The Ruined City

by John Wilson

  “Hello, Aileen,” he said. “Or should I call you Guang? Madison was a good disguise. I wasn’t expecting you here, but your presence explains why things have not gone as I planned.”

  “Hello, Heian,” Madison replied, turning to face the newcomer. “It’s good to see you after all this time.”

  “I doubt that,” Leon said with a sneer. “Especially since you’re too late. You should have thrown these two into the Abyss as soon as you got here. I couldn’t have stopped you. But you didn’t have the strength. You had to have the emotional farewell scene. You were always too soft. That’s why you’ll always lose and I’ll always have power.”

  “You think that awakening Cthulhu will give you power?”

  Madison and Leon were standing an arm’s length apart, staring intently into each other’s eyes. Howard sensed there was a struggle going on that had nothing to do with what they were saying.

  “Cthulhu will thank me for freeing him. In my dreams he has promised that once he returns, the remotest corner of the universe will be mine to explore. I’ll be able to leave this puny world that has trapped me for so long and voyage to planets you cannot even imagine. I will move in time like a bird through the air. I’ll see the beginning and the ending of everything. I will feel the heat of exploding suns and the icy electric wind from galaxies where a billion stars are born and die. I will touch absolute cold and taste the metallic tang of radiation. I will talk with the chaos of Azathoth at the center of creation.”

  Leon was enjoying his moment. He was relaxed, smiling—gloating. Howard wondered what he had in store for him. Not a fall into the Abyss, that much was clear. But what was the alternative? Was he to be returned to the ocean shore and given over to the horror that he had been a part of summoning? Perhaps the Abyss would be preferable.

  “You could have come with me, Madison,” Leon said. “We would have made quite a couple, wouldn’t we? The moon and the sun together. We would have illuminated the universe with our power. But no, you had to have this stupid sentimental attachment to these insignificant creatures. One”—he pointed contemptuously at Cate—“a pitiful Adept who imagines she can see what she cannot even understand. And the other”—he looked at Howard, and his sneer broadened—“a fool who has no concept of the power he’s been blessed with.”

  “You’re the fool.” Madison seemed remarkably calm given the circumstances. “Do you honestly believe that Cthulhu will care about you? You call these two insignificant. How much more of a trifling nothing must you seem to Cthulhu, a being to whom eons of time are but seconds, and the infinities of space mere gardens to play within? To Cthulhu you are but an inconsequential, worthless spot. It will not even do you the honor of killing you. It will ignore you—leave you to scream your loneliness for eternity in nowhere.”

  For an instant Leon’s arrogant sneer slipped to reveal a flash of anger. Then it was back in place. “You’ve always talked too much. I think it’s time to end this.”

  “I have one more thing to say.” Madison leaned toward Leon as if she was about to confide a secret. “I am emotional, and I am attached to these puny creatures, but had I not organized the emotional farewell scene you so despised, my friend Howard would not have become frightened and enraged. He wouldn’t have radiated the power he doesn’t know he has. He would not have called you here.”

  A frown crossed Leon’s face. “What?” he asked.

  Madison moved with lightning speed, lunging forward and wrapping her arms around Leon’s waist. Unbalanced, he toppled. Madison took two steps and launched them both out over the Abyss. Locked together, they hung for an impossibly long time over the blackness. Madison began to glow and change shape. She brightened to an intense light that hurt Howard’s eyes, but he couldn’t look away. Leon was engulfed by the light, and Howard could just barely make out his form—but his piercing shriek stabbed his ears. The light began to spin, and with unbelievable speed, it fell.

  Howard strained to follow the light, until it was no more than a bright star in the endless darkness. Leon’s scream was lost to the unearthly piping music, which grew so loud that it became a physical thing, pounding Howard’s body inside and out. He groaned, clamped his hands over his ears, closed his eyes and collapsed onto the ground. He felt as if there were a huge weight pressing on every inch of his body. At the instant he couldn’t take any more pressure, it stopped. It was as if someone had flipped a switch. The piping sound stopped and an eerie quiet descended.

