by Brian Lumley
'Go on, Annahilde,' de Marigny again prompted.
'1 . . . I stumble blindly on, going ahead of myself,' she finally said. 'Let me continue in my own time .. .
'I grew to a woman and was taken to bride by Hamish the Strong. Two fine sons he gave me and loyal, who have cared for and protected me these six years since Hamish was taken. As for my sister, Moira: she was almost perfect in her beauty and goodness. No one was ever so kind, no soul ever so lovely, and if Ithaqua had seen her as she grew to womanhood, surely would he have taken her. But his comings were rare in those days and confined mainly to Norenstadt where he sat on his pyramid throne, and he saw Moira not.
'And so she too was wed, to a good and noble man of the clan, a learned man whose instructors were my grandparents brought to Numinos in their little ship; but she did not become pregnant by him until she was in her fortieth year. Then it was that Moreen was born, small and sweet and shiny like a little pearl — Moreen, whose tiny limbs were those of Earth and not the stretchy stilts of Numinos — Moreen of the Smile. And in her fifth year . . . then Ithaqua saw her.
'A child of five tender years, and already lovely as a flower. Fresh as the green fields and full of her mother's ways, she was the darling of her parents, the joy of the clan, the rose in the garden of Thonjolf the Elder's heart. Aye, for the present chief's father was so taken with the child that he had a house built for her family close to his own house, so that he could watch her at her play and laugh with her when she laughed, which was often.
'And when he came, Ithaqua saw her at play and lifted her up. He lifted her into the clouds in his great hand and gazed upon her curiously with his carmine eyes; and where other children would surely cry and beat their tiny fists and feet, that child of joy only laughed and pointed at the huge black blot of his head and tickled his bloated, taloned fingers! And the Wind-Walker — monstrous beast of hell that he is — seemed held in Moreen's tiny fist more tightly ever than he held her.
'Then at last he set her down close by her house and stood off in the sky above the settlement. For a long time he stood there astride the wind, gazing down upon Moreen where she played below and waved up at him, and a strange fascination glowed deep in his fiery eyes.
'Soon, unable to bear this thing any longer, her parents ran out, snatched her up, and carried her into the house; whereupon Ithaqua stirred himself up as if from a dream 'and walked off across the sky toward Norenstadt. And as he went, often he looked back . .
'Some time later, two yak-riding priests came plodding from Norenstadt, and with them a retinue of Viking warriors led by Leif Dougalson himself. At first, when they went to my sister Moira's house and asked to see the girl-child, it was thought that they intended to steal little Moreen away. But no, instructed by Ithaqua, they had merely come to see the child. Then they spoke to my sister and her man; aye, and to old Thonjolf, too, come up with a body of men to protect the little one and her family if such were necessary.
`And the priests said to Thonjolf that his clan was honoured among all the Viking clans, for the Great God Ithaqua had found Thonjolf's people fair and pleasing — particularly the tiny girl-child Moreen, who one day would walk with him as his bride upon the winds that blow between the worlds!
`Then, when they heard this, though glances full of meaning passed between Moreen's elders and old Thonjolf, nothing against the plan was said; for after all nothing could be said, not at that time; and that night there was a feast and drinking and much praying for the peaceful propitiation of Ithaqua. The next day Thonjolf received Leif Dougalson's instructions to care well for little Moreen: it would go badly for all concerned were Ithaqua in any way thwarted in this matter, for it was known that the Wind-Walker would return again and again to Thonjolf's clan to watch the small one grow into womanhood.
`And the priests also spoke to my sister and her man, saying how well it were that the little one should grow up carefully protected and in innocence; and they issued a warning to all the clan that its sons be not tempted as Moreen grew to maturity. Then, before these most important visitors took themselves off to their rightful places in Norenstadt, the priests said how if they had their way, the child would go with them, but that Ithaqua himself had commanded that she be allowed to grow up within her family and clan according to her nature.
