In the Court of the Yellow King

by Tim Curran

  This book is dedicated to

  C. J. Henderson

  who left us before he could see his story in print.

  Contents

  Introduction

  These Harpies of Carcosa — W. H. Pugmire

  The Viking in Yellow — Christine Morgan

  Who Killed the King of Rock and Roll? — Edward Morris

  Masque of the Queen — Stephen Mark Rainey

  Grand Theft Hovercar — Jeffrey Thomas

  The Girl with the Star-Stained Soul — Lucy A. Snyder

  The Penumbra of Exquisite Foulness — Tim Curran

  Yield — C. J. Henderson

  Homeopathy — Greg Stolze

  Bedlam in Yellow — William Meikle

  A Jaundiced Light at the End — Brian M. Sammons

  The Yellow Film — Gary McMahon

  Lights Fade — Laurel Halbany

  Future Imperfect — Glynn Owen Barrass

  The Mask of the Yellow Death — Robert M. Price

  The Sepia Prints — Pete Rawlik

  Nigredo — Cody Goodfellow

  MonoChrome — T. E. Grau

  Contributors

  Cassilda’s Song

  Along the shore the cloud waves break,

  The twin suns sink behind the lake,

  The shadows lengthen

  In Carcosa.

  Strange is the night where black stars rise,

  And strange moons circle through the skies,

  But stranger still is

  Lost Carcosa.

  Songs that the Hyades shall sing,

  Where flap the tatters of the King,

  Must die unheard in

  Dim Carcosa.

  Song of my soul, my voice is dead,

  Die thou, unsung, as tears unshed

  Shall dry and die in

  Lost Carcosa.

  — The King in Yellow, Act 1, Scene 2

  Introduction

  It started with a play, a play with the power to warp reality and the minds of those who dared read it. There was a mysterious stranger – Tell me, have you seen The Yellow Sign? – a Phantom of Truth wearing a pallid mask of lies, and a king, The King, dressed in a robe of yellow tatters.

  These characters appear in the banned play The King in Yellow, set within a palace in the city of Carcosa, on the shores of Lake Hali. With black stars overhead, where “shadows of men’s thoughts lengthen in the afternoon” Carcosa is lit by twin suns that sink into Lake Hali only to rise again the next day. Heaven protect those that have fallen under the thrall of The King, those that have seen the Yellow Sign, seen beneath the alien god’s scalloped tatters, and know the secret festering behind the Pallid Mask.

  The authors within this book know the secret, have beheld The Yellow Sign, and from their creative madness have spun eighteen tales written in tribute to their Yellow King.

  Some of weird fictions favourite sons and daughters have put madness to paper within these pages: W. H. Pugmire, Christine Morgan, Edward Morris, Stephen Mark Rainey, Jeffrey Thomas, Lucy A. Snyder, Tim Curran, Greg Stolze, William Meikle, Brian M. Sammons, Gary McMahon, Laurel Halbany, Robert M. Price, Pete Rawlik, Cody Goodfellow, T.E. Grau and the late and very much missed C.J. Henderson, whom this tome is dedicated to.

  Their stories take place in the past, present and future, across space and time and within dimensions terrible to behold. Here you will read stories of CIA deals with otherworldly creatures, a cult deprogrammer with a deadly secret, Viking marauders, the secret history of Elvis Presley, the psychological terrors of haunted minds, and more.

  The King in Yellow Mythos (or Carcosa Mythos, as it is sometimes called) began in 1895 with a collection of ten short stories by author Robert W. Chambers, and was published under the title The King in Yellow. It featured amongst other tales four interconnected stories: ‘The Yellow Sign’, ‘The Repairer of Reputations’, ‘The Mask’ and ‘In The Court of The Dragon.’

  The tales are linked together by three main plot devices:

  A mysterious and cursed play in book form, banned since its release, called The King in Yellow.

  A supernatural entity mentioned in the play also called ‘The King in Yellow.’

