Bookworm III (49 page)

“I would have died if you hadn’t saved my life,” Dread said. “Or spent the rest of it in service to a monster. You saved me from that fate.”

“I wish I felt that way,” Johan admitted. “It feels like I killed you.”

“But you didn’t,” Dread said. “I never anticipated an Emperor claiming the Golden Throne. None of us did. It simply never occurred to us that our oaths could be turned into weapons and used to turn us into monsters. Or that we would have no choice but to serve a monster.”

“It might have been short-sighted of you,” Johan said. His father had been fond of horror stories about people who had sworn oaths, then discovered that they’d sworn oaths that could be twisted or used to make them do horrific things. Jamal had always found them amusing. “Or Charity, for that matter.”

“Your sister is a slave,” Dread said, flatly. “And, when you see her again, don’t forget it.”

Johan looked at him, then revised his opinion. Powers or no powers, Dread was
formidable
.

“I won’t,” he promised. “But what are we going to do now?”

He turned as Elaine walked up behind him. “Cass left a letter for you,” she said, holding it out to Dread. “Johan – do you want to help me cook dinner?”

Johan gave her a puzzled look, then understood. Dread would need some privacy to read the letter. Nodding to the older man, he walked beside Elaine to the fire, where Daria was carefully placing pieces of rabbit on a stick. Elaine looked unhappy at having to cut up the meat, but did it without complaint. Johan sat down next to her and held the pieces of meat over the fire.

“He thanked me,” Johan said, quietly. “Will he be all right?”

“I hope so,” Elaine said. “But give him some time to himself, I think.”

***

There was very little information, even in Elaine’s head, on what happened to magicians who lost their powers. Some magicians lost their magic as they grew old and died, but they were already senile; others, very rarely, lost their powers and went mad shortly afterwards. It was a confidence issue, Elaine suspected. No matter the crimes, very few magicians would willingly agree to strip another magician of his powers.

She kept a wary eye on Dread as he walked back to the fire, expecting everything from helpless anger to a potentially-lethal bout of depression. Instead, Dread seemed calm and composed, eating his share of the rabbit without complaint. In some ways, she realised, he was almost
relieved
. Whatever happened in the future, he wouldn’t have to serve Deferens any longer.

“The Emperor was planning to invade Ida,” Dread said, after they’d finished the meal. “He was practically obsessed with the tiny kingdom.”

“One of his opponents in the contest came from Ida,” Daria muttered. “Do you think he’s just taking a pitiful kind of revenge.”

“I thought so,” Dread said. “It’s just the sort of thing he would do. And besides, Ida simply isn’t very important. He may feel that making an example of the state would keep everyone else in line.”

Elaine started to laugh, hysterically, as the pieces fell into place. “Not very important,” she repeated, between giggles. “Not very important?”

Dread frowned. “It isn’t,” he said. “They don’t have any territory or influence outside the mountains ...”

“It doesn’t matter,” Elaine said. “Ida was one of the places that held out, wasn’t it? One of the places that were completely surrounded by the Witch-King’s forces during the war. And they held out, despite being attacked by dragons and basilisks and every other creature the Witch-King could summon into being. How did they survive?”

Dread’s eyes narrowed. “You think they made a deal?”

Elaine nodded. “I think their ruling family made a deal,” she said. “And I think that, if we go to Ida, where it all began, we will find the hiding place of the Witch-King.”

End of Book III

The Story Will Conclude In:

Full Circle

Elsewhen Press

an independent publisher specialising in Speculative Fiction

Visit the Elsewhen Press website at
elsewhen.co.uk
for the latest information on all of our titles, authors and events; to read our blog; to find out where to buy our books and ebooks; or to place an order.

Elsewhen Press

Also by Christopher Nuttall

Winner of the GOLD Award in the Adult Fiction category of the 2013 Wishing Shelf Independent Book Awards

Bookworm

The first book of the Bookworm series

Elaine, an inexperienced witch in Golden City, has her life turned upside down when she triggers a magical trap and ends up with all the knowledge in the Great Library stuffed inside her head. Avoiding the Inquisition she tries to understand what has happened to her. But she is a pawn in the dark plans of one who wants the Grand Sorcerer’s power.

ebook, paperback (384pp)

visit
bit.ly/Bookworm-Nuttall

Bookworm II

The Very Ugly Duckling

The second book of the Bookworm series

In the wake of the disastrous attack on the Golden City, Lady Light Spinner has become Grand Sorceress and Elaine, the Bookworm, has been settling into her positions as Head Librarian and Privy Councillor. But any hope of vanishing into her books is negated when a new magician of staggering power appears in the city, one whose abilities seem to defy the known laws of magic.

ebook, paperback (432pp)

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bit.ly/Bookworm2-Nuttall

Elsewhen Press

Also by Christopher Nuttall

The Royal Sorceress

Book I of the Royal Sorceress series

1830, in an alternate Britain where the ‘scientific’ principles of magic, discovered 60 years previously, allowed the British to prevent American Independence. The ageing Royal Sorcerer, Master Thomas, must find a successor: a Master of all the known magical powers. There’s only 1 candidate, who has displayed such a talent from an early age. A candidate perfect in all ways but one: the Royal College of Sorcerers has never admitted a girl before.

ebook, paperback (400pp)

