A new sword and sorcery novella, Kill All Wizards by Jedediah Berry, has emerged from Tordotcom Publishing, offering readers a glimpse into a world where ancient power clashes with burgeoning, perhaps malevolent, sorcery. The release, scheduled for June 16th, is accompanied by an excerpt that paints a vivid picture of a wronged barbarian seeking vengeance against a powerful cabal of wizards. This excerpt, detailed below, not only introduces the central conflict but also establishes a rich, albeit dark, fantasy world grappling with unsettling omens.
The Enigmatic Barbarian and the Shadow of Sorcery
The narrative centers on a formidable figure known only as "the barbarian," a man of imposing presence and enigmatic origins. His journey to the empire’s wizarding enclaves was initially one of seeking counsel. However, instead of receiving aid, he was ensorcelled, his strength exploited, and his prized sword stolen. This betrayal ignites a burning desire for retribution, compelling him to embark on a perilous mission to eliminate every wizard who wronged him. His strategy is as audacious as it is distasteful: to infiltrate the very society he despises, adopting its fineries, frequenting its exclusive clubs, and securing the best seats at theatrical performances, all while harboring a deep-seated loathing for its inhabitants.
The provided excerpt from Chapter 1, "The View From the Unnamable," immediately immerses the reader in a land characterized by a "great tameness," a facade that begins to crack with the rising tide of wizardly deaths. The barbarian, identified by the name Gotchimus, is presented as a figure of stark contrast. He moves between the mundane and the ancient, sampling cigars one day and plundering demon-princes’ tombs the next. His appearance is described not as conventionally handsome, but as possessing a wild, almost dangerous beauty, accentuated by storm-cloud gray eyes and a bearing that evokes both openness and inscrutability. His sartorial choices, while sometimes refined, are juxtaposed with his habit of erecting a "tent of bone and hide" in the rougher districts, a stark visual representation of his dual nature.
A City Under Siege: The Unsettling Demise of Wizards
The story gains momentum as wizards begin to turn up dead across the city. These are not mere street thugs, but individuals whose absence leaves a palpable void, ruffling the established order. The excerpt details the city’s response: amateur sleuths charting clues, officials deploying "Committee Lamentables" with "light-knife smiles," and the High Godsward witches seeking solace in protective amulets for their descendants. This atmosphere of fear and suspicion naturally casts a shadow over the barbarian, Gotchimus, who becomes an immediate suspect.
The interaction between Gotchimus and his associate, Mister Hecksley, a thief who now profits from others’ pilfering, highlights the growing unease. Hecksley confronts Gotchimus with newspaper accounts of the wizardly murders, the latest detailing the gruesome demise of the Head of Ven, a renowned mechanician found "smothered in a bucket of naphtha." Gotchimus’s nonchalant denial, suggesting someone else "must have gotten to him first," only fuels Hecksley’s apprehension and deepens the mystery.
The Unnamable: A Club Built on Ancient Foundations
A significant element of the narrative is the setting of the club "The Unnamable." This establishment is carved within the colossal skull of a nameless god, a relic from a cataclysmic event known as the Sundering. The god’s skeletal remains form the very foundations of the city’s structures, lending a pervasive sense of ancient power and forgotten history to the narrative. The club’s inability to be named underscores the lingering mystique and the untamed nature of the world beyond the veneer of civilization. From this vantage point, the narrator describes the city’s morning beauty, the sounds of the knife grinders, the spectral ghost tortoise, and the distant spires of the Thousandfold Tower, the headquarters of the Fifth Committee—the very body Gotchimus seeks to confront.
The Cost of Information: A Pact of Secrets
The conversation between Gotchimus and Hecksley evolves into a negotiation for information. Gotchimus, having acquired a significant cache of gemstones—a testament to his past exploits—is not seeking monetary compensation. Instead, he desires knowledge about a specific wizard, described as having cropped gray hair, plain robes, a voice like "dark velvet," and bright green eyes. This wizard, who claims to "walk the inbetween places," is the target of Gotchimus’s unfinished business, directly linked to the eyepatch he now wears.
