"In the Shadow of Swords" is a Cthulhu Mythos story by Cody Goodfellow set in Saddam Hussein's Iraq. It was first published as a chapbook in 2002.
The story's Iraqi setting is shared by Goodfellow's novels Radiant Dawn and Ravenous Dusk, and forms something of a bridge between the two longer works. Written before the US invasion of Iraq in 2003, the story takes as a background assumption that Saddam was concealing an arsenal of weapons of mass destruction that the invasion revealed to be nonexistent.
Synopsis[]
A UN weapons inspection team in Iraq, about to end its mission without finding hard evidence of Saddam Hussein's hidden arsenal of chemical and biological weapons, gets one last chance to bring back proof: An intercepted message from a supposed archaeological dig called Tiamat suggests that secret research there is creating an imminent disaster, giving the UN an excuse to cut through the Iraqi smokescreen. When they arrive, however, they find that the site conceals something far more dangerous than mere weapons of mass destruction.
Characters[]
Inspectors[]
- Warren Revell, an American, the leader of a United Nations weapons inspection team in Iraq. He was "born and raised in Austin and spent most of his tour with the Army in Panama."
- Skelton, a "lanky British biologist" connected to the team who is "among the most respected savants in the Royal Society." He has a "default state of droll melancholy." He is described in appearance as "a bitter caricature of the stereotypical British phenotype—hooked nose, abominable teeth, watery gray eyes, and tangled eyebrows." His "long, bulging bald skull" is reminiscent of a marabou stork.
- Reinhard Greuel, a German biologist who is "ardently Green, and the most passionate disarmament advocate in the group." He is "short, stout, and alarmingly sunburned," and is said to subsist "on a diet of wheat grass juice, vitamins, and some sulfurous macrobiotic soup."
- Dr. Sofia Texeira, a Brazilian forensics specialist; she has a minor in archaeology. Texeira is described as short, slim and dark; the sun has turned her skin "a robust mahogany and burned an auburn tinge into her long black hair."
- Luscombe, the team's senior communications tech. His "impregnable Oxford-bred good humor" could give the misimpression that he is a "thick-skinned twit."
- Chris Healey, the assistant communications tech.
- Hideo Mimura, the chemist,
- Lupo Bertolucci, the medic.
- Gerry Muybridge, an American inspector who "looks like a lost high-school guidance counselor."
- Sam Kincaid, an American and a concealment specialist, the leader of a separate inspection team. He worked with with JSOC in Desert Storm, searching for Scud missiles, and supported Kurdish rebels in Operation Provide Comfort, which makes Revell assume he is a "CIA mole." Kincaid "stands a head and a half taller and at least ten years older than Revell"; his "leathery skin is deeply tanned, not burned."
- Wally, a "red-headed Australian man" who works with Kincaid.
- Grodov, a Russian on Kincaid's team who "lost a leg to a mislaid mine when he was a KGB adviser" to Iraq during the Iran/Iraq War.
- Huysmans, another member of Kincaid's team.
Iraqis[]
- Major Ibrahim al-Majid, the inspection team's chief Iraqi minder, from the Special Republican Guard Special Forces Unit 999. He has a "Stalinesque walrus-mustache," which conceals his "most rare ability, among Iraqis of the military caste, to smile."
- Lieutenant Kazraji, a member of Marduk Division of the Special Republican Guard who makes a distress call from Tiamat that is intercepted by the inspectors.
- Colonel Tewfiq Qasr, senior officer at Tiamat.
Publication History[]
"In the Shadow of Swords" first appeared as a chapbook published by Perilous Press in 2002. It was later reprinted in the anthology A Mountain Walked (Centipede Press, 2014) and in Goodfellow's collection of Mythos tales, Rapture of the Deep (Hippocampus Press, 2016).