The Rapture Screams, part 1

Extracts from the Personal Diary of Dr Belinda Durham

3^rd November 2008

So it is not over. Mr Green and his minions departed after putting things back together – phone-lines, roads, radio transmitters – and Barbara left after urgent summons from her work at English Heritage as well as increasingly desperate pleas from her husband about the washing machine, a flooded kitchen and no clean clothes. Marmaduke was about to return south as well.

Lucinda retired to bed exhausted, but Thomas was roaming the house, looking awkwardly at us – James, Freddie, Emily and myself – evidently realising that Lucinda had made weird stuff happen and we’d been OK with it.

We talked about what had happened, and what we had to do next. Although we’ve let Lionel and Lucinda get their vengeance on the cultists who killed Sophie, her spirit is still in the clutches of Yog-Sothoth. We need a spell to release her spirit from Yog-Sothoth and then another one to send it to the Dreamlands and we don’t know either of them. From the confused looks at the mention of the Dreamlands, I began to realise that I was the only person in the group who knew anything about that realm, which put me in an unusual situation. I don’t think I’ve ever before been the person who knows most about anything in this amazing, and frightening, other life that I now have. My connection with Gloriana meant the Dreamlands were like another country, part familiar, part scary, and at times I struggle to recall things she takes for granted.

We worked out that that we needed the spell ‘Evocation of the Damned’ to get Sophie’s spirit from the outer God and ‘Toby’s spell’ to send it on to the Dreamlands. The first one might be in Lionel’s library (so there’s a chance we can find it and then a chance one of us can learn it) but we’ve no idea about the other one, only that Toby Higginbotham knows it. I wasn’t the only one who knew about Toby; James the desk-bound IT geek knew Toby was in MI13 but had gone dangerously insane and was permanently subject to ‘special measures’ at the Wilmarth Facility in Broadmoor. However, I’d seen these ‘special measures’ which kept Toby unconscious most of the time and spoken with him, twice – so something else I know most about.

As we talked we realised that Marmaduke was our best way to access Toby because he could authorise a visit. He hadn’t yet left so we all met with him. We tried to get over to him that he knew what Lionel was up to and could have advised or warned us. I think it was like water off a duck’s back; he was not concerned whether we were free agents, misled or forced into action so long as it achieved his goal. However, he had an interest in us continuing to do things for him so he agreed for us (specifically me and one other) to visit Toby. It had to be me because I’d met Toby before and he does not like to meet new people. I therefore had a better chance of persuading him to give us the spell than anyone else. We decided that James would be the other (and I heard Marmaduke warning him that I was ‘frail and jittery’; he had a point but he didn’t have to say it so obviously). Marmaduke would pull some strings and send me a text with the appointment details.

The appointment was 10:30 Thursday 6^th November. I would go there with James, and we’d leave for the south the next day. Freddie said he was also heading south to return to his job. Emily decided that she would visit sites like Glastonbury and then join James and myself after meeting up with Thomas. He was doing all he could to help Lucinda, so was going to join us for the visit to Toby.

6^th November 2008

James, Thomas, Freddie and myself were escorted through the layers of security at Broadmoor to the gates of the Wilmarth Facility where Adam met us. Marmaduke had told us that Adam had been on a mission in Egypt with Alex, Eliza and others that I did not know. The mission had come unstuck and after Adam and Alex returned the UK they had been interrogated by the UK secret services. Whatever had happened, since there was no longer an MI13, they had eventually been released, but into the care of the Wilmarth. Adam looked drawn and tired but he was working as a therapist again, as well as receiving treatment. Alex was a patient and not allowed visitors. His grasp on reality was tenuous. It brought back memories, that I immediately pushed down, of when I had been treated at the Wilmarth after events in the Lake District.

We talked with Adam while the interview with Toby was organised. He would be in a separate room with 3 nurses in attendance, two burly men and one specific black nurse, Mavis. We would see him through a video link. I would be the only person he could see (also through video) and the only one to talk with him.

