sahna’shoreshik
Sermon Seven
s the caravan of Nerevar now made for the capital of Veloth, anon Almalexia, there came great rumblings from the oblivion.
²A duke among scamps wandered into the House of Troubles, pausing before each scripture door to pay his respects, until finally he was met by the majordomo of Mehrunes Dagon.
³The Duke of Scamps said, ‘I was summoned by Lord Dagon, master of the foul waters and fire, and I have brought the pennants of my seven legions.’
⁴The majordomo, whose head was a bubble of foul water and fire, bowed low, so that the head of the Duke of Scamps became enclosed in his own.
⁵He saw the first pennant, which commanded a legion of grim warriors who could die at least twice.
⁶He saw the second pennant, which commanded a legion of winged bulls and the emperor of color that rode upon each.
⁷He saw the third pennant, which commanded a legion of inverted gorgons, great snakes whose scales were the faces of men.
⁸He saw the fourth pennant, which commanded a legion of double-crossed lovers.
⁹He saw the fifth pennant, which commanded a legion of jumping wounds looking to hop onto a victim.
¹⁰He saw the sixth pennant, which commanded a legion of abridged planets.
¹¹He saw the seventh pennant, which commanded a legion of armored winning moves.
¹²To which the majordomo said, ‘Duke Kh-Utta, your legions while mighty are not enough to destroy Nerevar or the Triune way. ¹³Look upon the Hortator and see the wisdom he takes to wife.’
¹⁴And they looked into the middle world and saw:
Evaporating in a throng of thunder
Of red war and chitin men,
Where destines
Take him further from our ways
¹⁵The heat that we have wanted
And pray they still remember,
Where destines
Clothe the distance,
¹⁶Glad in the golden east that we saw it now,
Instead of the war and repair
Of the oblivious fracture
A curse on the Hortator
And two more on his hands
¹⁷And the Duke of Scamps saw the palms of the Hortator, upon which the egg had written these words of power:
GHARTOK PADHOME GHARTOK PADHOME.
¹⁸The ending of the words is ASV.