The New Weird - Ann VanderMeer [135]
I remembered the only Bacchante I had met. "Is Mimosa still fighting the Insects?"
"Yes, with Dunlin," the Vermiform concurred.
"King Dunlin," I said.
The Vermiform produced its woman's head, and shook it.
"No. Just Dunlin. He has renounced being king. He now presents himself as simply a travelling wise man. He advises many worlds in their struggle against the Insects."
"Oh."
"It seems to be a phase he's going through. He is growing very sagacious, but he hasn't yet realised the true extent of his power."
"Their horses are shiny," said Cyan.
The Bacchantes galloped closer. The four polished legs of each mount flickered, moving much faster than destriers with a chillingly smooth movement and no noise but a distant hum.
"They're horse-shaped machines," I said. "They don't have real heads, and no tails at all. They're made of metal."
"They're made of solar panels," the Vermiform corrected.
High over the ruined city, the Gabbleratchet burst through.
The Bacchantes halted in confusion. The black hunters were so much worse against the bright sky. They cast no shadow. Dull, cream-yellow jaws gaped, sewn with white molars. The Bacchantes stared, hypnotised.
The Vermiform screamed at the riders, "Run!"
The Gabbleratchet plunged down and ―
― Splash! Splash!
Freezing muddy water swirled up around me. I sank in a chaos of bubbles. Something tugged me and I broke the surface, spluttering. Up came Cyan, and the Vermiform held us above the water of a stinking, misty swamp. Gas was bubbling up from clumps of algae.
The sky was monochrome grey, filled with cloud and a hazy halo where the sun was trying to break through.
"Infusoria Swamp."
Cyan wiped slime off her face and hair. "Hey! This is my dream and I want to go somewhere nice!"
"Shut up!" The Vermiform seethed in fury. "All for you, little girl! We don't see why we have to do this and now we're being chased! We don't know how to get rid of it. We don't know where to go next that won't kill you!"
She shrieked in frustration, grabbed handfuls of worms and tried to squash them but they forced her fists open and crawled out.
"Shifting is sapping our strength," said the worms.
"Come on!" I shouted at it. "Let's go."
"It's my dream so get off me!"
"Stop squeezing us."
"Piss off and keep pissing off, piss-worms!"
A colossal blob of gel creature flowed towards us on the water's surface. Flecks and granules churned inside it as if it was a denser portion of the swamp; it extended pseudopodia and started to wrap around the outlying worms.
"What's that?" said Cyan.
"Amoeba." The Vermiform pulled its worms out and hoisted us up higher with a sucking noise.
"Isn't it rather large?"
"We're very small here."
"Look at the sky!" said Cyan.
The bright patch was growing in size. Violet forks of lightning cracked the sky in two, leapt to the swamp, hissed and jumped between the reeds. The Gabbleratchet arced out.
The Vermiform gave one completely inhuman scream with all its strength and jerked us out ―
― A hot plain with cycads and a volcano on the horizon. Giant lizards were stalking, two-legged, across it towards a huge empty sea urchin shell with a sign saying "The Echinodome ― Sauria's Best Bar."
A flash of green on the scorched sands before us. The Gabbleratchet burst towards ―
― Cyan screamed and we both fell onto a cold floor, knocking the breath out of us. We were in an enclosed space; we Shifted so fast my eyes didn't have time to focus.
The Vermiform parted from us in one great curtain. Its exhausted worms crawled around with Sauria sand and Infusoria gel trickling from between them. I stamped my feet, feeling water