Toby was wheeled in and given an injection to bring him back to consciousness. I told him that MI13 was no more and that Lionel was dead. He said that he had talked with Lionel about Sophie, and done some basic research into the problem and told Lionel that if he could retrieve Sophie’s spirit it was possible to send it to the Dreamlands. Toby told us that there was more than one way to do this. Of course, he spun this to his advantage. He said that he knew the spell and that it had been taught to him by another person and was not written down. It would take him a week to teach me the spell, and the drugs he was being given, that kept him permanently asleep, did not allow him to dream. If the drugs stopped, he would return to REM sleep in a few days. The unsaid meeting place was, of course, in the Dreamlands, where we would easily have a week together. I should ask at the Temple of the Elder Gods in Rinar for Gnosos. Then they injected Toby again and the videolink shut down.

After this we had a long discussion because it was obvious that Toby was still obsessed by dreams and the Dreamlands and was trying to use us. Adam made the point that all patients had to have a treatment plan under a named doctor. For Toby that was Dr M. Forbush (i.e. Marmaduke) and it was simply to keep him unconscious almost all the time. There were no observations or revisions.

With his ability to read personalities, Adam is convinced that Toby was not mad and was being held under an inhuman regimen. Any real medical doctor would reverse the drug treatment. We had no other way to get the spell other than through Toby, but that did not mean we should fall in with his personal plans. Before trying to persuade anyone to let Toby dream we had to evaluate what would happen, and if there was any way we could get the spells without him.

We came to a few decisions, one of which resulted in me spending a lot of time in the Dreamlands but gaining very little, at least with respect to the spells we were after. It turned out that James the geek had usefully made his own back-up copy of MI13’s files. Adam remembered that St John might know the ‘Evocation of the Damned’ spell. We decided to split our activity with Freddie, Thomas and James returning to Scotland to peruse Lionel’s diary, notes, the library books and anything at Drummond House that might become a lead to the spells. Emily (because of her New Age interests) and I (because I knew him) would visit St John and see if he could teach us a spell. Finally we needed to know more about Gnosos in the Dreamlands which was a task for Adam or myself.

9^th November 2008

Emily and I arrived in Avebury at 11am in the rain to look for St John. We found his motor caravan but no-one was at home. All we had to do was wait. As we headed to a coffee shop, I realised that the litter picker was the man we were after. After introducing him to Emily, and St John telling us he already knew that MI13 was no more, we went back to the caravan where we explained about the events of the last week as the reason why we had come to ask him if he knew the spell. He said he knew it, would not cast it [at least D6 SAN loss] but could teach it in about a week. I phoned the people in Scotland and after discussion we agreed that at least Freddie and Emily would learn it and that St John would come up to Scotland for 2 weeks. We would pay him several thousand pounds – which would keep his girlfriend Jules happy about his absence.

10^th November 2008

Through a combination of train and a hire care we got back to Drummond House. Over the next week St John taught the spell Evocation of the Damned while I did a lot of dreaming. I was fortunate to Dream on the first night that I tried.

I awoke as Gloriana in Dylath-Leen. I remembered what I was supposed to find out, which would take me some time and began by taking passage on a ship to Rinar. It is a city built of a gold and yellow moss agate stone with copper mortar, quite spectacular and comparatively safe for visitors. As a visiting member of the Etrurian nobility I expected, and was given help and deference. The Temple of the Elder Gods is set back from the docklands. Once I reached it, I asked for an introduction to the High Priestess Melandra. When I mentioned Gnosos, I could see immediately that she was uneasy about him even as she told me that he had been a High Priest centuries ago. She said that the legend was that he was a Dreamer and he resurrected worship of an old goddess who used to be great. He and his religious goals were gaining importance, and then one day he vanished and had not been seen since.

She showed me the side chapel dedicated to the goddess he had championed, Haazhektheh. It was dominated by an icon of a beautiful woman who appeared as tall and strong as a man despite voluptuous curves. Her face was striking; she had pronounced canines (although not really fangs) and eyes with yellow irises. Those yellow eyes reminded me of something but I was unable to remember what. Aeons ago there was a pantheon of Elder Gods with yellow eyes but I knew nothing about them. None of my casual questions yielded any information about them either. That night I fell asleep, planning to return home.

