Her head was turned to the side so that she was facing into the living room. The curtains and the sofa were on fire, black smoke filling the air like thunderheads. She tried to sit up but found she couldn’t. Panic flared inside her as bright as the fire that was consuming the living room, and she wondered if she’d damaged her spine, rendering her paralyzed. The smoke was filling her lungs, and her body shook with the force of her coughing. She could feel the heat from the flames and she tried to will her arms to move, to drag herself toward the door, but nothing.
Tiny sock-clad feet suddenly stepped into her vision. Her daughter knelt before her and looked down at Fran without any hint of emotion. She carried the burnt elf in her arms. Holding the thing up to her ear, she nodded solemnly then turned her attention back to her mother. “Daddy says Merry Christmas.”
Then Beth stood up and walked out of her line of sight. Fran heard the front door open and close. She tried to call out to her daughter but all she could manage was a hoarse rattling. She still could not move, could only lie there helpless, choking on smoke while watching the flames get closer.
The Beautiful Lady
Without Pity:
A Carnacki the Ghost-Finder Adventure
by Charles R. Rutledge
After a couple of decades teaching karate, writing comic books, and spending way too much time reading mysteries, SF, horror, and assorted other genres of fiction, Charles R. Rutledge decided it was time to actually turn out some fiction of his own. Charles is the co-author of two books in the Griffin and Price Urban Fantasy/Horror series, BLIND SHADOWS and CONGREGATIONS OF THE DEAD, written with James A. Moore and has appeared in several anthologies including Strange Worlds and Carnacki: The New Adventures. A lifelong resident of Georgia, Charles lives in the Atlanta area where he is currently hard at work on other writing projects. He does have a cat, but writers always mention their cats, so there you go.
1.
Norwich England
December 1912
It was the cold which woke Mary Evans from her sleep. It was so cold in fact that she wondered if someone had left a window open. She turned to see if Susan Pengarth had been awakened as well, only to find her side of the bed empty. Mary sat up, pulling the covers tight around her. The fire had burned down in the grate but the remaining embers gave off enough light that she could see that Susan was nowhere in the room and that the door leading into the hallway was open.
It had been the sort of Christmas house-party where almost everyone had stayed the night and so all the beds were doubled up. Some of the men were even sleeping on couches and upon pallets on the floor. The gentleman named Carnacki had announced his intention to sleep on the billiards table if he could find a pillow and blanket.
Mary felt a draft coming from the doorway. Was that it, then? Had some inebriated reveler left one of the windows or doors open to the night? But no, a servant should have seen to that. At least a few of them would have still been awake when the guests retired. Perhaps Susan had gone to see where the draft came from.
Mary slipped out of bed, shivering as she pulled on her robe. She took up a candle and got it lit before stepping out into the hall. Out here she could tell that the draft was coming from the direction of the manor house's enormous dining room. Mary set off down the hall, wishing she had put on her slippers. As she approached the doorway to the dining room she thought that the quality of light from the room beyond looked odd. As soon as she entered the room she saw why. Snow was falling thick and fast outside the windows, its whiteness reflecting into the chamber.
There was snow on the rug as well because one of the sets of french doors at the other end of the room was open. Mary shook her head. The door must not have been latched properly and had blown open after the servants had turned in. Fortunately it didn't appear to have been open for long. The Elms was such a grand place. It would have been a shame if carelessness had ruined one of the fine rugs. Mary crossed the room and went to shut the door, but as she looked outside she caught a flash of movement from the lawn. Someone was walking through the snow, away from the house.
Mary glanced down. There were footprints in the snow on the rug. They had been made by small bare feet. Mary looked up again and realized that the fluttery movement she had seen had to have been the windblown nightdress of Susan Pengarth. Was the girl mad, walking barefoot into the dark and the snow? No, more likely she was sleepwalking. Mary had read of such things. She looked around. Should she go for help? Susan had already been lost to sight in the darkness and she had been walking in the direction of the woods. Mary could still make out some footprints in the snow, but the heavily falling white flakes would soon cover those. No, there as no time to seek help, and so Mary hurried out in her own bare feet to try and catch Susan before she vanished into the woods.
2.
Thomas Carnacki was pulled from a restless sleep by someone passing the billiards table upon which he had been sleeping. He opened his eyes just in time to see a gigantic figure opening the door to the hallway.
“Mr. Kharrn?” Carnacki said, because there was no mistaking Roderick Bowen's guest. The man was a giant, towering at least six inches over six feet in height. He had never been able to determine if Kharrn was the man's first or last name.
Kharrn turned his head and regarded Carnacki. “Someone's wandering around in the house and there's a draft from an open door or window. Could be a burglar.”
“I'll go with you,” Carnacki said, disentangling himself from his blanket.
“Fine, but if there's trouble, don't get in my way.”
“Wouldn't think of it, old man,” said Carnacki. And he meant that most sincerely.
Once in the hallway Carnacki could feel the draft washing over him from the direction of the dining room and Kharrn was already moving that way. He hurried to catch up. The two men entered the dining room and found one of the sets of French doors open to the elements. Outside a snowstorm of considerable violence was raging.
