The necromancers of Giza   A cult of reanimators   Concerned with interrogation of the long dead   Corpses who may be revived and made to talk   And describe the contents of rare books   And gold hidden in the earth   Although they are often reluctant to reveal their secrets   And must be encouraged with fire and blade      A corpse chosen for resurrection   Is cut into parts of convenient size   Boiled in clean water   Linen strips of mummification are removed   And the skull and bones liquefied   And boiled until all water is gone   What remains in the bottom   Is a white crystalline substance   That may be carried in the palms of two hands   This white powder contains the essential salts   Of the man whose corpse was boiled   It is from this powder that the living body may be reconstituted   And made to serve as a house for the soul   Which is called back into its former flesh by words of power      It is a great shock to the soul   To tear it back from its resting place and reanimate it   The resurrected are often insane and scream ceaselessly or dash themselves into walls   If the salts are contaminated with the essence of other living beings   When the mummy has been the breeding place of vermin   The revitalization of the salts produces something   That is part man and part whatever gnawed his corpse   These horrors lack the faculty of speech   Or their speech is crazed and bestial   And must be immediately slain   For though the memory of the man may remain intact   The verminous parts of his reanimated nature   Inhibit his human expression      Those who have served their purpose are killed   By strangulation with a cord around the neck   And their bodies burned   Their ashes gathered and cast into the Nile   Where the currents carry them to sea      [solo: Karl]   [solo: Dallas]