  Utterly drained, Howard drew in a shuddering breath and hauled himself into a sitting position.

  Cate was beside him, arm around his shoulder. “I’m sorry. I’m sorry. I’m sorry,” she repeated over and over again.

  “Sorry?” Howard breathed deeply, trying to calm himself enough to work things out. “For what?”

  “I had to do it. It was the only way.”

  “Do what?”

  “Help Aileen convince you that we were about to throw you into the Abyss.”

  “You weren’t really going to kill me?”

  “Of course not.” Cate hugged Howard harder and put her head on his shoulder. He buried his face in her neck. “Don’t ever think that again. Aileen knew that the only sure way of stopping Hei from using your power to call Cthulhu was to cast him into the Abyss. We had to lure him here—and to do that, we had to let him sense your power. You had to be scared or angry or both. I’m sorry. That’s twice I’ve used you shamelessly.”

  “It’s okay.” Howard stroked Cate’s hair. She looked up, and the two stared into each other’s eyes. Then he said, “But Madison or Aileen—or whoever she was—went into the Abyss as well.”

  “The real Madison and Leon are just as dumb and obnoxious as they ever were. Aileen and Hei used their forms alone. Light and dark are two parts of the same thing—two sides of the same coin. They always will be.”

  “Is Aileen dead?”

  Cate laughed. “I thought by now you would have worked out that death is not as simple as you believed. The Adept H.P. Lovecraft understood. He said, In his house at R’lyeh dead Cthulhu waits dreaming. What is dead in one dimension isn’t necessarily dead in another.”

  “Is Cthulhu still awake?”

  “Probably, but not fully. The ceremonies on the shore weren’t completed, so a large part of what the Elder Gods put in place still holds. Cthulhu is more aware than it was, but it’s still trapped between dimensions, and its power is only a tiny fraction of what it’s capable of.”

  “It seemed powerful to me, coming out of the sea like that.”

  Cate nodded. “And that gives you a minute suggestion of what it would be like if it was fully awake and free to travel between dimensions.”

  The pair sat quietly for a moment. Then Cate said, “There’s just one more thing you have to do.”

  “No,” Howard groaned. “Haven’t I done enough?”

  “Almost.” She smiled. “But you were brought here for two reasons—to tempt Hei to come here and…”

  “And?” Howard prompted.

  Cate raised her arm and pointed over the Abyss. “To get that.”

  Howard looked to where she was pointing and gasped. On the spot where Madison and Leon had disappeared there now hovered a slender green-jade pillar. On its top, gleaming in the beam of Cate’s head lamp, was a fragment of a golden face. It was part of the top of a rounded head, an eye, an ear and most of a cheek.

  “The Golden Mask,” Howard whispered in awe.

  “A fragment of it,” Cate agreed.

  “It’s beautiful.”

  “It’s even more spectacular close up.”

  “What do you mean?” Howard tore his eyes away from the mask and looked at Cate.

  “You have to go and get it.”

  “What? That really is impossible. It’s in the middle of a bottomless pit, balanced on a hovering pillar of stone. There’s no way to reach it.”

  Cate smiled again. “Heimao will show you the way.”

  Howard had almost forgot
ten that the cat was with them. Now she strode out from behind Cate and, with a glance at Howard, strolled over to the Abyss and stepped off the edge.

  Heimao took a few steps over nothing and turned to look back. “There is a path through the darkness,” she said, “but I’m not going to wait here forever.”

  “There’s no path out there,” Howard said in a panic. “There’s nothing there. I’ll fall.”

  “Am I falling?” Heimao sat and casually began cleaning her face.

  “No,” he admitted, “but you’re a familiar. You can do magic.”

  “So can you. Come on, Sheepherder. Time is short. Trust me.”

  “Don’t call me that,” Howard said as he nervously approached the edge and peered over. There was no sign of a solid path, just blackness. Oddly, this made it less scary. There was no dizzying drop to imagine himself falling down, just blackness.

  Tentatively he extended his right foot. Instead of going down, it met a solid surface.

