STORY ALAN HEBDEN ART KEITH PAGE CCORDING TO LEGEND, MANY MILLENNIA AGO AN EGYPTIAN A PHARAOH PASSED SENTENCE ON A PRISONER SO INHUMANLY DANGEROUS THAT HE HAD BEEN SEALED INSIDE A BRONZE BOX.
COVER KEITH PAGE
THE MAN WAS A SORCERER WHO, HAVING CONJURED HIMSELF IMMORTAL, WAS PLANNING TO TAKE OVER THE KINGDOM. ONLY THE ACTION OF HIS ASSISTANT, HOR-TON, HAD ALLOWED THE PHAROAH TO THWART THE EVIL MAGICIAN.
SINCE YOU CANNOT DIE, YOU WILL BE ENTOMBED FOREVER IN THE CAVE OF THE JACKAL BEYOND THE TEMPLE OF THE NIGHT. HENCEFORTH NO MAN SHALL UTTER YOUR NAME, NOR SHALL IT BE WRITTEN. FROM THIS DAY ON YOU WILL BE KNOWN AS ‘HE WHO MUST NOT BE NAMED!’
TREACHEROUS FAITHLESS APPRENTICE!
4 THE BRONZE BOX WAS TAKEN TO ITS FINAL RESTING PLACE IN THE REMOTE CAVE ACCOMPANIED BY THE PRISONER’S FORMER APPRENTICE. WE ARE READY TO SEAL THE CAVE, HOR-TON.
WAIT OUTSIDE. I WILL BE WITH YOU SHORTLY.
THE YOUNG MAN HAD NO DOUBT HE HAD DONE THE RIGHT THING. HIS FORMER MASTER HAD BEEN CONSUMED BY EVIL AND HAD TO BE STOPPED. YOUR PUNISHMENT IS FITTING. THE IMPRISONING SPELL WHICH BINDS YOU CAN ONLY BE BROKEN IF YOUR NAME IS SPOKEN ALOUD. UNTIL THE END OF TIME YOU ARE ‘HE WHO MUST NOT BE NAMED.’
BETRAYER, OR SHOULD I SAY HE WHO CANNOT BE TRUSTED? IF YOU THINK MY NAME IS NO MORE, I HAVE A SURPRISE FOR YOU!
5 SUDDENLY THE GLITTERING EYES SHONE LIKE SMALL SUNS AND A MESMERISED HOR-TON WAS CAUGHT IN A SPELL OF IRRESISTIBLE POWER.
I COMMAND THEE…PICK UP THAT STONE!
CARVE MY NAME ON THE BOX SO THOSE WHO COME SEEKING ME SHALL KNOW IT TO SPEAK ALOUD. THEN LEAVE A WRITTEN CLUE ON THE WALL OF THE TEMPLE OF THE NIGHT THAT WILL POINT THE WAY HERE!
THE...THE FORBIDDEN NAME. I...I MUST WRITE IT. I…I MUST OBEY.
AS HOR-TON WALKED AWAY IN A DAZE, THE ORDER WAS GIVEN TO SEAL THE CAVE BENEATH AN AVALANCHE OF ROCKS.
BURY THE FIENDISH SORCERER FOR ALL ETERNITY!
I MUST DO AS I AM INSTRUCTED.
6 LATE THAT NIGHT, STILL ENTHRALLED BY HIS FORMER MASTER’S SPELL, HOR-TON CARRIED OUT HIS FINAL INSTRUCTION, CARVING A CRYPTIC MESSAGE INTO THE WALL OF A FORBIDDING TEMPLE.
THIS WILL POINT THE WAY TO THE CAVE OF THE JACKAL, BUT WHO WILL COME SEEKING MY FORMER MASTER, AND WHEN? WILL HIS POWER ONCE AGAIN BE UNLEASHED ON THE WORLD?
HOR-TON WOULD NEVER KNOW. HIS TASK FULFILLED, HE PROMPTLY FORGOT WHAT HE HAD DONE. ONLY THE MESSAGE REMAINED...AND THE HIDDEN TOMB OF “HE WHO MUST NOT BE NAMED”. FIFTY CENTURIES LATER, IN 1941, MARVO THE MAGICIAN WAS ON STAGE IN THE MIDDLE OF AN AUDIENCE-ENTHRALLING PERFORMANCE.
