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Fan Slants, v. 1, issue 1, September 1943

Page 10

10...................................................................FAN SLANTS!

the window), she discovers a mummified "hand of glory" and an ancient Norse sword-hilt bearing runic writing (the Hammands are of Danish descent) and notices a short verse carved in the wall, in which there is an obliterated six letter word, beginning with O, C. G. Q, or S and ending with L or Z, in the line, "...... Hammand, 'ware thy Bane." During all this time Luna and Oliver have been falling in love, but against her will, for by now she has correctly guessed the missing word and the monster's nature.

The next day Luna begins a series of hypnotic probings into Oliver's heredi-tary memory, seeking information about the monster that might have been known to some ancestor and transmitted unwittingly down to Oliver's subconscious mind; she finds, for instance, that his and Swanhild's dislike of the smell of burning tar is due to the warlock's having seen a friend burned at the stake in a barrel of tar in 1555, and that while Oliver is under hypnosis the Norse sword-hilt reminds him (or the warlock) of pines, golden pigtails, a fylfot (a Danish symbol), and the rune-inscribed blade for the hilt. From the inscription on the hilt Luna has learned that it belonged to Magnus Fairlocks, Son of Hamandr, who was the first ancestor to settle in England, and she has his grave in Thunder's Barrow dug open to find his sword-blade, which she surmises the warlock left begind when he opened the mound and took the hilt in the 16th century. But, although they find the gold-covered prow of a Viking ship, with Magnus' moldering bones beneath it, and the blade at his feet, the runic inscriptions on the blade have been worn away, thus destroying a clue from which Luna had hoped for much enlightenment. That night Goddard Covert, passing by the manor and listening outside the hidden room, hears Luna invoking the monster in a pentagram and in the presence of Swan-hild; he hears the hideous, unearthly roar of the creature, but when he gets in-side and reaches the room, the monster is gone and Swanhild is unharmed, save for the horror of the memory. The next day Goddard reads to the group a manu-script he has deciphered from scraps of paper that Swanhild found stuffed into an old chair--a letter by the 17th century astrologer, Nicholas Culpeper, de-scribing what he learned from an old man who had heard from Jack Slinfold, Sir Magnus the Warlock's assistant, the story of his master's opening of Thunder's Barrow in 1520. The warlock hoped to find in at the legendary Seal of Solomon, which he considered the only spell strong enough for his grandfather, the Ancho-rite, to have used in laying the monster permanently in the barrow, as tradition said he did; so, using a hand of glory to guide and protect their search, Sir Magnus and Slinfold dug up the burial-mound, uncovering first a slab of stone and then the Viking ship. The candle blew out while the warlock, alone in the pit, was opening the boards of the deck, and the monster escaped and killed his dog, though he and his assistant escaped without seeing it; when daylight came, they saw in the grave the skeleton of Magnus Fairlocks with its golden plaits of hair, and the old Norse sword, of which the warlock purloined the hilt before closing up the barrow once more. When this narrative is finished, Luna has the men return to the barrow and dig up the stone slab that the warlock found, which proves to have on it the runic inscriptions she had hoped to find on the sword-blade. And on the following evening Goddard, while searching through a French dictionary, comes upon the missing six-letter word that explains to him the whole mystery of the Undying Monster.

The following evening Oliver and Goddard enter Thunderbarrow Shaw to drive out some trespassers, and when the latter have gone, the monster appears: Oliver drops to all fours, emits a ghastly howl that Goddard heard from the hidden room, and, with glaring red eyes and slavering jaws, attacks his friend and has almost overpowered him when Luna and Swanhild appear on the scene with a lantern, whose light terminates the seizure. Oliver, coming to his senses, realizes he is the monster, and Luna explains that the "fifth dimension" which the monster

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10...................................................................FAN SLANTS! the window), she discovers a mummified "hand of glory" and an ancient Norse sword-hilt bearing runic writing (the Hammands are of Danish descent) and notices a short verse carved in the wall, in which there is an obliterated six letter word, beginning with O, C. G. Q, or S and ending with L or Z, in the line, "...... Hammand, 'ware thy Bane." During all this time Luna and Oliver have been falling in love, but against her will, for by now she has correctly guessed the missing word and the monster's nature. The next day Luna begins a series of hypnotic probings into Oliver's heredi-tary memory, seeking information about the monster that might have been known to some ancestor and transmitted unwittingly down to Oliver's subconscious mind; she finds, for instance, that his and Swanhild's dislike of the smell of burning tar is due to the warlock's having seen a friend burned at the stake in a barrel of tar in 1555, and that while Oliver is under hypnosis the Norse sword-hilt reminds him (or the warlock) of pines, golden pigtails, a fylfot (a Danish symbol), and the rune-inscribed blade for the hilt. From the inscription on the hilt Luna has learned that it belonged to Magnus Fairlocks, Son of Hamandr, who was the first ancestor to settle in England, and she has his grave in Thunder's Barrow dug open to find his sword-blade, which she surmises the warlock left begind when he opened the mound and took the hilt in the 16th century. But, although they find the gold-covered prow of a Viking ship, with Magnus' moldering bones beneath it, and the blade at his feet, the runic inscriptions on the blade have been worn away, thus destroying a clue from which Luna had hoped for much enlightenment. That night Goddard Covert, passing by the manor and listening outside the hidden room, hears Luna invoking the monster in a pentagram and in the presence of Swan-hild; he hears the hideous, unearthly roar of the creature, but when he gets in-side and reaches the room, the monster is gone and Swanhild is unharmed, save for the horror of the memory. The next day Goddard reads to the group a manu-script he has deciphered from scraps of paper that Swanhild found stuffed into an old chair--a letter by the 17th century astrologer, Nicholas Culpeper, de-scribing what he learned from an old man who had heard from Jack Slinfold, Sir Magnus the Warlock's assistant, the story of his master's opening of Thunder's Barrow in 1520. The warlock hoped to find in at the legendary Seal of Solomon, which he considered the only spell strong enough for his grandfather, the Ancho-rite, to have used in laying the monster permanently in the barrow, as tradition said he did; so, using a hand of glory to guide and protect their search, Sir Magnus and Slinfold dug up the burial-mound, uncovering first a slab of stone and then the Viking ship. The candle blew out while the warlock, alone in the pit, was opening the boards of the deck, and the monster escaped and killed his dog, though he and his assistant escaped without seeing it; when daylight came, they saw in the grave the skeleton of Magnus Fairlocks with its golden plaits of hair, and the old Norse sword, of which the warlock purloined the hilt before closing up the barrow once more. When this narrative is finished, Luna has the men return to the barrow and dig up the stone slab that the warlock found, which proves to have on it the runic inscriptions she had hoped to find on the sword-blade. And on the following evening Goddard, while searching through a French dictionary, comes upon the missing six-letter word that explains to him the whole mystery of the Undying Monster. The following evening Oliver and Goddard enter Thunderbarrow Shaw to drive out some trespassers, and when the latter have gone, the monster appears: Oliver drops to all fours, emits a ghastly howl that Goddard heard from the hidden room, and, with glaring red eyes and slavering jaws, attacks his friend and has almost overpowered him when Luna and Swanhild appear on the scene with a lantern, whose light terminates the seizure. Oliver, coming to his senses, realizes he is the monster, and Luna explains that the "fifth dimension" which the monster