A. Merritt's Fantasy Magazine, December 1949 — page 108: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

oy hn - something about to happen . . . something execrable, abhorrent . . . an evil some- thing that had been conceived in the old house while its ghosts had watched, im- potent to prevent ... and now were ap- pealing to me to abort. The house trembled. It was a tremor that began far beneath it and throbbed up through every timber and stone. Instantly that which had feared and had appealed to me withdrew; sweeping down to the source of the trembling—or so it seemed ,to me. Again the house trembled. Trem- bled in actuality, for the door at my back quivered. The trembling increased and be- came a shuddering under which the solid old handhewn joists creaked and groaned. ere followed a distant, rhythmic thud- ng. It ceased, and the old house quivered, ‘then seemed to settle, and again the joists cracked and groaned. Then a stunned si- lence . . . and again the ghosts of the old house were around me, outrage in their wrath, panic in their fear, crying, crying to me to hear them, to understand them. I could not understand them. I walked to the window, and crouched there, peer- ing out. It was a dark night, sultry and oppressive. There was a flashing of light- ning from far beneath the horizon and faint distant rumbling of thunder. I went quickly about the room looking for some weapon, but could find none. My intention was to get into my room, clothe myself and then hunt down Dahut and de Kera- del. Precisely what I was going to do after I found them I did not know—ex- cept to end their sorceries. All confusion as to whether these were sorceries or super-illusions was gone. They were evil realities belonging to a dark wisdom evilly used . . . none should be allowed to live to wield this evil power . . . and they were swiftly mounting to some atrocious, dread- ful climax which must be thwarted at any cost. The ghosts of the old house were silent —I had gotten their message at last. They were silent, but they had lost none of their fear, and they were watching me. I went to the door. Some obscure impulse made me- pick up the white robe and throw it around me. I stepped out into the hall. It was filled with shadows, but I gave them no heed. Why should I, who my- | 408 A. MERRITT’S FANTASY * self had been a shadow? As I passed, they clustered and crept behind me. And now I knew that the shadows too were afraid, like the old house—were cringing before ~ - xa " Lt Me ‘a : lt. ee Went) = ee - > P a" 2 some imminent and dreadful doom—like the ghosts were beseeching me to avert eer er From below came the murmur of voices, 4 4 then that of de Keradel raised in anger, and following it, the laughter of Dahut —taunting, mocking, brittle with menace. I slipped to the head of the stairs. The = lower hall was but dimly lighted. The voices came from the big living room, and that the two were quarreling was evident, but their words were inaudible. I crept — down the stairs and flattened myself be- side the edge of one of the heavy curtains which covered the doorway. I HEARD de Keradel say, voice now level and controlled, “I tell you that it 4 is finished. There remains only the last sacrifice . . . which I perform to- a night. I do not need you for that, my — daughter. Nor after it is done shall I ever need you more. And there is noth- — ing you can do to stop it. The end toward ~ which I have been working all my life e... has told me. will become wholly has been reached. H DW... ; Rae erg manifest and ascend his throne. And I” —all de Keradel’s egotism was in his voice, colossal, blasphemous— “and I shall sit beside Him. He .. . has: prom- ised me. The dark power which men in all ages and in all lands have sought— the power which Atlantis almost attained e.. and that Ys drew but thinly from the Cairn—the power for which the medieval world so feebly groped—that power will be mine. In all its fulness. In all its un- conquerable might. “There was a rite none knew, and.. . He ... has taught me it. No, I need you no longer, Dahut. Yet I am loath to lose you. And... He... is inclined to you.. But you would have a price to pay” There was a little silence, and then Dahut’s voice, very still: “And that price, my father?” “The blood of your lover.” He waited for her answer—as did I, | but she made none, and he said: “T do not need it. I have pressed the S Se Ss GComicboo an . «." ee > .* . aX —