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bit.ly/TheRoyalSorceress

The Great Game

Book II of the Royal Sorceress series

After the uprising in London, Lady Gwendolyn Crichton is settling into her new position as Royal Sorceress and fighting the prejudice against her gender and age that seeks to prevent her from fulfilling her responsibilities. But when a senior magician is murdered in a locked room and Gwen is charged with finding the culprit, her inquiries lead her into a web of intrigue that combines international politics, widespread aristocratic blackmail, gambling dens and personal vendettas... and some of her discoveries hit dangerously close to home.

ebook, paperback (400pp)

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bit.ly/TheGreatGame

Necropolis

Book III of the Royal Sorceress series

War with France is imminent. Lady Gwendolyn should be firmly focussed on preparing the Royal Sorcerers Corps, but her adopted daughter Olivia is kidnapped. When Intelligence establishes that Russian agents took Olivia, an incognito Gwen joins a diplomatic mission to Russia where she discovers that a deranged Tsar’s plans threaten the entire world.

ebook, paperback (416pp)

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bit.ly/RSNecropolis

Elsewhen Press

A Life Less Ordinary

Christopher Nuttall

There is magic in the world, hiding in plain sight. If you search for it, you will find it, or it will find you. Welcome to the magical world.
Dizzy expected nothing from life, until she stumbled from the mundane world into the magical world, an alternate reality where dragons flew through the sky and the Great Powers watched over the world. Forgetting her old life, Dizzy became apprenticed to one of the most powerful magicians in all of reality and a bright future beckoned. But powerful dark forces had their eye on the young and inexperienced magician, intending to use her for the ultimate act of evil – the apocalyptic destruction of all reality. Now, Dizzy must beat them. If she cannot, both the magical and mundane worlds will be consumed in fire.

ebook, paperback (336pp)

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bit.ly/ALLO-Nuttall

Elsewhen Press

S
UFFICIENTLY
A
DVANCED
T
ECHNOLOGY

THE FIRST BOOK IN THE
I
NVERSE
S
HADOWS UNIVERSE

C
HRISTOPHER
N
UTTALL

For the post-singularity Confederation, manipulating the quantum foam – the ability to alter the base code of the universe itself and achieve transcendence – is the holy grail of science. But it seems an impossible dream until their scouts encounter Darius, a lost colony world whose inhabitants have apparently discarded the technology that brought them to the planet in order to adopt a virtually feudal culture. On Darius, the ruling elite exhibits abilities that defy the accepted laws of physics. They can manipulate the quantum foam!

Desperate to understand what is happening on Darius, the Confederation dispatches a stealth team to infiltrate the planet's society and discover the truth behind their strange abilities. But they will soon realise that the people on Darius are not all the simple folk that they seem – and they are sitting on a secret that threatens the entire universe ...

ebook, paperback (336pp)

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bit.ly/SAT-Nuttall

Elsewhen Press

The Mind’s Eye

Christopher Nuttall

For centuries, men have been dreaming of telepathy, the power to read and influence the minds of others. Now, all around the world, telepaths are finally starting to appear. Men and women are developing awesome powers with the potential to dramatically change society. Governments are soon starting to become aware of them, even recruiting them, while striving to keep knowledge of their abilities hidden from the general public. Academic researchers too are discovering telepaths and it isn’t long before awareness of their existence starts to spread. But non-telepaths, ordinary people, don’t want to have their minds read or controlled; the telepaths soon find themselves widely regarded with fear and hatred. Inevitably, some of them want to fight back.

ebook, paperback (352pp)

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bit.ly/MindsEye-Nuttall

Elsewhen Press

Evil Above the Stars series

Peter R. Ellis

This thrilling fantasy series appeals to readers, of all ages, of fantasy or science fiction, especially fans of JRR Tolkien and Stephen Donaldson. If old theories are correct until a new idea comes along, does the universe change with our perception of it? Were the ideas embodied in alchemy ever right? What realities were the basis of Celtic mythology?

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bit.ly/EvilAbove

Volume 1

Seventh Child

September Weekes discovers a stone that takes her to
Gwlad
, where she is hailed as the one with the power to defend them against the evil known as the Malevolence. September meets the people’s leader, the
Mordeyrn Aurddolen
, and the bearers of the seven metals linked to the seven ‘planets’ that give them special powers to resist the elemental manifestations of the Malevolence. She returns home, but a fortnight later, is drawn back to find that two years have passed and there have been more attacks. She must help defend
Gwlad
against the Malevolence.

ebook, paperback (256pp)

Volume 2

The Power of Seven

Having reached
Arsyllfa
, September is re-united with the
Mordeyrn Aurddolen
with whom, together with the other senior metal bearers that make up the Council of
Gwlad
, she must plan the defence of the Land.

About the Author

Christopher Nuttall has been planning sci-fi books since he learnt to read. Born and raised in Edinburgh, Chris created an alternate history website and eventually graduated to writing full-sized novels. Studying history independently allowed him to develop worlds that hung together and provided a base for storytelling. After graduating from university, Chris started writing full-time. As an indie author he has self-published a number of novels, but this is his seventh fantasy to be published by Elsewhen Press. The third instalment in the bestselling
Bookworm
series,
Bookworm III: The Best Laid Plans
continues Elaine’s story. Chris is currently living in Edinburgh with his wife, muse, and critic Aisha and their son.