Of course I could not express my thoughts. A Christian Knight, who always should try to be a gentleman, does not eat the food of a stranger, thus accepting his hospitality, and that repay him by telling him how much he looks like a toad. At least, I avoided acting that way, though there was no harm in my thinking and I most certainly thought hard.
The Abbe asked me why I was wayfaring in Cornwall, where I had spent my youth, and what experience I had in warfare. To all these questions I gave answers that had a great deal of truth in than, though I was. unwilling to confide in him that I was a Hubelaire, had come to claim our ancestral home, and regarded him as an interloper who would at once be thrown out of the caste if aid when I became Overlord of Cornwall. He seemed well pleased with all I had to say, and more and more he teetered on feet which seemed longer than the feet of most men; faster and faster he puffed out his cheeks, breaking into my remarks, with a strange puffing of wind which, to my excited fancy, sounded like the croak, croak, croak of bullfrogs at the breeding season. Then, when I came to an end he told me of himself.
"Fair sir, who say you are Cecil, son of James, grandson of David and even a descendant of Raymond, whoever he might be, but give no facts about your family or their name, you have come to Cornwall in good time and your arrival at this castle is indeed opportune. As you may have surmised, I am not a native of this wild land, nor are my friends whom you will see tonight. Some of us are from France, others from Bohemia, and a few from the far lands beyond Tartary in the deserts of Gobi; but we are all brothers, bound together by ties of blood, desire, and a great ambition which will soon be disclosed to you. Yet, while we all excel in necromancy and have knowledge of much that is weird and deadly, none is skilled in arms and the use of weapons of offense and defense. This is not due to any lack of courage — oh, believe me, Fair Sir, when I say that it is not due to any lack of courage or daring, but rather to certain physical defects which prevent us from taking part in the brave art of war, the delight of most men. So we gain our aids by other means. But tonight we must have a man who will fight for us, if there be need of fighting. I hope that such will not be the case, still, there may be need of fighting-yes, there is no doubt there will be use for a sharp sword, though it might be better were you to use your dagger."
”Oh, as for that,” I replied with forced bravery, ”I can use whichever is the most needed. Personally, I prefer the two-handed sword which I carry on my back, but perhaps if there is not much room and the light is not of the best, the dagger would be the weapon of choice. Now, in previous slaying of giants I always felt that the sword was better, because there always comes a time when it is necessary to carve off their heads, and, of course, that is slow work with a dagger. Yet, in a little melee I had with a one-eyed dragon in a cave on the Canary Isle, I obtained much pleasure in blinding him with one stroke of the dagger, and the next moment the point found his heart. You would have enjoyed that little fight, Abbe and I am sure that had you seen it, you would have full confidence in my ability to handle any emergency that may arise tonight."
The Abbe smiled. "I like you. On my word, I like you. I am so impressed with you that I am almost tempted to ask you to become one of the Brethren. That may come later. But to the point of my tale: We are gathered here tonight to witness the overcoming of one of our greatest and most troublesome enemies. For centuries he has outwitted us and caused us grid. More than one of the Brethren has come to his death through the evil machinations of this fiend. But at last we have foiled him, aid tonight we will kill him. Naturally, when he dies, his power will come to us; and with that additional power there is no telling to what heights of fame the Brethren will rise. We will kill him. For centuries he has boasted of his immortality, his greatness, his imperviousness to harm; yet tonight we will kill him.
"I misspoke myself. We will not kill him. I will do it! That is what pleases me so. All of us are powerful, but I am just a little stronger than the other Brothers. So I am going to kill this enemy, and when I do, I will rule all men on Earth, and perhaps those on other stars. I long to go into space, to conquer stars other than this one on which we live."
"I will kill him tonight. I have this man in a glass bottle which, by craft, I induced him to enter. Once there, he took a new shape-and was it not a pleasant thing that he took the shape he did? It gave me the power and the glory-world without end-no, no, no! I did not intend to say that- not yet, not at this time! I am not powerful enough to defy Cod." His voice sank to a whine. "Not yet, but perhaps in a few hours; after I have added to my power the strength of the dead fend.
"This evil one in the bottle cannot be killed by poison, steel, fire, water, or the prevention of breathing. There is no weapon powerful enough to destroy him; but tonight he dies. For he is inside the glass bottle and I am on the outside, and he had voluntarily assumed the shape that makes it possible for me to kill him, through the glass. Can you understand? The glass is transparent. He has to look at me. I shall look at him, and in that glance lies his death. Soon he will shrivel, grow smaller, little by little he will lose form till he lies, a few drops of slime, a twisted mass of softened bones, at the bottom of the bottle. This bottle has a glass stopper, made with the greatest cunning. In the hollow center are ashes from the bones of holy men, tears that fell from the eyes of Mary, and a drop of sweat from the brow of a tortured saint. These sacred relics of the past will hold the fiend's soul a prisoner. After he has turned to slime I will remove the stopper and suck his spirit into me. No longer having a body to dwell in, his spirit will be glad to inhabit me and thus I will have the strength, power and glory of the Great One who Once ruled Hell. Is this not clever?”
"Indeed it is," I replied, with a lilt to my voice and a nausea in the pit of me. "But why do you have me in this drama? You say my sword and dagger are useless against this Evil One."
"You will guard me, fair youth. You, who are so brave, full of desire. and longing to be someone before you die, have beat sent here by fate at a most opportune moment, to protect me if I need such help. Can you not see the position I will be in? There I am, with my mouth clasped over the mouth of the bottle, all ready to breathe in the spirit that will make me the greatest of all men, living or dead. Suppose, just before I breathe, one of the Brethren — and I particularly suspect the man from Gobi — slips a dagger through my heart and takes my place as the breather-in of this great power. How horrible this would be! What a sad ending to my dreams of empire! I have planned and plotted it all and now have brought it to pass. Why should I, at the lastward, be denied the right to become Emperor of the Powerful Ones, simply because a Chinese dagger is plunged through my heart? I know you will protect me
"Oh, promise me that you will be at my back and see to it that none of the Brethren acts wrongfully! Will you promise that? In return l will see that you are paid. What do you wish most? Gold? Power? The love of a beautiful women? Let me look into your eyes. Oh, lovely! You are a true brother of mine, for I see that you desire a warm room, filled with a library of many books, old manuscripts and curious vellums. I will give you all of these and thus prove to you that I reward those who help me in my hour of peril. What say you if I reward you by placing in this library a copy of Elephantis? Some think Nero destroyed them all, but I know where one copy is. Will you guard me if I give you all this?”