vales3 and the passing of #ind over lonely hilltops4 "utly the pipes told of freedom and peace and forgetfulness lying eyond the sevenfold purple of outland hori:ons4 Dulcetly they sang of a place #here the years came not #ith an iron trampling3 ut #ere soft of tread as a :ephyr shod #ith flo#er petals4 There the #orld1s turmoil and trouling #ere lost upon measureless leagues of silence3 and the urdens of empire #ere lo#n a#ay like thistledo#n4 There the goatherd3 tending his flock on solitary fells3 #as possessed of tran/uillity s#eeter than the po#er of monarchs4 )s he listened to the piper3 a sorcery crept upon the mind of )mero4 The #eariness of kingship3 the cares and perple9ities3 #ere as dream!ules lapsing in
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some 'ethean tide4 (e eheld efore him3 in sun! right verdure and stillness3 the enchanted vales evoked y the music6 and he himself #as the goatherd3 follo#ing grassy paths3 or lying olivious of the vulture hours y the margin of lulled #aters4 (ardly he kne# that the lo# piping had ceased4 &ut the vision darkened3 and he #ho had dreamt of a goatherd1s peace #as again a trouled king4 =-lay on?= he cried to the lack piper4 =Name your o#n guerdon
and #ere gone even as shado#s3 and the stars shone over roken #alls4 Confusion filled the thoughts and the sense of )mero6 and in his heart #as a lack chill of desolation6 and he seemed to himself as one #ho had kno#n the lapse of long empty years3 and the loss of high splendor6 and #ho stood no# amid the e9tremity of age and decay4 In his nostrils #as a dry mustiness such as the night dra#s from olden ruin6 and it came to him3 as a thing forekno#n and no# rememered oscurely3 that the desert #as lord in his proud capital of "hathair4 =Where have you led me>= cried )mero to the piper4 +or all reply3 he heard a laughter that #as like the peal of derisive thunder4 The muffled shape of the goatherd to#ered colossally in the gloom3 changing3 gro#ing3 till its outlines #ere transformed to those of a giant #arrior in sale armor4 "trange memories thronged the mind of )mero3 and he seemed to recall darkly something of another life444 "omeho#3 some#here3 for a time3 he had een the goatherd of his dreams3 content and forgetful444 someho#3 some#here3 he had entered a strange right garden and had eaten a lood!dark fruit444 Then3 in a flaring as of infernal levin3 he rememered all3 and kne# the might shado# that to#ered aove him like a Terminus reared in hell4 &eneath his feet #as the cracked pavement of the sea#ard terrace6 and the stars aove the emissary #ere those that precede Canopus6 ut Canopus himself #as lotted out y the Demon1s shoulder4 "ome#here in the dusty darkness3 a leper laughed and coughed thickly3 pro#ling aout the ruined palace in #hich had once d#elt the kings of Caly:4 )ll things #ere even as they had een efore the making of that argain through #hich the perished kingdom had een raised up y the po#ers of hell4 )nguish choked the heart of %eethra as if #ith the ashes of urnt!out pyres and the shards of heaped ruin4 "utly and manifoldly had the Demon tempted him to his loss4 Whether these things had een dream or necromancy or verity he kne# not #ith sureness6 nor #hether they had happened once or had happened often4 In the end there #as only dust and dearth6 and he3 the douly accurst3 must rememer and repent forevermore all that he had forfeited4 (e cried out to the emissary5 =I have lost the argain that I made #ith Thasaidon4 Take no# my soul and ear it efore him #here he sits aloft on his throne of ever!urning rass6 for I #ould fulfil my ond to the uttermost4= =There is no need to take your soul3= said the emissary3 #ith an ominous rumle as of departing storm in the
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desolate night4 =;emain here #ith the lepers3 or return to -ornos and his goats3 as you #ill5 it matters little4 )t all times and in all places your soul shall e part of the dark empire of Thasaidon4=
there is the story of #hat happened to Nushain3 the astrologer4
The 4ast 5iero+l*ph
In the ook of )er+ama {These paragraphs precede the beginning of the published version of "The Last Hieroglyph"; April 7, 1!#
It #as said of Vergama3 in the lattermost ages3 that he had e9isted immortally ever since the lifting of .othi/ue from the foundered ruins of continents that history had forgotten4 )l#ays3 throughout the #ide realms and empires of the continent3 there had een rumors of Vergama3 and various eliefs aout his identity3 his essence3 his irth!place and d#elling! place4 The sages disputed learnedly #hether he #as demon3 god3 sorcerer3 phantom3 or a eing from #orlds #hose inhaitants #ere not akin to any of these4 'ike#ise they deated #hether he d#elt in mummy!peopled Cincor3 or amid the stark fearful mountains of northern %ylac3 or in Naat3 isle of evil gramaries lying shrouded #ith the mist and foam of the sunset ocean3 or in some other kingdom or sea! lost island4 No idols #ere #rought in the image of Vergama3 no altars #ere dedicated to him5 yet sometimes he #as addressed in prayer y savage peoples3 or #as called upon #ith!dark runic formulae y the more venturous #i:ards4 "ome claimed that the prayers and the incantations #ere ans#ered6 ut this3 like all else that concerned Vergama3 #as a matter of much dout4 Curious and almost omnipotent po#ers #ere ascried to him3 and attriutes of tremendous ale and enignity6 ut there #as no virtual proof of their manifestation at any time4 In a land of murky enchantments3 of multiform mysteries3 Vergama resided unkno#n3 occult3 and apart4 It #as elieved that vast multitudes of people had entered his secret house through the centuries and millenniums6 ut none had returned there from to declare the actual nature of Vergama and the situation of his aode4 Certain prophets3 appearing in the ultimate years3 avo#ed that he #as coeval #ith life and death3 and #as the first and the last of the uncreated gods4 Even till the ending of time3 #eird legends gathered aout Vergama6 and there #ere divers tales of the destinies of them that passed into his shado#y mansion6 and much #as faled concerning a volume called the &ook of (ieroglyphics3 #hich elonged to this inscrutale entity4 )mong such tales and falings3
The #orld itself3 in the end3 shall e turned to a round cipher4 !8ld prophecy of .othi/ue Nushain the astrologer had studied the circling ors of night from many far!separated regions3 and had cast3 #ith such skill as he #as ale to command3 the horoscopes of a myriad men3 #omen and children4 +rom city to city3 from realm to realm he had gone3 aiding riefly in any place5 for often the local magistrates had anished him as a common 1charlatan6 or else#ise3 in due time3 his consultants had discovered the error of his predictions and had fallen a#ay from him4 "ometimes he #ent hungry and shay6 and small honor #as paid to him any#here4 The sole companions of his precarious fortunes #ere a #retched mongrel dog that had someho# attached itself to him in the desert to#n of .ul!&ha!"air3 and a mute3 one!eyed negro #hom he had ought very cheaply on 2oros4 (e had named the dog )nsarath3 after the canine star3 and had called the Negro 0ou:da3 #hich #as a #ord signifying darkness4 In the course of his prolonged itinerations3 the astrologer came to %ylac and made his aode in its capital3 $mmaos3 #hich had een uilt aove the shards of an elder city of the same name3 long since destroyed y a sorcerer1s #rath4 (ere Nushain lodged #ith )nsarath and 0ou:da in a halfruinous attic of a rotting tenement6 and from the tenement1s roof3 Nushain #as #ont to oserve the positions and movements of the sidereal odies on evenings not oscured y the fumes of the city4 )t intervals some house#ife or 7ade3 some porter or huckster or petty merchant3 #ould clim the decaying stairs to his chamer3 and #ould pay him a small sum for the nativity #hich he plotted #ith immense care y the aid of his tattered ooks of astrological science4 When3 as often occurred3 he found himself still at a loss regarding the significance of some heavenly con7unction or opposition after poring over his ooks3 he #ouId consult )nsarath3 and #ould dra# profound auguries from the variale motions of the dog1s mangy tail or his actions in searching for fleas4 Certain of these divinations #ere fulfilled3 to the considerale enefit of Nushain1s reno#n in $mmaos4 -eople came to him more freely and fre/uently3 hearing that he #as a soothsayer of some note6 and3 moreover3 he #as immune from prosecution3 o#ing to the lieraI
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Clark Ashton Smith
Zothique
la#s of %ylac3 #hich permitted all the sorcerous and mantic arts4 It seemed3 for the first time3 that the dark pIanets of his fate #ere yielding to auspicious stars4 +or this fortune3 and the coins #hich accrued therey to his purse3 he gave thanks to Vergama #ho3 throughout the #hole continent of .othi/ue3 #as deemed the most po#erful and mysterious of the genii3 and #as thought to rule over the heavens as #ell as the earth4 8n a summer night3 #hen the stars #ere stre#n thickly like a firey sand on the lack a:ure vault3 Nushain #ent up to the roof of his lodging!place4 )s #as often his custom3 he took #ith him the negro 0ou:da3 #hose one eye possessed a miraculous sharpness and had served #ell3 on many occasions3 to supplement the astrologer1s o#n rather nearsighted vision4 Through a #ell!codified system of signs and gestures3 the mute #as ale to communicate the result af his oservations to Nushain4 8n this night the constellation of the Great Dog3 #hich had presided over Nushain1s irth3 #as ascendant in the east4 ;egarding it closely3 the dim eyes of the astrologer #ere trouled y a sense of something unfamiliar in its configuration4 (e could not determine the precise character of the change till 0ou:da3 #ho envinced much e9citement3 called his attention to three ne# stars of the second magnitude #hich had appeared in close pro9imity to the Dog1s hind/uarters4 These remarkale novae3 #hich Nushain could discern only as three reddish lurs3 formed a small e/uilateral triangle4 Nushain and 0ou:da #ere oth certain that they had not een visile on any previous evening4 1&y Vergama3 this is a strange thing31 s#ore the astrol! oger3 filled #ith ama:ement and dumfoundment4 (e egan to compute the prolematic influence of the novae on his future reading of the heavens3 and perceived at once that they #ould e9ert3 according to the la# of astral emanations3 a modifying effect on his o#n destiny3 #hich had een so largely controlled y the Dog4 (e could not3 ho#ever3 #ithout consulting his ooks and tales3 decide the particular trend and import of this supervening influence6 though he felt sure that it #as most momentous3 #hether for his ale or #elfare4 'eaving 0ou:da to #atch the heavens for other prodigies3 he descended at once to his attic4 There3 after collating the opinions of several old!time astrologers on the po#er e9erted y novae3 he egan to recast his o#n horoscope4 -ainfully and #ith much agitation he laored throughout the night3 and did not finish his figurings till the da#n came to mi9 a deathly grayness #ith the yello# light of the candles4
There #as3 it seemed3 ut one possile interpretation of the altered heavens4 The appearance of the triangle of novae in con7unction #ith the Dog signified clearly that Nushain #as to start ere long on an unpremeditated 7ourney #hich #ould involve the transit of no less than three elements4 0ou:da and )nsarath #ere to accompany him6 and three guides3 appearing successively3 at te proper times3 #ould lead him to#ard a destined goal4 "o much his calculations had revealed3 ut no more5 there #as nothing to foretell #hether the 7ourney #ould prove auspicious or disastrous3 nothing to indicate its ourn3 purpose or direction4 The astrologer #as much distured y this some#hat singular and e/uivocal augury4 (e #as ill!pleased y the prospect of an imminent 7ourney3 for he did not #ish to leave $mmaos3 among #hose credulous people he had egun to estalish himself not #ithout success4 0oreover3 a strong apprehension #as roused #ithin him y the oddly manifold nature and veiled outcome of the 7ourney4 )ll this3 he felt3 #as suggestive of the #orkings of some occult and perhaps sinister providence6 and surely it #as no common traveling #hich #ould take him through three elements and #ould re/uire a triple guidance4 During the nights that follo#ed3 he and 0ou:da #atched the mysterious novae as they #ent over to#ard the vmst ehind the right!flaming Dog4 )nd he pu::led interminaly over his charts and volumes hoping to discover some error in the reading he had made4 &ut al#ays3 in the end3 he #as compelled to the same interpretation4 0ore and more3 as time #ent on3 he #as trouled y the thought of that un#elcome and mysterious 7ourney #hich he must make4 (e continued to prosper in $mmaos3 and it seemed that there #as no conceivale reason for his departure from that city4 (e #as as one #ho a#aited a dark and secret summons6 not kno#ing #hence it #ould come3 nor at #hat hour4 Throughout the days3 he scanned #ith fearful an9iety the faces of his visitors3 deeming that the first of the three star!predicted guides might arrive unheralded and umecogni:ed among them4 0ou:da and the dog )nsarath3 #ith the intuition of dum things3 #ere sensile oE the #eird uneasiness felt y their master4 They shared it palpaly3 the negro sho#ing his apprehension y #ild and demoniac grimaces3 and the dog crouching under the astrologer1s tale or pro#ling restlessly to and fro #ith his half!hairless tail et#een his legs4 "uch ehavior3 in its turn3 served to reconfirm the in/uietude of Nushain3 #ho deemed it a ad omen4 8n a certain evening3 Nushain pored for the fiftieth time over his horoscope3 #hich he had dra#n #ith
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Zothique
Clark Ashton Smith
sundry!colored inks on a sheet of papyrus4 (e #as much startled #hen3 on the lank lo#er margin of the sheet3 he sa# a curious character #hich #as no part of his o#n scriling4 The character #as a hieroglyph #ritten in dark ituminous ro#n3 and seeming to represent a mummy #hose shroudings #ere loosened aout the legs and #hose feet #ere set in the posture of a long stride4 It #as facing to#ard that /uarter of the chart #here stood the sign indicating the Great Dog3 #hich3 in .othi/ue3 #as a (ouse of the :odiac4 Nushain1s surprise turned to a sort of trepidation as he studied the heiroglyph4 (e kne# that the margin of the chart had een #holly clear on the previous night6 and during the past day he had not left the attic at any time4 0ou:da3 he felt sure3 #ould never have dared to touch the chart6 and3 moreover3 the negro #as little skilled in #riting4 )mong the various inks employed y Nushain3 there #as none that resemled the sullen ro#n of the character3 #hich seemed to stand out in a sad relief on the #hite papyrus4 Nushain felt the alarm of one #ho confronts a sinister and une9plainale apparition4 No human hand3 surely3 had inscried the mummy!shapen character3 like the sign of a strange outer planet aout to invade the (ouses of his horoscope4 (ere3 as in the advent of the three novae3 an occult agency #as suggested4 Vainly3 for many hours3 he sought to unriddle the mystery5 ut in all his ooks there #as naught to enlighten him6 for this thing3 it seemed3 #as #holly #ithout precedent in astrology4 During the ne9t day he #as usied from morn till eve #ith the plotting of those destinies ordained y the heavens for certain people of $mmaos4 )fter completing the calculations #ith his usual toilsome care3 he unrolled his o#n chart once more3 aleit #ith tremling fingers4 )n eeriness that #as nigh to panic sei:ed him #hen he sa# that the ro#n hieroglyph no longer stood on the margin3 ut #as no# placed like a striding figure in one of the lo#er (ouses3 #here it still fronted to#ard the Dog3 as if advancing on that ascendant sign4 (enceforth the astrologer #as fevered #ith the a#e and curiosity of one #ho #atches a fatal ut inscrutale portent4 Never3 during the hours that he pondered aove it3 #as there any change in the intruding character6 and yet3 on each successive evening #hen he took out the chart3 he sa# that the mummy had strode up#ard into a higher (ouse3 dra#ing al#ays nearer to the (ouse of the Dog4444 There came a time #hen the figure stood on the Dog1s threshold4 -ortentous #ith mystery and menace that #ere still eyond the astrologer1s divining3 it seemed to #ait #hile the night #ore on and #as shot
through #ith the gray #efting of da#n4 Then3 over#orn #ith his prolonged studies and vigils3 Nushain slept in his chair4 Without the trouling of any dream he slept6 and 0ou:da #as careful not to distur him6 and no visitors came to the attic on that day4 "o the morn and the noon and the afternoon #ent over3 and their going #as unheeded y Nushain4 (e #as a#akened at eve y the loud and dolorous ho#ling of )nsarath3 #hich appeared to issue from the room1s farthest corner4 Confusedly3 ere he opened his eyes3 he ecame a#are of an odor of itter spices and piercing natron4 Then3 #ith the dim #es of sleep not #holly s#ept from his vision3 he eheld3 y the yello#y tapers that 0ou:da had lighted3 a tall3 mummy!like form that #aited in silence eside him4 The head3 arms and ody of the shape #ere #ound closely #ith itumen!colored cerements6 ut the folds #ere loosened from the hips do#n#ard3 and the figure stood like a #alker3 #ith one ro#n3 #ithered foot in advance of its fello#4 Terror /uickened in Nushain1s heart3 and it came to him that the shrouded shape3 #hether lich or phantom3 resemled the #eird3 invasive hieroglyph that had passed from (ouse to (ouse through the chart of his destiny4 Then3 from the thick s#athings of the apparition3 a voice issued indistinctly3 saying5 1-repare yourself3 8 Nushain3 for I am the first guide of that 7ourney #hich #as foretold to you y the stars41 )nsarath3 comering eneath the astrologer1s ed3 #as still ho#ling his fear of the visitant6 and Nushain sa# that 0ou:da had tried to conceal himself in company #ith the dog4 Though a chill as of imminent death #as upon him3 and he deemed the apparition to e death itself3 Nushain arose from the chair #ith that dignity proper to an astrologer3 #hich he had maintained through ali the vicissitudes of his lifetime4 (e called 0ou:da and )nsarath from their hiding! place3 and the t#o oeyed him3 though #ith many cringings efore the dark3 muffled mummy4 With the comrades of his fortune ehind him3 Nushain turned to the visitant4 1I am ready31 he said3 in a voice #hose /uavering #as almost imperceptile4 1&ut I #ould like #ith me certain of my elongings41 The mummy shook his moled head4 1It #ere #ell to take #ith you nothing ut your horoscope5 for this alone shall you retain in the end41 Nushain stooped aove the tale on #hich he had left his nativity4 &efore he egan to roll the open papyrus3 he noticed that the hieroglyph of the mummy had vanished4 It #as as if the #ritten symol3 after moving ath#art his horoscope3 had materiali:ed itself in the figure that no# attended him4 &ut on the
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Clark Ashton Smith
Zothique
chart1s nether margin3 in remote opposition to the Dog3 #as the sea!lue heiroglyph of a /uaint merman #ith carp!like tail and head half human3 half apish6 and ehiad the merman #as the lack hieroglyph of a small arge4 Nushain1s fear3 for a moment3 #as sudued y #onder4 &ut he rolled the chart carefully3 and stood holding it in his right hand4 1Come31 said the guide4 12our time is rief3 and you must pass through the three elemeats that guard the d#ellingplace of Vergama from unseasonale intrusion41 These #ords3 in a measure3 confirmed the astrologer1s divinations4 &ut the mystery of his future fate #as in no #ise lightened y the intimation that he must enter3 presumaly at the 7ourney1s end3 the dim (ouse of that eing called Vergama3 #hom some considered the most secret of all the gods3 and others3 the most cryptical of demons4 In all the lands of .othi/ue3 there #ere rumors and fales regarding Vergama6 ut these #ere #holly diverse and contradictory3 e9cept in their common attriution of almost omnipotent po#ers to this entity4 No man kne# the situation of his aode6 ut it #as elieved that vast muItitudes of people had entered it during the centuries and millenniums3 and that none had returned therefrom4 8fttimes had Nushain called upon the name of Vergama3 s#earing or protesting therey as men are #ont to do y the cognomens of their shrouded lords4 &ut no#3 hearing the name from the lips of his macare visitor3 he #as filled #ith the darkest and most eery apprehensions4 (e sought to sudue these feelings3 and to resign himself to the manifest #ill of the stars4 With 0ou:da and )nsarath at his heels3 he follo#ed the striding mummy3 #hich seemed little hampered3 if at all3 y its trailing cerenents4 With one regretful aek#ard glance at his littered ooks and papers3 he passed from the attic room and do#n the tenement stairs4 ) #annish light seemed to cling aout the s#athings of the mummy6 ut3 apart from this3 there #as no illumination6 and Nushain thought that the house #as strangely dark and silent3 as if all its occupants had died or had gone a#ay4 (e heard no sound from the evening city6 nor could he see aught ut close!encroaching darkness eyond the #indo#s that should have ga:ed on a little street4 )lso3 it seemed that the stairs had changed and lengthened3 giving no more on the courtyard of the tenement3 ut plunging deviously into an unsuspected region of stifling vaults and foul3 dismal3 nitrous corridors4
(ere the air #as pregnant #ith death3 and the heart of Nushain failed him4 Every#here3 in the shado#! curtained crypts and deep!shelved recesses3 he felt the innumerale presence of the dead4 (e thought that there #as a sad sigh! ing of stirred cerements3 a reath e9haled y long!stiffened cadavers3 a dry clicking of lipless teeth eside him as he #ent4 &ut darkness #alled his vision3 and he sa# nothing save the luminous form of his guide3 #ho stalked on#ard as if through a natal realm4 It seemed to Nushain that he passed through oundless catacoms in #hich #ere housed the mortality and corruption of all the ages4 &ehind him still he heard the shuffling of 0ou:da3 and at #hiles the lo#3 frightened #hine of )nsarath6 so he kne# that the t#ain #ere faithful to him4 &ut upon him3 #ith a chill of lethal damps3 there gre# the horror of his surroundings6 and he shrank #ith all the repulsion of living flesh from the shrouded thing that he follo#ed3 and those other things that moldered round aout in the fathomless gloom4 (alf thinking to hearten himself y the sound of his o#n voice3 he egan to /uestion the guide6 though his tongue clove to his mouth as if palsied4 1Is it indeed Vergama3 and none other3 #ho has summoned me forth upon this 7ourney> +or #hat purpose has he called me> )nd in #hat land is his d#elling>1 12our fate has summoned you31 said the mummy4 1In the end3 at the time appointed and no sooner3 you shall learn the purpose4 )s to your third /uestion3 you #ould e no #iser if I should name the region in #hich the house of Vergama is hidden from mortal trespass5 for the land is not li sted on any terrene chart3 nor map of the starry heavens41 These ans#ers seemed e/uivocal and dis/uieting to Nushain3 #ho #as possessed y frightful foreodings as he #ent deeper into the suterranean charnels4 Dark3 indeed3 he thought3 must e the goal of a 7ourney #hose first stage had led him so far amid the empire of death and corruption6 and duious3 surely3 #as the eing #ho had called him forth and had sent to him as the first guide a sere and shrunken mummy clad in the tom1s hailiments4 No#3 as he pondered these matters almost to fren:y3 the shelfy #alls of the catacom efore him #ere outlined y a dismal light3 and he came after the mummy into a chamer #here tall candles of hck pitch in sockets of tarnished silver urned aout an immense and solitary sarcophagus4 $pon the lank lid and sides of the sarcophagus3 as Nushain neared it3 he could see neither runes nor sculptures nor hieroglyphs engraven6 ut seemed3 from the proportions3 that a giant must lie #ithin4
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Clark Ashton Smith
The mummy passed ath#art the chamer #ithout pausing4 &ut Nushain3 seeing that the vaults eyond #ere full of darkness3 dre# ack #ith a reluctance that he could not con/uer6 and though the stars had decreed his 7ourney3 it seemed to him that human flesh could go no farther4 -rompted y a sudden impulse3 he sei:ed one of the heavy yard!long tapers that urned stilly aout the sarcophagus6 and3 holding it in his left hand3 #ith his horoscope still firmly clutched io the right3 he fled #ith 0ou:da and )nsarath on the #ay he had come3 hoping to retrace his footsteps through the gloomy caverns and return to $mmaos y the taper1s light4 (e heard no sound of pursuit from the mummy4 &ut ever3 as he fled3 the pitch candle3 flaring #ildly3 revealed to him the horrors that darkness had curtained fmm his eyes4 (e sa# the ones of men that #ere piled in repugnant confusion #ith those of fell monsters3 and the riven sarcophagi from #hich protruded the half!decayed memers of innominate eings6 memers #hich #ere neither heads nor hands nor feet4 )nd soon the catacom divided and redivided efore him3 so that he must choose his #ay at random3 not kno#ing #hether it #ould lead him ack to $mmaos or into the untrod depths4 -resently he came to the huge3 ro#less skull of an uncouth creature3 #hich reposed on the ground #ith up#ardga:ing orits6 and eyond the skull #as the monster1s moldly skeleton3 #holly locking the passage4 Its ris #ere cramped y the narro#ing #alls3 as if it had crept there and had died in the darkness3 unale to #ithdra# or go for#ard4 White spiders3 demon!headed and large as monkeys3 had #oven their #es in the hollo# arches of the ones6 and they s#armed out interminaly as Nushain approached6 and the skeleton seemed to stir and /uiver as they seethed over it ahorrently and dropped to the ground efore the astrologer4 &ehind them others poured in a countless army3 cro#ding and mantling every ossicle4 Nushain fled #ith his companions6 and running ack to the forking of the caverns3 he follo#ed another passage4 (ere he #as not pursued y the demon spiders4 &ut3 hurrying on lest they or the mummy overtake him3 he #as soon halted y the rim of a great pit #hich filled the catacom from #all to #all and #as over#ide for the leaping of man4 The dog )nsarath3 sniffing certain odors that arose from the pit3 recoiled #ith a mad ho#ling6 and Nushain3 holding the taper outstretched aove it3 discerned far do#n a glimmer of ripples spreading cirde!#ise on some unctuous lack fluid6 and t#o lood!red spots appeared to s#im #ith a #eaving motion at the center4 Then he heard a hissing as of some great cauldron heated y #i:ard
fires6 and it seemed that the lackness oiled up#ard3 mounting s#iftly and evilly to overflo# the pit6 and the red spots3 as they neared him3 #ere like luminous eyes that ga:ed malignantly into his o#n444 "o Nushain turned a#ay in haste6 and3 returning upon his steps3 he found the mummy a#aiting him at the 7unction of the catacoms4 1It #ould seem3 8 Nushain3 that you have douted your o#n horoscope31 said the guide3 #ith a certain irony4 1(o#ever3 even a ad astrologer3 on occasion3 may read the heavens aright4 8ey3 then3 the stars that decreed your 7ourney41 (encefor#ard3 Nushain follo#ed the mummy #ithout recalcitrance4 ;eturning to the chamer in #hich stood the immense sarcophagus3 he #as en7oined y his guide to replace in its socket the lack taper he had stolen4 Without other light than the phosphorescence of the mummy1s cerements3 he threaded the foul gloom of those profounder ossuaries vhich lay eyond4 )t last3 through caverns #here a dull da#ning intruded upon the shado#s3 he came out eneath shrouded heavens3 on the shore of a #ild sea that clamored in mist and cloud and spindrift4 )s if recoiling from the harsh air and light3 the mummy dre# ack into the suterrane3 and it said5 1(ere my dominion ends3 and I must leave you to a#ait the second guide41 "tanding #ith the poignant sea!salt in his nostrils3 #ith his hair and garments outlo#n on the gale3 Nushain heard a metallic clangor3 and sa# that a door of rusty ron:e had closed in the cavern!entrance4 The each #as #alled y unscalale cliffs that ran sheerly to the #ave an each hand4 "o perforce the astrologer #aited6 and from the torn surf he eheld erelong the emergence of a sea!lue merman #hose head #as half hmnan3 half apish6 and ehind the merman there hove a sma( lack arge that #as not steered or moved y any visile eing4 )t this3 Nushain recalled the hieroglyphs of the sea!creature and the oat #hich had appeared on the margin of his nativity6 and unrolling the papyrus3 he sa# #ith #onderment that the figures #ere oth gone6 and he douted not that they had passed3 like the mummy1s hieroglyph3 through all the :odiacal (ouses3 even to that (ouse #hich presided over his destiny6 and thence3 mayhap3 they had emerged into material eing4 &ut in their stead no# #as the urning hieroglyph of a firecolored salamander3 set opposite to the Great Dog4 The merman eckoned to him #ith antic gestures3 grinning deeply3 and sho#ing the #hite serrations of his sharklike teeth4 Nushain #ent for#ard and entered the arge in oedience to the signs made y the sea!
