The Lions of Inganok
Page 6
lush and beautiful garden, through which wound paths leading to seven doors in the tower. She had learned that other than the priests and their acolytes, only the city's veiled king was permitted to enter, and sure enough the door she approached was flanked by a pair of guards. At first she expected to have to fight her way in, but as soon as they saw Creme they became very excited, and welcomed him in an exuberant manner, virtually ignoring her.
"Why are you so happy to see him?"
The right-hand seemed to focus on her for the first time. "The Hierophant has said that cats will come again soon to Inganok, and the first one to appear in the garden must be allowed free access to the temple, along with anyone who accompanies it."
"How could he know this?"
The left-hand guard spoke for the first time. "We do not know in what manner he made his prediction, but we never dreamed we would witness its fulfillment ourselves."
"Very well. We wish to see him, immediately."
They bowed half a dozen times in quick jerks. "Yes, of course," the right-hand guard replied in a joyous tone. "Please, follow us."
They entered the temple as she and Creme followed, and they escorted them to an antechamber. At first it was empty, but moments later a tall and straight old man with a nearly bald head and a full, trimmed beard entered by an opposite door. Like all the people of the city he had the same long-faced features, with a high forehead, thin nose, pointed chin, long-lobed ears, and long narrow eyes, only more pronounced than she had so far seen. She suspected that he was a nearly pure descendant from the first half-divine children fathered by the Great Ones.
There was, however, one important difference in his appearance: though he smiled to try to look merry, his countenance had an ingrained sorrowful appearance, as if secrets he dared tell to no one else weighed him down.
"Welcome." He addressed Creme directly, but gazed at them all. "You are all most heartily welcome. I am Ohbaeda, Hierophant of the Holy Temple of the Elder Ones." His manner displayed earnest feeling, but there was a grave tone to it. "Your arrival is a momentous omen of good fortune, for which I give thanks
"I am Cremedevoyageur, special envoy for Her Most Serene Feline Majesty, the High Queen of All Cats Great and Small, and Her Council of Elders. These are my companions: Conaed, Ambassador of the Zoogs; Teehar'owan, of the Perfumed Jungle of Kled; and my bodyguard, Medb hErenn of Ulthar."
He briefly acknowledged them all, and Medb noted that he seemed wholly unconcerned that Creme was accompanied by such an unusual and well armed guardian. He then clapped sharply three times, and an acolyte stepped through the other door.
"Bring food and drink for our guests."
The young woman bowed and retreated out of sight.
"While we wait," Medb said, "I am curious as to how you predicted our arrival."
The story came out in fits and starts, interspersed as it was with exclamations of adulation, but the gist of it seemed to be that three months before a priest of Bast had come to Inganok bearing a black statue of a cat, and promising that he would bring cats back by establishing a new center of worship.
"His name is Luveh-Keraphf; he said that a cat would come soon, and when it did I was to deliver it to him in the Holy of Holies immediately upon its arrival."
"Indeed. Then we should not keep him waiting. Take us there at once."
He raised a hand, as if urging her to relax. "There is plenty of time for that later. For the time being, please take your ease and rest from your journey."
"But he said immediately upon our arrival. Surely he would not have insisted if he did not have a good reason. Do you wish to court the displeasure of the Elder Beings by this delay?"
"Perhaps you are right. Please, follow me."
He led them from the room to the center of the temple, where a cyclopean spiral staircase rose up a central shaft to the very pinnacle of the tower. Yet he led them not up, but down into the bowels of the earth. They descended for many minutes; even Medb lost track of the time. Yet eventually they emerged into a domed chamber whose floor, wall, and ceiling were covered with onyx slabs. It was ellipsoid in shape, with the staircase forming one focus; at the other stood a single huge block of onyx, smoothly dressed and perfectly squared, which was covered with glyphs and symbols inlaid with gold or silver leaf. She surmised it was the altar, for upon it sat the statue of Bast. It was flanked by two wrought-iron, floor-mounted sconces that held large flaming torches, but otherwise there were no other items in the chamber.
A lone figure stood before the altar, swathed in a rich black robe that covered it completely from head to foot, with only its eyes visible. It was exceedingly tall but emaciated, almost a caricature of a man. It appeared to be alone in the chamber, but beyond the twin circles of light cast by the torches, she could see a dozen similar figures staying out of sight. She doubted Ohbaeda had noticed them, but she saw them plainly, if dimly.
