Pickman’s Student: part 2

Extracts from the Personal Diary of Dr Belinda Durham

Wednesday 27^th August 2008 evening

Barbara had met me from the train at Kings Cross and over a meal had brought me up to date with what had been happening about the unconscious artist Nelson Blake and his paintings. After the throngs of people and traffic died down, we headed for the MI13 HQ near Whitehall. James Elliott was on the desk for the night.

All the others were already there, and we had another round of catching up, especially since St John and Eliza had just returned from seeing Nelson Blake again. St John had used the bone mask to look (briefly) at Nelson, and had seen something we'd never seen before; two silver cords running from him, both pulsing as if a fluid was being pumped into and out of him along them. The cords should mean that his spirit is no longer in his body, but why there are two? And what the pulsing means, goodness knows. Alec tried to convince us that the two cords mean that his body is possessed by another spirit. We spent a lot of time, on and off, talking about this over the next two days.

The art dealer, Adrian Stimson, obviously had a role in Nelson's life, and (typically) Alec asked James to see if MI13 had a file on him, and once he learnt there wasn't one, asked him to put together what he could find. At least it gave James something to do. I must say that sitting around in a solid, if shabby, building near the centre of London was making me feel better and better.

James came up with information about Mr Stimson: the art gallery was a long-standing family business, started by his (great?) grandfather in the 1880s. He took over from his father in 1980, when it was not doing so well. He changed to art that met his taste – surrealist and fantastical – and it is now much more lucrative. He's been on the TV, mainly Channel 4 art programmes, so is a minor celebrity. James had found out that he's had two parking tickets and one arrest for something on Hampstead Heath that was not proceeded with.

Taking everything together, especially after Adam's tale from Marmaduke of something similar happening some years ago, we've decided that we are in some sort of count-down. Unfortunately we don't yet know how to stop it. However, we decided that we need information that we can only get in the Dreamlands. We decided we'd aim to meet with Ezekiel Corathan because he knew more about Gods than anyone else we know. With Alec to keep us together, we all took some dreamdust, and arrived in Celephais. I tried to take a camera with me. I was Gloriana again, and my memory of London and the waking world was like a fading dream in such familiar surroundings. Somehow, I'd acquired a scroll case with sheets of paper and sketching materials. Adam and Barbara had not been here before and Adam started asking a man where we could find Ezekiel – and it was him!

We sat and talked with him at one of the 'cafes' for which Celephais is famous. They are small shops that sell pastries and hot drinks made from plant extracts (not fermented or in any other way intoxicating). He told us he was now accepted at the court of King Kuranes, as their expert on the Elder Gods.

After Adam and Alec explained the paintings to him, especially one of a seascape with distant mountains, he immediately said that it sounded like the Underground Sea of the Dreamlands, which is located in the underworld of the Dreamlands. Ghouls know how to get there, foul creatures that should be slain on sight before they can consume the flesh of living people. More positively, Ezekiel said that some Sages also know how to get there and he suggested we meet Malachi the Wise, who had taken him under his wing and he knew had visited the Underworld.

Ezekiel reminded the Dreamers that the Elder Gods are Nodens, Bast, Vishnu, Hypnos, Poseidon, Dhégom-Mátar and Nath-Horthath. Ezekiel had never heard of Ghadamon, and since the Elder Gods are fairly well-known, thought he was unlikely to be one, although he might be a Great Old One.

I caught up with news of Jeremy who had indeed taken up his training as an esquire so well that he was soon to be knighted. I would like to see that ceremony. Friday had recovered her peace of mind and was being courted by several gentlemen of the court. News of a new Elder God, Yusa bin Yusef, had reached the court, originating from Salvação where we had met him as we exchanged the Shantak eggs for the sphere that had contained the essence of Jeremy.

There were rumours of something happening, something moving from the Dreamlands to the waking world. These were linked to the ambitions of ghouls and the idea that they had found a Messiah who would release them from their bonds. I sincerely hope not! No-one had heard of either Nelson Blake or Adrian Stimson, an artist and someone very interested in art, so they must use different names, have not been near here or have concealed their interests.

