User:DoctorWho42/The Beast of Averoigne

"The Beast of Averoigne" is a short story by American author Clark Ashton Smith as part of his Averoigne cycle, and first published in the May 1933 issue of Weird Tales.

Publication history
According to Emperor of Dreams: A Clark Ashton Smith Bibliography (1978) by Donald Sidney-Fryer, "The Beast of Averoigne" was first published in the May 1933 issue of Weird Tales. It was included in the winter 1969/70 issue of Weird Terror Tales.

Plot
Luc de Chaudronnier, a sorcerer, relates the tale of a monster loose on an abbey in Averoigne. A red comet appears over the area as a creature mysteriously appears. The first witness is brother Gerome of the Benedictine abbey of Perigon. While it flees, brother Gerome lives to tell the others of the monastery about it. Soon corpses of animals begin appearing with their spines shattered and bone marrow gone. Later, it begins attacking humans. Luc de Chaudronnier consults a demon on a Hyperborean ring about the monster. The demon tells him it's an ancient evil from the time of Poseidonis. The marshal of Ximes and the abbot Theophile approach him with the offer to take care of the issue and for a reward will receive gold as well as an exemption from inquisition. Declining the offer, Luc de Chaudronnier requests two men and an extra steed before nightfall. As the three wait for the monster, it appears an hour before sunrise. Luc de Chaudronnier shatters the gem containing the demon and with it free it battles the monster. As the battle ensues, the face of Theophile forms on the monster. Soon the demon returns to the sky as the monster is vanquished. After, they learn that Theophile was killed by the monster. However, he is sooned martyred and the monster no longer bothers Averoigne.