The Feaster From The Stars (Blackwood and Harrington) by Alan K Baker Read Free Book Online Page B

the base flesh of the body? I have asked myself many times, as if the very act of repetition might forge an answer from the question. How far could one voyage? How far?
    Blackwood flipped through to another page and continued reading.
Of all the worlds I have seen, the strangest is Carcosa in the Hyades: strange, paradoxically, because it is so similar to our own in so many ways. But in other ways, it is horribly, frightfully different! I have watched the cloud waves breaking upon the shores of the Lake of Hali; my mind has hovered above those strange waters and has wondered what lies beneath. I have wandered through the melancholy streets of Carcosa’s last cities, Alar, Hastur and Yhtill…
    ‘So, Carcosa is a planet!’ Sophia exclaimed.
    ‘Indeed,’ Blackwood smiled grimly. ‘But listen.’
I have heard the last inhabitants sing the Song of Cassilda: a strange, sad song which struck my heart with fear, so clearly does it express the terror of existence – for the universe is emotion, and that emotion is fear. I have heard the last people of Carcosa sing:
Along the shore the cloud waves break,
The twin suns sink beneath the lake,
The shadows lengthen
In Carcosa.
Strange is the night where black stars rise,
And strange moons circle through the skies
But stranger still is
Lost Carcosa.
Songs that the Hyades shall sing,
Where flap the tatters of the King,
Must die unheard in
Dim Carcosa.
Song of my soul, my voice is dead;
Die thou, unsung, as tears unshed
Shall dry and die in
Lost Carcosa.
    As she listened to Blackwood recite these verses in his deep, resonant voice, Sophia felt the strange sadness of them seeping into her mind and felt her heart beat faster as a subtle, nameless fear gradually enveloped it. ‘Who… who is the King of which the song tells?’ she said, her voice barely more than a whisper.
    ‘I have scoured the Fantasmata for further mentions of him, for there is something in Cassilda’s Song which strongly hints at his importance.’
    ‘Did you find anything?’
    ‘Oh yes, I came upon several references. He goes by many names: the Feaster from the Stars, the King in Yellow, the Unspeakable One, and some others. He appears to be a figure of ultimate evil in the eyes of the people of Carcosa, who seem to be on the very edge of extinction. And there is a strange symbol which seems to be associated with him, something known as the “Yellow Sign”.’ Blackwood turned to another page, and held out the book for Sophia to see.
    The symbol was indeed strange, and as she gazed at it, Sophie felt her unease grow.

    ‘And what of Carcosa itself? Do you think it really exists? Do you think that Dr Castaigne’s mind really voyaged there?’
    Blackwood shrugged. ‘Well… the Hyades certainly exist. They were first catalogued by the Italian astronomer Giovanni Battista Hodierna in 1654. It’s a large cluster of stars, very distant from the Earth – trillions of miles – in the constellation of Taurus. Astronomers believe it to contain several hundred suns, all moving through the Æther in the same direction. Whether any of them possess habitable worlds… well, that’s another question.’
    ‘But you believe it to be so, don’t you?’ said Sophia.
    Blackwood was silent for a few moments before replying, ‘Alfie Morgan believes it to be so. Whatever he encountered on that train while in the Kennington Loop left him with a shattered mind and the desire to repeat a word which, according to Dr Castaigne, is the name of a planet many trillions of miles from Earth.’
    Sophia shook her head. ‘This is utterly bizarre. It makes no sense whatsoever.’
    ‘I agree,’ Blackwood sighed. ‘It’s completely outrageous; nevertheless, we must get to the bottom of it. We must find out what the connection is between the London Underground and a planet drifting through the fathomless depths of space!’

CHAPTER SIX:
W hat Was Left on the Train
    The psychometrist from the Society for Psychical Research was