Adam and St John went to meet Malachi, and told us about it afterwards. He had been to the Underworld and knew some ghouls and said that they could respect people, but he either never said, or they could not remember, how to make them do so. Malachi's opinion was that the ghouls were barbarians posing little threat to the living since they only devoured the dead. (My opinion of ghouls centres on when the change from living to dead occurs; they do not simply wait for people to die of old age.) He recognised the scene in the painting from their description as the southern shore of the underground sea, near where the Fungus Forest (a very bad place) reaches the shore. The word Ghadamon meant nothing to him.

Eliza and Barbara spent time in the palace library, assisted by the chief librarian. They found no mention of R’Lyeh, but did find one of Ghadamon, to do with the netherworld and that an innocent would take his place. Also, amazingly, Barbara found a sketch of the painting 'Karl Marx in Highgate Cemetery', by Nelson Blake! She spent days looking for others, but did not find any. No-one had any idea how or where from it had come or who 'Nelson Blake' was.

Alec asked about how to release someone who was possessed and was told, as he'd suspected, that it depended on knowing who or what was doing the possessing. There were a large number of rituals. No-one could advise about double, pulsing, silver cords.

After many days, we all returned to the waking world.

Thursday 28^th August 2008

Alec had a phone call from Adrian Stimson, asking to meet him. I went along as well and we met at a cafe in Waterloo station. After some dodging around, starting with Adrian saying hesitantly that he was sure Nelson Blake's drowning was unnatural, I openly said that we were familiar with the Dreamlands too, trying to channel Gloriana for all I was worth to remember as much as possible about them! The Dreamlands are vast and Adrian had not heard of the Six Kingdoms although he had heard of Ulthar, which is on our borders, and I must admit it is very famous. Adrian said he'd only dreamt a few times and had travelled to Sarnath, which lies to the east.

We asked him about Nelson, and he admitted that he'd introduced the young man to dreaming including supplying him with books and ‘dreamdust’. I'm not sure whether I think that was wrong or not. Probably not, even though it may be killing him. It had certainly inspired his painting. Adrian told us that the first one he's seen that had obviously been inspired by dreaming was 'Elder Yoggoth' and Nelson had completed four shown at the 2006 exhibition where he'd broken through to critical recognition of his artistic talent. Adrian finally produced half a tablet that he said he'd found in Nelson's flat and that he didn't recognise. Alec offered to have it analysed, so Adrian gave it to him.

Having now got into Adrian's confidence, we went with him to Nelson's flat, since he had a key and none of us had seen it. It was a penthouse above the fifth floor with a large northern skylight in a block on the riverside near the centre of Reading. He must have been making good money to afford it. We didn't manage to escape the cleaner, Hilda Tadley, who obviously took great pride in condition of the flat, to the extent of having cleared up most of anything left from the night of the whatever.

Blake’s studio area was at one end of the large room that took up most of the flat, with a living area at the other. There was a sofa dividing the two areas with an easel facing the back of it. Nelson's latest work was on it, covered by a cloth and when we looked at it I felt very uneasy. Letting Gloriana look at it, I immediately recognised the Peaks of Thok, massive mountains in the underworld whose fame is in inverse proportion to the number of living people who have actually seen them. The painting had statues and architecture scattered around the landscape some of which looked Etrurian (although on reflection, they could be Roman if Nelson had never been in the Six Kingdoms).

Alec asked Adrian what must have sounded like a bizzare question – had Nelson taken any interest in eating the dead? Adrian replied quite calmly that, as far as he knew, no, but he had become increasingly obsessed with getting his paintings of the Ghadomon cycle together. He explained that he'd lent Nelson the book 'Eibon Saith on Dreams', which he'd read and from it had gained a spell that allowed him to visit specific places or events the past of the waking world in a dream and view what had happened. He said this so casually, and when I think of my inability to learn even a circle of protection, I'm envious. Maybe his artistic nature makes him more open to such irrational ideas than I am with my training in archaeology.

At this point, my mobile went and it was Adam. He'd had another go at finding out details from Marmaduke, to no effect. The man would only give him vague generalities. After he'd said that Toby Higginbotham, despite being insane had an unparalleled grasp of Mythos magic, Adam wanted to talk with him. Marmaduke said he'd only permit this if he had much better evidence that it was relevant to current events, and if the person who'd spoke with him last time was present. That was me, which was why Adam was phoning. I was able to tell him that we'd now got better evidence that the Book of Eibon was involved in the events that had put Nelson into intensive care. Alec muttered something about '…mention that commentary that the end of days is nigh, that should interest the old…' Adam was a little non-committal and seemed to want to approach Marmaduke again when he had a totally convincing case.

