The Malicarn #4
“We make people and then we tell them who they are and what they are supposed to do. And we fuck with their minds and then eventually we kill them.”
“It’s not like that.”
“I got out of a boring life and into one where I could be smart and people treated me like someone who was smart. I think I was happy, Glenn. Maybe, I don’t know. But this fake thing. This fake world with real people.”
Lilly’s voice trailed off. Her eyes were puffy and red. Glenn wanted to hug her, to pull her close to him. But he just stood, watching her. She shook her head and stood up.
“I wanted to see you. But I’m going now. I’m leaving.”
“To where? You can’t travel anywhere right now. It’s not safe with the storm.” He said the words and then realized it was actually true.
“I’m leaving. I have to. I can’t let them catch me. Not after what I … not after this.”
“After what?”
“I couldn’t let them keep doing it.” She hugged him. “Be good, Glenn. Don’t forget to look at the stars sometimes.”
Glenn had so many questions, but Lilly didn’t wait for him to ask. She grabbed a small backpack, threw it over her shoulders, and walked toward the door.
Before she opened it she looked back at him. “There’s one more neuroscanner left. I don’t know where. Jules borrowed it. Find it, please. For me.”
She vanished through the door. She didn’t run, she just floated away, leaving Glenn alone in the apartment, silent but for the hum of the refrigerator and the fluorescent lights in the kitchen.
Glenn finished putting on his costume and then sat on his couch.
His computer, phone, and TV all didn’t work.
He tried to read Jules’s notes but the page was indecipherable.
Just erratic scribbling. Glenn wondered if the lines on the page had ever meant anything at all, even in Jules’s brain before he wrote them down.
He wouldn’t need to leave for the castle until after lunch.
That part of the day’s script needs had been made clear.
Showing up early could throw off whatever plans Jules had written for the day.
With nothing else to do, Glenn reached for the only book he had in his apartment, the illustrated edition of The Malicarn.
He opened it to the first page and began to read.
Chapter One
The Necromancer never forgot the Great War, the times when
“Glenn, open up, goddamnit.” Someone was banging on the door.
Glenn stood up, put down the book, and opened the door. Jules and three burly men—security from the Citadel—pushed themselves inside.
“Where is she?” Jules asked, the other men searching the small apartment.
“What?”
“Where’s Lilly?”
“I don’t know. She was here this morning for a few minutes, but she left. I haven’t seen her. I don’t know where she is.”
“What did she tell you?”
“Nothing? I don’t know, she was nervous about something, said she was going to leave. Went on a rant about ethics.”
“Did she say where she was going?”
“I don’t know where she is, Jules. What happened? Is she all right?”
Jules shook his head. “She blew it up, Glenn. The lab, implementations. Early this morning. No one was hurt, thank God. She must have timed it. All sorts of research is lost. All the neuroscanning data, templates, protocols. The machines, too, all their documentation. Firebombed, all of it. Christ, Glenn, we’re finished.
Years of work lost. There’s no way to program any more characters now. ”
The security guards went through Glenn’s drawers, closets, cabinets. It was a quick search. Glenn had very few things.
“I’m sorry, Jules. I didn’t know. I swear.”
“The execs are going to be furious. We have to finish the film. Now. If they see it, maybe we can keep our jobs.”
“Our jobs? But … I didn’t do anything!”
“Exactly, Glenn. You did nothing. Nothing to stop her. You’re supposed to be my guy on the inside, but lately it feels like I’ve been running things all by myself out here.”
“What do you need me to do?” Glenn asked.
“Okay,” Jules said, nodding his head, thinking out loud.
He rubbed his hands together, but his arms shook as he did.
“We’re going to push ahead with the finale.
Today. A last-minute rewrite, but we can do it.
We can splice in some B-story with the Council later to extend the running time, if need be.
Maybe make it an exclusive short film for streaming.
The props department already put the device in the field, so I can get it up and running today.
I’ll get the king to travel out to the canyon in sector three.
He’ll investigate the Necromancer, think he’s hot on his tail. Then I’ll activate the device.”
Glenn was not, self-admittedly, very insightful. But he had seen a lot of movies. He had read a lot of plays. And as he stood in his apartment he all of a sudden realized what Jules was going to do.
“No. No, you can’t do this.”
“And then,” Jules continued, “you show up just before his death—”
“No!”
