The Taint and Other Novellas Read Online Free Page B

mean?”
    “Justice, yes!” The man peered out at Spellman through the bars, blinking rapidly, nervously as he spoke. And then, in the manner of certain lunatics, he abruptly changed the subject. “Dr. Welford has mentioned how you find the Cthaat Aquadingen of interest. I, too, once found it a very interesting work—but for a long time now the book has not been available to me. I suppose they believe its contents to be…well, ‘not in my best interests.’ Perhaps they’re right, I’m not sure. It’s true that the Cthaat Aquadingen put me in here. Oh, that’s true—quite definitely—yes, that’s why I’m here. I read the Sixth Sathlatta far too often, you see? I almost broke down the barrier completely. I mean, it’s all very well to see Yibb-Tstll in dreams—you can stand that much at least— but to have him breaking through the barrier! …Ah! There’s a monstrous thought. To have him breaking through— uncontrolled!”
    As Larner spoke, something he said rang a bell in the student’s mind. Spellman had glimpsed in his brief scanning of the contents of the madman’s book a passage or two containing certain chants or invocations, the Sathlattae, and he made a mental note that later he must go back to that strange volume and discover whatever he could of them…and also of this— creature?—Yibb-Tstll.
    But then, speaking again, Larner broke into his thoughts; and again the lunatic’s expression had changed, his eyes being wide and steady now in his white face. “Well, nurse Spellman, would it be possible for you to—to do me a little harmless service?”
    “You’ll have to say what it is first.”
    “Quite simply—I’d like you to make me a copy of the Sixth Sathlatta from the Cthaat Aquadingen, and bring it to me. No harm in that, is there?”
    Spellman frowned: “But haven’t you just this moment blamed your being here on that very book?”
    “Ah!” Larner made to explain. “But then I didn’t know what I was doing. It’s different now—except I can’t remember how the thing goes: the Sixth Sathlatta, I mean. It’s been almost ten years….”
    “Well, I really don’t know,” Spellman carefully considered. “But see here, Larner, favors work two ways, you know? You still haven’t answered my question. I might be able to do as you ask, but are you willing to tell me what happened the night Merritt died?”
    Larner’s eyes, however, had gone furtive, nervous again. He turned his face away. “We’ll handle it ourselves, Spellman, no matter the price,” he muttered. Then he glanced sharply back at the face of the student framed in the barred window, and again Spellman was amazed at the mercurial property of the man’s character. Now his eyes were penetrating, almost sane. “Nothing happened. Merritt took a fit, that’s all. He was a madman—you know?” Again Larner turned away, this time to walk over to his bed and lie down in his former position.
    Spellman, knowing that their “chat” was over, continued slowly down the stark corridor, peering in at the barred spy-holes as he went.
    The remainder of that night, despite the fact that he knew all was in order, Martin Spellman could not rid his subconscious of distant alarm bells, and as he walked the nighted halls he found himself occasionally glancing nervously over his shoulder.
    • • •
    Spellman had the next weekend free of duty, and he used his Saturday to track down Larner’s strange references in the Cthaat Aquadingen. He eventually found a decidedly alien-looking—chant?—hidden away in one of the manuscript’s four coded sections under the legible heading “Sixth Sathlatta.” Almost without knowing, he copied the weirdly jumbled letters down onto a sheet of paper, attempting a tongue-twisting pronounciation as he did so:
     
“Ghe ‘phnglui, mglw’ngh ghee’yh, Yibb-Tstll,
Fhtagn mglw y’tlette ngh’wgah, Yibb-Tstll,
Ghe’phnglui mglw-ngh ahkobhg’shg, Yibb-Tstll,
THABAITE!—YIBB-TSTLL,