Daemons Are Forever

“I’m still waiting for an answer,” said Molly. “Any answer. What the hell is that thing?”

“Well blow me,” I said, just a little testily. “I didn’t think to bring my Observer’s Book of Space Dragons with me. It’s obviously something that lives…here, and it doesn’t look too happy to see visitors. Let’s all hope very fervently that it’s eaten recently.”

“That is one big bastard,” said Tony. “Do you really think it might try and harm my Ivor?”

“Maybe it’s never seen ti

“It’s bigger than us, and it’s got really nasty teeth and claws,” I said. “I would lay good odds on its probably not being a vegetarian.”

“Is Ivor armed?” said Molly. “Do you have any weapons aboard?”

“There are any number of defence systems,” said Tony, looking at me. “Unfortunately, they are all situated back in the carriages.”

“Somehow I just knew it would all turn out to be my fault,” I said.

The dragon swung around and came flying straight at us again, the huge jaws gri

He vented a long blast of steam like a scream.

The cab rocked from side to side, and Molly and I had to cling to the sides of the cab to keep from being thrown out. Tony shouted obscenities, and worked his levers furiously. Molly yelled at me.

“Distract the bloody thing, while I work on a spell!”

“Distract it? What do you want me to do, drop my trousers and moon it?”

“Just do something!”

I grabbed the side of the cab with both hands, and leant out for a better look. The huge yellow dragon was already turning around and heading back for another attack. I drew the Colt Repeater again, aimed carefully, and shot out the dragon’s glowing eyes, one after another. The terrible jaws stretched even wider in a howl of rage and pain I could sense, even if I couldn’t hear it. It was like fingernails down the blackboard of my soul. The dragon shook its head back and forth, as though trying to shake off the sudden pain and blindness, but still it kept coming, heading right for us. It just kept getting bigger and bigger, blocking off the view ahead, until its great yellow form filled the view before us.

And then Molly leaned right out over her side of the cab, stabbed a single finger at the dragon, and pronounced several very unpleasant Words of Power. The awful sound of the Words seemed to echo endlessly on the quiet, and the dragon suddenly didn’t seem quite so big or imposing. In sharp jerks and shudders, it shrank rapidly in size, becoming smaller and smaller, until by the time it reached Ivor’s cab it was no bigger than an insect. It fluttered around our heads, buzzing angrily, until Molly reached out and crushed it between two fingertips. And that was that.

Molly wiped her hand on her hip and smiled sweetly at me. “You should have remembered,” she said. “In space, all size is relative.”

“You scare me sometimes,” I said.

We carried on, through the space that wasn’t space, and saw many strange and wondrous things. Planets came and went all around us. One planet opened like an eye and stared at us coldly as we passed. Another had a dozen rings spi

Another planet disappeared entirely as we approached, only reappearing after we were safely past.

I couldn’t tell you how long the journey took. There were sights and incidents enough to mark the passing of time, but there was no real sense of duration. It might have been minutes or days or weeks. I never felt tired or hungry or bored. But finally the stars ahead of us began to dance and swirl, churning around us in complicated patterns, finally coalescing into a giant rainbow below us, of such rich and vivid colours that they dazzled the eye. There were even hues and shades that had no counterpart in the dull and ordinary everyday world. It was the most beautiful thing I’d ever seen. Molly and I clung together for comfort in the face of something so inhumanly glorious, while Tony clung to Ivor.

“What is it?” Molly said finally, breathlessly.

“It’s the Starbow,” said Tony, his voice faint and awed. “I read about it in grandfather’s journal, but I never imagined…”

“I’ve heard of it,” I said, “but never expected to ever see it. They say you can follow it to the end of the universe, and maybe even to your heart’s desire.”

“Oh Eddie,” said Molly. “Could we…”

“Yes,” I said. “We could. But we have somewhere else we have to be. We have duties, and responsibilities.”

“Yes,” said Molly, not looking away from the Starbow. “If only…”

“If only,” I said. “Always the cruellest words. Tony, get us out of here.”

He poured on the speed, and slowly we left the Starbow behind us. And sometimes I think that was the hardest thing I ever had to do.

Finally Merlin’s Glass reappeared before us and we roared through it, and just like that we were back in the reality we knew, back in the future I’d seen before. The Time Train seemed to drop like a stone for a long moment, and then a great icy plain rose up beneath us, and the next moment Ivor was churning along through thick snow. Molly and Tony and I were thrown this way and that as Ivor’s speed cut back in vicious shocks and jerks. Tony wrestled his controls with both hands, shouting and cursing, and finally the Time Train slammed to a halt.

It was suddenly very cold, our breath steaming thickly on the air before us. My bare face and hands smarted from the sudden exposure, and I peered out the side of the cab, looking for familiar details. We were actually on the alien world this time, with its pink sky and three fiercely shining suns. The snowy wastes stretched away as far as I could see in every direction. Thin twists of mist turned this way and that on the freezing air.

“You bring me to the nicest places, Eddie,” said Molly, beating her frozen hands together and blowing on them.

“Hey, this is a whole new alien world!” I said.

“You couldn’t have picked a warmer one?”

“Well, we’re in the right place,” I said.

“How can you be sure?”

“Because I recognise the bodies,” I said.

They were just as I remembered them, dozens of dead men and women, scattered across the bloodstained snow.

“Giles Deathstalker’s work,” I said. “He’s a hell of a fighter.”

“Could be a hell of a mass murderer, for all you know,” said Molly. “Where is he, anyway?”

I looked around, but there was no sign of the future warrior. I had to wonder just how accurate Ivor and Merlin’s Glass could hope to be. We’d come a long way, and just a few day’s difference after…who knew how many centuries, was only to be expected. A lot could happen to a man on the run in just a few days, most of it bad. But…Ivor and the Glass were all I had, so I was in no position to complain. Molly and I climbed down from the cab and strode out across the blindingly white plain, our feet sinking deep into the thick snow with every step. It was bitterly cold, almost unbearable, away from the protection of Ivor’s cab, but the sheer effort involved in forcing my way through the snow soon had me sweating. Every breath seared my lungs, and my forehead ached like someone had punched it.