Life Everlasting and Other Tales of Science, Fantasy, and Horror
Page 25
Lord Cecil explained the adventure, and all the thirty men sat very still and solemn, for never had they heard the like before, for they none feared a simple death, but this dissolution was a thing that made even the bravest wonder what the end would be. Yet, when the time came and the command was given, they one and all drained their vessels, and even as the Lady drank her wine, they drank to the last drop.
Then there was silence broken only by the shrill cry of a hoot owl, complaining to the moon concerning the doings of the night folk in the Dark Forest. The little Homunculus hid his face in the shoulder of the OverLord, but Cecil and Lord Gustro looked straight ahead of them over the banquet table to see what was to be seen.
The thirty men seemed to shiver and then grow smaller in a mist that covered them, and finally only empty places were left at the banquet table, and empty glasses. Only the two men and the Lady Angelica and the shivering Homunculus were left. The Lady laughed.
"It worked," she cried. "I look the same, but I feel different, for in me are the potential bodies of the thirty brave men who will overcome the Giant and bring peace to the land. And now I will give you the kiss of hail and farewell, and will venture forth on my waiting horse." Kissing her father on the mouth and her lover on the cheek and the little one on the top of his curly-haired head, she ran bravely out of the room. Through the stillness they could hear her horse's hooves, silver-shod, pounding on the stones of the courtyard.
"I am afraid," shivered the little one. "I have all wisdom, but I am afraid as to this adventure and its ending."
Lord Cecil comforted him. "You are afraid because you are so very wise. Lord Gustro and I would like to fear, but we are too foolish to do so. Can I do anything to comfort you, little friend of mine?"
"I wish I were back in my bottle," sobbed the Homunculus, "but that cannot be because the bottle was broken when I was taken from it, for the mouth of it was very narrow, and a bottle once broken cannot be made whole again."
All that night, Lord Cecil rocked him to sleep, singing to him lullabies, while Lord Gustro sat wakeful before the fire biting his finger nails, and wondering what the ending would be.
Late that night, the Lady Angelica arrived at the gate of the Giant's Castle, and blew her wreathed horn. The Giant dropped the iron-studded gate, and curiously peered at the lady on the horse.
"I am the Lady Angelica," said the Lady, "and I have come to be your bride if only you will give free passage to our caravans so we can commerce with the great world outside. When my father dies, you will be OverLord of Walling, and perchance I will come to love you for you are a fine figure of a man, and I have heard much of you."
The Giant towered over the head of her horse. He placed his hand around her waist and plucked her from the horse and carried her to his banquet hall and sat her down at one end of the table. Laughing in a somewhat silly manner, he walked around the room and lit pine torches and tall candles till at last the whole room was lighted. He poured a large glass of wine for the Lady and a much larger glass for himself. He seated himself at the other end of the table, and laughed again as he cried:
"It all is as I dreamed. But who would have thought that the noble Lord Cecil and the brave Lord Gustro would have been so craven! Let's drink to our wedding, and then to the bridal chamber."
And he drank his drink in one swallow. But the Lady Angelica took from under her gown a golden flask and raising it, she cried:
"I drink to you and your future, whatever it may be." And she drained the golden flask and sat very still. A mist filled the room and swirled widder-shins in thirty pillars around the long oak table. When it cleared, there were thirty men between the Giant and the Lady.
The Juggler took his golden balls, and the man with the dazzling eyes looked hard on the Giant, and the Student took from his robe a Book and read the wise sayings of dead Gods backwards, while the Singer of Songs plucked his harp strings and sang of the brave deeds of brave men long dead. But the fighting men rushed forward, and on all sides started the battle. The Giant jumped back, picked a mace from the wall, and fought as never man fought before. He had two things in mind: to kill, and to reach the smiling Lady and strangle her with bare hands for the thing she had done to him. But ever between him and the Lady was a wall of men who, with steel and song and dazzling eyes, formed a living wall that could be bent and crushed but never broken.
