Necronomicon: The Wanderings of Alhazred (22 page)

In the event of a sudden violent misfortune that claims the life of such a sage without due preparation, his restless spirit will not sleep but forever seeks to reanimate itself, and will use whatever living host it can reshape to its purposes, which it does by a kind of instinct since the blow of unexpected death shatters the higher reason that remains bound to the corpse, leaving only hunger and a fiery will that can never be quenched. When a host of right kind cannot be found, a host is made from some lesser form of life conveniently near, for decaying flesh is never alone since verminous things cannot resist its savor. To eat of a wizard is to acquire in part his virtues, but to eat too much is to be taken over by his restless spirit and shaped by his burning will. His spirit waits for the appropriate host it can turn to its purposes; if none can be secured, it uses what is at hand, even though it entails a loss of higher awareness for many generations of transmigrations. Things so made, misshapen and monstrous beyond description, are ever hungry and are to be avoided.

West of Memphis lies hid the tomb of a great wizard who in life bore the name of Nectanebus, who was the last king of pure Egyptian blood in this land. Though it is less than a day beyond the outskirts of the city by horseback, it is so well concealed that an army seeking its entrance could not find it in a year of searching. Only one who knows its place can find it, and only one who has visited the tomb can know its place, unless he is first led there by a guide. The wizard chose this tomb because it is not the usual place for the burial of kings, and so would pass the ages unviolated; or such was his intent, but who can foresee the vagaries of time, and the changes of fortune, over the span of centuries? The tomb was found, and is known to a few who have partaken of its rare feast and gained wisdom thereby; and all who have visited its depths until this time were wise in the ways of necromancy, for it yet contains but a single corpse.

There are few guides to the tomb among the living, but the sands of Egypt crawl with the shades of the dead who see all that happens beneath the moon with their pale and lusterless eyes. They fear to enter the tomb, which in truth holds nothing of value for them, but can be induced to lead the traveler to the entrance with the proper persuasion, for pain in its intensity ever overpowers fear, a truth known to every man who has suffered upon his flesh the insults of the torturer. The way down is steep, and cut with shallow holes more like the notches of a ladder than the steps of a stair; the blackness is absolute, a fall fatal. Having reached the bottom of the artificial shaft, progress continues down the more gradual incline of a natural cave, at the end of which is a chamber high enough in which to stand upright.

The wizard lies upon his back within a carven box of cedar wood, which itself is set inside a stone sepulcher. The lids of both containers have been broken by hammers and lie in pieces on the floor of the cavern. Linen wraps his corpse save for his feet and his hands, which cross on his breast and seem to claw the air in their nakedness. Eight fingers are missing. The last taken was the largest finger of the left hand, upon which only the index finger and thumb remain; the right hand has none. So too have all ten toes been removed from his feet. The stumps show the marks of teeth and appear gnawed in the uncertain light of a lamp. Those who came took what they needed, but feared to take too much, for the power of Nectanebus is legendary.

The cavern is dry and lifeless, and was chosen for these qualities, for the wizard was determined that he should arise in the flesh of a man; his dismay can only be imagined when his trusted apprentice, after placing his corpse within the tomb in secret, fled, never to return, fearing the loss of his own mind more than the fury of his master. Whether the will of the wizard proved strong enough to deal death from so deep within the earth cannot be known, but it is certain it did not possess the power to compel the return of the apprentice; and so the potency of the corpse remained undiminished for ages, and the hunger of its spirit unsated. Standing at the side of the sepulcher, the hunger and the rage may still be felt, but a resolute mind skilled in the arts of magical barriers can resist it long enough to acquire a portion of the wisdom and memories of the king.

Upon the groin of the mummy rests a disk of green stone engraved on its face with the Elder Seal. It has not been disturbed, for no visitor to the tomb has been bold enough to turn it, even though the prize it conceals is great. Around the border of the disk are engraved hieroglyphics that may be read by one who is versed in the ancient writing, and their meaning is thus:

The bone and flesh which possess no writing are wretched, 

but behold, the writing of Nectanebus is under the Great Seal, 

and behold, it is not under the Little Seal.

It is wisest to leave this seal undisturbed should you venture to this place, for there remain yet two fingers, and the nose and ears are intact.

n no other land is the cat treated with greater veneration than in Egypt; for in death it was the custom to have these beasts mummified, and so frequent was this practice that they are to be found throughout the resting places of the dead, while in life they are respected alike by the common people and those of noble rank, so that the wanton killing of a cat is regarded as a kind of murder, and the man who commits the deed is shunned or even stoned to death. Under the rule of the bishops, the Christians sought to end this bestial idolatry, and dead cats are no longer mummified, but the respect which an Egyptian bears toward living animals of this kind remains undiminished. It is even believed that cats have the power to comprehend human speech, though whether the ancient tongue of the land or the language of the Greeks, or both, is never affirmed.