Kharrn knelt for a moment at the doors. He said, “Two women have passed this way in the last few minutes. Their feet were bare.”
“Why in the world would anyone go out into the snow in their bare feet?” said Carnacki.
Kharrn shrugged massive shoulders. “We'll know when we find them.” Kharrn had stopped to pull on his shoes but he was dressed only in shirtsleeves. Without hesitation, he stepped out into the snow.
Carnacki was in sock feet, but he followed the giant man, not wishing to lose sight of him. Perhaps that was how at least one of the women had left the house without shoes or stockings.
The wind struck Carnacki, driving snow into his face like a rain of icy sand. He shivered and immediately thought that anyone out here in bare feet would find themselves in a bad way very quickly.
3.
Mary hurried across the lawn, feeling a moment of panic because Susan had been lost to her sight. But then she caught again the movement of the fluttering night dress and began to move faster. Susan was almost into the trees. Mary flinched with pain as she stepped on some sharp object hidden by the snow. She considered calling out, but she had always heard that it was unwise to wake a sleepwalker, so instead she rushed up behind Susan and caught the girl by one arm. Susan continued trying to walk into the woods, but Mary held fast. Gently she turned the girl around and saw that while Susan's eyes were open, they seemed clouded and she showed no sign that she recognized Mary or even realized that she was there.
“Let's get you back to the house,” Mary whispered as she sought to guide Susan away from the woods. It was then that she heard the sound. It was a sort of high pitched keening or wailing and it seemed to be coming from deeper in the woods. Even as Mary heard it, Susan made feeble resistance and tried to pull free from her grasp.
Mary caught the girl by her shoulders and began pushing her away from the woods. Mary couldn't feel her feet now and the snow seemed to be falling even harder. She realized with a sudden wave of horror that she couldn't see the house at all and
wasn't sure in what direction it lay. She could only move away from the woods and hope she blundered in the right direction.
Susan continued to try and escape, but her struggles were those of a sleepy child. Still, every bit of resistance made it harder for Mary to try and find her bearings. They kept turning and twisting and it occurred to Mary that it would be a grand irony if the two of them were to freeze to death on the lawn of the The Elms.
Mary's foot struck something and she pitched forward into the snow, losing her grip on Susan, who immediately turned back toward the woods and began lurching away. Mary struggled to her feet, realizing as she did so that she had injured her ankle. She felt tears sting her eyes as despair washed over her. How could she keep up with Susan now, let alone hope to drag her back to the house? She would have to risk waking her.
Just as she was about to call out she felt hands on her arms and she was lifted bodily from the ground. She turned her head and saw the gigantic figure of Mr. Kharrn looming out of the snow.
“You must help Susan, Mr. Kharrn!” Mary said.
“Carnacki will get her,” said Kharrn.
“I have her,” Carnacki called. “Though she doesn't seem to want to accompany me. By the way, which way is the house?”
“Follow me,” Kharrn said. He cradled Mary like a child and began carrying her away. Following his example, Carnacki swept Susan up in his arms and fell in behind the big man.
“How do you know where the house is?” Mary said.
“I know,” said Kharrn.
4.
Half an hour later, both Mary Evans and Susan Pengarth were bundled up in layers of blankets and hot water bottles in front of a roaring fire in the sitting room. Most of the house guests had been awakened by the goings on by that point but Roderick Bowen had insisted that everyone stay out of the room except for himself, his wife, the young women, and their rescuers.
Carnacki was all curiosity, waiting for Susan to be able to explain her actions. The girl was awake now and somewhat befuddled by the events. The mysterious Mr. Kharrn stood by the mantle, covered by a blanket, and leaning against a bookshelf. He had been soaked through when they had gotten back to the house and he had stripped off his shirt, revealing one of the most impressive examples of musculature Carnacki had ever seen. But it was the network of old white scars that crisscrossed the man's body that had given Carnacki pause. How had Kharrn come by so many injuries in one lifetime?
“There now, dear,” Alice Bowmen said to Susan, “Do you feel well enough to tell us what happened?”
Susan said, “I'm not sure I know what happened. I thought the whole thing a strange dream until I woke up here in the sitting room.”
Carnacki said, “Tell us what you do remember.”
Susan nodded and took a sip of hot, spiced wine from a thick china mug. “Well, the evening's festivities were so exhausting that I fell right to sleep not long after I climbed into bed. At some point I began to have the most vivid dream. I mean...part of it must have been a dream in any case. In the dream I woke up hearing a strange sound, a sort of wailing, as if a lost soul was calling from some great distance.”
Carnacki noticed that Mary gave Susan an odd look at this point, but he kept quiet, so as not to interrupt the girl's story.
“I got out of bed, and it seems I did this in real life as well, and I made my way down to the dining room. Outside it was snowing and I stood for a moment watching the snow fall.”
Susan turned her head and looked at Carnacki. “And then I saw the ghost.”
“In your dream?” said Carnacki.
