Ring the Buddha Bells

As my last post made known Tressa’s occult powers, this will be my last post and is the last recorded song by Tressa Norne, the former Temple girl in the temple of Erlik.

"Ring, ring, Buddha bells, Gilded gods are listening. Swing, swing, lily bells, In my garden glistening. Now I hear the Shaman drum; Now the scarlet horsemen come; Ding-dong! Ding-dong! Through the chanting of the throng Thunders now the temple gong. Boom-boom! Ding-dong!

Let the gold gods listen! In my garden; what care I Where my lily bells hang mute! Snowy-sweet they glisten where I'm singing to my lute. In my garden; what care I Who is dead and who shall die? Let the gold gods save or slay Scented lilies bloom in May. Boom, boom, temple gong! Ding-dong! Ding-dong!"

Chapter IX The West Wind, Slayer of Souls, Robert W. Chambers

Who is Nan-yang Maru-AKA (Tressa Norne); A Host of Characters?

"My father was in the spice trade in Yian. The Yezidees took Yian in 1910, threw him into a well in his own compound and filled it up with dead imperial troops. I was thirteen years old.... The Hassani did that. They held Yian nearly eight years, and I lived with my mother, in a garden pagoda, until 1914. In January of that year Germans got through from Kiaou-Chou. They had been six months on the way. I think they were Hassanis. Anyway, they persuaded the Hassanis to massacre every English-speaking prisoner."

"I was seventeen. A certain person had placed me among the temple girls in the temple of Erlik. It pleased this person to make of me a Mongol temple girl as a mockery at Christ. They gave me the name Keuke Mongol. I asked to serve the shrine of Kwann-an—she being like to our Madonna. But this person gave me the choice between the halberds of the Tchortchas and the sorcery of Erlik."

Nan-yang Maru learned her trade well and seems to be predisposed to these dark arts, even so that she is able to defy and hold sway over all others sent her way to depose her.

Chapter I The Yezidee, The Slayer of Souls, Robert W. Chambers

Death Looks Out

"—And eight tall towers Guard the route Of human life, Where at all hours Death looks out, Holding a knife Rolled in a shroud.

For every man, Humble or proud, Mighty or bowed, Death has a shroud;—for every man,— Even for Tchingniz Khan! Behold them pass!—lancer. Baroulass, Temple dancer In tissue gold, Khiounnou, Karlik bold,

Christian, Jew,— Nations swarm to the great Urdu. Yaçaoul, with your kettledrum, Warn your Khan that his hour is come! Shroud and knife at his spurred feet throw, And bid him stretch his neck for the blow!—"

Chapter VII The Bridal, Slayer of Souls, Robert W. Chambers

Tressa Norne Sings Another Song

"Little Isle of Cispangou, Isle of iris, isle of cherry, Tell your tiny maidens merry Clouds are looming over you! La-e-la! La-e-la! All your ocean's but a ferry; Ships are bringing death to you! La-e-lou! La-e-lou!

"Little Isle of Cispangou, Half a thousand ships are sailing; Captain Death commands each crew; Lo! the ruddy moon is paling! La-e-la! La-e-la! Clouds the dying moon are veiling, Every cloud a shroud for you! La-e-lou! La-e-lou!"

Chapter VII The Bridal, Slayer of Souls, Robert W. Chambers

The Slayer of Souls

" 'There in the dusk of the temple when the Eight Assassins came—the eight Sheiks-el-Djebel, all in white—chanting the Yakase of Sabbah—always that dirge when they came and spread their eight white shrouds on the temple steps——' "

Her voice caught; she waited to recover her composure. Then went on:

"The ambition of Genghis was to conquer the world by force of arms. It was merely of physical subjection that he dreamed. But the Slayer of Souls——"

"Who?" asked Recklow sharply.

"The Slayer of Souls—Erlik's vice-regent on earth—Hassan Sabbath. The Old Man of the Mountain. It is of him I am speaking," exclaimed Tressa Norne—with quiet resolution. "Genghis sought only physical conquest of man; the Yezidee's ambition is more awful, for he is attempting to surprise and seize the very minds of men!

There was a dead silence. Tressa looked palely upon the four.

"The Yezidees—who you tell me are not sorcerers—are using power—which you tell me is not magic accursed by God—to waylay, capture, enslave, and destroy the minds and souls of mankind."

Chapter 5 The Assassins, Slayer of Souls, Robert W. Chambers

Devil Worship

"Recklow touched his short silvery moustache hesitating, Then:

'"The worship of Erlik is devil worship," he said. "Also I am entirely prepared to believe that there are, among the Yezidees, adepts who employ scientific weapons against civilisation—who have probably obtained a rather terrifying knowledge of psychic laws which they use scientifically, and which to ordinary, God-fearing folk appear to be the black magic of sorcerers..." '

' "The devil-worship, of which one of the modern developments is Bolshevism, and another the terrorism of the hun, began in Asia long before Christ's advent: At least so it was taught us in the temple of Erlik.

