The Dedalus Book of British Fantasy: 19th Century (European Literary Fantasy Anthologies)

by Brian Stableford

  The storm had now ceased, and the moon rising gave presage of a fine night, just as this singular conductor, taking a sudden turn, plunged into the wood by a path, narrow and almost choked up with a quantity of brier and thorn. The trees were thick, and, save a few glimpses of the moon, which, now and then, poured light on the uncouth features of his companion, all was dark and dismal; the heart of Fitzowen misgave him; neither spoke; and he pursued his guide merely by the noise she made in hurrying through the bushes, which was done with a celerity totally inconsistent with her former decrepitude. At length the path grew wider, and a faint blue light, which came from a building at some distance, glimmered before them; they now left the wood, and issued upon a rocky and uneven piece of ground, whilst the moon, struggling through a cloud, cast a doubtful and uncertain light, and the old woman, with a leer which made the very hair of Fitzowen stand on end, told him that the dwelling was at hand. It was so; for a Gothic castle, placed on a considerable elevation, now came in view; it was a large massy structure, much decayed, and some parts of it in a totally ruinous condition; a portion, however, of the keep, or great tower, was still entire, as was also the entrance to the court or enclosure, preserved probably by the ivy, whose fibres crept round with solicitous care. Large fragments of the ruin were scattered about, covered with moss and half sunk in the ground, and a number of old elm trees, through whose foliage the wind sighed with a sullen and melancholy sound, dropped a deep and settled gloom, that scarce permitted the moon to stream by fits upon the building. Fitzowen drew near, ardent curiosity mingled with awe dilated his bosom, and he inwardly congratulated himself upon so singular an adventure, when turning round to question his companion, a glimpse of the moon poured full upon his eye so horrid a contexture of feature, so wild and preternatural a combination, that, smote with terror and unable to move, a cold sweat trickled from every pore, and immediately this infernal being seizing him by the arm, and hurrying him over the draw-bridge to the great entrance of the keep, the portcullis fell with a tremendous sound, and the astonished youth, starting as it were from a trance, drew his sword in act to destroy his treacherous guide, when instantly a horrible and infernal laugh burst from her, and in a moment the whole castle was in an uproar, peal after peal issuing from every quarter, till at length growing faint they died away, and a dead silence ensued.

  Fitzowen, who, during this strange tumult, had collected all his scattered powers, now looked round him with determined resolution; his terrible companion had disappeared, and the moon shining full upon the portcullis convinced him that any escape that way was impracticable; the wind sighed through the elms, and the scared owl, uttering his discordant note, broke from his nest, and, sweeping through the vale beneath, sought for more secure repose. Having reasoned himself, therefore, into a state of cool fortitude, and bent up every power to the appalling enterprise, our Adventurer entered the great tower, from a loop-hole near the summit of which a dim twinkling light could be just discerned. He extended his sword before him, for it was dark, and proceeded carefully to search around, in hopes, either of discovering some aperture which might lead to the vestibule, or staircase, or of wreaking his vengeance on the wretch who had thus decoyed him. All was still as death, but as he strode over the floor, a dull, hollow sound issued from beneath, and rendered him apprehensive of falling through into some dismal vault, from which he might never be able to extricate himself. In this situation, dreading the effect of each light footstep, a sound, as of many people whispering, struck his ear; he bent forward, listening with eager attention, and as it seemed to proceed from a little distance only before him, he determined to follow it; he did so, and instantly fell through the mouldering pavement, whilst at the same time, peals of horrid laughter again burst, with reiterated clamour, from every chamber of the castle.

  Fitzowen rose with considerable difficulty, and much stunned with the fall, although, fortunately, the spot he had dropped upon was covered with a quantity of damp and soft earth, which gave way to his weight. He now found himself in a large vault, arched in the Gothic manner, and supported by eight massy pillars, down whose sides the damp moisture ran in cold and heavy drops, the moon shining with great lustre through three iron grated windows, which, although rusty with age, were strong enough to resist his utmost efforts, and having in vain tried to force them, he now looked around for his sword, which, during the fall, had started from his grasp, and in searching the ground with his fingers, he laid hold of, and drew forth, the fresh bones of an enormous skeleton; he started back with horror; a cold wind brushed violently along the surface of the vault, and a ponderous iron door, slowly grating on its hinges, opened at one corner, and disclosed to his wondering eye a broken staircase, down whose steps a blue and faint light flashed by fits, like the lightning of a summer's eve.

