"Worms of the Earth" by Robert E. Howard (1932) Originally appeared in Weird Tales , November 1932. Plot: Bran Mak Morn, posing as a Pictish ambassador witness Titus Sulla's crucifixion of a Pict, wrongfully treated by the Romans. The man dies when a Roman officer, Valerius, is goaded into stabbing him. Bran sneaks off from Roman hospitality but not before visiting Valerius in jail (as punisment for the killing), stabbing him in the throat through the cell bars. Bran plans a terrible vengeance on Sulla, who is locked away in Trajan's Tower, an impregnable castle. Gonar warns Bran against the plan but he seeks out Atla the Witch-Woman of Dagon-Moor. They strike a bargain: he will sleep with her who has never known the touch of a man, and she will show Bran where he can find the Black Stone, sacred relic of the Worms of the Earth, degenerate remains of the race that the Picts drove underground long ago. Bran enters the dark tunnels and steals the stone, throwing it into Dagon's Mere, a lake reputed to haunted a monster. Later Atla takes Bran to another tunnel that leads him face-to-face with the Worms, who he bargains with: bring him Titus Sulla and they can have their stone back. That night Trajan Tower is pulled down stone by stone from beneath the earth. Bran finds one of the dying legionaires. He then returns to Dagon's Mere to retrieve the stone. He thinks he can feel some horrible creature in the waters but it doesn't attack. Later Bran meets with Atla and the Worms, making the exchange. Titus Sulla proves to be entirely insane. Bran had meant to fight him in an honest duel but puts the mewling creature out of its misery. Bran flees on his horse as Atla's laughing burns him. She promises the Worms don't forget and will one day see him again. Monsters: Atla, The Witch-woman of Dagon-moor - a half-breed human/worm woman who is spurned as a witch. The Worms- degenerate Serpent-Men who have survived beneath the hills of Scotland. The Lurker in the Lake - an unseen menace it may have tentacles. History: One of Howard's most Mythosian Sword & Sorcery stories. He makes reference to R'Yleh as well as The Nameless Ones within the text. The scenes where Bran ventures into the tunnels of the worms must have been inspired by H. G. Wells' "the Time Machine" and his Morlocks. I can imagine H. P. Lovecraft suggesting this story to REH if he wasn't familiar with it on his own. More startling is the similarity to Tolkien's themes such as the creature Gollum and the lurker in the lake near the mines of Moria. Had Tolkien read this story or are they universal themes both writers used? "Worms of the Earth" was adapted Roy Thomas and drawn by Barry Smith and Tim Conrad in Savage Sword of Conan #16-17 (December 1976-February 1977). Read the whole thing here.
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