Authors: Brian Lumley
De Marigny nodded, however ruefully, and answered: 'We both aspire to great things, Atal, though I admit that at times my faith has weakened.'
Atal answered de Marigny's nod with one of his own. Impatience is the privilege of the young,' he said, 'while still they have the energy for it. But now is not the time for a weakened faith, of that I am sure. I
am
the priest of the temple, and I know as much as any priest of the Elder Gods knows of Elysia; except do not ask it, for even I cannot tell you the way there. What I must tell you is this: recently, though I have prayed as always, I know that my Prayers have not reached Elysia. The way is barred! Prayers go unheard, unanswered, and strange thoughts no longer fall to earth beyond Thalarion; an inhuman messenger has come into Serannian, and abides there still, and no human being knows what message he brought; aye, and there have been the eclipses, and now you, The Searcher, have returned once again to dreams. Strange times, and I cannot fathom the whys and the wherefores of it all —unless, perhaps, you can enlighten me?'
De Marigny, noting that he had now acquired a dream-name — the same one by which he was known in many dozen worlds quickly explained his purpose here in the dreamlands: the fact that while he was needed now in Elysia, which stood imperilled by an imminent eruption of the Great Old Ones, still there was no royal road to that place; for which reason Titus Crow had given him certain clues to the route he must take, clues he now pursued as best he might. Then he asked the elder to go into more detail in respect of certain of his 'portents', those singular occurrences he had mentioned:
'What of those alien thoughts,' he asked, 'which you heard in your dreams? Can you not tell me a little more? And what of this weird visitation Lord Kuranes reported from sky-floating Serannian?'
'As I have said,' Atal replied, 'the thoughts from outside were not human thoughts, but yet they were not evil or
inimical to man. Indeed, they may even have had some bearing upon your quest - though I cannot swear to that. Ah, but now I see it written in your face that you will go at once into Thalarion's hinterland! So be it, but remember that region is not much travelled. It borders on the old territories of the eidolon Lathi - lands where for long she reigned supreme - and so there may well be danger lurking there yet. However, there are others here in the dreamlands who can tell you more reliably of such things; for of late there have been such marvels and tumults and victories ... the battle of the Mad Moon ... Zura's treacheries, and the triumph of the ships of the dreamlands ... an old man is hard-pressed to stay well informed.'
De Marigny frowned to himself in the light of the lanthorns and allowed himself a few thoughtful bites of food while Atal got his breath. The Searcher knew that the temple's high priest was growing weary - he was beginning to ramble a little, so that his words no longer completely made sense - else The Searcher might also ask him about those recent `marvels and tumults and victories', and perhaps something of the war in dreamland's moon; but he was sure there would be others he could talk to of those things, which must certainly be matters of wider report. And so it seemed to him that there remained only one more thing requiring the elder's clarification.
And as if Atal read his mind, at last that ancient had control of himself sufficient to say: 'A visitation, aye, a strange new thing come into Serannian. It is a small grey metal cube,' (and he made its shape and size with his trembling hands), 'which flew out of the sky one morning when the city was just astir, and poised itself at the:' mainland end of that narrow promontory whereon Curator keeps his Museum. There it hovered and spun like a top. in the air, seemingly sentient, a dull leaden box containing - what? And from where?
`Ah! - but let me tell you this: the strange cube was not featureless. No, for upon one of its six sides it bore hands, like those of a clock - even like those of your time-clock there - and aye they 'numbered four and moved in a manner without rhyme or reason!'
De Marigny gasped and sat up straighter, butbefore he could form a question:
'Wait!' said Atal. 'Let me say on. The longshoremen and saiors spied the cube there where it spun in mid-air, dully agleam, and word was sent to Kuranes who of course came at once from his ivied manor. A great dreamer, Lord Kuranes, but this was a matter beyond even his dreaming. Natheless he questioned the box in all the tongues of the dreamlands; but it answered him not, merely spinning there at Serannian's rim, where the narrow span of the causeway goes out to Curator's marvellous Museum ...' The ancient paused.
