To no one's surprise, Nell and Alisa were awakened by a knock at the door. "Mrs. Parker, Miss Blankstone.  Szeged.  This is where you are getting off.  Szeged" said an authoritative voice from the corridor.  Nell noticed that the train had stopped and glanced at her watch.  It read 3:10.  Again.  "Haven't we been through this before?" she said.

Carefully opening the door, Alisa saw that the night conductor was not knocking on any more doors.

Examining the book that she remembered burning, Alisa found that it was still a pile of ashes.

Nell walked over to the carriage door and looked out.  Examining the platform, she saw Niles, Dan'l and Rupert standing by the mound of baggage.  They were unaware that the train had left the station after they got off.

Alisa and Nell decided to get off the train, since protecting the book was no longer important.  The train pulled out of the station, leaving them standing on the fog-shrouded platform.  A voice echoed from the fog, "Travel through the night to the citadel, where truth awaits, for those who can grasp it."

Rupert and Dan'l decided to see what lay beyond the station platform.  Dan'l was determined to find "the creep" who was responsible for all this, while Rupert was convinced that this was all some sort of shared dream that should be investigated.  Alisa put on her fur coat and tried to get some sleep on a bench.  Nell and Niles thought it was a bad idea to leave the platform and insisted on waiting for dawn or something else to happen.

After leaving the platform, Rupert and Dan'l found themselves walking down a cobblestone street, lined by stone buildings.  The architecture seemed late medieval, although there were street lamps giving off a dim glow in the fog.  There was no evidence of automobiles, street signs, trash, or inhabitants.  Patches of snow still could be seen on the ground.  The sound of bells could be heard in the distance.  The fog was thick, limiting visibility.

The doors of the buildings were wooden and massive, with ornate carvings.  Dan'l tried to open several but found them all to be locked and barred.  The few windows to be seen were all tightly shuttered.

As they passed by a large building that resembled a medieval guildhall, Dan'l heard the sound of faint laughter from above.  Looking up he thought he saw a carved gargoyle smirk before resuming its frozen pose.  Rupert saw a piece of paper fluttering down from the sky and grabbed it.  A strange account was handwritten, in English, on ordinary notepaper.  Rupert and Dan'l decided to go back to the platform and inform the others.

Alisa had been unable to get any sleep so she was willing to accompany Rupert and Dan'l, but Nell and Niles were still unwilling to leave the platform

Returning to the guildhall, Rupert and Dan'l decided to walk toward the sound of the bells.  They reached a canal which was spanned by an arched stone bridge.  Spooked by the short narrative he had just read, Dan'l glanced up at the sky.

Crossing the canal, they entered a small square, with a stone statue at its center.  The features of the statue were so eroded that it was impossible to tell what it represented - a crusader, a merchant, a priest?  Rupert spotted a piece of paper on the plinth and read another strange text.  None of this was making any sense.

Continuing toward the sound of the bells, they entered a large square.  One side was dominated by a large cathedral, built in a mix of Romanesue and Gothic style.  As the bells tolled, the doors of the cathedral swung open.  A burst of discordant organ music was heard from inside the cathedral as a procession of black-robed and hooded monks emerged, carrying a wooden coffin.  Rupert decided to follow the coffin, while Dan'l and Alisa entered the cathedral.  Alisa was convinced that Brother Paul was inside.

The monks walked to the edge of the square, which bordered another canal, and set down the coffin.  One of the monks raised the lid and placed something inside.  Rupert walked to the midpoint of a nearby bridge to observe.  He was startled to see that the coffin's occupant was Sister Sarah!  As the monks lifted the coffin, she awoke and sat up.  "What type of dream is this", she muttered.  As she climbed out of the coffin, the monks paid no heed to her.  Carefully they set the coffin adrift in the waters of the canal and it began floating away.

Sister Sarah grabbed the robe of the nearest monk but there was nothing beneath it.  The robes of the other monks collapsed to the ground as well.  Rupert came over and explained to Sister Sarah what had happened to them on the train.  She replied that her last memory had been of retiring for the night in her compartment.  She had a vague memory of being carried a long distance and hearing strange music.  She finally awoke when she felt the cool night air on her face.  In her folded hands had been a scroll, which she and Rupert then read.