For centuries after, in the halls of Walling, the blind singers of songs told of that fight while the simple folk sat silent and listened to the tale. No doubt as the tale passed from one singer, aged, to the next singer, young, it became ornamented and embroidered and fabricated into something somewhat different from what really happened that night. But even the bare truth-telling at first hand, as told in parts, at different times, by the Lady Angelica, was a great enough tale. For men fought and bled and died in that hall. Finally, the Giant, dying, broke through and almost reached the Lady, but then the Song Man tripped him with his harp, and the Wise Man threw his heavy tome in his face, and the Juggler shattered his three golden balls against the Giant's forehead, and, at the lastward, the glittering eyes of the Sleep-Maker fastened on the dying eyes of the Giant and sent him on his last sleep.
The Lady Angelica looked around the shattered hall and at the thirty men who had all done their part, and she said softly:
"These be brave men, and they have done what was necessary for the good of their country and for the honor of our land. I cannot forsake them or leave them hopeless."
She took the rest of the wine of synthesis and drank part, and to every man she gave a drink, even the dead men whose mouths she had to gently open to wipe the blood from the gritted teeth, ere she could pour the wine into their breathless mouths. And she went back to her seat, and sitting there, she waited.
The mist again filled the hall and covered the dead and dying and those who were not hurt badly but panted from the fury of the battle. When the mist cleared, only the Lady Angelica was left there, for all the thirty had returned to her body through the magic of the synthesizing wine.
And the Lady said to herself:
"I feel old and in many ways different, and my strength has gone from me. I am glad there is no mirror to show me my whitened hair and bloodless cheeks, for the men who have come back unto me were dead men, and those not dead were badly hurt. I must get back to my horse before I fall into a faint of death."
She tried to walk out, but, stumbling, fell. On hands and knees, she crawled to where her horse waited for her. She pulled herself up into the saddle, and with her girdle she tied herself there, and then told the horse to go home. But she lay across the saddle like a dead woman.
The horse brought her back. Ladies in waiting took her to bed, and washed her withered limbs, and gave her warm drinks, and covered her wasted body with coverlets of lamb's wool. The wise physicians mixed healing drinks for her, and finally she recovered sufficiently to tell her father and her lover the story of the battle of the thirty against the Giant, how he was dead and the land safe.
"Now go to the old man and get the other elixir," she whispered, "and when it works have the dead buried with honor and the wounded gently and wisely cared for. Then we will come to the end of the adventure, and it will be one that the Singers of Songs will tell of for many winter evenings to the simple folk of Walling."
"You stay with her, Lord Gustro," commanded the OverLord, "and I will take the wise Homunculus in my arms and gallop to the cave and secure the elixer. When I return we will have her drink it, and once again she will be whole and young again. Then I will have you two lovers marry, for I am not as young as I was, and I want to live to see the throne secure, and, the Gods willing, grandchildren running around the castle."
Lord Gustro sat down by his Lady's bed, and he took her wasted hand in his warm one. He placed a kiss on her white lips with his red warm ones, and he whispered: "No matter what happens and no matter what the end of the adventure, I will always love you, Heart-of-mine." And the Lady Angelica
smiled on him, and went to sleep.
Through the Dark Forest galloped Cecil, OverLord of Walling, with the little wise man in his arms. He flung himself off his war horse, and ran quickly into the cave.
"Have you finished the elixir?" he cried.
The old man looked up, as though in doubt as to what the question was. He was breathing heavily now, and little drops of sweat rolled down his leathered face.
"Oh! Yes! I remember now. The elixir that would save the Lady, and take from her the bodies of the men we placed in her by virtue of our synthetic magic. I remember now! I have been working on it. In a few more minutes, it will be finished."
And dropping forward on the oak table, he died. In falling, a withered hand struck a golden flask and overturned it on the floor. Liquid amber ran over the dust of ages. A cockroach came and drank of it, and suddenly died.
"I am afraid," moaned the little Homunculus. "I wish I were back in my bottle."
But Cecil, OverLord of Walling, did not know how to comfort him.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
(Note: This bibliography includes the stories written under the Amy Worth nom de plume. Over 700 medical articles are omitted as being of no general interest to fantasy readers although they constitute the bulk of Doctor Keller's published work. Following the list of titles, is one of magazine names, accompanied by numbers referring to the titles given in the first part of the bibliography. Reprinted by permission of A. Langley Searles from Fantasy Commentator, Spring, 1947.)
