The Last God by Michael McClung

Author:Michael McClung
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: sword & sorcery, novelette, old school fantasy, gods and demons, grimdark
Publisher: Michael McClung
Published: 2017-10-30T16:00:00+00:00

THE ACTINIC BLUE LIGHT blinded me once more. Godhead’s Eye pierced me with its gaze, unblinking, merciless, vivisecting my soul. That sound, a thousand leviathans in chorus rang in my ears. The dust of ages choked me as I writhed on the stone floor, in a great pool of my own blood.

The others were already dead. The ur-ghrol’s headless corpse still spasmed, inches away.

I woke up sweating and twitching spastically. At least I hadn’t pissed myself this time. I’d had to blame that outcome on old age and infirmity more than once over the years. At least I’d never shat myself. Take your victories where you can, I say. I decided to avoid drinking any more of Tambor’s Best, all the same. Gorm on a stick, I hate that dream.

Once the pounding of my heart, if not my head, had subsided, I worked my way up to standing and splashed water on my face at the basin. Then I crept out of my cell, even more slowly than usual, to get some porridge started. I very much doubted my stomach could handle anything more solid, or seasoned.

“Hey, really old man,” Jessep called to me from the temple’s entry. The little bastard looked as fresh as a flower. Youth truly is wasted on the young.

“What do you want, pimple mill?”

“There’s a palanquin outside waiting for you, with some big, burly Chagan fellows to hoist it.”

I hobbled towards him. “I’m surprised you know what a palanquin is.” They weren’t exactly common anywhere along the Dragonsea.

“Oh, I know the meanings of lots of words,” he replied, and started ticking some off on his fingers. “Geriatric. Disgusting. Dirty old man.”

“That last one’s more a phrase than a word,” I observed.

“It’s just one word in Chagan. I looked it up.”

“You’re getting annoying, boy.” I’d never realized what a prude Jessep was. Came from being brought up in a decent family, I supposed.

His eyebrow rose. “If I’m getting annoying, consider the company I keep.”

“This damned hip of mine always aches more just before a big rain. I’m thinking the roof needs tarring again. Another coat, just to be safe.”

Jessep glared at me. But he shut up.

I made it to the doorway and looked out. Sure enough, a gilt, silk-curtained palanquin was parked at the bottom of the temple’s steps, with a muscular bearer stationed at each corner. Or maybe it was just a sedan chair. I wasn’t clear on where the one ended and the other began. It had attracted a crowd. Half of them were just gawking. The other half, like as not, were trying to figure out how to steal the thing.

As soon as I appeared, the curtains parted and a child popped out. Shaven-headed, it was hard to tell if it was a boy or a girl, but it looked to be about eight years old. It rushed up the stairs towards me, stone-faced. I was just about to raise my cane to fend it off when it stopped at the top step and went down on its knees, bowing, forehead to none-too-clean stone.

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