Hecksley, initially hesitant due to the dangerous nature of the information and his own past entanglements with wizards, agrees to the exchange but demands a full account of Gotchimus’s own story, particularly the origin of his eyepatch. This sets the stage for a reciprocal unveiling of secrets, a pact forged in a chamber overlooking a city that teeters on the precipice of magical upheaval.
Chapter 2: The Barbarian’s Ordeal
Chapter 2, "Death and the Wild God," plunges deeper into Gotchimus’s past, recounting his initial, failed attempts to gain an audience with the Fifth Committee. His attire, his namelessness, and his unconventional dwelling place—the tent by the river—all marked him as an outsider, a "barbarian through and through" in the eyes of the bureaucratic labyrinth of the Thousandfold Tower. The "Gracious Assessor," a colossal, multi-limbed being tasked with managing supplicants, repeatedly thwarted his efforts with bureaucratic hurdles and expired forms.
Just as Gotchimus resolves to resort to more direct, violent means, a sudden, inexplicable approval of his audience request arrives. However, his subsequent experience is not a meeting but an abrupt awakening in a "wild glen," stripped of his finely tailored suit and left with only his sword.
Confrontation with Ancient Power
In this glen, Gotchimus encounters a towering, bark-skinned entity—a god of the forest, deeply wounded and seething with rage. The god, embodying the primal forces of nature, attacks. Gotchimus, initially seeking to de-escalate, is forced into a brutal confrontation. The narrative describes the ferocity of the battle, with the god’s minions—jackdaws, bees, foxes, badgers, wolves, boars, and stoats—joining the fray. The description of the god’s wounds, patched with natural elements, and the flora growing from its body, paints a picture of a being intrinsically linked to the wild.
The excerpt details the barbarian’s struggle, his sword proving inadequate against the god’s ancient hide. He sustains numerous wounds, his strength waning. Yet, with a final, desperate gambit, he uses a broken spear shaft in the god’s side to launch himself into a position to strike a fatal blow. The narrative pauses before explicitly describing the final moments of the confrontation, leaving the reader to ponder the ethical implications of depicting such violence. The author poses a rhetorical question about the responsibility of narrating such grim deeds, opting for a direct, albeit stark, account of the god’s decapitation and the barbarian’s somber reflection on ending an ancient life.
The Unfolding Conspiracy and the Quest for the "Inbetween" Wizard
The events described in the excerpt suggest a larger conspiracy at play. The wizards, after their betrayal of Gotchimus, appear to have orchestrated his encounter with the wild god, perhaps as a means of disposing of him or testing his capabilities. The fact that they returned his sword implies a deliberate intention for him to fight.
Gotchimus’s quest to find the wizard who walks the "inbetween places" is clearly linked to his past trauma and the eyepatch he now wears. This wizard represents a unique and potentially dangerous facet of arcane power, operating beyond the conventional elemental or sphere-based magic. The fact that Hecksley, a master of information and acquisition, is both disturbed and intrigued by the description of this wizard suggests his power and influence are significant and perhaps feared.
Broader Implications and Future Narrative Arcs
The novella Kill All Wizards appears poised to explore themes of revenge, the corrupting nature of power, the clash between primal forces and organized sorcery, and the blurred lines between civilization and barbarism. The city itself, built upon the bones of ancient deities, serves as a constant reminder of the precarious balance of power and the potential for ancient forces to re-emerge.
The narrative promises a complex interplay of characters, each with their own hidden motives and histories. The relationship between Gotchimus and Hecksley, though ostensibly one of transaction, hints at a deeper, albeit uneasy, camaraderie forged in the shadows of the city’s elite. The fate of the wizards, the identity and true purpose of the "inbetween" wizard, and the ultimate goal of Gotchimus’s vengeance are all elements that will likely drive the plot forward.
The excerpt sets a compelling stage for a tale of high fantasy adventure, filled with intrigue, violence, and a deep exploration of character against a backdrop of a richly imagined world. The impending release of Kill All Wizards is set to offer readers a potent blend of sword-and-sorcery action and intricate plot development.