Now de Marigny knew something of Curator and his Museum, but not a great deal; his time in Serannian had been very limited and in the main restricted to visiting Kuranes' manorhouse. He knew however that Curator was a mechanical man, or that his body at least was of shining metal, and that both he and his Museum had existed in Earth's dreamland at least as long as Serannian; but just what the robot really was, and where he came from, and why he had brought the collection which formed his Museum's exhibits here in the first place ... no one knew those things. It was sufficient that he did no harm - within certain limits, and provided the Museum and its contents were not threatened or interfered with - and certainly the place did contain many wonderful things. Kuranes was known to frequent the Museum with some regularity.
'I should not think,' he finally prompted the old man, that Curator would be much taken with this enigmatic visitor, spinning there in mid-air so close to his Museum!' 'On the contrary,' Atal sighed, once more taking up the
tale. 'For as the sun rose up and broke free of the horizon, so Curator came out and scanned the cube where it whirled; and he must have taken note of its erratic hands where they measured conjectural matters upon its sixth side; and he stared at it with his crystal eyes along the length of the bridge which connects the Museum to Serannian's rim. Then—
'A passing
weird
thing! For Curator, who has many arms, formed four of them into hands like those of the cube, all sprouting from a central place, and these he jerked and twirled in a singular fashion, duplicating to a large degree the movements of the cube's hands!'
`They talked to each other!' gasped de Marigny at once. `Curator and this time-clock — for it can only be some sort of strange time-clock — conversed!'
`More than that,' came Atal's rustling affirmation. Tor in a little while Curator strode out along the causeway, and the leaden cube moved forward to meet him, and there in the centre of that spindly span they paused, as it were face to face. And while longshoremen, sailors, citizens and Kuranes himself looked on, panels opened in Curator's chest to reveal a space just so big,' (again he described a small cube with his fluttering hands), 'in which without pause the enigmatic visitor located itself, ere Curator's panels closed again to fold it within his breast And so the wonder was at an end, for without more ado Curator turned and clanked back to his Museum. And still the mystery of this meeting and its meaning remain unknown.'
`So,' said de Marigny, `not only must I visit Thalarion's hinterland but also Serannian, to talk to Curator.'
But here Atal shook his head. 'Not possible,' he said, `not even remotely. It is a matter of immemorial legend that no man in all the dreamlands ever spoke to Curator"
`Never?'
`Not ever. Ask yourself these questions: does Curator even understand the speech of men? Does he care? Is he even
aware
of any reason or purpose outside his one task of preserving and protecting his beloved Museum? But on the other hand—'
`Yes?'
'Curator has had
to do
with men — with certain men, that is. By that I mean that while he converses not, still he can make his desires known to men — especially those who would harm his Museum or attempt to disorder or even steal its exhibits!'
De Marigny frowned, tried hard to understand. 'You mean that he chastises would-be thieves?'
'He has done so, yes. And he has had occasion to merely warn others. Indeed I know of two such, er, gentlemen, cautioned by Curator, as it were — ex-waking-worlders, as it happens.. And by rare coincidence, though I for one do not believe in coincidences, these same men have also ventured beyond Thalarion — ventured there and more
—
and
returned unscathed! You should talk to them, Henri, before proceeding further with your quest.'
`Do you know them, these two, and where I might look for them?' The Searcher was eager.
But while they had talked something had been taking place to attract the attention of all the others at their tables: a curiosity at first, which had now grown into something so strange and wondrous rare as to be a singular occurrence in its own right. It concerned the cats of Ulthar, and it also concerned Moreen.
