16 May 1870, Monday
~Later~
Our audience with ‘She' (apparently this is short for ‘She Who Must Be Obeyed', as the woman is never referred to as ‘Her') was very strange. I could hardly see her for the intense Mystic glow that surrounded her, and even now my eyes feel as if I had been staring into a candle flame. I got the impression that she is young in appearance while Miss Sinclair, whose eyes I trust more than my own at the moment, found her beautiful but very off-putting. (That may have something to do with the, literally, hundreds of statues and ornamental devices made in ‘She'‘s image.)
While we were in her presence she asked about Wooster and Caine's military insignia. By her words, since I could not see to judge her face, she seemed quite taken with Our Lieutenant– to the point of being quite rude to Sir Cosmo and impugning Our Queen's judgement by saying that Sir Cosmo was not a young or vigorous enough man to trust with such a Command. I was quite incensed! Just thinking about it now makes my blood boil.
I did manage to hold my tongue during the audience (though a few whispered comments did escape when Ruth and I were walking down the corridor to our assigned rooms later). I am afraid I would not make a very good Diplomat as I had too many years of holding my thoughts in check to stomach much of it nowadays. In that, Ruth and I are very alike, though she seems to have much more experience in knowing when to be forthright. After we were dismissed from ‘She's' presence, we were shown to a series of rooms in the Administration Building (it is across a walkway from the Temple where ‘She' has her audience chamber). They are richly appointed and we are settling in.
I did manage to remember to check the area for malignant magik before we got too involved with baths (ah, heaven to be clean after such a trek up the mountain-side). Miss Sinclair is working with some of the servants of this place to get proper hot water boiling for Tea. Miss Gordon and her Father will join us soon and we may begin to make sense of all this!
~Later~
We have been busy, and I do not have time to write in detail all
that has happened in the last hour. I have two transcriptions
to make into this journal, so will content myself with recording
a few facts. After tea, we searched Mr Andrew Pryce's former room.
In it we found the carpet bag that he uses to carry his watcher
supplies. We used that and several of the objects from it as the
centre of a locating spell– hoping to find evidence of him
somewhere on the island. The spell failed quite dramatically.
Mrs Cuthbert's eyebrows were singed by the candle she held. Mr
Pryce's ritual dagger tried to escape Mr Ramsey's grasp and my
hand is still shaking from holding bells that would not stop ringing.
While we did not gain any information through Mystic Means, Mr Ramsey did find Mr A Pryce's Watcher Notebook. Mr Pryce had ciphered the contents but the cipher was a simple substitution in Latin and I was soon able to read it out to Mr Ramsey. There was an embarrassing moment as I mis-read Martial Prowess for Marital Prowess but I blame that on Mr Pryce's abominable handwriting– I have never seen writing so cramped and crowded!
I have only a few minutes to transcribe this while Mr Ramsey is researching one of the passages referenced. Here then is the text of the last entry in Mr Pryce's Book:
"10 April, 1870
I have placed so very little information in this diary since arriving at the city of Kor. My notes are an atrocious mess. Mr. Travers would be appalled. Yet, the information comes faster than I can write it down, let alone translate or analyse it. When I return from this night's investigation, perhaps there will be time, at last, to organise the material into a coherent whole.I should say "if I return," for the danger I dare is quite serious. Since I must wait until the next changing of the guard before making my attempt, I shall try to summarise my findings now, and leave this record in a safe place where others of the Order may find it if the worst eventuality comes to pass.
The more I learn about this city and it's history, I become more convinced that this is the very place mentioned in Edmundus de Pratta's translation of the Sherd of Amenaras, I do not know if She Who Must Be Obeyed is the self-same queen mentioned on the sherd, but that She is a creature of great mystic power who has lived for at least several centuries I do not doubt.
I have been troubled by disturbing dreams of a ghoul or perhaps a vampire, lurking in catacombs beneath this city. The dreams become more disturbing with each passing night. All my attempts to cast warding spells and to build mental fortifications have failed to keep the nightmares from plaguing me. In these dreams I sometimes see hordes of innocent people being murdered. Other times I am given visions of veritable armies of the living dead, sweeping across the world and leaving destruction in their wake.
