by Mike Maddox
"The Mage! He'll stop you!" shouted Leah, still trying to conceal from Niaal how much of the truth she knew, hoping it would give her some meagre advantage.
"The Mage? Oh, you poor sweet girl. You think he'll stop me?" Niaal laughed. "I take it you feel very close to your Mage in times of trouble, do you? Well, so you should!" Niaal clicked his fingers and the room was suddenly illuminated by a fiery blue light. "You're standing in him!"
Leah saw that what she had taken to be water was a hideous soup, a thick congealed gravy containing pieces of what looked like circuitry.
The worm hissed, weaving slowly this way and that.
"Of course, it wasn't easy. The death throes of the Mages are causing the magical balance of the whole world to go dangerously out of control. It's not just dear old Allesh that has been inconvenienced, you know." Niaal smirked, enjoying having an audience. "Oh yes, there'll be wars, famines, diseases, all over the planet. Magical creatures on the rampage, unreal things rising up and killing anything in their path." He smiled warmly, his hands held out in an open fashion. "The Mages are all dead. All of them. There is now only me, Niaal, in control of the whole world!"
Niaal held his hands up, delighted to at last declare his greatness to another living person. He would reveal himself to the whole world soon enough, but even so, it always played to have a dress rehearsal. "The age of the Mages has come to an end! Behold, the age of the Ultra-Magus! Worm! Kill her!"
With a hideous shriek, the worm opened its slavering jaws and lunged at Leah. One of its vile fangs pierced her shoulder pad and snapped off, spewing foul smelling poison into her that burned as she fell.
With an almost superhuman effort, Leah raised the spear and plunged it into the creature's scaly skin, the battery pack burning itself out as it forced the blade though the tough hide.
"Eject cargo!" Leah shouted. "Now!"
The tiny brain in the spear, the only surviving subset of her yellow armour, pressed the meadowsweet forwards. Up it went, through the hollow steel point and straight into the worm's bloodstream.
Inches from her face, the creature paused, its eyes seeing her with appalling clarity. Then it rose up to its full height, and with a deafening roar came crashing down onto Leah, plunging her world into darkness.
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
Krillan raced through the tunnel, his armour following the scent of the worm and the unmistakable electronic footprint of Leah's own armour. Rounding the corner that led to the great chamber, he unlocked the safety from his weapon.
"Fix bayonets!" he shouted to the regulars. "The rest of you do your best."
He looked upwards. He had never been this far beneath the Castle before. The huge mystical thought engines that powered it should have been alive with energy. They should all be dead by simple fact of being there, and yet they still lived.
The engines were silent, the cavernous chamber still.
"Climb!" he ordered.
Leah pulled herself up. The worm was dead, it huge bulk lying across her legs, trapping her. Niaal, incandescent with rage was standing over her.
"What have you done?"
"I killed your worm, I think. Sorry about that. Do hope you won't take it personally." She grimaced, looking at her shoulder. "Meadowsweet. Utterly lethal to them. I read it in a book. You were using it to keep the worm in the tunnels, stop him making his way up here though the magical engines. Easy, really."
"It makes no difference."
"If you say so." Leah strained, trying to pull her legs out from under the carcass. "In the book it said they came from the Hirvan wastes. Revolting creatures."
Niaal sneered at her in disgust. "The Hirvan worms are amongst the most misunderstood creatures in the world. They have natural magical abilities that are so strong, so wildly powerful, that they destroyed the civilization which discovered them."
Leah looked puzzled. "What civilization? They come from the Hirvan wastes. No one lives there. It's a desert."
"It is now. But once, it was a paradise. Until the wizards starting messing about with the worms, of course." Niaal circled Leah like a hungry pack animal. "The worms have many uses."
"You used it to kill the Mage."
"No! I killed all the Mages!"
"Do you know how many people will have died because of what you've done?" said Leah.
"Hmm? Oh, millions." He gave a gentle self-effacing smirk. "Literally millions."
"So. No Mage. No Mages, plural. Just you. What next?"
"Nothing." Niaal leered towards her. "Just me." Niaal threw his arms wide. "And my pets!"
Leah jumped in shock as the body of the worm burst, and dozens of smaller creatures came writhing over the ground toward her, each of them the length of a snake, although fatter and with sharp clawed limbs. As the creature shifted, however, Leah was able to pull herself free from the dead body of the great worm, and scramble away from it.
"Oh, that's disgusting! Using babies. Whatever next?"
"Don't worry, Miss Carleaf. They'll grow to full size just as soon as they've fed." He smiled, backing away from the creatures. "And see if you can guess what's for supper?"
Leah frantically looked around for the spear, but it was too far away, still buried in the carcass of the great worm.
"Get off me!" she shouted, kicking a worm away with her foot. "Try that again and I'll get my army on you. You'll see."