  A mysterious symbol called ‘The Yellow Sign’ which is connected with the play and the King in Yellow.

  Within the fiction, those that read the play often end up insane or possessed by evil. Many suffer their minds being blasted by the horrible tale the play reveals or are haunted and hunted to death by the play’s monstrous avatars. Those that find The Yellow Sign suffer just as terribly as those that read the play.

  Over the decades since Chambers collection first appeared, many other authors have written stories featuring his creations, adding to the rich canon of King in Yellow tales. This includes author H.P. Lovecraft, a name all fans of weird fiction will be aware of. Here, for your reading pleasure, is a collection we humbly add to the canon of the Mythos.

  Welcome to your personal apocalypse, in The Court of the Yellow King.

  Glynn Owen Barrass, August 2014

  smiled at the canvas on the wall, and felt the shadow of its artist at my left. “It’s interesting, isn’t it?” I told the fellow without turning to him, not wanting to take my eyes from his painting. “I’ve never known buildings to look so... tattered. The city itself oozes of self-extinction, although how a city could commit suicide is a perplexing puzzle. There is not a trace of life, except for the two sirens in the sky; and yet they look so fantastic that one guesses that they may be mere figments of twisted dreaming. Look how they hang there in the air, horribly illuminated by the lifeless light of the twin porphyry moons, those globes of ghastly reddish-purple rock. Finally, our eyes take in the figure in its yellow robe, with its pallid artificial face and arms outstretched. I cannot comprehend why his hands should be so crimson.”

  I turned my head slightly and looked at the artist; and although his eyes were fixed onto his creation, I knew that he listened to my language. “Now,” I continued, “there is one minute glimmer of natural light, and yet it emanates from an artificial relic. Do you see it, there, in the corner of the canvas, like something dropped onto the road, forgotten and forsaken? Yes, the brass crown with its synthetic jewels. One feels that it sits in proxy for something more authentic. And that long knife sitting beside it looks so nasty, doesn’t it, like some implement designed exclusively for mayhem? The entire thing makes one shiver and wish for movement, for some shifting of starlight or some song of wind. But those obsidian stars in the painted sky do not crawl, of that I am certain; and the air of that deserted city, one knows, is dead and still. And yet – and yet, how captivating it seems, this painted image, how it tugs at the brain and makes one wonder how it would feel to weep beneath those black stars, to inhale the lifeless air. However did the artist come up with such an image, one wonders?”

  “It’s from a play,” my companion finally spoke.

  “Indeed? And where would one find this play?”

  He did not hesitate in his reply, and yet he spoke as one who had lost his way in reality. “I read it in a dream. I read it aloud, and the dream took on solidity. I could hear the waves of the lake breaking on the shore, and when the wind arose I could hear the flapping of the tatters of the King, that flapping that should never be sounded. They h
ad such a strange rhythm, and I tried to sing in accompaniment; but my mouth was dry and my voice was dead, like the lost city that festered all around me. God, the hard light of those twin moons, burning their essence onto my eyes. And when I finally awakened, I could still feel that acidic impression on my eyes; and the world looks weird, and its inhabitants look like puppets.” He then turned to me, smiled and chuckled. “Sounds completely kookoo, I confess.”

  I shrugged and returned my attention to his creation. “The fantastic artist sees the world in singular ways, divorced as he is from the dull world of dreary reality. How far more creative and captivating, to live within a dream.”

  He turned his gaze again toward the painting. “I really would prefer to live there, godless region though it may be. I wouldn’t have to pretend all the time. So, you like this?” He motioned to the canvas.

  “Oh, yes,” I assured him, “for I long to live there myself.” Bowing to him, I walked to the door and exited the gallery. The sun was beginning to set, and the sky was a gorgeous bouquet of color. I stood there and admired the mixture of gold and mauve and amber, and I felt his shadow blend into my own.

  “Are you an artist?” he asked.

