User:DoctorWho42/The Garden of Adompha

"The Garden of Adompha" is a short story by American author Clark Ashton Smith as part of his Zothique cycle, and first published in the April 1938 issue of Weird Tales.

Publication history
According to Emperor of Dreams: A Clark Ashton Smith Bibliography (1978) by Donald Sidney-Fryer, "The Garden of Adompha" was first published in the April 1938 issue of Weird Tales. It was included in the books Genius Loci and Other Tales (1948) and Zothique (1970).

Plot
King Adompha of Sotar keeps a hidden garden. Only him and his court magician Dwerulas know what grows inside. There is much speculation about the garden. In the garden, there is an orb that has floated from hell. Also, there grows plants fused with the body parts of victims who have disappeared amid Adompha's palace. The latest victim is the king's concubine Thuloneah. Dwerulas conducts the rituals that fuse human parts with plants. When Dwerulas asks, the king recommends she was careful with her hands. As Dwerulas conducts the ritual, Adompha kills him. While remarking on the corpse, Adompha notes that the head of Dwerulas not undamaged enough to be included in the garden. There is rumours about the court of the king as they learn about Dwerulas disappearance. Later, Adompha visits the garden but finds that it has grown as one being. The garden then tears him to shreds.