The Journal of Jonathon Lindey From the main part of the journal - Page 20
Knocking on the door I was admitted to a small parlour, tastefully furnished. Both Mlle Francoise and her daughter, Lotte, were there and I sat facing the two of them with across an occasional table. Prompted from time to time by her daughter, Mlle Francoise told me her incredible story. I do not have time to repeat it in full here, but readers should be able to get the story from Mlle Francoise for themselves. Certain parts of her story are, however, very relevant and I shall endeavour to relate them here. Incredible as it seems, Mlle Francoise arrived in Crystal Falls at the turn of the century, fleeing from the terror of the Committee of Public Safety in Paris. The first few years were hard, but she was able, by selling her jewellery, to set up a general store which made a modest living for her and her young daughter. At that time Crystal Falls was a typical rural town serving local farmers and their employees. About five years after she arrived everything changed. The first sign of the change was the arrival of a preacher from a sect called 'Church of the Fallen Star'. Shortly after the preacher arrived, the local priest died of the ague, and the village elders invited the preacher to take over the church. From there things went down hill fast and a year later the preacher and the elders summoned a creature called a 'K'reeth' which rapidly became the author of the village's misfortune. (I did not understand the explanation she gave of the summoning, which involved sympathetic vibrations within the aether - it may be that some one with a training in the natural sciences will be able to understand it.) The creature was terrifying, and a number of villagers - and the preacher - died at its hands at an early stage. Eventually the elders struck a deal with it. In return for the village's assistance in building a strange conveyance to return the creature to its natural habitat, the K'reeth provided near immortality to all the inhabitants. The creature has been building the device ever since. "Immortality?" I interjected, "surely a blessing which only God can provide?" Lotte smiled bitterly at my naivety. "It is our curse", she stated flatly, "for the immortality froze each and every one of us at the physical age at which we were when the K'reeth created the 'miracle'". She leaned forward and looked at me intently. "can you understand what it means to be a hundred years old and still in the body of a nine year old child? Or even in the body of a four month old baby? Or what about being a crippled fifty year old for a hundred years?" I confess I was shaken at her revelation. It was a ghastly thought. Mlle Francoise smiled wanly, "I was one of the lucky ones", she said, "I was at least in the prime of my life." 'Now to business", she continued. "I want this creature destroyed. In all honesty I do not think you will be able to get out of the town, but should you do so you need to inform the authorities of the situation and tell them that the creature is vulnerable to a mineral called 'Walpurgite'. I'm not sure where you can get it from, but it seems that it slows down the creature and robs it of some of its powers. If we can slow the K'reeth down enough, I know how to send it back whence it came." She smiled sadly, "Hopefully, with it's demise we can all start living again." In a more businesslike tone she instructed me to return to the inn, retrieve my horse and leave the town as soon as possible, and this I vowed to do. Alas, we should have both known better. When I approached the innkeeper to settle my account, he shook his head and informed me that my horse was lame. The horse doctor had looked at it and pronounced that it would not be fit to ride until the following afternoon. No explanation was offered about how the horse came to be lame. It is now nearly midnight, and I have finally come to the end of my story. Outside my room I can hear indeterminate, sinister noises, footsteps, scratching and the like. I have wedged the door shut with a chair, but it will not hold off a serious assault. I will take steps to hide this journal so that those who may come after me will be able to benefit by the things I have already uncovered. I commend my soul to the Lord and pray that He will take me to His side in the next world.
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