TITLES
1. "Air Lines," Amazing Stories, January, 1930
2. "The Ambidexter," Amazing Stories, April, 1931
3. "Aunt Martha," Bath Weekly, 1895
4. "The Battle of the Toads," Weird Tales, October, 1929
5. "Bindings de Luxe," Marvel Tales, May, 1934; Weird Tales, January, 1943
6. "The Birth of a Soul," The White Owl, January, 1902
7. "A Biological Experiment," Amazing Stories, June, 1928
8. "The Bloodless War," Air Wonder Stories, July, 1929
9. "The Boneless Horror," Science Wonder Stories, July, 1929; Startling Stories, November, 1941
10. "Boomeranging Round the Moon," Amazing Stories Quarterly, Fall, 1930
11. "The Bride Well," Weird Tales, October, 1930
12. "The Bridle," Weird Tales, September, 1942
13. "Burning Water," Amazing Detective Tales, June, 1930
14. "Calypso Island," Stirring Science Stories, April, 1941
15. "The Cerebral Library," Amazing Stories, May, 1931
16. "The Chestnut Mare," Scienti-Snaps, April and Summer, 1940 (two parts) ; under the title, "Speed Shall Be My Bride," Uncanny Stories, April, 1941
17. "The Conquerors," Science Wonder Stories, December, 1929 and January, 1930
18. "Cosmos: chapter two: The Emigrants," New York, 1933 (issued as a supplement to Science Fiction Digest)
19. "Creation Unforgivable," Weird Tales, April, 1930
20. "The Damsel and Her Cat," Weird Tales, April, 1929
21. "The Dead Woman," Fantasy Magazine, April, 1934; Strange Stories, April, 1939; Nightmare by Daylight, London, 1936
22. "Death of the Kraken," Weird Tales, March, 1942
23. The Devil and the Doctor, New York: Simon and Schuster, 1940
24. "The Dogs of Salem," Weird Tales, September, 1928
25. "The Doorbell," Wonder Stories, June, 1934
26. "Dust in the House," Weird Tales, July, 1938
27. "Eight, Sixty-seven," Ten Story Book, November, 1929
28. "The Eternal Professors," Amazing Stories, August, 1929; Tales of Wonder, Autumn, 1938
29. "The Eternal Conflict," Les Premieres, July, August, September, October, 1939
30. "Euthanasia, Limited," Amazing Stories Quarterly, Fall, 1929
31. "The Evening Star," Science Wonder Stories, April and May, 1930 (two parts)
32. "The Feminine Metamorphosis," Science Wonder stories, August, 1929
33. "The Fireless Age," Amazing Stories, August and October, 1937 (two parts)
34. "The Flying Fool," Amazing Stories, July, 1929; Les Premieres, July and August, 1937 (two parts)
35. "The Flying Threat," Amazing Stories Quarterly, Spring, 1930
36. "Free As the Air," Amazing Stories, June, 1931
37. "The Garnet Mine," Ten Story Book, November, 1929
38. "The Great American Pie House," The White Owl, April, 1902
39. "The Greatness of Duval," Ursinus Weekly, October, 1902
40. "The Goddess of Zion," Weird Tales, January, 1941
41. "The Golden Bough," Marvel Tales, volume I, number 3, (1935); Weird Tales, November, 1942; The Garden of Fear, Los Angeles, 1945
42. "The Growing Wall," Science Fiction Quarterly, Winter, 1942
43. "A Half-Century of Writing," Fantasy Commentator, Spring, 1947
44. "Half Mile Hill," Amazing Stories Quarterly, Summer, 1931
45. "The Headsman," Ten Story Book
46. "Hands of Doom," Ten Detective Magazine, October, 1937
47. "Helen of Troy," The Futurian, January, 1939
48. "The Hidden Monster," Oriental Stories, Summer, 1932
49. "The Horrible Pantomime," Scienti-Tales, January, 1939
50. "The Human Termites," Science Wonder Stories, September, October, and November, 1939 (three parts)
51. "The Island of White Mice," Amazing Stories, February, 1935
