[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
the necessities to be accomplished in the time available there to make the
task like trying to write the Tomes of Kae in a minim of ink. I wane; my
pulsing comes in shallow tides, my sight flickers .. ."
He waved a despairing hand, then, turning, led them into the inner chamber,
where he slumped into a great chair. With many uneasy glances at the door,
Guyal and Shierl settled upon a padded couch.
Kerlin jeered in a feeble voice, "You fear the white phantasms? Poh, they are
pent from the gallery by the baton, which contains their every effort Only
when I am smitten out of mind or dead will the baton cease its function. You
must know," he added with somewhat more vigor, "that the energies and dynamics
do not channel from my brain but from the central potentium of the Museum,
which is perpetual; I merely direct and order the rod."
"But this demon who or what is he? Why does he come to look through the
walls?"
Kerlin's face settled into a bleak mask. "He is Blikdak, Ruler-Divinity of the
demon-world Jeldred. He wrenched the hole intent on gulfing the knowledge of
the Museum into his mind, but I forestalled him; so he sits waiting in the
hole till I die. Then he will glut himself with erudition to the great
disadvantage of men."
"Why cannot this demon be exhorted hence and the hole abolished?"
Kerlin the Curator shook his head. "The fires and furious powers I control are
not valid in the air of the demon-world, where substance and form are of
different entity. So far as you see him, he has brought his environment with
him; so far he is safe. When he ventures further into the Museum, the power of
Earth dissolves the Jeldred mode; then may I spray him with prismatic fervor
from the potentium . . . But stay, enough of Blikdak for the nonce; tell me,
who are you, why are you ventured here, and what is the news of Thorsingol?"
Guyal said in a halting voice, "Thorsingol is passed beyond memory. There is
naught above but arid tundra and the old town of the Saponids. I am of the
southland; I have coursed many leagues so that I might speak to you and fill
my mind with knowledge. This girl Shierl is of the Saponids, and victim of an
ancient custom which sends beauty into the Museum at the behest of Blikdak's
ghosts."
"Ah," breathed Kerlin, "have I been so aimless? I recall these youthful shapes
which Blikdak employed to relieve the tedium of his vigil . . . They flit down
my memory like may-flies along a panel of glass . . . I put them aside as
creatures of his own conception, postulated by his own imagery . . ."
Shierl shrugged in bewilderment. "But why? What use to him are human
creatures?"
Kerlin said dully, "Girl, you are all charm and freshness; the monstrous urges
of the demon-lord Blikdak are past your conceiving. These youths, of both
sexes, are his. play, on whom he practices various junctures, joinings, coiti,
perversions, sadisms, nauseas, antics and at last struggles to the death. Then
he sends forth a ghost demanding further youth and beauty."
Shierl whispered, "This was to have been I..."
Guyal said in puzzlement, "I cannot understand. Such acts, in my
understanding, are the characteristic derangements of humanity. They are
anthropoid by the very nature of the functioning sacs, glands and organs.
Since Blikdak is a demon .. ."
"Consider him!" spoke Kerlin. "His lineaments, his apparatus. He is nothing
else but anthropoid, and such is his origin, together with all the demons,
frits and winged glowing-eyed creatures that infest latter-day Earth.
Blikdak, like the others, is from the mind of man. The sweaty condensation,
the stench and vileness, the cloacal humors, the brutal delights, the rapes
and sodomies, the scatophilac whims, the manifold tittering lubricities that
have drained through humanity formed a vast tumor; so Blikdak assumed his
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ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html
being, so now this is he. You have seen how he molds his being, so he performs
his enjoyments. But of Blikdak, enough. I die, I die!" He sank into the chair
with heaving chest.
"See me! My eyes vary and waver. My breath is shallow as a bird's, my bones
are the pith of an old vine. I have lived beyond knowledge; in my madness I
knew no passage of time. Where there is no knowledge there are no somatic
consequences. Now I remember the years and centuries, the millennia, the
epochs they are like quick glimpses through a shutter. So, curing my madness,
you have killed me."
Shierl blinked, drew back. "But when you die? What then? Blikdak ..."
Guyal asked, "In the Museum of Man is there no knowledge of the exorcisms
necessary to dissolve this demon? He is clearly our first antagonist, our
immediacy."
"Blikdak must be eradicated," said Kerlin. "Then will I die in ease; then must
you assume the care of the Museum." He licked his white lips. "An ancient
principle specifies that, in order to destroy a substance, the nature of the
substance must be determined. In short, before Blikdak may be dissolved, we
must discover his elemental nature." And his eyes moved glassily to Guyal.
"Your pronouncement is sound beyond argument," admitted Guyal, but how may
this be accomplished? Blikdak will never allow such an investigation."
"No; there must be subterfuge, some instrumentality . . ."
"The ghost are part of Blikdak's stuff?".
"Indeed."
"Can the ghosts be stayed and prevented?"
"Indeed; in a box of light, the which I can effect by a thought. Yes, a ghost
we must have." Kerlin raised his head. "Baton! one ghost; admit a ghost!"