If I can find the place which Amenartas called the ‘dark, twisted pit' which houses the ‘Pillar of Life,' I may be able to unravel the mystery that is She, and know once and for all whether She is a menace to humankind.
Some days ago I found a very ancient fragment of papyrus rolled up inside another, slightly less ancient, scroll. On it, written in the Coptic alphabet these people use, I found reference to ‘Imhotep's Convolution' and a gateway to the ‘eternal emptiness of the night which is sometimes called the pillar of life or the flame of change.' It also contained that rather disturbing declaration, "Death is only the beginning." When I tried to learn more about Imhotep's Convolution, I was summoned by She and questioned most severely. The fragment apparently comes from a taboo document, which contained such great heresy that even speaking the name of it's author was forbidden centuries ago when She had all copies of the scroll destroyed.
She informed me in no uncertain terms that seeking after the information once contained in that banished document will be punished by death.
Since then, I happened to hear a young man at work in the garden make a comment to another about making a pilgrimage to the Convoluted Tombs. I questioned the boy, and learned that the gateway that lies on the eastern rim of the crater, at the opposite side as the gate by which outsiders enter the land of Kor, is called the Convoluted Tombs. No one is buried there, he said, because the place has been haunted by vengeful spirits for generations. Twice a year, however, the people make an offering of rare herbs and certain other valuables to the spirits of the tombs. At other times pilgrimages are made by men seeking increased martial prowess. The spirits are not worshipped, of course, because only She is worshipped in this land, but She supervises the preparation of the offerings, and participates in the ritual presentation of the offering.
When I asked one of the priestesses about the Convoluted Tombs, she told me that they are a forbidden place. She refused to say more about it.
The Convoluted Tombs, Imhotep's Convolution, and the dark, twisting pit may all be one and the same. I will attempt to leave the palace this night and make my way to this gateway and find where the convolutions may lead."
Mr Ramsey just handed me the passage he was researching. I include it here:
"I, Amenartas, of the Royal House of the Pharaohs or Egypt, wife of Kallikrates, a Priest of Isis whom the gods cherish and the demons obey, being about to die, to my little son Tisisthenes. I fled with thy father from Egypt in the days of Nectanabes, causing him through love to break the vows he had vowed. We fled northward, across the waters. Four days after we left the mouth of the Great River, a storm befell us, which pounded and cast us about for several days, drowning most of our crew. When at last the storm ended, we were utterly lost, with no land in sight. The current took us where it would for ten days until at last we sighted an island, which was crowned by a mountain shaped like a tall column.
"Wild men took us captive, and carried us through the hollow mountain to where a great city stood and where there are caves of which no man hath seen the end. They brought us to the Queen of the people of that place, who is a magician having a knowledge of all things, and life and loveliness that does not die. She cast eyes of love upon they father, Kallikrates, and would have slain me, and taken him to husband, but he loved me and feared her, and would not. Then did she take us and lead us by terrible ways, by means of dark magic, down into a dark, twisted pit, in the mouth of which the old philosopher lay dead, and showed us the burning Pillar of Life that dies not, whereof the voice is as the voice of thunder. And she did stand in the flames and come forth unharmed and yet more beautiful. Then did she swear to make they father undying as she is, if he would but slay me and give himself to her, for she could not slay me because of the magic of my own people that I have, and that prevailed thus far against her. And he held his hand before his eyes to hide her beauty, and would not slay me. Then in her rage did she smite him by her magic, and he died, but she wept over him, and bore him thence with lamentations. She sent me to the mouth a small river, where a ship did come in answer to her summons, and I was carried far away on the ships where I gave thee birth, and hither to Athens I came at last after many wanderings.
"Now I say to thee my son, Tisisthenes, seek out the woman, and learn the secret of Life, and if thou mayst find a way to slay her, because of thy father Kallikrates, and if thou dost fear or fail, this I say to all of thy seed who come after thee, till at last a brave man be found among them who shall bathe in the fire and sit in the place of the Pharaohs. I speak of these things, that though they be past belief, yet I have known, and I lie not."
Upon reading it I feel urgently that we much search for Mr Pryce regardless of the potential hazards to ourselves.