“Yes, I suppose I was still dreaming. It was the figure of a woman, very pale and dressed in her nightclothes. She was standing a few feet away from the window in the snow and she was beckoning to me. It was from her lips that the wailing sound came.”
Carnacki said, “Roderick, you told me that The Elms wasn't haunted. Not even a rumor of a ghost in its history.”
Bowen said, “There never has been, Carnacki. I swear it. I didn't bring you out here on a busman's holiday. It's just part of the girl's dream.”
“Go on with your story, dear,” Alice said, giving Carnacki and her husband a stern look.
Susan said, “Well, I opened the french doors and went outside toward the ghost. She started off toward the woods and I followed. That's really all that I can recall. I must have been sleepwalking, acting out my dream, and I am quite fortunate that Mary and these gentlemen came looking for me.”
“Glad to have been of service,” Carnacki said.
Susan smiled, her hand straying to her neck. Her eyes widened and she said, “Oh! I've lost my locket. I was wearing it when I went to bed.”
Carnacki said, “No Miss Pengarth. It's right here.” He had forgotten it was in his pocket. “It fell off when I picked you up. Fortunately I saw it and retrieved it.”
“Oh thank you, Mr. Carnacki. It was an early Christmas present from my Grandmother.”
Alice said, “Well, that's enough excitement. I think it would be best if the two of you slept the rest of the night right where you are. I'll stay here with you.”
“Oh please don't put yourself to any more trouble,” Susan said. “I feel that I've been a frightful imposition already.”
“Nonsense, dear. I insist.”
Bowen said, “Best do as she says. There's no changing Alice's mind once it's made up.”
Mary said, “We'll do just that. Mr. Carnacki, would you hand me that small pillow please.”
Carnacki picked up the cushion from the chair near him and stepped over to Mary's couch. When he was close, Mary Whispered, “I heard the wailing sound too once I was in the woods.”
“You're quite certain of that?”
“Yes, it was just as Susan described it.”
“Thank you for telling me, Miss Evans. I shall look into it.”
Carnacki wished everyone a good night and left the sitting room. Kharrn fell into step beside him.
“If Mary heard the wailing sound as well, it means that Susan wasn't dreaming,” Kharrn said.
Carnacki said, “Ah, you overheard, eh? Well, it's possible they both heard the wind. I've learned not to immediately assume a supernatural explanation for things. Far too many times the hauntings I've investigated have turned out to have an all too human cause.”
“A wise way of looking at things. What are you going to do now?”
Carnacki stopped and turned toward the big man. “What makes you think I'm going to do anything?”
Kharrn grinned. “You are the ghost finder, aren't you?”
“I can only find a ghost where one exists. You heard what Roderick said. The Elms has never been known as the site of a haunting. What would you do, Mr. Kharrn?”
“Just Kharrn will do, Carnacki. Since the supposed ghost was leading the girl towards the woods, I'd want to see what lies in those woods.”
It was Carnacki's turn to smile. “My thoughts exactly. Would you care to join me for a stroll in the snow come daybreak?”
“I would,” said Kharrn.
5.
Carnacki awoke the next morning somewhat sore from spending the night on the billiards table. After performing his morning ablutions he went to the hall closet where his luggage had been stored after he had chivalrously given up his room to two of the female guests.
He hoped that the snow wouldn't keep Bowen's extra guests from departing today so that he could have his room back. He opened one of his suitcases and removed a small leather satchel that contained a few of the tools of his trade. Though he had taken Bowen's word that there were no apparitions running loose in The Elms, he had packed his satchel out of long habit.
Once he had armed himself against the supernatural, Carnacki went in search of Kharrn. The corner of the billiards room where the big man had been sleeping had been empty when Carnacki had wakened. One of the footmen directed Carnacki to the kitchen.
When Carnacki eventually found the kitchen, Kharrn was seated at a table in o
ne corner devouring a large quantity of eggs, sausages, potatoes, and porridge. Two kitchen maids were chattering away at him and it occurred to Carnacki that the big man looked far more at home here in the 'downstairs' than he had in the drawing room of The Elms. With his scarred countenance and his deeply tanned skin, he looked rather like a pirate, seated there with the kitchen wenches fawning over him. The maids looked embarrassed when they noticed Carnacki and with quick curtseys they hurried off to be about their business.
“Sit down and have some breakfast,” Kharrn said. “It's a bitterly cold day out there.”
Carnacki, who wasn't accustomed to eating in kitchens, nevertheless took a chair across from Kharrn. The cook gave him a nervous look, but Carnacki smiled and said, “I'll have what Kharrn is having, though perhaps less of it.”
Carnacki noticed a wide, flat, leather case leaning on the wall near Kharrn's right. He said, “Ghost hunting equipment?”
“Something like that.”
“Do you mind if I ask you what your occupation is, Kharrn?”
“I don't mind at all,” said Kharrn.
It was several moments before Carnacki realized that no other answer would be forthcoming.
Widowmakers: A Benefit Anthology of Dark Fiction Page 63