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Zothique
creature6 and 0ou:da and )nsarath3 in faithfulness to their their master master33 accom accompa panie nied d him4 him4 Thereu Thereupon pon the merman s#am a#ay through the oiling surf6 and the arge3 as if oared and ruddered y mere enchantm enchantment3 ent3 s#ung s#ung aout aout forth#ith forth#ith33 and #arring #arring smooth smoothly ly agains againstt the the #ind #ind and and #ave3 #ave3 #as #as dra#n dra#n straightly over that dim3 unnamale ocean4 (alf seen amid rushing foam and mist3 the merman s#am steadily on efore4 Time and space #ere surely outpassed during that voyage6 and as if he had gone eyon eyond d mortal mortal e9iste e9istenc nce3 e3 Nushai Nushain n e9peri e9perien enced ced neither thirst nor hunger4 &ut it seemed that his soul drif drifte ted d upon upon seas seas of stra strang nge e dou doutt and and dire direst st alienation6 and he feared the misty chaos aout him even as he had feared the nighted catacoms4 8ften he tried to /uestion the mer!creature mer!creature concerning their destination3 ut received no ans#er4 )nd the #ind lo#ing from shores unguessed3 and the tide flo#ing to unkno#n unkno#n gulfs3 gulfs3 #ere alike filled #ith #hispers #hispers of a#e and terror4 Nushain pondered the mysteries of his 7ourney almost to madness6 and the thought came to him that3 after passi passing ng throu through gh the the region region of death death33 he #as #as no# traversin traversing g the gray limo of uncreate uncreated d things6 things6 and3 thinking this3 he #as loth to surmise the third stage of his 7ourney6 and he dared not reflect upon the nature of its goal4 )non3 suddenly3 the mists #ere riven3 and a cataract of golden rays poured do#n from a high!seated sun4 Near at hand3 to the lee of the driving arge3 a tall islan island d hove hove #ith #ith verdu verdurou rouss trees trees and light3 light3 shell! shell! shaped domes and lossomy gardens hanging far up in the the da::l da::lem emen entt of noon noon44 Ther There3 e3 #ith #ith a slee sleepy py purling3 the surf #as lulled on a lo#3 grassy shore that had not kno#n the anger of storm6 and fruited vines and and full! full!lo# lo#n n flo#e flo#ers rs #e #ere re pende pendent nt aove aove the #ater4 It seemed that a spell of olivion and slumer #as shed from the island3 and that any #ho landed thereon #ould d#ell inviolale for ever in sun!right dreams dreams44 Nusha Nushain in #as #as sei:ed sei:ed #ith #ith a longin longing g for its green3 flo#ery refuge6 and he #ished to voyage no farthe fartherr into into the dread dreadful ful nothin nothingne gness ss of the mist! mist! ound ocean4 )nd et#een et#een his longing and his terror3 he /uite forgot the terms of that destiny #hich had een ordained for him y the stars4 There #as no halting nor s#erving of the arge6 ut it dre# still nearer to the isle in its coasting6 and Nushain sa# that the intervening #ater #as clear and shallo#3 so that a tall man might easily #ade to the each4 (e sprang into the sea3 holding his horoscope aloft3 and egan to #alk to#ard the island6 and 0ou:da and )nsarath follo#ed him3 s#imming side y side4
Though hampered some#hat y his long #et roes3 the astrologer thought to reach that alluring shore6 nor #as there any movement on the part of the merman to intercept him4 The #ater #as mid#ay et#een his #aist and his armpits6 and no# it lapped at his girdle6 and no# at the kneefolds of his garment6 and the island vines and lossoms drooped fragrantly aove him4 Then3 eing ut a step from that enchanted each3 he heard a great hissing3 and sa# that the vines3 the oughs3 the flo#ers3 the very grasses3 #ere intert#ined and mingled #ith a million serpents3 #rithing endlessly to and fro in hideous agitation4 +rom all parts of that lofty island the hissing came3 and the serpents3 #ith foully foully mottled mottled volumes3 volumes3 coiled3 crept crept and slithered slithered upon it every#here6 and no single yard of its surface #as free from their their defileme defilement3 nt3 or clear clear for human treading4 Turning Turning sea#ard sea#ard in his revulsion3 revulsion3 Nushain Nushain found the merm merman an and and the the arg arge e #ait #aitin ing g clos close e at hand hand44 (opelessly he reentered the arge #ith his follo#ers3 and the magically magically driven oat resumed resumed its course4 course4 )nd no#3 for the first time3 the merman spoke3 saying over his shoulder in a harsh3 halfarticulate voice3 not #ithout irony5 1It #ould seem3 8 Nushain3 that you lack faith faith in your your o#n divina divinatio tions4 ns4 (o#eve (o#ever3 r3 even even the the poor poores estt of astr astrol olog oger erss may may some someti time mess cast cast a horoscop horoscope e correctly4 correctly4 Cease3 then3 then3 to reel reel against against that #hich the stars have #ritten41 The arge drove on3 and and the the mists mists closed closed heavily heavily aout it3 and the noon!right island #as lost to vie#4 )fter )fter a vague vague interi interim m the muffled muffled sun sun #e #ent nt do#n do#n ehind inchoate #aters and clouds6 and a darkness as of primal night lay every#here4 -resently3 through the the torn torn rack3 rack3 Nusha Nushain in ehel eheld d a stran strange ge heaven heaven #hose signs and planets he could not recogni:e6 and at this this ther there e came came upon upon him him the the lac lack k horr horror or of utmost dereliction4 Then the mists and clouds returned3 veilin veiling g that that unkno# unkno#n n sky sky from from his scrut scrutiny iny44 )nd )nd he could could discer discern n nothi nothing ng ut the merma merman3 n3 #h #ho o #as visile y a #an phosphor that clung al#ays aout him in his s#imming4 "till the arge drove on6 and in time it seemed that a red morning rose stifled and conflagrant ehind the mists4 mists4 The oat oat entered entered the roadeni roadening ng light3 light3 and Nushain3 #ho had thought to ehold the sun once more3 #as da::led y a strange shore #here flames to#ered in a high unroken #all3 feeding perpetually3 to all appearances3 on are sand and rock4 With a mighty leaping and a roar as of lo#n surf the flames #ent up3 and a heat like that of many furnaces smote far on the sea4 "#iftly the arge neared the shore6 and the merman3 #ith uncouth gestures of fare#ell3 dived and disappeared under the #aters4
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Zothique
Clark Ashton Smith
Nushain could scarcely regard the flames or endure their heat4 &ut the arge touched the strait tongue of land lying et#een them and the sea6 and efore Nushain3 from the #all of fire3 a la:ing salamander emerged3 having the form and hue of that hieroglyph #hich had last appeared on his horoscope4 )nd he kne#3 #ith ineffale consternation3 that this #as the third guide of his threefold 7ourney4 1Come #ith me31 said the salamander3 in a voice like the crackling crackling of fagots4 fagots4 Nushain stepped stepped from the arg arge e to that that stra strand nd #h #hic ich h #as #as hot hot as an oven oven ene eneat ath h his his feet feet66 and and ehi ehind nd him3 him3 thou though gh #ith #ith paIpa paIpale le reluct reluctanc ance3 e3 0ou:da 0ou:da and )nsara )nsarath th still still follo#ed follo#ed44 &ut3 approaching approaching the flames flames ehind ehind the salamander3 and half s#ooning from their ardor3 he #as overcome y the #eakness of mortal flesh6 and seeking again to evade his destiny3 he fled along the narro# narro# scroll scroll of each each et#ee et#een n the fire and the #ater4 &ut he had gone only a fe# paces #hen the salamand salamander3 er3 #ith a great great fiery roaring roaring and racing3 intercepted him6 and it drove him straight to#ard the fire #ith terrile terrile flailings flailings of its dragon!like dragon!like tail3 from #hich sho#ers of sparks #ere emitted4 (e could not face face the salam salamand ander3 er3 and he thoug thought ht the flame flamess #ould consume him like paper as he entered them5 ut in the #all there appeared a sort of opening3 and the fires arched themselves into an arcade3 and he passe passed d throug through h #ith #ith his follo# follo#ers ers33 herde herded d y the salamander3 into an ashen land #here all things #ere veiled #ith lo#!hanging smoke and steam4 (ere the salamander oserved #ith a kind of irony5 1Not #rongly3 #rongly3 8 Nushain3 Nushain3 have you interpre interpreted ted the stars of your horoscope4 )nd no# your 7ourney dra#s to an end3 and you #ill need no l onger the services of a guid guide4 e411 "o sayi saying ng33 it left left him3 him3 goin going g out out like like a /uenched fire on the smoky air4 Nusha Nushain3 in3 standi standing ng irres irresolu olute3 te3 eheld eheld efor efore e him a #hite stair#ay that mounted amid the veering vapors4 &ehind him the flames rose unroken3 like a topless rampart6 and on either hand3 from instant to instant3 the smoke shaped itself into demon forms and faces that menaced him4 (e egan to clim the stairs3 and the shapes gathered elo# and aout3 frightful as a #i:ard1s familiars3 and keeping pace #ith him as he #ent up#ard3 so that he dared not pause or retreat4 +ar up he climed in the fumy dimness3 and came una#are to the open portals of a house of gray stone rearing to unguessed height and amplitude4 $n#illingly3 ut driven y the thronging of the smoky shap shapes es33 he pass passed ed thro throug ugh h the the port portal alss #ith #ith his his companions4 The house #as a place of long3 empty halls3 tortuous as the folds of a sea!conch4 There #ere no #indo#s3 no lamps6 ut it seemed that right suns of sikver had een dissolved and diffused in the air4
+leeing from the hellish #raiths that pursued him3 the astrologe astrologerr follo#ed follo#ed the #inding #inding halls and emerged emerged ultimately in an inner chamer #here space itself #as immured4 )t the room1s center a co#led and muffled figure of colossal proportions sat upright on a marle chair3 silent3 unstirring4 &efore the figure3 on a sort of tale3 a vast volume lay open4 Nusha Nushain in felt felt the a#e of one one #ho approa approache chess the presence of some high demon or deity4 "eeing that the phantoms had vanished3 he paused on the room1s threshold5 for its immensity made him giddy3 like the void interval that lies et#een the #orlds4 (e #ished to #ithdr #ithdra# a#66 ut ut a voice voice issue issued d from from the co#led co#led eing3 speaking softly as the voice of his o#n inmost mind5 1I am Verg Vergam ama3 a3 #h #hos ose e othe otherr name name is Dest Destin iny6 y6 Vergama3 Vergama3 on #hom #hom you have called so ignorantl ignorantly y and idly3 as men are #ont to call on their hidden lords6 Vergama3 Vergama3 #ho has summoned summoned you on the 7ourney 7ourney #hich a$ men must make at one time or another3 in one #ay or another4 Come for#ard3 8 Nushain3 and read a little in my ook41 The astrologer #as dra#n as y an unseen hand to the tale4 'eaning aove it3 he sa# that the huge volume stood open at its middle pages3 #hich #ere covered #ith a myriad signs #ritten in inks of various colors colors33 and repres represen entin ting g men3 men3 gods3 gods3 fishe fishes3 s3 irds3 irds3 monste monsters3 rs3 animal animals3 s3 conste constellat llation ionss and and many many other other things4 )t the end of the last coIumn of the right!hand page3 #here little space #as left for other inscriptions3 Nusha Nushain in ehel eheld d the hierog hieroglyp lyphs hs of an e/ual e/ualsid sided ed triang triangle le of stars3 stars3 such such as had lately lately appea appeared red in pro9 pro9im imit ity y to the the Dog6 Dog6 and3 and3 follo follo#i #ing ng thes these3 e3 the the hieroglyphs of a mummy3 a merman3 a arge and a salamand salamander3 er3 resemlin resemling g the figures figures that had come and gone on his horos horoscop cope3 e3 and those those that that had had guided him to the house of Vergama4 1In my ook31 said the co#led figure3 1the characters of all things are #ritten and preserved4 )ll visile forms3 in the eginning3 #ere ut symols #ritten y me6 and at the last they shall e9ist only as the #riting of my ook ook44 +or +or a seas season on they they issu issue e fort forth3 h3 taki taking ng to themselves themselves that #hich is kno#n as sustance444 sustance444 It #as I3 8 Nushai Nushain3 n3 #h #ho o set in the the heave heavens ns the the stars stars that that foretold foretold your 7ourney6 7ourney6 I3 #ho sent the three guides4 )nd these things3 things3 having served served their their purpose3 purpose3 are no# ut infoliate ciphers3 as efore41 Vergama paused3 and an infinite silence returned to the room3 and a measureless #onder #as upon the mind of Nushain4 Then the co#led eing continued5 1)mong men3 for a #hile3 there #as that person called Nush Nushai ain n the the astr astrol olog oger er33 toge togeth ther er #ith #ith the the dog dog
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Clark Ashton Smith
Zothique
)asarath )asarath and the negro 0ou:da3 #ho follo#ed follo#ed his fortunes444 &ut no#3 very shortly3 I must turn the page3 and and efor efore e turnin turning g it3 must must finish finish the the #ritin #riting g that that elongs thereon41 Nushain thought that a #ind arose in the chamer3 moving lightly #ith a #eird sigh3 though he felt not the actual reath of its passing4 &ut he sa# that the fur of )nsarath3 co#ering close eside him3 #as ruffled y the #ind4 Then3 eneath his marvelling eyes3 the dog egan to d#indle and #ither3 as if seared y a lethal magic magic66 and he lessen lessened ed to the the si:e si:e of a rat3 rat3 and thence to the smallness of a mouse and the lightness of an insect3 though preserving still his original form4 )fter that3 the tiny thing #as caught up y the sighing air3 and it fle# past Nushain as a gnat might fly6 and3 follo#ing it3 he sa# that the heiroglyph of a dog #as inscried suddenly eside that of the salamander3 at the ottom of the right!hand page4 &ut3 apart from this3 there remained no trace of )nsarath4 )gain a #ind reathed in the room3 touching not the astr astrol olog oger er33 ut ut flut flutte teri ring ng the the ragg ragged ed raim raimen entt of 0ou: 0ou:da da33 #h #ho o crou crouch ched ed near near to his his mast master er33 as if appe appeali aling ng for prote protecti ction on33 and and the the mute mute ecam ecame e shrunken and shriveled3 turning at the last to a thing light and thin as the lack3 tattered #ing!shard of a eetle3 #hich the air ore aloft4 )nd Nushain sa# that the hieroglyph hieroglyph of a one!eye one!eyed d Negro Negro #as inscried inscried follo#ing that of the dog6 ut3 aside from this3 there #as no sign of 0ou:da4 No#3 perceiving clearly the doom that #as designed for him3 Nushain #ould have fled from the presence of Vergama4 (e turned from the outspread volume and ran to#ard the chamer door3 his #orn3 ta#dry mes of an astrologe astrologerr flapping flapping aout his thin shanks4 shanks4 &ut softly in his ear3 as he #ent3 there sounded the voice of Vergama5 1Vainly do men seek to resist or evade that destiny #hich turns them to ciphers in the end4 In my ook3 8 Nushain3 there is room even for a ad astmloger41 8nce more the #eird sighing arose3 and a cold air playe played d upon upon Nusha Nushain in as he ran6 ran6 and he paused paused mid#ay in the vast room as i f a #all had arrested him4 Gently the air reathed on his lean3 gaunt figure3 and it lifted his graying locks and eard3 and it plucked softly at the roll of papyrus #hich he still held in his hand4 To his dim eyes3 the room seemed to reel and s#ell3 e9panding infinitely4 &orne up#ard3 around and around3 in a s#ift vertiginous s#irling3 he eheld the seated shape as it loomed ever higher aove him in cosmic vastness4 Then the god #as lost in light6 and Nushain #as a #eightless and e9ile thing3 the #ithered skeleton of a lost leaf3 rising and falling on the right #hirl#ind4
In the ook of Vergama3 at the end of the last column of the right!hand page3 there stood the hieroglyph of a gaunt astrologer3 carrying a furled nativity4 Vergama leaned for#ard from his chair3 and turned the page4
Shapes of A'amant 67ra+ment8 I3 #ho record these future future memories memories33 have passed throug through h the portal portalss of a myriad myriad incarn incarnati ation onss and death4 0y lives are part of all earthly history5 I have left my ones ones in -leist -leistoce ocene ne valley valleyss lying lying mile!d mile!dee eep p eneath glaciers of Greenland6 I have looked on a larg larger er sun sun from from the the caps capsi:i i:ing ng peak peakss of doom doomed ed -oseidonis6 I have kno#n reirth irth in all regions that #ere3 that are3 or shall ever e4 +our times3 in remotely separ separat ate e ages3 ages3 I have have lived lived in the the land land of Doo:a Doo:a Thom3 #hich is destined to form the northernmost of the peopled realms of .othi/ue4 It is of these latter live livess that that I #rit #rite e no#3 no#3 telli telling ng of thin things gs that that have have already occurred in eternity ut are still to happen in time4 +or I #as3 and shall e3 the prophet $lon3 and Voridees Voridees the captain captain of hosts3 hosts3 and King )granodh )granodh33 and the #i:ard Nolu6 and through the eyes of these I eheld3 and shall #itness again3 that monstrous doom #hich cra#ls perpetually upon Doo:a Thom through the centuries and mil lenniums4
The Tale of the rophet lon To me3 #ho had gro#n old in far!faled far!faled )vandas3 )vandas3 seat of the kings of Doo:a Thom < to me3 #hom the king kingss had had hono honore red d eca ecaus use e of the the glor glory y and and prosperity #hich I foretold for them3 there came at last an oscure vision signifying evil4 8n a night #hen the moon moon #as dead and and the stars stars #e #ere re s#ath s#athed ed #ith #ith lind vapors3 the vision came3 and it seemed that the #alls of my room #ere s#ept a#ay3 and the firm!uilt mansions of )vandas3 and the road fertile miles of Doo:a Thom #ere dra#n aside like the dropping of a thin veil6 and I eheld3 as if standing closely aove it in air3 a #aste region to the north #here no man #ent3 since only vast and unvoyaged unvoyaged seas #ere eyond4 &y a fight that #as lurid as if orn of some dying sun I look looked ed fort forth h on the the are are plai plains ns and and tree treele less ss hummocks hummocks of the region3 #hich #as called called Nooth! Nooth! Kemmor4 )nd I thought that mighty masses of stone3 having the form of long #inding ridges and crags3 had heaved up mysteriously on the further #aste y the shore of the leak sea4 Innumerale #ere the masses3 ranged in an endless line3 ut I could not discern them dearly ecause the light changed and flickered in my
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Zothique
Clark Ashton Smith
eyes as if shed from a shaken mirror3 and #as spaced #ith lindness and shado#4 &ut I sa# that the masses moved continually3 cra#ling south#ard like #ingless dragons3 in a #ay that #as not natural for the hills and crags of earth6 and at this a kind of horror possessed me4 "#iftly and more s#iftly3 #ith a flo#ing as of great dark streams3 the masses cra#led across Nooth!Kemmor6 and it seemed that I hovered aove them as they #ent4 The ridgy sands of the #aste3 the harsh hummocks3 #ere leveled y their passing3 and Nooth! Kemmor #as t#ice desolate ehind them4 They passed the orders of Doo:a Thom3 #here the outlying fertile lands #ere 7oined to the desert4 )nd still the vague forms of the #inding mountains crept south#ard3 and I could not descry them #holly ecause of the ever!shaken light5 ut upon them #as an alien mystery and a #eird menace not of earth4
Necromanc* in Naat
There he heard a rumor that might concern Dalili6 for the people of 8roth #ere still gossiping aout the departure of a rich galley earing a lovely outland girl3 ans#ering to her description3 #ho had een ought y the emperor of %ylac and sent to the ruler of the far southern kingdom of 2oros as a gift concluding a treaty et#een these realms4 2adar3 no# hopeful of finding his eloved3 took passage on a ship that #as aout to sail for 2oros4 The ship #as a small merchant galley3 laden #ith grain and #ine3 that #as #ont to coast up and do#n3 hugging closely the #inding #estern shores of .othi/ue and venturing never eyond eyesight of land4 8n a clear lue summer day it departed from 8roth #ith all auguries for a safe and tran/uil voyage4 &ut on the third morn after leaving port3 a tremendous #ind le# suddenly from the lo#!lying shore they #ere then skirting6 and #ith it3 lotting the heavens and sea3 there came a lackness as of night thickened #ith clouds6 and the vessel #as s#ept far out3 going lindly #ith the lind tempest4 )fter t#o days the #ind fell from its ravening fury and #as soon no more than a vague #hisper6 and the skies cleared3 leaving a right a:ure vault from hori:on to hori:on4 &ut no#here #as there any land visile3 only a #aste of #aters that still roared and tossed turulently #ithout #ind3 pouring ever #est#ard in a tide too s#ift and strong for the galley to stem4 )nd the galley #as orne on irresistily y that strange current3 even as y the hurricane4
Dead longing3 sundered evermore from pain5 (o# dim and s#eet the shado#!hearted love3 The happiness that perished lovers prove In Naat3 far eyond the sale main4 "ong of the Galley!"laves4 2adar3 prince of a nomad people in the half!desert region kno#n as .yra3 had follo#ed throughout many kingdoms a clue that #as often more elusive than roken gossamer4 +or thirteen moons he had sought Dalili3 his etrothed3 #hom the slave traders of "ha! ;ag3 s#ift and cunning as desert falcons3 had reft from the trial encampment #ith nine other maidens #hile 2adar and his men #ere hunting the lack ga:elles of .yra4 +ierce #as the grief of 2adar3 and fiercer still his #rath3 #hen he came ack at eve to the ravaged tents4 (e had s#orn then a great oath to find Dalili3 #hether in a slave!mart or rothel or harem3 #hether dead or living3 #hether tomorro# or after the lapse of gray years4 Disguised as a rug merchant3 #ith four of his men in like attire3 and guided only y the gossip of a:aars3 he had gone from capital to capital of the continent .othi/ue4 8ne y one his follo#ers had died of strange fevers or the hardships of the route4 )fter much random #andering and pursuit of vain rumors3 he had come alone to 8roth3 a #estern seaport of the land of %ylac4
2adar3 #ho #as the sole passenger3 marveled much at this thing6 and he #as struck y the pale terror on the faces of the captain and cre#4 )nd3 looking again at the sea3 he remarked a singular darkening of its #aters3 #hich assumed from moment to moment a hue as of old lood commingled #ith more and more of lackness5 though aove it the sun shone untarnished4 "o he made in/uiry of the captain3 a grayeard from 2oros3 named )gor3 #ho had sailed the ocean for forty summers6 and the captain ans#ered5 1This I had apprehended #hen the storm ore us #est#ard5 for #e have fallen into the grip of that terrile ocean!stream #hich mariners call the &lack ;iver4 Evermore the stream surges and s#iftens to#ard the place of the sun1s outermost setting3 till it pours at last from the #orld1s rim4 &et#een us no# and that final verge there is no land saving the evil land of Naat3 #hich is called also the Isle of Necromancers4 I kno# not #hich #ere the #orse fate3 to e #recked on that infamous isle or hurled into space #ith the #aters falling from earth1s edge4 +rom either place there is no return for living men such as #e4 )nd from the Isle of Naat none go forth e9cept the ill sorcerers
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Clark Ashton Smith
Zothique
#ho people it3 and the dead #ho are raised up and controlled y their sorcery4 In magical ships that reast the &lack ;iver3 the sorcerers sail at #ill to other strands6 and eneath their necromancy4 to fulfill their #icked errands3 the dead men s#im #ithout pause for many nights and days #hither!so!ever the masters may send them41 2adar3 #ho kne# little of sorcerers and neocromancy3 #as some#hat incredulous concerning these matters4 &ut he sa# that the lackening #aters streamed al#ays more #ildly and torrentially to#ards the skyline6 and verily there #as small hope that the galley could regain its south#ard course4 )nd he #as trouled chiefly y the thought that he should never reach the kingdom of 2oros3 #here he had dreamt to find Dalili4 )ll that day the vessel #as orne on y the dark seas racing #eirdly eneath an airless and immaculate heaven4 It follo#ed the orange sunset into a night filled #ith large3 un/uivering stars6 and at length it #as overtaken y the flying amer morn4 &ut still there #as no aating of the #aters6 and neither land nor cloud #as discernile in the vastness aout the galley4 2adar held little converse #ith )gor and the cre#3 after /uestioning them as to the reason of the ocean1s lackness3 #hich #as a thing that no man understood4 Despair #as upon him6 ut3 standing at the ul#ark3 he #atched the sky and #ave #ith an alertness orn of his nomad life4 To#ard afternoon he descried far off a strange vessel #ith funereal purple sails3 that drove steadily on an eastering course against the mighty current4 (e called )gor1s attention to the vessel6 and )gor3 #ith a muttering of sailors1 oaths3 told him that it #as a ship elonging to the necromancers of Naat4 "oon the purple sails #ere lost to vision6 ut a little later3 2adar perceived certain o7ects resemling human heads3 that passed in the high!illo#ing #ater to the galley1s lee#ard4 Deeming that no mortal living men could s#im thus3 and rememering that #hich )gor had said concerning the dead s#immers #ho #ent forth from Naat3 2adar #as a#are of such trepidation as a rave man may feel in the presence of things eyond nature4 )nd he did not speak of the matter6 and seemingly the head!like o7ects #ere not noticed y his companions4 "till the galley drove on3 its oarsmen sitting idle at the oars3 and the captain standing listless eside the untended helm4 To#ard night3 as the sun declined aove that tumultuous eon ocean3 it seemed that a great ank of thunder!cloud arose from the #est3 long and lo#! lying at first3 ut surging rapidly sky#ard #ith the
mountainous domes4 Ever higher it loomed3 revealing the menace as of piled cliffs and somer3 a#ful sea! capes6 ut its form changed not in the fashion of clouds6 and 2adar kne# it at last for an island ulking far aloft in the long!rayed sunset4 +rom it a shado# #as thro#n for leagues3 darkening still more the sale #aters3 as if #ith the fall of untimely night6 and in the shado# the foam!crests flashing upon hidden reefs #ere #hite as the ared teeth of death4 )nd 2adar needed not the shrill frightened cries of his companions to tell him that this #as the terrile Isle of Naat4 Direly the current s#iftened3 raging3 as it raced on#ard for attle #ith the rock!fanged shore6 and the voices of the mariners3 praying loudly to their gods3 #ere dro#ned y its clamor4 2adar3 standing in the pro#3 gave only a silent prayer to the dim3 fatal deity of his trie6 and his eyes searched the to#ering isle like those of a sea!flo#n ha#k3 seeing the are horrific crags3 and the spaces of dark forest creeping sea#ard et#een the crags3 and the #hite mounting of monstrous reakers an a shado#y strand4 "hrouded3 and ominous of ale #as the island1s aspect4 and the heart of 2adar sank like a plummet in unsunned seas4 )s the galley hove nearer to land3 he thought that he eheld people moving darkly3 visile in the lapsing of surges on a lo# each3 and then hidded once more y foam and spindrift4 Ere he sa# them a second time3 the galley #as hurled #ith thunderous crashing and grinding on a reef uried eneath the torrent #aters4 The fore!part of its pro# and ottom #ere roken in3 and eing lifted from the reef y a second comer3 it filled instantly and sank4 8f those #ho had sailed from 8roth3 2adar alone leapt free ere its foundering6 ut3 since he #as little skilled as a s#immer3 he #as dra#n under /uickly and #as like to have dro#ned in the maelstroms of that evil sea4 (is senses left him3 and in his rain3 like a lost sun returned from yesteryear3 he eheld the face of Dalili6 and #ith Dalili3 in a right fantasmagoria3 there came the happy days that had een ere his ereavement4 The visions passed3 and he a#oke struggling3 #ith the itterness of the sea in his mouth3 and its loudness in his ears3 and its rushing darkness all aout him4 )nd3 as his seases /uickened3 he ecame a#are of a form that s#am close ehind him3 and arms that supported him amid the #ater4 (e lifted his head and sa# dimly the pale neck and halfaverted face of his rescuer3 and the long lack hair that floated from #ave to #ave4 Touching the ody at his side3 he kne# it for that of a #oman4 0a:ed and #ildered though he #as y the sea1s uffeting3 a sense of something familiar stirred #ithin
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Clark Ashton Smith
him3 and he thought that he had kno#n some#here3 at some former time4 a #oman #ith like hair and similar curving of cheek4 )nd3 trying to rememer3 he touched the #oman again3 and felt in his fingers a strange coldness from her naked ody4 0iraculous #as the #oman1s strength and skill3 for she rode easily the dreadful mounting and falling of the surges4 2adar3 floating as in a cradle upon her arm3 eheld the nearing shore from the illo#s1 summits6 and hardly it seemed that any s#immer3 ho#ever ale3 could #in alive through the #ildness of that surf4 Di::ily6 at the last3 they #ere hurled up#ard3 as if the surf #ould fling them against the highest crag6 ut3 as if checked y some enchantment3 the #ave fell #ith a slo#3 la:y undulation6 and 2adar and his rescuer3 released y its eing3 lay unhurt on a shelfy each4 $ttering no #ord3 nor turning to look at 2adar3 the #oman rose to her feet6 and3 eckoning him to follo#3 she moved a#ay in the deathly lue dusk that had fallen upon Naat4 2adar3 arising and follo#ing the #oman3 heard a strange and eery chanting of voices aove the sea1s tumult3 and sa# a fire that urned #eirdly3 #ith the colors of drift#ood3 at some distance efore him in the dusk4 "traightly3 to#ard the fire and the voices3 the #oman #alked4 )nd 2adar3 #ith eyes gro#n used to that doutful t#ilight3 sa# that the fire la:ed in the mouth of a lo#!sunken cleft et#een crags that overloomed the each6 and ehind the fire3 like tall3 evilly posturing shado#s3 there stood the dark!clad figures of those #ho chanted4 No# memory returned to him of that #hich the galley1s captain had said regarding the necromancers of Naat and their practises4 The very sound of that chanting3 aleit in an unkno#n tongue3 seemed to suspend the heart#ard flo#ing of his veins3 and to set the tom1s chillness in his marro#4 )nd though he #as little learned in such matters3 the thought came to him that the #ords uttered #ere of sorcerous import and po#er4 Going for#ard3 the #oman o#ed lo# efore the chanters3 like a slave4 The men3 #ho #ere three in numer3 continued their incantation #ithout pausing4 Gaunt as starved herons they #ere3 and great of stature3 #ith a common likeness6 and their sunk eyes #ere visile only y red sparks reflected #ithin them from the la:e4 )nd their eyes3 as they chanted3 seemed to glare afar on the darkling sea and on things hidden y dusk and distance4 )nd 2adar3 coming efore them3 #as a#are of s#ift horror and repugnance that made his gorge rise as if he had encountered3 in a place given to death3 the po#erful evil ripeness of corruption4
(igh leaped the fire3 #ith a #rithing of tongues like lue and green serpents coiling amid serpents of yello#4 )nd the light flickered rightly on the face and reasts of that #oman #ho had saved 2adar from the &lack ;iver6 and he3 eholding her closely3 kne# #hy she had stirred #ithin him a dim rememrance5 for she #as none other than his lost love3 Dalili? +orgetting the presence of the dark chanters3 he sprang for#ard to clasp his eloved3 crying out her name in an agony of rapture4 &ut she ans#ered him not3 and responded to his emrace only #ith a faint tremling4 )nd 2adar3 sorely perple9ed and dismayed3 #as a#are of the deathly coldness that crept into his fingers and smote through his very raiment from her flesh4 0ortally pale and languid #ere the lips that he kissed3 and it seemed that no reath emerged et#een them3 nor #as there any rising and falling of the #an osom against his4 In the #ide3 eautiful eyes that she turned to him3 he found only a dro#sy voidness3 and such recognition as a sleeper gives #hen ut half a#akened3 relapsing /uickly into slumer thereafter4 1)rt thou indeed Dalili>1 he said4 )nd she ans#ered somnolently3 in a toneless3 indistinct voice5 1I am Dalili41 To 2adar3 affled y mystery3 forlorn and aching3 it #as as if she had spoken from a land farther a#ay than all the #eary leagues of his search for her4 +earing to understand the change that had come upon her3 he said tenderly5 1"urely thou kno#est me3 for I am thy lover3 the -rince 2adar3 #ho has sought thee through half the kingdoms of earth3 and has sailed afar for thy sake on the unshored sea4 )nd she replied like one emused y some heavy drug3 as if echoing his #ords #ithout true comprehension5 1"urely I kno# thee41 )nd to 2adar there #as no comfort in her reply6 and his concernment #as not allayed y the parrotings #ith #hich she ans#ered all his other loving speeches and /ueries4 (e kne# not that the three chanters had ceased their incantation6 and3 verily3 he had forgotten their presence4 &ut as he stood holding the girl closely3 the men came to#ard him3 and one of them clutched his arm4 )nd the man hailed him y name and addressed him3 though some#hat uncouthly3 in a language spoken throughout many parts of .othi/ue3 saying5 1We id thee #elcome to the Isle of Naat41 2adar3 feeling a dread suspicion3 imterrogated the man fiercely5 1What manner of eings are ye> )nd #hy is Dalili here> )nd #hat have ye done to her>1
