I am king!--
The King and the Oak
Before the shadows slew the sun the kites were soaring free,
And Kull rode down the forest road, his red sword at his knee;
And winds were whispering round the world:--ing Kull rides to the sea.--
The sun died crimson in the sea, the long grey shadows fell;
The moon rose like a silver skull that wrought a demon't spell,
For in its light great trees stood up like specters out of Hell.
In spectral light the trees stood up, inhuman monsters dim;
Kull thought each trunk a living shape, each branch a knotted limb,
And strange unmortal evil eyes flamed horribly at him.
The branches writhed like knotted snakes, they beat against the night,
And one great oak with swayings stiff, horrific in his sight,
Tore up its roots and blocked his way, grim in the ghostly light.
They grappled in the forest way, the king and grisly oak;
Its great limbs bent him in their grip, but never a word was spoke;
And futile in his iron hand, the stabbing dagger broke.
And through the tossing, monstrous trees there sang a dim refrain
Fraught deep with twice a million years of evil, hate and pain:
He were the lords ere man had come, and shall be lords again.--
Kull sensed an empire strange and old that bowed to man't advance
As kingdoms of the grassblades bow before the marching ants,
And horror gripped him; in the dawn like someone in a trance
He strove with bloody hands against a still and silent tree;
As from a nightmare dream he woke; a wind blew down the lea
And Kull of high Atlantis rode silent to the sea.
The Mirrors of Tuzun Thune
A wild, weird clime that lieth sublime Out of Space, out of Time.
--Poe
THERE comes, even to kings, the time of great weariness. Then the gold of the throne is brass, the silk of the palace becomes drab. The gems in the diadem and upon the fingers of the women sparkle drearily like the ice of the white seas; the speech of men is as the empty rattle of a jester-- bell and the feel comes of things unreal; even the sun is copper in the sky and the breath of the green ocean is no longer fresh.
Kull sat upon the throne of Valusia and the hour of weariness was upon him. They moved before him in an endless, meaningless panorama, men, women, priests, events and shadows of events; things seen and things to be attained. But like shadows they came and went, leaving no trace upon his consciousness, save that of a great mental fatigue. Yet Kull was not tired. There was a longing in him for things beyond himself and beyond the Valusian court. An unrest stirred in him and strange, luminous dreams roamed his soul. At his bidding there came to him Brule the Spear-slayer, warrior of Pictland, from the islands beyond the West.
--ord king, you are tired of the life of the court. Come with me upon my galley and let us roam the tides for a space.----ay.--Kull rested his chin moodily upon his mighty hand.--am weary beyond all these things. The cities hold no lure for me--and the borders are quiet. I hear no more the sea-songs I heard when I lay as a boy on the booming crags of Atlantis, and the night was alive with blazing stars. No more do the green woodlands beckon me as of old. There is a strangeness upon me and a longing beyond life-- longings. Go!-- Brule went forth in a doubtful mood, leaving the king brooding upon his throne. Then to Kull stole a girl of the court and whispered:
--reat king, seek Tuzun Thune, the wizard. The secrets of life and death are his, and the stars in the sky and the lands beneath the seas.-- Kull looked at the girl. Fine gold was her hair and her violet eyes were slanted strangely; she was beautiful, but her beauty meant little to Kull.
--uzun Thune,--he repeated.--ho is he?----wizard of the Elder Race. He lives here, in Valusia, by the Lake of Visions in the House of a Thousand Mirrors. All things are known to him, lord king; he speaks with the dead and holds converse with the demons of the Lost Lands.-- Kull arose.
-- will seek out this mummer; but no word of my going, do you hear?----am your slave, my lord.--And she sank to her knees meekly, but the smile of her scarlet mouth was cunning behind Kull-- back and the gleam of her narrow eyes was crafty.
KULL came to the house of Tuzun Thune, beside the Lake of Visions. Wide and blue stretched the waters of the lake and many a fine palace rose upon its banks; many swan-winged pleasure boats drifted lazily upon its hazy surface and evermore there came the sound of soft music.
Tall and spacious, but unpretentious, rose the House of a Thousand Mirrors. The great doors stood open and Kull ascended the broad stair and entered, unannounced. There in a great chamber, whose walls were of mirrors, he came upon Tuzun Thune, the wizard. The man was ancient as the hills of Zalgara; like wrinkled leather was his skin, but his cold gray eyes were like sparks of sword steel.
--ull of Valusia, my house is yours,--said he, bowing with old-time courtliness and motioning Kull to a throne-like chair.
--ou are a wizard, I have heard,--said Kull bluntly, resting his chin upon his hand and fixing his somber eyes upon the man't face.--an you do wonders?-- The wizard stretched forth his hand; his fingers opened and closed like a bird-- claws.
--s that not a wonder--that this blind flesh obeys the thoughts of my mind? I walk, I breathe, I speak--are they all not wonders?-- Kull meditated awhile, then spoke.--an you summon up demons?----ye. I can summon up a demon more savage than any in ghostland--by smiting you in the face.-- Kull started, then nodded.--ut the dead, can you talk to the dead?----talk with the dead always--as I am talking now. Death begins with birth and each man begins to die when he is born; even now you are dead, King Kull, because you were born.----ut you, you are older than men become; do wizards never die?----en die when their time comes. No later, no sooner. Mine has not come.-- Kull turned these answers over in his mind.
--hen it would seem that the greatest wizard of Valusia is no more than an ordinary man, and I have been duped in coming here.-- Tuzun Thune shook his head.--en are but men, and the greatest men are they who soonest learn the simpler things. Nay, look into my mirrors, Kull.-- The ceiling was a great many mirrors, and the walls were mirrors, perfectly jointed, yet many mirrors of many sizes and shapes.
--irrors are the world, Kull,--droned the wizard.--aze into my mirrors and be wise.-- Kull chose one at random and looked into it intently. The mirrors upon the opposite wall were reflected there, reflecting others, so that he seemed to be gazing down a long, luminous corridor, formed by mirror behind mirror; and far down this corridor moved a tiny figure. Kull looked long ere he saw that the figure was the reflection of himself. He gazed and a queer feeling of pettiness came over him; it seemed that that tiny figure was the true Kull, representing the real proportions of himself. So he moved away and stood before another.
--ook closely, Kull. That is the mirror of the past,--he heard the wizard say.
Gray fogs obscured the vision, great billows of mist, ever heaving and changing like the ghost of a great river; through these fogs Kull caught swift fleeting visions of horror and strangeness; beasts and men moved there and shapes neither men nor beasts; great exotic blossoms glowed through the grayness; tall tropic trees towered high over reeking swamps, where reptilian monsters wallowed and bellowed; the sky was ghastly with flying dragons and the restless seas rocked and roared and beat endlessly along the muddy beaches. Man was not, yet man was the dream of the gods and strange were the nightmare forms that glided through the noisome jungles. Battle and onslaught were there, and frightful love. Death was there, for Life and Death go hand in hand. Across the slimy beaches of the world sounded the bellowing of the monsters, and incredible shapes loomed through the steaming curtain of the incessant rain.