Alec found a note in the flat of what the police had taken away which included financial records, some letters, seaweed and a silver cross. Sensibly, he used his police position to get hold of them and we next headed to Thames Valley Police HQ. It turned out that a specialist at University of Bangor could not identify the green seaweed, and the silver cross was an ankh. There were two letters: one was from Robert Baldridge, in whom Nelson had evidently confided something about the Dreamlands and who told him not to be so silly. The police had already contacted Baldridge and excluded him from the investigation.

The other letter was the bizarre one. It was from ‘R. U. P.’ and said something like 'if you show the sign of Aegyptus to my people they will bring you to me and I'll be very pleased to hear about how my work is still of interest to people'. I should say now that we worked out that this letter was from Robert Upton Pickman, of Boston, Massachusetts, who had disappeared about 80 years ago, with rumours of suicide or 'eaten by ghouls, creatures of the underworld'. This actually fitted all the information we had, apart from giving no idea of how the link with the Dreamlands had been made, and how this note had come to the waking world.

Finally, carrying the material Thames valley police had released to us (or rather Alec as a Metropolitan police Special Branch officer since it was relevant to his on-going investigation, while they had closed theirs as attempted suicide), we went to see Nelson Blake. Adrian was anxious to see how he was. He'd been moved to a private room at the insistence of Penny, his fiancée. He was in a shocking state and from Adrian's reaction he'd got worse.

Nelson's skin was all blackened, splitting in places and weeping a clear liquid. His face was swollen and he was coughing up pus. He'd got larger, increased from 90 kg to 120 kg, even though his fluid imbalance was nowhere near 30 kg. Penny did not look well either, and seemed out of touch with reality. She said he was getting better and had been talking with him! After staying there a short while, I asked for Eliza and was directed to A&E. She said that her shift ended at midnight and she agreed that she'd then go to Nelson's flat, since that was the most convenient place for us to all meet tonight. We returned there ourselves.

Adam and St John arrived. Adam said he'd left a message with James for Marmaduke that Nelson had read 'Eibon Saith on Dreams'. He then tried to meditate, but could not, which he found a bit disturbing. Then Eliza arrived and told us that a nurse had been attacked in the hospital grounds by a very tall man who smelt of fish and had a fish mask. Alec remarked that it sounded like Deep One. The rest of us totally ignored this response - what would one be doing here? I went with Eliza back to her flat; the idea of sleeping in a real bed was so attractive! The others stayed in Nelson's flat (apart from Barbara who had gone home to her family) and made the best of the bed, settee and floor. Adrian was mentioning airbeds from an all-night supermarket but for me a real bed was no contest!

Back at Eliza's I fell asleep before thinking that I could try this as an opportunity for an organised visit to the Dreamlands. That was a really bad idea since I soon 'awoke' to find I was digging in a graveyard. I could see by the light of the silvery moon that it was at the base of a hill with a large black tomb on it. Suddenly, a large hole opened up where I was digging and then I saw eyes in it. I tried to back away but of course tripped over something and a thing from the hole moved towards me, rustling.

I scrambled to me feet, saw ghouls advancing towards me, and turned and ran for the tomb (in retrospect, not the most sensible move, but then it was a dream). After a few attempts I managed to squeeze in through the partly open door and shut it behind me. I could still see because, on a ledge running round the space (about 12 x 18 feet) there were candles in brass holders burning with a bluish flickering light, as well as bones and skulls. The room was dominated by an obsidian sarcophagus with a crystal lid and an open book above it. I walked towards it, unable to avoid stepping on and breaking the bones scattered at the foot of it.

Inside was a beautiful woman in a diaphanous blue dress. I reached for the book; as I lifted it up to read, the lid slid off the tomb and a clawed old hand grabbed for the book as a hideous hag stepped out of the tomb. I dropped the book, and the other hand let go as well. I quickly realised that the hag mirrored everything that I did. I realised that I had to break a mirror plane between us. I tried to kick it, as did she, and then hit it with one of the brass candles which made it shatter. At this point I woke up with a scream and realised I'd had a nightmare.