A moment passed; Kerlin held up his hand. There was a faint scratch at the [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
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the necessities to be accomplished in the time available there to make the
task like trying to write the Tomes of Kae in a minim of ink. I wane; my
pulsing comes in shallow tides, my sight flickers .. ."
He waved a despairing hand, then, turning, led them into the inner chamber,
where he slumped into a great chair. With many uneasy glances at the door,
Guyal and Shierl settled upon a padded couch.
Kerlin jeered in a feeble voice, "You fear the white phantasms? Poh, they are
pent from the gallery by the baton, which contains their every effort Only
when I am smitten out of mind or dead will the baton cease its function. You
must know," he added with somewhat more vigor, "that the energies and dynamics
do not channel from my brain but from the central potentium of the Museum,
which is perpetual; I merely direct and order the rod."
"But this demon who or what is he? Why does he come to look through the
walls?"
Kerlin's face settled into a bleak mask. "He is Blikdak, Ruler-Divinity of the
demon-world Jeldred. He wrenched the hole intent on gulfing the knowledge of
the Museum into his mind, but I forestalled him; so he sits waiting in the
hole till I die. Then he will glut himself with erudition to the great
disadvantage of men."
"Why cannot this demon be exhorted hence and the hole abolished?"
Kerlin the Curator shook his head. "The fires and furious powers I control are
not valid in the air of the demon-world, where substance and form are of
different entity. So far as you see him, he has brought his environment with
him; so far he is safe. When he ventures further into the Museum, the power of
Earth dissolves the Jeldred mode; then may I spray him with prismatic fervor
from the potentium . . . But stay, enough of Blikdak for the nonce; tell me,
who are you, why are you ventured here, and what is the news of Thorsingol?"
Guyal said in a halting voice, "Thorsingol is passed beyond memory. There is
naught above but arid tundra and the old town of the Saponids. I am of the
southland; I have coursed many leagues so that I might speak to you and fill
my mind with knowledge. This girl Shierl is of the Saponids, and victim of an
ancient custom which sends beauty into the Museum at the behest of Blikdak's
ghosts."
"Ah," breathed Kerlin, "have I been so aimless? I recall these youthful shapes
which Blikdak employed to relieve the tedium of his vigil . . . They flit down
my memory like may-flies along a panel of glass . . . I put them aside as
creatures of his own conception, postulated by his own imagery . . ."
Shierl shrugged in bewilderment. "But why? What use to him are human
creatures?"
Kerlin said dully, "Girl, you are all charm and freshness; the monstrous urges
of the demon-lord Blikdak are past your conceiving. These youths, of both
sexes, are his. play, on whom he practices various junctures, joinings, coiti,
perversions, sadisms, nauseas, antics and at last struggles to the death. Then
he sends forth a ghost demanding further youth and beauty."
Shierl whispered, "This was to have been I..."
Guyal said in puzzlement, "I cannot understand. Such acts, in my
understanding, are the characteristic derangements of humanity. They are
anthropoid by the very nature of the functioning sacs, glands and organs.
Since Blikdak is a demon .. ."
"Consider him!" spoke Kerlin. "His lineaments, his apparatus. He is nothing
else but anthropoid, and such is his origin, together with all the demons,
frits and winged glowing-eyed creatures that infest latter-day Earth.
Blikdak, like the others, is from the mind of man. The sweaty condensation,
the stench and vileness, the cloacal humors, the brutal delights, the rapes
and sodomies, the scatophilac whims, the manifold tittering lubricities that
have drained through humanity formed a vast tumor; so Blikdak assumed his
Page 79
ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html
being, so now this is he. You have seen how he molds his being, so he performs
his enjoyments. But of Blikdak, enough. I die, I die!" He sank into the chair
with heaving chest.
"See me! My eyes vary and waver. My breath is shallow as a bird's, my bones
are the pith of an old vine. I have lived beyond knowledge; in my madness I
knew no passage of time. Where there is no knowledge there are no somatic
consequences. Now I remember the years and centuries, the millennia, the
epochs they are like quick glimpses through a shutter. So, curing my madness,
you have killed me."
Shierl blinked, drew back. "But when you die? What then? Blikdak ..."
Guyal asked, "In the Museum of Man is there no knowledge of the exorcisms
necessary to dissolve this demon? He is clearly our first antagonist, our
immediacy."
"Blikdak must be eradicated," said Kerlin. "Then will I die in ease; then must
you assume the care of the Museum." He licked his white lips. "An ancient
principle specifies that, in order to destroy a substance, the nature of the
substance must be determined. In short, before Blikdak may be dissolved, we
must discover his elemental nature." And his eyes moved glassily to Guyal.
"Your pronouncement is sound beyond argument," admitted Guyal, but how may
this be accomplished? Blikdak will never allow such an investigation."
"No; there must be subterfuge, some instrumentality . . ."
"The ghost are part of Blikdak's stuff?".
"Indeed."
"Can the ghosts be stayed and prevented?"
"Indeed; in a box of light, the which I can effect by a thought. Yes, a ghost
we must have." Kerlin raised his head. "Baton! one ghost; admit a ghost!"
A moment passed; Kerlin held up his hand. There was a faint scratch at the [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]