The Worm of the Ages and Other Tails: Six Short Fantasies by Tom Simon Page B

there no other hand that can wield this weapon? Cannot Bringúr the bold, or Orandel the mighty? Are there no warriors among us?” But none answered him; and the Queen gave him the blade again, saying, “Already thy service is beyond all price. Yet serve but a little longer, and fame beyond the ending of the world shall be thy guerdon.” ’
    (Here Kataki looked as if she might ask what a guerdon was, but since Mazuj seemed not to know either, she kept silent instead.)
    ‘ “O Queen,” said Telkon, “your promise would be the greater if you pledged to speak well of me on the morrow: for the ending of the world may be past by then. But if none other of the Keepers will do this thing, then I will bear the burden, even as I have forged the blade: and let it stand to their everlasting shame that none of my people helped.” And with that saying, he turned on his heel and strode from the presence of the Queen without taking leave.
    ‘Then some of the Keepers were wroth, and one who stood at hand said: “Punish this insolence, O Queen!” But the Queen answered: “If he succeed at this jeopardy, he will earn the right to what insolence he pleases. If he fail, there will be punishment enough for us all.” ’
    ‘I could do without these Keepers,’ said Mazuj. ‘They remind me of my brother. Talk bigger than they act, and they use the word  punish a lot.’
    ‘Child,’ said the Loring, ‘you could not. The Light must be kept, and so Keepers there must be.’
    ‘Ah,’ said Avel knowingly. ‘They’re needed, so they can get away with things. Like the reapers.’
    ‘Hush, both of you,’ said Kataki. ‘I want to hear the rest of the story. Did Telkon go after the Worm?’
    ‘He did,’ said the Loring. ‘From the council of the Keepers he went straightway to the Daughters of Cómar on their strand of pearl, and besought of them a vessel to bear him across the seas to the bitter North. And they gave him a coracle of willow and hazel, stretched over with the skin of a great shark that they had taken on the shore. And they themselves guided him over the Sundering Sea, being wise in all the lore of their father, who was its lord. Swiftly he passed, with neither storm nor calm to stay him; and he beached the coracle on the icy strand, and left it in their keeping, for the Daughters of Cómar cannot go far from the seas of their father.’
    ‘Now behold.’ The Loring’s voice fell almost to a whisper; the children leant forward to hear him better. ‘All is silent on the frozen shore. No sound is there but the creak of his feet upon the snow as Telkon strides the bitter leagues beneath the stars. He rests not, nor breaks his journey; for he has come without fire, lest it waken the Worm, or warn it of his presence. Though the Keepers are immortal, their flesh is flesh withal, even as yours or mine; and the cold of that land is death to all flesh. He who sleeps there without fire, sleeps for ever.’
    Mazuj yawned. ‘I could sleep for ever, but I’d rather have the fire.’
    ‘Be quiet,’ said Kataki.
    ‘Now Telkon draws nigh the pillar of Telménedh, where the Worm still lies in fitful slumber. No other living thing is in the land; only snow and ice, and the shards of great rocks riven by frost. Nearer and nearer the Worm he creeps, and Tan-an-Nydh is in his hand. His one thought is to come upon the monster ere it wakes, and plunge the blade into its heart. But he is betrayed by the gleam of it in the starlight, and by the soft creak of his footfalls. A mighty eye blinks open, and its clear gaze falls upon him. The Worm awakes!’
    ‘I knew it,’ said Avel. Kataki glared at him.
    ‘Red and gold shone the Ancient Fire in the eyes of the Worm, as the beast bestirred itself; but all other lights went out. The stars stopped in their courses, flickered and failed. Beyond the little circle illumined by the Worm, all was as dark as the Void. And by fate or ill-chance, Telkon had come upon the Worm head first,