I awakened as Belinda, with complete recollection of the past week or so in the Dreamlands. The yellow eyes still meant nothing to me, even from my knowledge of archaeology about a real-world pantheon with yellow eyes. I shared the information Gloriana had gained with the others but none of them could add anything either. Gnosos’s sudden disappearance fitted with the fact that Toby had now not been able to dream for years in the real-world and Melandra’s unease simply reinforced our trepidation about bargaining with him. Our only idea was to seek more information about the Elder Gods from experts. I remembered Jimmy Wainwright and King Kuranes in Celephaïs in the Dreamlands so I would need to Dream some more.

I awoke in Rinar and realised that my plans had to change; I needed to go to Celephaïs. It was easy to find a coastal vessel to take me there and once I arrived I headed for the palace. I was very familiar with the city because I had stayed there for weeks during earlier travels with the Dreamers. The children that we had brought to King Kuranes’ court had matured even though time stands still in Celephaïs. Friday was a charming young lady whose personality and looks combined to the very best advantage. She was still pursued by several suitors and still uncertain about which, if any, to accept. Jeremy and Giles were knights and had become skilled in the martial arts. Unfortunately the King and his Knights were away, so I could not ask him about spells.

Ezekiel Corathan was there, however, so I quizzed him about a yellow-eyed pantheon of gods in the Dreamlands’s past. He explained that they had to be gods of the Hyperborians who lived millions of years ago. Their gods would persist in the Dreamlands after their believers had died out in the real world. He also remarked that a high priest had tried to resurrect worship of one of them, a very beautiful goddess of dream, a few centuries ago but after being popular for a time it had died out again when he vanished. I asked about the effect of this worship and Ezekiel said that she could grant power over dream to her followers who could then change things in the Dreamlands, just like a Dreamer. He agreed to go with me to Rinar to investigate the cult of this goddess.

Before we left, I also spoke with Olondar (Jimmy Wainwright) who advised me that the best person to ask about a spell or ritual to bring a soul to the Dreamlands was Toby Higginbotham. He’d learnt a lot from Toby. This wasn’t what I wanted to hear; I needed anyone other than Toby.

Ezekiel and I took ship for Rinar and met with Melandra again. I introduced Ezekiel to her but she already knew of him because of his fame as a scholar. Although her face was a mask with a polite, rehearsed smile, she was willing to give him access to the temple’s ancient records. Despite his best searching, Ezekiel found little about the yellow-eyed goddess. She could grant divinatory dreams, like Dream of Revelation and give people the dreams they requested. The bad side of this was that she could inflict nightmares and would give them to others at the request of her worshipers. There were hints of even darker, more powerful things in the records, but just as her worship was gaining converts her high priest vanished and everything stopped. The records might have been tampered with. That was all Ezekiel could find, which was not much more that I already knew, except to support the idea that we did not want her worship to resume. I escorted Ezekiel back to Celephaïs and then slept to return to the so-called Real World.

Tuesday 25^th November 2008

After 2 weeks teaching spells, St John had left for Avebury and was £3,000 richer. Lucinda’s state had improved in that she was no longer delirious but had returned to depression and anxiety for the safety of her sister. This gnawed away at Thomas.

We had realised that pre-human civilisations could be represented in the Dreamlands and their history. The yellow-eyed pantheon did not need to be human, but could date from earlier species such as the Hyperboreans. Finding their real-world parallel looked increasingly difficult. Everything I had learnt cautioned us against letting Toby restore their worship. James was adamant that we should not let Toby out because he planned to tamper with reality and break down the barriers between Earth and the Dreamlands. Since I could move relatively freely between the two, that did not concern me, but the idea followers of a religion in the Dreamlands could change reality at will and inflict nightmares was serious. It could affect the position of Etruria and my people. As I though this, I realised how much Gloriana was becoming part of me.

Marmaduke, even though MI13 had been disbanded, was still in good standing in the security world. We phoned him during office hours and James had a look talk. He told Marmaduke that we now knew the spell Evocation of the Damned, and let on that St John had trained several of us, but that we had made no progress with an alternative to Toby for the other spell. Marmaduke said he was not surprised because Lionel had spent a lot of time looking for an alternative to Toby with no success. James then asked a very pointed question, ‘So, do we release Toby to dream and if so what is the procedure? Dr M Forbush wrote the prescription.’

