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We moved steadily closer as she spoke, drifting now over vast regions, brown, yellow, green… .
«… Bahama is eleven days sailing from Dylath-Leen, most important port on the island of Oriab, the great lighthouses Thon and Thal at its harbor's gate, quays all of porphyry. There is its canal to Lake Yath, of the ruined city. It flows through a tu
«… And back to the northern land, fine Ulthar lies near the River Shai, beyond a great stone bridge in whose arch a living man was sealed when it was built, thirteen hundred years ago. It is a city of neat cottages and cobbled streets where wander cats without number, for the enlightened legislators of long ago laid down laws for our protection. A good, kind village, where travelers take their ease and pet the cats, making much of them, which is as it should be.»
«… And there is Urg of the low domes, a stop on the way to Inquanok, frequented by onyx miners… .»
«… And Inquanok itself, terrible place near the waste of Leng, its houses like palaces with pointed domes and minarets, pyramids, gold walls black with scrolls and swirling with inlays of gold, fluted, arched, capped with gold. Its streets are of onyx, and when the great bell sounds it is answered by the music of horns and viols and chanting voices. High up its central hill lies the massive temple of the Elder Ones, surrounded by its seven-gated garden of pillars, fountains, pools wherein luminous fish sport themselves and reflections of tripods from the temple balcony shimmer and dance. The temple itself bears a great belfry atop its flattened dome, and when the bell sounds masked and hooded priests emerge, bearing steaming bowls to lodges beneath the ground. The Veiled King's palace rises on a nearby hill. He rides forth through bronze gates in a yak-drawn chariot. Beware the father of Shantak-birds who dwells in the temple's dome. Stare too long and he sends you nightmares. Avoid fair Inquanok. No cat may dwell there, for many of its shadows are poison to our kind».
«… And there is Sarkomand, beyond the Leng Plateau. One mounts salt-covered steps to its basalt walls and docks, temples and squares, column-lined streets, to the place where the sphinx-mounted gates open to its central plaza and two monumental winged lions guard the top of the stairwell leading to the Great Abyss.»
We drifted even lower now, and it was as if I could hear the winds that blow between the worlds as she continued her litany of Dreamworld geography.
«… On the way to Kadath we cross the terrible wasteland of Leng, where, in the great windowless monastery surrounded by monoliths, dwells the High Priest of Dreamworld, his face hidden by a yellow silk mask. His building is older than history, bearing frescoes of the story of Leng; barely human creatures dance amid gone cities, the war with the purple spiders, the landing of the black galleys from the moon….»
«… And we pass Kadath itself, enormous city of ice and mystery, capital of this land… .»
«… Coming at last to fair Celephais in the land of Ooth-Nargai on the shores of the Cerenerian Sea… .»
Now we swooped very low, above a snowcapped peak.
«… Mount Aran,» she intoned, and I saw ginkgo trees upon its lower reaches; then, in the distance, marble walls, minarets, bronze statues. «The Naraxa River joins the sea here. There in the distance lie the Tanarian peaks. That turquoise temple down the Street of Pillars is where the high priest worships Nath-Horthoth. And so we find our way to the place where I have been summoned.»
We dropped steadily then, to touch the bright-cut onyx-stone of the street. Immediately, there were sounds about us once again other than the wind, breezes that I could feel. Graymalk leaped from my back, alighting beside me, shook herself, and stared.
«You wander these lands in dreams of catnappery?» I said.
«Sometimes,» she replied, «and sometimes elsewhere. And yourself?»
«I think that sometimes I might have.»
She turned in a complete circle, paused, then began walking. I followed.
We walked for a long while; none among the merchants and camel drivers or orchid-wreathed priests disturbed our passing.
«There is no time here,» she remarked.
«I believe you,» I answered, and sailors passed us from the pink-vapored harbor and sunlight sparkled upon the streets, the minarets. I saw no other dogs about, smelled none.
In the distance, a blinding spectacle came into view and we made our way toward it.
«The rose-crystal Palace of the Seventy Delights,» she said, «whence he has called.»
And so we walked toward it, and it was as if a part of me normally awake were sleeping and part of me normally asleep were awake, a reversal which led to easy acceptance of wonder, to easy forgetting of daylong movements and concerns these past several weeks.
The crystal palace grew before us, gleaming like a piece of pink ice, so that I looked past it rather than directly at it. Our way became more quiet as we approached, and the sun was warm.
When we came into its precincts, I beheld a small, gray form, the only other living thing in sight, su
Drawing near and prostrating herself, she said, «Hail, High Purring One.»
«Graymalk, daughter,» he answered. «Hello. Rise, please.»
She did, saying, «I believe that I felt your presence at the time of an Elder One's wrath. Thank you.»
«Yes. I have been watching for all of your month,» he said. «You know why.»
«I do.»
He turned his head, antique yellow eyes meeting my own. I lowered my head out of respect for his venerability, and because Graymalk obviously regarded him as someone of great importance.
«You come in the company of a dog.»
«Snuff is my friend,» she said. «He pulled me out of a well, cast me back from the Elder One's lightning.»
«Yes, I saw him move you when it fell, right before I decided to call you here. He is welcome. Hello, Snuff.»
«Hello, sir,» I answered.
Slowly, the old cat rose to his feet, arched his back, stretched low, righted himself.
«Times,» he said, «are complicated just now. You have entered an unusual design. Come walk with me, daughter, that I may impart a small wisdom concerning the final day. For some things seem too small for the Great Ones' regard, and a cat may know that which the Elder Gods do not.»
She glanced at me, and since few can tell when I am smiling, I nodded my head.
They strolled along into the temple itself, and I wondered whether, somewhere, an ancient wolf in a high, craggy place were watching us, always alert, his only message, «Keep watching, Snuff, always.» I could almost hear his timeless growl from the places beneath thought.
I sniffed about, waiting. It was hard to tell how long they were gone in a place without time. But it followed that it should not seem to take long. Nor did it.
When I saw them emerge, I wondered again at the strangeness which had paired me in friendship with an opener. And a cat, at that.
Coming up to me, I saw that Graymalk was almost disturbed, or at least puzzled, by the way she raised her right paw and regarded it.
«This way now,» the old one stated, and he looked at me as he said it, so I knew that I was included in the invitation.