“Yes, that’s the big twist! He’s going to have to sacrifice himself to save his bride.”
“You can’t do that.”
“Why not? We killed Kip.”
“That was different. That wasn’t planned.”
“Wasn’t it?”
“What does that mean? No, Jules, you’ll … you’ll ruin the franchise. Prion’s the main character, the star, he—”
“He was the star, of this phase. But this is a prequel. He’s not in the original films, he has to die eventually.
The next phase can have different heroes.
We have plenty of Councilors, and before Lilly destroyed the tech, we created quite a few promising new characters.
And I have … I have ideas. Think bigger, Glenn!
This is how we make history, make something of our own! Are you with me, or not?”
The security guards finished their search and hovered behind Glenn.
“I’m with you.”
“Great. Wait until noon, then ride to the canyon. Follow the smoke, it won’t take you long to find us. I can make the fight last as long as I need, so that just when you arrive I will finish.”
“You’ll be there?”
Jules smiled. “I’m the Necromancer, baby! Ha! Remember, try to stay back, and just look horrified. I don’t need any dialogue from you. Your presence is enough. We can always film your coverage later.”
Glenn nodded. “Sure thing.”
“Good boy.”
Jules left with the guards. Glenn watched them walk out into a square from a window in the staircase.
The guards turned north but Jules climbed onto a horse and rode south, toward the castle.
Glenn knew he would take the main road, looping along the creek before riding across the meadow.
It would take him over an hour, but if Glenn was fast enough, he could cut across the forest, straight and off the road, and beat Jules to the castle.
There was no tunnel between the castle and the Old Village.
This was the fastest way. He could warn Prion. He could stop this madness.
Glenn rushed to the stables, hitched a horse to a cart, and set off by himself.
He drove quickly out of the village and down the main road, across an open field and into heavier woods.
He guided the cart around exposed roots and bumpy stretches of rock.
To the west, Glenn saw a mountaintop, moving steadily closer before slowly receding north behind him.
He cut a diagonal route toward the pass.
Even moving through the forest, Glenn knew he could beat Jules.
Then there was a sudden loud crack from up ahead, and Glenn pulled the cart to a stop. The horse reared back.
“Whoa, boy,” Glenn said.
There was another crash and someone shouted. Emerging from the brush, stomping noisily, was a man holding a spear. Behind him was a very young boy, barely more than two years old. The boy waddled slowly.
“Let’s see your hands!” the man shouted. He was covered in mud, barefoot, missing teeth. “I don’t want no funny business, just whatever coin you have—” The man stopped when he recognized Glenn.
“Well, well. Look here, we have a wizard. Hey, Buck, come here. See that? That’s a real wizard, like the ones I used to fight with.”
“Mawic!” the young boy said.
“Sir, I am on an urgent errand for the king, if you let us pass, I promise I will compensate you—”
“Shut up! Get on down!”
Glenn climbed down, keeping his hands raised. The man approached him slowly. “My son said he wanted to see a magic trick, think you can show him one?”
“No, I cannot. I have no magic here, now. Maybe later, if you let me go.”
“Could you bring back my wife? My little girl? She was still suckling at the breast when the fever took them both.”
“I’m sorry. No. Please. I am sorry, but we have—”
“What about my farm? Can you make it prosper?”
“No.”
The man poked Glenn’s chest with the spear point. He held it steady, and looked up. His eyes flickered, and he spoke, his voice slightly slower, higher pitched, afraid. “Can you give me back my life?”
“Daddy?” cried out the little boy, and the man blinked away, shaking his head as if forgetting a terrible memory.
“How about this? I take your cart, and you do a little magic and just disappear?” The man raised his spear and swung the shaft against Glenn’s head.
He fell back and rolled off the road. His head throbbed, and by the time he could turn to look back at the cart, the man and his son had climbed on board.
“What a nice wizard,” the man said to his son. “We needed a horse, didn’t we, Buck?”
The cart turned around and began rolling away. The father and his son sang a song as they bounced out of view.
“Waltzing Matilda, waltzing Matilda, who’ll come a-waltzing Matilda with me?” A minute later they were gone, and Glenn was alone.
Glenn stood up, picked up his staff, and started running south. He kept the mountain on his right as best as he could, jumping over brush and roots, trying to ignore the throbbing of his head. He still had time. He could still make it.