“And then?”
“Then he can go. I shall have no more use for him. I doubt if he will desire to assist the consummation; he will never be a really useful member of our Order; he has not the inclination.”
“No, I agree with you there, Doctor. I fear he will always lean towards the good. A pity!”
“As you say, Simon, a pity. I have grown to like him. However, such trifles must not stand in the way of our plan. Once that is in operation, nothing will matter very much anymore.”
“It terrifies me sometimes, Doctor; it is so vast, so overwhelming.”
“It is the ultimate triumph, Simon.”
“I know, but supposing anything were to go wrong?”
“Nothing can go wrong; trust in me. As soon as I have control over the monstrosity I shall sever the link which binds it to this place and loose it upon the world. Think of it, Simon! That thing is a concentration of pure evil, and sentient at that. It is as different from an ordinary elemental as the sun is from a candle-flame; there is no one power of evil in the world with a tithe of its strength; it is unique. And it has been lying here fermenting, as it were, for more than a thousand years; feeding on the life-stream of the wretched Lovells for the last four hundred. It must have acquired quite a taste for human souls — but I fancy it would welcome a variety. Satan! What will it not do when it is released?” He laughed horribly, and paused for a moment, reveling in the prospect. Then he went on:
“But quite apart from that aspect of its release, Simon, it will upset the balance of power in this world, which, as you know, has been slightly in favour of the good for some two thousand years. We shall immediately and irrevocably gain the ascendancy for which we have been struggling for so long, and mankind will be delivered into our hands. What then? First the moral downfall — that should please you, Simon — all codes will become meaningless, and pleasure the only goal. Next, I suppose that civilization will collapse — it is but a frail edifice even now — and anarchy and barbarism will return to power. Ultimately mankind will sink to the level of the beasts; lower, even, for man will still retain his gift, or curse, as it will be in those days, of self-knowledge and free-will; and, knowing all the while what he is doing, he will plunge ever deeper into the pit.”
Vaughan, who had seated himself on one of the trunks near by and lit a cheroot, asked:
“And what will the end be, Doctor?”
Gaunt walked lightly up the altar steps, turned, and stood with his back to the stone. The lamps on either side threw strange shadows on his pale face, and made the white streaks in his hair seem like little tongues of fire.
“That even I cannot tell you, Simon,” he said. “It may be that in the pit mankind may find our Lord, and that he may lift them up again, and make of this earth such a home of intelligent evil as will be a menace to the Universe. It may be that out of this thing we do will spring the beginning of the end of Light itself. How long have you been with us, Simon?”
“Forty years, Doctor.”
“Before that you were a priest — one of them?”
Vaughan’s face hardened, and his thick lips twisted.
“Yes. They cast me out. I swore to repay them a thousandfold for the humiliation I endured.” His tone was bitter as death.
“What have you achieved since you joined our ranks?” Gaunt went on. “You have said the Black Mass many times, profaning your old faith. That soothed your wounded pride, no doubt. But have we really advanced at all these forty years?”
“A little, Doctor, surely. We have won many souls from them. What of the Great War? And then Spain, and China, and the continual threat of another world conflict. All our doing; Darkness is spreading slowly.”
“Slowly, yes. Too slowly! They are at work as well; their inmost fortresses have not fallen. There are still some six hundred million souls who acknowledge Christ as Lord, and countless more who turn unknowingly towards the Light. The brethren of the right-hand path go forward also, Simon. There is more goodwill on earth today than there ever was. But here at last is our greatest opportunity since Calvary. We must not fail! At one stroke the battle can be won. Do you realize, Simon, that, quite apart from simply loosing this monstrosity upon the world, I could, if I desired, reopen the breach in the Veil and let the Darkness in?”
“Doctor!” Vaughan sprang erect, his face chalk-white. “You would not do that! It would mean — the end.”
“Exactly. The end of all life as we know it. The end of Light, and the beginning of eternal Darkness.”
“Chaos once again!” Vaughan’s lips shook so that he could scarcely frame the words. “But, Doctor, what of us? We too should perish — we should never enjoy the fruits of our labour. Are we not worthy of our reward? Be content to liberate this horror; it will wreak desolation enough; it will quench all the will to good there ever was, and we shall se the victory.”
“Oh, Simon, Simon! Must you always think of your wretched self? Can you not sink your ego for the Cause? I must admit I would rather carry out our original plan; I shall do so if all goes well. But, Simon, I fear Intervention.”
“There has been no direct Intervention for more than nineteen hundred years. Why should you fear it now?”
“Because the release of this monstrosity, and the victory of Darkness in this world, may have repercussions throughout the whole Universe. It might even be the beginning of the end. And so I feel that we may be prevented; I am practically certain we are being watched already; and the Powers who govern the rotation of the Eighth Sphere may take it upon themselves to move against us.”
“Master, I beg of you — “ Vaughan’s voice trembled with terror.
“Silence!” Gaunt sprang down the altar steps and stood towering over the other, his face, contorted with sudden fury, truly fiendish in the half-light.
“I have warned you before, Simon; obstruct my path again and I will cast you into the Abyss without hesitation. My mind is made up: I shall proceed with our original plans for the release of the monstrosity, but at the least sign of outside interference I shall rend the Veil.”
Vaughan cowered.
“Very well, master. I will not attempt to dissuade you further, but if aught goes amiss, remember that I warned you.”
“I will remember — everything. Proceed with the diagram, and let us have no more words.”
The doctor stalked away and went up the spiral stair, while his colleague bent once more to his arduous task, albeit with many a sigh, and some shaking of the head.
Chapter XI
One morning, less than a fortnight after his visit to the crypt, Tony was overjoyed by Gaunt’s announcement that he was now ready for initiation, and that accordingly they would proceed to London on the morrow.
During the remainder of that day the doctor carefully coached his willing pupil in the actual ceremony — at least, in such portions of it in which he would be required to play an active part; teaching him the formal responses to the questions he would be asked, and impressing him with the solemnity of the vows which he would take. Certain phases of the ritual, he told him, were absolutely secret, and must not be divulged beforehand.
The hours flew by, but after he was in bed that night Tony lay awake for a long time, staring into the darkness, far too excited by the prospect of his approaching ordeal to sleep at once.
At last it was at hand, he thought, the long-awaited fulfilment of his dreams; the greatest moment of his life so far; this first decisive step along his chosen path. Feeling himself to be upon the threshold of a new life, he looked back for a moment at the way he had come, and was aghast. Until his father’s death he had been a selfish young hedonist, spending his days in folly and the ceaseless search for pleasure. During those years in London he had been the ringleader of a group of “bright young things”, whose watchword had been distraction, anything for a fresh thrill. He had had dozens of love-affairs of no importance, hundreds of friendships of no account. The only hours that seemed in retrospect to have been at all worth while were those he had spent with John Hamilton. Why the older man should have troubled with him at all had always been something of a mystery, after their first casual acquaintanceship — the result of a chance recognition of their common Varsity colours. Tony supposed that Hamilton must have sensed the desperate loneliness which he had generally managed to conceal beneath a mask of gaiety.