"Your army?" Niaal smirked. "And which army would that be?"
"This one!" said Krillan, blasting the worm into pieces. The creatures turned as one and hissed furiously at Krillan, standing there in the doorway with his men.
"Idiots!" hissed Niaal, in disbelief.
Krillan saluted him, mocking. "Honoured Sage. Looks like the little ones are easier to kill than the adults, doesn't it?"
The worms slithered across the floor towards Krillan and his men, and at once they were caught in a stream of fire from the weapons. Those that made it through were set upon by farmers with scythes and axes. Krillan shot two himself before one wrapped itself around the arm that held his weapon. The beast rose up until it was staring at him face to face; it's teeth dripping wet in the sick green light.
"Oh no you don't!" shouted Krillan, plunging his army knife into the creature, but it was too late. Even as it died, the worm bit Krillan on the shoulder, and they fell together.
With a snarl, Niaal gathered his senses and spun in a circle, generating a disc in mid-air, a smooth shape made of magic and thought. Pushing his arms forwards, it moved across the chamber, driving the men back.
Krillan looked up at him through blurry failing eyes, trying even now to draw his sword.
"Come on, Grefno!" Niaal called. "Where are you?"
The room exploded into colour. A bright light, like daylight in summer, the room suddenly glowed with life; sheer vibrant, affirming life.
"This stops now!" shouted Grefno.
Niaal roared at him. "You won't stop me! You can't. You know what it will mean. You're as powerless as the rest of them."
Grefno smiled.
"Yes. I am. And that's why you've already lost." Grefno pulled Leah's spear from the dead worm and raised it over his shoulder as if to throw it.
Niaal laughed.
"I've stolen the power of every Mage on Inan. Join me and I might let you live, Grefno. But kill me now, before I have ascended to god-hood, and you will destroy the magic forever. Do you understand? Without me there will be no more magic, not now, not ever!"
"I know what will happen," Grefno said.
"Then put down the spear."
Grefno hefted the spear, weighing it in his grasp. "The thing about magic, is that once everyone knows how it's done, it's not magic anymore. It's just science." Grefno closed one eye. "And I like science."
He threw the spear with all his might. Niaal screamed in defiance, as the point pierced his heart. With a look of astonishment he fell to his knees.
"You killed him?" Leah said, hopefully.
"Don't be stupi
d," said Niaal, pulling himself back to his feet. "You think spears can stop me?" He punched his fist forward and three militiamen exploded into red mist. The spear glowed bright red and melted out of his chest.
"Come on then! Let's see what you've got next!"
"I have no magic that will stop you," said Grefno. "You are too powerful, we both know that."
"Surrender, Grefno? I expected more of you."
"No. Not surrender. You see, magic won't stop you. Not now. All I can do is to take away your magic. Take away everyone's magic."
"And how will you do that?"
"The bite of the worm will do it. It killed the Mage, it'll kill you."
"But the worms are all dead."
"We don't need an actual worm." Grefno said, turning to Leah. "We just need the venom. Don't we, Leah?"
Leah ripped the worm's tooth from where it was still embedded in her shoulder pad and with one swift, sharp movement, plunged it deep in Niaal's back.
A silent scream left his mouth as he fell to his knees. He looked up at Grefno, poison tears falling from his eyes.
"Bastard," he mouthed and then he was gone. And as Niaal, the Ultra Magus, last and only Supreme Mage of all Inan died, so the magic of the world of Inan died with him.
"Come on!" shouted Grefno. "In a few minutes this whole place will come down around our ears! We need to get out!"
"We need a sample of the worm's toxin!" shouted Leah. "We need it to make an antidote."
"The illness is magical, Leah!" said Grefno. "We shouldn't need it!"
"Well I'm taking no chances," said Leah, dropping a piece of the slime coated skin of the beast into a pocket. "It's my mother we're talking about here."
Leah hauled Krillan to his feet. With her on one side and Shaule on the other, they dragged him from the hall. The surviving soldiers moved as fast as they could as the Castle rumbled its death throes. They saw the great main hall collapse in on itself as they passed through the outer gate, and out onto the hill overlooking the village.
"Everyone down!" shouted Grefno.
Behind them, light poured from the Castle, up into the sky. And then there was silence.
The Castle rose a few feet into the air and then crashed to the ground, the magical construct turning to plasma and jelly as a wave of liquid ectoplasmic surf rolled towards them.
"Run!" Grefno shouted. "The Castle's reverting to the basic building blocks of matter. We need to get clear of it!"
The group ran as fast as they could towards the village, as the wave of blue glowing energy rolled inexorably towards them
"The trees!" Leah shouted. "We need to get to the trees! They're the highest point left for miles!"
