The Rapture Screams, part 1

Extracts from the Diary of Thomas Grady

November 3^rd (continued)

09:30 – Lucie is still feeling the effects of the last few days and remains in bed for the day. She is eating now and hopefully will be back to her old ways soon.

10:00 – Forbush, Green and the other Yanks start putting everything back the way it was before this all started which takes them until 18:00 on the 4^th which is quite impressive when you consider the damage they had inflicted. We would be minus the four kiddie killers of course and Lionel is now back at rest. I am informed that there will be no police involvement in these incidents as this Forbush character appeared to have some influence in that regard.

Tuesday November 4^th

10:30 – Lucie is up and about and, as I suspected, Lucie made it clear that she wanted me to assist Lionel’s friends. They appear to be convinced that Sophie can somehow be saved. I knew Lucie would want me to help hence my earlier statement.

12:00 – Belinda was still attempting to convince Forbush into letting her talk to this Higginbotham nut but he seemed to be reluctant. Finally he folds and says he’ll see what he can do.

13:00 – The group informed me that two spells were essential for this mission to succeed: the first, something called ‘Evocation of the Damned’, which they hoped to find in Lionel’s library, while the second, ‘Toby’s spell’, could only be acquired via Higginbotham.

13:30 – 18:30 – Hunting through Lionel’s books and diaries reveal no new leads but I didn’t expect it to.

19:30 – Forbush informs Belinda that he has arranged for her to see Higginbotham on Thursday at 10:30.

21:00 – Retire to bed, got a long drive tomorrow

Wednesday November 5^th

07:00 – Up and ready to go

07:45 – Freddie, Belinda, James and I will be going to see this Higginbotham character. Emilie asked to come along as well but would not be coming to Broadmoor, instead she intended to visit some mystical sites in the vicinity.

18:00 – Arrived in London after along arduous trip with the group holding numerous discussions involving strange names and somewhere called the Dreamlands. I tried to ignore them and concentrated on my driving

18:30 – I’d thought ahead and had arranged for us to stay with my old ma’ as she has a number of rooms over the pub and it would have been impossible to get a hotel room, Guy Fawkes Night and all that. Fortunately she was willing to put us up but was slightly disappointed that Lucie wasn’t with us. Emilie left us here and went off to do her own thing.

19:00 – 23-30 – I did a shift behind the bar in the evening which helped relieve some tension but I left the others to their own devices.

Thursday November 6th

07:00 – Up and about

09:25 – Left for Broadmoor.

09:57 – Arrived Broadmoor for 10:30 appointment and were escorted to Wilmarth facility around side of main building

10:15 – Met Adam Walters who works here. He had an invite to Lionel’s funeral but was not allowed out. I heard him say one of the others, Alex Douglas, was a patient here, which explains why he didn’t come as well.

10:25 – Belinda and James stationed in a room with a monitor and microphone while the rest of us were taken to a second room with just a monitor showing this room.

10:29 – Monitor turns on in Belinda’s room showing a cell containing two orderlies, a large coloured nurse and what looks like an accountant strapped Hannibal Lector like to a stacker truck.

10:30 – 10:45 – Mavis (Coloured nurse) injects Higginbotham who then emerges from his fugue, and it is clear that he recognises Belinda yet it appears James is out of shot.

The discussion then went on and it appeared he was willing to teach someone his spell and his payment to be that he be allowed to dream. It should be noted that he wished to train us at the Temple of the Elder Gods in Rinar which is apparently in the Dreamlands, a place I had heard the others talking about on the way up to London.

This plea of his implies to me that he is usually kept in a dream-free state, which seems rather barbaric. I wonder what sort of crime he committed to suffer this fate? As far as I could tell Belinda, Freddie and Adam appeared to be willing to accede to his request but James not so much. As I can see no reason why he should be stopped him from dreaming I would also allow him to do so.

11:00 – Adam accesses Higginbotham’s records to check who had put these restrictions in place and discovers that the Doctor whose signature was on the notes is a Dr M. Forbush (Marmaduke? Funny, I didn’t think that he was a doctor). So if we wanted to change his treatment it may just be a process of getting a real doctor to prescribe a more humane treatment regime. Anyway this is a discussion for a later time. It should be noted that Adam does not think he is insane.

11:30 – Finally leave Broadmoor with the intention of returning to Drummond House in an attempt to acquire the other spell that is required. However Belinda and Emilie would not be accompanying us as they were checking out a possible secondary source for the Evocation of the Damned, a Mr Cartwright-Fiennes who had also failed to attend Lionel’s funeral and had sent his apologies and condolences.