  “That’s the way,” Heimao encouraged. “Now the other foot.”

  Very slowly, Howard transferred his weight to his right foot. It felt solid. He lifted his left foot and gingerly placed it in front of his right. It too found solidity.

  “Well done,” Heimao said sarcastically. “But try a little faster. I know you have only two feet, but it’s not hard, and you have been practicing walking for years.”

  The cat stood up and continued strolling toward the shimmering mask. Howard followed, concentrating on his goal and placing his feet exactly where Heimao had stepped. He had no idea how wide the invisible path was—and no desire to find out.

  After what seemed like an eternity, they reached the green pillar. Howard found it more frightening here because he could see the pillar receding into the blackness below, and that gave him a sense of how far he could fall. To calm himself, he focused on the mask. Heimao jumped calmly to the top of the pillar and sat beside it.

  “What do I do now?” Howard asked.

  He heard a sigh inside his head. “I have never met anyone who asked as many pointless questions as you,” Heimao said. “Do you think I brought you out here to look at the view? Pick up the mask.”

  Carefully Howard leaned forward and lifted the fragment of the mask off the pillar. It was surprisingly heavy.

  “Well done,” Heimao said. “Now take it back to Cate.”

  “Aren’t you going to lead the way?”

  “You’ve done it once. How hard can the second time be? Just walk toward Cate.”

  The journey back was more nerve-racking than the one out, but at last Howard stood beside Cate. She paid no attention to either him or the mask but instead gazed out at Heimao, still perched on top of the pillar.

  “Now,” Cate said under her breath. “Come on.”

  Howard saw that the pillar was beginning to drop. Heimao stretched and leaped off the pillar, which began to sink faster. The cat was running toward them as fast as she could, but the invisible path was now sloping—and getting steeper. It was as if it was attached to the pillar and was being dragged down with it.

  “Come on. Come on!” Cate encouraged as Heimao struggled toward them. The slope was very steep now, and Heimao was moving more slowly. “She’s not going to make it.”

  Howard thrust the mask into Cate’s arms. “Hold this,” he said and lay down on the edge of the Abyss. Leaning out as far as he dared, he stretched his hands toward Heimao. “Come on,” he said. “I thought cats were supposed to be agile.”

  Heimao leaped. It was not elegant, and Howard felt a searing pain as her claws dug through his shirt and gripped his arm. He pulled his arm back, and Heimao landed in a graceless heap on the ground at Cate’s feet.

  “Did you have to be so violent?” came the voice in Howard’s head.

  “Did you have to dig your claws in so hard?” Howard replied, examining the scratches on his forearm.

  “Stop squabbling, you two, and listen,” Cate said.

  “What? I can’t hear anything.”

  “Exactly. Listen to the silence. There’s no music coming from the Abyss and no sound of waves. Aileen was successful. That portal’s closed.”

  “And we’ve got a piece of the mask!” Howard said.

  Cate handed it back to him. “It was your task to retrieve it, so you’d better hold it while we take it back.”

  “How do we get back from here?” Unpleasant thoughts of black tunnels, crawling beasts and faceless night-gaunts dragged themselves into Howard’s mind.

  “Easy!” Cate said. “All we need to do is close our eyes, tap our heels together three times and say, There’s no place like home.”

  For a moment Howard thought she had gone crazy. Then he blurted, “The Wizard of Oz!”

  “Yes. Dorothy was one of the best Adepts ever.”

  “You’re joking, right?” He hesitated, unsure. “Aren’t you?”

  Cate gave him an exaggerated wink. Then she pulled the map from her satchel and unfolded it for Howard to see. The bright spot was exactly in the center.

  “Probably easier if we use this. I was watching it on the way here. It’s a map not of the surface of the city but of these underground tunnels we came through. It should be simple enough to find our way back to the arch. With luck, we should be able to avoid the main square and the night-gaunts, but we should get going or your mom will start worrying about you.”

  “I don’t suppose we can ever tell anyone about all this?” Howard said as they set off, arm in arm.

  “Oh, I don’t know,” she responded with a laugh. “Don’t you think your mom would want to know we met Amshu and Claec from Atlantis?”

