Delayed a little, partly because if your posts don't go up by 8am my time the workday makes it much harder to get to them and partly because Friday morning was a CS team building event I'd be asked to join in with. So the morning was spent trampolining, which was fun, but meant the rest of the day needed to be compressed into the afternoon :)
Prelude The King nodded, but before Lord Derby could start speaking there was a sensation of warm compression, as though a large, fluffy blanket was pressing around each of them. The room took on a yellowish tinge, and a sound like the pinking of icicles as the temperature warmed up came from the corners. Lord Derby hesitated, wondering what this might mean, and then an echoey voice that seemed to come from somewhere outside the room yet was clearly bouncing off the walls said "Wait," in sonorous tones. Lord Derby looked over the at the King to see what he should do, and the King inclined his head slightly again, permission to delay speaking. The sonorous voice boomed again: "There is a prelude." There was no sensation of movement but the walls of the room were gone and the four of them were stood on an open, yellow-brick platform looking out over a city. Wide avenues radiated out in five directions from where they looked, and many smaller streets branched off from them, themselves also branching and subdividing like the tributaries of a river running backwards to their manifold sources. To their left the buildings were taller and better spaced; to their right the buildings were much smaller and crowded together. In front of them there was disorganisation, with some tall buildings squeezed into small spaces and other large, low buildings taking up the space of three other buildings. Trees lined roads but they seemed inconsistently placed. Off in the distance, left and centre, there was a statue standing in a wide circle, and below it, closer to them, there was a monument, a gate of some kind. Lord Derby looked at the King, then at Gray. When he turned to look at the King in Yellow it had disappeared. "Is this Carcosa?" he asked. Gray shrugged. "It would make sense if it was," he said. "But no-one knows what Carcosa looked like before the rupture. We only barely know about the rupture, and that's from the writings of a man called Lihakauppias. There are verifiable things in his writings, which claim to tell a history of Carcosa, but that doesn't mean the rest is true, of course. The rupture is one of those doubtful bits." "I don't remember reading about this," said Lord Derby. "No," said the King. "Your reading list was circumscribed in order to avoid setting preconceptions. I wanted... I need an understanding of what Carcosa is and why the King in Yellow is interested in our world again. Dignity was an emissary of sorts, but ultimately her task was information collection, and I hope that your report contains the information she gathered already. If not, then she wasted her... time. This could be Carcosa, and from what I understand it looks nothing like this now?" "No," said Lord Derby. "This would be fascinating, an archaeological dream. Carcosa as it is is... more an archaeological challenge. And we are not the only ones interested. His Polish Majesty-" "Ah," said the King. "Well, he was one of the considerations."
"One consideration?" The King looked sideways at Lord Derby and then returned to the view. "You might remember, Ernest, to say Your Majesty a little more often when we have company. There are -- were -- four people I considered might be seeking to find something in Carcosa, or do something there. His Polish Majesty was one of them. Not, you might like to know, the one I considered most likely." "There are people down there," said Gray. He pointed. "They look... normal." "Not demons?" asked Lord Derby. "I think I have learned that the demons were a later thing. There was a woman called Grace, who styled herself a Lady. She was making demons out of people instead of out of nothing." Gray winced. "That's not exactly how to describe it," he said. "The mathematics is clear on that. But... turning people into demons? That doesn't make a lot of sense." "Labdaris is also involved," said the King. He pointed at a street. "There's a procession of some kind there. See? They're going towards that gate-like monument, I think. It might have been a coincidence at first, but then there was too much linkage." "He was trouble," said Gray. Lord Derby sighed.
Greg - gotta admit, having some trouble picturing you on a trampoline.
Also: sorry about the late posts. I'm trying to be better about scheduling them ahead of time.
Really liked the transition to this prelude location. And the prelude location. And the conversation between the three. Not sure what the King in Yellow is up to here, but I am eager to find out.