  “I exist within a realm of Art,” was my esoteric response. We walked away from the city, toward the hill that rose before us. It was early spring, and the trees that lined the lane were sweet of fragrance and delicate upon the eye. We had almost reached the apex of the hill when we encountered the murdered thing. The artist knelt before the feline corpse and studied it for a little while as the sun continued sinking; and then he removed the long knife from the cadaver and wiped its blade on a patch of clean grass. How deftly he handled the implement. Rising, he held the knife with hands that were clasped together as if in prayer.

  We stood atop the hill and watched the death of day. He shut his eyes for a moment, and then he flinched as his body began to tilt. Sheepishly, he smiled. “Sorry. I’m feeling a bit faint.”

  “When was your last meal? Your face looks haggard with hunger.”

  He shrugged. “I’m an artist.”

  Reaching into my pocket, I took out a folded piece of paper. “I don’t have any money on hand, but perhaps this will aid you.” Putting the knife under his arm, he took the paper and unfolded it. I do not think he understood the Yellow Sign traced onto the paper. Folding it again, he placed it in his bosom. The moon rose within the darkening sky, and we noticed the distant object that reflected the lunar light. “Ah,” I sighed, “it’s your brass crown. How golden it looks in this unearthly light.” We walked to it, and he bent to pick it up. “Yes,” I continued, nodding, “it is quite golden, and its diamonds are authentic. Will you don it, the golden diadem?”

  How near the white moon seemed to the hill on which we stood. Its dull light shimmered on the crown as he lifted it above him and then placed it on his head. The leaves in one nearest tree began to rustle in the rising wind, and the branches of that tree began to sway. I could not help but warble.

  “Atop the hill he makes his stand,

  In wind that sings a saraband,

  And we uncover

  Lost Carcosa.

  “There are no stars on this strange night,

  Just one strange moon that sheds its light

  Upon our dream of

  Lost Carcosa.

  “See how the moon divides its sphere

  Into twin globes that mock and leer

  Above the streets of

  Lost Carcosa.

  “Ah, double globes, grotesque, divine,

  Evoke the ageless Yellow Sign,

  Return of hearts to

  Lost Carcosa.”

  I moved in little steps to the music of the wind and clapped my hands as he removed the long knife from under his arm and held it before him. Reaching into my bosom, I removed what was folded there and held it before him, winking. He watched as I unfolded the pallid mask and fastened it to my face. I think he shuddered just a little as the moon began to darken and divide. I watched the division of those spheres and listened to the sound of their wings unfolding. He turned at last to face them.

  “They come to adore you, these sirens of suicide. They come to take ye home. You hold the key. Will you plunge it into place?”

  I danced toward him and hummed a little song, unable to contain my joy. His length of hair moved in the wind aroused by dæmonic wings, and his mouth began to hum in accompaniment to my noise. Lowering his eyelids, he raised the knife and thrust it into his throat. Shouting in ecstasy, I moved to him and caught his flow of blood with greedy hands. Somehow, he refused to fall. I stretched out my arms and offered my hands to the creatures of nightmare, and laughed as they floated to me and kissed my palms. Their attention was then caught by the wobbling of his body. Licking their moistened mouths, they flocked to him and caught him by each arm. Bending, I picked up the fallen knife and raised it to their blurring forms, as they blended again into one solid sphere.

  ulls cried faint and unseen through a heavy morning mist that cast all the world in damp and dripping grey. Distant waves rushed foaming upon the pebbled shore, filling the cool air with scents of salt and brine. Here, where the river widened to meet the sea, the waters mixed in eddying whorls. Ripples lapped the muddy banks. Splashes sounded where fish leaped, or struggled in the nets and traps.

  Wigleof led the way from one spot to the next. His little sons followed, lugging the baskets that would soon be filled with this day’s rich catch. They whispered to each other, joking, teasing. They were good boys and dutiful, twins, sturdily built, curly-haired like their mother. He loved them well.

