Doctor Who_ All-Consuming Fire - Andy Lane [112]
Sherringford's shoulders erupted through his robes into moist, filmy wings. I could see the pulsing of veins as blood pumped into them, filling them out as I watched. Droplets of some fluid sprayed across my face. The wings stretched until they touched the ground. As soon as his wings could take his weight his legs began to wither away into an armoured tail.
'You will be so happy when you have heard the Word,' he hissed.
A continuation of the reminiscences of John H. Watson, M.D.
The creature was vast and swollen, like the carcass of a beached whale that had become bloated with putrefaction.
A discharge of some mucus-like substance hung in thick, cobweb-like strands from its rugose skin to the floor. It was a vivid purple in colour, with irregular black spots marring its surface. I saw no limbs, no eyes, no organs of sense at all, just one huge toothless maw that slobbered incessantly at us. The wooden planks of the floor were bent under its weight, and pitted as if it sweated some acidic substance.
'Oh my God!' I whispered. There was a stench within the caravan: a stench of something old, and decayed, and evil.
'My child...'
I whirled, looking for the speaker, but we were alone.
'Where . . .?' I said.
Ace inclined her head towards the . . . the thing in front of us.
'There,' she said.
'You poor lost souls, you have made your way to salvation.' The voice continued. It was mellifluous and curiously hypnotic. I could not believe that it came from this swollen leech.
'Who are you?' I cried. 'Where are you?'
'I have been known by many names,' the voice continued, 'but you may call me Azathoth.' I could not determine whether it was a physical thing or whether I was hearing it within the confines of my own skull. 'I am everywhere. I am here for you. I am your saviour.'
'Talks like the R.E. master at school,' Ace muttered.
'Approach me, and feel the warmth of my love for you.'
'No fear.'
There was something in that voice that touched a chord deep within me. It approved of me. It forgave me.
'Come closer...'
I took a step forward. Ace caught at my arm and tried to drag me back, but I pushed her away.
'What do you think you're doing?' she yelled.
'Come close to me, and receive my redemption.'
I gazed lovingly up at its rough hide.
'I want. . .' I began, then trailed off in confusion.
'You want to be loved,' it said. I nodded dumbly, and took another step.
Ace's arm snaked around my windpipe and pressed hard. Choking, I fell back into her arms.
'Don't listen to it,' she yelled in my ear, but it was still whispering in my mind, and I struggled in her arms. Somehow, as I fought to get free and she fought to drag me back, we staggered sideways just enough to bring a figure into view around the side of the creature's bulk. A figure that was kneeling before it, dressed in ragged embroidered robes of peacock blue.
'Tir Ram!' I cried, forgetting for a moment that insistent voice in my mind.
He did not react. He seemed to be in a world of his own, worshipping Azathoth.
'Who . . .?' Ace asked.
I shook my head to try and clear it. My thoughts were muddy and confused.
'He's... he was allied with Baron Maupertuis...' I said, stumbling over the words. 'I told you about him . . . it was his fakirs who created the gateway through which we arrived here.'
'The gateway that brought you into my light,' said Azathoth calmly. 'Tir Ram has joined me, as you will join me. Follow his example, and submit yourself to my love.'
I managed to elbow Ace in the pit of the stomach. She fell back, coughing, and I ran forward to take hold of Tir Ram's shoulder. His head was bowed and his dark hair fell across his features. I am still not sure whether I wanted to drag him away or join him. A part of me had succumbed to Azathoth's message, but a part of me still rebelled against its seductive lure.
'Tir Ram!'