Rattle of Bones - Robert E Howard

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Rattle of Bones by Robert E. Howard, Landlord ho The
shout broke the lowering silence and reverberated through the black
forest with sinister echoing. This place hath a forbidding aspect
me seemeth. Two men stood in front of the forest tavern.

(00:20):
The building was low, long and rambling, built of heavy logs.
Its small windows were heavily barred, and the door was closed.
Above the door, its sinister sign showed faintly a cleft skull.
The door swung slowly open, and a bearded face peered out.
The owner of the face stepped back and motioned his
guests to enter with a grudging gesture. It seemed A

(00:43):
candle gleamed on the table. A flame smoldered in the fireplace.
Your names, Solomon Kane, said the taller man briefly, Gaston
le armand the other spoke curtly. But what is that
to you? Strangers are few in the black forest, grunted
the host Bandits many sit at yonder table, and I

(01:04):
will bring you food. The two men sat down, with
the bearing of men who had traveled far. One was
a tall, gaunt man clad in a featherless hat and
somber black garments, which set off the dark pallor of
his forbidding face. The other was of a different type,
entirely bedecked with lace and plumes. Although his finery was
somewhat stained from travel, He was handsome in a bold way,

(01:28):
and his restless eyes shifted from side to side, never
still an instant. The host brought wine and food to
the rough hewn table, and then stood back in the
shadows like a somber image, his features now receding into vagueness,
now luridly etched in the firelight as it leaped and flickered,
were masks in a beard which seemed almost animal like

(01:48):
in thickness. A great nose curved above this beard, and
two small red eyes stared unblinkingly at his guests. Who
are you, suddenly asked the younger man. I am the
host of the Cleff's Skull Tavern, sullenly, replied the other.
His tones seemed to challenge the questioner to ask further,
do you have many guests? La armand pursued few come twice?

(02:12):
The host grunted cain started and glanced up straight into
those small red eyes, as if he sought some hidden
meaning in the host's words. The flaming eyes seemed to dilate,
then dropped sullenly before the Englishman's cold stare. I'm for bed,
said kin abruptly, bringing his meal to a close. I

(02:33):
must take up my journey by daylight, and I added
the Frenchman host. Show us to our chambers. Black shadows
wavered on the walls as the two followed their silent
host down the long, dark hall. The stocky broad body
of their guide seemed to grow and expand in the
light of the small candle which he carried, throwing a long,

(02:53):
grim shadow behind him. At a certain door, he halted,
indicating that they were to sleep there. They entered. The
host lit a candle with the one he carried, then
lurched back the way he had come. In the chamber,
the two men glanced at each other. The only furnishings
in the room were a couple of bunks, a chair
or two, and a heavy table. Let us see if

(03:15):
we can make fast the door, said Kine. I like
not the looks of mine host. There are racks on
the door and jam for a bar, said Gaston. But
no bar. We might break up the table, and use
the pieces for a bar, mused Kine. Mon Dieu said,
la Mond, you are timors, Monsieur Kane scowled. I like
not being murdered in my sleep, he answered, gruffly. My faith,

(03:39):
laughed the Frenchman. We are chance met. Until I overtook
you on the forest road an hour before sunset, we
had never seen each other. I have seen you somewhere before,
answered Kane, though I cannot now recall. Where As for
the other, I assume every man is an honest fellow
until he shows me he is a rogue. Moreover, I

(03:59):
am a light, and I slumber with a pistol in
my hand. The Frenchman laughed again. I was wondering how
Monsieur could bring himself to sleep in the room with
a stranger. Aha, all right, monsieur englishman, Let's go forth
and take a bar from one of the other rooms.
Taking the candle with them, they went into the corridor.
Utter silence reigned, and the small candle twinkled redly and

(04:22):
evilly in the thick darkness. Mine host hath neither guests
nor servants, muttered Solomon Kane, A strange tavern. What is
the name now? The German words come not easily to me.
The cleft skull a bloody name, I faith. They tried
the rooms next to theirs, but no bar rewarded their search.

(04:43):
At last they came to the last room at the
end of the corridor. They entered. It was furnished like
the rest, except that the door was provided with a
small barred opening, and fastened from the outside with a
heavy bolt, which was secured at one end to the
door jam. They raised the bolt and looked int. There
should be an outer window, but there is not, muttered kin. Look.