  AYLFORD

  BACK HOME

  Using the map, Howard, Cate and Heimao easily navigated through the undercity without meeting the night-gaunts again. They came out at the lower entrance to the arch and walked up to the Chamber of the Deep, where Kun was waiting for them.

  “Welcome back,” he said with a smile. “I see you have been successful.”

  Howard handed him the piece of the Golden Mask. “I think this is for you.”

  Kun took the fragment and stared at it. “I knew this day would come, but I still cannot believe it.”

  He gently placed the piece on top of the jade column in the middle of the room. He stepped back and recited a few incomprehensible words. The top of the jade pillar wavered. It became almost liquid and then solidified with the fragment of the Golden Mask sitting upright on top.

  “That is safe for now,” Kun said.

  “I thought it took two of the three fragments to work the spells in the Chamber of the Deep,” Cate said.

  “To unlock the mask, yes, but closing is often much easier than opening. Now, may I offer you some tea before you go back?”

  “We’d love to, but we have to hurry,” Cate apologized. “It’s been a long journey, and we must rest and recover. Perhaps some other time.”

  “Of course,” Kun said. Howard thought he detected a twinge of sadness in the emperor’s voice. “Some other time then. Allow me to lead you back to your ship.”

  As they followed Kun through the streets of Sanxingdui, Howard whispered to Cate, “Why couldn’t we stay for the tea ceremony? From the description in the book, it sounds as if it could be interesting, and maybe Chen would perform it.”

  “It’s best not to stay too long in another time,” Cate whispered back. “Strange things can happen.”

  “And Chen’s friend Ting might bring that annoying, ugly canine, Fu,” said the voice in Howard’s head. “I cannot stand that beast—far too arrogant and sarcastic.”

  Howard and Cate were still chuckling quietly to themselves when they reached the city gate and emerged onto the dock. The white ship was docked just where they’d left it, but it was deserted.

  “Where’s Aileen?” Howard asked.

  “She had business elsewhere,” Kun said. “Do not worry—the ship will take you back home.” He took Howard’s and Cate’s hands in his and said, “
I cannot thank you enough for what you have done. You are welcome in Sanxingdui any time and any when.”

  “Thank you,” Cate and Howard said together.

  The emperor released their hands, and they boarded the ship. Immediately it moved away from the dock and began traveling rapidly down the river. Howard watched as the tiny figure of Kun shrank until he and the walled city were invisible.

  Once at sea, Howard again felt relaxed and calm and barely noticed the time passing. Much to his relief, instead of returning them to the peninsula by the beach, the ship moved up the Bane River and docked by the old wharves in downtown Aylford. As soon as they stepped ashore, the ship left the dock and shot off down the river. Oddly, none of the people strolling on the riverfront paid it or them any attention.

  “What time is it?” Cate asked as they stood on the dock.

  “Three thirty,” Howard said, checking his cell phone. “We’ve only been gone for an hour.”

  “Or a day. How do we know it’s still Saturday?”

  “It must be,” he said with more confidence than he felt. “If it was Sunday, Mom would have everyone in Aylford out searching for me by now.”

  Cate laughed. Neither of them said anything about the possibility that years had passed—forward or back.

  “I guess we should head home,” she said.

  Howard glanced at her. “I’m not going anywhere with you until you take off that silly head lamp. That’s too much, even for a geek.”

  Cate slid the lamp into her satchel. “You don’t look too hot yourself,” she said, pointing out the rips in his sweatshirt and the cut on his forehead. “We’d better swing by Crowninshield House and tidy you up before your mom sees you. That cut looks nasty.”

  “I’ll say I walked into something,” Howard replied as they headed out onto Arcton Street. “The gash on your cheek looks painful.”

  “It stings a bit,” Cate acknowledged, gently touching the dried blood below the cut.

  Howard looked around. Everything seemed shockingly normal. The residents of Aylford were going about their business, totally unaware that the grubby kids and the scruffy cat in their midst had just saved them from unimaginable horror.