Creme spoke to her in the feline common tongue: "Beware, Madam; there are others hidden in the shadows."
Teehar took off from her shoulder to keep watch from above as she, the cat, and the Hierophant stepped off the stairs onto the tiled floor.
As they approached him who must have been the priest named Luveh-Keraphf, she could see that his eyes were cold, cruel, and hard, like dark blue globes of ice. Suspicious, she slowed her approach and concentrated, trying to penetrate any magic that surrounded him. At first, she could sense nothing, and she began to believe she had been mistaken to distrust him. After all, her own emerald green eyes had often been described as cold and hard, but she did not consider herself evil. Yet, even as she was about to relax, the appearance of the figure flickered momentarily in her vision; for an instant the robes disappeared, revealing a desiccated, wizened mummy wrapped in decaying burial linen.
Shocked, she abruptly halted. Knowing what to look for, she focused her mind's eye on the figure and saw the thin haze of glamour that enshrouded him like a fine mist. Pushing, she penetrated it, and clearly saw the true form and nature of the revenant. At almost the same instant, Creme halted as well, as his own feline senses gave him the same revelation.
"This man is not what he claims to be," she announced in an authoritative manner.
Ohbaeda stopped and turned to look at her, puzzled annoyance on his face.
Before he could speak, however, she added, "This is no priest of Bast; he is an imposter, a worshiper of Nyarlathotep in the guise of Ubasti. He has no intention of bringing cats to Inganok, except as sacrifices to his Master. Instead, he plans to establish his cult here, in your city, thereby calling down upon it the curse of the Great Ones and the Elder Beings alike."
Though troubled, the old priest seemed unconvinced. "No, it is not possible; he has the sacred statue of Bast."
In response, she passed the pair of spears to her left hand, then extended her right arm towards the lich with her hand raised, the fingers splayed and the palm forward, as if in salute. Instead, she slowly bent the elbow until the thumb touched her left shoulder, then swiftly swept the arm forward again and around to her right side. The sound of wind filled the chamber; though noncorporeal, Ohbaeda turned when he heard it blow past him, and he watched as the robe of the figure fluttered as if in a strong breeze. At the same moment, what seemed like a cloud of dust was expelled from around it, and, where once had stood a man dressed in costly garb, a scarecrow clad in mildewed rags and a tattered cloak remained.
As Ohbaeda stared at the apparition in alarmed shock, she continued: "He stole the statue, to win your trust and support, but he intends to consecrate it to Ubasti. That is why he needs a cat. By sacrificing a living feline and pouring its blood over the statue, he can defile its sacredness to Bast even as he dedicates it to his Master. And by asking you to bring it to him, he can make you complicit in his evil design."
Clearly outraged, the old priest advanced on the mummified figure to confront it. "Is this true?"
Luveh-Keraphf stared back silently for some moments, then lifted a hand covered in
cracked, exsiccated skin to its head. It pulled aside the cloth that covered its long, narrow face, revealing parchment skin stretched so tightly over the skull that the shape of the bones was clearly visible. The lips were pulled back into a rictus, exposing a grin of clenched, rotting teeth. Yet somehow the lich managed to speak without breaking skin or bone.
"It is indeed, old fool." The voice was unusually high-pitched, with a nasal twang, but it had a hollow, dry, rasping quality that grated on her nerves, like nails dragged across a slate board. "You were so anxious to bring cats to your city, you would have believed anyone who told you he could do it, even the Crawling Chaos Himself. But I did not lie; together we will bring cats to Inganok, and we shall offer them to Ubasti, so that your city may grow powerful and become the center of an empire that will rule over the Dreams of Men forever! Now, bring me the young tom, so that I may dedicate this statue to Ubasti, and call down the blessings of the Outer Ones onto this altar."
Even as the embalmed corpse spoke, Medb reached up to her throat and undid the clasp to her cloak. Conaed clung to the garment as it fell from her shoulders and burrowed into the fabric to hide, not from cowardice, but to conceal his magical support of his patron. She removed one of the throwing spears from the shield frame and held it ready. Her caution was well founded, for