3 comments:
Delayed a little, partly because if your posts don't go up by 8am my time the workday makes it much harder to get to them and partly because Friday morning was a CS team building event I'd be asked to join in with. So the morning was spent trampolining, which was fun, but meant the rest of the day needed to be compressed into the afternoon :)
Prelude
The King nodded, but before Lord Derby could start speaking there was a sensation of warm compression, as though a large, fluffy blanket was pressing around each of them. The room took on a yellowish tinge, and a sound like the pinking of icicles as the temperature warmed up came from the corners. Lord Derby hesitated, wondering what this might mean, and then an echoey voice that seemed to come from somewhere outside the room yet was clearly bouncing off the walls said "Wait," in sonorous tones. Lord Derby looked over the at the King to see what he should do, and the King inclined his head slightly again, permission to delay speaking. The sonorous voice boomed again: "There is a prelude."
There was no sensation of movement but the walls of the room were gone and the four of them were stood on an open, yellow-brick platform looking out over a city. Wide avenues radiated out in five directions from where they looked, and many smaller streets branched off from them, themselves also branching and subdividing like the tributaries of a river running backwards to their manifold sources. To their left the buildings were taller and better spaced; to their right the buildings were much smaller and crowded together. In front of them there was disorganisation, with some tall buildings squeezed into small spaces and other large, low buildings taking up the space of three other buildings. Trees lined roads but they seemed inconsistently placed. Off in the distance, left and centre, there was a statue standing in a wide circle, and below it, closer to them, there was a monument, a gate of some kind.
Lord Derby looked at the King, then at Gray. When he turned to look at the King in Yellow it had disappeared.
"Is this Carcosa?" he asked.
Gray shrugged. "It would make sense if it was," he said. "But no-one knows what Carcosa looked like before the rupture. We only barely know about the rupture, and that's from the writings of a man called Lihakauppias. There are verifiable things in his writings, which claim to tell a history of Carcosa, but that doesn't mean the rest is true, of course. The rupture is one of those doubtful bits."
"I don't remember reading about this," said Lord Derby.
"No," said the King. "Your reading list was circumscribed in order to avoid setting preconceptions. I wanted... I need an understanding of what Carcosa is and why the King in Yellow is interested in our world again. Dignity was an emissary of sorts, but ultimately her task was information collection, and I hope that your report contains the information she gathered already. If not, then she wasted her... time. This could be Carcosa, and from what I understand it looks nothing like this now?"
"No," said Lord Derby. "This would be fascinating, an archaeological dream. Carcosa as it is is... more an archaeological challenge. And we are not the only ones interested. His Polish Majesty-"
"Ah," said the King. "Well, he was one of the considerations."
"One consideration?"
The King looked sideways at Lord Derby and then returned to the view. "You might remember, Ernest, to say Your Majesty a little more often when we have company. There are -- were -- four people I considered might be seeking to find something in Carcosa, or do something there. His Polish Majesty was one of them. Not, you might like to know, the one I considered most likely."
"There are people down there," said Gray. He pointed. "They look... normal."
"Not demons?" asked Lord Derby. "I think I have learned that the demons were a later thing. There was a woman called Grace, who styled herself a Lady. She was making demons out of people instead of out of nothing."
Gray winced. "That's not exactly how to describe it," he said. "The mathematics is clear on that. But... turning people into demons? That doesn't make a lot of sense."
"Labdaris is also involved," said the King. He pointed at a street. "There's a procession of some kind there. See? They're going towards that gate-like monument, I think. It might have been a coincidence at first, but then there was too much linkage."
"He was trouble," said Gray.
Lord Derby sighed.
Greg - gotta admit, having some trouble picturing you on a trampoline.
Also: sorry about the late posts. I'm trying to be better about scheduling them ahead of time.
Really liked the transition to this prelude location. And the prelude location. And the conversation between the three. Not sure what the King in Yellow is up to here, but I am eager to find out.
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