"There's no time!" said Grefno. "The houses will have to do. Get upstairs; get everyone on to the rooftops!"
Running into a house, Leah and Shaule dragged Krillan up the stairs before climbing out of a back window. Leah pulled Krillan after her, as they watched the wave glide toward them.
"This is it, then. This is how it ends."
"Almost, but not quite!" Grefno yelled. Looking up, Leah saw lights in the sky ahead, bobbing towards them.
"What is it?" Shaule said. "More beasts?"
"No," said Grefno. "It's alright. I think everything is going to be alright."
The spots of light grew bigger, until Leah was able to see that they were Alleshi aircraft. The vehicles swooped down towards the village, dropping a line of bombs which halted the wave of energy as the ground was churned up in front of it.
"It's not enough!" said Leah. "It's still coming."
"It's alright," said Grefno. "Look, they've bought us enough time."
Leah looked at the glowing mass. With a hiss of steam, it melted away to a fine mist.
"No more magic," said Grefno. "It will take a few hours for the effects to spread out, of course. The Castle was vaguely sentient. It just needed reminding that it couldn't exist any longer."
The aircraft lights grew bigger until they took shape, landing in the fields and lanes leading to the town. One landed in the Market Square. Running downstairs, Leah smiled as Rendolph and General Vale climbed down from the ship they had travelled in.
"Did you stop the war?" Grefno said.
"Of course he did," said Rendolph. "Where's your faith?"
The General embraced his old friend, throwing his arms around Grefno's shoulders in a big bear hug.
"Grefno! You have saved us again!"
"I'd gladly take the credit, but we have Miss Carleaf to thank for our salvation."
The General took her hand and shook it. "Thank you, Leah. I'm sure the story will be told in full soon enough."
"Ow!" said a voice behind them. "My shoulder is killing me!" Krillan stood in the square, rubbing his shoulder.
"Not dead then?" said Rendolph.
"The illness was magical in nature," Grefno smiled. "It's gone. All the magic has gone. The chaos will be immense. It's going to make life difficult for a long time. But not impossible."
"The people who got the illness, will they be waking up too?" said Leah, suddenly full of hope.
"Yes, Leah. Your mother, your friend Gim, everyone. There will be sick people waking up all well again all over the hospital. Your mother will be most surprised to see what her daughter has been up to, I'm sure."
"And the magical catastrophes that have been reported, the manifestations all over Inan?" said the general.
"No more magic. Of course, that will be a catastrophe in itself for a while, but we'll get over it."
Grefno turned to face his friends. "For millennia magic and science have woven themselves around each other on Inan, like creepers twining around a tree. Like... serpents." He grimaced. "But no more. Today we are left with science and nothing else. And who knows where that will take us?" He slapped the General on the back. "Come. There is much work to be done."
Leah watched the two older men as they wandered off, starting to make plans for the future. She slipped back, suddenly wanting something familiar, something normal.
"Can I give you a lift to the hospital?" It was Captain Krillan, looking somewhat embarrassed. "I've still got a horse around here somewhere and I know you've got more than one reason to visit the two Doctor Barrots."
"That would be great, Captain," she said, surprised at how suddenly delighted she felt to be asked. There was going to be a lot to re-evaluate in the next few months. Maybe the Captain wasn't as much of a total prick as she had thought, after all.
As the great Castle, the beautiful symbol of the age of magic finally sank away into the clean soil, the group walked towards the hospital, to their friends, and the future.
Whatever that would be.
THE END
Mike Maddox's senses departed him, after being a lifelong fan of the short story, and in a moment of weakness he wrote the script for the Lion Graphic Bible, a full-scale comic strip adaptation of the entire Bible. He has no idea what he must have been thinking. Since publication, the book has won an award at the prestigious Angoulême Comics Festival, and has been translated into twenty-two languages in hardback alone. The artist on the book, Jeff Anderson, who previously worked on Judge Anderson for 2000 AD, must have been reading the script very carefully, as he is currently in theological college, training to be a vicar. Together with Doctor Who TV series writer and novelist Paul Cornell, Mike co-wrote the Big Finish Doctor Who audio play Circular Time, starring Peter Davison, David Warner and Hugh Fraser. He has had other comic strips published here and there, and is still mostly proud of being responsible for accidentally putting full frontal male nudity in a Roy of the Rovers comic strip. Dreams of Inan: The Worm That Wasn't is his first novel.
Table of Contents
Extract
Indicia
Titles
Prologue
CHAPTER 01
CHAPTER 02
CHAPTER 03
CHAPTER 04
CHAPTER 05
CHAPTER 06
CHAPTER 07
<
br /> CHAPTER 08
CHAPTER 09
CHAPTER 10
CHAPTER 11
CHAPTER 12
CHAPTER 13
Author Biography