Meanwhile, Alisa and Dan'l entered the darkened cathedral.  Alisa found a candle and lit it.  The interior was vast, dusty, and strangely empty.  Faded frescoes adorned the walls.   Music could still be heard, but the organ itself looked in disrepair and no organist was visible.

Alisa and Dan'l were rejoined by Rupert and Sister Sarah, still carrying a monk's robe.  She placed the robe on the altar but nothing happened.  Rupert looked for a stairway to the bell tower but no other exits or doors were visible.

Leaving the cathedral, they decided to continue walking in the direction the coffin had floated.  Crossing the bridge, they found themselves on a small island.  At its center was a large fruit tree, surrounded by an iron railing.  The tree was laden with a dark, purplish fruit.  Dan'l fired at one of the fruits with his revolver but it had no effect.  Rupert noticed that a piece of paper was stuck on a branch, which he retrieved and read.  Using his saber, he chopped off a branch and saw that the end oozed a dark, sluggish liquid.  The sound of bells distantly tolling "Four" was heard.  "At least time was passing here in the city" commented Rupert.

In the distance the sound of a phonograph record could be heard, so the group crossed another bridge and walked down several streets to a corner where they found a Victrola phonograph player.  It was playing a recording of a woman singing.  Rupert examined the record and found that it was a recording of Maria Jeritza singing "Glück das mir verblieb" from Korngold's opera Die Tote Stadt.  Rupert had a vague recollection that this opera had premiered about five years ago.  Of all the strange things that had happened that evening, Alisa was the most disturbed by the fact that the recording had been made at the Edison Company Studio in Camden, New Jersey.  "How did it get here", she wondered.  Underneath the Victrola was another piece of paper, which Rupert extracted and read.  He noted that each paper had been written in a different hand.

Rupert examined the other side of the record and found that it was a recording of an aria "Warum hast du mich wachgeküsst" from a Lehar opera called Friederike (which no one had heard of).  Rupert returned the record to the spindle and set it to playing the Lehar aria.  As the Victrola began to wind down, the sounds of the aria lengthened into an eerie dirge.

Using his knowledge of civil engineering, Dan'l deduced that the layout of this town was based on a spiral.  The only path to the citadel lay in circling around it several times, slowly moving inwards.  This was characteristic of old towns he had seen in northern France during the Great War.  Confident that he understood the layout of the town, Dan'l volunteered to go back to the platform to check on Nell and Niles.

As he passed the tree Dan'l decided to gather several pieces of fruit to use as markers.  After picking several of the purplish orbs he was horrified to grasp a severed human hand hanging from a branch.  He hurried away toward the station, keeping an eye out for odd occurrences.

Reaching the platform, he found Nell and Niles unaware that almost an hour had passed.  Nell was surprised to learn that Sister Sarah was here and agreed to accompany Dan'l into the city.  Niles, agreeable as always, agreed to come too.  Quickly retracing his steps (and saying nothing about the tree of severed hands) Dan'l, Nell, and Niles rejoined the group.

Continuing to explore, they entered a square where the buildings had no doors but only high, shuttered windows.  Nell noticed a burning piece of paper in the street.  Rupert quickly extinguished it and read it aloud, to the general discomfort of everyone.

After crossing another canal, they heard the sounds of hissing and scratching coming from around a corner.  There they saw a bas-relief of a griffin and serpent battling.  A poster pasted on the stone wall had yet another bizarre narrative.

 The group continued walking until they stood on the banks of a canal.  A flopping, writhing fish had been wrapped in paper and left on the bank.  Rupert removed the paper and dropped the fish into the canal.  The sound of the bells tolling "Five" could be heard in the distance.

Continuing down the narrow street, they found that it opened on one side into a small cemetery, with ancient, weathered tombstones and misshapen sculptures.  Examining the nearest stone, Rupert found that the phrase "but do they dream" had been traced in frost.  Dan'l noticed yet another paper, held down by a rock atop another tombstone.  So far they had found nine such papers, all in different hadwriting and on different types of paper.  As a group they told no obvious story but were quite disturbing.