`Following their departure, how my sister cried! She wept and her man was distraught with horror, anger, and helplessness, and even the old chief shed a tear at the thought of the now inevitable fate of little Moreen. The entire clan, with the exception of a handful of callow or jealous wives, grew sad and morose, remaining thus for many a day. It was as though a great king had passed away, or as if 'each family had lost a favourite son or daughter all in the same disaster. And the only one to remain unchanged through all of this was the angel Moreen herself, for she was less than six years old and understood nothing at all of the matter — not yet.
`As for me: such were my own emotions over the thing that I think at times I went a little mad. And when these bouts of madness were upon me, I would see strange visions and utter weird warnings and omens. As time passed, I sensed a monstrous disaster looming — though its essence utterly eluded me — and I deliberately began to pose as a seer before the clan, so that not even my poor husband or sons saw through the trick. Yet it was not merely a mad game I played, no; for the approach of the unknown horror was very real to me, and I sought to escape it. And that escape lay in the fostering of my own image as a soothsayer and wonder-worker, a power among the people.
`Thus I set about to learn all manner of spells and conjurations, brewed vision-engendering potions; gathered the delirious pollens of rare and poisonous blooms; and because my grandparents from the Motherworld had been my tutors, passing on great wisdom and even greater curiosity to me, I also journeyed to Norenstadt and learned how to read the olden books, thus discovering for myself the legends of the Vikings and their coming into Numinos. And in this manner and by these means did Annahilde become a witch-wife.
`During these preparations of mine for that terror which I knew was coming, and which by now I knew must concern Ithaqua and his desire to pluck Moreen from the clan when she was ripe, seven years went all too quickly by. Ithaqua had been back only once in those seven years, when Moreen was not yet nine years old. And if anything the extra years had merely added to the goodness of her nature, so that she was loved by all the clan; aye, and even the wild animals of the fields and the birds of the air loved her; and never hurting anything or anyone, she herself was never hurt, nor even understood the meaning of fear .. . which was as well.
`For picture the sight of that horror winging down the whistling winds of ether to Numinos: the monster lthaqua, his mind filled with many alien thoughts, and also one thought which is all too easily recognized by men. Aye, and if man knows the meaning of lust, how then Ithaqua? For he has known the lusts of all the ages, knows them yet, and while his burning eyes were veiled, certainly lust seethed in his black heart. But little Moreen saw it not, saw only the vast being of whom her parents and the clan spoke in shuddering whispers, the massive manlike shape in the sky whose hand came down, gentle as a falling leaf, to lift her to the high places from which, in her innocence, she could gaze down upon Numinos like some queen of the clouds — which one day, if he had his way, she would surely become. And who to say him nay?
`And on this occasion he seemed even more taken with Moreen than before and flew with her round the span of Numinos, showing her all of the places, even the icelands beyond the dark horizons. Aye, but he returned her warm and unharmed, and he smiled — if ever beast such as he could be said to smile at all! — on the clan of old Thonjolf, and the islands knew fair weather, bountiful crops, and good hunting for long and long after his going.
'But of course, three years later he came again ..
`Now there was a lad in the clan, a mere lad, one Garven the Fair. And he admired Moreen and fancied her as is right for young men to fancy pretty girls. That was all th
ere was to it, for Garven was good and honoured the warnings and words of his parents, and the rose Moreen herself was not yet budded. Yet they were childhood sweethearts when times allowed and would meet in the fields some miles inland at a secret place. In this one thing Garven disobeyed his elders, and Moreen hers, and in other circumstances surely the time would arrive when they would cleave each to the other as man and wife. Alas, that time could never be.
'When next Ithaqua came, Moreen was not in the village. The Wind-Walker's coming was unexpected as the rough winds he brought with him and the dark clouds of storm and thunder. He came in suspicion and found things sorely wanting. The clan's cowards rushed here and there, searching for the maid that Ithaqua might be appeased, but she was not to be found. Nor indeed was the lad Garven to be found.