18:13 – Arrived back at Drummond House

21:00 – Knackered after the long drive, Lucie and I took an early night

Friday November 7^th and Saturday November 8^th

James & Freddie spend the days poring over Lionel’s old books and diaries in an attempt to circumvent having to release Higginbotham but, as before, they appear to make no headway.

I meanwhile take care of Lucie and begin sorting out Drummond House, and I also make an effort to introduce myself to our neighbours. To be honest I am a man of action and I find looking at these books is giving me a headache.

Sunday November 9^th

It looks like this is shaping up to be the same as the last two days until…

14:00 – Belinda phones to inform us that she and Emilie, who she had picked up on the way to Avebury, had made contact with Cartwright-Fiennes and he had agreed to teach someone the spell.

He would be charging a grand for each person he trained as he was short of money and lived in a caravan and this was the only way his girlfriend would let him come. On top of that we would be putting him up at Drummond House for at least a week (in the end it was two). Lucie insisted that I agree to this so we so we were committed.

This in place, I spent the next couple of hours getting one of the spare rooms ready for our guest.

Monday November 10^th – November 17^th

14:00 – Belinda, Emilie and Cartwright-Fiennes arrive.

Cartwright-Fiennes looks like a refugee from the sixties with white hair which does not look to be dyed as his roots are the same colour. The man claims to be a dowser and is carrying a wooden box with him but Lord alone knows why as we certainly have no water shortages in Cliffside.

15:30 – Once everyone is settled in, the teaching begins with Freddie and Emilie as the chosen trainees and by end of the week they had both succeeded in mastering the skills Cartwright-Fiennes had insisted instilling in them.

I notice that Belinda meanwhile spends a lot of time in her room asleep. I suspect she has some form of narcolepsy but she claims that she is contacting other people in the so-called Dreamlands.

I feel like a spare wheel during the week as I genuinely do not a clue as to what is going. I am still assisting as best as I can. I also put my foot down in regard to Lucie in insisting that she takes no active part in proceedings. As I am just rattling around I may as well put the time to some good use and start with some German language tapes.

Tuesday November 18^th – November 25^th

Cartwright-Fiennes is ready with his two grand when Freddie offers him an extra grand to teach him another spell, ‘Command Ghost’, which he also succeeds in mastering.

However unlike the first week there is now a decision to be made in regard to Higginbotham. It soon becomes clear that Forbush and the computer guy, James, want the status quo to remain in regard to his treatment. While Belinda, Freddie and Emilie want to let him dream again.

To be honest, there is much angst in regard to this issue but it is fairly clear which way this is going to go otherwise the last two weeks would have a colossal wasted of money and time. It was clear that all we needed to do was get a real doctor to look at Higginbotham’s case to get what we needed but we really wanted everyone on board. Unfortunately we were unable to convince the nay-sayers when the decision was made to proceed.

We needed access not only to Toby’s spell but also to someone who had knowledge of both Tsath-Yo, an ancient dead language, and something named the Book of Eibon and this Higginbotham fellow appeared to be the only option.

Cartwright- Fiennes finally departs for home at 10:00 on the 25^th with three grand in his pocket and seemingly as happy as a pig in shit.

Wednesday November 26^th – D Day

09:00 – Belinda contacted Adam at the Wilmarth facility and he in turn talked with Dr Miriam Prajapati, one of the doctors, not surprisingly she was shocked with what she found when she checked on Higginbotham’s treatment regime and began to make changes. So the die is cast.

Belinda meanwhile began prepping us for a trip to the Dreamlands. I agreed to go along just to see what all the fuss was about, as did Freddie and Emilie. James meanwhile refused to take part but said he would stay and take care of Lucie.

22:00 – The four of us embarking on the mission took up our places in the living room and Belinda began burning some strange twigs while leading us in a chant (Haw, Haw, Hass, Koom, Yar, Koom, Ssss, Djehuti) slowly the room faded into darkness and I had the feeling of falling but more akin to a feather than as a solid body.

Dreamlands or a Group Hallucination

(Time seems to pass oddly here so I will attempt to write things down in the order they occurred)

We finally emerge in poorly lit room with our heads pointing in four different directions and our feet together we were all prone and naked but were able to find sandals and long dark robes in the next room. Oddly I noted that there were only four sets of clothing and that they were all the correct size for one of us almost as if whoever had laid them out knew who was going to be there.

Belinda is once again referring to herself as Gloriana and informs us that we are in someplace called Dylath-Leen, she also informed us that we should avoid talking to anyone here.

We left what appeared to be a temple of some kind and made our way to a large building guarded by soldiers who appeared to know Gloriana as they addressed her as princess. Apparently this was an embassy and we were able to acquire some more suitable clothing and weaponry.

I had taken a heavy sword and a small shield with a solid boss but I have to admit it has been many a year since the Royal Marines fought with sword and shield. Hopefully I would have time to get used to fighting with them before it became a life and death issue.