For during her man's conversation with the temple's high priest (and knowing the importance of their subject), Moreen, seated on Atal's left, had not interrupted but had taken the opportunity to eat; and having eaten she had then found a kitten to talk to, which had jumped into her lap from beneath the table. Now the cats of Ulthar are a special breed and have their preferences; they know good men from bad and true from false, and are mainly
indifferent toward all but the warmest, purest hearts. How then Moreen's heart? For where one small kitten had coiled in her lap and purred -
- It seemed to the people gathered in the courtyard of the Inn of a Thousand Sleeping Cats that at least half and probably more than half of all the cats in Ulthar must have come to congregate here in the last half-hour, and all of them worshipping at the feet of Moreen! Of
every
type and size and description they were, though outside the circles of lanthorn light their colours were quite uniform; for of course it was that hour when all cats turn grey, except in the light. Kittens galore (Ulthar's cats have large litters), and huge, prowling toms, and sleek, well groomed matrons, all rubbing shoulders and straining forward; but never once a snarling or spitting, for theirs was a unity of curiosity - a group engrossment, a mass hypnotism - whose soul and centre was Moreen.
De Marigny and Atal, deep in conversation, had barely noticed the gradual encroachment and massing of the cats; but now, as all chatter died away, in the glimmer of lanthorns and perfume of Ulthar's night blossoms, and in the sudden astonished sighing of all humans who congregated there in that courtyard, they could
scarce
help but notice it. And more cats arriving by the minute, until the cobbles were crowded with them where they spread out in concentric circles from Moreen's feet; and the girl still petting that smallest kitten while she spoke purringly to all the cats in general. And them beginning to purr back at her, in a concerted rumbling that spoke of all the contentment in the world!
Forgetting de Marigny almost entirely, Atal took Moreen's hand and pressed it, and said: 'You must have loved cats for a very long time, my dear, and loved them well. For the cats of Ulthar are very discerning.'
`Cats?' she smiled at him. 'Is that what they're called? Oh, yes, I remember now! Cats are mythical creatures-in Numinos, only ever heard of in legends of the Mother-world, passed down from generation to generation.'
De Marigny quickly explained Moreen's origin - and the fact that Borea's moon, Numinos, had no cats, for Ithaqua had never taken any there - and Atal was rightly dumbfounded. 'And she befriends all beasts in this manner, you say? But this is an astounding thing, and as surely as all the other portents have been bad ones, this
must
be a good one! Merely to have this wonderful girl with you bodes well for your quest, Searcher.'
'Then you'll tell me where I can find these men you spoke of, who've travelled beyond Thalarion and had something of business with Curator?'
Atal nodded his old head. 'Anything you desire to know,' he said. 'Except, if I told you
all
I've heard of these two it would take all night and half of it at least would be fabulous anyway, I'm sure and both of us would fall asleep ere I was done. And so I'll be brief:
'They came from the waking world and were stranded here when their lives were prematurely ended in that plane. At
-
first they seemed at odds with the lands and men and Customs of Earth's dreams, they became wanderers, adventurers, great brawlers and even thieves; but because they were artful dreamers, finally the dreamlands accepted them and gave them shelter. And rightly so, as it turned out, for now it seems they're destined to grow into legends in their own right. They are questers now, agents of ever watchful Kuranes, and their many deeds have included keep-climbing and exploring, black wizard-slaying, gaunt-riding and far-adventuring in some of dreamland's most monstrous places. Why, it was them burned down the paper city Thalarion, and almost. the wicked eidolon Lathi with it! - through I'm told she's building that awful hive once more. They were dreamland's warlords in the battle of the Mad Moon; they put an end to Zura's plot to sink Serannian; for all their roguish natures, even the King of
Ilek-Vad is said to number them among his personal friends!'
`Randolph Carter?' de Marigny was impressed.
`Himself!' Mal nodded. 'And talking of King Carter, and remembering your reason for coming here at this time, his current absence is a great pity; for Randolph Carter has been to Elysia in his dreaming and might perhaps show you the way; except that he's once again gone off, exploring in undreamed of places, ever searching for your father, Etienne, his old friend from the waking world.'