'Then, as Ithaqua's rage mounted to a fury, the innocents came hand in hand, over the cliff paths from their fond wandering in the fields. And Ithaqua saw them .. .
'For all that they were children and pure as driven snow, lthaqua's reaction was that of a cuckolded berserker! Jealousy crackled in the -lightnings that played about his head, and the wonder is that his great pits of eyes did not glow brilliant green rather than their customary smouldering carmine. He snatched the two up and glared at them, and for a moment the very clouds stood still and no breath of air was felt. Then —
' — Before Moreen's very eyes, slowly and deliberately, he crushed young Garven to a tattered red pulp — squeezed the living guts from him — then tossed the red wet thing that had been a fair young lad down from on high to splatter on the beach below the settlement! While Moreen screamed and screamed, he next ripped off her clothes and examined her child's body minutely, finding no blemish, no evidence that she was ought but a child, no sign that his own evil ambitions were preempted. In the sky he nodded his great black blot of a head. So, and now he must ensure that the clan of Thonjolf understood his commands, that they obeyed them more fully in future. And who better to start with than Thonjolf himself, with whom all responsibility must ultimately lie?
`But there, what use to spell out the Wind-Walker's iniquities? The list is long as his life, which began back in the dim mists of time and seems interminable. Let it suffice to say that he murdered the elder Thonjolf's family (with the exception of the third chief of the line, the present Thonjolf the Red, who with his eldest son Harold was away hunting at the time) and also little Moreen's father, oh, and everyone and anyone he could get his great black hands on. Aye, and my man, too, Hamish, great fool that he was.
`But such a brave fool! Why, when.he saw the carnage, Hamish ran at Ithaqua, waving his sword at him and challenging him where he stood red-handed and furious in the sky! I think my husband's mind had snapped — or perhaps he was drunk, I'm not sure. Whichever, he was very brave, and of course lthaqua struck him down.'
Briefly Annahilde paused, before quickly continuing: 'Then, gathering great balls of snow from the dark clouds and freezing them hard in his hands, the monster rained them down upon the settlement until a third of the people were dead and their houses in ruins; and all of this the child Moreen saw. And though her screaming had stopped, her eyes, which once were so innocent, now opened wide in horror and loathing as she gazed down from her precarious perch in the crook of Ithaqua's shoulder.
'Finally he set the child down — not gently this time, tossing her naked into the shingle of the beach — before storming off into the lowering sky toward Norenstadt. Then . . . but how may I describe the agony and despair that lthaqua left in his wicked wake? And before too long, in the midst of all that grief and mourning, back came those same priests from Norenstadt last seen seven years earlier.
'On this occasion Leif Dougalson did not accompany them, no, for he lay grievously ill upon his sickbed. The wonder is that he survives to this day; for Ithaqua had chastised him, had pulled out his left arm by its roots in payment for his disappointment! And so the priests came quickly and in anger this time, spurring their yaks cruelly on, with no false words of praise for the clan of Thonjolf and its new chief.
'Ah, but I had not been idle in the period following Ithaqua's departure. The home of Moreen and her mother had been destroyed during the Wind-Walker's fury — along with my sister's mind — so I, had taken the pair in to care for them: I had lost my own man, true, but had known for long enough that some such was in the offing and recovered quickly from the ordeal. And I had known too that the Wind-Walker's priests must soon come to remove the child into their own care. Well, that black God of Horror had already taken more than enough from the clan, and now I, Annahilde, determined he should take no more. And I had instructed the child thus and so, until she knew what she must say and how she must behave.
'So when they came and laid hands on her, she at once broke free of them, pointing at the one and crying: "When my Lord returns, I shall tell him that you tried to have me for yourself, against my will, and I shall ask him for your head to play with! And you" — she turned on the other — "I shall say to him that you plot against him, seeking a way to blind him and send him lost and stumbling between the stars!"
"No, mistress, we beg of you!" they cried out to her, flinging themselves at her feet, her mercy. "These things are not true, as well you know."
