And I reasoned with myself, and with a great shaking of excitement and
expectation upon me, that the Master-Word came not from the Great
Pyramid, which should have power to send it as a Great Force across the
everlasting Night; whilst that this that throbbed about me was faint and
scarce to be known even unto the keenness of the Night-Hearing, which
was mine.
And, immediately, as I crouched low there, and thrilled with the hope
that was bred in me, lo! there seemed to come the far faint voice of
Naani, calling with a little voice within my spirit. And I thought the
cry to have an utterness of supplication within it; so that I grew
desperate to up and go to running; yet did curb such foolishness, and
stayed very hushed, to listen.
But I heard no more; yet was shaken continually with the Joy and Hope
which this calling did breed in me, for truly did it seem now that I was
right that I did determine to go unto the North; for sure was I now that
the Lesser Redoubt lay that way in the Night. And it did seem plain unto
me, that the House of Silence had put a barrier between; and had power
to withhold so weak a calling. And now had I come beyond the Barrier.
And I did perceive in my heart how that Naani had called off, maybe in
the sadness of Despair; yet had the weak crying of her brain-elements
been held from me by the horrid power of the house; and surely, as I did
think, it was well named; for it did make a silence.
And so shall you stay with me in your hearts, and take to ourselves
something of the new Gladness that held all my being; for it did seem
truly that my bitter task and adventuring should not in the end be
offered to Uselessness; and that I did truly draw unto that far place in
the Everlasting Night, where mine own Maid did cry for me, that I should
succour her.
And ever as I went, did I hark; but there was no more the low beating of
the Master-Word in the Night; not at that time.
And presently, I spied outward to the West, as it did seem a good mile
off in the night, the shining of a fire-hole; and I began to plan that I
should come unto that place, and have warmth and dryness, and food and
slumber. And, in verity, so set was I to the need of these matters that
if there did be a Monstrous Thing nigh to the fire--as was so oft the
case--then would I give battle unto it; for neither my Joy nor my
labours did serve to put warmth into my body; and I must surely come
anigh to fire, or die.
Then, as I kneeled upward among the moss-bushes, and made to lay a true
course unto the fire-hole, I perceived that there came a Being along
the Road unto my right; and I went low into the bushes, and moved not;
for truly I had seen that there drew nigh one of the Silent Ones.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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