Chapter 120: King Worm

Chapter 120: King Worm

There must have been twenty wasps, at least. Only half a dozen had riders on their backs, but all had bits of wood held by their six legs. I dont know what they needed the wood forsomething to do with whatever they had planned to do in the Temple, I supposebut they dropped everything when they saw us.

Oh ho, said the lead Intui. Now that I was close enough to see clearly, I could tell this one was Meeth, the one we had encountered earlier. See, Im not racist, I just have poor eyesight. Come to rescue your friend, have you?

The wasps spread out before us ready to attack, but Meeths smug leer turned into shock, then rage, when he saw Dudley standing with us, rather than tied to the sacrificial altar.

How did His eyes went beyond us, probably concerned about what had happened in his absence. And rightly so.

It was oddly quiet. Id have expected all the falling rocks and screaming lizardmen to have made a lot more noise, but for some reason the sound didnt carry out of the Temple.

Get out of our way, said Hitokag. When Cheng finds out about this

How will he find out if you are all dead? asked Meeth with excellent logic.

The buzz of wasps began to get more intense. But there was another sound, or at least a vibration, coming from below us. Meeth and his cohorts couldnt feel it because they were airborne, but the soles of my boots prickled under me.

I looked at the others and it was obvious they could feel it too.

Seeing us exchange glances put Meeth on alert, but he didnt know what the threat was. Neither did we. It was just as likely to be a problem for us as it was for him.

Whats going on? he screamed at us. What are you up to?

We didnt have any answers for him, but we didnt need them as the vibrations turned into a rumble and then the ground shook, knocking us all off our feet.

A jabberwock smashed through the rock and shot into the air. But this worm was a little different to the ones we had seen in the Temple. It was about the same size, but its skin wasnt smooth and slimy, it was hard like a crust had formed over it. The texture and craggy pattern were very reminiscent of troll-skin.

Another feature of this particular jabberwock was that it had eyes. They werent very big, but they were familiar. The whole head, in fact, looked very much like Kungen.

More tremors shook the mountainside and jabberwockythe regular kindburst out. Six. Ten. Twelve. They just kept coming, rising around us like a forest.

Meeth and his wasps were surrounded. What is this? What is this? Meeth kept shrieking.

Kungen-worm opened its mouth, which peeled back like the worms we had encountered before, and sucked in the air. Wasps tried to fly away but were drawn in, riders and all. The other worms followed suit. They might not have been able to see or hear, but thrashing about like out-of-control vacuum cleaners was very effective in dealing with the wasps.

You might think that this was game over. Wasps had the upper hand for a moment, then the cavalry arrived with the perfect countermeasure, and its Goodnight Vienna. However, a mouthful of wasps is still a mouthful of wasps.

The jabberwocky started flailing about like theyd just found out their lucky numbers had come up on the lottery but the wife forgot to buy the ticket this week. They smashed and slapped their swollen mouths against the ground as the wasps stung for all they were worth.

We all dived out of the way to avoid the gigantic bodies flopping from side to side, threatening to crush anything caught in their path.

The only one not affected like this was the Kungen-worm. It watched, very much the worm in charge. If a wasp or Intui managed to somehow avoid the crossfire, he struck like a viper, snatching the escapee out of the air. The source of this content nov(el)bi((n))

Within a few minutes the wasps were all gone, as were the Intui lizardmen. Two jabberwocky lay still and lifeless, the others simply retracted into their holes.

The last to leave was Kungen-worm. I thought he might say something, but he didnt. Was he the same Kungen in a different form, or a completely new entity? He had definitely controlled the other jabberwocky, and even forced them to come out in daylight, so he could rightly be called Worm King now, but what that meant was hard to tell.

Kungen? I said to the towering rock snake. There was no response, not even a flicker of recognition.

Keezy probably would have had a better chance to communicate, but there was no sign of him. I didnt think the falling rocks would have killed him, and he could dig his way out, but I was in no mood to form a search party.

Tears fell from her eyes now, but these I recognised. Tears of frustration at not getting your way.

I felt quite pleased with myself as I kneeled down next to the dragon. One-Nil to the home team.

You think you can heal something this big? said Hitokag, not sounding very convinced.

Ill give it a shot.

The warmth in my hand spread out across the vast body. The stings had left behind vicious red sores. They receded as I poured my energy into the creature.

My mind went blank. I dont know how long I sat there, growing weaker and weaker. At some point I must have blacked out

When I came to, Jenny was over me. My head was in her lap. She was crying.

How bad is it? Do I have a white beard?

Shut the fuck up. She was mad at me. She kissed me. It tasted salty.

I sat up and looked around. It was dark and a fire burned nearby. The dragon was up and being fussed over by the Mezzik.

Thank you, said Flossie. For everything.

I shrugged. Gratitude never really meant much to me. Show me how thankful you are when it costs you something to help me, then Ill acknowledge it.

We should leave, said Hitokag. He spoke to me in a slightly different tone now. I dont know if it was full respect, but it was something close to it. I smiled. Got him.

Jenny brushed the long strands of hair out of my face and kissed me again. Then she put her arms around my neck and held me tight.

Can I get up now? I asked her.

No.

Youll have to let go eventually.

Never.

I struggled to my feel with her still clinging on, which wasnt easy. Claire and Maurice said some pleasant things which I instantly forgot, and Dudley shook my hand and said nothing.

We climbed on board the dragon, which treated me no different to anyone elsefucking cow with wingsand we took off.

Jenny remained very clingy, but I didnt mind it. The air was quite chilly up there and she was soft and warm. Had she learned her place, or did she consider my attempt at self-determination a challenge? I would probably find out next time we had opposing views.

Can you love someone you dont trust at all? Im not sure. I certainly liked her very much. Even though she would probably attempt to crush my spirit and bring me to heel, I kind of looked forward to it. I felt confident I could take her. Mind you, women know all sorts of dirty tricks. I didnt expect a fair fight.

Compared to Jenny, Cheng didnt seem that big a deal.

The stars sparkled over our heads as I flew through the night on the back of a dragon, headed for a castle on top of a mountain. Not often you get to say that.

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