The prohibition against the killing of cats is easy to understand, when it is considered that the region of the Nile near the Delta is the most fertile farming land in all the world, producing prodigious crops of grains that would inevitably be diminished by mice and rats, and these vermin would multiply without restraint, were it not for the innumerable cats that hunt them. They are allowed to enter and leave the houses, shops, and churches without constraint, and should a cat be injured by a wagon or through some other mishap, always someone will take the animal and care for it until it either dies from its hurt or recovers.

Cats have the second sight without any need to consume the white spiders of the desert. When a cat stops and stares intently at a place that seems empty, it is certain that it is looking at a ghost or other shadow creature that passes unperceived by men. Hence wherever a cat is present, no spirit may enter unobserved, and it is for this reason that sorcerers employ cats as watchers against intruders from the other realms. The wraiths of the night resent this attention, and are at enmity with all cats. It is true, also, that cats see through the glamours of magic, so that no wizard is able to mask his identity or pass invisible where a cat watches. Of all beasts the senses of this creature are most subtle. Though the eyes of a cat are not keener than those of a hawk, nor the ears sharper than those of a dog, a cat sees and hears things that lie beyond this material existence that neither hawk can see nor dog can hear.

Another talent possessed by this remarkable beast is the ability to walk into the land of dreams and out again as easily as a man enters or leaves a dwelling. Those lost in dreams are sometimes led back to our world by passing cats, who have a fondness for our race and are ever willing to lend aid when treated with dignity and kindness. The man who sleeps with a cat upon his cot sleeps safely, for he has a constant guide to draw him out of the entangling thickets of his nightmares. It has been written that cats suck the breath from sleeping infants, and in this way deprive them of life, but this is the practice of Shub-Niggurath and her daughters, which cats attempt to drive away from the crib of the child; and in this they sometimes succeed, and nothing is known of the deed, and sometimes they fail and are found upon the body of the child, and are accused of murder by the ignorant mothers.

The goddess of all cats is Bast, who is figured in the form of a cat, or sometimes as a woman with the head of a cat. She is worshipped chiefly at Bubastis in the seventh nome of Lower Egypt, where her cult survives to the present in spite of strenuous efforts by the churches to eradicate it; for though her cult is joyous, the Christian bishops hated it for its pagan taint and ever tried to destroy it. The worshippers of the goddess pass unseen for most of the year, but at the festival of Bast in the spring of the year, they disport and make merry with one another and with the people of the city, singing, sounding musical instruments, and promenading through the streets. What is most appalling to the Christians is the practice of the women, who periodically raise their skirts and reveal their most private parts in wanton display with knees parted. This they do in honor of the goddess of cats, who draws her power from the moon.

The adorers of Bast may be known by subtle signs, for many bear a small scar in the shape of a crescent moon upon some part of their necks, and it is their custom to cut their fingernails to points; this they do subtly so as to attract little notice, but the mark is universally recognized by the common citizens and merchants of the city, who accord the worshippers of Bast great respect and reduce the prices of their wares when they perceive this sign; this has led some to adopt the fashion who have never walked in the festival. When the cut of the nails is very obvious the priests may induce the guardians of the city to apprehend the transgressor and pull out his nails by the roots as punishment for his sin, but the practice continues unabated.

The temple of Bast once stood in the center of the city, and was renowned throughout the world for its purity and perfection; it was long since pulled down, and a church erected on its foundations. This modest church serves two functions. During the day it is the house of God for the Christians, but during the night the adorers of Bast gather in a secret chamber behind the altar, where there is a statue of the goddess in green stone that resembles jade, in posture sitting on her haunches upon a cubic pedestal of black stone. This stature, which was rescued from the destruction of the temple and preserved in secret, is of the height of a living cat and perfect in all its proportions so that it seems to live and even to move in the flickering flames of the oil lamps by which the chamber is illuminated. Its eyes are pale blue jewels set in their centers with pointed ovals of jet, so well contrived by the sculptor that they appear to be capable of sight. Upon its head is a lunar crescent in translucent white stone that is called moonstone, and is the delicate changing color of the interior of seashells.

The worshippers of Bast place offerings of milk and meat at the foot of the pedestal that supports the statue, which are consumed by the living cats that come and go in the chamber through small entrances in the base of the walls. After presenting their offering, they make silent prayers before the goddess upon their hands and knees, then leave with utmost decorum and solemnity, much in contrast to their behavior during the spring festival. It is said by members of the cult that prayers made to the goddess in this manner are never refused.