"The Empire of the Necromancers" is a short story by American author

Clark Ashton Smith Clark Ashton Smith (January 13, 1893 – August 14, 1961) was an American writer and artist. He achieved early local recognition, largely through the enthusiasm of George Sterling, for traditional verse in the vein of Algernon Charles Swinburne ...

as part of his

Zothique ''Zothique'' is a collection of fantasy short stories by Clark Ashton Smith, edited by Lin Carter. It was first published in paperback by Ballantine Books as the sixteenth volume of its Ballantine Adult Fantasy series in June 1970. It was the firs ...

cycle, and first published in the September

1932 Events January * January 4 – The British authorities in India arrest and intern Mahatma Gandhi and Vallabhbhai Patel. * January 9 – Sakuradamon Incident (1932), Sakuradamon Incident: Korean nationalist Lee Bong-chang fails in his effort ...

issue of ''

Weird Tales ''Weird Tales'' is an American fantasy and horror fiction pulp magazine founded by J. C. Henneberger and J. M. Lansinger in late 1922. The first issue, dated March 1923, appeared on newsstands February 18. The first editor, Edwin Baird, prin ...

''.

Background

When editing the

1970 Events January * January 1 – Unix time epoch reached at 00:00:00 UTC. * January 5 – The 7.1 Tonghai earthquake shakes Tonghai County, Yunnan province, China, with a maximum Mercalli intensity scale, Mercalli intensity of X (''Extrem ...

Smith collection ''

'',

Lin Carter Linwood Vrooman Carter (June 9, 1930 – February 7, 1988) was an American author of science fiction and fantasy, as well as an editor, poet and critic. He usually wrote as Lin Carter; known pseudonyms include H. P. Lowcraft (for an H. P. L ...

noted "The Empire of the Necromancers" as "the first to be published" of the Zothique cycle.

Plot

Two necromancers, Mmatmuor and Sodosma, from the land of Naat, travel to Tinarath to exhume and reanimate the dead. However, they are soon shunned by its inhabitants and the two have to go elsewhere to continue their necromancy. Thus they go to Cincor where they continue their practice. They begin with a dead traveler and his horse they find on a road. Later, they begin reanimating more of the dead as they travel through Cincor until they arrive at what was once its capital Yethlyreom. There they take refuge in its palace as they reanimate everyone who died. While the dead serve them, one begins to remember his past life. Illeiro, who was Cincor's last emperor, starts to realize his past and his current subjugation under the two necromancers. As his self-awareness grows, Illeiro notices Mmatmuor and Sodosma growing lazier as they rely on the dead as servants and forgetting their necromancy in the process. Meanwhile, Mmatmuor and Sodosma plan to use the dead as an army to take Tinarath and continue their necromancy across the rest of Zothique. When the two are asleep, Illeiro seeks counsel with Hestaiyon who was a great wizard during Illeiro's reign as emperor. While Hestaiyon struggles initially due to being undead, he recalls a prophecy that foretells the future. In this foretelling, Illeiro learns what must be done: he must shatter a clay image of an earth god so that he may retrieve a steel sword, a bronze key, and brass tablets. The brass tablets have instructions for Illeiro as what to do with the sword and key. The sword to slay the necromancers, while the key unlocks a passageway to a hidden abyss. Hestaiyon beheads both Mmatmuor and Sodosma in their sleep, while he further quarters them. Hestiayon then orders the dead that they no longer serve the two necromancers and these orders are relayed to the rest of the dead. After learning this, the dead use the unlocked door to enter the final abyss while Hestaiyon guards the remains of the two necromancers so they may remain dead. Hestaiyon casts a curse on the remains of Mmatmuor and Sodosma so they continue to be animate but in pieces. When all this was over, Hestaiyon and Illeiro enter the abyss and seal the door shut from the inside.

References

External links

*
Text of "The Empire of the Necromancers"
{{DEFAULTSORT:Empire of the Necromancers, The Short stories by Clark Ashton Smith Fantasy short stories 1932 short stories Works originally published in Weird Tales

Background

Plot

See also

References

External links