"Say nothing of the Old Ones," replied Umatal. "Even in Ulthar, their ears catch every breath."

"How are we to be rid of the Dark Destroyer? What possible means are we to employ to thwart its purpose?"

"Its purpose! Pah! How can we comprehend its purpose?"

"Enough to know that Ybaggog is called, Devourer of Universes."

"We may have to sacrifice universes to kill him."

They said no more for a while, knowing that their own G.o.ds (and indeed, all G.o.ds that they knew of) went in fear of Ybaggog. Ibidin nervously c.h.i.n.ked the silver coins in his pocket; he had not earned many this season, for few people in Ulthar wanted the benefit of his fortune telling. As the men subsided into their grim thoughts, more shadows crossed the moon. The men jerked up, a symptom of how afraid they were, for such nocturnal things were common in Ulthar and not usually worthy of concern.

"Something approaches," said Umatal, drawing back. Around him, fifty cats arched their backs and hissed in unison. Ibidin pulled a short, curved knife from his belt, lurching up from the table. Presently a small, squamous figure alighted on the windowsill and peered in with huge eyes. It was not unlike the frightful night gaunts, but was too squat and small, and a few moments were all that were needed to outline its evident trepidation.

"Begone!" growled Umatal, as if chasing off a wayward crow.

"Your pardon, masters," came the reply. "But is this the inn of Drath, sixth cat master of the northern heights?"

A figure had come out of the shadows behind the table, holding and stroking a cat, and with a smaller one perched on its shoulder. All the cats in the inn had subsided, purring softly again and gazing dreamily at the odd visitor. "Aye," said Drath. "What do you seek here?"

"I am Elfloq," said the figure, hopping in a frog-like way on to a table, narrowly missing a jug of wine. "Are these two lords your only guests?" He appeared to be searching out more guests with those bulbous, saucer-like eyes, though there were only the cats, creatures of which he did not approve. One of them extended an exploratory claw and came close to hooking it into the scaled hide of the familiar. Elfloq opened his wings in readiness to flit upwards to the rafters.

"We are not lords," said Ibidin. "But by the beard of Ozmordrah, what are you?"

Elfloq seemed relieved. "Then I am first." He kept himself out of reach of the cats, sitting birdlike in the windowsill, poised for flight if need be. "You must listen to me, for there is little time before they come."

"Who?" said Drath.

"Evil ones. Dreadful forerunners of an even greater evil. Dark and dire, foul and hideous to look upon-beings who will work frightful misery upon Ulthar and all the cities of the dreamworld."

"You babble, little frog," said Umatal. But his smile was very thin. "Who are these devils you speak of?"

"One is half-man-fat and blue-skinned, with hooked talons for hands and feet, and the face of a devil. He is shifty and foul-lipped-smelling of the gutters and with the eyes of a madman-"

"It seems to me," chuckled Drath, "that this description would easily fit yourself, apart from the hue of your skin."

Elfloq ignored this remark. "The other is tall, bent over and like a lean wolf with eyes that burn and hands that would rob the dead. His very presence fills the air with darkness, and he is a priest of the most abominable G.o.ds. His mother, they say-"

"Enough!" snarled Umatal. "Here, my friends, is yet another victim of the mad dreams that permeate this realm. He looks much like something from a bad dream himself! Away! Go out and annoy a street hound or one of the little wharflings on the Skai waterfront."

"I cannot leave. I am forced here by sorcery. I must wait for them," persisted Elfloq. He shuddered as he thought of the words of Ubeggi, the Weaver of Wars, from whom he had recently come. That meddlesome G.o.d had sent him here, warning him that if he did not do his bidding, Elfloq's fate would be incalculably horrible. "But you have little time. I speak of real evil. These terrible ones are the slaves of something infinitely more vile. I speak of Ybaggog, the Dark Destroyer."

Umatal's hand shot out and gripped Elfloq by the throat, pulling him across the table. Cats screeched and leapt back, leaving fur dancing in the air. "Ybaggog!" snarled Umatal. "What do you know of him?"

"He sends his envoys here. They must be eradicated."

"How do you know of this?" said Ibidin.

Elfloq wriggled, but was caught like a hooked fish. "Ah-my master. He is a great sorcerer. He is engaged in a tumultuous cosmic struggle with Ybaggog, dedicated to wiping out the Destroyer's minions."

"Who is this master of yours?"

"He is known as the Voidal."

The travellers from the South glared at each other.

"Who?" they said in unison, baffled.

"Have you not heard of him?" piped Elfloq, struggling for breath.

Umatal and Ibidin shook their heads.

"That is because he shrouds himself in mystery and legend, so that he is not taken by his enemies, chief among whom is Ybaggog."

"There are a thousand sorcerers on every world. What makes your master so powerful?" asked Umatal suspiciously.

"Should you meet him, you would know at once."

"And where is he?" said Ibidin.

"Ah," said Elfloq, with what he intended to be a theatrical pause. "He waits without. Ready for the summons."

The men turned to the inn door, but Elfloq shook his head. "Not in this realm. He walks in the void between universes."