52. "The Ivy War," Amazing Stories, May, 1930; Les Premieres, July, August, September, 1935 (three parts); La Guerre du Lierre, Saint Lo, May 25, 1936; The Best of Science Fiction, 1946
53. "I Want to Be an Author!", Scientifiction, March, 1938
54. "The Jelly Fish," Weird Tales, January, 1929
55. "Judge Not," The Red and Blue, November, 1899
56. "The Key to Cornwall," Stirring Science Stories, February, 1941
57. "Keller Interviewed by Himself," Science Fiction Digest, July, 1933
58. "The Last Magician," Weird Tales, May, 1932
59. "The Life Detour," Wonder Stories, February, 1935; Startling Stories, July, 1947
60. "Life Everlasting," Amazing Stories, July and August, 1934 (two parts)
61. "Lilith's Left Hand," Helios, October, 1937
62. "The Little Husbands," Weird Tales, July, 1928
63. "The Literary Corkscrew," Wonder Stories, March, 1934; Startling Stories, May, 1941
64. "The Living Machine," Wonder Stories, May, 1935
65. "Lords of the Ice," Weird Tales, October, 1937
66. "The Lost Language," Amazing Stories, January, 1934
67. "A 1950 Marriage," Paris Nights, December, 1939
68. Men of Avalon, (pamphlet), Everett, Pennsylvania, 1935
69. "The Menace," Amazing Stories Quarterly, Summer, 1928; Ibid., Winter, 1933
70. "Menacing Claws," Amazing Detective Tales, September, 1930
71. "The Metal Doom," Amazing Detective Tales, June, and July, 1932 (three parts)
72. "The Mist," The Galleon, October, 1935
73. "Mr. Summer's Adventure," Ten Story Book, January, 1930
74. "The Moon Artist," Cosmic Tales, Summer, 1939; Stirring Science Stories, June, 1941
75. "Moon Rays," Wonder Stories Quarterly, Summer, 1930
76. "Mother Newhouse," The White Owl, May, 1902
77. "The Mother," Fantascience Digest, January, 1938
78. "The Mystery of the 33 Stolen Idiots," Ten Story Book, September, 1932
79. "No More Friction," Thrilling Wonder Stories, June, 1939
80. "No More Tomorrows," Amazing Stories, December, 1932
81. "No Other Man," Weird Tales, December, 1929
82. "One Way Tunnel," Wonder Stories, January, 1935
83. "On the Beezer," Ten Story Book, September, 1933
84. "The Parents," Ten Story Book, January, 1931
85. "The Perpetual Honeymoon," Science-Fantasy Correspondent, November, 1936; Les Premieres, June, 1938
86. "The Personal
ity of a Library," Reading and Collecting, August, 1937
87. "The Pent House," Amazing Stories, February, 1932
88. "Phases of Science Fiction," The International Observer of Science and Science Fiction, November, 1935
89. "Phenomenon of the Stars," The Mirror, 1897
90. "A Piece of Linoleum," Ten Story Book, December, 1933
91. "The Pit of Doom," Future Fiction, February, 1942
92. "Pourquoi," Les Premieres, February, 1937
93. "The Psychophonic Nurse," Amazing Stories, November, 1928; La Guerre du Lierre, Saint Lo, May 25, 1936
94. "The Rat Racket," Amazing Stories, November, 1931
95. "The Red Death," Cosmic Science Stones, July, 1941
96. "The Revolt of the Pedestrians," Amazing Stories, February, 1928
97. "Rider by Night," The Fantasy Fan, July, 1934
98. "Science Fiction and Society," The International Observer of Science and Science Fiction, January, 1937
99. "Scientific Widowhood," Scientific Detective Monthly. February, 1930
100. "Seeds of Death," Weird Tales, June, 1931; At Dead of Night, London, 1931
101. "A Serious Error," Ten Story Book, January, 1931
102. "Service First," Amazing Stories Quarterly, Winter, 1931
103. The Sign of the Burning Hart, Paris, 1938