  Appalled by these dreadful prodigies, Fitzowen felt, in spite of all his resolution, a cold and death-like chill pervade his frame, and kneeling down, he prayed fervently to that Power without whose mandate no being is let loose upon another, and feeling himself more calm and resolved, he again began to search for his sword, when a moon-beam, falling on the blade, at once restored it to its owner.

  Having thus resumed his wonted fortitude and resolution, he held a parley with himself, and perceiving no way by which he could escape, boldly resolved to brave all the terrors of the staircase, and, once more recommending himself to his Maker, began to ascend. The light still flashed, enabling him to climb those parts which were broken or decayed. He had proceeded in this manner a considerable way, mounting, as he supposed, to the summit of the keep, when suddenly a shrill and agonizing shriek issued from the upper part of it, and something rudely brushing down grasped him with tremendous strength; in a moment he became motionless and cold as ice, and felt himself hurried back by some irresistible being; but, just as he had reached the vault, a spectre of so dreadful a shape stalked by within it, that, straining every muscle, he sprang from the deadly grasp: the iron door rushed in thunder upon its hinges, and a deep hollow groan resounded from beneath. No sooner had the door closed, than yelling screams, and sounds which almost suspended the very pulse of life, issued from the vault, as if a troop of hellish furies, with their chains untied, were dashing them in frenzy, and howling to the uproar. Henry stood fixed in horror, a deadly fear ran through every vein, and the throbbing of his heart oppressed him. The tumult, however, at length subsiding, he recovered some portion of strength, and immediately making use of it to convey himself as far as possible from the iron door, presently reached his former elevation on the staircase, which, after ascending a few more steps, terminated in a winding gallery.

  The light, which had hitherto flashed incessantly, now disappeared, and he was left in almost total darkness, except when, now and then, the moon threw a few cool rays through some shattered loop-hole, heightening the horror of the scene. He felt reluctant to proceed, and looked back with apprehension lest some yelling fiend should again plunge him into the vault. A mournful wind howled through the apartments of the castle, and listening, he thought he heard the iron door grate upon its hinges; he started with terror, the sweat stood in big drops upon his forehead, and he rushed forward with desperate despair, till having turned a corner of the gallery, a taper, burning with a faint light, gleamed through a narrow dark passage; approaching the spot whence it streamed, he perceived it arose from an extensive room, the folding doors of which were wide open: he entered; a small taper in a massy silver candlestick stood upon a table in the middle of the room, but gave so inconsiderable an illumination, that one end was wrapped in palpable darkness, and the other scarcely broken in upon by a dim light that glimmered through a large ramified window covered with thick ivy. An arm-chair, shattered and damp with age, was placed near the table, and the remains of a recent fire were still visible in the grate. The wainscot of black oak, had formerly been hung with tapestry, and several portions still clung to those parts which were near the fire; they possessed some vivacity of tint, and, wi
th much gilding yet apparent on the chimney-piece, and several mouldering reliques of costly frames and paintings, gave indisputable evidence of the ancient grandeur of the place. Henry closed the folding doors, and, taking the taper, was about to survey the room, when a half-stifled groan from the dark end of it smote cold upon his heart, at the same time the sound as of something falling with a dead weight, echoed through the room, and a bell tolled deep and hollow from the tower above. He replaced the taper, the flame of which was agitated; now quivering, sunk, now streaming, flamed aloft, and as the last pale portion died away, the scarce distinguished form of some terrific being floated slowly by, and again another dreadful groan ran deepening through the gloom and the bell swung solemn from the keep. Henry stood for some time incapable of motion; at length summoning all his fortitude, he advanced with his sword extended to the darkest part of the room: instantly burst forth in fierce irradiations a blue sulphureous splendour, and the mangled body of a man distorted with the agony of death, his every fibre racked with convulsion, his beard and hair stiff and matted with blood, his mouth open, and his eyes protruding from their sockets, rushed upon his maddening senses; he started, uttering a wild shriek, and, hurrying he knew not whither, burst through the folding doors.