"Indeed?" said Umatal sceptically.

"Then call him," said Ibidin. "If he can help us, call him!"

Elfloq masked his terror at that particular thought, and shook his head. "I cannot, sirs, as I am his slave. It is I who do his bidding, not he mine. He would not obey me."

Umatal's eyes narrowed. "Why should I perform a convocation rite about which I understand nothing? I know of men who have summoned up demons and of the prices they have had to pay. You summon him."

Elfloq tried not to look as though some great beast were about to devour him. This was not working out at all well. Ubeggi had charged him with coming here and summoning the Voidal, but Elfloq was terrified of the consequences. He must trick someone else into doing this. "Very well, release me." They did so, and at once he flew up into the rafters.

Ibidin cursed and flung his knife, but in the darkness the blade lodged in a thick beam some feet from Elfloq's membranous wings.

"Send the cats after him!" said Umatal, pulling shut the window. Drath was loath to do as the tall man asked, but he did not argue. He ignited a number of candles, which threw a shimmering and vast shadow of Elfloq on the upper walls. Drath spoke and the cats uncurled. As one they gazed up at the familiar, antic.i.p.ating an unusual meal.

"No!" cried Elfloq. "You are unwise to distrust me! I mean only to help you. Bring my master here. He will save you all. He will save all Ulthar-all the dreamlands-everything!"

Umatal nodded to Drath, who whispered something. At once the cat horde began leaping up on to tables, flowing out to the shelves and clawing for the beams that would lead them, by stages, to the trapped figure above.

"I will give you a last opportunity to prove your good intent," called Umatal. "Summon your master yourself."

Elfloq knew that he had failed, and worse, knew that he could not skip on to the astral realm as he would easily have done under normal circ.u.mstances. The spell of Ubeggi bound him to this inn until the Weaver's other servants came. But where were they? Elfloq felt doubly trapped: as soon as they got here, they would force him to invoke his master. The situation was not an auspicious one. The cats were already up on the beam and crawling along it upon eager bellies. There were many of them.

At that moment there came a heavy knock on the inn door. The men below cursed and Drath looked to them for instructions. The travellers looked up at Elfloq, who shrugged. The cats were motionless, all staring fixedly at Elfloq. Again the hammering on the door came, and then it opened to reveal a tall figure in a scarlet cloak and hood, a man who seemed to appraise the strange situation at once. He shut the door and bolted it, and as he came into the room, the cats drew back from him as if he were a wolf. They began to howl in their awful fashion, and nothing Drath could say would still them.

"You have chosen a bad time to visit this inn," said Umatal.

"You should thank me," said the stranger in a hard voice, one that was used to giving commands. He hissed something at the cats and they flattened themselves and amazingly were silent, a uniform movement that brought gasps of shock from the men of the South. Drath looked even more disturbed.

"Thank you?" said Ibidin. "For what?"

"Had you succ.u.mbed to Elfloq's wish and summoned the Voidal, you would doubtless have perished unpleasantly, along with this furry tribe."

"Then you are not the familiar's master?" said Umatal.

The scarlet-robed man shook his head. "No." He looked up at Elfloq. "Come down from that ridiculous perch, Elfloq. The cats will not harm you while I am here."

Elfloq obeyed. He knew the man to be a Divine Asker, a spokesman of the Dark G.o.ds, those who used his master and who kept him chained to their own grim causes for whatever crimes he had once committed against them. It was not wise to dissemble with an Asker. But what in the many dimensions could one of them want here? Still, it had indeed been a timely intervention.

The familiar stood before the Asker, gazing up at him uncomfortably. Amazingly, the Asker put a hand on the familiar's shoulder in an almost affectionate way. He turned to the innkeeper and his guests. "Elfloq is known to us. He has a silver tongue, and I know how you value silver." The Asker took from his blood-red cloak a heavy bag and tossed it on to a table. It thudded down, the coins inside clinking. "Here it is in abundance. Take it."

Neither Umatal nor Ibidin moved, but their eyes filled with hunger.

"Am I not right in a.s.suming that Elfloq would have been trying to inveigle you into summoning his master?"

"Your esteemed fountain of all holiness does me wrong," began Elfloq, but the tightening grip on his shoulders silenced him.

"My advice," went on the Asker, "is to take the silver and go back to your caravan. You are at liberty to remain if you wish, but be warned-those who next come in will not be kind. They are all the familiar said they are, and more."

Ibidin reached for the bag of silver, but Umatal s.n.a.t.c.hed his hand away. They grunted their goodbyes to Drath and in a moment had left. The Asker went to a table and called on Drath to bring him wine. The cats shifted like gra.s.s before the scarlet robe, and soon were hardly visible at the extremities of the room. "Be easy, Drath," said the Asker. "None of this night's work need concern you. Elfloq! Sit upon the table here. I have matters to discuss with you."