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Clark Ashton Smith
Zothique
1I am Vacharn3 a necromancer31 the man replied3 1and these others #ith me are my sons3 Vokal and $ldulla3 #ho are also necromancers4 We d#ell in a house ehind the crags3 and are attended y the dro#ned people that our sorcery has called up from the sea4 )mong our servants is this girl3 Dalili3 together #ith the cre# of that ship in #hich she sailed from 8roth4 'ike the vessel in #hich thou camest later3 the ship #as lo#n far asea and #as taken y the &lack ;iver and #recked finally on the reefs of Naat4 0y sons and I3 chanting that po#erful formula #hich re/uires no use of circle or pentacle3 summoned ashore the dro#ned company5 even as #e have no# summoned the cre# of that other vessel3 from #hich thou alone #ert saved alive y the dead s#immer3 at our command41 Vacharn ended3 and stood peering into the dusk intently6 and 2adar heard ehind him a noise of slo# footsteps coming up#ard across the shingle from the surf4 Turning3 he sa# emerge from the livid t#ilight the old captain of that galley in #hich he had voyaged to Naat6 and ehind the captain #ere the sailors and oarsmen4 With the paces of sleep!#alkers they approached the firelight3 the sea!#ater dripping heavily from their raiment and hair3 and drooling from their mouths4 "ome #ere sorely ruised3 and others came stumling or dragging #ith lims roken y the rocks on #hich the sea had flung them6 and on their faces #as the look of men #ho had suffered the doom of dro#ning4 "tiffly3 like automatons3 they made oeisance to Vacharn and his sons3 ackno#ledging thus their thralldom to those #ho had called them from deep death4 In their glassily staring eyes there #as no recognition of 2adar3 no a#areness of out#ard things6 and they spoke only in dull3 rote!like recognition of certain oscure #ords addressed to them y the necromancers4 To 2adar3 it #as as if he too stood and moved like the living dead in a dark3 hollo#3 half!conscious dream4 Walky the enchanters through a dim ravine that #ound secretly to#ard the uplands of Naat4 In his heart there #as small 7oy at the finding of Dalili6 and his love #as companioned #ith a sick despair4 Vacharn lit the #ay #ith a rand of drift#ood plucked from the fire4 )non a loated moon rose red as #ith saniesmingled lood3 over the #ild3 racing sea6 and efore its or had cleared to a deathlike paleness3 they emerged from the gorge on a stony fell #here stood the house of the three necromancers4
The house #as uilt of dark granite3 #ith long lo# #ings that crouched amid the foliage of close!gro#n cypresses4 &ehind it a cliff eetled6 and aove the cliff #ere somer slopes and ridges piled in the moonlight rising afar to#ard the mountainous center of Naat4 It seemed that the mansion #as a place pre!empted y death5 for no lights urned in its portals and #indo#s6 and a silence came from it to meet the stillness of the #an heavens4 &ut3 #hen the sorcerers neared the threshold3 a #ord #as spoken y Vachara3 echoing distantly in the inner halls6 and as if in ans#er3 lamps glo#ed suddenly every#here3 filling the house #ith their monstrous yello# eyes6 and people appeared instantly #ithin the portals like o#ing shado#s4 &ut the faces of these eings #ere lanched y the tom1s pallor3 and some #ere mottled #ith green decay3 or marked y the tortuous gna#ing of maggots444 In a great hall of the house3 2adar #as idden to seat himself at a tale #here Vacharn and Vokal and $ldulla commonly sat alone during their meals4 The tale stood on a dais of gigantic flagstones6 and elo#3 in the main hall3 the dead #ere gathered aout other tales3 numering nearly t#o score6 and among them sat the girl Dalili3 look never to#ard 2adar4 (e #ould have 7oined her3 un#illing to e parted from her side5 ut a deep languor #as upon him3 as if an unspoken spell had enthralled his lims and he could no longer move of his o#n volition4 Dully he sat #ith his grim3 taciturn hosts #ho3 d#elling al#ays #ith the silent dead3 had assumed no little part of their manner4 )nd he sa# more clearly than efore the common likeness of the three5 for all3 it seemed3 #ere as rothers of one irth rather than parent and sons6 and all #ere l ike ageless things3 eing neither old nor young in the fashion of ordinary men4 )nd more and more #as he a#are of that #eird evil #hich emanated from the three3 po#erful and ahorrent as an e9halation of hidden death4 In the thralldom that #eighed upon him3 he scarcely marveled at the serving of that strange supper5 though meats #ere rought in y no palpale agency3 and #ines poured out as if y the air itself6 and the passing of the earers to and fro #as etrayed only y a rustle of doutful footsteps3 and a light chillness that came and #ent4 0utely3 #ith stiff gestures and movements3 the dead egan to eat at their tales4 &ut the necromancers refrained from the victuals efore them3 in an attitude of #aiting6 and Vacharn said to the nomad5 1There are others #ho #ill sup #ith us tonight41 )nd 2adar then perceived that a vacant chair had een set eside the chair of Vacharn4
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Clark Ashton Smith
)non3 from an inner door#ay3 there entered #ith hasty strides a man of great the#s and stature3 naked3 and ro#n almost to lackness4 "avage of aspect #as the man3 and his eyes #ere dilated as #ith rage or terror3 and his thick purple lips #ere flecked #ith foam4 )nd ehind him3 lifting in menace their heavy3 rusted scimitars3 there came t#o of the dead seamen3 like guards #ho attend a prisoner4 1This man is a cannial31 said Vacharn4 18ur servants have captured him in the forest eyond the mountains3 #hich is peopled y such savages41 (e added5 18nly the strong and courageous are summoned living to this mansion444 Not idly3 8 -rince 2adar3 #ert thou chosen for such honor4 8serve closely all that follo#s41 The savage had paused #ithin the threshold3 as if fearing the hall1s occupants more than the #eapons of his guards4 8ne of the liches slashed his left shoulder #ith the rusty lade3 and lood rilled from a deep #ound as the cannial came for#ard eneath that prompting4 Convulsively he tremled3 like a frightened animal3 looking #ildly to either side for an avenue of escape6 and only after a second prompting did he mount the dais and approach the necromancers1 tale4 &ut3 after certain hollo#!sounding #ords had een uttered y Vacharn3 the man seated himself3 still tremling3 in the chair eside the master3 opposite to 2adar4 )nd ehind him3 #ith high!raised #eapons3 there stationed themselves the ghastly guards3 #hose features #ere those of men a fortnight dead4 1There is still another guest31 said Vacharn4 1(e #ill come later6 and #e need not #ait for him41 Without further ceremony he egan to eat3 and 2adar4 though #ith little appetence3 follo#ed suit4 (ardly did the prince perceive the savor of those viands #ith #hich his plate #as piled6 nor could he have s#orn #hether the vintages he drunk #ere sour or dulcet4 (is thoughts #ere divided et#een Dalili and the strangeness and horror aout him4 )s he ate and drank3 his senses #ere sharpened #eirdly3 and he gre# a#are of eldritch shado#s moving et#een the lamps3 and heard the chill siilance of #hispers that checked his very lood4 )nd there came to him3 from the peopled hall3 every odor that is e9haled y mortality et#een the recentness of death and the end of corruption4 Vacharn and his sons addressed themselves to the meal #ith the unconcern of those long used to such surroundings4 &ut the canial3 #hose fear #as still palpale3 refused to touch the food efore him4 &lood3 in t#o heavy rills3 ran unceasingly do#n his osom from his #ounded shoulders3 and dripped audily on the stone flags4
+inally3 at the urging of Vacharn3 #ho spoke in the cannial1s o#n tongue3 he #as persuaded to drink from a cup of #ine4 This #ine #as not the same that had een served to the rest of the company3 eing of a violet color3 dark as the nightshade1s lossom3 #hile the other #ine #as a poppy red4 (ardly had the man tasted it #hen he sank ack in his chair #ith the appearance of one smitten helpless y palsy4 The cup3 rilling the remnant of its contents3 #as still clutched in his rigid fingers6 there #as no movement3 no tremling of his lims6 and his eyes #ere #ide open and staring as if consciousness still remained #ithin him4 ) dire suspicion sprang up in 2adar3 and no longer could he eat the food and drink the #ine of the necromancers4 )nd he #as pu::led y the actions of his hosts #ho3 astaining like#ise3 turned in the chairs and peered steadily at a portion of the door ehind Vacharn3 et#een the tale and the hall1s inner end4 2adar3 rising a little in his seat3 looked do#n across the tale3 and perceived a small hole in one of the flagstones4 The hole #as such as might e inhaited y a small animal5 ut 2adar could not surmise the nature of a east that urro#ed in solid granite4 In a loud clear voice3 Vacharn spoke the single #ord3 1Esrit31 as if calling the name of one that he #ished to summon4 Not long thereafter3 t#o little sparks of fire appeared in the darkness of the hole3 and from it sprang a creature having some#hat the si:e and form of a #easel3 ut even longer and thinner4 The creature1s fur #as a rusted lack3 and its pa#s #ere like tiny hairless hands6 and its eaded eyes of flaming yello# seemed to hold the malign #isdom and malevolence of a demon4 "#iftly3 #ith #rithing movements that gave it the air of a furred serpent3 it ran for#ard eneath the chair occupied y the cannial3 and egan to drink greedily the pool of lood that had dripped do#n on the floor from his #ounds4 Then3 #hile horror fastened upon the heart of 2adar4 it leapt to the cannial1s knees3 and thence to his left shoulder3 #here the deepest #ound had een inflicted4 There the thing applied itself to the still leeding cut from #hich it sucked in the fashion of a #easel6 the lood ceased to flo# do#n on the man1s ody4 )nd the man stirred not in his chair6 ut his eyes still #idened3 slo#ly3 #ith a horrile glaring3 till the all #ere isled in livid #hite6 and his lips fell slackly apart3 sho#ing teeth that #ere strong and pointed3 as those of a shark4 The necromancers had resumed their eating3 #ith eyes attentive on the small loodthirsty monster6 and it came to 2adar that this #as the other guest e9pected y Vacharn4 Whether the thing #as an actual #easel3
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or a sorcerer1s familiar3 he did not kno#6 ut anger follo#ed upon his horror efore the plight of the cannial6 and dra#ing a s#ord he had carried through all his travels3 he sprang to his feet and #ould have tried to kill the monster4 &ut Vacharn descried in the air a peculiar sign #ith his forefinger6 and the prince1s arm #as suspended in mid!stroke3 and his fingers ecame #eak as those of a ae3 and the s#ord fell from his hand3 ringing loudly on the dais4 Thereafter3 as if y the unspoken #ill of Vacharn3 he #as constrained to seat himself again at the tale4 Insatiale3 it seemed3 #as the thirst of the #easel!like creature5 for3 after many minutes had gone y3 it continued to suck the lood of the savage4 +rom moment to moment the man1s mighty the#s ecame strangely shrunken3 and the ones and taut sine#s sho#ed starkly eneath #rinkling folds of skin4 (is face #as like the chapless face of death3 his lims #ere lean as those of an old mummy5 ut the thing that attened upon him had increased in si:e only so much as a stoat increases y sucking the lood of some farmyard fo#l4 &y this token3 2adar kne# that the thing #as indeed a demon and #as no dout3 the familiar of Vacharn4 Entranced #ith terror3 he sat regarding it3 till the creature dropped from the dry ones and skin of the cannial3 and ran #ith an evil #rithing and slithering to its hole in the flagstone4 Weird #as the life that no# egan for 2adar in the house of the necromancers4 $pon him there rested al#ays the malign thralldom that had over!po#ered him during that first supper6 and he moved one #ho could not #holly a#ake from some enuming dream4 It seemed that his volition #as in some #ay controlled y those masters of the living dead4 &ut3 more than this3 he #as held y the old enchantment of his love for Dalili5 though the love had no# turned to a spell of despair4 "omething he learned of the necromancers and their mode of e9istence5 though Vacharn spoke seldom e9cept #ith grim ironies6 and the sons of Vacharn #ere taciturn as the dead4 (e learned that the #easel!like familiar3 #hose name #as Esrit3 had undertaken to serve Vacharn for a given term3 receiving in guerdon3 at the full of each moon3 the lood of a living man chosen for redoutale strength and valor4 )nd it #as clear to 2adar that3 in default of some miracle3 or sorcery eyond that of the necromancers3 his days of life #ere limited y the moon1s period4 +or3 other than himself and the masters3 there #as no person in all that mansion #ho had not already passed through the itter gates of death444
'onely #as the house3 standing far apart from all neighors4 8ther necromancers d#elt on the shores of Naat6 ut et#i9t these and the hosts of 2adar there #as little intercourse4 )nd eyond the #ild mountains that divided the isle3 there d#elt only certain tries of anthropophagi3 #ho #arred #ith each other in the lack #oods of pine and cypress4 The dead #ere housed in deep catacom!like caves ehind the mansion3 lying all night in stone coffins3 and coming forth in daily resurrection to do the tasks ordained y the masters4 "ome tilled the rocky gardens on a slope sheltered from sea!#ind6 others tended the sale goats and cattle6 and still others #ere sent out as divers for pearls in the sea that ravened prodigiously3 not to e dared y living s#immers3 on the leak atolls and headlands horned #ith granite4 8f such pearls3 Vacharn had amassed a mighty store through years e9ceeding the common span of life4 )nd sometimes3 in a ship that sailed contrary to the &lack ;iver3 he or one of his sons #ould voyage to .othi/ue #ith certain of the dead for cre#3 and #ould trade the pearls for such things as their magic #as unale to raise up in Naat4 "trange it #as to 2adar3 to see the companions of his voyage passing to and fro #ith the other liches3 greeting him only in mindless echo of his o#n salutations3 )nd itter it #as3 yet never #ithout a dim sorro#ful s#eetness3 to ehold Dalili and speak #ith her3 trying vainly to revive the lost ardent love in a heart that had gone fathom!deep into olivion and had not returned therefrom4 )nd al#ays3 #ith a desolate yearning3 he seemed to grope to#ard her across a gulf more terrile than the stemless tide that poured for ever aout the Isle of the Necromancers4 Dalili3 #ho had s#um from childhood in the sunken lakes of .yra3 #as among those enforced to dive for pearls4 8ften 2adar #ould accompany her to the shore and a#ait her return from the mad surges6 and at #hiles he #as tempted to fling himself after her and find3 if such #ere possile3 the peace of very death4 This he #ould surely have doae5 ut amid the eery #ilderments of his plight3 and the gray #es of sorcery #oven aout it3 it seemed that his old strength and resolution #ere #holly lacking4 8ne day3 to#ard sunset!time3 as the month dre# to its end3 Vokal and $ldulla approached the prince #here he stood #aiting on a rock!#alled each #hile Dalili dived far out in the torrent #aters4 "peaking no #ord3 they eckoned to him #ith furtive signs6 and 2adar3 vaguely curious as to their intent3 suffered them to lead him from the each and y perilous paths that #ound from crag to crag aove the curving sea! shore4 Ere the fall of darkness3 they came to a small landlocked haror #hose e9istence had een
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Clark Ashton Smith
heretofore unsuspected y the nomad4 In that placid ay3 eneath the deep umrage of the isle3 there rode a galley #ith somer purple sails3 resemling the ship that 2adar had discerned moving steadily to#ard .othi/ue against the full tide of the &lack ;iver4 2adar #as much e#ondered3 nor could he divine #hy they had rought him to the hidden haror3 nor the import of their gestures as they pointed out the strange vessel4 Then3 in a hushed and covert #hisper3 as if fearing to e overheard in that remote place3 Vokal said to him5 1If thou #ilt aid my rother and me in the e9ecution of a certain plan3 thou shalt have the use of yonder galley in /uitting Naat4 )nd #ith thee3 if such e thy desire3 thou shalt take the girl Dalili3 together #ith certain of the dead mariners for oarsmen4 +avored y the po#erful gales #hich our enchantments #ill evoke for thee3 thou shalt sail against the &lack ;iver and return to .othi/ue444 &ut if thou helpest us not3 then shall the #easel Esrit suck thy lood3 till the last memer of thy ody has een emptied thereof6 and Dalili shall remain as the ond!slave of Vacharn3 toiling for his avarice y day in the dark #aters 444 and perchance serving his lust y night41 )t the promise of Vokal3 2adar felt something of hope and manhood revive #ithin him3 and it seemed that thealeful sorcery of Vacharn #as lifted from his mind6 and an indignation against Vacharn #as a#akened y Vokal1s hintings4 )nd he said /uickly5 1I #ill aid thee in thy plan3 #hatever it may e3 if such aid is #ithin my po#er to give41 Then3 #ith many fearful glances aout and ehind him3 $ldulla took up the furtive #hispering4 1It is our thought that Vacharn has lived eyond the allotted term3 and has imposed his authority upon us too long4 We3 his sons3 gro# old5 and #e deem it no more than rightful that #e should inherit the stored treasures and the magical supremacy of our father ere age has dearred us from their en7oyment4 Therefore #e seek thy help in the slaying of Vacharn41 It came to 2adar3 after rief reflection3 that the killing of the necromancer should e held in all #ays a righteous deed3 and one to #hich he could lend himself #ithout demeaning his valor or his manhood4 "o he said #ithout demur5 1I #ill help thee in this thing41 "eeming greatly emoldened y 2adar1s consent3 Vokal spoke again in his turn3 saying5 1This thing must e accomplished ere tomorro#1s eve3 #hich #ill ring a full!rounded moon from the &lack ;iver upon Naat3 and #ill call the #easel!demon Esrit from his urro#4 )nd tomorro#1s forenoon is the only time #hen #e can take Vacharn una#are in his chamer4 During
those hours3 as is his #ont3 he #ill peer entranced on a magic mirror that yields visions of the outer sea3 and the ships sailing over the sea3 and the lands lying eyond4 )nd #e must slay him efore the mirror3 striking s#iftly and surely ere he a#akens from his trance4 )t the hour set for the deed4 Vokal and $ldulla came to 2adar #here he stood a#aiting them in the outer hall4 Each of the rothers ore in his right hand a long and coldly glittering scimitar6 and Vokal also carried in his left a like #eapon3 #hich he offered to the prince3 e9plaining that these scimitars had een tempered to a muttering of lethal runes3 and inscried after#ard #ith unspeakale deathspells4 2adar3 preferring his o#n s#ord3 declined the #i:ard #eapon6 and3 delaying no more3 the three #ent hastily and #ith all possile stealth to#ard Vacharn1s chamer4 The house #as empty3 for the dead had all gone forth to their laors6 nor #as there any #hisper or shado# of those invisile eings3 #hether sprites of the air or mere phantoms3 that #aited upon Vacharn and served him in sundry #ays4 "ilently the three came to the portals of the chamer3 #here entrance #as arred only y a lack arras #rought #ith the signs of night in silver3 and ordered #ith a repetition of the fives names of the archfiend Thasaidon in scarlet thread4 The rothers paused3 as if fearing to lift the arras6 ut 2adar3 unhesitating3 held it aside and passed into the chamer6 and the t#ain follo#ed him /uickly as if for shame of their poltroonery4 The room #as large3 high!vaulted3 and lit y a dim #indo# looking forth et#een unpruned cypresses to#ard the lack sea3 No flames arose from the myriad lamps to assist that affled daylight6 and shado#s rimmed the place like a spectral fluid3 through #hich the vessels of #i:ardry3 the great censers and alemics and ra:iers3 seemed to /uiver like animate things4 ) little past the room1s center3 his ack to the door#ay3 Vacharn sat on an eon trivet efore the mirror of clairvoyance3 #hich #as #rought from electrum in the form of a huge delta6 and #as held oli/uely aloft y a serpentining copper arm4 The mirror flamed rightly in the shado#3 as if lit y some splendor of unkno#n source6 and the intruders #ere da::led y glimpsing of its radiance as they #ent for#ard4 It seemed that Vacharn had indeed een overcome y the #onted trance3 for he peered rigidly into the mirror3 immoile as a seated mummy4 The rothers held ack3 #hile 2adar3 thinking them close ehind him3 stole to#ard the necromancer #ith lifted lade4 )s he dre# nearer3 he perceived that Vacharn held a great scimitar across his knees6 and3 deeming that the sorcerer #as perhaps fore#arned3 2adar ran /uickly
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up ehind him and aimed a po#erful stroke at his neck4 &ut3 even #hile he aimed3 his eyes #ere linded y the strange rightness of the mirror3 as though a sun had la:ed into them from its depth across the shoulder of Vacharn6 and the lade s#erved and it slantingly into the collar!one3 so that the necromancer3 though sorely #ounded3 #as saved from decapitation4 No# it seemed likely that Vacharn had forekno#n the attempt to slay him3 and had thought to do attle #ith his assailers #hen they came4 &ut3 sitting at the mirror in pretended trance3 he had no dout een overpo#ered against his #ill y the #eird rilliance3 and had fallen into a mantic slumer4 +ierce and s#ift as a #ounded tiger3 he leapt from the trivet3 s#inging his scimitar aloft as he tumed upon 2adar4 The prince3 still linded3 could neither strike again nor avoid the stroke of Vacharn6 and the scimitar clove deeply into his right shoulder3 and he fell mortally #ounded and lay #ith his head upheld a little against the ase of the snakish copper arm that supported the mirror4 'ying there3 #ith his life eing slo#ly3 he eheld ho# Vokal sprang for#ard as #ith the desperation of one #ho sees imminent death3 and he#ed mightily into the neck of Vacharn4 The head3 almost sundered from the ody3 toppled and hung y a strip of flesh and skin5 yet Vacharn3 reeling3 did not fall or die at once3 as any mortal man should have done5 ut3 still animated y the #i:ard po#er #ithin him3 he ran aout the chamer3 striking great lo#s at the parricides4 &lood gushed from his neck like a fountain as he ran6 and his head s#ung to and fro like a monstrous pendulum on his reast4 )nd all his lo#s #ent #ild ecause he could no longer see to direct them3 and his sons avoided him agilely3 he#ing into him oftentimes as he #ent past4 )nd sometimes he stumled over the fallen 2adar3 or struck the mirror of electrum #ith his s#ord3 making it ring like a deep ell4 )nd sometimes the attle passed eyond sight of the dying prince3 to#ard the #indo# that looked sea#ard6 and he heard the strange crashings3 as if some of the magic furniture #ere shattered y the strokes of the #arlock6 and there #ere loud reathings from the sons of Vacharn3 and the dull sound of lo#s that #ent home as they still pursued their father4 )nd anon the fight returned efore 2adar3 and he #atched it #ith dimming eyes4 Dire eyond telling #as that comat3 and Vokal and $ldulla panted like spent runners ere the end4 &ut3 after a #hile3 the po#er seemed to fail in Vacharn #ith the draining of his life!lood4 (e staggered from side to side as he ran and his paces halted3 and his lo#s ecame enfeeled4 (is raiment hung upon him
in lood!soaked rags from the slashings of his sons3 and certain of his memers #ere half sundered3 and his #hole ody #as hacked and overscored like an e9ecutioner1s lock4 )t last3 #ith a de9terous lo#3 Vokal severed the thin strip y #hich the head still depended6 and the head dropped and rolled #ith many reoundings aout the floor4 Then3 #ith a #ild tottering3 as if still fain to stand erect3 the ody of Vacharn toppled do#n and lay thrashing like a great3 headless fo#l3 heaving itself up and dropping ack again3 incessantly4 Never3 #ith all its rearings3 did the ody /uite regain its feet5 ut the scimitar #as still held firmly in the right hand3 and the corpse laid lindly aout it3 striking from the floor #ith sidelong slashes3 or slicing do#n as it rose half!#ay to a standing posture4 )nd the head still rolled3 unresting3 aout the chamer3 and maledictions came from its mouth in a pipy voice no l ouder than that of a child4 )t this3 2adar sa# that Vokal and $ldulla dre# ack3 as if some#hat aghast6 and they turned to#ard the door3 manifestly intending to /uite the room4 &ut efore Vokal3 going first had lifted the portal!arras3 there slithered eneath its folds the long3 lack3 snakish ody of the #easelfamiliar3 Esrit4 )nd the familiar launched itself in air3 reaching at one ound the throat of Vokal6 and it clung there #ith teeth fastened to his flesh3 sucking his lood steadily3 #hile he staggered aout the room and strove in vain to tear it a#ay #ith maddened fingers4 $ldulla3 it seemed3 #ould have made some attenpt to kill the creature3 for he cried out3 ad7uring Vokal to stand firm3 and raised his s#ord as if #aiting for a chance to strike at Esrit4 &ut Vokal seemed to hear him not3 or #as too fren:ied to oey his ad7uration4 )nd at that instant the head of Vachara3 in its rolling3 ounded against $ldulla1s feet6 and the head3 snarling ferociously3 caught the hem of his roe #ith its teeth and hung there as he sprang ack in panic fright4 )nd though he sliced #ildly at the head #ith his scimitar3 the teeth refused to relin/uish their hold4 "o he dropped his garment3 and leaving it there #ith the still pendant head of his father3 he fled naked from the room4 )nd even as $ldulla fled3 the life departed from 2adar3 and he sa# and heard no more444 Dimly3 from the depths of olivion3 2adar eheld the flaring of remote lights3 and heard the chanting of a far voice4 It seemed that he s#am up#ard from lack seas to#ard the voice and the lights3 and he sa# as if through a thin3 #atery film the face of $ldulla standing aove him3 and the fuming of strange vessels in the chamer of Vacharn4 )nd it seemed that $ldulla said to him5 1)rise from death3 and e oedient in all things to me the master41
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Zothique
Clark Ashton Smith
"o3 in ans#er to the unholy rites and incantations of necromancy3 2adar arose to such life as #as possile for a resurrected lich4 )nd he #alked again3 #ith the lack gore of his #ound in a great clot on his shoulder and reast3 and made reply to $ldulla in the fashion of the living dead4 Vaguely3 and as matters of no import3 he rememered something of his death and the circumstances preceding it6 and vainly3 #ith filmed eyes3 in the #recked chamer3 he looked for the sundered head and ody of Vacharn3 and for Vokal and the #easel!demon4 Then it seemed that $ldulla said to him5 =+ollo# me3= and he #ent forth #ith the necromancer into the light of the red3 s#ollen moon that had soared from the &lack ;iver upon Naat4 There3 on the fell efore the house3 #as a vast heap of ashes #here coals glo#ed and glared like living eyes4 $ldulla stood in contemplation efore the heap6 and 2adar stood eside him3 kno#ing not that he ga:ed on the urnt! out pyre of Vacharn and Vokal3 #hich the dead slaves had uilt and fired at $ldulla1s direction4 Then3 #ith shrill3 eery #ailings3 a #ind came suddenly from the sea3 and lifting all the ashes and sparks in a great3 s#irling cloud3 it s#ept them upon 2adar and the necromancer4 The t#ain could hardly stand against that #ind3 and their hair and eards and garments #ere filled #ith the leavings of the pyre3 and oth #ere linded therey4 Then the #ind #ent up3 s#eeping the cloud of ashes over the mansion and into its door#ays and #indo#s6 and through all its apartments4 )nd for many days thereafter3 little s#irls of ash rose up under the feet of those #ho passed along the halls6 and though there #as a daily plying of esoms y the dead at $ldulla1s in7unction3 it seemed that the place #as never again #holly clean of those ashes444 ;egarding $ldulla3 there remains little enough to e told5 for his lordship over the dead #as a rief thing4 )iding al#ays alone3 e9cept for those liches #ho attended him3 he ecame possessed y a #eird melancholy that turned /uickly to#ard madness4 No longer could he conceive the aims and o7ects of life6 and the languor of death rose up around him like a lack3 stealthy sea3 full of soft murmurs and shado#! like arms that #ere fain to dra# him do#n#ard4 "oon he came to envy the dead3 and to deem their lot desirale aove any other4 "o carrying that scimitar he had used at the slaying of Vacharn3 he #ent into his father1s chamer3 #hich he had not entered since the raising up of -rince 2adar4 There3 eside the sun! right mirror of divinations3 he disemo#led himself3 and fell amid the dust and the co#es that had gathered heavily over all4 )nd3 since there #as no other necromancer to ring him ack even to a
semlance of life3 he lay rotting and undistured for ever after4 &ut in the gardens of Vacharn the dead people still laored3 heedless of $ldulla1s passing6 and they still kept the goats and cattle3 and dived for pearls in the dark3 torrent )nd 2adar3 eing #ith Dalili in that state no# common to them oth3 #as dra#n to her #ith a ghostly yearning6 and he felt a ghostly comfort in her nearness4 The /uick despair that had racked him aforetime3 and the long torments of desire and separation3 #ere as things faced and forgot6 and he shared #ith Dalili a shado#y love and a dim contentment4
The lack A//ot of uthuum 'et the grape yield for us its purple flame3 )nd rosy love put off its maidenhood5 &y lackening moons3 in lands #ithout a name3 We sle# the Incuus and all his rood4 !! "ong of King (oaraph1s &o#men .oal the archer and Cushara the pikeearer had poured many a liation to their friendship in the sanguine li/uors of 2oros and the lood of the kingdom1s enemies4 In that long and lusty amity3 roken only y such passing /uarrels as concerned the division of a #ine!skin or the apportioning of a #ench3 they had served amid the soldiery of King (oaraph for a strenuous decade4 "avage #arfare and #ild3 fantastic ha:ard had een their lot4 The reno#n of their valor had dra#n upon them3 ultimately3 the honor of (oaraph1s attention3 and he had assigned them for duty among the picked #arriors that guarded his palace in +araad4 )nd sometimes the t#ain #ere sent together on such missions as re/uired no common hardihood and no disputale fealty to the king4 No#3 in company #ith the eunuch "iman3 chief purveyor to (oaraph1s #ell!replenished harem3 .oal and Cushara had gone on a tedious 7ourney through the tract kno#n as I:drel3 #hich clove the #estern part of 2oros asunder #ith its rusty!colored #edge of desolation4 The king had sent them to learn if haply there aode any verity in certain travelers1 tales3 #hich concerned a young maiden of celestial eauty #ho had een seen among the pastoral peoples eyond I:drel4 "iman ore at his girdle a ag of gold coins #ith #hich3 if the girl1s pulchritude should e in any #ise commensurate #ith the reno#n thereof3 he #as empo#ered to argain for her purchase4 The king had deemed that .oal and Cushara should form an
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Clark Ashton Smith
Zothique
escort e/ual to all contingencies5 for I:drel #as a land reputedly free of roers3 or3 indeed3 of any human inhaitants4 0en said3 ho#ever3 that malign golins3 tall as giants and humped like camels3 had oftentimes eset the #ayfarers through I:drel3 that fair ut ill! meaning lamiae had lured them to an eldritch death4 "iman3 /uaking corpulently in his saddle3 rode #ith small #illingness on that out#ard 7ourney6 ut the archer and the pike earer3 full of #holesome skepticism3 divided their a#dy 7ests et#een the timid eunuch and the elusive demons4 Without other mishap than the rupturing of a #ine!skin from the force of the ne# vintage it contained3 they came to the verdurous pasture!lands eyond that dreary desert4 (ere3 in lo# valleys that held the middle meanderings of the river Vos3 cattle and dromedaries #ere kept y a trie of herders #ho sent iannual triute to (oaraph from their teeming droves4 "iman and his companions found the girl3 #ho d#elt #ith her grandmother in a village eside the Vos6 and even the eunuch ackno#ledged that their 7ourney #as #ell re#arded4 Cushara and .oal3 on their part3 #ere instantly smitten y the charms of the maiden3 #hose name #as ;ualsa4 "he #as slender and of /ueenly height3 and her skin #as pale as the petals of #hite poppies6 and the undulant lackness of her heavy hair #as full of sullen copper gleamings eneath the sun4 While "iman haggled shrilly #ith the cronelike grandmother3 the #arriors eyed ;ualsa #ith circumspect ardor and addressed to her such gallantries as they deemed discreet #ithin hearing of the eunuch4 )t last the argain #as driven and the price paid3 to the sore depletion of "iman1s moneyag4 "iman #as no# eager to return to +araad #ith his pri:e3 and he seemed to have forgotten his fear of the haunted desert4 .oal and Cushara #ere routed from their dreams y the impatient eunuch efore da#n6 and the three departed #ith the still dro#sy ;ualsa ere the village could a#aken aout them4 Noon3 #ith its sun of candent copper in a lackish! lue :enith3 found them far amid the rusty sands and iron!toothed ridges of I:drel4 The route they follo#ed #as little more than a footpath5 for3 though I:drel #as ut thirty miles in #idth at that point3 fe# travelers #ould dare those fiend!infested leagues6 and most preferred an immensely circuitous road3 used y the herders3 that ran to the south#ard of that evil desolation3 follo#ing the Vos nearly to its deouchment in the Indaskian "ea4 Cushara3 splendid in his plate!armor of ron:e3 on a huge pieald mare #ith a cataphract of leather