Mr Ramsey has finished distributing Mr Pryce's Watcher supplies between his case, Mrs Cuthbert's, and my own. We are off catch up with the rest of the League at the Library of this place, hopefully we will have a chance to impart our newfound information soon. Mr Pryce has been missing since 11 April. Twenty-two days have elapsed in which no one has seen or heard from him.
~Later~
Miss Chigwidgeon and I have taken over the Sitting Room allocated
for the League's use. We anxiously await the return of Sir Cosmo.
We tried a hand of cards to pass the time (Dr Wilson had them
in his pack) but are both too distracted to concentrate. It is
well past sunset and we were up with the sun this morning. I can
feel the exhaustion in my limbs, but my anxiety for Sir Cosmo's
safe return keeps me awake.
Most of the League, as well as the Gordon Party, have retired for the night. So much has happened today. We made the long, treacherous hike up the mountain to the City of Kor, had an extensive tour of the Temple/Administrative Complex, had an audience with ‘She,' were given rooms (and Baths!), examined Mr Pryce's room, visited the library (where Sir Cosmo and Mr Caine were called away for a second audience with ‘She'), and are now back in our rooms awaiting his return. In addition to this, I preformed several spells– one which went horribly awry! In spite of that, Mr Ramsey and Mrs Cuthbert, whose eyebrows are rather singed, still seem to have confidence in my ability, though, I keep expecting them to take more a lead in our Mystical doings, as they are both so much more experienced in Magik than I.
I seem to have some power but I know so few spells that there is little I can do without extensive research into one of the three books I now own (though I consider two of them to be held in common with Mrs Cuthbert). Magik takes so much time to do well, much like chemistry, however, unlike chemistry, it does not seem that you can prepare solutions in advance for use in an emergency. Which, since it takes at least 10 minutes to raise a decent amount of energy to fuel a spell (with all three of us working note!) makes Magik not very helpful in an emergency. And, even if I could prepare spells in advance, I do not know enough about what can be done by magik to know what spells would be helpful and which are just a waste of energy. Maybe next time I will pack the Chemistry set my Father used to use on his travels– assuming that it is still intact. Come to think of it, I may still have the only key to Father's lab. No, wait, I gave the second key to Our Employer to enable him to search the lab and remove any harmful material. Though I do not know if he kept the key or returned it to Mother.
See how I digress. It must be a measure of my concern for Sir Cosmo's safe return. At least Mr Ramsey and I were able to brief him on the contents of Mr Andrew Pryce's journal prior to his audience with ‘She...
Ah, I hear his voice in the hallway. Both Sir Cosmo and Mr Caine are safely returned to us.
~Later~
I was awakened over an hour ago by Miss Sinclair with the news
that Wooster was missing and that Caine had been very difficult
to awaken. Either by drug or magik we were all induced to sleep
much more deeply than is our wont while Wooster was spirited away
though the use of a secret passage way. When we determined that
he was missing we put Owen and Miss Sinclair on the scent (whereby
we discovered the passage-way). After following the trail through
the twisting corridor we found ourselves at a door with many handles.
Edward and Dr Wilson determined that there was trap door in the
floor just in front of the door and that pulling the wrong handle
would open the trap, rather than the door. We secured Edward with
a rope, and, using all four limbs he was able to discover the
correct handles to move in order to open the door.
Once through, we were confronted with several guards. Since Miss Gordon was with us she was able to translate their requests that we return to our rooms. It was the only time I have regretted the amiable Miss Gordon's company since meeting her. If she had not been present we might have been able to pretend ignorance and bluff our way through. However, Sir Cosmo asked to speak to someone in authority and a Priestess and more guards were summoned. The Priestess offered to convey our concerns to ‘She Who Must Be Obeyed' (SWMBO) and begin a search of the grounds similar to the one that was initiated when Mr Pryce vanished. That did not seem very satisfactory to me but Sir Cosmo began thanking her, and, rather loudly, requesting that we all return to our rooms. It was about then that I noticed that Mr Salmalin had vanished from our party. Making as much noise and bustle as possible (to help cover Salmalin's disappearance) I followed Sir Cosmo's lead. The entire party is now anxiously awaiting Salmalin's return.