Marmaduke’s reply was unhelpful and he was obviously trying to avoid doing anything to help us. He said that he no longer had an official role (as if any of us believed that), had plans for the future and did not want to ‘blot his copybook’. James and I had known Marmaduke for several years and did not think he was naturally malicious although he might have lapses of judgement and misuse his abilities. We continued to argue with him. I pointed out that Lucinda will have a go at returning Sophie’s soul if we don’t do something and Marmaduke admitted he had sympathy for the family even if he was officially inclined to veto any attempt using Toby (so he as much said he still had official standing!). We asked him why Toby had to be kept unconscious. Marmaduke told us that Toby had a problem distinguishing dream from reality. He could bring elements of dream into the waking world, and they were our deepest fears. Toby could make people relive their darkest nightmares and their hallucinations could become real. This was a real problem.

James asked Marmaduke if he worried that Toby might seek revenge on him, but did not get a real answer. Marmaduke began to share his speculation that MI13 might be revived, not under the current Prime Minister (Gordon Brown) but a future one. The events at Cliffside, and perhaps Toby awakening, might even help in the revival of MI13. He advised us that if we did make a deal with Toby, we should keep our end of it, and it was impossible to assess the risks fully.

We said goodbye to Marmaduke and then discussed everything among ourselves. In the end James phoned Marmaduke again and said that we wanted Toby’s medication reduced and that we wanted to see him again. Marmaduke said that he could not help us because he had already had to call in a big favour for the first meeting, and suggested Adam. After that, James was adamant that he would have nothing to do with waking Toby. We had a further big discussion, coming up with an oath we could ask Toby to swear before his drugs were reduced; if we let you dream, you must not abuse it. You will not do anything that impinges on the waking world nor take things from Dreamlands to the real world. (The others were less concerned than me about what Toby might do to the Dreamlands.)

Then a way forward appeared. Adam phoned us. He’d talked about Toby with one of the nursing staff, Mavis, who was concerned about the effects of this long-term sedation on his health. He could ask for a medication review of Toby, and was confident that any doctor would reduce the drugs. Once Toby’s REM sleep was back, he could dream and we could meet him in the Dreamlands. James still refused to have anything to do with this despite all our persuasion, so we decided to go ahead without him.

Adam told us later that he had drawn Toby to the attention of the doctor in charge that afternoon, Dr Miriam Prajapati. Once she had seen Toby and his treatment chart, she immediately ordered changes. The consequence was that Toby would soon start dreaming. We had to get to Rinar before he arrived.

I knew that the way for us to get there, and arrive together, was to use drugs and Chant of Vloor that we’d learnt from Jimmy Wainwright.

Thomas, Freddie, Emily and myself arrived naked in a green flame-lit temple in Dyleth-Leen. I’d arrived here before and knew the way from there to the Etruria embassy. We put on the robes and sandals provided for arrivals, I warned them not to get involved in any diversion and we headed for the embassy. Fortunately the guards recognised me and we were escorted to Tiberius, one of the senior officials. He also knew me so it was straightforward to arrange an advance of money, something to eat, and courtesy befitting my companions’ status as dreamers. I was uneasy about walking the streets of Dyleth-Leen unarmed and we were able to borrow weapons from the embassy’s armoury. I naturally took a rapier, Emily a short sword as something practical for one unskilled in arms and Freddie a club. Thomas, as a trained soldier was more discerning and took a heavier sword, shield and a cudgel. We bought adequate clothes and footwear, although we did not have time to have it made or adjusted to our individual measurements. Then we went to seek passage to Rinar. An old sailor told us that Captain Yanez was in town. We headed in the direction of his ship, and he recognised me. Embarrassingly he insisted that he would take us without payment to Rinar on the next tide because of his debt to me for saving some of his crew and himself. It was my regret that more of his crew had not survived.

He proudly showed us his latest addition to the ship – a device that looked like an elongated wine barrel bound in bands of bronze. It was a bombard that might give us an edge in any hostile encounter at sea. He had a crew of 12, including 2 women. We decided that we would stay on the ship until it sailed, rather than return to the embassy. The captain insisted that Emily and I use his cabin for the voyage. That night we dined with him and caught up with his travels. I also told him about some of mine in the Dreamlands.