scaled #ith copper3 led the cavalcade4 ;ualsa3 #ho #ore the red homespun of the herders1 #omen3 follo#ed on a lack gelding #ith silk and silver harness3 #hich (oaraph had sent for her use4 Close ehind her came the #atchful eunuch3 gorgeous in particolored sendal3 and mounted ponderously3 #ith s#ollen saddleags all aout him3 on the gray ass of uncertain age #hich3 through his fear of horses and camels3 he insisted on riding at all times4 In his hand he held the leading!rope of another ass #hich #as nearly crushed to the ground y the #ine!skins3 #ater!7ugs and other provisions4 .oal guarded the rear3 #ith unslung o#3 slim and #iry in his suiting of light chain mail3 on a nervous stallion that chafed incessantly at the rein4 )t his ack he ore a /uiver filled #ith arro#s #hich the court sorcerer3 )mdok3 had prepared #ith singular spells and dippings in doutful fluids3 for his possile use against demons4 .oal had accepted the arro#s courteously ut had satisfied himself later that their iron ars #ere in no #ise impaired y )mdok1s treatment4 ) similarly ensorceled pike had een offered y )mdok to Cushara3 #ho had refused it luffly3 saying that his o#n #ell!tried #eapon #as e/ual to the spitting of any numer of devils4 &ecause of "iman and the t#o asses3 the party could make little speed4 (o#ever3 they hoped to cross the #ilder and more desolate portion of I:drel ere night4 "iman3 though he still eyed the dismal #aste duiously3 #as plainly more concerned #ith his precious charge than #ith the imagined imps and lamiae4 )nd Cushara and .oal3 oth rapt in amorous reveries that centered aout the luscious ;ualsa3 gave only a perfunctory attention to their surroundings4 The girl had ridden all morning in demure silence4 No#3 suddenly3 she cried out in a voice #hose s#eetness #as made shrill y alarm4 The others reined their mounts3 and "iman aled /uestions4 To these ;ualsa replied y pointing to#ard the southern hori:on3 #here3 as her companions no# sa#3 a peculiar pitch!lack darkness had covered a great portion of the sky and hills3 oliterating them #holly4 This darkness3 #hich seemed due neither to cloud nor sandstorm3 e9tended itself in a crescent on either hand3 and came s#iftly to#ard the travelers4 In the course of a minute or less3 it had lotted the path#ay efore and ehind them like a lack mist6 and the t#o arcs of shado#3 racing north#ard3 had flo#ed together3 immuring the party in a circle4 The darkness then ecame stationary3 its #alls no more than a hundred feet a#ay on every side4 "heer3 impenetrale3 it surrounded the #ayfarers3 leaving aove them a clear space from #hich the sun still glared do#n3 remote and small and discolored3 as if seen from the ottom of a deep pit4
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Zothique
Clark Ashton Smith
=)i? ai? ai?= ho#led "iman3 co#ering amid his saddleags4 =I kne# #ell that some devilry #ould overtake us4= )t the same moment the t#o asses egan to ray loudly3 and the horses3 #ith a frantic neighing and s/uealing3 tremled eneath their riders4 8nly #ith much cruel spurring could .oal force his stallion for#ard eside Cushara1s mare4 =0ayhap it is only some pestilential mist3= said Cushara4 =Never have I seen such mist3= replied .oal doutfully4 =)nd there are no vapors to e met #ith in I:drel4 0ethinks it is like the smoke of the seven hells that men fale eneath .othi/ue4= ="hall #e ride for#ard>= said Cushara4 =I #ould learn #hether or not a pike can penetrate that darkness4= Calling out some #ords of reassurance to ;ualsa3 the t#ain sought to spur their mounts to#ard the murky #all4 &ut3 after a fe# s#erving paces3 the mare and the stallion alked #ildly3 s#eating and snorting3 and #ould go no farther4 Cushara and .oal dismounted and continued their advance on foot4 Not kno#ing the source or nature of the phenomenon #ith #hich they had to deal3 the t#o approached it #arily4 .oal nocked an arro# to his string3 and Cushara held the great ron:e!headed pike efore him as if charging an emattled foe4 &oth #ere more and more pu::led y the murkiness3 #hich did not recede efore them in the fashion of fog3 ut maintained its opacity #hen they #ere close upon it4 Cushara #as aout to thrust his #eapon into the #all4 Then3 #ithout the least prelude3 there arose in the darkness3 seemingly 7ust efore him3 a horrile3 multitudinous clamor as of drums3 trumpets3 cymals3 7angling armor3 7arring voices3 and mailed feet that tramped to and fro on the stony ground #ith a mighty clangor4 )s Cushara and .oal dre# ack in ama:ement3 the clamor s#elled and spread3 till it filled #ith a ael of #arlike noises the #hole circle of mysterious night that hemmed in the travelers4 =VeriIy3 #e are sore eset3= shouted Cushara to his comrade as they #ent ack to their horses4 =It #ould seem that some king of the north has sent his myrmidons into 2oros4= =2ea3= said .oal444 =&ut it is strange that #e sa# them not ere the darkness came4 )nd the darkness3 surely3 is no natural thing4= &efore Cushara could make any re7oinder3 the martial clashings and shoutings ceased aruptly4 )ll aout it seemed that there #as a rattling of innumerale sistra3 a hissing of countless huge serpents3 a raucous
hooting of ill!omened irds that had foregathered y thousands4 To these indescrialy hideous sounds3 the horses no# added a continual screaming3 and the asses a more fren:ied raying3 aove #hich the outcries of ;ualsa and "iman #ere scarce audile4 Cushara and .oal sought vainly to pacify their mounts and comfort the madly frightened girl4 It #as plain that no army of mortal men had eleaguered them5 for the noises still changed from instant to instant3 and they heard a most evil ho#ling3 and a roaring as of hellorn easts that deafened them #ith its volume4 Naught3 ho#ever3 #as visile in the gloom3 #hose circle no# egan to move s#iftly3 #ithout #idening or contracting4 To maintain their position in its center3 the #arriors and their charges #ere compelled to leave the path and to flee north#ardly amid the harsh ridges and hollo#s4 )ll around them the aleful noises continued3 keeping3 as it seemed3 the same i nterval of distance4 The sun3 slanting #est#ard3 no longer shone into that eerily moving pit3 and a deep t#ilight enveloped the #anderers4 .oal and Cushara rode as closely eside ;ualsa as the rough ground permitted3 straining their eyes constantly for any visile sign of the cohorts that seemed to encompass them4 &oth #ere filled #ith the darkest misgivings3 for it had ecome all too manifest that supernatural po#ers #ere driving them astray in the untracked desert4 0oment y moment the gross darkness seemed to close in6 and there #as a palpale eddying and seething as of monstrous forms ehind its curtain4 The horses stumled over oulders and outcroppings of ore!sharp stone3 and the grievously urdened asses #ere compelled to put forth an unheard!of speed to keep pace #ith the ever!shifting circle that menaced them #ith its horrid clamor4 ;ualsa had ceased her outcries3 as if overcome y e9haustion or resignation to the horror of her plight6 and the shrill screeches of the eunuch had susided into fearful #hee:ing and gasping4 Ever and anon3 it seemed that great fiery eyes glared out of the gloom3 floating close to earth or moving aloft at a gigantic height4 .oal egan to shoot his enchanted arro#s at these appearance3 and the speeding of each olt #as hailed y an appalling outurst of "atanic laughters and ululations4 In such #ise they #ent on3 losing all measure of time and sense of orientation4 The animals #ere galled and footsore4 "iman #as nigh dead from fright and fatigue6 ;ualsa drooped in her saddle6 and the #arriors3 a#ed and affled y the predicament in
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Clark Ashton Smith
Zothique
#hich their #eapons appeared useless3 egan to flag #ith a dull #eariness4
=Who art thou>= challenged Cushara3 his fingers tightening on the haft of his #eapon4
=Never again shall I dout the legendry of I:drel3= said Cushara gloomily4
The lack man grinned capaciously3 sho#ing ro#s of discolored teeth #hose incisors #ere like those of a #ild dog4 (is enormous unctuous 7o#ls #ere creased y the grin into folds of ama:ing numer and volume6 and his eyes3 deeply slanted and close together3 seemed to #ink perpetually in pouches that shook like eon 7ellies4 (is nostrils flared prodigiously6 his purple3 ruery lips drooled and /uivered3 and he licked them #ith a fat3 red3 salacious tongue efore replying to Cushara1s /uestion4
=It is in my mind that #e have not long either to dout or elieve3= re7oined .oal4 To add to their distress3 the terrain gre# rougher and steeper3 and they climed acclivitous hillsides and #ent do#n endlessly into drear valleys4 )non they came to a flat3 open3 pely space4 There3 all at once3 it seemed that the pandemonium of evil noises dre# ack on every hand3 receding and fading into faint3 duious #hispers that died at a vast remove4 "imultaneously3 the circling night thinned out3 and a fe# stars shone in the #elkin3 and the sharp!spined hills of the desert loomed starkly against a vermilion afterglo#4 The travelers paused and peered #onderingly at one another in a gloom that #as no more than that of natural t#ilight4 =What ne# devilry is this>= asked Cushara3 hardly daring to elieve that the hellish leaguers had vanished4 =I kno# not3= said the archer3 #ho #as staring into the dusk4= =&ut here3 mayhap3 is one of the devils4= The others no# sa# that a muffled figure #as approaching them3 earing a lit lantern made of some kind of translucent horn4 )t some distance ehind the figure3 lights appeared suddenly in a s/uare dark mass #hich none of the party had discerned efore4 This mass #as evidently a large uilding #ith many #indo#s4 The figure3 dra#ing near3 #as revealed y the dim yello#ish lantern as a lack man of immense girth and tallness3 gared in a voluminous roe of saffron such as #as #orn y certain monkish orders3 and cro#ned #ith the t#o!horned purple hat of an aot4 (e #as indeed a singular and unlooked!for apparition5 for if any monasteries e9isted amid the arren reaches of I:drel3 they #ere hidden and unkno#n to the #orld4 .oal3 ho#ever3 searching his memory3 recalled a vague tradition he had once heard concerning a chapter of negro monks that had flourished in 2oros many centuries ago4 The chapter had long een e9tinct3 and the very site of its monastery #as forgotten4 No#adays there #ere fe# lacks any#here in the kingdom3 other than those #ho did duty as eunuchs guarding the seraglios of noles and rich merchants The animals egan to display a certain uneasiness at the stranger1s approach4
=I am $7uk3 aot of the monastery of -uthuum3= he said3 in a thick voice of such e9traordinary volume that it appeared almost to issue from the earth under his feet4 =0ethinks the night has overtaken you far from the route of travelers4 I id you #elcome to our hospitality4= =)ye3 the night took us etimes3= Cushara returned dryly4 Neither he nor .oal #as reassured y the look of lust in the aot1s oscenely t#inkling eyes as he peered at ;ualsa4 0oreover3 they had no# noted the e9cessive and disagreeale length of the dark nails on his huge hands and are3 splayed feet5 nails that #ere curving3 three!inch talons3 sharp as those of some east or ird of prey4 It seemed3 ho#ever3 that ;ualsa and "iman #ere less ahorrently impressed3 or had not noticed these details5 for oth made haste to ackno#ledge the aot1s proffer of hospitality and to urge acceptance upon the visily reluctant #arriors4 To this urging3 .oal and Cushara yielded3 oth in#ardly resolving to keep a close #atch on all the actions and movements of the aot of -uthuum4 $7uk3 holding the horn lantern aloft3 conducted the travelers to that massive uilding #hose lights they had discerned at no great distance4 ) ponderous gate of dark #ood s#ung open silently at their approach3 and they entered a spacious courtyard coled #ith #orn3 greasy!looking stones3 and dimly illumined y torches in rusty iron sockets4 "everal monks appeared #ith startling suddenness efore the travelers3 #ho had thought the courtyard vacant at first glance4 They #ere all of unusual ulk and stature3 and their features possessed an e9traordinary likeness to those of $7uk3 from #hom3 indeed3 they could hardly have een distinguished save y the yello# co#ls #hich they #ore in lieu of the aot1s horned purple hat4 The similarity e9tended even to their curved and talon!like nails of inordinate length4 Their movements #ere fantasmally furtive and silent4 Without speaking3 they took charge of the horses and asses4 Cushara and .oal relin/uished their mounts to
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Zothique
Clark Ashton Smith
the care of these doutful hostlers #ith a reluctance #hich3 apparently3 #as not shared y ;ualsa or the eunuch4 The monks also signified a #illingness to relieve Cushara of his heavy pike and .oal of his iron#ood o# and half!emptied /uiver of ensorceled arro#s4 &ut at this the #arriors alked3 refusing to let the #eapons pass from their possession4 $7uk led them to an inner portal #hich gave admission to the refectory4 It #as a large3 lo# room3 lit y ra:en lamps of anti/ue #orkmanship3 such as ghouls might have recovered from a desert!sunken tom4 The aot3 #ith ogre!like grinnings3 esought his guests to take their place at a long massive tale of eony #ith chairs and enches of the same material4 When they had seated themselves3 $7uk sat do#n at the tale1s head4 Immediately3 four monks came in3 earing platters piled #ith spicily smoking viands3 and deep earthen flagons full of a dark amer!ro#n li/uor4 )nd these monks3 like those encountered in the courtyard3 #ere gross eon!lack simulacra of their aot3 resemling him precisely in every feature and memer4 .oal and Cushara #ere chary of tasting the li/uor3 #hich3 for its odor3 appeared to e an e9ceptionally potent kind of ale5 for their douts concerning $7uk and his monastery gre# graver every moment4 )lso3 in spite of their hunger3 they refrained from the food set efore them3 #hich consisted mainly of aked meats that neither could identify4 "iman and ;ualsa3 ho#ever3 addressed themselves promptly to the meal #ith appetites sharpened y long fasting and the #eird fatigues of the day4 The #arriors oserved that neither food nor drink had een placed efore $7uk3 and they con7ectured that he had already dined4 To their gro#ing disgust and anger3 he sat lolling oesely3 #ith lustful eyes upon ;ualsa in a stare roken only y the nictitations that accompanied his perpetual grinning4 This stare soon egan to aash the girl3 and then to alarm and frighten her4 "he ceased eating6 and "iman3 #ho had een deeply preoccupied till then #ith his supper3 #as plainly pertured #hen he sa# the flagging of her appetite4 (e seemed for the first time to notice the aot1s unmonastic leering3 and sho#ed his disapproval y sundry horrile grimaces4 (e also remarked pointedly3 in a loud3 piercing voice3 that the girl #as destined for the harem of King (oaraph4 &ut at this3 $7uk merely chuckled3 as if "iman had uttered some e9/uisitely humorous 7est4 .oal and Cushara #ere hard put to repress their #rath3 and oth itched hotly for the fleshing of their #eapons in the aot1s gross ulk4 (e3 ho#ever3 seemed to have taken "iman1s hint3 for he shifted his
ga:e from the girl4 Instead3 he egan to eye the #arriors #ith a curious and loathsome avidity3 #hich they found little less insupportale than his ogling of ;ualsa4 The #ell!nourished eunuch also came in for his share of $7uk1s regard #hich seemed to have in it the hunger of a hyena gloating over his prospective prey4 "iman3 oviously ill at ease3 and some#hat frightened3 no# tried to carry on a conversation #ith the aot3 volunteering much information as to himself3 his companions3 and the adventures #hich had rought them to -uthuum4 $7uk seemed little surprised y this information6 and .oal and Cushara3 #ho took no part in the conversation3 ecame surer than ever that he #as no true aot4 =(o# far have #e gone astray from the route to +araad>= asked "iman4 =I do not consider that you have gone astray3= rumled $7uk in his suterranean voice3 =for your coming to -uthuum is most timely4 We have fe# guests here3 and #e are loth to part #ith those #ho honor our hospitality4= =King (oaraph #ill e impatient for our return #ith the girl3= "iman /uavered4 =We must depart early tomorro#4= =Tomorro# is another matter3= said $7uk3 in a tone half unctuous3 half sinister4 =-erhaps3 y then3 you #ill have forgotten this deplorale haste4= 'ittle #as said during the rest of the meal6 and3 indeed3 little #as drunk or eaten6 for even "iman seemed to have lost his normally voracious appetite4 $7uk3 still grinning as if at some uproarious 7est kno#n only to himself3 #as apparently not concerned #ith the urging of food upon his guests4 Certain of the monks came and #ent unidden3 removing the laden dishes3 and as they departed3 .oal and Cushara perceived a strange thing5 for no shado#s #ere cast y the monks on the lamplit floor eside the moving adumrations of the vessels they carried? +rom $7uk3 ho#ever3 a heavy3 misshapen umrage fell and lay like a prone incuus eside his chair4 =0ethinks #e have come to a hatching place of demons3= #hispered .oal to Cushara4 =We have fought many men3 thou and I3 ut never such as #anted #holesome shado#s4= =)ye3= muttered the pike!earer4 =&ut I like this aot even less than his monks5 though he alone is the caster of a shade4=
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Zothique
$7uk no# rose from his seat3 saying5 =I tro# that ye are all #eary and #ould sleep etimes4= ;ualsa and "iman3 #ho had oth drunk a certain amount of the po#erful ale of -uthuum3 nodded a dro#sy assent4 .oal and Cushara3 noting their premature sleepiness3 #ere glad they had declined the li/uor4 The aot led his guests along a corridor #hose gloom #as ut little relieved y the flaring of torches in a strong draft that le# stealthily from an undetermined source3 causing a rout of #ild shado#s to flitter eside the passers4 8n either hand there #ere cells #ith portals shut only y hangings of a coarse hempen faric4 The monks had all vanished3 the cells #ere seemingly dark3 and an air of age!old desolation pervaded the monastery3 together #ith a smell as of moldering ones piled in some secret catacom4 0id#ay in the hall3 $7uk paused and held aside the arras of a door#ay that differed in no #ise from the rest4 Within3 a lamp urned3 depending from an archaic chain of curiously linked and fretted metal4 The room #as are ut spacious3 and a ed of eony #ith opulent /uiltings of an olden fashion stood y the farther #all under an open #indo#4 This chamer3 the aot indicated3 #as for the occupancy of ;ualsa6 and he then offered to sho# the men and the eunuch their respective /uarters4 "iman3 seeming to #ake all at once from his dro#siness3 protested at the idea of eing separated in such #ise from his charge4 )s if $7uk had een prepared for this3 and had given orders accordingly3 a monk appeared forth#ith3 ringing /uilts #hich he laid on the flagged floor #ithin the portals of ;ualsa1s room4 "iman stretched himself promptly on the improvised ed3 and the #arriors #ithdre# #ith $7uk4 =Come3= said the aot3 his #olfish teeth gleaming in the torchlight4 =2e #ill sleep soundly in the eds I have prepared4= .oal and Cushara3 ho#ever3 had no# assumed the position of guardsmen outside the door#ay of ;ualsa1s chamer4 They told $7uk curtly that they #ere responsile to King (oaraph for the girl1s safety and must #atch over her at all times4 =I #ish ye a pleasant vigil3= said $7uk3 #ith a cachinnation like the laughter of hyenas in some underground tom4 With his departure3 it seemed that the lack slumer of a dead anti/uity settled upon all the uilding4 ;ualsa and "iman3 apparently3 slept #ithout stirring3 for there #as no sound from ehind the hempen arras4 The #arriors spoke only in #hispers3 lest they
should arouse the girl4 Their #eapons held ready for instant use3 they #atched the shado#y hall #ith a 7ealous vigilance5 for they did not trust the /uietude aout them3 eing #ell assured that a host of foul cacodemons couched some#here ehind it3 iding the time of assault4 (o#eit3 nothing occurred to reconfirm them in such apprehensions4 The draft that reathed furtively along the hall seemed to tell only of age!forgotten death and cyclic solitude4 The t#o egan to perceive signs of dilapidation in #alls and floor that had heretofore escaped their notice4 Eery3 fantastical thoughts came to them #ith insidious persuasion5 it seemed that the uilding #as a ruin that had lain uninhaited for a thousand years6 that the lack aot $7uk and his shado#less monks #ere mere imaginations3 things that had never een6 that the moving circle of darkness3 the pandemonian voices3 that had herded them to#ard -uthuum3 #ere no more than a daymare #hose memory #as no# fading in the fashion of dreams4 Thirst and hunger trouled them3 for they had not eaten since early morn3 and had snatched only a fe# hasty drafts of #ine or #ater during the day4 &oth3 ho#ever3 egan to feel the oncreeping of a sleepy heetude #hich3 under the circumstances3 #as most undesirale4 They nodded3 started and a#oke recurrently to their peril4 &ut still3 like a siren voice in poppy!dreams3 the silence seemed to tell them that all danger #as a ygone thing3 an illusion that elonged to yesterday4 "everal hours passed3 and the hall lightened #ith the rising of a late moon that shone through a #indo# at its eastern end4 .oal3 less edro#sed than Cushara3 #as a#akened to full a#areness y a sudden commotion among the animals in the courtyard #ithout4 There #ere neighings that rose to a fren:ied pitch3 as if something had frightened the horses6 and to these the asses egan to add their heavy raying3 till Cushara #as also aroused4 =0ake sure that thou dro#sest not again3= .oal admonished the pike!earer4 =I shall go forth and in/uire as to the cause of this tumult4= =Tis a good thought3= commended Cushara4 =)nd #hile thou art gone3 see to it that none has molested our provisions4 )nd ring ack #ith thee some apricots and cakes of sesame and a skin of ruy!red #ine4= The monastery itself remained silent as .oal #ent do#n the hall3 his uskins of link!covered leather ringing faintly4 )t the hall1s end an outer door stood open3 and he passed through it into the courtyard4
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Even as he3 emerged3 the animals ceased their clamor4 (e could see ut dimly3 for all the torches in the courtyard3 save one3 had urnt out or een e9tinguished6 and the lo# gious moon had not yet climed the #all4 Nothing3 to all appearance3 #as amiss5 the t#o asses #ere standing /uietly eside the mountainous piles of provisions and saddleags they had orne6 the horses seemed to dro#se amicaly in a group4 .oal decided that perhaps there had een some temporary ickering et#een his stallion and Cushara1s mare4 (e #ent for#ard to make sure that there #as no other cause of disturance4 )fter#ard he turned to the #ineskins3 intending to refresh himself efore re7oining Cushara #ith a supply of drinkales and comestiles4 (ardly had he #ashed the dust of I :drel from his throat #ith a long draft3 #hen he heard an eery3 dry #hispering #hose source and distance he could not at once determine4 "ometimes it seemed at his very ear3 and then it eed a#ay as if sinking into profound suterranean vaults4 &ut the sound3 though variale in this manner3 never ceased entirely6 and it seemed to shape itself into #ords that the listener almost understood5 #ords that #ere fraught #ith the hopeless sorro# of a dead man #ho had sinned long ago3 and had repented his sin through lack sepulchral ages4 )s he harkened to the sere anguish of that sound3 the hair ristled on the archer1s neck3 and he kne# such fear as he had never kno#n in the thick of attle4 )nd yet3 at the same time3 he #as a#are of deeper pity than the pain of dying comrades had ever aroused in his heart4 )nd it seemed that the voice implored him for commiseration and succor3 laying upon him a #eird compulsion that he dared not disoey4 (e could not #holly comprehend the things that the #hisperer esought him to do5 ut someho# he must ease that desolate anguish4 "till the #hispering rose and fell6 and .oal forgot that he had left Cushara to a lone vigil eset #ith hellish dangers6 forgot that the voice itself might #ell e only a device of demons to lure him astray4 (e egan to search the courtyard3 his keen ears alert for the source of the sound6 and3 after some duitation3 he decided that it issued from the ground in a corner opposite the gate#ay4 (ere3 amid the coling3 in the #all1s angle3 he found a large sla of syenite #ith a rusty metal ring in its center4 (e #as /uickly confirmed in his decision5 for the #hispering ecame louder and more articulate3 and he thought that it said to him5 ='ift the sla4= The archer grasped the rusty ring #ith oth hands3 and putting forth all his strength3 he succeeded in tilting ack the stone3 aleit not #ithout such e9ertion
as made him feel that his very spine #ould crack4 ) dark opening #as e9posed3 and from it surged a charnel stench so overpo#ering that .oal turned his face a#ay and #as like to have vomited4 &ut the #hisper came #ith a sharp3 #oeful eseeching3 out of the darkness elo#6 and it said to him5 =Descend4= .oal #renched from its socket the one torch that still urned in the courtyard4 &y its lurid flaring he sa# a flight of #orn steps that #ent do#n into the reeking sepulchral gloom6 and resolutely he descended the steps3 finding himself at their ottom in a he#n vault #ith deep shelves of stone on either hand4 The shelves3 running a#ay into darkness3 #ere piled #ith human ones and mummified odies6 and plainly the place #as the catacom of the monastery4 The #hispering had ceased3 and .oal peered aout in e#ilderment not unmi9ed #ith horror4 =I am here3= resumed the dry3 susurrous voice3 issuing from amid the heaps of mortal remnants on the shelf close eside him4 "tartled3 and feeling again that crisping of the hairs on his neck3 .oal held his torch to the lo# shelf as he looked for the speaker4 In a narro# niche et#een stacks of disarticulated ones3 he eheld a half!decayed corpse aout #hose long3 attenuate lims and hollo# ody there hung a fe# rotten shreds of yello# cloth4 These3 he thought3 #ere the remnants of a roe such as #as #orn y the monks of -uthuum4 Then3 thrusting his torch into the niche3 he discerned the lean3 mummy!like head3 on #hich moldered a thing that had once een the horned hat of an aot4 The corpse #as lack as eony3 and plainly it #as that of a great negro4 It ore an aspect of incredile age3 as if it had lain there for centuries5 ut from it came the odor of ne#ly ripe corruption that had sickened .oal #hen he li fted the sla of syenite4 )s he stood staring do#n3 it seemed to .oal that the cadaver stirred a little3 as if fain to rise from its recument posture6 and he sa# a gleaming as of eyealls in the deepshado#ed sockets6 and the dolorously curling lips #ere retracted still farther6 and from et#een the ared teeth there issued that a#ful #hispering #hich had dra#n him into the catacom4 ='isten closely3= said the #hispering4 =There is much for me to tell thee3 and much for thee to do #hen the telling is done4 =I am $ldor3 the aot of -uthuum4 0ore than a thousand years ago I came #ith my monks to 2oros from Ilcar3 the lack empire of the north4 The emperor of Ilcar had driven us forth3 for our cult of celiacy3 our #orship of the maiden goddess 87hal3 #ere hateful to
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him4 (ere amid the desert of I:drel #e uilt our monastery and d#elt unmolested4
still I am condemned to see his turpitudes6 and the seeing is my most grievous punishment4=
=We #ere many in numer at first6 ut the years #ent y3 and one y one the &rothers #ere laid in the catacom #e had delved for our resting place4 They died #ith none to replace them4 I alone survived in the end5 for I had #on such sanctity as ensures longevous days3 and had also ecome a master of the arts of sorcery4 Time #as a demon that I held at ay3 like one #ho stands in a charmed circle4 0y po#ers #ere still hale and unimpaired6 and I lived on as an anchorite in the monastery4
The #hisper sank a#ay6 and .oal3 #ho had listened in eldritch a#e3 as one #ho hears the speech of a dead man3 #as doutful for a moment that $ldor still lived4 Then the sere voice #ent on5
=)t first the solitude #as far from irksome to me3 and I #as #holly asored in my study of the arcana of nature4 &ut after a time it seemed that such things no longer satisfied4 I gre# a#are of my loneliness3 and #as much eset y the demons of the #aste3 #ho had trouled me little heretofore4 "uccui3 fair ut aneful3 lamiae #ith the round soft odies of #omen3 came to tempt me in the drear vigils of the night4 =I resisted444 &ut there #as one she!devil3 more cunning than the others3 #ho crept into my cell in the semlance of a girl I had loved long ago3 ere yet I had taken the vo# of 87hal4 To her I succumed6 and of the unholy union #as orn the half!human fiend3 $7uk3 #ho has since called himself the aot of -uthuum4 =)fter that sin3 I #ished to die444 )nd the #ish #as manifoldly strengthened #hen I eheld the progeny of the sin4 Too greatly3 ho#ever3 had I offended 87hal6 and a frightful penance #as decreed for me4 I lived444 and daily I #as plagued and persecuted y the monster3 $7uk3 #ho gre# lustily in the manner of such offspring4 &ut #hen $7uk had gained his full stature3 there came upon me such #eakness and decrepitude as made me hopeful of death4 "carce could I stir in my impotence3 and $7uk3 taking advantage of this3 ore me in his horrid arms to the catacom and laid me among the dead4 (ere I have remained ever since3 dying and rotting eternally < and yet eternally alive4 +or almost a millennium I have suffered unsleepingly the dire anguish of repentance that rings no e9piation4= =Through the po#ers of saintly and sorcerous vision that never left me3 I #as doomed to #atch the foul deeds3 the hell!dark ini/uities of $7uk4 Wearing the guise of an aot3 endo#ed #ith strange infernal po#ers together #ith a kind of immortality3 he has presided over -uthuum through the centuries4 (is enchantments have kept the monastery hidden444 save from those that he #ishes to dra# #ithin reach of his ghoulish hunger3 his incuus!like desires4 0en he devours6 and #omen are made to serve his lust444 )nd
=)rcher3 I crave a oon from thee6 and I offer in return a thing that #ill aid thee against $7uk4 In thy /uiver thou earest charmed arro#s5 and the #i:ardry of him that #rought them #as good4 "uch arro#s can slay the else!immortal po#ers of evil4 They can slay $7uk < and even such evil as endures in me and forids me to die4 )rcher3 grant me an arro# through the heart5 and if that suffice not3 an arro# through the right eye3 and one through the left4 )nd leave the arro#s in their mark3 for I deem that thou canst #ell spare so many4 8ne alone is needed for $7uk4 )s to the monks thou hast seen3 I #ill tell thee a secret4 They are t#elve in numer3 ut444= .oal #ould scarcely have elieved the thing that $ldor no# unfolded3 if the events of the day had not left him eyond all incredulity4 The aot continued5 =When I am #holly dead3 take thou the talisman #hich depends aout my neck4 The talisman is a touchstone that #ill dissolve such ill enchantments as have a material seeming3 if applied thereto #ith the hand4= +or the first time3 .oal perceived the talisman3 #hich #as an oval of plain gray stone lying upon $ldor1s #ithered osom on a chain of lack silver4 =0ake haste3 8 archer3= the #hispering implored4 .oal had socketed his torch in the pile of moldering ones eside $ldor4 With a sense of mingled compulsion and reluctance3 he dre# an arro# from his /uiver3 notched it3 and aimed unflinchingly do#n at $ldor1s heart4 The shaft #ent straightly and deeply into its mark6 and .oal #aited4 &ut anon from the retracted lips of the lack aot there issued a faint murmuring5 =)rcher3 another arro#?= )gain the o# #as dra#n3 and a shaft sped unerringly into the hollo# orit of $ldor1s right eye4 )nd again3 after an interval3 there came the almost inaudile pleading5 =)rcher3 still another shaft4= 8nce more the o# of iron#ood sang in the silent vault3 and an arro# stood in the left eye of $ldar3 /uivering #ith the force of its propulsion4 This time there #as no #hisper from the rotting lips5 ut .oal heard a curious rustling3 and a sigh as of lapsing sand4 &eneath his ga:e the lack lims and ody crumled s#iftly3 the face and head fell in3 and the three arro#s
