Pickman’s Student pt2
Extracts from the Personal
Diary of
Eliza had no objection to using the bone
mask to view Blake. It was at her place so we made a brief trip back there to
fetch it.
Once back at the hospital, I managed
without too much difficulty to have a brief look through the mask without
attracting any attention. Actually the mere presence of Eliza seemed to be more
troublesome. It seems that Dr. Jones, who is clearly completely out of his
depth, objects to Eliza being involved in any way.
Looking through the mask brought a
surprise. I was looking for a single silver thread leading away from the body,
but I saw two of them. Each seems to be pulsing in a way that I have not seem before as though something was flowing down each
thread. The flows are in opposite directions.
There was nothing more that we could do for
the moment. We left the unfortunate Blake in the care of his increasingly
delusional girl-friend and set off for H.Q.
We all met up at Great Scotland Yard. Adam,
Alex, Barbara and Belinda were all there. On duty on the phones, was James
Elliot. It took me a moment to place the name. He was the scoffer who wrote the
article for the Observer about the Ravensworth incident. Apparently
he has had an epiphany since and is now on staff. I may be fun to ask him about
that sometime, but for the moment we were busy with more pressing
matters.
The others had been talking to Adrian Stimson who is an art dealer friend of Blake's may be
involved. [They had James, (who it seems is a computer expert) do some research
which turned up blank.] From him, they have learnt about some paintings by
Blake that seem to be of great significance. Blake has referred to these as the
“Ghadamon Cycle”. In spite of our best
researches, we could not find any reference to the name ‘Ghadamon’. Some
of these paintings have been sold and Blake had been trying to get them
back.
I suggested following the threads into
Dream, but this was generally considered to be too dangerous. Instead we
decided to seek out Ezekiel Corathan and ask his
advice. We used Alex's spell to dream together.
Night of
We found Ezekiel in Celephäis.
He is only a journeyman sage, so he referred us to Malachi the Wise who is a
grandmaster sage. Malachi was able to locate the scene from incomplete picture, that is currently in Blake's studio. It is in a
netherworld region of the Dreamlands, and it is possible that other paintings
in the “cycle” depict other places in the region.
We also learnt some disturbing intelligence
about the ghouls. It appears that they are expecting a messiah. They are
putting faith in a new minor god called Yesha.
This could be Yusa bin Yusuf
that we met in Salvaçao. After much research in the
extensive libraries of Celephäis we discovered a
prophecy that runs roughly so:-
And beneath the Ocean that lyeth in ye Netherworld in ye
This is a very odd document. In my
experience, this mixture of biblical and mythos
references is unique.
There are five paintings that Blake's
identified as being in the Ghadamon Cycle.
We don't know whether this completes the cycle, or if he planned further
works.
Elder Yuggoth
a desert scene with hills in the shape of
vast tree stumps [owned by Adrian Stimson]
Fate
a wood panelled room containing a four-poster
bed) [private owner in
Karl Marx lies in
R'lyeh Rises
[owned by Bancroft
in
An, as yet unnamed and incomplete work
A rocking shore with various statues and
towers) [in Blake's studio]
Stimson additionally owns:-
• A walk in the Park
• The Outsider
Night of
Adam and I slept in Blake's bedroom sharing
his bed. I dreamt.
I was walking in a forest, searching for
something, but I wasn't sure what. I was alone. I don't like being alone these
days. As I went the forest seemed to change from normal trees into vast
fungi. Then I came to a clearing, and across it I saw two women. Desiring
company I headed straight for them. As I approached they cackled and flew away
and I saw that they were witches. Then I saw a small blue mushroom about the
size of a plum and I was sure that that was what I was looking for, but I
didn't know why I needed it.
At that point I woke up.