We set sail in the hour before dawn on a voyage that would take us at least a week. All was straightforward until we neared the Halberd Isles. These we well-known for pirates under the Corsair King, but we hoped to elude them. However, we saw a pirate ship in the distance, steered away from it Two hours later, a second ship appeared. The captain made the decision to sail at one of them to see if we could scare it away with the bombard, rather than be caught between the two of them. While he and the sailors were employed at this, we decided to see if we could dream to improve our situation. We dreamt of a mutiny on the ship behind us, a better wind for us and a worse one for the other two ships. The wind indeed began to favour us as we sailed straight towards one of the ships.

Captain Yanez ordered the bombard loaded and waited until we were a few hundred yards away to fire. The cannon-ball passed just to the right of the ship, almost brushing the rigging and landed in the water. We could see that the ship’s figurehead was a carving of Ipfizora, a voluptuous, tentacle mermaid. The pirate ship did not change course and our sailors rushed to furl the sails before we collided. Emily headed to shelter in the cabin since she would only put others in danger trying to protect her. As the ships collided, the pirates fired quarrels that hit some of our sailors, and then they swarmed onto our ship. I spotted that one of them was a moon-beast and immediately attacked the foul creature. I caught it a glancing blow to its head with my rapier and then severe injury to its abdomen that made it fall over. It tried to continue fighting when sitting but I injured its leg and the crew surrounded it and hacked it to death. Freddie and Thomas also picked opponents and incapacitated them. As we were getting the upper hand, a horn blast recalled the pirates to their ship. We heard one of them shouting an appeal to Ipfizora and then tentacles swarmed over the side of the ship towards us. Despite surprise and shock at this turn of events, I ran to help one of the crewmen who had been seized by a tentacle. I and the crewman stabbed the tentacle and it released him. Another member of the crew was less fortunate. She and Freddie missed the tentacle twined around her and the kraken pulled her down into the water and its beak. I and the sailors rushed at the remaining tentacles and it swiftly retreated but we were unable to save her. The pirate ship backed away and we moved away from it. The other pirate ship tried to catch up with us but also fell behind. By nightfall they were both far behind and by the morning we had lost them. Despite the loss of the young crewwoman, Captain Yanez and his crew were still pleased to have us on board.

We arrived off Rinar in the evening as the last rays of the setting sun struck the yellow moss agate and copper of its buildings. It glowed as if it was made of gold and was a spectacular sight. I had, of course, seen Rinar several times before, but it had never looked so impressive. Yanez pointed out the buildings to us, including the domed building of the Temple of the Elder Gods that was our destination. The lighthouse lit by flame in a massive hollow crystal, designed by King Kuranes, marked the entry to the harbour.

It was dark by the time we docked, in warmer weather than Dylath-Leen. We decided to head straight for the temple to find out if Toby had arrived before us. It almost glowed in the moonlight and the scent of incense drifted from it. To my eyes, little had changed except that there were more priests and priestesses. Freddie asked about Gnosos. A very nervous priest said that he’d returned two days ago. He took us to the curtained-off shrine that now was open for all to see. It was lit with many candles and incense and to me it also seemed bigger and a different shape. The icon was bigger, brighter, exuding power. I became very apprehensive about what Toby had done. There was a cowled figure kneeling at the shrine. When he turned, it was Toby, now a healthy, fit man in the prime of life. He is agreeable to meet us, and genuinely surprised that I am Belinda. I ask after Melandra and he tells us that a fearful creature appeared and consumed her. This adds to my unease. The Dreamlands are my home and I have had a hand in bringing this man to them. He wants us to worship Haazhektheh but we say we need to rest after our voyage, and go to seek lodgings.

Over the next days we meet with him several times as he teaches Emily, Thomas and Freddie spells. He is excited all the time, perhaps only natural in someone who has been imprisoned in unconsciousness for so long. My companions all learn Kuranes binding spell that will bring a ghost, spirit or living person at the point of death to the Dreamlands and bind them there. If only I had made the effort to meet with the King on my last visit to the Dreamlands we would not have needed Toby since he was the originator of the spell. He offers us other spells and Freddie learns the Chains of the Pilgrim from him and Emily Dream of Revelation. I have not usually been successful in learning spells in the past, and continued to be uneasy about Toby so did not take up his offer. He now has the ability to reach for things from a distance and gets annoyed if he does not manage to obtain what he wants first time. We should now be able to bring Sophie to the Dreamlands, but I worry what Toby will do to them.