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sagged a#ry3 since there #as naught no# ut a pile of dust and parting ones to hold them emedded4 'eaving the arro#s as $ldor had en7oined him to do3 .oal groped for the gray talisman that #as no# uried amid those fallen relics4 +inding it3 he hung it carefully at his elt eside the long straight s#ord #hich he carried4 -erhaps3 he reflected3 the thing might have its use ere the night #as over4 @uickly he turned a#ay and climed the steps to the courtyard4 ) saffron!yello# and lopsided moon #as soaring aove the #all3 and he kne# y this that he had een asent overlong from his vigil #ith Cushara4 )ll3 ho#ever3 seemed tran/uil5 the dro#sing animals had not stirred6 and the monastery #as dark and soundless4 "ei:ing a full #ine!skin and a ag containing such ediles as Cushara had asked him to ring3 .oal hurried ack to the open hall4 Even as he passed into the uilding3 the arras!like silence efore him #as urst asunder y a frightful huu4 (e distinguished amid the clamor the screaming of ;ualsa3 the screeching of "iman3 and the furious roaring of Cushara5 ut aove these3 as if to dro#n them all3 an oscene laughter mounted continually3 like the #elling forth of dark suterrene #aters thick and foul #ith the fats of corruption4 .oal dropped the #ine!skin and the sack of comestiles and raced for#ard3 unslinging his o# as he #ent4 The outcries of his companions continued3 ut he heard them faintly no# aove the damnale incuus!like laughter that s#elled as if to fill the #hole monastery4 )s he neared the space efore ;ualsa1s chamer3 he sa# Cushara eating #ith the haft of his pike at a lank #all in #hich there #as no longer a hempen!curtained door#ay4 &ehind the #all the screeching of "iman ceased in a gurgling moan like that of some utchered steer6 ut the girl1s terror! sharpened cries still mounted through the smothering cachinnation4 =This #all #as #rought y demons3= raged the pike earer as he smote vainly at the smooth masonry4 =I kept a faithful #atch < ut they uilt it ehind me in a silence as of the dead4 )nd a fouler #ork is eing done in that chamer4= =0aster thy fren:y3= said .oal3 as he strove to regain the command of his o#n faculties amid the madness that threatened to over#helm him4 )t that instant he recalled the oval gray touchstone of $ldor3 #hich hung at his aldric from its lack silver chain6 and it came to him that the closed #all #as perhaps an unreal enchantment against #hich the talisman might serve even as $ldor had said4
@uickly he took the touchstone in his fingers and held it to the lank surface #here the door#ay had een4 Cushara looked on #ith an air of stupefaction3 as if deeming the archer demented4 &ut even as the talisman clicked faintly against it3 the #all seemed to dissolve3 leaving only a rude arras that fell a#ay in tatters as if it too had een no more than a sorcerous illusion4 The strange disintegration continued to spread3 the #hole partition melted a#ay to a fe# #orn locks3 and the gious moon shone in as the aey of -uthuum crumled silently to a gapped and roofless ruin? )ll this had occurred in a fe# moments6 ut the #arriors found no room for #onder4 &y the livid light of the moon3 #hich peered do#n like the face of a #orm!gna#ed cadaver3 they looked upon a scene so hideous that it caused them to forget all else4 &efore them3 on a cracked floor from #hose interstices gre# desert grasses3 the eunuch "iman lay spra#led in death4 (is raiment #as torn to streamers3 and lood uled darkly from his mangled throat4 Even the leather pouches #hich he ore at his girdle had een ripped open3 and gold coins3 vials of medicine and other oddments #ere scattered around him4 &eyond3 y the half!crumled outer #all3 ;ualsa lay in a litter of rotted cloth and #ood#ork #hich had een the gorgeously /uilted eon ed4 "he #as trying to fend off #ith her lifted hands the enormously s#ollen shape that hung hori:ontally aove her3 as if levitated y the floating #ing!like folds of its saffron roe4 This shape the #arriors recogni:ed as the aot $7uk4 The over#elling laughter of the lack incuus had ceased3 and he turned upon the intruders a face contorted y diaolic lust and fury4 (is teeth clashed audily3 his eyes glo#ed in their pouches like eads of red!hot metal3 as he #ithdre# from his position over the girl and loomed monstrously erect efore her amid the ruins of the chamer4 Cushara rushed for#ard #ith leveled pike ere .oal could fit one of his arro#s to the string4 &ut even as the pike!earer crossed the sill3 it seemed that the foully loated form of $7uk multiplied itself in a do:en yello#! garmented shapes that surged to meet Cushara1s onset4 )ppearing as if y some hellish legerdemain3 the monks of -uthuum had mustered to assist their aot4 .oal cried out in #arning3 ut the shapes #ere all aout Cushara3 dodging the thrusts of his #eapon and cla#ing ferociously at his plate!armor #ith their terrific three!inch talons4 Valiantly he fought them3 only to go do#n after a little and disappear from sight as if #helmed y a pack of ravening hyenas4
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;ememering the scarce credile thing that $ldor had told him3 .oal #asted no arro#s upon the monks4 (is o# ready3 he #aited for full sight of $7uk eyond the seething rout that mangled malignantly ack and forth aove the fallen pike!earer4 In an eddying of the pack he aimed s#iftly at the looming incuus3 #ho seemed #holly intent on that fiendish struggle3 as if directing it in some #ise #ithout spoken #ord or ponderale gesture4 "traight and true the arro# sped #ith an e9ultant singing6 and good #as the sorcery of )mdok3 #ho had #rought it5 for $7uk reeled and #ent do#n3 his horrid fingers tearing vainly at the shaft that #as driven nigh to its fledging of eagle!/uills in his ody4
mingled fright and confusion3 like a sleeper #ho has 7ust a#akened from some atrocious nightmare4
No# a strange thing occurred5 for3 as the incuus fell and #rithed to and fro in his dying3 the t#elve monks all dropped a#ay from Cushara3 tossing convulsively on the floor as if they #ere ut shaken shado#s of the thing that died4 It seemed to .oal that their forms gre# dim and diaphanous3 and he sa# the cracks in the flagstones eyond them6 and their #rithings lessened #ith those of $7uk6 and #hen $7uk lay still at last3 the faint outlines of the figures vanished as if erased from earth and air4 Naught remained ut the noisome ulk of that fiend #ho had een the progeny of the aot $ldor and the lamia4 )nd the ulk shrank visily from instant to instant eneath its sagging garments3 and a smell of ripe corruption arose3 as if all that #as human in the hellish thing #ere rotting s#iftly a#ay4
=I deem3= said .oal in a lo# voice eyond overhearing of the girl3 =that thou and I tonight have met and con/uered such perils as #ere not contracted for in our service to (oaraph4 )nd I deem that #e are of one mind concerning the maiden3 and love her too dearly no# to deliver her to the captious lust of a sated king4 Therefore #e cannot return to +araad4 If it please thee3 #e shall dra# lots for the girl6 and the loser #ill attend the #inner as a true comrade till such time as #e have made our #ay from I:drel3 and have crossed the order of some land lying eyond (oaraph1s rule4=
Cushara had scramled to his feet and #as peering aout in a stunned fashion4 (is heavy armor had saved him from the talons of his assailants6 ut the armor itself #as scored from greaves to helmet #ith innumerale scratches4 =Whither have the monks gone>= he in/uired4 =They #ere all aout me an instant ago3 like so many #ild dogs #orrying a fallen aurochs4= =The monks #ere ut emanations of $7uk3= said .oal4 =They #ere mere fantasms3 multiple eidola3 that he sent forth and #ithdre# into himself at #ill6 and they had no real e9istence apart from him4 With $7uk1s death they had ecome less than shado#s4= =Verily3 such things are prodigious3= opined the pikeearer4 The #arriors no# turned their attention to ;ualsa3 #ho had struggled to a sitting posture amid the do#nfallen #reckage of her ed4 The tatters of rotten /uilting #hich she clutched aout her #ith shamefast fingers at their approach3 served ut little to conceal her #ell!rounded ivory nakedness4 "he #ore an air of
=(ad the incuus harmed thee>= in/uired .oal an9iously4 (e #as reassured y her faint3 e#ildered negative4 Dropping his eyes efore the piteous disarray of her girlish eauty3 he felt in his heart a deeper enamorment than efore3 a passion touched #ith such tenderness as he had never kno#n in the hot3 rief loves of his ha:ard!haunted days4 Eyeing Cushara covertly3 he kne# #ith dismay that this emotion #as shared to the fullest y his comrade4 The #arriors no# #ithdre# to a little distance and turned their acks decorously #hile ;ualsa dressed4
To this Cushara agreed4 When ;ualsa had finished her dressing3 the t#o egan to look aout them for such o7ects as might serve in the proposed sortilege4 Cushara #ould have tossed one of the gold coins3 stamped #ith (oaraph1s image3 #hich had rolled from "iman1s torn moneyag4 &ut .oal shook his head at the suggestion3 having espied certain items #hich he thought even more e9/uisitely appropriate than the coin4 These o7ects #ere the talons of the incuus3 #hose corpse had no# d#indled in si:e and #as horrily decayed3 #ith a hideous #rinkling of the #hole head and an actual shortening of the memers4 In this process3 the cla#s of hands and feet had all dropped a#ay and #ere lying loose on the pavement4 ;emoving his helmet3 .oal stooped do#n and placed #ith it the five hellish!looking talons of the right hand3 among #hich that of the inde9 finger #as the longest4 (e shook the helmet vigorously3 as one shakes a diceo93 and there #as a sharp clattering from the cla#s4 Then he held the helmet out to Cushara3 saying5 =(e #ho dra#s the forefinger talon shall take the girl4= Cushara put in his hand and #ithdre# it /uickly3 holding aloft the heavy thumnail3 #hich #as shortest of all4 .oal dre# the nail of the middle finger6 and Cushara3 at his second trial3 rought forth the little
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finger1s cla#4 Then3 to the deep chagrin of the pike! earer3 .oal produced the dearly coveted inde9 talon4 ;ualsa3 #ho had een #atching this singular procedure #ith open curiosity3 no# said to the #arriors5 =What are ye doing>= .oal started to e9plain3 ut efore he had finished3 the girl cried out indignantly5 =Neither of ye has consulted my preference in this matter4= Then3 pouting prettily3 she turned a#ay from the disconcerted archer and flung her arms aout the neck of Cushara4
The (eath of Ilalotha &lack 'ord of ale and fear3 master of all confusion? &y thee3 thy prophet saith3 Ne# po#er is given to #i:ards after death3 )nd #itches in corruption dra# foridden reath )nd #eave such #ild enchantment and illusion )s none ut lamiae may use6 )nd through thy grace the charneled corpses lose Their horror3 and nefandous loves are lighted In noisome vaults long nighted6 )nd vampires make their sacrifice to thee < Disgorging lood as if great urns had poured Their right vermilion hoard )out the #ashed and #eltering sarcophagi4 !! 'udar1s 'itany to Thasaidon4
high ladies3 #aiting!#omen and female slaves of %antlicha3 had taken part in that prodigal deauchery #hich #as elieved to honour most fitly the deceased4 0ad songs and oscene ditties #ere sung3 and dancers #hirled in vertiginous fren:y to the lascivious pleading of untirale lutes4 Wines and li/uors #ere poured torrentially from monstrous amphorae6 the tales fumed #ith spicy meats piled in huge hummocks and forever replenished4 The drinkers offered liation to Ilalotha3 till the farics of her ier #ere stained to darker hues y the spilt vintages4 8n all sides around her3 in attitudes of disorder or prone aandonment3 lay those #ho had yielded to amorous license of the fullness of their potations4 With halfshut eyes and lips slightly parted3 in the rosy shado# cast y the catafal/ue3 she #ore no aspect of death ut seemed a sleeping empress #ho ruled impartially over the living and the dead4 This appearance3 together #ith a strange heightening of her natural eauty3 #as remarked y many5 and some said that she seemed to a#ait a lover1s kiss rather than the kisses of the #orm4 8n the third evening3 #hen the many!tongued ra:en lamps #ere lit and the rites dre# to their end3 there returned to court the 'ord Thulos3 ackno#ledged lover of @ueen %antlicha3 #ho had gone a #eek previous to visit his domain on the #estern order and had heard nothing of Ilalotha1s death4 "till una#are3 he came into the hall at that hour #hen the saturnalia egan to flag and the fallen revelers to outnumer those #ho still moved and drank and made riot4
)ccording to the custom in old Tasuun3 the ose/uies of Ilalotha3 lady!in!#aiting to the self!#ido#ed @ueen %antlicha3 had formed an occasion of much merrymaking and prolonged festivity4 +or three days3 on a ier of diverse!colored silks from the 8rient3 under a rose!hued canopy that might #ell have domed some nuptial couch3 she had lain clad #ith gala garments amid the great feasting!hall of the royal palace in 0iraa4 )out her3 from morning dusk to sunset3 from cool even to torridly glaring da#n3 the feverish tide of the funeral orgies had surged and eddied #ithout slackening4 Noles3 court officials3 guardsmen3 scullions3 astrologers3 eunuchs3 and all the
(e vie#ed the disordered hall #ith little surprise3 for such scenes #ere familiar to him from childhood4 Then3 approaching the ier3 he recogni:ed its occupant #ith a certain startlement4 )mong the numerous ladies of 0iraa #ho had dra#n his liertine affections3 Ilalotha had held s#ay longer than most6 and3 it #as said3 she had grieved more passionately over his defection than any other4 "he had een superseded a month efore y %antlicha3 #ho had sho#n favor to Thulos in no amiguous manner6 and Thulos3 perhaps3 had aandoned her not #ithout regret5 for the role of lover to the /ueen3 though advantageous and not #holly disagreeale3 #as some#hat precarious4 %antlicha3 it #as universally elieved3 had rid herself of the late King )rchain y means of a tom!discovered vial of poison that o#ed its peculiar sutlety and virulence to the art of ancient sorcerers4 +ollo#ing this act of disposal3 she had taken many lovers3 and those #ho failed to please her came invarialy to ends no less violent than that of )rchain4 "he #as e9igent3 e9oritant3 demanding a strict fidelity some#hat irksome to Thulos6 #ho3 pleading urgent affairs on his remote estate3 had een glad enough of a #eek a#ay from court4
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No#3 as he stood eside the dead #oman3 Thulos forgot the /ueen and ethought him of certain summer nights that had een honeyed y the fragrance of 7asmine and the 7asmine!#hite eauty of Ilalotha4 Even less than the others could he elieve her dead5 for her present aspect differed in no #ise from that #hich she had often assumed during their old intercourse4 To please his #him3 she had feigned the inertness and complaisance of slumer or death6 and at such times he had loved her #ith an ardor undismayed y the pantherine vehemence #ith #hich3 at other #hiles3 she #as #ont to reciprocate or invite his caresses4 0oment y moment3 as if through the #orking of some po#erful necromancy3 there gre# upon him a curious hallucination3 and it seemed that he #as again the lover of those lost nights3 and had entered that o#er in the palace gardens #here Ilalotha #aited him on a couch stre#n #ith overlo#n petals3 lying #ith osom /uiet as her face and hands4 No longer #as he a#are of the cro#ded hall5 the high! flaring lights3 the #ine!flushed faces3 had ecome a moonright parterre of dro#sily nodding lossoms3 and the voices of the courtiers #ere no more than a faint suspiration of #ind amid cypress and 7asmine4 The #arm3 aphrodisiac perfumes of the Fune night #elled aout him6 and again3 as of old3 it seemed that they arose from the person of Ilalotha no less than from the flo#ers4 -rompted y intense desire3 he stooped over and felt her cool arm stir involuntarily eneath his kiss4 Then3 #ith the e#ilderment of a sleep!#alker a#akened rudely3 he heard a voice that hissed in his ear #ith soft venom5 =(ast forgotten thyself3 my 'ord Thulos> Indeed I #onder little3 for many of my a#cocks deem that she is fairer in death than in life4= )nd3 turning from Ilalotha3 #hile the #eird spell dissolved from his senses3 he found %antlicha at his side4 (er garments #ere disarrayed3 her hair #as unound and disheveled3 and she reeled slightly3 clutching him y the shoulder #ith sharp!nailed fingers4 (er full3 poppy!crimson lips #ere curled y a vi9enish fury3 and in her long!lidded yello# eyes there la:ed the 7ealousy of an amorous cat4 Thulos3 over#helmed y a strange confusion3 rememered ut partially the enchantment to #hich he had succumed6 and he #as unsure #hether or not he had actually kissed Ilalotha and had felt her flesh /uiver to his mouth4 Verily3 he thought3 this thing could not have een3 and a #aking dream had momentarily sei:ed him4 &ut he #as trouled y the #ords of %antlicha and her anger3 and y the half! furtive drunken laughters and riald #hispers that he heard passing among the people aout the hall4
=&e#are3 my Thulos3= the /ueen murmured3 her strange anger seeming to suside6 =+or men say that she #as a #itch4= =(o# did she die> = /ueried Thulos4 =+rom no other fever than that of love3 it is rumored4= =Then3 surely3 she #as no #itch3= Thulos argued #ith a lightness that #as far from his thoughts and feelings6 =for true sorcery should have found the cure4= =It #as from love of thee3= said %antlicha darkly6 =and as all #omen kno#3 thy heart is lacker and harder than lack adamant4 No #itchcraft3 ho#ever potent3 could prevail thereon4= (er mood3 as she spoke3 appeared to soften suddenly4 =Thy asence has een long3 my lord4 Come to me at midnight5 I #ill #ait for thee in the south pavilion4= Then3 eyeing him sultrily for an instant from under drooped lids3 and pinching his arm in such a manner that her nails pierced through cloth and skin like a cat1s talons3 she turned from Thulos to hail certain of the harem!eunuchs4 Thulos3 #hen the /ueen1s attention #as disengaged from him3 ventured to look again at Ilalotha6 pondering3 mean#hile3 the curious remarks of %antlicha4 (e kne# that Ilalotha3 like many of the court!ladies3 had daled in spells and philtres6 ut her #itchcraft had never concerned him3 since he felt no interest in other charms or enchantments than those #ith #hich nature had endo#ed the odies of #omen4 )nd it #as /uite impossile for him to elieve that Ilalotha had died from a fatal passion5 since3 in his e9perience3 passion #as never fatal4 Indeed3 as he regarded her #ith confused emotions3 he #as again eset y the impression that she had not died at all4 There #as no repetition of the #eird3 half!rememered hallucination of other time and place6 ut it seemed to him that she had stirred from her former position on the #ine stained ier3 turning her face to#ard him a little3 as a #oman turns to an e9pected lover6 that the arm he had kissed *either in dream or reality, #as outstretched a little farther from her side4 Thulos ent nearer3 fascinated y the mystery and dra#n y a stranger attraction that he could not have named4 )gain3 surely3 he had dreamt or had een mistaken4 &ut even as the dout gre#3 it seemed that the osom of Ilalotha stirred in faint respiration3 and he heard an almost inaudile ut thrilling #hisper5 =Come to me at midnight4 I #ill #ait for thee444 in the tom4= )t this instant there appeared eside the catafal/ue certain people in the soer and rusty raiment of se9tons3 #ho had entered the hall silently3
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unperceived y Thulos or y any of the company4 They carried among them a thin!#alled sarcophagus of ne#ly #elded and urnished ron:e4 It #as their office to remove the dead #oman and ear her to the sepulchral vaults of her family3 #hich #ere situated in the old necropolis lying some#hat to north#ard of the palace!gardens4 Thulos #ould have cried out to restrain them from their purpose6 ut his tongue clove tightly6 nor could he move any of his memers4 Not kno#ing #hether he slept or #oke3 he #atched the people of the cemetery as they placed Ilalotha in the sarcophagus and ore her /uickly from the hall3 unfollo#ed and still unheeded y the dro#sy acchanalians4 8nly #hen the somer cortge had departed #as he ale to stir from his position y the empty ier4 (is thoughts #ere sluggish3 and full of darkness and indecision4 "mitten y an immense fatigue that #as not unnatural after his day!long 7ourney3 he #ithdre# to his apartments and fell instantly into death!deep slumer4 +reeing itself gradually from the cypress!oughs3 as if from the long3 stretched fingers of #itches3 a #aning and misshapen moon glared hori:ontally through the eastern #indo# #hen Thulos a#oke4 &y this token3 he kne# that the hour dre# to#ard midnight3 and recalled the assignation #hich @ueen %antlicha had made #ith him5 an assignation #hich he could hardly reak #ithout incurring the /ueen1s deadly displeasure4 )lso3 #ith singular clearness3 he recalled another rende:vous444 at the same time ut in a different place4 Those incidents and impressions of Ilalotha1s funeral3 #hich3 at the time3 had seemed so duitale and dream!like3 returned to him #ith a profound conviction of reality3 as if etched on his mind y some mordant chemistry of sleep444 or the strengthening of some sorcerous charm4 (e felt that Ilalotha had indeed stirred on her ier and spoken to him6 that the se9tons had orne her still living to the tom4 -erhaps her supposed demise had een merely a sort of catalepsy6 or else she had delierately feigned death in a last effort to revive his passion4 These thoughts a#oke #ithin him a raging fever of curiosity and desire6 and he sa# efore him her pale3 inert3 lu9urious eauty3 presented as if y enchantment4 Direly distraught3 he #ent do#n y the lampless stairs and hall#ays to the moonlit layrinth of the gardens4 (e cursed the untimely e9igence of %antlicha4 (o#ever3 as he told himself3 it #as more than likely that the /ueen3 continuing to imie the li/uors of Tasuun3 had long since reached a condition in #hich she #ould neither keep nor recall her appointment4 This thought reassured him5 in his /ueerly emused mind3 it soon ecame a certainty6 and he did not
hasten to#ard the south pavilion ut strolled vaguely amid the #an and somer oscage4 0ore and more it seemed unlikely that any ut himself #as aroad5 for the long3 unlit #ings of the palace spra#led as in vacant stupor6 and in the gardens there #ere only dead shado#s3 and pools of still fragrance in #hich the #inds had dro#ned4 )nd over all3 like a pale3 monstrous poppy3 the moon distilled her death!#hite slumer4 Thulos3 no longer mindful of his rende:vous #ith %antlicha3 yielded #ithout further reluctance to the urgence that drove him to#ard another goal444 Truly3 it #as no less than oligatory that he should visit the vaults and learn #hether or not he had een deceived in his elief concerning Ilalotha4 -erhaps3 if he did not go3 she #ould stifle in the shut sarcophagus3 and her pretended death #ould /uickly ecome an actuality4 )gain3 as if spoken in the moonlight efore him3 he heard the #ords she had #hispered3 or seemed to #hisper3 from the ier5 =Come to me at midnight444 I #ill #ait for thee444 in the tom4= With the /uickening steps and pulses of one #ho fares to the #arm3 petal!s#eet couch of an adored mistress3 he left the palace!grounds y an unguarded northern postern and crossed the #eedy common et#een the royal gardens and the old cemetery4 $nchilled and undismayed3 he entered those al#ays! open portals of death3 #here ghoul!headed monsters of lack marle3 glaring #ith hideously pitted eyes3 maintained their charnel postures efore the crumling pylons4 The very stillness of the lo#!osomed graves3 the rigor and pallor of the tall shafts3 the deepness of edded cypress shado#s3 the inviolacy of death y #hich all things #ere invested3 served to heighten the singular e9citement that had fired Thulos1 lood4 It #as as if he had drunk a philtre spiced #ith mummia4 )ll around him the mortuary silence seemed to urn and /uiver #ith a thousand memories of Ilalotha3 together #ith those e9pectations to #hich he had given as yet no formal image4444 8nce3 #ith Ilalotha3 he had visited the suterranean tom of her ancestors6 and3 recalling its situation clearly3 he came #ithout indirection to the lo#! arched and cedar!darkened entrance4 ;ank nettles and fetid fumitories3 gro#ing thickly aout the seldom! used adit3 #ere crushed do#n y the tread of those #ho had entered there efore Thulos6 and the rusty3 iron!#rought door sagged heavily in#ard on its loose hinges4 )t his feet there lay an e9tinguished flameau3 dropped3 no dout3 y one of the departing se9tons4 "eeing it3 he reali:ed that he had rought #ith him neither candle nor lantern for the e9ploration of the
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vaults3 and found in that providential torch an auspicious omen4 &earing the lit flameau3 he egan his investigation4 (e gave no heed to the piled and dusty sarcophagi in the first reaches of the suterrane5 for3 during their past visit3 Ilalotha had sho#n to him a niche at the innermost e9treme3 #here3 in due time3 she herself #ould find sepulture among the memers of that decaying line4 "trangely3 insidiously3 like the reath of some vernal garden3 the languid and luscious odor of 7asmine s#am to meet him through the musty air3 amid the tiered presence of the dead6 and it dre# him to the sarcophagus that stood open et#een others tightly lidded4 There he eheld Ilalotha lying in the gay garments of her funeral3 #ith half!shut eyes and half! parted lips6 and upon her #as the same #eird and radiant eauty3 the same voluptuous pallor and stillness3 that had dra#n Thulos #ith a necromantic charm4 =I kne# that thou #ouldst come3 8 Thulos3= she murmured3 stirring a little3 as if involuntarily3 eneath the deepening ardor of his kisses that passed /uickly from throat to osom444 The torch that had fallen from Thulos1 hand e9pired in the thick dust444 %antlicha3 retiring to her chamer etimes3 had slept illy4 -erhaps she had drunk too much or too little of the dark3 ardent vintages6 perhaps her lood #as fevered y the return of Thulos3 and her 7ealousy still trouled y the hot kiss #hich he had laid on Ilalotha1s arm during the ose/uies4 ) restlessness #as upon her6 and she rose #ell efore the hour of her meeting #ith Thulos3 and stood at her chamer #indo# seeking such coolness as the night air might afford4 The air3 ho#ever3 seemed heated as y the urning of hidden furnaces6 her heart appeared to s#ell in her osom and stifle her6 and her unrest and agitation #ere increased rather than diminished y the spectacle of the moon!lulled gardens4 "he #ould have hurried forth to the tryst in the pavilion6 ut3 despite her impatience3 she thought it #ell to keep Thulos #aiting4 'eaning thus from her sill3 she eheld Thulos #hen he passed amid the parterres and arors elo#4 "he #as struck y the unusual haste and intentness of his steps3 and she #ondered at their direction3 #hich could ring him only to places remote from the rende:vous she had named4 (e disappeared from her sight in the cypress!lined alley that led to the north garden!gate6 and her #onderment #as soon mingled #ith alarm and anger #hen he did not return4
It #as incomprehensile to %antlicha that Thulos3 or any man3 #ould dare to forget the tryst in his normal senses6 and seeking an e9planation3 she surmised that the #orking of some aleful and potent sorcery #as proaly involved4 Nor3 in the light of certain incidents that she had oserved3 and much else that had een rumored3 #as it hard for her to identify the possile sorceress4 Ilalotha3 the /ueen kne#3 had loved Thulos to the point of fren:y3 and had grieved inconsolaly after his desertion of her4 -eople said that she had #rought various ineffectual spells to ring him ack6 that she had vainly invoked demons and sacrificed to them3 and had made futile invultuations and death! charms against %antlicha4 In the end3 she had died of sheer chagrin and despair3 or perhaps had slain herself #ith some undetected poison444 &ut3 as #as commonly elieved in Tasuun3 a #itch dying thus3 #ith unslaked desires and frustrate cantrips3 could turn herself into a lamia vampire and procure therey the consummation of all her sorceries444 The /ueen shuddered3 rememering these things6 and rememering also the hideous and malign transformation that #as said to accompany the achievement of such ends5 for those #ho used in this manner the po#er of hell must take on the very character and the actual semlance of infernal eings4 Too #ell she surmised the destination of Thulos3 and the danger to #hich he had gone forth if her suspicions #ere true4 )nd3 kno#ing that she might face an e/ual danger3 %antlicha determined to follo# him4 "he made little preparation3 for there #as no time to #aste6 ut took from eneath her silken ed!cushion a small3 straight!laded dagger that she kept al#ays #ithin reach4 The dagger had een anointed from point to hilt #ith such venom as #as elieved efficacious against either the living or the dead4 &earing it in her right hand3 and carrying in the other a slot!eyed lantern that she might re/uire later3 %antlicha stole s#iftly from the palace4 The last lees of the evening1s #ine eed #holly from her rain3 and dim3 ghastly fears a#oke3 #arning her like the voices of ancestral phantoms4 &ut3 firm in her determination3 she follo#ed the path taken y Thulos6 the path taken earlier y those se9tons #ho had orne Ilalotha to her place of sepulture4 (overing from tree to tree3 the moon accompanied her like a #orm! hollo#ed visage4 The soft3 /uick patter of her cothurns3 reaking the #hite silence3 seemed to tear the filmy co#e pall that #ithheld from her a #orld of spectral aominations4 )nd more and more she recalled3 of those legendries that concerned such eings as Ilalotha6 and her heart #as shaken #ithin her5 for she kne# that she #ould meet no mortal
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#oman ut a thing raised up and inspirited y the seventh hell4 &ut amid the chill of these horrors3 the thought of Thulos in the lamia1s arms #as like a red rand that seared her osom4 No# the necropolis ya#ned efore %antlicha3 and her path entered the cavernous gloom of far!vaulted funereal trees3 as if passing into monstrous and shado#y mouths that #ere tusked #ith #hite monuments4 The air gre# dank and noisome3 as if filled #ith the reathing of open crypts4 (ere the /ueen faltered3 for it seemed that lack3 unseen cacodemons rose all aout her from the graveyard ground3 to#ering higher than the shafts and oles3 and standing in readiness to assail her if she #ent farther4 Nevertheless3 she came anon to the dark adit that she sought4 Tremulously she lit the #ick of the dot! eyed lantern6 and3 piercing the gross underground darkness efore her #ith its laded eam3 she passed #ith ill!sudued terror and repugnance into that aode of the dead444 and perchance of the $ndead4 (o#ever3 as she follo#ed the first turnings of the catacom3 it seemed that she #as to encounter nothing more ahorrent than charnel mold and century!sifted dust6 nothing more formidale than the serried sarcophagi that lined the deeply he#n shelves of stone6 sarcophagi that had stood silent and undistured ever since the time of their deposition4 (ere3 surely the slumer of all the dead #as unroken3 and the nullity of death #as inviolate4 )lmost the /ueen douted that Thulos had preceded her there6 till3 turning her light on the ground3 she discerned the print of his poulaines3 long!tipped and slender in the deep dust amid those foot!marks left y the rudely shod se9tons4 )nd she sa# that the footprints of Thulos pointed only in one direction3 #hile those of the others plainly #ent and returned4 Then3 at an undetermined distance in the shado#s ahead3 %antlicha heard a sound in #hich the sick moaning of some amorous #oman #as ent #ith a snarling as of 7ackals over their meat4 (er lood returned fro:en upon her heart as she #ent on#ard step y slo# step3 clutching her dagger in a hand dra#n sharply ack3 and holding the light high in advance4 The sound gre# louder and most distinct6 and there came to her no# a perfume as of flo#ers in some #arm Fune night6 ut3 as she still advanced3 the perfume #as mi9ed #ith more and more of a smothering foulness such as she had never heretofore kno#n3 and #as touched #ith the reeking of lood4
#rought sarcophagus that occupied a scant interval et#een others green #ith rust4 8ne of Thulos1 hands clutched rigidly the rim of the sarcophagus3 #hile the other hand3 moving feely3 seemed to caress a dim shape that leaned aove him #ith arms sho#ing 7asmine!#hite in the narro# eam3 and dark fingers plunging into his osom4 (is head and ody seemed ut an empty hull3 and his hand hung skeleton!thin on the ron:e rim3 and his #hole aspect #as vein!dra#n3 as if he had lost more lood than #as evident on his torn throat and face3 and in his sodden raiment and dripping hair4 +rom the thing stooping aove Thulos3 there came ceaselessly that sound #hich #as half moan and half snarl4 )nd as %antlicha stood in petrific fear and loathing3 she seemed to hear from Thulos1 lips an indistinct murmur3 more of ecstasy than pain4 The murmur ceased3 and his head hung slacklier than efore3 so that the /ueen deemed him verily dead4 )t this she found such #rathful courage as enaled her to step nearer and raise the lantern higher5 for3 even amid her e9treme panic3 it came to her that y means of the #i:ard!poisoned dagger she might still haply slay the thing that had slain Thulos4 Waveringly the light crept aloft3 disclosing inch y inch that infamy #hich Thulos had caressed in the darkness444 It crept even to the crimson!smeared #attles3 and the fanged and ruddled orifice that #as half mouth and half eak444 till %antlicha kne# #hy the ody of Thulos #as a mere shrunken hull444 In #hat the /ueen sa#3 there remained nothing of Ilalotha e9cept the #hite3 voluptuous arms3 and a vague outline of human reasts melting momently into reasts that #ere not human3 like clay molded y a demon sculptor4 The arms too egan to change and darken6 and3 as they changed3 the dying hand of Thulos stirred again and fumled #ith a caressing movement to#ard the horror4 )nd the thing seemed to heed him not ut #ithdre# its fingers from his osom3 and reached across him #ith memers stretching enormously3 as if to cla# the /ueen or fondle her #ith its driling talons4 It #as then that %antlicha let fall the lantern and the dagger3 and ran #ith shrill3 endless shriekings and laughters of immitigale madness from the vault4
) fe# paces more3 and %antlicha stood as if a demon1s arm had arrested her5 for her lantern1s light had found the inverted face and upper ody of Thulos3 hanging from the end of a urnished3 ne#!
