object:1f.lovecraft - The Slaying of the Monster
author class:H P Lovecraft
subject class:Fiction
genre class:Horror
class:chapter
By R. H. Barlow
and H. P. Lovecraft
Great was the clamour in Laen; for smoke had been spied in the Hills of
the Dragon. That surely meant the Stirrings of the Monster—the Monster
who spat lava and shook the earth as he writhed in its depths. And when
the men of Laen spoke together they swore to slay the Monster and keep
his fiery breath from searing their minaret-studded city and toppling
their alabaster domes.
So it was that by torch-light gathered fully a hundred of the little
people, prepared to battle the Evil One in his hidden fast-hold. With
the coming of night they began marching in ragged columns into the
foot-hills beneath the fulgent lunar rays. Ahead a burning cloud shone
clearly through the purple dusk, a guide to their goal.
For the sake of truth it is to be recorded that their spirits sank low
long ere they sighted the foe, and as the moon grew dim and the coming
of the dawn was heralded by gaudy clouds they wished themselves more
than ever at home, dragon or no dragon. But as the sun rose they
cheered up slightly, and shifting their spears, resolutely trudged the
remaining distance.
Clouds of sulphurous smoke hung pall-like over the world, darkening
even the new-risen sun, and always replenished by sullen puffs from the
mouth of the Monster. Little tongues of hungry flame made the Laenians
move swiftly over the hot stones. “But where is the dragon??” whispered
one—fearfully and hoping it would not accept the query as an
invitation. In vain they looked—there was nothing solid enough to slay.
So shouldering their weapons, they wearily returned home and there set
up a stone tablet graven to this effect—“BEING TROUBLED BY A FIERCE
MONSTER THE BRAVE CITIZENS OF LAEN DID SET UPON IT AND SLAY IT IN ITS
FEARFUL LAIR SAVING THE LAND FROM A DREADFUL DOOM.”
These words were hard to read when we dug that stone from its deep,
ancient layers of encrusting lava.
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