Elfloq obeyed. Where were the others? "Master-"

A raised hand stilled him. As he sat before the Divine Asker, he saw the eyes for the first time. They had a sadness about them, as if a good deal of the original hardness in them had gone. "We have a little time before the others come." The Asker sat forward with a sigh. Elfloq was puzzled. This was not the way in which the Askers behaved-something was certainly amiss with this one.

"I think perhaps, Elfloq, you must have won a special place in the minds of my fellow Askers. Darquementi, our Princ.i.p.al Questioner, has spoken of you more than once. Does this surprise you?"

The Asker could hardly have got a more shocked reaction from Elfloq had he dipped him in boiling oil, but the familiar covered his distress. "Yes, indeed, master. Darquementi is held in great esteem." Elfloq recalled his brush with the terrifying personage all too clearly.

"Most of the things you do are observed-most. There are times, I imagine, when our eyes are not on you. It is a busy omniverse. At the moment, much is transpiring. Strange forces are working, and we cannot see everything. Why should Darquementi be concerned about you, eh?"

"Because of my master?" said Elfloq, but at once wished he had not.

The Asker laughed softly. "Yes, your forbidden master. The Voidal."

"Though, of course, he-and thus I-are the slaves of the Dark G.o.ds."

The Asker gazed across what seemed a vast distance. "I wonder." After a moment he had recovered himself. "Now, what is this business you are on for the Weaver of Wars? He sent you here to invoke your master, did he not?"

Elfloq knew better than to lie this time. "He did, knowing that it would be the end of me."

"Apparently he thought so. Well, it does not suit the Dark G.o.ds that you should meet your doom in Ulthar-at least, not through the invoking of your master. However, it does suit the Askers that the Voidal comes here. The Dark G.o.ds have work for him. Ybaggog must be destroyed. Otherwise he will bring to the omniverse an incomparable darkness."

"Given a little more time, I would have made the men from the South-"

Drath appeared, set down wine and then withdrew solemnly. The Asker smiled at the earnestness of the familiar. "Elfloq, Elfloq, have you learned nothing? You would have sacrificed those men needlessly."

"But the importance of the task-"

"Which is?"

"Destroying Ybaggog?"

"Is that the will of Ubeggi? To bring the Voidal here to destroy Ybaggog? No, little one. Ubeggi has other designs. Jealous of his power, he wishes to see your dark master locked away forever. And how will that serve your own ambitions, eh?"

Elfloq studied his feet uncomfortably. Did the Askers know everything?

"But what of justice? Do you not respect it, even a shade? The two travellers were harmless, reasonably good men. What sins they have committed may well find them out, but do they deserve to meet the Voidal's power? Of course not. I realise you acted out of terror, which is understandable. It is a typical ploy of Ubeggi. But you must be fair. Some other person must bring the Voidal here."

Elfloq leaned closer and whispered, "Drath?"

The Asker laughed aloud and slapped the table. "Stars of the Abyss!"

Elfloq shook his head. "No, not Drath. Foolish of me. You mean Snare, or that double-dealing worm, Orgoom2."

"Oh, you have no liking for the Blue Gelder?"

"Betrayer! First he serves Ubeggi, then is freed by my master, and now he serves Ubeggi again."

"And yet he acts as you do, to save his hide. He bends with the winds of chance. Had he not done so, he would not have lived so long. Remember, he does not love Ubeggi, though he may take the guise of a willing slave to him."

"Snare, then! The vile demon-priest, Ubeggi's servant. Or that repugnant half-face, who now also serves the Weaver."

"Shatterface? Neither he nor Snare would be foolish enough to call up the dark man."

"Then who?"

The Asker took a hurried drink of wine and became silent for a few moments.

Elfloq stared at him. "You will call him? You? Ah, then as an Asker, you must have the power to revoke the curse that falls on he who-"

But the Asker was shaking his head. "No, I must take the consequences."

Elfloq was staggered. "You do this willingly?" This was a trick. There was some devious, underhand scheme running through this.

"I will do it," said the Asker. "I will tell you why, even though you may not believe me." He drank again of the wine, then pushed it away. "My name is Vulparoon, and once I was the highest of the high in the order of the Ascendant Mages. I was called to the Divine Askers3 and after a long initiation joined them and served at Holy Hedrazee. I did the work of the Dark G.o.ds, the Punishers, and for a long time I did nothing to earn their displeasure. However, Darquementi remarked to me one day that I was considered a moderate, and that I did not seem to seek out evil and crush it as devotedly as one of my calling should. My absolute dedication was in question. I came before the Most High of the Askers, and I reeled under their probes. I was found lacking. The Dark G.o.ds, they told me, are never to be questioned, always to be obeyed, and all that is done in their name is just and fair. Their enemies are to suffer, endlessly, until they decree otherwise. Just as your master, the Voidal, pays for his sins by walking eternity. Serve as an Asker should, they told me, or go from Hedrazee."

"They rejected you?"

"In a way. But you see, they are just. Even in sending me out, they have given me the chance to atone."

"For your sin of moderation, if it is a sin, they sent you here to invoke my master!"

"It was not an order. I do this of my own free will."

"Why not flee? You are free of them."