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Zothique garden3 there had een at the royal court numerous deaths attriutale to poisoning3 and disasters that #ere plainly the sendings of a #i:ard3 together #ith the odily vanishment of peopIe #hose mundane presence no longer pleased )dompha or D#erulas4
The &ar'en of A'ompha ='ord of the sultry3 red parterres )nd orchards sunned y hell1s unsetting flame? )mid thy garden looms the Tree #hich ears $nnumered heads of demons for its fruit6 )nd3 like a slithering serpeat3 runs the root That is called &aaras6 )nd there the forky3 pale mandragoras3 "elf!torn from out the soil3 go to and fro3 Calling upon thy name5 Till man ne#!damned #ill deem that devils pass3 Crying in #rathful fren:y and strange #oe4= !'udar1s 'itany to Thasaidon
8ther tales3 of a more e9travagant kind3 #ere #hispered among the credulous4 That legend of unnatural infamy3 #hich had surrounded the king from childhood3 assumed a more hideous tinge6 and D#erulas3 #ho had reputedly een sold to te )rchdemon efore irth y his haggish mother3 ac/uired a ne# lackness of reno#n as one e9ceeding all other sorcerers in the depth and starkness of his aandonment4
It #as #ell kno#n that )dompha3 king of the #ide orient isle of "otar3 possessed amid his far!stretching palace grounds a garden secret from all men e9ccpt himself ahd the court magician3 D#erulas4 The s/uare! uilt granite #alls of the garden3 high and formidale as those of a prison3 #ere plain for all to see3 rearing aove the stately eef#ood and camphor trees3 and road plots of multi!coloured lossoms4 &ut nothing had ever een ascertained regarding its interior5 for such care as it re/uired #as given only y the #i:ard eneath )dompha1s direction6 and the t#ain spoke thereof in deep riddles that none could interpret4 The thick ra:en door responded to a mechanism #hose mystery they shared #ith none other6 and the king and D#erulas3 #hether separately or together3 visited the garden only at those hours #hen others #ere not aroad4 )nd none could verily oast that he had eheld even so much as the opening of the door4 0en said that the garden had een roofed over against the sun #ith great sheets of lead and copper3 leaving no cranny through #hich te tiniest star could peer do#n4 "ome s#ore that the privacy of its masters during their visits #as ensured y a lethean slumer #hich D#erulas3 through his magic art3 #as #ont to lay at such times upon the #hole vicinity4 ) mystery so salient could hardly fail to provoke curiosity3 and sundry different eliefs arose concerning the garden1s nature4 "ome averred that it #as filled #ith evil plants of nocturnal hait3 that yielded their s#ift and mordant poisons for )dompha1s use3 along #ith more insidious and aleful essences employed y the #arlock in the #orking of his enchantments4 "uch tales3 it seemed3 #ere perhaps not #ithout authority5 since3 fol lo#ing the construction of the closed
Waking from such slumer and such dreams as the 7uice of the lack poppy had given him3 King )dompha rose in the dead3 stagnant hours et#een moonset and da#n4 )out him the palace lay hushed like a charnel!house3 its occupants having yielded to their nightly sopor of #ine3 drugs and arrack4 )round the palace3 the gardens and the capital city of 'oith slept eneath slo# stars of #indless southern heavens4 )t this time )dompha and D#erulas #ere #ont to visit the high!#alled close #ith little fear of eing follo#ed or oserved4 )dompha #ent forth3 pausing ut riefly to turn the covert eye of his lack ron:e lantern into the lampless chamer ad7oining his o#n4 The room had een occupied y Thuloneah3 his favourite odalis/ue for the seldom!e/ualled period of eight nights6 ut he sa# #ithout surprise or disconcertion that the ed of disordered silks #as no# empty4 &y this3 he felt sure that D#erulas had preceded him to the garden4 )nd he kne#3 moreover3 that D#erulas had not gone idly or unurdened4 The grounds of the palace3 steeped every#here in unroken shado#3 appeared to maintain that secrecy #hich the king pre! ferred4 (e came to the shut ra:en door in the lankly to#ering #all6 emitting3 as he approached it3 a sharp siilation like the hissing of a cora4 In response to the rising and falling of this sound3 the door s#ung in#ards silently and closed silently ehind him4 The garden3 planted and tilled so privily3 and sealed y its metal roof from the ors of heaven3 #as illumined solely y a strange3 fiery gloe that hung in mid!air at the centre4 )dompha regarded this gloe #ith a#e3 for its nature and purveyance #ere mysterious to him4 D#erulas claimed that it had risen from hell on a moonless midnight at his idding3 and #as levitated y infernal po#er3 and fed #ith the never!dying flames of that clime in #hich the fruits of Thasaidon s#elled to unearthly si:e and enchanted
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savour4 It gave forth a sanguine light3 in #hich the garden s#am and #eltered as if seen through a luminous mist of lood4 Even in the leak nights of #inter3 the gloe yielded a genial #armth6 and it fell never from its #eird suspension3 though #ithout palpale support6 and eneath it the garden flourished alefully3 lush and e9uerant as same parterre of the nether circles4 Indeed3 the gro#ths of that garden #ere such as no terrestrial sun could have fostered3 and D#erulas said that their seed #as of like origin #ith the gloe4 There #ere pale3 ifurcated trunks that strained up#ards as if to disroot themselves from the ground3 unfolding immense leaves like the dark and ried #ings of dragons4 There #ere amaranthine lossoms3 road as salvers3 supported y arm!thick stems that tremled continually4 )nd there #ere many other #eird plants3 diverse as the seven hells3 and having no common characteristics other than the scions #hich D#erulas had grafted upon them here and there through his unnatural and necromantic art4 These scions #ere the various parts and memers of human eings4 Consumately3 and #ith never faillng success3 the magician had 7oined them to the half! vegetale3 half!animate stocks on #hich they lived and gre# thereafter3 dra#ing an ichor!like sap4 Thus #ere preserved the carefully chosen souvenirs of a multitude of persons #ho had inspired D#erulas and the king #ith distaste or ennui4 8n palmy oles3 eneath feathery!tufted foliage3 te heads of eunuchs hung in unches3 like enormous lack drupes4 ) are3 leafless creeper #as flo#ered #ith the ears of delin/uent guardsmen4 0isshapen cacti #ere fruited #ith the reasts of #omen3 or foliated #ith their hair4 Entire lims or torsos had een united #ith monstrous trees4 "ome of the huge salver!like lossoms ore palpitating hearts3 and certain smaller looms #ere centered #ith eyes that still opened and closed amid their lashes4 )nd there #ere other graftings3 too oscene or repellent for narration4 )dompha #ent for#ard among the hyrid gro#ths3 #hich stirred and rustled at his approach4 The heads appeared to crane to#ards him a little3 the ears /uivered3 the reasts shuddered lightly3 the eyes #idened or narro#ed as if #atching his progress4 These human remnants3 he kne#3 lived only #ith the sluggish life of the plants3 shared only in their su! animal activity4 (e had regarded them #ith a curious and morid esthetic pleasure3 had found in them the infallile attraction of things enormous and hypernatural4 No#3 for the first time3 he passed among them #ith a languid interest4 (e egan to apprehend
that fatal hour #hen the garden3 #ith all its novel thaumaturgies3 #ould offer no longer a refuge from his ine9orale ennui4 )t the core of the strange pleasance3 #here a circular space #as still vacant amid the cro#ding gro#ths3 )dompha came to a mound of loamy fresh! dug earth4 &eside it3 #holly nude3 and supine as if in death3 there lay the odalis/ue Thuloneah4 Near her3 various knives3 and other implements3 together #ith vials of li/uid alsams and viscid gums that D#erulas used in his grafting3 had een emptied upon the ground from a leathern ag4 ) plant kno#n as the dedaim3 #ith a ulous3 pulpy3 #hitishgreen ole from #hose centre rose and radiated several leafless reptilian oughs3 dripped upon Thuloneah1s osom an occasional drop of yello#ish!red ichor fmm incisions made in its smooth ark4 &ehind the loamy mound3 D#eruIas rose to vie# #ith the suddenness of a demon emerging from his suterrene lair4 In his hands he held the spade #ith #hich he had 7ust finished digging a deep and grave! like hole4 &eside the regal stature and girth of )dompha3 he seemed no more than a #i:ened d#arf4 (is aspect ore all the marks of immense age3 as if dusty centuries had seared his flesh and sucked the lood from his veins4 (is eyes glo#ed in the ottom of pit!like orits6 his features #ere lack and sunken as those of a long!dead corpse6 his ody #as gnarled as some millenial desert cedar4 (e stooped incessantly so that his lank knotty arms hung almost to the ground4 )dompha marvelled3 as al#ays3 at the #elI!nigh demoniac strength of those arms6 marvelled that D#erulas could have #ielded the heavy shovel so e9peditiously3 could have carried to the garden on his ack #ithout human aid the urden of those victims #hose memers he had utili:ed in his e9periments4 The king had never demeaned himself to assist at such laours6 ut3 after indicating from time to time the people #hose disappearance #ould in no #ise displease him3 had done nothing more than #atch and supervise the aro/ue gardening4 1Is she dead>1 )dompha /uestioned3 eyeing the lu9urious lims and ody of Thuloneah #ithout emotion4 1Nay31 said D#erulas3 in a voice harsh as a rusty coffin! hinge3 1ut I have administered to her the dro#sy and over!po#ering 7uice of the dedaim4 (er heart eats impalpaly3 her lood flo#s #ith the sluggishness of that mingled ichor4 "he #ill not rea#aken444 save as a part of the garden1s life3 sharing its oscure sentience4 I #ait no# your further instructions4 What portion444 or portions>1
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1(er hands #ere very deft31 said )dompha as if musing aloud3 in reply to the half!uttered /uestion 1They kne# the sutle #ays of love and #ere learned in all amorous arts4 I #ould have you preserve her hands444 ut nothing else41 The singular and magical operation had een completed4 The fair3 slim3 tapering hands of ThuIoneah3 severed cleanly at the #rists3 #ere attached #ith little mark of suture to the pale and lopped e9tremities of the t#o topmost ranches of the dedaim4 In this process the magician had employed the gums of infernal plants3 and had repeatedly invoked the curious po#ers of certain underground genii3 as #as his #ont on such occasions4 No#3 as if in suppliance3 the semi! vegetale arms reached out to#ards )dompha #ith their human hands4 The king felt a revival of his old interest in D#erulas1 horticulture3 a /ueer e9citement #oke #ithin him efore the mingled grotes/uery and eauty of the grafted plant4 )t the same time there lived again in his flesh the sutle ardours of out#orn nights444 for the hands #ere filled #ith memories4 (e had /uite forgotten Thuloneah1s ody3 lying close y #ith its maimed arms4 ;ecalled from his reverie y the sudden movement of D#erulas3 he turned and sa# the #i:ard stooping aove the unconscious girl6 #ho had not stirred during the #hole course of the operation4 &lood still flo#ed and puddled upon the dark earth from the stumps of her #rists4 D#erulas3 #ith that unnatural vigour #hich informed all his movements3 sei:ed the odalis/ue in his pipy arms and s#ung her easily aloft4 (is air #as that of a laourer resuming his unfinished task6 ut he seemed to hesitate efore casting her inio the hole that #ould serve as a grave6 #here3 through seasons #armed and illumined y the hell! dra#n gloe3 her golden3 decaying ody #ould feed the roots of that anomalous plant #hich ore her o#n hands for scions4 It #as as if he #ere loath to relin/uish his voluptuous urden4 )dompha3 #atching him curiously3 #as a#are as never efore of the stark evil and turpitude that flo#ed like an over#helming fetor from D#erulas1 hunched ody and t#isted lims4 Deeply as he himself had gone into all manner of ini/uities3 the king felt a vague revulsion4 D#erulas reminded him of a loathsome insect that he had once surprised during its ghoulish activities4 (e rememered ho# he had crushed the insect #ith a stone444 and rememering3 he conceived one of those old and sudden inspirations that had al#ays impelled him to e/ually sudden action4 (e had not3 he told himself3 entered the garden #ith any such thought5 ut the opportunity #as too urgent and too perfect to e overpassed4 The #i:ard1s ack #as turned to him for
the nonce6 the arms of the #i:ard #ere encumered #ith their heavy and pulchritudinous load4 "natching up the iron spade3 )dompha rought it do#n on the small3 #ithered head of D#erulas #ith a fair amount of #ar!like strength inherited from heroic and piratic ancestors4 The d#arf3 still carrying Thuloneah3 toppled for#ard into the deep pit4 -osing the spade for a second lo# if such should e necessary3 the king #aited6 ut there #as neither sound nor movement from the grave4 (e felt a certain surprise at having overcome #ith such ease the formidale magician3 of #hose superhuman po#ers he #as half convinced6 a certain surprise3 too3 at his o#n temerity4 Then3 reassured y his triumph3 the king ethought him that he might try an e9periment of his o#n5 since he elieved himself to have mastered much of D#erulas1 peculiar skill and lore through oservation4 The head of D#erulas #ould form a uni/ue and suitale addition to one of the garden plants4 (o#ever3 upon peering into the pit3 he #as forced to relin/uish the idea5 for he sa# that he had struck only too #ell and had reduced the sorcerer1s head to a state in #hich it #as useless for his e9periment3 since such graftings re/uired a certain integrity of the human part or memer4 ;eflecting3 not #ithout disgust3 on the unlooked!for frailty of the skulls of magicians3 #hich #ere as easily s/uashed as emus1 eggs3 )dompha egan to fill the pit #ith loam3 The prone ody of D#erulas3 the huddled form af Thuloneah eneath it3 sharing the same inertness3 #ere soon covered from vie# y the soft and dissolving clods4 The king3 #ho had gro#n to fear D#erulas in his heart3 #as a#are of a distinct relief #hen he had tamped the grave do#n very firmly and had leveled it smoothly #ith the surrounding soil4 (e told himself that he had done #ell5 for the magician1s stock of learning had come latterly to include too many royal secrets6 and po#er such as his3 #hether dra#n from nature or from occult realms3 #as never /uite compatile #ith the secure dominion and prolonged empire of kings4 )t King )dompha1s court and throughout the sea! ordering city of 'oith3 the vanishment of D#erulas ecame the cause of much speculation ut little in/uiry4 There #as a division of opinio as to #hether )dompha or the fiend Thasaidon could e thanked for so salutary a riddance6 and in conse/uence3 the king of "otar and the lord of the seven hells #ere oth feared and respected as never efore4 8nly the most redoutale of men or demons could have made a#ay #ith D#erulas3 #ho #as said to have lived through a #hole millenium never sleepiag for one night3 and cro#ding all his hours #ith ini/uities and sorceries of a su!tartarean lackness4
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+ollo#ing the inhumation of D#erulas3 a dim sentiment of fear and horror3 for #hich he could not altogether account3 had prevented the king from revisiting the sealed garden4 "miling impassively at the #ild rumours of the court3 he continued his search for novel pleasures and violent or rare sensations4 In this3 ho#ever3 he met #ith small success5 it seemed that every path3 even the most outr and tortuous3 led only to the hidden precipice of oredom4 Turning from strange loves and cruelties3 from e9travagant pomps and mad music6 from the aphrodisiac censers of far! sought lossoms3 the /uaintly shapen reasts of e9otic girls3 he recalled #ith ne# longing those semi!animate floral forms that had een endo#ed y D#erulas #ith the most provocative charms of #omen4 "o3 on a latter night3 at an hour mid#ay et#een moonfall and sunrise3 #hen all the palace and the city of 'oith #ere plunged in sodden slumer3 the king arose from eside his concuine6 and #ent forth to the garden that #as no# secret from all men e9cepting himself4 In ans#er to the cora!like siilation3 #hich alone could actuate its cunning mechanisn3 the door opened to )dompha and closed ehind him4 Even as it closed3 he gre# a#are that a singular change had come upon the garden during his asence4 &urning #ith a loodier light3 a more torrid radiation3 the mysterious air!hung gloe glared do#n as it fanned y #rathful demons6 and the plants3 #hich had gro#n e9cessively in height3 and #ere muffled and hooded #ith a heavier foliage than they had #orn priorly3 stood motionless amid an atmosphere that #as like the heated reath of some crimson hell4 )dompha hesitated3 doutful of the meaning of these changes4 +or a moment he thought of D#erulas3 and recalled #ith a slight shiver certain une9plained prodigies and necromantic feats performed y the #i:ard444 &ut he had slain D#erulas and had uried him #ith his o#n royal hands4 The #a9ing heat and radiance of that gloe3 the e9cessive gro#th of the garden3 #ere no dout due to some uncontrolled natural process4 (eld y a strong curiosity3 the king inhaled the giddying perfumes that came to assail his nostrils4 The light da::led his eyes filling them #ith /ueer3 unheard! of colours6 the heat smote upon him as if from a nether solstice of infernal summer4 (e thought that he heard voices3 almost inaudile at first3 ut mounting anon to a half!articulate murmur that seduced his ear #ith unearthly s#eetness4 )t the same time he seemed to ehold amid the stirless vegetation3 in flashing glimpses3 the half!veiled lims of dancing ayaderes6 lims that he could not identify #ith any of the graftings made y D#erulas4
Dra#n y the charm of mystery and sei:ed y a vague into9ication3 the king #ent for#ard into the hell!orn layrinth4 The plants recoiled gently #hen he neared them3 and dre# ack on either side to permit his passage4 )s if in aroreal mas/uerade3 they seemed to hide their human scions ehind the mantles of their ne#!gro#n leafage4 Then3 closing ehind )dompha3 they appeared to cast off their disguise3 revealing #ilder and more anomalous fusions than he had rememered4 They changed aout him from instant to instant like shapes of delirium3 so that he #as never /uite sure ho# much of their semlance #as tree and flo#er3 ho# much #as #oman and man4 &y turns he eheld a s#inging of convulsed foliage3 a commotion of riotous lims and odies4 Then3 y some undiscerned transition3 it seemed that they #ere no longer rooted in the groud ut #ere moving aout him on dim3 fantastic feet in ever! s#iftening circles3 like the dancers of some e#ildering festival4 )round and around )dompha raced the forms that #ere oth floral and human6 till the di::y madness of their motion s#irled #ith an e/ual vertigo through his rain4 (e heard the soughing of a storm!driven forest3 together #ith a clamouring of familiar voices that called him y name3 that cursed or supplicated3 mocked or e9horted3 in myriad tones of #arrior3 councillor3 slave3 courtling3 castrado or leman4 8ver all3 the sanguine gloe la:ed do#n #ith an ever! rightening and more aleful effulgence3 an ardour that ecame al#ays more insupportale4 It #as as if the #hole life of the garden turned and rose and flamed ecstatically to some infernal culmination4 King )dompha had lost all memory of D#erulas and his dark magic4 In his senses urned the ardour of the hell!risen or3 and he seemed to share the delirious motion and ecstasy of those oscure shapes y #hich he #as surrounded4 ) mad ichor mounted in his hod6 efore him hovered the vague images of pleasures e had never kno#n or suspected5 pleasures in #hich he #auld pass far eyond the ordained limits of mortal sensation4 Then3 amid that #hirling fantasmagoria3 he heard the screeching of a voice that #as harsh as some rusty hinge on the lifted lid of a sarcophagus4 (e could not understand the #ords5 ut3 as if a spell of stillness had een uttered3 the #hole garden resumed immediately a hushed and hodded aspect4 The king stood in a very stupor5 far the voice had een that of D#erulas? (e looked aout him #ildly3 ema:ed and e#ildered3 seeing only the still plants #ith their mantling of profuse leafage4 &efore him to#ered a gro#th #hich he somehe# recogni:ed as the dedaim3 though its ul!shaped ole and elongated
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ranches had put forth a matted!nass of dark3 hair! like filaments4 Very slo#ly and gently3 the t#o topmost ranches of the dedaim descended till their tips #ere level #ith )dompha1s face4 The slender3 tapering hands of Thuloneah emerged from their foliage and egan to caress the king1s cheeks #ith that loverlike adroitness #hich he still rememered4 )t the same moment3 he sa# the thick hairy matting fall apart upon the road and flattish top of the dedaim1s ole6 and from it3 as if rearing from hunched shoulders3 the small3 #i:ened head of D#erulas rose up3 to confront him444 "till ga:ing in vacuous horror at the crushed and lood!clotted cranium3 at the features seared and lackened as if y centuries3 at the eyes that glo#ed in dark pits like emers lo#n y demons3 )dompha had the confused impression of a multitude of people that hurled themselves upon him from every side4 There #ere no longer any trees in that garden of mad minglings and sorcerous transformations4 )out him in the fiery air s#am faces that he recalled only too #ell5 faces no# contorted #ith rage4 and the lethal lust of revenge4 Through an irony #hich D#erulas alone could have conceived3 the soft fingers of Thuloneah continued to caress him3 #hile he felt the clutching of numerless hands that tore all his garments into rags and shredded all his flesh #ith their nails4
Zothique (e #ho has trod the shado#s of .othi/ue )nd looked upon the coal!red sun oli/ue3 (enceforth returns to no anterior land3 &ut haunts a later coast Where cities crumle in the lack sea!sand )nd dead gods drink the rine4
8n far!poured oceans y the shifted moon 8r the re!shapen "ign4
The :aster of the Cra/s I rememer that I grumled a little #hen 0ior 'umivi9 a#akened me4 The past evening had een a tedious one #ith its unpleasant familiar vigil3 during #hich I had nodded often4 +rom sunfall till the setting of "corpio3 #hich occurred #ell after midnight at that season3 it had een my duty to tend the gradual inspissation of a decoction of scaras3 much favored y 0ior 'umivi9 in the compounding of his most re/uested love!potions4 (e had #arned me often that this li/uor must e thickened neither too slo#ly nor too rapidly3 y maintaining an even fire in the athanor3 and had cursed me more than once for spoiling it4 Therefore3 I did not yield to my dro#siness till the decoction #as safely decanted and strained thrice through the sieve of perforated sharkskin4 Taciturn eyond his #ont3 the 0aster had retired early to his chamer4 I kne# that something trouled him6 ut #as too tired for overmuch con7ecture3 and had not dared to /uestion him4 It seemed that I had not slept for more than the period of a fe# pulse!eats < and here #as the 0aster thrusting the yello#!slotted eye of his lantern into my face and dragging me from the pallet4 I kne# that I should not sleep again that night5 for the 0aster #ore his one!horned hat3 and his cloak #as girdled tightly aout him3 #ith the ancient arthame depending from the girdle in its shagreen sheath that time and the hands of many magicians had lackened4 1)ortion fathered y a sloth? 1 he cried4 1"uckling of a so# that has eaten mandragora? Would you slumer till doomsday> We must hurry5 I have learned that "arcand has procured the chart of 8mvor and has gone forth alone to the #harv1es4 No dout he means to emark in /uest of the temple!treasure4 We must follo# /uickly for much time has already een lost41
(e #ho has kno#n the gardens of .othi/ue Were leed the fruits torn y the simorgh1s eak3 "avors no fruit of greener hemispheres5 In arors uttermost3 In sunset cycles of the somering years3 (e sips an amaranth #ine4 (e #ho has loved the #ild girls of .othi/ue "hall not come ack a gentler love to seek3 Nor kno# the vampire1s from the lover1s kiss5 +or him the scarlet ghost 8f 'ilith from time1s last necropolis ;ears amorous and malign4 (e #ho has sailed in galleys of .othi/ue )nd seen the looming of strange spire and peak3 0ust face again the sorcerer!sent typhoon3 )nd take the steerer1s post
I rose no# #ithout further demur and dressed myself e9peditiously3 kno#ing #ell the urgency of this matter4 "arcand3 #ho had ut lately come to the city of 0irouane3 had already made himself the most formidale of all my master1s competitors4 It #as said that he #as native to Naat3 amid the somre #estern ocean3 having een egotten y a sorcerer of that isle on a #oman of the lack cannials #ho d#ell eyond its middle mountains4 (e comined his mother1s savage nature #ith the dark necromantic craft of his father6 and3 moreover3 had ac/uired much
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duious kno#ledge and repute in his travels through orient kingdoms efore settling in 0irouane4 The faulous chart of 8mvor3 dating from lost ages3 #as a thing that many generations of #i:ards had dreamt to find4 8mvor3 an ancient pirate still reno#ned3 had performed successfully a feat of impious rashness4 "ailing up a closely guarded estuary y night #ith his small cre# disguised as priests in stolen temple!arges3 he had looted the fane of the 0oon!God in +araad and had carried a#ay many of its virgins3 together #ith gems3 gold3 altar!vessels3 talismans3 phylacteries and ooks of eldritch elder magic4 These ooks #ere the gravest loss of all3 since even the priests had never dared to copy them4 They #ere uni/ue and irreplaceale3 containing the erudition of uried aeons4 8mvor1s feat had given rise to many legends4 (e and his cre# and the ravished virgins3 in t#o small rigantines3 had vanished ultimately amid the #estern seas4 It #as elieved that they had een caught y the &lack ;iver3 that terrile ocean!stream #hich pours #ith an irresistile s#iftening eyond Naat to the #orld1s end4 &ut efore that final voyage3 8mvor had lightened his vessels of the looted treasure and had made a chart on #hich the location of its hiding! place #as indicated4 This chart he had given to a former comrade #ho had gro#n too old for voyaging4 No man had ever found the treasure4 &ut it #as said that the chart still e9isted throughout the centuries3 hidden some#here no less securely than the loot of the 0oon!God1s temple4 8f late there #ere rumors that some sailor3 inheriting it from his father3 had rought the map to 0irouane4 0ior 'umivi93 through agents oth human and preterhuman3 had tried vainly to trace the!sailor6 kno#ing that "arcand had the other #i:ards of the city #ere also seeking him4 This much #as kno#n to me6 and the 0aster told me more #hile3 at his idding3 I collected hastily such provisions as #ere needed for a voyage of several days4 1I had #atched "arcand like an osprey #atching its nest31 he said4 10y familiars told me that he had found the chart1s o#ner3 and had hired some thief to steal it6 ut they could tell me little else4 Even the eyes of my devil!cat3 peering through his #indo#s3 #ere affled y the cuttle!fish darkness #ith #hich his magic surrounds him at #ill4 1Tonight I did a dangerous thing3 since there #as no other #ay4 Drinking the 7uice of the purple dedaim3 #hich induces profound trance3 I pro7ected my ka into his elemental!guarded chamer4 The elementals kne# my presence3 they gathered aout me in
shapes of fire and shado#3 menacing me unspeakaly4 They opposed me3 they drove me forth444 ut I had seen < enough41 The 0aster paused3 idding me gird myself #ith a consecrated magic s#ord3 similar to his o#n ut of less anti/uity3 #hich he had never efore allo#ed me to #ear4 &y this time I had gathered together the re/uired provision of food and drink3 storing it in a strong fish!net that I could carry easily over my shoulder y the handle4 The net #as one that #as used mainly for catching certain sea!reptiles3 from #hich 0ior 'umivi9 e9tracted a venom possessing uni/ue virtue4 It #as not till #e had locked all the portals3 and had plunged into the dark sea#ard!#inding streets3 that the 0aster resumed his account5 1) man #as leaving "arcand1s chamer at the moment of my entrance4 I sa# him riefly3 ere the lack arras parted and closed6 ut I shall kno# him again4 (e #as young and plump3 #ith po#erful sine#s under the plumpness3 #ith slanted s/uinting eyes in a girlish face and the s#art yello# skin of a man from the southern isles4 (e #ore the short reeks and ankle! topping oots of a mariner3 eing other#ise naked4 1"arcand #as sitting #ith his ack half!turned3 holding an unrolled sheet of papyrus3 yello# as the sailor1s face3 to that evil3 four!horned lamp #hich he feeds #ith coras1 oil4 The lamp glared like a ghoul1s eye4 &ut I looked over his shoulder 444 long enough444 efore his demons could hurry me from the room4 The papyrus #as indeed the chart of 8mvor4 It #as stiff #ith age3 and stained #ith lood and sea!#ater4 &ut its title and purpose and appellations #ere still legile3 though inscried in an archaic script that fe# can read no#adays4 1It sho#ed the #estern shore of the continent .othi/ue3 and the seas eyond4 )n isle lying due #est#ard from 0irouane #as indicated as the urial! place of the treasure4 It #as named the Island of Cras on the chart5 ut plainly it is none other than the one no# called Irios #hich3 though seldom visited3 lies at a distance of only t#o days1 voyaging4 There are no other islands #ithin a hundred leagues3 either north or south3 e9cepting a fe# desolate rocks and small atolls41 $rging me to greater haste3 0ior 'umivi9 continued5 1I #oke too tardily from the s#oon induced y the dedaim4 ) lesser adept #ould never have a#akened at all4 10y familiars #arned me that "arcand had left his house a full hour ago4 (e #as prepared for a 7ourney3
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and #ent #harf#ard4 &ut #e #ill overtake him4 I think that he #ill go #ithout companions to Irios3 desiring to keep the treasure #holly secret4 (e is indeed strong and terrile3 ut his demons are of a kind that cannot cross #ater3 eing entirely earthound4 (e has left them ehind #ith moiety of his magic4 (ave no fear for the outcome41 The #harves #ere still and almost deserted3 e9cept for a fe# sleeping sailors #ho had succumed to the rank #ine and arrack of the taverns4 $nder the late moon3 that had curved and sharpened to a slim scimitar3 #e unmoored our oat and pushed a#ay3 the 0aster holding the tiller3 #hile I ent my shoulders to the road!laded oars4 Thus #e threaded the huddled ma:e of far!gathered ships3 of 9eecs and galleys3 of river!arges and sco#s and feluccas3 that thronged that immemorial haror4 The sluggish air3 hardly stirring our tall lateen sail3 #as pregnant #ith sea!smells3 #ith the reek of laden fishing!oats and the spices of e9otic cargoes4 None hailed us6 and #e heard only the calling of #atchmen on shado#y decks3 proclaiming the hour in outlandish tongues4 8ur oat3 though small and open3 #as stoutly uilt of orient eef!#ood4 "harply pro#ed and deeply keeled3 #ith high ul#arks3 it had proven itself sea#orthy even in tempests such as #ere not to e apprehended at this season4 &lo#ing over 0irouane3 from fields and orchards and desert kingdoms3 a #ind freshened ehind us as #e cleared the haror4 It stiffened3 till the sail ellied like a dragon1s #ing4 The furro#s of foam curved high eside our sharp pro#3 as #e follo#ed Capricornus do#n the #est4 +ar out on the #aters efore us3 in the dim moonlight3 something seemed to move3 to dance and #aver like a phantom4 -erhaps it #as "arcand1s oat444 or another1s4 Doutlcss3 the 0aster also sa# it6 ut he said only5 12ou may sleep no#41 "o I3 0anthar the apprentice3 composed myself to slumer3 #hile 0ior 'umivi9 steered on3 and the starry hooves and horns of the Goat sank sea#ard4 The sun #as high aove our stern #hen I a#akened4 The #ind still le#3 strong and favorale3 driving us into the #est #ith unaated speed4 We had passed eyond sight of the shore!line of .othi/ue4 The sky #as void of clouds3 the sea vacant of any sail3 unrolling efore us like a vast scroll of sonre a:ure3 lined only #ith the shifting and fading foamcrests4 The day #ent y3 eing eyond the still!empty hori:on6 and night overtook us like the heaven!lotting