'"Yet I will surely tell- him that they are true," she answered, "if you dare to take me from the clan of Thonjolf." And she stamped her foot as I had shown her, saying: "Now — go!"
`Now these priests had not come out of Norenstadt at lthaqua's command but of their own accord; for rather than face his wrath again following some further contravention of his wishes, they had decided the girl were best under lock and key and in their control. Well, that plan was now plainly out of the question, and without further ado and in great haste they left. Nor has the clan been bothered with them since .. .
Perhaps this victory of mine over Ithaqua's so-called priests went to my head, perhaps not; but whichever, once they had gone, I set about to plan for Moreen's future, for her safety. Blood of my blood would not bear Ithaqua children to walk with him on the winds of ether, spreading his seed through all the universe — no; not if I had any say in the matter.
`And so I determined to smuggle Moreen away into the Isle of Mountains: the only place in all Numinos where her safety would be guaranteed, where Ithaqua could not touch her. That is where she is now, and that is where the pair of you enter into my plan.'
`Oh? And why should Moreen's whereabouts affect us?' Silberhutte asked.
`Your quest will never be completed without her,' she answered. `You will find her in the Isle of Mountains, and you' — she took de Marigny's arm — `you will surely fall in love with her; it can hardly be otherwise. I had thought that perhaps you would stay there and protect her, since Ithaqua will never give up trying to regain her for his own, but now that I know of this box of yours which flies between the worlds .
`Well?' de Marigny prompted.
The witch-wife nodded, apparently reaching some unspoken decision or other. `Yes, it shall be this way: I will give you a letter to take with you. You will not be able to read what is written — but Moreen will. The letter will tell — '
— Where we may find the time-clock?' de Marigny finished it for her.
`Of course!' she answered. And she laughed a laugh as normal and hearty as any they ever heard, with no slightest trace of her assumed eccentricity, so that finally they saw in her much more than a mere soothsayer or seer. She was a woman of the human race, and as such was shrewd as any of her shrewdest sisters — for which they could but admire her.
5 Departure at Darkhour
`You've interested us greatly in all you've told us, Annahilde,' Silberhutte said, 'but there are a number of things we don't quite understand, things which could be important.'
'Ask away,' she replied.
'First: you mentioned Moreen's 'warmness' following Ithaqua's handling of her. What did you mean?'
`I meant what I said. The child was warm, is warm to this day, as i
f the Wind-Walker never laid hand on her. Surely you understand me? Look, you — ' She took the Warlord's hand. 'You have surely known Ithaqua's touch, for you are cold. This one, however' — and now she touched de Marigny 'he is warm, which shows that his contact with the Wind-Walker has been only tenuous, or that he has been protected.'
'All true,' de Marigny agreed. 'It's generally accepted that physical contact with Ithaqua or lengthy close proximity will result in a permanent lowering of the body's temperature and an inexplicable immunity to subzero conditions. And yet you say that Moreen — '
— Is warm, yes. Ithaqua did not chill her blood but left well alone. Perhaps it was all in keeping with his plan to let her grow into womanhood according to her nature, I do not know.'
'I don't understand,' de Marigny shook his head. 'Surely all of the people on Numinos have altered metabolisms, just as they do on Borea?'
'Not all of them, Henri,' the Warlord contradicted. `Occasionally the Wind-Walker's_ influence breeds itself out. There are several such "warm ones" in the plateau on Borea.'
'Aye, and here on Numinos,' Annahilde agreed. 'Most of them in the Isle of Mountains.'
'That brings us to the second question,' Silberhutte told her. 'Just where is this "Isle of Mountains," and how is it that Ithaqua has no control over it?'
Annahilde answered, her voice dropping to the merest whisper. 'The answer lies in the shape of the island. You see, there is a symbol which is utterly abhorrent to the Wind-Walker, a symbol he has forbidden in all of Numinos. The name of this symbol has never been allowed to be spoken, and so it no longer has a name. Of course I know this symbol — aye, and its ancient forbidden name for that matter — though I've only ever spoken it to myself, but .