(05:05):
The floors were stained darkly. The walls and the one
bunk were hacked in places, great splinters having been torn away.
Men have died in here, said Cain. Somberly is yonder
not a bar fixed in the wall? Aye, but tis
made fast, said the Frenchman, tugging at it. The a
section of the wall swung back, and Gaston gave a

(05:27):
quick exclamation. A small secret room was revealed, and the
two men bent over the grisly thing that lay upon
its floor. The skeleton of a man, said Gaston, And
behold his bony leg is shackled to the floor. He
was imprisoned here and died. Nay, said Kin, the skull
is cleft. Methinks mine host had a grim reason for

(05:50):
the name of his hellish tavern. This man, like us,
was no doubt a wanderer who fell into the fiend's hands. Likely,
said Gaston with interest. He was engaged in idly working
the great iron ring from the skeleton's leg bones. Failing
in this, he drew his sword, and, with an exhibition
of remarkable strength, cut the chain which joined the ring

(06:12):
on the leg to a ring set deep in the
log floor. Why should he shackle a skeleton to the floor,
mused the frenchman. Montbleau, tis a waste of good chain. Now, monsieur,
he ironically addressed the white heap of bones. I have
freed you, and you may go where you like have done.
Caine's voice was deep. No good will come of mocking

(06:34):
the dead. The dead should defend themselves, laughed L'Armand somehow
I will slay the man who kills me, though my
corpse climb up forty fathoms of ocean to do it.
Kin turned toward the outer door, closing the door to
the secret room behind him. He liked not this talk,
which smacked of demonry and witchcraft, and he was in

(06:54):
haste to face the host with the charge of his guilt.
As he turned with his back to the Frenchman, he
felt the touch of cold steel against his neck and
knew that a pistol muzzle was pressed close beneath the
base of his brain. Move not, monsieur, the voice was
low and silky. Move not, or I will scatter your
few brains over the room. The Puritan, raging inwardly, stood

(07:19):
with his hands in the air, while larmand slipped his
pistols and sword from their sheaths. Now you can turn,
said Gaston. Stepping back, Kane bent a grim eye on
the dapper fellow, who stood bareheaded, now hat in one hand,
the other hand leveling his long pistol. Gaston the butcher,
said the Englishman, somberly. Fool that I was to trust

(07:41):
a Frenchman. You range far murderer. I remember you now
with that cursed great hat off. I saw you in
Calais some years agone aye, and now you will never
see me again. What was that? Rats exploring yon skeleton,
said Kane, watching the bandit like a hawk, waiting for
a single slight wavering of the black gun muzzle. The

(08:04):
sound was of the rattle of bones. Like enough, returned
the other. Now, Monsieur Kin, I know you carry considerable
money on your person. I had thought to wait until
you slept and then slay you. But the opportunity presented itself,
and I took it. You trick easily. I had little
thought that I should fear a man with whom I

(08:24):
had broken bread, said Kin, a deep timber of slow
fury sounding in his voice. The bandit laughed cynically. His
eyes narrowed as he began to back slowly toward the
outer door. Kin's sinews tensed involuntarily. He gathered himself like
a giant wolf, about to launch himself in a death leap.
But Gastone's hand was like a rock, and the pistol

(08:46):
never trembled. We will have no death plunges after the shot,
said Gastone. Stand still, Monsieur. I have seen men killed
by dying men, and I wish to have distance enough
between us to preclude that possibility. My faith, I will
shoot you. You will roar and charge, but you will
die before you reach me with your bare hands, and

(09:07):
mine host will have another skeleton in his secret niche
that is, if I do not kill him myself. The
fool knows me not nor I him. Moreover, the Frenchman
was in the doorway, now siding along the barrel. The candle,
which had been stuck in a niche on the wall,
shed weird and flickering light, which did not extend past
the doorway, and with the suddenness of death, from the

(09:30):
darkness behind Gastone's back, a broad, vague form rose up,
and a gleaming blade swept down. The Frenchman went to
his knees like a butchered ox, his brain spilling from
his cleft skull. Above him towered the figure of the Host,
a wild and terrible spectacle, still holding the hangar with
which he had slain the bandit Ho Ho. He roared back.

