Zothique: The Tomb Spawn, The Empire of Necromancers, The Death of Ilalotha
And here's another batch of Clark Ashton Smith tales set in Zothique. We've already reviewed The Dark Eidolon, The Charnel God, and The Black Abbot of Puthuum, and now we'll be reviewing The Tomb Spawn, The Empire of Necromancers, and The Death of Ilalotha.
THE TOMB SPAWN
Somewhere in the desert is the lost tomb of King Ossaru, protected by his deadly magic. No one has seen it since it was sealed, and his kingdom has been forgotten by most. However, when the caravan Brothers Milab and Marabac were travelling with is attacked, they're forced to ride deep into the desert...
And this alone is certain that somewhere still, in the sealed tomb, the alien monster abodes in death, together with King Ossaru. And about them still is the inner circle of Ossaru's enchantment, rendering their bodies incorruptible throughout all the decay of cities and kingdoms; and around this is another circle, guarding against all intrusion: since he who enters there by the tomb's door will die instantly and will putrefy in the moment of death, falling to dusty corruption ere he strike the ground.
The legend of Ossaru was good, and the contents of the tomb didn't disappoint. Milab and Marabac really should’ve paid more attention to the storyteller. In addition to the magical weirdness, Smith also gave readers some more conventional horror with the attack of the Ghorii, beastly ghoul-like creatures that hunt as a pack.
THE EMPIRE OF NECROMANCERS
Mmatmuor and Sodosma, 2 necromancers banished from Tinarath, revive an ancient empire's dead and declare themselves emperors. They're also plotting revenge on those who sent them into the desert, but their subjects slowly begin to awake...
The legend of Mmatmuor and Sodosma shall arise only in the latter circles of Earth, when the glad legends of the prime have been forgotten. Before the time of its telling, many epochs shall have passed away, and the seas shall have fallen in their beds, and new continents shall have come to birth. Perhaps, in that day, it will serve to beguile for a little the black weariness of a dying race, grown hopeless of all but oblivion. I tell the tale as men shall tell it in Zothique, the last continent, beneath a dim sun and sad heavens where the stars come out in terrible brightness before eventide.
This is the creepiest of all the Clark Ashton Smith stories we've read. The titular necromancers are pretty gross; and while necrophilia was implied in The Charnel God, as those necromancers were also planning to resurrect a dead woman, here it feels worse. Smith doesn't actually describe what they did, but 'Those that were fairest, whom the plague and the worm had not ravaged overmuch, they took for their lemans and made to serve their necrophilic lust' is enough to conjure some seriously yucky imagery. Also, we haven’t been keeping track of the geography of Zothique, but both sets of necromancers come from the island of Naat, which probably means it's a really fucked up place. As for the plot, the prophecy was way too specific and informative for a prophecy, but the fates of the revived dead and the necromancers were good. Smith's writing was of course, great, but eww.
THE DEATH OF ILALOTHA
Ilalotha has died, allegedly from a broken heart after Lord Thulos left her for Queen Xantlicha. Some say she had turned to witchcraft and making deals with demons to get her lover back. Could that be why Thulos hears her voice asking him to meet her in her tomb?
With halfshut eyes and lips slightly parted, in the rosy shadow cast by the catafalque, she wore no aspect of death but seemed a sleeping empress who ruled impartially over the living and the dead. This appearance, together with a strange heightening of her natural beauty, was remarked by many: and some said that seemed to await a lover's kiss rather than the kisses of the worm.
The Colossus of Ylourgne may have our favourite opening of all the Clark Ashton Smith stories we've read, but this has our favourite descriptor: 'self-widowed Queen Xantlicha'. There's a hint of necrophilia in Thulos liking Ilalotha to pretend she was dead, and in the end, death and lust come together in a very bloody way; however, Ilalotha is a very different kind of dead, or, more accurately, undead. It's a good story, though Smith's writing gets a little too ornate and the archaisms are out of control.