purple sail of a god3 se#n #ith the "igns and planets4 The night too #ent over3 and a second da#n4 )ll this time3 #ithout sleeping3 the 0aster had steered the oat3 #ith eyes peering implacaly #est#ard like those of an ocean!ha#k6 and I #ondered greatly at his endurance4 No# for a#hile he slept3 sitting upright at the helm4 &ut it seemed that his eyes #ere still vigilant ehiad their lids6 and his hand still held the rudder straight3 #ithout slackening4 In a fe# hours the 0aster opened his eyes6 ut hardly stirred from the posture he maintained throughout4 (e had spoken little during our voyage4 I did not /uestion him3 kno#ing that he #ould tell me #hatever #as needed at the due time4 &ut I #as full of curiosities6 and #as not #ithout fear and dout regarding "arcand3 #hose rumored necromancies might #ell have dismayed others than a mere novice4 I could surmise nothing of the 0aster1s thoughts3 e9cept that they concerned dark and esoteric matters4 (aving slept for the third time since our emarkment3 I #as roused y the 0aster crying loudly4 In the dimness of the third da#n3 an island to#ered efore us3 impending #ith 7agged cliffs and 7otting crags3 and arring the sea for several leagues to north#ard and south#ard4 It #as shaped some#hat like a monster3 facing north4 Its head #as a high!horned promontory3 dipping a great griffin!like eak in the ocean4 1This is Irios31 the 0aster told me4 1The sea is strong aout it3 #ith strange tides and perilous currents4 There are no landing!places on this side3 and #e must not venture too close4 We must round the northern headland4 There is a small cove amid the #estern cliffs3 entered only through a sea!cavern4 It is there that the treasure lies41 We tacked north#ard slo#ly and deviously against the #ind3 at a distance of three or four o#!shots from the island4 )s our sea!craft #as re/uired to make progress5 for the #ind strengthened #ildly3 as if s#ollen y the reath of devils4 )ove its ho#ling #e heard the surf1s clamor upon those monstrous rocks that rose are and gaunt from cerements of foam4 1The isle is unpeopled31 said 0ior 'umivi94 1It is shunned y sailors and even y the sea!fo#l4 0en say that the curse of the maritime gods #as laid upon it long ago3 foridding it to any ut the creatures of the sumarine deep4 Its coves and caverns are haunted y cras and octopi444 and perhaps y stranger things41 We sailed on in a tedious serpentine course3 eaten ack at times or orne perilously shore#ard y the shifting gusts that opposed us like evil demons4 The sun
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climed in the orient3 shining starkly do#n on the desolation of crags and scarps that #as Irios4 "till #e tacked and veered6 and I seemed to sense the eginning of a strange unease in the 0aster4 &ut of this3 if such there #as3 his manner etrayed no sign4 It #as almost noon #hen #e rounded at last the long eak of the northern promontory4 There3 #hen #e turned southerly3 the #ind fell in a #eird stillness3 and the sea #as miraculously calmed as if y #i:ard oils4 8ur sail hung limp and useless aove mirror!like #aters3 in #hich it seemed that the oat1s reflected image and ours3 unroken3 moveless3 might float forever amid the unchanging reflection of the monstershapen isle4 We oth egan to ply the oars6 ut even thus the oat cra#led #ith a singular slo#ness4 I oserved the isle strictly as #e passed along3 noting several inlets #here3 to all appearance3 a vessel could have landed readily4 1There is much danger here31 said 0ior 'umivi93 #ithout elucidating his statement4 )gain3 as #e continued3 the cliffs ecame a #all that #as roken only y rifts and chasms4 They #ere cro#ned in places y a sparse3 funereal!colored vegetation that hardly served to soften their formidale aspect4 (igh up in the clefted rocks3 #here it seemed that no natural tide or tempest could have flung them3 I oserved the scattered spars and timers of anti/ue vessels4 1;o# closer31 en7oined the 0aster4 1We are nearing the cavern that leads to the hidden inlet41 Even as #e veered land#ard through the crystalline calm3 there #as a sudden seething and riffling aout us3 as if some monster had risen eneath4 The oat egan to shoot #ith plummet!like speed to#ard the cliffs3 the sea foaming and streaming all around as though some kraken #ere dragging us to its caverned lair4 &orne like a leaf on a cataract3 #e toiled vainly #ith straining oars against the ineluctale current4 (eaving higher momentarily3 the cliffs seemed to shear the heavens aove us3 unscalale3 #ithout ledge or foothold4 Then3 in the sheer #all3 appeared the lo#3 road arch of a cavern!mouth that #e had not discerned heretofore3 to#ard #hich the oat #as dra#n #ith dreadful s#iftness4 1It is the entrance? 1 cried the 0aster4 1&ut some #i:ard tide has flooded it41 We shipped our useless oars and crouched do#n ehind the th#arts as #e neared the opening5 for it seemed that the lo#ness of the arch #ould afford are passage to our high!uilt pro#4 There #as no
time to unstep the mast3 #hich roke instantly like a reed as #e raced on #ithout slackening into lind torrential darkness4 (alf!stunned3 and striving to e9tricate myself from the fallen3 spar!#eighted sail3 I felt the chillness of #ater splashing aout me and kne# that the oat #as filling and sinking4 ) moment more3 and the #ater #as in my ears and eyes and nostrils5 ut even as I sank and dro#ned there #as still the sense of s#ift on#ard motion4 Then it seemed dimly that arms #ere around me in the strangling darkness6 and I rose suddenly3 choking and gasping and spe#ing3 into sunlight4 When I had rid my lungs of the rine and regained my senses more fully3 I found that 0ior 'umivi9 and I #ere floating in a small haven3 shaped like a half!moon3 and surrounded y crags and pinnacles of sullen! colored rock4 Close y3 in a sheer3 straight #all3 #as the inner mouth of the cavern through #hich the mysterious current had carried us3 #ith faint ripples spreading around it and fading a#ay into #ater smooth and green as a platter of 7ade4 8pposite3 on the haven1s farther side3 #as the long curve of a shelving each stre#n #ith oulders and drift#ood4 ) oat resemling ours3 #ith an unshipped mast and a furled sail the color of fresh lood3 #as moored to the each4 Near it3 from the shoaling #ater3 protruded the roken!off mast of another oat3 #hose sunken outlines #e discerned oscurely4 T#o o7ects #hich #e took for human figures #ere lying half in and half out of the shallo#s a little farther along the strand4 )t that distance #e could hardly kno# #hether they #ere living men or cadavers4 Their contours #ere half! hidden y #hat seemed a curious sort of ro#nish! yello# drapery that trailed a#ay amid the rocks3 appearing to move and shift and #aver incessantly4 1There is mystery here31 said 0ior 'umivi9 in a lo# voice4 1We must proceed #ith care and circumspection41 We s#am ashore at the near end of the each3 #here it narro#ed like the tip of a crescent moon to meet the sea!#all4 Taking his arthame from its sheath the 0aster #iped it dry #ith the hem of his cloak3 idding me do like#ise #ith my o#n #eapon lest the rine corrode it4 Then3 hiding the #i:ard lades eneath our raiment3 #e follo#ed the roadening each to#ard the moored oat and the t#o reclining figures4 1This is indeed the place of 8mvor1s chart31 oserved the 0aster4 1The oat #ith the lood!red sail elongs to "arcand4 No dout he has found the cave3 #hich lies hidden some#here among the rocks4 &ut #ho are these others> I do not think that they came #ith "arcand41
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)s #e neared the figures3 the appearance of a yello#ishro#n drapery that covered them resolved itself in its true nature4 It consisted of a great numer of cras #ho #ere cra#ling over their half!sumerged odies and running to and fro ehind a heap of immense oulders4
aove3 through #hich3 at this hour3 the direct rays of the sun slanted in3 falling goldenly on the cavern1s foreground and tipping #ith light the great fangs of stalactites and stalagmites in the gloom eyond4 )t one side #as a pool of #ater3 fed y a thin rill from a spring that dripped some#here in the darkness4
We #ent for#ard and stopped over the odies3 from #hich the cras #ere usily detaching morsels of loody flesh4 8ne of the odies lay on its face6 the other stared #ith half!eaten features at the sun4 Their skin3 or #hat remained of it3 #as a s#arthy yello#4 &oth #ere clad in short purple reeks and sailor1s oots3 eing other#ise naked4
With the shafted splendor shining full upon him3 "arcand reposed half!sitting3 half!recument3 #ith his ack against an open chest of age!darkened ron:e4 (is huge eon!lack ody3 po#erfully muscled though inclining to#ard corpulence3 #as nude e9cept for a necklace of ruies3 each the si:e of a plover1s egg3 that depended aout his throat4 (is crimson sarong3 strangely tattered3 ared his legs as they lay outstretched amid the cavern1s ruie4 The right leg had manifestly een roken some#here elo# the knee3 for it #as rudely ound #ith splints of drift#ood and strips torn from the sarong4
1What hellishness is this>1 in/uired the 0aster4 1These men are ut ne#ly dead < and already the cras rend them4 "uch creatures are #ont to #ait for the softening of decomposition4 )nd look < they do not even devour the morsels they have torn3 ut ear them a#ay41 This indeed #as true3 for I sa# no# that a constant procession of cras departed from the odies3 each carrying a shred of flesh3 to vanish eyond the rocks6 #hile another procession came3 or perhaps returned3 #ith empty pincers4 1I think31 said 0ior 'umivi93 1that the man #ith the upturned face is the sailor that I sa# leaving "arcand1s room6 the thief #ho had stolen the chart for "arcand from its o#ner41 In my horror and disgust I had picked up a fragment of rock and #as aout to crush some of the hideously laden cras as they cra#led a#ay from the corpses4 1Nay31 the 0aster stayed me3 1let us follo# them41 ;ounding the great heap of oulders3 #e sa# that the t#ofold procession entered3 and emerged from3 the mouth of a cavern that had heretofore een hidden from vie#4 With hands tightening on the hilts of our arthames3 #e #ent cautiously and circumspectly to#ard the cavern and paused a little short of its entrance4 +rom this vantage3 ho#ever3 nothing #as visile #ithin e9cept the lines of cra#ling cras4 1Enter? 1 cried a sonorous voice that seemed to prolong and repeat the #ord in far!receding revererations3 like the voice of a ghoul echoing in some profound sepulchral vault4 The voice #as that of the sorcerer "arcand4 The 0aster looked at me3 #ith #hole volumes of #arning in his narro#ed eyes and #e entered the cavern4 The place #as high!domed and of indeterminale e9tent4 'ight #as afforded y a great rift in the vault
"arcand1s cloak of la:uli!colored silk #as outspread eside him4 It #as stre#n #ith graven gems and amulets3 #ith gold coins and 7e#el!crusted altar! vessels3 that (ashed and glittered amid volumens of parchments and papyrus4 ) ook #ith lack metal covers lay open as if ne#ly put aside3 sho#ing illuminations dra#n in fiery ancient inks4 &eside the ook3 #ithin reach of "arcand1s fingers3 #as a mound of ra# and loody shreds4 8ver the cloak3 over the coins and scrolls and 7e#els3 cra#led the incoming lines of cras3 each of #hich added its torn! off morsel to the mound and then crept on to 7oin the outgoing column4 I could #ell elieve the tales regarding "arcand1s ancestry4 indeed3 it seemed that he favored his mother entirely5 for his hair and features as #ell as his skin #ere those of the Negro cannials of Naat as I had seen them depicted in travelers1 dra#ings4 (e fronted us inscrutaly3 his arms crossed on his osom4 I noticed a great emerald shining darkly on the inde9 finger of his right hand4 1I kne# that you #ould follo# me31 he said3 1even as I kne# that the thief and his companion #ould follo#4 )ll of you have thought to slay me and take the treasure4 It is true that I have suffered an in7ury5 a fragment of loosened rock fell from the cavern!roof3 reaking my leg as I ent over to inspect the treasures in the opened chest4 I must lie here till the one has knit4 In the mean#hile I am #ell armed444 and #ell served and guarded41 1We came to take the treasure31 replied 0ior 'umivi9 directly4 1I had thought to slay you3 ut only in fair comat3 man to man and #i:ard to #i:ard3 #ith none
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ut my neophyte 0anthar and the rocks of Irios for #itness41 1)ye3 and your neophyte is also armed #ith an arthame4 (o#ever3 it matters little4 I shall feast on your liver3 0ior 'umivi93 and #a9 stronger y such po#er of sorcery as #as yours41 This the 0aster appeared to disregard4 1What foulness have you con7ured no#>1 he in/uired sharply3 pointing to the cras #ho #ere still depositing their morsels on the grisly mound4 "arcand held aloft the hand on #hose inde9 finger gleamed the immense emerald3 set3 as #e no# perceived3 in a ring that #as #rought #ith the tentacles of a kraken clasping the orlike gem4 1I found this ring amid the treasure31 he oasted4 1It #as closed in a cylinder of unkno#n metal3 together #ith a scroll that informed me of the ring1s uses and its mighty magic4 It is the signet!ring of &asatan3 the sea! god4 (e #ho looks long and deeply into the emerald may ehold distant scenes and happenings at #ill4 (e #ho #ears the ring can e9ert control over the #inds and currents of the sea and over the sea1s creatures3 y descriing certain signs in air #ith his finger41
1-erhaps you have already inferred #hatever else I might tell you4 )t any rate the kno#ledge #ill perish #ith you very shortly4 1)fter learning the uses of the ring I #as ale to #atch the seas round Irios in the 7e#el4 'ying here #ith my shattered leg3 I sa# the approach of the thief and his fello#4 I called up the sea!current y #hich their oat #as dra#n into the flooded cavern3 sinking s#iftly4 They #ould have s#um ashore5 ut at my command the cras in the haven dre# them under and dro#ned them6 letting the tide each their corpses later444 That cursed thief? I had paid him #ell for the stolen chart3 #hich he #as too ignorant to read3 suspecting only that i t concerned a treasure!trove444 1"till later I trapped you in the same fashion3 after delaying you a#hile #ith contrary #inds and an adverse calm4 I have preserved you3 ho#ever3 for another doom than dro#ning41 The voice of the necromancer sank a#ay in profound echoes3 leaving a silence fraught #ith insufferale suspense4 It seemed that #e stood amid the gaping of undiscovered gulfs3 in a place of a#ful darkness3 lit only y the eyes of "arcand and the ring1s talismanic 7e#el4
While "arcand spoke it seemed that the green 7e#el rightened and darkened and deepened strangely3 like a tiny #indo# #ith all the sea1s mystery and immensity lying eyond4 Enthralled and entranced3 I forgot the circumstances of our situation5 for the 7e#el s#elled upon my vision3 lotting from vie# the lack fingers of "arcand3 #ith a s#irling as of tides and of shado#y fins and tentacles far do#n in its glimmering greenness4
The spell that had fallen upon me #as roken y the cold ironic tones of the 0aster5
1&e#are3 0anthar31 the 0aster murmured in my ear4 1We face a dreadful magic3 and must retain the command of all our faculties4 )vert your eyes from the emerald41
"o saying3 he raised his hand and descried a peculiar sign #ith the inde9 finger3 on #hich the ring flashed like a circling or4 The doule column of cras suspended their cra#ling for a moment4 Then3 moved as if y a single impulse3 they egan to scuttle to#ard us3 #hile others appeared from the cavern1s entrance and from its inner recesses to s#ell their rapidly gro#ing numers4 They surged upon us #ith a speed eyond elief3 assailing our ankles and shins #ith their knife!sharp pincers as if animated y demons4 I stooped over3 striking and thrusting #ith my arthame6 ut the fe# that I crushed in this manner #ere replaced y scores6 #hile others3 catching the hem of my cloak3 egan to clim it from ehind and #eigh it do#n4 Thus encumered3 I lost my footing on the slippery ground and fell ack#ard amid the scuttling multitude4
I oeyed the dimly heard #hisper4 The vision d#indled a#ay3 vanishing s#iftly3 and the form and features of "arcand returned4 (is luer lips #ere curved in a road sardonic grin3 sho#ing his strong #hite teeth that #ere pointed like those of a shark4 (e dropped the huge hand that #ore the signet of &asatan3 plunging it into the chest ehind him and ringing it forth filled #ith many!tinted gems3 #ith pearls3 opals3 sapphires3 loodstones3 diamonds3 chatoyants4 These he let drile in a flashing rill from his fingers3 as he resumed his peroration5 1I preceded you to Irios y many hours4 It #as kno#n to me that the outer cavern could e entered safely only at lo# tide3 #ith an unstepped mast4
1"arcand3 there is another sorcery that you have not mentioned41 "arcand1s laughter #as like the sound of a mounting surf4 1I follo# the custom of my mother1s people6 and the cras serve me #ith that #hich I re/uire3 summoned and constrained y the sea!god1s ring41
'ying there #hile the cras poured over me like a seething #ave3 I sa# the 0aster shed his urdened
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cloak and cast it aside4 Then3 #hile the spell!dra#n army still esieged him3 climing upon each other1s acks and scaling his very knees and thighs3 he hurled his arthame #ith a strange circular motion at the upraised arm of "arcand4 "traightly the lade fle#3 revolving like a disk of rightness6 and the hand of the lack necromancer #as sundered cleanly at the #rist3 and the ring flashed on its inde9 finger like a falling star as it fell ground#ard4 &lood spouted in a fountain from the handless #rist3 #hile "arcand sat as in a stupor3 maintaining for a rief instant the gesture of his con7uration4 Then his arm dropped to his side and the lood rilled out upon the littered cloak3 spreading s#iftly amid the gems and coins and volumens3 and staining the mound of cra! deposited morsels4 )s if the arm1s movement had een another signal3 the cras fell a#ay from the 0aster and myself and s#armed in a long3 innumerale tide to#ard "arcand4 They covered his legs3 they climed his great torso3 they scramled for place on his escaladed shoulders4 (e tore them a#ay #ith his one hand3 roaring terrile curses and imprecations that rolled in countless echoes throughout the cavern4 &ut the cras still assailed him as if driven y some demoniac fren:y6 and lood trickled forth more and more copiously from the small #ounds they had made3 to suffuse their pincers and streak their shells #ith roadening rillets of crimson4 It seemed that long hours #ent y #hile the 0aster and I stood #atching4 )t last the prostrate thing that #as "arcand had ceased to heave and toss under the living shroud that ens#athed it4 8nly the splint! ound leg and the lopped!off hand #ith the ring of &asatan remained untouched y the loathsomely usied cras4 1+augh? 1 the 0aster e9claimed4 1(e left his devils ehind #hen he came here6 ut he found others444 It is time that #e #ent out for a #alk in the sun4 0anthar3 my good luerly apprentice3 I #ould have you uild a fire of drift#ood on the each4 -ile on the fuel #ithout sparing3 to make a ed of coals deep and hot and red as the hearth of hell3 in #hich to roast us a do:en cras4 &ut e careful to choose the ones that have come freshly from the sea41
:an'or;s Enem* 67ra+ment8 To 0andor3 son of +amorgh3 and si9tieth king of Tasuun3 there came in the latter days of his tyranny the consort he had neither desired nor e9pected3 to sit hencefor#ard eside him on his throne3 and to share his ed and his tale4 The consort #as fear6 and it seemed al#ays that the fear spoke in#ardly3 #ith a
small3 shrill voice like the hissing of an adder3 saying5 =Thou hast an enemy4= No# the foes of a tyrannous king are many6 and #ith such as #ere kno#n to him 0andor had dealt strictly3 as a tyrant deals3 glutting the torture chamers and toms and dungeons4 )nd fear #as a strange and a ne# thing to him5 for he had fought in attle against ine9pugnale odds and had never met it6 and the poignards of assassins had #ounded him ut had left no fear to fester in the #ounds6 and #itches had made moppets in his name and image ut had #asted their pains3 piercing or urning only the insensate #a94 2et terror had come to him3 passing the guards aout his palace!gates3 like a serpent that cra#ls through some unheeded rift6 and gliding amid furnishments of silk and velvet3 is perceived solely y its hissing4 Dark and enigmatic #as its advent3 to #hich he could hardly have assigned a date5 for3 having come3 it seemed to have een #ith him through seasons immemorale4 )nd kno#ing not the o7ect of his dread3 or in #hat guise the enemy might
:orth*lla In $mri3 City of the Delta3 the lights la:ed #ith a garish rilliance after the setting of that sun #hich #as no# a coal!red decadent star3 gro#n old eyond chronicle3 eyond legend4 0ost rilliant3 most garish of all #ere the lights that illumed the house of the ageing poet +amur:a3 #hose )nacreontic songs had rought him the riches that he disursed in orgies for his friends and sycophants4 (ere3 in porticoes3 halls and chamers the cressets #ere thick as stars in a cloudless fault4 It seemed that +amur:a #ished to dissipate all shado#s3 e9cept those in arrased alcoves set apart for the fitful amours of his guests4 +or the kindling of such amours there #ere #ines3 cordials3 aphrodisiacs4 There #ere meats and fruits that s#elled the flaccid pulses4 There #ere strange e9otic drugs that amused and prolonged pleasure4 There #ere curious statuettes in half!veiled niches6 and #all panels painted #ith estial loves3 or loves human or superhuman4 There #ere hired singers of all se9es3 #ho sang ditties diversely erotic6 and dancers #hose contortions #ere calculated to restore the out#orn sense #hen all else had failed4 &ut to all such incitants Val:ain3 pupil of +amur:a3 and reno#ned oth as poet and voluptuary3 #as insensile4 With indifference turning to#ard disgust3 a half! emptied cup in his hand3 he #atched from a corner
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the gala throng that eddied past him3 and averted his eyes involuntarily from certain couples #ho #ere too shameless or drunken to seek the shado#s of privacy for their dalliance4 ) sudden satiety had claimed him4 (e felt himself strangely #ithdra#n from the morass of #ine and flesh into #hich3 not long efore3 he had still plunged #ith delight4 (e seemed as one #ho stands on an alien shore3 eyond #aters of deepening separation4 =What ails you3 Val:ain> (as a vampire sucked your lood>= It #as +amur:a3 flushed4 gray!haired3 slightly corpulent3 #ho stood at his elo#4 'aying an affectionate hand on Val:ain1s shoulder3 he hoisted aloft #ith the other that fescenninely graven /uart golet from #hich he #as #ont to drink onIy #ine3 esche#ing the drugged and violent li/uors often preferred y the syarites of $mri =Is it illiousness> 8r unre/uited love> We have cures here for oth4 2ou have only to name your medicine= =There is no medicine for #hat ails me3= countered Val:ain4 =)s for love3 I have ceased to care #hether it e re/uited or unre/uited4 I can taste only the dregs in every cup4 )nd tedium lurks at the middle of all kisses= =Truly3 yours is a melancholy case4= There #as concern in +amur:a1s voice4 =I have een reading some of your late verses4 2ou #rite only of toms and ye# trees3 of maggots and phantoms and disemodied love4 "uch stuff gives me the colic3 I need at least a half!gallon of honest vine 7uice after each poem4= =Though I did not kno# it till lately3= admitted Val:ain3 =there is in me a curiosity to#ard the unseen3 a longing for things eyond the material #orld4= +amur:a shook his head commiserately4 =Though I have attained to more than t#ice your years3 I am still content #ith #hat I see and hear and touch4 Good 7uicy meat3 #omen3 #ine3 the songs of full!throated singers3 are enough for me4= =In the drums of slumer3= mused Val:ain4 =I have clasped succui #ho #ere more than flesh3 have kno#n delights too keen for the #aking ody to sustain4 Do such dreams have any source3 outside the earthorn rain itself> I #ould give much to find that source3 if it e9ists4 In the mean#hile there is nothing for me ut despair4= ="o young < and yet so e9hausted? Well3 if you1re tired of #omen3 and #ant phantoms instead3 I might venture a suggestion4 Do you kno# the old necropolis3 lying mid#ay et#een $mri and -siom < a matter of perhaps three miles from here> The goatherds say that a lamia haunts it < the spirit of the princess
0orthylla3 #ho died several centuries ago and #as interred in a mausoleum that still stands3 overto#ering the lesser toms4 Why not go forth tonight and visit the necropolis> It should suit your mood etter than my house4 )nd perhaps 0orthylla #ill appear to you4 &ut don1t lame me if you don1t return at all4 )fter all those years the lamia is still avid for human lovers6 and she might #ell take a fancy to you4= =8f course3 I kno# the place3= said Val:ain444 =&ut I think you are 7esting4= +amur:a shrugged his shoulders and moved on amid the revelers4 ) laughing dancer3 londe!limed and lissom3 came up to Val:ain and thre# a noose of plaited flo#ers aout his neck3 claiming him as her captive4 (e roke the noose gently3 and gave the girl a tepid kiss that caused her to make #ry faces4 $notrusively ut /uickly3 efore others of the merrymakers could try to entice him3 he left the house of +amur:a4 Without impulses3 other than that of an urgent desire for solitude3 he turned his steps to#ard the suurs3 avoiding the neighorhood of taverns and lupanars3 #here the populace thronged4 0usic3 laughter3 snatches of songs3 follo#ed him from lighted mansions #here symposia #ere held nightly y the city1s richer deni:ens4 &ut he met fe# roisters on the streets5 it #as too late for the gathering3 too early for the dispersal3 of guests at such symposia4 No# the lights thinned out3 #ith ever!#idening intervals et#een3 and the streets gre# shado#y #ith that ancient night #hich pressed aout $mri3 and #ould #holly /uench its defiant gala9ies of lamp! right #indo# #ith the darkening of .othi/ue1s senescent sun4 8f such things3 and of death1s encircling mystery3 #ere the musings of Val:ain as he plunged into the outer darkness that he found grateful to his glare!#earied eyes4 Grateful too #as the silence of the field!ordered road that he pursued for a#hile #ithout reali:ing its direction4 Then3 at some l andmark familiar despite the gloom3 it came to him that the road #as the one #hich ran from $mri to -siom3 that sister city of the Delta6 the road eside #hose middle meanderings #as situated the long!disused necropolis to #hich +amur:a had ironically directed him4 Truly3 he thought3 the earthly!minded +amur:a had someho# plumed the need that lay at the ottom of his disenchantment #ith all sensory pleasures4 It #ould e good to visit3 to so7ourn for an hour or so3 in that city #hose people had long passed eyond the lusts of mortality3 eyond satiety and disill usion4
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) moon3 s#elling from the crescent to#ard the half3 arose ehind him as he reached the foot of the lo#mounded hill on #hich the cemetery lay4 (e left the paved road3 and egan to ascend the slope3 half!covered #ith stunted gorse3 at #hose summit the glimmering marles #ere discernile4 It #as #ithout path3 other than the roken trails made y goats and their herders4 Dim3 lengthened and attenuate3 his shado# #ent efore him3 like a ghostly guide4 In his fantasy it seemed to him that he climed the gently sloping osom of a giantess3 studded afar #ith pale gems that #ere tomstones and mausoleuns4 (e caught himself #ondering3 amid this poetic #himsy3 #hether the giantess #as dead3 or merely slept4 Gaining the flat e9pansive ground of the summit3 #here d#arfish dying ye#s disputed #ith leafless riars the intervals of slas lotched #ith lichen3 he recalled the tale that +amur:a had mentioned3 anent the lamia #ho #as said to haunt the necropolis4 +amur:a3 he kne# #ell3 #as no eliever in such legendry3 and had meant only to mock his funereal mood4 2et3 as a poet #ill3 he egan to play #ith the fancy of some presence3 immortal3 lovely and evil3 that d#elt amid the anti/ue marles and #ould respond to the evocation of one #ho3 #ithout positive elief3 had longed vainly for visions from eyond mortality4 Through headstone aisles of moon!touched solitude3 he came to a lofty mausoleum3 still standing #ith fe# signs of ruin at the cemetery1s center4 &eneath it3 he had een told3 #ere e9tensive vaults housing the mummies of an e9tinct royal family that had ruled over the t#in cities $mri and -siom in former centuries4 The princess 0orthylla had elonged to this family4 To his startlement a #oman3 or #hat appeared to e such3 #as sitting on a fallen shaft eside the mausoleum4 (e could not see her distinctly6 the tom1s shado# still enveloped her from the shoulders do#n#ard4 The face alone3 glimmering #anly3 #as lifted to the rising moon Its profile #as such as he had seen on anti/ue coins4 =Who are you>= he asked3 #ith a curiosity that over po#ered his courtesy4 =I am the lamia 0orthylla3= she replied3 in a voice that left ehind it a faint and elusive viration like that of some riefly sounded harp4 =&e#are me < for my kisses are foridden to those #ho #ould remain numered among the living4= Val:ain #as startled y this ans#er that echoed his fantasies4 2et reason told him that the apparition #as no spirit of the toms ut a living #oman #ho kne# the legend of 0orthylla and #ished to amuse herself
y teasing him4 )nd yet #hat #oman #ould venture alone and at night to a place so desolate and eerie> 0ost credily3 she #as a #anton #ho had come out to keep a rende:vous amid the toms4 There #ere3 he kne#3 certain perverse deauchees #ho re/uired sepulchral surroundings and furnishings for the titillation of their desires4 =-erhaps you are #aiting for some one3= he suggested4 =I do not #ish to intrude3 if such is the case4= =I #ait only for him #ho is destined to come4 )nd I have #aited long3 having had no lover for t#o hundred years4 ;emain3 if you #ish5 there is no one to fear ut me4= Despite the rational surmises he had formed3 there crept along Val:ain1s spine the thrill of one #ho3 #ithout fully elieving3 suspects the presence of a thing eyond nature444 2et surely it #as all a game < a game that he too could play for the eguilement of his ennui4 =I came here hoping to meet you3= he declared44 =I am #eary of mortal #omen3 tired of every pleasure < tired even of poetry4= =I3 too3 am ored3= she said3 simply4 The moon had climed higher3 shining on the dress of anti/ue mode that the #oman #ore4 It #as cut closely at #aist and hips and osom3 #ith voluminous do#n#ard folds4 Val:ain had seen such costumes only in old dra#ings4 The princess 0orthylla3 dead for three centuries3 might #ell have #orn a similar dress4 Whoever she might e3 he thought3 the #oman #as strangely eautiful3 #ith a touch of /uaintness in the heavily coiled hair #hose color he could not decide in the moonlight4 There #as a s#eetness aout her mouth3 a shado# of fatigue4 or sadness eneath her eyes4 )t the right corner of her lips he discerned a small mole4 Val:ain1s meeting #ith the self!named 0orthylla #as repeated nightly #hile the moon s#elled like the rounding reast of a titaness and fell a#ay once more to hollo#ness and senescence4 )l#ays she a#aited him y the same mausoleum #hich3 she declared3 #as her d#elling place4 )nd al#ays she dismissed him #hen the east turned ashen #ith da#n3 saying that she #as a creature of the night4 "keptical at first3 he thought of her as a person #ith macare leanings and fantasies akin to his o#n3 #ith #hom he #as carrying on a flirtation of singular charm4 2et aout her he could find no hint of the #orldliness that he suspected5 no seeming kno#ledge of present things3 ut a #eird familiarity #ith the past
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and the lamia1s legend4 0ore and more she seemed a nocturnal eing3 intimate only #ith shado# and solitude4 (er eyes3 her lips3 appeared to #ithhold secrets forgot! ten and foridden4 In her vague3 amiguous ans#ers to his /uestions3 he read meanings that thrilled him #ith hope and fear4 =I have dreamed of life3= she told him cryptically4 =)nd I have dreamed also of death4 No#3 perhaps there is another dream < into #hich you have entered4= =I3 too3 #ould dream3= said Val:ain4 Night after night his disgust and #eariness sloughed a#ay from him3 in a fascination fed y the spectral milieu3 the environing silence of the dead3 his #ithdra#al and separation from the carnal3 garish city4 &y degrees3 y alternations of unelief and elief3 he came to accept her as the actual lamia4 The hunger that he sensed in her3 could e only the lamia1s hunger6 her eauty that of a eing no longer human4 It #as like a dreamer1s acceptance of things fantastic else#here than in sleep4 Together #ith his elief3 there gre# his love for her4 The desires he had thought dead revived #ithin him3 #ilder3 more importunate4 "he seemed to love him in return4 2et she etrayed no sign of the lamia1s legendary nature3 eluding his emrace3 refusing him the kisses for #hich he egged4 ="ometime3 perhaps3= she conceded4 =&ut first you must kno# me for #hat I am3 must love me #ithout illusion41 =Kill me #ith your lips3 devour me as you are said to have devoured other lovers3= eseeched Val:ain4 =Can you not #ait>= her smile #as s#eet < and tantali:ing4 =I do not #ish your death so soon3 for I love you too #ell4 Is it not s#eet to keep your tryst among the sepulchres> (ave I not eguiled you from your oredom> 0ust you end it all>= The ne9t night he esought her again3 imploring #ith all his ardor and elo/uence the denied consummation4 "he mocked him5 =-erhaps I am merely a odiless phantom3 a spirit #ithout sustance4 -erhaps you have dreamed me4 Would you risk an a#akening from the dream>= Val:ain stepped to#ard her3 stretching out his arms in a passionate gesture4 "he dre# ack3 saying5 =What if I should turn to ashes and moonlight at your touch> 2ou #ould regret then your rash insistence4=
