Jack Castle [Castle - Stranger Realm

STRANGER REALM

JACK CASTLE

PUBLISHED BY CASTLE BOOKS INC

Copyright 2017 by Chris Tortora

This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are products of the authors imagination or are used fictionally and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, organizations, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, scanned, or distributed in any printed, electric or audio form without written permission.

ISBN-13: 978-1979468060

ASIN: B078BMYSBY

PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

First Edition

Buckle up for another amazing thrill ride through the fantastical worlds created by Jack Castle! Stranger Realm is one of those books where the destination and the journey are equally enjoyable, -and we cant wait to board the next one!

-Spokesman Review

Jack Castle is the Master of Psychedelic prose! His writing is as crisp as it is imaginative!

-Gary Norton

Owner of Silverwood Theme Park

(The largest Theme Park in the Northwest )

The lines of imagination and reality never have been so blurred as they are in the amazing yet sinister theme park so creatively envisioned by Jack Castle!

-Joe Butler, Spokesman Review

ALSO BY JACK CASTLE

Europa Journal

Bedlam Lost

White Death

The Revenants

Stranger World series:

Stranger World

Stranger Realm

Stranger Tides

For Sam

No matter how big you get,

youll always be my little buddy.

Acknowledgements

There are so many good people and friends who helped me hone and polish this book series. First and foremost, I will always be grateful to my wife Trace, and my two best friends: Chad Bryant and Greg Wahlman for their constant and unwavering support.

Of course, I would also like to thank (beta-readers) and crewmembers of H.M.A.S. The Dauntless: Elisa Brinton, Charlsie Cartier, and Samantha Neeley for helping me pick apart and rebuild the first draft, and keep it all straight in this crazy, upside down world.

I LOVEBALLOONS!

A special thanks goes out to editor, Ansley Blackstock and copy editor, Suzanne Holland for their superb editing. And finally, thank you Kings Custom Covers (kingscustomcovers.com) for their spectacular cover design.

Who in the World Am I? Ah, thats the Great Puzzle.

- Lewis Carroll , Alice in Wonderland

Prologue

The Zombie-Pirate King

Two undead crewmembers dragged a lump of badly beaten flesh down a set of rotten, creaking stairs. A most unnatural mist creeped down the stairwell behind them, like a wedding train trailing behind a bride. The lower part of each crewmembers trousers were soaked with algae from slogging through the fetid swamp water surrounding their lair outside. And yet, the captives clothes seemed untouched, as though the very swamp wanted nothing to do with the impetuous imp between them.

The soulless deckhands dropped the smartly-dressed man before the darkened throne of the Zombie-Pirate King. It pleased the king to see the imp this way, bound by wrist manacles and leg irons, all of which were interconnected by heavy chains to a thick metal band around his waist.

The king leaned forward on his throne. As he emerged from the shadows, his figure took shape and the phosphorus orbs he had for eyes dripped with a glowing-green haze whenever he moved. He wore a long, worn, and tattered red coat, and his bejeweled hands were as skeletal as his face was gaunt. Perhaps most peculiar were the shrunken heads interwoven within his black and smoke-grey beard--and legend had it that if one stared at their faces long enough, one might even see them blink, for the victims were still alive. Like any pirate Captain worth his salt, the Zombie-Pirate King had a wooden peg leg, but in place of a talking parrot, he carried around in his hand a skull with equally glowing-green orbs for eyes. Lamppost Man, the Zombie-Pirate King growled, his voice betraying his vehemence. You Netherworld scum. Im going to grind your bones into powder beneath the heel of my boot.

The Lamppost Man weakly raised his head and gazed around at the dark, dank interior of the lair around him. The King now saw the ramshackle shipwreck through the imps eyes: a torn pirate flag tacked to the wall behind him with rusty swords, cobwebs adorning every surface, leafy vines creeping in through every crack from the putrid swamp surrounding them. The treasure chest, spilling with gold coins and precious jewels did little to offset the grim setting. The Lamppost Mans eyes skimmed over the crew who had fared no better: drowned seamen with decaying flesh, who appeared as though they had only just recently risen from their watery graves. One zombie-pirate wearing an eyepatch drank from a bottle of rum; most of its contents seeping out of his lower stomach. The Lamppost Man then raised his gaze all the way to where feral bats hung from the topmost spars of the wrecked ship. Yes, the ship, the crew, had always been wretched, dreaded pirates, but by the same token, they had all surely seen better days.

Well? the Zombie-Pirate King demanded.

A frail grin flashed across the Lamppost Mans face. I simply love what youve done with the place.

In an icy voice, the Zombie-Pirate King bellowed to his crew, Boys, I say we tear the imp asunder!

The crew thundered their approval.

As the echo of their reply died down, the Lamppost Man simply lowered his head back down and smiled smugly at the floorboards. In a quiet but firm voice he asked, Do you know why they call me The Lamppost Man ?

The Kings first officer, a bloated corpse, swollen with seawater barely encapsulated by liquefying flesh, barked abruptly, I thought it was on account you are a light to the world. As he said this, he painted the air with his palms and the motley crew erupted in voracious laughter. Other zombie-pirates joined in on the mockery. One of the more decayed zombie-pirates, covered in faded tattoos, laughed so hard his lower jaw fell off, which of course only caused more bellowing amusement. The zombie-pirate, minus-jaw, was so irritated by his crewmates that he promptly withdrew the musket tucked in his sash and shot the nearest pirate. His target, an emaciated corpse smoking an opium pipe, flipped over the barrel he was sitting on and landed on the other side with his legs splayed up in the air. This only caused more mirth, which in-turn led to more fighting.

The Zombie-Pirate King ignored all of this and continued to stare at the prisoner who merely waited for the revelry to pass by taking in the rotten souls around him, each festooned with all manner of rusty weaponry and black powder guns. The King thought: Its almost as though the imp is sizing us up. The audacity! As though he might actually have a chance taking them all on, and bound, no less!

Be silent, you scurvy dogs! the Zombie-Pirate King roared, and the laughter stopped as abruptly as a screaming man beneath a guillotine.

What happened next was impossible.

The Lamppost Man stood up in the most unnatural way. His crumpled form unfolded as though an unseen cameraman had played the entire scene in reverse. Now standing on his feet, he lifted his hands up as high as his chains would allow, and like a Vegas Magician performing a neat magic trick, he brought his hands swiftly down, and all his metal bounds clattered to the deck boards.