"It has always existed, its aim always has been the annihilation of good and the elevation of evil; the subjection of right by might, and the worldwide triumph of wrong.' "

Chapter 5 The Assassins, Slayer of Souls, Robert W. Chambers

The Assassins

Tressa Norne has been recruited by US government as a consultant and is currently giving those closest to the case some background information.

"Even in the twelfth century, when the wild Mongols broke loose and nearly overran the world, the Tibet infantry under Genghis, the Tchortcha horsemen drafted out of Black China, and a great cloud of Mongol cavalry under the Prince of the Vanguard commanding half a hundred Hezars, never penetrated that grisly and unknown waste. The "Eight Towers of the Assassins" guarded it—still guard it, possibly."

Chapter 5: The Assassins, Slayer of Souls, Robert W. Chambers

Innovation Stupefies the Dull

"The lightning of innovation stupefies the dull; ignorance is always suspicious of innovation—always afraid to put itself on record until its mind is made up by somebody else."

Chapter III Grey Magic, Slayer of Souls, Robert W. Chambers

An Encypted Telegram is Received

The following telegram came, encrypted, to the governments special agent Victor Cleves:

"Washington "April 14th, 1919."

"Investigation ordered by the State Department as the result of frequent mention in despatches of Chinese troops operating with the Russian Bolsheviki forces has disclosed that the Bolsheviki are actually raising a Chinese division of 30,000 men recruited in Central Asia. This division has been guilty of the greatest cruelties. A strange rumour prevails among the Allied forces at Archangel that this Chinese division is led by Yezidee and Hassani officers belonging to the sect of devil-worshipers and that they employ black arts and magic in battle.

"From information so far gathered by the several branches of the United States Secret Service operating throughout the world, it appears possible that the various revolutionary forces of disorder, in Europe and Asia, which now are violently threatening the peace and security, of all established civilisation on earth, may have had a common origin. This origin, it is now suspected, may date back to a very remote epoch; the wide-spread forces of violence and merciless destruction may have had their beginning among some ancient and predatory race whose existence was maintained solely by robbery and murder.

"Anarchists, terrorists, Bolshevists, Reds of all shades and degrees, are now believed to represent in modern times what perhaps once was a tribe of Assassins—a sect whose religion was founded upon a common predilection for crimes of violence.

"On this theory then, for the present, the United States Government will proceed with this investigation of Bolshevism; and the Secret Service will continue to pay particular attention to all Orientals in the United States and other countries. You personally are formally instructed to keep in touch with XLY-371 (Alek Selden) and ZB-303 (James Benton), and to employ every possible means to become friendly with the girl Tressa Norne, win her confidence, and, if possible, enlist her actively in the Government Service as your particular aid and comrade.

"It is equally important that the movements of the Oriental, called Sanang, be carefully observed in order to discover the identity and whereabouts of his companions. However, until further instructions he is not to be taken into custody. M. H. 2479

"(Signed) "(John Recklow.)"

Chapter III Grey Magic, Slayer of Souls, Robert W. Chambers

Keep Your Signs and Your Shrouds to Yourself

"Tressa Norne (Nan-yang Maru): "I saw the sign of Yu-lao in fire floating in the day-sky. I saw his spectral moon rise and vanish in mid-heaven. I understood. But——" And here she suddenly showed an edge of teeth under the full scarlet upper lip: "Keep your signs and your shrouds to yourself, dog of a Yezidee!—toad!—tortoise-egg!—he-goat with three legs! Keep your threats and your messages to yourself! Keep your accursed magic to yourself! Do you think to frighten me with your sorcery by showing me the Moons of Yu-lao?—by opening a bolted door? I know more of such magic than do you, Sanang—Death Adder of Alamout!"

Chapter I The Yezidee, The Slayer of Souls, Robert W. Chambers

The Saghalien

"And here, in the brilliant moonlight of the China Sea, she (Nan-yang Maru) curled up cross-legged on the deck, all alone, and sounded the four futile strings of her moon-lute, and hummed to herself, in a still voice, old songs she had sung in Yian before the tragedy. She sang the tent-song called Tchinguiz. She sang Camel Bells and The Blue Bazaar,—children's songs of the Yiort. She sang the ancient Khiounnou song called "The Saghalien":
I
'In the month of Saffar Among the river-reeds I saw two horsemen Sitting on their steeds. Tulugum! Heitulum! By the river-reeds.

II
In the month of Saffar A demon guards the ford. Tokhta, my Lover! Draw your shining sword! Tulugum! Heitulum! Slay him with your sword!

III
In the month of Saffar Among the water-weeds I saw two horsemen Fighting on their steeds. Tulugum! Heitulum! How my lover leeds!

IV
In the month of Saffar, The Year I should have wed— The Year of The Panther— My lover lay dead,— Tulugum! Heitulum! Dead without a head. '"

Chapter I The Yezidee, The Slayer of Souls, Robert W. Chambers