At that point a silver and black tabby cat walked out from the shadows, carrying a small scrollcase in its mouth.  The cat dropped the scrollcase on the ground in front of the group and waited.  Rupert picked up the scrollcase, noting that it was made of bone and carved with Egyptian symbols.  Opening it he found a papyrus scroll, written in hieroglyphics.  Concerned that all this might fade away upon awakening, he made a rough copy of the message (which no one could read).

Sister Sarah carefully approached the cat, making friendly, miowing sounds.  The cat responded by rubbing against her nun's habit.  Lya then said "Mweru" (the name of the African woman on the Carlyle Expedition) and was startled when the cat hissed at her and backed away.

The group continued travelling through the streets of the ancient city (followed at a distance by the cat), past crumbling walls covered in withered ivy, past statues of uncertain visage worn smooth by age and lichen, until finally the towers of the citadel loomed out of the fog.

Standing in front of the final bridge was the man from the station platform, his features now revealed as that of Dr. Robert Huston!  Alisa seemed vaguely disappointed that it was not Brother Paul, but everyone else gasped in astonishment!  Huston was supposed to have died in Kenya, along with the rest of the Carlyle expedition.  On seeing Huston the cat hissed and scurried away.

Dr. Huston greeted the investigators and asked if they had enjoyed reading his case studies?  He then invited them to cross the bridge and enter the citadel.

Huston led them through a maze of doors, corridors, echoing chambers, stairways, gates, and ramps, reminiscent of the Carceri engravings of Piranesi. Finally the group emerged atop the roof of the highest tower.  The city could be seen below them, wrapped in fog and sleep.  Huston then invited them to ask him any questions they wished, as long as they were willing to pay the price exacted by truth.

Lya:  "What happened to Roger Carlyle?"

Huston:  "He proved himself unworthy to serve our Master and is beneath contempt."

Rupert:  "Whose mind does this city represent?"

Huston:  "Near and far have you travelled this night, through the dreams of myself and my patients.  There is power and truth in dreams."

Lya:  "Where are all the women you seduced and betrayed?"

Huston:  "They all were unworthy of what I offered them and have reaped the consequences."

Lya:  "What is the Bloody Tongue?"

Huston:  "They are servants of our Master, who have proven themselves worthy of his favor."

Rupert:  "What is the goal of the Bloody Tongue?"

Huston:  "To enlighten the world, to open the gate, so that the Old Ones may return."

Rupert:  "Who is the Terrible God?"

Huston:  "The Haunter of Darkness, the Crawler in Chaos, the Bloody Tongue, the Drowned Woman, the Black Pharaoh - these are but a few of the aspects of Nyarlathotep!"

Niles:  "Nyarla-who?"

Rupert:  "Why does your Master need the help of cultists?  Why not do it himself?"

Huston:  "There are certain barrriers - wards and guards - which must be removed by human hands."

Dan'l:  "Alright, Creep, I've had enough of this mumbo-jumbo!  How do we get out of here?"

Huston:  "Fools!  You are already lost!  If you have not returned to your beds by the stroke of Six, you are doomed to walk the endless night of this place forever!"

At that point, each investigator found himself or herself standing alone, as the sound of the bell tolling the hour of six was heard.  As they ran back into the citadel, the final words of Dr. Huston were heard:  "Seek me in Dreamtime if more you would learn!"

Alisa, Niles, and Nell quickly became lost in the maze of the citadel, but Rupert and Dan'l managed to make it outside.  Hurrying through the streets, Dan'l found that the streets had rearranged themselves and he was unable to retrace his steps, but Rupert managed to decipher the pattern and arrived back at the station just in time to jump aboard the Orient Express, inexplicably three hours behind schedule.

Rupert rushed to his compartment where he was horrified to find both Dan'l and himself asleep!

Startled awake by the sound of his door opening, Rupert sat up in bed and saw himself standing in the door!