The Blind Worm by Brian Stableford

Author:Brian Stableford [Stableford, Brian]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Sci-Fi., Science Fiction
Publisher: Ace Books
Published: 1970-01-22T00:00:00+00:00

XIV

The road was roughly hewn stone, worn to smoothness by the treading feet of many generations. It was flanked by dense forest, oak forest of great age.

Beyond the forest, or perhaps within it, away to the east, were four very high narrow towers. Fires burned at the top of each one, making them beacons in the dusk. The sun hovered low in the part of the sky most remote from the towers, and barely outshone them as it set in a bank of dull blue cloud. There were clouds behind the towers too, but thinner, paler clouds that floated slowly along in a wind that barely stirred the leaves on the trees.

The Blind Worm sat by the bole of an ancient oak, watching the towers and thinking. Numerous black birds sat in the branches above him, mournfully contemplating the dusty road some feet away. Further away, a bird was singing melodiously, but that too sounded a little mournful.

There were other lights, barely visible, some way down the road. They represented houses in a loose community which was not even large enough to think of as a village.

Hoof beats sounded on the cobblestone, approaching slowly. There was a rustle in the trees as the black birds grew slightly agitated, but they calmed down and returned to their semi-torpor.

The rider dismounted and came toward the Blind Worm. He wore a flowing purple cloak, high fur boots and leather jacket. His head was bare and his long blond hair hung loose about his shoulders. It was Vanice Concuma. He left his horse without tying it. It stood quietly.

"Hello, Vanice," said the Blind Worm.

"Are you collecting allies, too?" asked Concuma. "I wouldn't have thought it necessary."

"It's necessary. Far more than you might think. All the power in the universe isn't without its limits and its faults. I need help, just as anyone else might."

"Just to fight the black king and Dragon? Surely they can't harm you."

"Harm me?" the Blind Worm repeated absently. "No, they can't harm me. But I have to destroy them. It's a personal matter, you see."

"No, I don't. You can destroy them as easily as you created them."

"It isn't easy," said the Blind Worm. "It's not the killing that's important, it's the way it's done. I have to cleanse my universe, wipe out the disease. It's not enough just to banish them from it physically. I have to erase what they stand for."

"And what do they stand for?"

"Dragon for evil, the black king for tyranny."

"And what do you want from me?"

"Your help. I can't buy you, Concuma. I can't force you. What I need from you is inside you, and only you can bring it out. You live within me and because of me—I don't expect you to be grateful for that—but your life is your own, your will is yours. I won't bribe you or threaten you. I simply ask you to find out where you stand, and hope that it will be with me. It's your own affair—you can choose to side with the black king if you want.

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