  Darkness again spread her sable pall over the unfortunate Fitzowen, and he strode along the narrow passage with a feeble and a faltering step. His intellect shook, and overwhelmed by the late appalling objects, had not yet recovered any degree of recollection; and he wandered, as in a dream, a confused train of horrible ideas passing unconnected through his mind; at length, however, memory resumed her function, resumed it but to daunt him with harrowing suggestions; the direful horrors of the room behind, and of the vault below, were still present to his eyes, and, as a man whom hellish fiends had frightened, he stood trembling, pale and staring wild. All was now once more silent and dark, and he determined to wait in this spot the dawn of day, but a few minutes had scarce elapsed, when the iron door screaming on its hinges, bellowed through the murmuring ruin. Henry nearly fainted at the sound, which, pausing for some time, again swelled upon the wind, and at last died away in shrill melancholy shrieks; again all was silent, and again the same fearful noise struck terror to his soul. Whilst his mind was thus agitated with horror and apprehension, a feeble light streaming from behind, accompanied with a soft, quick, and hollow tread, convinced him that something was pursuing, and struck with wildering fear, he rushed unconscious down the steps; the vault received him, and its portals swinging to their close, sounded as the sentence of death. A dun fetid vapour filled the place, in the centre of which arose a faint and bickering flame. Fitzowen approached, and beheld a corse suspended over it by the neck, whilst the flame flashing through the vault, gleamed on a throng of hideous and ghastly features that came forward through the smoke. With the desperate valour of a man who sees destruction before him, he ran furiously forward; a universal shriek burst forth, and the fire, rising with tenfold brilliance, placed full in view the dreadful form of his infernal guide, dilated into horror itself; her face was pale as death, her eyes were wide open, dead, and fixed, a horrible grin sate upon her features, her lips black and tumid were drawn back, disclosing a set of large blue teeth, and her hair, standing stiffly erect, was of a withered red.

  Fitzowen felt his blood freeze within him; his limbs became enervated, and at this moment, when resistance on his part appeared almost impossible, a door bursting open at the extremity of the vault, in rushed the form of Walleran, who wielding a battle-axe, aimed a blow at Henry, that, situated as he then was, and rendered torpid through the influence of preternatural agency, he conceived would be effectual for his destruction. In this, however, he was, fatally for himself, mistaken, for no sooner was he perceived, than the effect of the enchantment ceased; indignation swelling at the heart of Henry, impelled the lingering fluid, his cheek flushed with the crimson tide, his limbs recovered their elasticity and tone, and avoiding with active vigour the death that was intended him, he sheathed his falchion in the breast of his opponent, who, having wasted his impetuous strength upon the air, had thus exposed himself to instant ruin.

  Walleran dropt lifeless on the ground, and the dreadful appearances in the vault, the fire, and all its apparatus, immediately vanished, whilst loud howlings and lamentations were heard at a distance in the air. A profound silence, however, now ensued throughout the castle, and Henry, by the light of the moon, as it streamed through the grated window, beheld at his feet the bleeding corse of his antagonist. Starting from the contemplation of his fallen enemy, he resolved to explore the ruins in search of Adeline, of whose concealment in some part of the building, he entertained not the smallest doubt, and apprehensive now of little opposition, he once more attempted those stairs, in ascending which he had formerly encountered so many terrors. He reached the gallery without any interruption, and passing through the folding doors into the apartment already described, discovered at one end, and on the very spot where he had beheld the tremendous vision of the agonizing wretch, a narrow, winding, and arched passage, and which, taking a circular direction, probably passed into the opposite portion of the great tower. Here he entered, but had not proceeded far before the sound as of soft and very distant music reached his ear; and shortly afterward was distinctly heard the murmur of falling water. Sounds such as these, and in such a place, greatly surprised him, and hastening forward to ascertain from what quarter they originated, he found himself suddenly immersed in a very cold and damp vapour, whose density was such, that for a short time it totally suffocated the smallest ray of light; in a few minutes, however, it began in some measure to clear away, accompanied with a whispering noise, whilst vast eddies and gusts of thin vapour passed him with a whirling motion. He now perceived himself in a kind of large cavern whose sides were of unhewn stone, and from the roof were pendent numbers of beautiful stalactites, from whose points fell, at intervals, with a tinkling sound, large drops of water, whilst the dying notes of distant harps, the gurgling of vapour, formed a harmony so singular, yet so soothing, that when united to the surrounding chill and torpid atmosphere, seemed calculated to inspire the most profound repose. Fitzowen now advanced a little further into the cavity, and, through the chasms of the ever fluctuating mist, discerned, hanging from the centre of the roof, a vast globe, which emitted rays of the palest hue, and which, in passing through the turbid vapour, shed a kind of twilight.