Leaving the embassy, we travel to the docks in hope of finding a ship that would take us to Rinar, wherever that is. Then Gloriana/Belinda discovers that a certain Captain Yanez is in harbour who is apparently a personal friend.

She then leads us to Yanez’s vessel and we discover that not only is he happy to see her but he is willing to transport us free of charge and he is ready to go once we are aboard. Moreover he also offers Gloriana & Emilie the use of his cabin.

The voyage would apparently take a week but I am a man of simple needs so I was willing to bunk with the crew, as was Freddie. I was also willing to muck with crewing the ship.

The way to Rinar took us past a place called the Halberd Isles, the home of the Corsair King, so we also needed to keep a watch for pirates. Unfortunately we did attract their attention as a sail appeared on the horizon and though Yanez attempted to evade them they stayed with us. In fact a short time later a second ship appeared!

Yanez decided on a direct approach and sailed straight at one of the ships in hope of intimidating them with the use of his new bombard and to this end he ordered his crew to load the cannon. Gloriana and the others meanwhile tried to affect the second pursuing vessel. Surprisingly this appeared to work but I suspect it was more due to what was about to happen.

Yanez waited until we were close before unleashing the bombard but even before he fired I could see that it wasn’t properly lined up and this proved to be the case as the shot missed to port. As the ships closed however my eyes were drawn to the figurehead of the approaching vessel which appeared to be a weird amalgamation of mermaid and squid. Emilie headed to her cabin at this stage as she stated that she would be more of a hindrance than a help if it came to a fight.

As both vessels came abeam Yanez’s crew prepared to repel boarders. The pirates, however, fired a volley of crossbows before the attack, taking down several of our crew. This was swiftly followed by several grappling hooks. Then the attack began with a number of the pirates swinging onto our deck, one of which looked like a six foot marshmallow man who Gloriana claimed as her target.

The Pirates cut the fight short as soon as it became clear that we had the upper hand and, as is the way with all bullies and pirates, they retreated like the cowards they are and cut the grapples. I then spotted someone who I assumed was the opposing captain throwing a small squid over the side while shouting, “Ipfizora, help us in our hour of need!”

Almost instantly the water between the two vessels began to churn as a giant squid emerged from the depths. Our ship was rapidly festooned with tentacles and two of our crew were seized. Fortunately one of the crew was saved but the other, a young girl, was taken to a watery fate as the squid retreated back into the depths with its victim.

The pirates used the distraction of the attack to back off and we were able to escape the encounter. Fortunately the rest of the voyage passed without any further incidents. However, as we approached Rinar I noticed that Yanez was giving a touristy pitch.

Rinar is a town built from yellow moss agate and copper yet in the light of the setting sun it glowed as if made of gold. Yanez’s pitch allowed us to pick out our destination, the domed Temple of the Elder Gods, where we hoped to meet up with Higginbotham or, as he is known here, Gnosos.

As there is no time like the present we headed straight for the temple where we hoped to meet Melandra, who was apparently the high priestess. However, upon entry Gloriana noted that there were a lot more priests and priestesses in attendance than on her previous visits and when Freddie inquired about Melandra a nervous priest informed him that a large creature had appeared and devoured her two days previously, about the same time that Gnosos had reappeared.

So Freddie asked if the priest could take us to him to Gnosos and we were taken to section given over to Haazhektheth where a cowled figure kneeled in homage. The priest informed the figure that we had come to see him and I noted that he referred to him as ‘master’. As the figure turned to us, it was clear that this was Higginbotham but he appeared to be younger and fitter.

It may have been chance but the death of the High Priestess was just a bit too convenient for my liking. I was now beginning to see why Gnosos/Higginbotham was imprisoned. Gloriana also remarked that the area reserved for Haazhektheth had grown as it previously been a small curtained off area. The icon was also larger and was in the form of a muscular/voluptuous female with yellow eyes, large canines and striking features.

I noticed that it took him a moment to realise who we are but once he did he agreed to teach us some of his spells, which required us to meet with him many times during the next two weeks. In the end Freddie, Emilie and I are in possession of Toby’s spell (or to use its correct term, ‘Kuranes’ Binding’). Emilie and I also learned Dream of Revelation while Freddie learned Chains of the Pilgrim.

Talking to the others later I discovered that Kuranes is known to the group and is based in Celephaïs, which is a short distance to the north-west, so we did not need to release Higginbotham after all. Hindsight is a wonderful thing and unfortunately I think we are a bit late to try and get the genie back in the bottle.

Note that, despite being in the dark about much of what is going on, I have made a conscientious decision to take some responsibility in regard to the risks we could yet face and that is why I agreed to learn the spell.