LADIES AND GENTLEMEN, AS YOU CAN SEE FOR YOURSELVES, MY ASSISTANT IS SECURELY LOCKED INSIDE THIS CAGE. THERE IS NO WAY OUT! AND YET I SHALL NOW MAKE THIS LOVELY YOUNG LADY DISAPPEAR...BEFORE YOUR VERY EYES!
7 THE ORCHESTRAL DRUMBEAT REACHED A CRESCENDO AS MARVO POINTED HIS WAND DRAMATICALLY AT THE CAGE AND SPOKE THE MAGIC WORDS.
KAA...ZAM!
BOTH CAGE AND ASSISTANT VANISHED IN A GREAT PUFF OF SMOKE AND… …THE MAGICIAN TURNED TOWARDS THE AUDIENCE EXPECTING A ROUND OF APPLAUSE, ONLY TO BE GREETED BY EXPRESSIONS OF HORROR AND CRIES OF ALARM.
GOOD LORD, LOOK AT THAT! EEEEK...IT’S HORRIBLE!
WHAT... WHAT IS? WHAT’S GOING ON?
8 MARVO SPUN ROUND AND LET OUT A SHRIEK OF PURE TERROR AT THE SIGHT OF THE HIDEOUS APPARITION EMERGING FROM THE SMOKE, ITS GREAT VOICE BOOMING LIKE A KNELL OF DOOM.
HOR-TON! HOR-TON!
YEEEAAARRH!
WITH A SUDDEN START PRIVATE FRANKIE HORTON WOKE TO FIND HIMSELF BACK IN THE NORTH AFRICAN DUG-OUT WHERE HE’D DOZED OFF. THE FEARSOME FACE FROM HIS DREAM TURNED INTO THE EQUALLY FEARSOME REALITY OF SERGEANT BERT OGNELL. IMPOLITE OF ME TO DISTURB YOUR BEAUTY SLEEP, PRIVATE HORTON, BUT YOU WERE SUPPOSED TO REPORT FOR PICKET DUTY TEN MINUTES AGO!
PICK...PICKET DUTY? SORRY, SARGE, I MUST’VE DOZED OFF. I’M ON MY WAY.
9 EVEN AS FRANKIE SCRAMBLED TO HIS FEET, OGNELL SEIZED HIS RIFLE AND CAST A BEADY — AND EXTREMELY CRITICAL — EYE OVER IT. THIS DOESN’T LOOK AS IF IT’S BEEN CLEANED SINCE WE LEFT BLIGHTY. RIFLE INSPECTION FIRST THING TOMORROW, HEAVEN HELP YOU IF I FIND AS MUCH AS A SPECK OF DUST ON IT.
YES, SARGE! THANK YOU, SARGE!
FRANKIE WAS SHARING PICKET DUTY WITH HIS MATE PRIVATE VIC AVERY, WHO HAD MANAGED TO ARRIVE IN TIME.
WHAT HAPPENED TO YOU, FRANKIE?
I DOZED OFF READING THAT MAGIC BOOK AUNTIE IDA SENT ME. I WAS HAVING A REALLY GOOD DREAM UNTIL OGNELL TURNED IT INTO A FLAMIN’ NIGHTMARE!
10 AS DARKNESS FELL THE TWO PALS RELAXED. THERE HAD BEEN NO ENEMY ACTIVITY IN THEIR SECTOR FOR SEVERAL WEEKS, AND NONE WAS EXPECTED. THEY SAY THE AFRIKA KORPS HAS RUN RIGHT OUT OF PUFF.
AFTER CHASING US ALL THE WAY BACK FROM BENGHAZI I’M NOT SURPRISED. IT’LL BE WEEKS BEFORE THEY’RE READY FOR ANOTHER PUSH, AND WE’LL BE READY FOR ‘EM WHEN THEY DO.
IT WAS A FINE IDEA, BUT A COMPLETELY WRONG ONE. THE GERMANS HAD IN FACT JUST COMPLETED A RAPID, AND SECRET, BUILD-UP AND WERE READY TO STRIKE AGAIN. EVEN AS FRANKIE SPOKE, A UNIT OF HEAVILY-ARMED INFANTRY WAS SNEAKING TOWARDS THE PICKET POST. IF WE SILENCE THEIR PICKET POSTS FIRST, THE MAIN ATTACK WILL TAKE THE BRITISHERS COMPLETELY BY SURPRISE.