  Whilst pondering on the purport of this very peculiar scene, he felt a heaviness, and a tendency to sleep creep upon him, accompanied with an indistinctness and confusion of intellect; at this instant, however, a mass of vapour rushing by him, the light gleamed more steadily, and he beheld in an excavation of the adjacent wall, and recumbent on a couch, what he conceived to be a human body. Curiosity was now so powerfully excited, as completely to expel the approaching torpor, and drawing nearer the object of his attention, he could hear the deep breathings of a person in profound sleep; the next moment he could perceive the garments of female attire, and in the succeeding instant hung with rapture and astonishment over the well-known features of his beloved Adeline. The globe shed a silvery and preternatural whiteness over her form, and the rose had left her cheek; she lay with her head reclined upon her hand, and the utmost tranquillity sate upon her countenance, though, now and then, a deep-drawn sigh would indicate the tissue of idea.

  Henry stood, for some moments, rivetted to the spot, then starting from his reverie, he wound his arms about her beauteous frame, and impressed upon her lips a glowing kiss - she awoke, and instantly a tremendous tempest burst upon them, loud thunder shook the earth, and a whirlwind, rushing through the pile, tore it from its foundations.

  The lovers recovering from a trance, which the conflict of the elements had occasioned, found themselves seated on some mossy turf, and around them the soft, the sweet and tranquil scenery of a summer's moon-light night. Enraptured with this sudden and unexpected change, they rose gently off the ground; over their heads tow
ered a large and majestic oak, at whose foot they believed some kind and compassionate being had placed them. Delight and gratitude dilated their hearts, and advancing from beneath the tree, whose gigantic branches spread a large extent of shade, a vale, beautiful and romantic, through which ran a clear and deep stream, came full in view; they walked to the edge of the water; the moon shone with mellow lustre on its surface, and its banks, fringed with shrubs, breathed a perfume more delicate than the odours of the east. On one side, the ground, covered with a vivid, soft, and downy verdure, stretched for a considerable extent to the borders of a large forest, which, sweeping round, finally closed up the valley; on the other, it was broken into abrupt and rocky masses swarded with moss, and from whose clefts grew thick and spreading trees, the roots of which, washed by many a fall of water, hung bare and matted from their craggy beds.

  Henry and his Adeline forgot in this delicious vale all their former sufferings, and giving up their minds to the pleasing influence of curiosity and wonder, they determined to explore the place by tracing the windings of the stream. Scarcely had they entered upon this plan, when music of the most ravishing sweetness filled the air, sometimes it seemed to float along the valley, sometimes it stole along the surface of the water, now it died away among the woods, and now, with deep and mellow symphony, it swelled upon the gale. Fixed in astonishment, they scarce ventured to breathe, every sense, save that of hearing, seemed absorbed; and when the last faint warblings melted on the air, they started from the spot, solicitous to know from what being those more than human strains had parted; but nothing appeared in view; the moon, full and unclouded, shone with unusual lustre; and filled with hope, they again pursued the windings of the water, which, conducting to the narrowest part of the valley, continued their course through the wood. This they entered by a path smooth, but narrow and perplexed, where, although its branches were so numerous that no preference could be given, or any direct route long persisted in, yet every turn presented something to amuse, something to sharpen the edge of research. The beauty of the trees, through whose interstices the moon gleamed in the most picturesque manner, the glimpses of the water, and the notes of the nightingale, who now began to fill the valley with her song, were more than sufficient to take off the sense of fatigue, and they wandered on, still eager to explore, still ardent for further discovery.