Hopefully he will have information on Wooster's location– dare we hope that he may be able to effect a rescue of some sort?
In the meantime we can only wait. The sleeping spell or potion seems to have worn of completely, leaving most of us to wait upon the return of Salmalin.
17 May 1870, Tuesday
~not yet dawn~
The Gordon party is in a frenzy of packing. I hear Salmalin and Caine helping them organize for our rapid departure. There is concern for Professor Gordon's health (mostly on the part of his Daughter) and some work is required to prepare a light enough load for each person. My belongings needed only a few minutes work to be ready for departure, leaving me some time to update this record.
I am glad of my good health and stamina, also of my prior hiking experience– unlike some of the Gordon party, I know how much I can carry and how to pack it.
The reason behind our precipitous departure is a terrible manipulation practised upon our Lieutenant Wooster. He is awake now, after Mrs Cuthbert ministered to him. When Salmalin returned with him Wooster could barely keep his eyes open and fell asleep telling us his story. Apparently he was persuaded that Swmbo needed to see him urgently. Some deception was used, for Wooster was certain that Caine had accompanied him while we know for certain that Caine slept though the entire event.
Salmalin reported that he found Wooster in Swmbo's inner chamber, naked, and deeply asleep. Salmalin waited for some time for the chamber to be clear of witnesses and then was able to retrieve the Lieutenant. It is apparent from Wooster's exhausted babbling that he had Intimate Relations with Swmbo. Mrs Cuthbert reports that some of Wooster's life force had drained away, accounting for his extreme exhaustion. In normal circumstances a good night's sleep would put him to rights. However, we do not have time for that and he would be awkward to carry so Mrs Cuthbert has revived him with her Healing Magik.
Once that was accomplished we spent some time going over the information we have in our possession. Mr Ramsey and I were able to share Mr Pryce's journal with the rest of the League and Sir Cosmo gave us a more detailed report of his meeting with Swmbo.
It was decided that we would take advantage of Swmbo's pronouncement that ‘the English' were permitted to leave the city at any time and make all haste to the entrance to the Convoluted Tombs, before Swmbo was able to rouse her people against us. Unfortunately this means that we leave the Griffin pinned between la Majeste and the unknown power of Swmbo and her people but there is no way we could make it down the mountain in the dark. At least I did record the path we took so we can get back to the Griffin without her guides– I hope. Our return to the Griffin depends on many things, so I should not get ahead of myself.
It sounds as though the party is nearly ready to depart at last. We are quite a large group. In addition to the League (Composed of: Sir Cosmo, Mr Cuthbert, Dr Wilson, Lieutenant Wooster, Petty Officer Caine, Mr Salmalin, Edward, Mrs Cuthbert, myself, Miss Sinclair, and Miss Chigwidgeon) we have Mr Rupert Pryce (Andrew's brother), and the remnants of the Gordon Expedition (Professor Gordon, Mrs Hardy, Mr Cleaves, and Miss Gordon). Only Mr Pym will not be going with us. He and his Native Wife seem set upon making a home here on the Island. Perhaps we will be able to get a message to him before we leave the City.
~Later~
We made it out of the City and are now outside the entrance to
the Convoluted Tombs. We did find Mr Pym before we left the City.
His wife, Zahkali, was instrumental in reminding the guards that
we had permission to leave the City at any time. Mr Ramsey took
the time to ask Zahkali when the dead walk on the Island. She
replied that it has been many generations since the Forbidden
One had been destroyed and all his works cast down. Mr Ramsey
then informed her that the dead were walking again upon the island–
this concerned her greatly.
We did not have time for further conversation. Our party made good time across the valley and are now outside an evil haunted gate that we must enter. We are taking the precaution of using a rope strung between us to keep from being separated should our lights go out. Miss Gordon has contributed some cotton thread which we will string behind us as we go– hopefully it will help us find our way back again.
Mr Ramsey, Mrs Cuthbert and I have cast a Spell of Protection over the entire party. I hope it works to good effect. There is not much more to do but enter the Labyrinth and begin our search for Mr Andrew Pryce.
Proceed to 7. Separated!
Return to Miss Whitnell's Diary Index
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