(09:54):
Kin had leaped forward as Gastone fell, but the Host
thrust into his face a very long pistol, which he
held in his left hand. Back. He repeated in a
tigerish roar, and Kane retreated from the mincing weapon and
the insanity and the red eyes. The Englishman stood silent,
his flesh crawling, as he sensed a deeper and more

(10:15):
hideous threat than the Frenchman. Had offered. There was something
inhuman about this man, who now swayed to and fro
like a great forest beast, while his mirthless laughter boomed
out again. Gastone the butcher, he shouted, kicking the corpse
at his feet. Ho, ho, my fine brigand will hunt
no more. I had heard this fool roamed the black forest.

(10:37):
He wished gold, and he found death. Now your gold
shall be mine, and more than gold vengeance. I am
no full of yours, Kane spoke calmly, All men are
my foes. Look the marks on my wrists, see the
marks on my ankles, and deepen my back the kiss
of the knot, And deep in my brain the wounds

(10:58):
of the years of the cold sighed violent cells where
I lay as punishment for a crime I never committed.
The voice broke in a hideous grotesque sob Cain made
no answer. This man was not the first he had
seen whose brain had shattered amid the horrors of the
terrible continental prisons. But I escaped the scream rose triumphantly,

(11:20):
and here I make war on all men. What was that?
Did Cain see a flash of fear in those hideous eyes?
My sorcerer is rattling his bones, whispered the host, then
laughed wildly. Dying He swore his very bones would weave
a net of death for me. I shackled his corpse
to the floor, and now deep in the night, I

(11:42):
hear his bare skeleton clash and rattle as he seeks
to be free, and I laugh, I laugh, Ho, ho,
how he yearns to rise and stalk like old king
Death along these quarrids when I sleep, to slay me
in my bed. Suddenly the insane eyes flared hiseously. You
were in that secret room, you and this dead fool.

(12:04):
Did he talk to you? Cain shuddered in spite of himself.
Was it insanity or did he actually hear the faint
rattle of bones as if the skeleton had moved slightly.
Cain shrugged his shoulders. Rats will even tug at dusty bones.
The host was laughing again. He sidled around Cain, keeping
the Englishman always covered, and with his free hand opened

(12:26):
the door. All was darkness within, so Cain could not
even see the glimmer of the bones on the floor.
All men are my foes, mumbled the host, in the
incoherent manner of the insane Why should I spare any
man who lifted a hand to my aid? When I
lay for years in the vile dungeons of Karl's Rue,

(12:47):
and for a deed never proven, something happened to my brain.
Then I became as a wolf, a brother to these
of the black forest to which I fled when I escaped.
They have feasted my brothers on all who lay in
my tavern, all except this one, who now clashes his bones,
this magician from Russia, lest he comes stalking back through

(13:09):
the black shadows when night is over the world and
slay me. For who may slay the dead? I stripped
his bones and shackled him. His sorcery was not powerful
enough to save him from me. But all men know
that a dead magician is more evil than a living one.
Move not, Englishmen, your bones I shall leave in this
secret room beside this one to the maniac was standing

(13:34):
partly in the doorway of the secret room now with
his weapon still mincing cane. Suddenly he seemed to topple
backward and vanished into the darkness. And at the same instant,
a vagrant gust of wind swept down the outer quarter
and slammed the door shut. Behind him. The candle on
the wall flickered and went out. Caine's groping hand, sweeping

(13:55):
over the floor, found a pistol, and he straightened, facing
the door where the maniac had vanished. He stood in
utter darkness, his blood freezing, while a hideous muffled screaming
came from the secret room, intermingled with the dry, grisly
rattle of fleshless bones. Then silence fell. Cain found flint

(14:16):
and steel and lighted the candle. Then, holding it in
one hand and the pistol in the other, he opened
the secret door. Great God, he muttered, as cold sweat
formed on his body. This thing is beyond all reason,
Yet with mine own eyes I see it. Two vows
have here been kept for Gaston. The butcher swore that

(14:38):
even in death, he would avenge his slaying. And his
was the hand who set yon fleshless monster free. And he,
the host of the cleft skull, lay lifeless on the
floor of the secret room, his beastful face set in
lines of terrible fear, and deep in his broken neck
were sunk the bare finger bones of the sorcerer's skeleton.

(15:00):
End of Rattle of Bones by Robert E. Howard