  At their home, a small thatch-roofed hut walled in wattle and daub, Wigleof’s sweet-natured wife Aelda would be hard at work, helped by their daughters and tending the baby. Perhaps later, she’d walk to the village by the abbey, to trade smoked fish for milk, eggs and honey.

  Or she might send Aeldwyn, their eldest, who greatly admired the nuns – Sister Gehilde most of all – and spoke of joining their order. Wigleof had no objections to this, though he held a private measure of doubt for her reasons. If Aeldwyn thought the life of a nun was nothing but restful prayer, candle-making, clean robes of soft wool and hymn-singing, he suspected she might be in for a surprise.

  He chuckled to himself as he hauled up the first wicker-woven fish traps. They were well-full with sleek silver-scaled bodies that flapped and flailed, gulping. The boys chattered eagerly as they opened and loaded the baskets.

  Then they hushed, frowning.

  “Father,” said Leofric, his tone unusually subdued, “what happened to this one?”

  Wigleof looked at what the boy held in his small hands. The fish did not flail, flap or gulp. “That one’s dead,” he said.

  “But what happened to it?” Leofwald asked, his tone also subdued.

  Expecting to find nothing out of the ordinary, Wigleof took the fish, and frowned himself. An odd oiliness sheened its skin, and its flesh felt strangely warm. He had never pulled a warm fish from the river, or from the sea. Its eyes bulged, yellow-white and murky, rather than shiny black. It might have already been partially stewed.

  Upon a closer-yet inspection, he found that its fins and tail were tipped with fine barbs curved like cat’s claws, and in its mouth were not teeth but stringy tendrils. Something about it struck him as altogether loathsome, unnatural, and vile.

  Both boys gazed at him, solemn, waiting for him – their trusted father – to have all the answers. He found himself speechless. His mind was torn, half of it wanting to hurl the fish as far away as he could, the other half thinking to take it to the village as a curiosity.

  It twitched in his grasp. He dropped it with a stifled cry of revulsion. Leofwald bent as if to reach for it and Wigleof drew him back. The three of them watched as the fish writhed and clenched.

  “You said it was dead,” Leofric sai
d.

  “I thought that it was.”

  “It’s trying to burrow into the mud,” said Leofwald.

  “Father, I don’t like it.”

  “No. Nor do I.”

  The frightened tremors in their voices decided him. Wigleof seized a nearby branch, snapping it off so that the end came to a rough point. He drove this down into the fish, puncturing it through the gills, nailing its body to the river bank. Thin blood oozed out, almost more yellowish than red. The fish thrashed a bit more, then fell still.

  Silence held.

  They watched it warily.

  It did not move again.

  Silence yet held, a silence that seeped into Wigleof’s consciousness. The gulls, which had been shrieking their cries, had fallen mute. He could not hear the steady rush of the surf, a noise as constant and familiar to him as his own breathing. The moisture, which had been collecting on the leaves, making them glisten, dripping off in a soft wet patter, now made no sound. Nor did the water lapping along the shore, although he saw its regular ripples.

  Each of his boys held him by an arm. He felt their touches, felt their trembling, felt them press close against his legs. They looked up at him with identical pleading expressions, but did not speak. Perhaps could not speak, just as he was unable to find his own voice to reassure them.

  A stirring in the heavy, silent grey gloom caught his eye. Out on the river, a shadow appeared, mist-blurred and indistinct, then coalescing into a shape... a long, low, narrow shape that brought dread to his heart... a shape with graceful curves rising at prow and at stern, curves topped with carven beast’s heads... a shape, a ship... a ship with a single mast, from which belled a striped sail of yellow and white... a ship with many slim oars jutting out to each side... oars dipping and stroking in unison... the oar-blades slicing without splashing... the hull gliding in utter silence, water parting ahead of it and sluicing together in pale roils in its wake....

  Terror welled up within him.

  He should have fled already, run for the village to warn them, run for his house, for his wife and daughters, to take what valuables they could and seek refuge, seek safety hiding in the woods and the hills.