=2ou are the immortal lamia3= avo#ed Val:ain4 =0y senses tell me that you are no phantom3 no disemodied spirit4 &ut for me you have turned all else to shado#4= =2es3 I am real enough in my fashion3= she granted3 laughing softly4 Then suddenly she leaned to#ard him and her lips touched his throat4 (e felt their moist #armth a moment < and felt the sharp sting of her teeth that arely pierced his skin3 #ithdra#ing instantly4 &efore he could clasp her she eluded him again4 =It is the only kiss permitted to us at present3= she cried3 and fled s#iftly #ith soundless footfalls among the gleams and shado#s of the sepulchres4 8n the follo#ing afternoon a matter of urgent and un#elcome usiness called Val:ain to the neighoring city of -siom5 a rief 7ourney3 ut one that he seldom took4 (e passed the ancient necropolis3 longing for that nocturnal hour #hen he could hasten once more to a meeting #ith 0orthylla4 (er poignant kiss3 #hich had dra#n a fe# drops of lood3 had left him greatly fevered and distraught4 (e3 like that place of toms3 #as haunted6 and the haunting #ent #ith him into -siom4 (e had finished his usiness3 the orro#ing of a sum of money from a usurer4 "tanding at the usurer1s door3 #ith that slightly ono9ious ut necessary person eside him3 he sa# a #oman passing on the street4 (er features3 though not her dress3 #ere those of 0orthylla6 and there #as even the same tiny mole at one corner of her mouth4 No phantom of the cemetery could have startled or dismayed him more profoundly4 =Who is that #oman> he asked the moneylender4 =Do you kno# her>= =(er name is &eldith4 "he is #ell!kno#n in -siom3 eing rich in her o#n right and having had numerous lovers4 I1ve had a little usiness #ith her3 though she o#es me nothing at present4 "hould you care to meet her> I can easily introduce you4= =2es3 I should like to meet her3= agreed Val:ain4 ="he looks strangely like someone that I kne# a long time ago4 The usurer peered slyly at the poet4 ="he might not make too easy a con/uest4 It is said of late that she has #ithdra#n herself from the pleasures of the city4 "ome have seen her going out at night to#ard the old necropolis3 or returning from it in the early da#n4 "trange tastes3 I1d say3 for one #ho is little more than a
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harlot4 &ut perhaps she goes out to meet some eccentric lover4= =Direct me to her house3= Val:ain re/uested4 =I shall not need you to introduce me4= =)s you like4= The moneylender shrugged3 looking a little disappointed4 =It1s not far3 any#ay4= Val:ain found the house /uickly4 The #oman &eldith #as alone4 "he meet him #ith a #istful and trouled smile that left no dout of her identity4 =I perceive that you have learned the truth3= she said =I had meant to tell you soon3 for the deception could not have gone on much longer4 Will you not forgive me>= =I forgive you3= returned Val:ain sadly4 =&ut #hy did you deceive me>= =&ecause you desired it4 ) #oman tries to please the man #hom she loves6 and in all love there is more or less deception4 ='ike you3 Val:ain3 I had gro#n tired of pleasure4 )nd I sought the solitude of the necropolis3 so remote from carnal things4 2ou too came3 seeking solitude and peace !! or some unearthly specter4 I recogni:ed you at once4 )nd I had read your poems4 Kno#ing 0orthylla1s legend3 I sought to play a game #ith you4 -laying it3 I gre# to love you444 Val:ain3 you loved me as the lamia4 Can you not no# love me for myself>= =It cannot e3= averred the poet4 =I fear to repeat the disappointment I have found in other #omen4 2et at least I am grateful for the hours you gave me4 They #ere the est I have kno#n < even though I have loved something that did not3 and could not3 e9ist4 +are#ell3 0orthylla4 +are#ell3 &eldith4= When he had gone3 &eldith stretched herself face do#n#ard among the cushions of her couch4 "he #ept a little6 and the tears made a dampness that /uickly dried4 'ater she arose riskly enough and #ent aout her household usiness4
)fter his death3 he forgot that he had died6 forgot the immediate past #ith all its happenings and circumstances4 +ollo#ing his talk #ith +amur:a3 he had gone forth from +amur:a1s house and from the city of $mri and had taken the road that passed the aandoned cemetery4 "ei:ed y an impulse to visit it3 he had climed the slope to#ard the marles under a s#elling moon that rose ehind him4 Gaining the flat e9pansive ground of the summit3 #here d#arfish dying ye#s disputed #ith leafless riars the intervals of slas lotched #ith lichen3 he recalled the tale that +amur:a had mentioned3 anent the lamia #ho #as said to haunt the necropolis4 +amur:a3 he kne# #ell3 #as no eliever in such legendry3 and had meant only to mock his funereal mood4 2et3 as a poet #ill3 he egan to play #ith the fancy of some presence3 immortal3 lovely and evil3 that d#elt amid the anti/ue marles and #ould respond to the evocation of one #ho3 #ithout positive elief3 had longed vainly for visions from eyond mortality4 Through headstone aisles of moon!touched solitude3 he came to a lofty mausoleum3 still standing #ith fe# signs of ruin at the cemetery1s center4 &eneath it3 he had een told3 #ere e9tensive vaults housing the mummies of an e9tinct royal family that had ruled over the t#in cities $mri and -siom in former centuries4 The princess 0orthylla had elonged to this family4 To his startlement a #oman3 or #hat appeared to e such3 #as sitting on a fallen shaft eside the mausoleum4 (e could not see her distinctly6 the tom1s shado# still enveloped her from the shoulders do#n#ard4 The face alone3 glimmering #anly3 #as lifted to the rising moon Its profile #as such as he had seen on anti/ue coins4 =Who are you>= he asked3 #ith a curiosity that over po#ered his courtesy4 =I am the lamia 0orthylla3= she replied4
1)fter a time she returned to the loves and revelries of -siom4 -erhaps3 in the end3 she found such peace as may e given to those #ho have gro#n too old for pleasure4 &ut for Val:ain there #as no peace3 no alm for this last and most itter of disillusionments4 Nor could he return to the carnalities of his former life4 "o it #as that he finally sle# himself3 staing his throat to its deepest vein #ith a keen knife in the same spot #hich the false lamia1s teeth had itten3 dra#ing a little lood4
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Clark Ashton Smith 'o*elis5 "he is a darker goddess here3 #here lood 0ingles too often #ith delight1s #arm foam4 4 4 4 &ut tell me more of that far land #herein ) gentler #orship lingers4
The (ea' 0ill Cuckol'
T(E "CENE5 Faraad, capital of Yoros, in Zothique
SCENE I ) large chamer in the @ueen1s suite3 in the palace of "maragad4 "omelis sits on a high throne!like chair4 Galeor stands efore her3 holding a lute4 &altea and several other #omen are seated on divans3 at a distance4 T#o lack chamerlains stand in attendance at the open door4 aleor *playing on his lute and singing,5 0ake haste3 and tarry not3 8 ardent youth3 To find upon the night3 8utlined in fuming fire3 The footsteps of the goddess Ililot4
(er mouth and eyes make fair the ourns of sleep3 &et#een her ro#s a moon Is seen4 ) magic lute +oretells her #ith #ild music every#here4 (er opened arms3 #hich are the ivory gates 8f some lost land of lote Where from charmed attars flo#3 Will close upon you 1neath the crimson star4 'o*elis5 I like the song4 Tell me3 #hy do you sing "o much of Ililot> aleor5 "he is the goddess Whom all men #orship in the myrrh!s#eet land Where I #as orn4 Do men in 2oros not )dore her also> "he is soft and kind3 Caring alone for love and lovers1 7oy4
aleor5 &y a sea 8f changing damaskeen it lies3 and has &o#ers of cedar hollo#ed for love1s ed )nd plighted #ith a vine vermilion!flo#ered4 There are moss!gro#n paths #here roam #hite! fleecd goats6 )nd sard!thick eaches lead to caves in #hich The eing surge has left encrimsoned shells 'ike lips y passion parted4 +rom small havens The fishers slant their tall3 dulse!ro#n lateens To island!eyries of the shrill sea!ha#k6 )nd #hen #ith eaks lo#!dipping they return 8ut of the sunset3 fires are lit from eams )nd spars of roken galleys on the sand3 )round #hose nacreous flames the #omen dance ) morris old as ocean4 'o*elis5 Would I had &een orn in such a land3 and not in 2oros4 aleor5 I #ish that I might #alk #ith you at evening &eside the #aters veined #ith languid foam3 )nd see Canopus kindle on cypressed crags 'ike a far pharos4 'o*elis5 &e you more tacit5 there are ears That listen3 and mouths that ale amid these halls4 "maragad is a 7ealous king ! * She breaks off, for at this moment King Smaragad enters the room. , '*aragad5 This is a pretty scene4 Galeor3 you seem at home In ladies1 chamers4 I am told you entertain "omelis more than could a dull sad king Gro#n old too soon #ith onerous royalty4 aleor5 I #ould please3 #ith my poor songs and sorry l ute3 &oth of your 0a7esties4 '*aragad5 Indeed3 you sing ;ight s#eetly3 as does the simorgh #hen it mates4 2ou have a voice to melt a #oman1s vitals )nd make them run to passion1s turgid sluice4 (o# long have you een here > aleor5 ) month4
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'*aragad5 It has een ) summer moon full!digited4 (o# many 8f my hot court!ladies have you already edded > 8r should I ask ho# many have edded you> aleor5 None3 and I s#ear it y the crescent horns 8 Ililot herself3 #ho fosters love )nd s#ells the pulse of lovers4 '*aragad5 &y my troth3 I #ould confirm you in such continence3 It is rare in 2oros4 Even I #hen young Delved deep in #horing and adultery4 * Turning to the queen, "omelis3 have you #ine> I #ould #e drank To a chastity so rathe and admirale In one #hose years can hardly have chastened him4 *The queen indicates a siler e!er standing on a taboret together !ith goblets of the same metal. Smaragad turns his back to the others and pours !ine into three goblets, opening, as if casually the palm of his free hand oer one of them. This he gies to "aleor. #e seres another to the queen, and raises the third to his lips., "ee3 I have served you #ith my royal hand3 Doing you honor3 and #e all must drink To Galeor that he persevere in virtue3 )nd he must drink #ith us4 * #e drinks deeply. The queen raises her goblet to her lips but barely tastes it. "aleor lifts the !ine, then pauses, looking in to it., aleor5 (o# strangely it foams4 '*aragad5 Indeed3 such ules seem To rise as if from lips of a dro#ning man In some dark purple sea4 'o*elis5 2our humor is strange3 Nor are there ules in the cup you gave me4 '*aragad5 -erhaps it #as poured more slo#ly4 * To "aleor , Drink the #ine3 It is old and cordial3 made y men long dead4 *The poet still hesitates, then empties his goblet at one draught. , (o# does it taste to you> aleor5 It tastes as I have thought that love might taste3 "#eet on the lips3 and itter in the throat4 * #e reels, then sinks to his knees, still clutching the empty goblet.,
2ou have poisoned me3 #ho never #ronged you4 Why (ave you done it> '*aragad5 That you may never #rong me4 2ou have drunk ) vintage that #ill /uench all mortal thirst4 2ou #ill not look on /ueens nor they on you When the thick maggots gather in your eyes3 )nd issue in lieu of love!songs from your lips3 )nd geld you y slo# inches4 'o*elis5 *descending from her seat and coming for!ard ,5 "maragad3 This deed #ill reek through 2oros and e la:ed &eyond the murky marches of the damned4 * She sinks to her knees beside "aleor, no! prostrate on the floor and dying slo!ly. Tears fall From her eyes as she lays her hand on "aleor$s bro!. , '*aragad5 Was he so much to you> )lmost I have a mind That the o#string should straiten your soft throat3 &ut no3 you are too eautiful4 Go /uickly3 )nd keep to your ed!chamer till I come4 'o*elis5 I shall ahor you3 and my urning heart Consume #ith hate till only meatless cinders ;emain to guest the mausolean maggots4 * %&it Somelis, follo!ed by 'altea and the other !omen. The t!o chamberlains remain. , '*aragad5 *beckoning to one of the chamberlains ,5 Go call the se9tons4 I #ould have them drag This carcass out and ury it privily4 * %&it the chamberlain. The king turns to "aleor, !ho still lies., Think on your continence eternali:ed5 2ou had not fleshed as yet your rash desire3 )nd no# you never #ill4 aleor5 *in a faint but audible oice,5 I #ould pity you3 &ut there is no time for pity4 In your heart 2ou ear the hells that I have never kno#n3 To #hich the fe# rief pangs I suffer )re less than the #asp!stings of an afternoon "#eet #ith the season1s final fruit4
SCENE II The king1s audience hall4 "maragad sits on a doule! daised throne3 a guard earing a trident standing at each hand4 Guards are posted at each of the four entrances4 ) fe# #omen and chamerlains pass though the hall on errands4 "argo3 the royal treasurer3
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Zothique
Clark Ashton Smith
stands in one corner3 &altea3 passing y3 pauses to chat #ith him4 -altea5 Why sits the king in audience today> Is it some matter touching on the state> "till thunder loads his ro#3 and pard!like #rath Waits leashed in his demeanor4
'*aragad5 2es4 I am told you practise arts forid )nd hold an interdicted commerce3 calling Ill demons and the dead to do you service4 )re these things true> )atanasna5 It is true that I can call &oth lich and ka3 though not the soul3 #hich roams In regions past my scope3 and can constrain The genii of the several elements To toil my mandate4
'argo5 1Tis a #i:ard3 ne Natanasna3 #hom he summons up +or practise of nefandous necromancy4 -altea5 I1ve heard of him4 Do you kno# him> What1s he like > 'argo5 I cannot #holly tell you4 It1s no theme +or a morning1s tattle4 -altea5 2ou make me curious4 'argo5 Well3 I1ll tell you this much4 "ome elieve he is ) camion3 devil!sired though #oman!#helped4 (e is old in every turpitude3 as those (ell!orn are prone to e4 (is lineage 'eads him to paths foranned and pits ahorred3 )nd traffic in stark nadir infamies Not plumed y common mages4 -altea5 Is that all> 'argo5 "uch eings have a smell y #hich to kno# them3 )s olden tomes attest4 This Natanasna "tinks like a #itch1s after!irth3 and evil E9hales from him3 lethal as that contagion Which mounts from corpses mottled y the plague4 -altea5 Well3 that1s enough to tell me3 for I never (ave liked ill!smelling men4 *%nter (atanasna through the front portals. #e strides for!ard, bearing a staff on !hich he does not lean, and stands before Smaragad. , 'argo5 I must go no#4 -altea5 )nd I1ll not linger3 for the #ind comes up +rom an ill /uarter4 * %&eunt Sargo and 'altea, in different directions., )atanasna *!ithout kneeling or een bo!ing,5 2ou have summoned me >
'*aragad5 What? you dare avo# it The thing oth men and sods aominate> Do you not kno# the ancient penalties Decreed in 2oros for these crimes ahorred>! The cauldron of asphaltum oiling!hot To athe men1s feet3 and the nail!studded rack 8n #hich to stretch their scalded stumps> )atanasna5 Indeed I kno# your la#s3 and also kno# that you (ave a la# foridding murder4 '*aragad5 What do you mean> )atanasna5 I mean ut this3 that you the king have filled 0ore toms than I the outla#ed necromancer (ave ever emptied3 and detest not idly The raising of dead men4 Would you have me summon +or #itness here against you the grey shade 8f +amostan your father3 in his ath "lain y the toothed envenomed fish from Taur &rought privily and installed y you> 8r rather Would you ehold your rother )ladad3 Whose huntsmen left him #ith a splintered spear )t your instruction3 to confront the fen!cat That he had merely pricked> 2et these #ould e 8nly the heralds of that long dark file Which you have hurried into death4 '*aragad *half)rising from his seat ,5 &y all The sooted hells3 you dare such insolence> Though you e man or devil3 or e oth3 I1ll flay you3 and leave your hide to hang in strips 'ike a kilt aout you3 and #ill have your guts Dra#n out and #ound on a #indlass4 )atanasna5 These e #ords 'ike froth upon a shallo# pool4 No finger 8f man may touch me4 I can #ave this staff )nd ring myself #ith circles of tall fires
-- 113 of 119 --
Clark Ashton Smith
Zothique
"pa#ned y the amient space arcane4 2ou fear me3 )nd you have reason4 I kno# all the secrets 8f noisome deed and thought that make your soul ) cavern #here close!knotted serpents nest4 Tell me3 #as there not yestereve a youth Named Galeor3 #ho played the lute and sans3 0aking s#eet music for an evil court> Why have you slain him> Was it not through your fear 8f cuckoldom3 thinking he pleased too much The young "omelis> &ut this thing is kno#n To me3 and I kno# moreover the dim grave Where Galeor #aits the #orm4 '*aragad * standing erect, his features madly contorted,5 &egone? &egone? 8ut of my presence? 8ut of +araad? )nd here1s a #ord to speed you5 #hen you entered This hall3 my sheriffs #ent to find your house )nd sei:e Kalguth3 your negro neophyte +or #hom 1tis said you have the curious fondness That I might keep for a comely eon #ench4 -onder this #ell5 Kalguth must lie y no# Emo#elled in our dankest dungeon!crypt4 (e #ill re7oin you if tomorro#1s sun 0eet you outside the city4 If you linger3 I1ll give him to my sine#y torturers4 )atanasna5 King "maragad3 if young Kalguth e harmed3 (ell #ill arise and s#eep your palace clean With fiery esoms and #ith flails of flame4 * %&it (atanasna. , **urtain,
SCENE III The necropolis of +araad4 Dying and half!decayed cypresses droop over creviced headstones and ruinous mausoleums4 ) gious moon shines through #ispy clouds4 Enter Natanasna3 humming5 ) toothless vampire tugs and mumles "ome ancient trot1s #hitleather hide3 &ut he1ll fly soon to the aattoir )nd the pooling lood #here the stuck pig died4 *Kalguth emerges from behind the half)unhinged door of a tomb close at hand. #e carries a dark bag, !hich he lays on the ground at (atanasna$s feet., .alguth5 Greetings3 8 0aster4 )atanasna5 It #as #ell I sent you To #ait me here among the tacit dead!
'ugging you from your slumer at morning dusk While none ut lind!drunk o#sers #ere aroad4 )s I prevised3 the king took advantage 8f my commanded presence in his halls3 )nd sent his hounds to sniff for you4 (e1ll not Venture to harry me3 #ho have climed too high In magedom1s hierarchy3 ut #ould fang (is affled spleen on one not fully armed )nd ucklered #ith arts magical4 We must Depart from 2oros promptly3 leaving it To all its many devils3 amid #hich This king is not the least4 * #e pauses, looking about him at the tombs and graes. , It is a land Where murder has made much #ork for necromancy3 )nd there1s a task to do efore #e go That #e e not forgotten4 I perceive3 0y good Kalguth3 that you have found the spot Which my stri9!eyed familiar did descrie5 Those yonder are the yello#ing cypresses That death has pollarded3 and this the tom 8f the lord Thamamar3 #hich sheltered you Daylong from eyes still mortal4 4 4 4 "ee3 #here it ears The lichen!canceled legend of his titles )nd the name itself3 half!lotted out4 * #e paces about, peering closely at the ground, and holding his staff e&tended hori+ontally. er a certain spot the staff seems to t!ist iolently in his hand, like a do!ser$s !and, until it points do!n!ard !ith the tip almost touching the earth. , This is The grave that covers Galeor4 The turf Was lately roken here3 and spaded ack With the grass turned up#ard4 * #e faces in the direction of Faraad, !hose to!ers loom indistinctly beyond the necropolis. -aising both arms, he intert!ines his fingers !ith the thumbs pointing sky!ard in the Sign of the horns4, &y this potent "ign3 8 7ealous king #ho dreaded cuckoldom3 0urder shall not avert from your proud head The horns of that opprorium5 for I kno# ) spell #herey the dead #ill cuckold you4 * Turning to Kalguth, No# to our ceremonies4 While you set The mantic censers forth3 I1ll make the circles4 * Taking a short s!ord, the magic arthame, from under his cloak, he traces a large circle in the turf, and a smaller one !ithin it, trenching them both deeply and broadly. Kalguth opens the dark bag and brings out four small perforated censers !hose handles are !rought in the form of the double triangle, Sign of the acrocosm. #e places them bet!een the circles, each censer facing one of the four quarters, and lights them. The necromancers then take their positions !ithin the inner circle. (atanasna gies the arthame to Kalguth, and retains his magic staff, !hich he holds aloft. 'oth face to!ard the grae of "aleor. ,
-- 11 of 119 --
Zothique
Clark Ashton Smith
)atanasna *chanting,5
)nd halls forgotten save y ghosts3 you must "eek out the chamer of the /ueen "omelis3 )nd #oo her lover!#ise till that e done Which incui and lovers urn to do4
untbauut, maspratha butu, L0umavut3 le#d and evil spirit3M /aras runu, ha rancutu. LWheresoever thou roamest3 hear meM Incuus3 my cousin3 come3 Dra#n from out the night you haunt3 +rom the hollo# mist and murk Where discarnate larvae lurk3 &y the #ord of masterdom4 (ell #ill keep its covenant3 2ou shall have the long!lost thing That you ho#l and hunger for4 &orne on sale3 sightless #ing3 'eave the void that you ahor3 Enter in this ne#!made grave3 2ou that #ould a ody have5 Clothed #ith the dead man1s flesh3 ;ising through the riven earth In a 7uilant reirth3 Wend your ancient #ays a fresh3 &y the mantra laid on you Do the deed I id you do4 /ora otha Thasaidona L&y *or through, Thasaidon1s po#erM Sorgha nagrakronitlhona. L)rise from the death!time!dominion4M * 0fter a pause, /achat pantari ora nagraban LThe spell *or mantra, is finished y the necromancer4M
The Lich/ 2ou have commanded3 and I must oey4 *%&it the 2ich. 4hen it has gone from sight, (atanasna steps from the circles, and Kalguth e&tinguishes the censers and repacks them in the bag., .alguth/ Where go #e no#> )atanasna5 Whither the first road leads &eyond the oundary of 2oros4 We1ll Not #ait the sprouting of the crop #e1ve so#ed &ut leave it to lesson him3 #ho #ould have crimped 0y #ell!loved minion and my acolyte +or the toothed eds of his dark torture!chamers4 *%&eunt (atanasna and Kalguth, singing1, The fresh fat traveler #hom the ghouls Waylaid in the lonesome #oodland gloom3 (e got a#ay3 and they1ll so no# +or gamy meat in a mouldy tom4
*Curtain,
SCENE I) The /ueen1s ed!chamer4 "omelis half!sits3 half! reclines on a cushioned couch4 Enter &altea3 earing a steaming cup4
.alguth/ Za, mo+adrim1 achama ongh ra+an 4 L2es3 master5 the vongh *corpse animated y a demon, #ill do the rest4 *These #ords are from $mlengha3 an ancient language of .othi/ue3 used y scholars and #i:ards4,M *The turf heaes and diides, and the incubus)drien 2ich of "aleor rises from the grae. The grime of interment is on its face, hands, and clothing. 3t shambles for!ard and presses close to the outer circle, in a menacing attitude. (atanasna raises the staff, and Kalguth the arthame, used to control rebellious sprits. The 2ich shrinks back., The Lich *in a thick, unhuman oice ,5 2ou have summoned me3 )nd I must minister To your desire4 )atanasna5 (eed closely these instructions5 &y alleys palled and posterns long disused3 Well!hidden from the moon and from men1s eyes3 2ou shall find ingress to the palace4 There3 Through stair#ays only kno#n to mummied kings
-altea5 With #ine that stores the #armth of suns departed3 )nd fale!reathing spices rought from isles +ar as the morn3 I have made this hippocras "lo#!mulled and po#erful4 -lease to drink it no# That you may sleep4 'o*elis *#aving the cup a#ay,5 )h3 #ould that I might drink The self!same draft that Galeor drank3 and leave This palace #here my feet forever pace +rom shades of evil to a aleful sun4 Too slo#3 too slo# the poison that consumes me! Compounded of a love for him that1s dead )nd loathing for the king4 -altea5 I1ll play for you )nd sing3 though not as gallant Galeor sang4 * She takes up a dulcimer, and sings ,5 'one upon the roseate gloom "hone the golden star ane#3 Calling like a distant ell3
-- 11! of 119 --
Clark Ashton Smith
Zothique
+alling3 dimming into death4 Came my lover #ith the night3 +lame and darkness in his eyes! Dra#n y love from out the grave! Gone through all the l oveless day! *She pauses, for steps are heard approaching along the hall., 'o*elis5 Whose footsteps come> I fear it is the king4 *The door is flung open iolently, and the fiend) animated 2ich of "aleor enters. , -altea5 What thing is this3 egot y hell on death> 8h? (o# it leers and sloers? It doth l ook 'ike Galeor3 and yet it cannot e4 *The 2ich sidles for!ard, grinning, me!ing and gibbering., 'o*elis5 If you e Galeor3 speak and ans#er me Who #as your friend3 #ishing you only #ell In a itter #orld unfriendly to us oth4 *'altea darts past the apparition, !hich does not seem to hae perceied her presence, and runs from the room,4 &ut if you e some fiend in Galeor1s form3 I no# ad7ure you y the holy name 8f the goddess Ililot to go at once4 *The features, limbs, and body of the 2ich are conulsed as if by some dreadful struggle !ith an unseen antagonist. Then, by degrees, the conulsions slacken, the lurid flame dies do!n in the dead man$s eyes, and his face assumes a look of gentle and piteous be!ilderment. , aleor5 (o# came I here> 0e seems that I #as dead )nd men had heaped the hard dry earth on me4 'o*elis5 There is much mystery here3 and little time In #hich to moot the #herefores4 &ut I see That you are Galeor and none other no#3 The dear s#eet Galeor that I thought had died With all the love et#een us unavo#ed3 )nd this contents me4 aleor5 I must still e dead3 Though I ehold and hear and ans#er you3 )nd love leaps up to course along my veins Where death had set his sullen #inter4
aleor5 'ittle ut night!lack silence That seemed too vast for Time3 #herein I #as &oth ounded and diffused6 and then a voice 0ost arrogant and magisterial3 idding 0e3 or another in my place3 to do ) deed that I cannot rememer no#4 These things #ere doutful6 ut I feel as one Who in deep darkness struggled #ith a fiend )nd cast him forth ecause another voice (ad ade the fiend egone4 'o*elis5 Truly3 I think There is oth magic here and necromancy3 Though he that called you up and sent you forth Did so #ith ill intent4 It matters not3 +or I am glad to have you3 #hether dead 8r living as men reckon ootless things4 1Tis a small prolem no#5 &altea has gone +or "maragad3 and he1ll e here full soon3 0ammering for t#ofold murder4 * She goes to the door, closes it, and dra!s the ponderous metal bars in their massie sockets. Then, !ith a broidered kerchief and !ater from a pitcher, she !ashes the grae) mould from "aleor$s face and hands, and tidies his garments. They embrace. #e kisses her, and caresses her cheeks and hair. , )h3 your touch Is tenderer than I have kno#n efore4 )nd yet3 alas3 your lips3 your hands4 -oor Galeor3 the grave has left you cold5 I1ll #arm you in my ed and in my arms +or those short moments ere the falling s#ord "hatter the fragile olts of mystery )nd open #hat1s eyond4 *#eay footsteps approach in the hall outside and there is a babbling of loud, confused oices, follo!ed by a metallic clang like that of a s!ord)hilt hammering on the door. , **urtain,
SCENE ) The king1s pavilion in the palace!gardens4 "maragad sits at the head of a long tale littered #ith golets3 #ine!7ars and li/uor!flask3 some empty or overturned3 others still half!full4 "argo and &oranga are seated on a ench near the tale1s foot4 ) do:en fello#!revelers3 laid lo# y their potations3 lie spra#led aout the floor or on enches and couches "argo and &oranga are singing5 ) ghoul there #as in the days of old3 )nd he drank the #ine!dark lood Without a golet3 #ith never a flagon3
'o*elis5 What Can you recall>
-- 11" of 119 --
Zothique
Clark Ashton Smith
+resh from the deep throat!veins of the dead4 &ut #e instead3 ut #e instead3 Will drink from golets of eryl and gold ) lood!dark #ine that #as made y the dead In the days of old4
(ave you left her> Is she alone> -altea5 "he1s not alone &ut has for company a nameless thing Vomited forth y death4
* 0 silence ensues, !hile the singers !et their husky throats. Smaragad fills and empties his flagon, then fills it again., -oranga *in a lo!ered oice,5 "omething has ired or ve9ed The king5 he drinks 'ike one stung y the dipsas3 #hose dread ite Induces lethal thirst4 'argo5 (e1s laid the most 8f our tun!gutted gu::lers 1neath the oard3 )nd I1m not long aove it4 4 4 4 This forenoon (e held much parley #ith the necromancer Whose stygian torts outreek the ripened charnel4 0ayhap it has left him thirsty4 1T#as enough +or me #hen Natanasna passed to #ind#ard4 I1m told the king called for i ncensories To fume the audience!hall3 and fan!earers To #aft the nard!orn vapors round and round )nd ventilate #ith moa!plumes his presence When the foul mage #as gone4
'*aragad *half)starting from his seat ,5 What1s all this coil> ) nameless thing3 you say> There1s nothing nameless4 I1d have a #ord for #hat has sent you here3 -anting3 #ith undone hair4 -altea5 Well3 then 1til Galeor4 '*aragad5 (ell1s privy!fumes? (e1s cooling underground3 if my grave!diggers "hirked not their office4 -altea5 )nd yet he has returned To visit @ueen "omelis3 #ith dark stains 8f earth upon his ro#3 and golin torches 'ighting his torrid ga:e4 '*aragad * standing up,5 Tell me aout it3 Though I cannot elieve you4 Though he e @uick or dead3 y Thasaidon1s dark horns What does he in the chamer of the /ueen>
-oranga/ They say that Natanasna )nd his asphalt!colored ingle have oth vanished3 Though none kno#s #hither4 +araad #ill lose 8ne one for gossip1s gna#ing4 I #ould not give you ) fig!ird1s tooth or an aspic1s tail!end feather +or all your con7urers4 'et1s a#l a catch4 * They sing1,
!There1s a thief in the house3 there1s a thief in the house3 0y master3 #hat shall #e do> The fu::led o#ser3 he called for To#ser3 &ut To#ser #as arking the moon4 *%nter 'altea, breathless and disheeled., -altea5 2our 0a7esty3 there1s madness loose from hell4
-altea5 I #ot not ho# he came nor #hy4 &ut she Was parleying #ith him3 speaking gentle #ords When I ran forth to seek you4 '*aragad5 "argo3 &oranga3 hear you this> )ttend me3 )nd #e1ll in/uire into this nightmare1s nest )nd find #hat1s at the ottom4 * #e starts to!ard the door, follo!ed by the others. , &y all the plagues )fflicting the five senses3 there1s too much That stinks amid these #alls tonight4 4 4 4 Where #ere The guards> I1II prune their ears #ith a lunt sickle )nd douche their eyes #ith oiling camel!stale +or such delin/uency as lets Golin or man or lich go y them4 **urtain,
SCENE )I
'*aragad5 What1s #rong> (as someone raped you #ithout > -altea5 No3 1tis aout the /ueen3 from #hose ed!chamer I have come post!haste4
The hall efore "omelis1 ed!chamer4 Enter "maragad3 "argo &orga and &altea3 follo#ed y t#o chamerlains4 "maragad tries the /ueen1s door4 +inding that it #ill not open3 he eats upon it #ith the hilt of his dra#n s#ord3 ut #ithout response4
'*aragad5 Well3 #hat aout her> Why
-- 11# of 119 --
Clark Ashton Smith
Zothique
'*aragad5 Who has arred this door> Was it the /ueen> I vo# That she shall never close another door When this is roken do#n4 I1ll olt the ne9t one for her3 )nd it #ill e the tom1s4 &oranga3 "argo3 Give here your shoulders3 side y side #ith mine4 * 0ll three apply their !eight to the door but cannot budge it. Sargo, more into&icated that loses his balance and falls. 'oranga helps him to his feet., Truly3 my stout forefathers uilt this palace )nd all its portals to #ithstand a siege4 -oranga5 There are siege!engines in the arsenal3 Great rams3 that have thro#n do#n road!uilded to#ers )nd torn the gates of cities from their hinges4 With your permission3 "ire3 I1ll call for one Together #ith men to #ield it4 '*aragad5 I1ll not have ) legion here to #itness #hat lies couched In the /ueen1s chamer4 Nor am I accustomed To eat on closen doors that open not4 In all my kingdom3 or in Thasaidon1s Deep tortuous ma:e of torments multi!circled3 There is no darker gulf than this shut room Which reason cannot fathom3 eing shunted +rom the lank #alls to madness4
In peril from this intruder3 #ho had aout him The air of an incuus4 '*aragad5 Truly3 I think That he is no intruder to the /ueen Who has arred these portals4 Nor am I a thief To enter in y a #indo#4 *The chamberlains return, bearing armfuls of fagots and 5ars of oil., -ile the #ood &efore the door3 and drench it #ith the naphtha4 * The chamberlains obey. Smaragad sei+es a cresset from one of the sconces along the hall, and applies it to the fagots. Flames leap up immediately and lick the cedarn door., I1ll #arm the ed of this lack lechery That lairs #ithin my #alls4 -oranga5 (ave you gone mad> 2ou1ll fire the palace? '*aragad5 +ire1s the one pure thing To cleanse it4 )nd for fuel #e lack only The necromancer and his s#art catamite4 *The fire spreads quickly to the curtains of the hall!ay, from !hich flaming patches begin to fall. 'altea and the chamberlains flee. 0 section of the burning arras descends upon Sargo. #e reels, and falls. 6nable to rise, he cra!l a!ay, screaming, !ith his raiment ignited. 0 loosened splotches sets fire to the king$s mantle. #e flings the garment front him !ith an agile gesture. The flames eat steadily into the door, and assail its heay !ooden frame!ork. The heat and smoke compel 'oranga and Smaragad to stand back. ,
'argo5 2our 0a7esty3 If this indeed e Galeor3 it smells 8f Natanasna3 #ho has called up others +rom tom or trench3 inspiriting #ith demons 0align or le#d their corpses4 There1ll e need 8f e9orcism4 I #ould have the priests &rought in3 and rites performed4
-oranga5 2our 0a7esty3 the palace urns aout us4 There1s little time for our escape4
'*aragad5 I hardly dout That the curst necromancer is the getter 8f this graveyard fetus4 &ut I #ill not have it Either your #ay or &oranga1s4 * Turning to the chamberlains, &ring to me +agots of pitch!veined tereinth3 and naphtha4
'*aragad5 2ou tell me ) thing that1s patent4 )h? the goodly flames? They #ill lay are the secret of this chamer Whose mystery maddens me4 4 4 4 )nd at the last There #ill e only ashes +or the summoning of any sorcerer4
-oranga5 "ire3 #hat is your purpose>
-oranga5 "ire3 #e must go4
'*aragad5 2ou #ill see full soon4 -altea5 2our 0a7esty3 ethink you3 there are #indo#s To #hich armed men could clim y ladders3 finding Ingress to the /ueen1s room4 It may e she1s
'*aragad5 &e still4 It is too late for any #ords3 and only deeds remain4 * 0fter some minutes the charred door collapses in!ard !ith its red)hot bars, 'oranga sei+es the king$s
-- 11$ of 119 --
