Legends from the End of Time: Elric at the End of Time lfteot-5

by Michael Moorcock

  Elric admired his spirit. There was no doubt that the guard could crush any of them to a pulp, even if (as still nagged at his brain) this was all some sort of complicated illusion.

  Another dash, and Werther was with them.

  Cautiously, Elric opened the door of the store-room. They looked onto a deserted landing. They crossed the landing and looked over a balustrade. They had expected to see another hall, but instead there was a miniature lake on which floated the most beautiful miniature ship, all mother-of-pearl, brass and ebony, with golden sails and silver masts. Surrounding this ship were mermaids and mermen bearing trays of exotic food (reminding Elric how hungry he still was) which they fed to the ship's only passenger, Mistress Christia.

  "She is under an enchantment, " said Elric. "They beguile her with illusions so that she will not wish to come with us even if we do rescue her. Do you know no counter-spells?"

  Werther thought for a moment. Then he shook his head.

  "You must be very minor Lords of Chaos, " said Elric, biting his lower lip.

  From the lake, Mistress Christia giggled and drew one of the mermaids towards her. "Come here, my pretty piscine! "

  "Mistress Christia! " hissed Werther de Goethe.

  "Oh! " The captive widened her eyes (which were now both large and blue). "At last! "

  "You wish to be rescued?" said Elric.

  "Rescued? Only by you, most alluring of albinos! "

  Elric hardened his features. "I am not the one who loves you, madam."

  "What? I am loved? By whom? By you, Duke of Queens?"

  "Sshh, " said Elric. "The demons will hear us."

  "Oh, of course, " said Mistress Christia gravely, and fell silent for a second. "I'll get rid of all this, shall I?"

  And she touched one of her rings.

  Ship, lake and merfolk were gone. She lay on silken cushions, attended by monkeys.

  "Sorcery! " said Elric, "if she has such power, then why —?"

  "It is limited, " explained Werther. "Merely to such tricks."

  "Quite, " said Mistress Christia.

  Elric glared at them. "You surrounded me with illusions. You make me think I am aiding you, when really…"

  "No, no! " cried Werther. "I assure you, Lord Elric, you have our greatest respect — well, mine at least — we are only attempting to —"

  There was a roar from the gallery above. Rank upon rank of grinning demons looked down upon them. They were armed to the teeth.

  "Hurry! " The Duke of Queens leapt to the cushions and seized Mistress Christia, flinging her over his shoulder. "We can never defeat so many! "

  The demons were already rushing down the circular staircase. Elric, still not certain whether his new friends deceived him or not, made a decision. He called to the Duke of Queens. "Get her from the castle. We'll keep them from you for a few moments, at least." He could not help himself. He behaved impulsively.

  The Duke of Queens, sword in hand, Mistress Christia over the other shoulder, ran into a narrow passage. Elric and Werther stood together as the demons rushed down on them. Blade met blade. There was an unbearable shrilling of steel mingled with the cacklings and shrieks of the demons as they gnashed their teeth and rolled their eyes and slashed at the pair with swords, knives and axes. But worst of all was the smell. The dreadful smell of burning flesh which filled the air and threatened to choke Elric. It came from the demons. The smell of Hell. He did his best to cover his nostrils as he fought, certain that the smell must overwhelm him before the swords. Above him was a set of metal rungs fixed into the stones, leading high into a kind of chimney. As a pause came he pointed upward to Werther, who understood him. For a moment they managed to drive the demons back. Werther jumped onto Elric's shoulders (again displaying a strange lightness) and reached down to haul the albino after him.

  While the demons wailed and cackled below, they began to climb the chimney.

  They climbed for nearly fifty feet before they found themselves in a small, round room whose windows looked out over the purple crags and, beyond them, to a scene of bleak rocky pavements pitted with holes, like some vast unlikely cheese.

  And there, rolling over this relatively flat landscape, in full daylight (for the sun had risen) was the Duke of Queens in a carriage of brass and wood, studded with jewels, and drawn by two bovine creatures which looked to Elric as if they might be the fabulous oxen of mythology who had drawn the war-chariot of his ancestors to do battle with the emerging nations of mankind.

  Mistress Christia was beside the Duke of Queens. They seemed to be waiting for Elric and Werther.

  "It's impossible, " said the albino. "We could not get out of this tower, let alone those crags. I wonder how they managed to move so quickly and so far. And where did the chariot itself come from?"

  "Stolen, no doubt, from the demons, " said Werther. "See, there are wings here." He indicated a heap of feathers in the corner of the room. "We can use those."

  "What wizardry is this?" said Elric. "Man cannot fly on bird wings."

  "With the appropriate spell he can, " said Werther. "I am not that well versed in the magic arts, of course, but let me see…" He picked up one set of wings. They were soft and glinted with subtle, rainbow colours. He placed them on Elric's back, murmuring his spell:

  "Oh, for the wings, for the wings of a dove ,

  To carry me to the one I love…"

  "There! " He was very pleased with himself. Elric moved his shoulders and his wings began to flap. "Excellent! Off you go, Elric. I'll join you in a moment."

  Elric hesitated, then saw the head of the first demon emerging from the hole in the floor. He jumped to the window ledge and leapt into space. The wings sustained him. Against all logic he flew smoothly towards the waiting chariot and behind him came Werther de Goethe. At the windows of the tower the demons crowded, shaking fists and weapons as their prey escaped them.

  Elric landed rather awkwardly beside the chariot and was helped aboard by the Duke of Queens. Werther joined them, dropping expertly amongst them. He removed the wings from the albino's back and nodded to the Duke of Queens who yelled at the oxen, cracking his whip as they began to move.

  Mistress Christia flung her arms about Elric's neck. "What courage! What resourcefulness! " she breathed. "Without you, I should now be ruined! "

  Elric sheathed Stormbringer. "We all three worked together for your rescue, madam." Gently he removed her arms. Courteously he bowed and leaned against the far side of the chariot as it bumped and hurtled over the peculiar rocky surface.

  "Swifter! Swifter! " called the Duke of Queens, casting urgent looks backwards. "We are followed! "

  From the disappearing tower there now poured a host of flying, gibbering things. Once again the creatures had changed shape and had assumed the form of striped, winged cats, all glaring eyes, fangs and extended claws.

  The rock became viscous, clogging the wheels of the chariot, as they reached what appeared to be a silvery road, flowing between the high trees of an alien forest already touched by a weird twilight.

  The first of the flying cats caught up with them, slashing.

  Elric drew Stormbringer and cut back. The beast roared in pain, blood streaming from its severed leg, its wings flapping in Elric's face as it hovered and attempted to snap at the sword.

  The chariot rolled faster, through the forest to green fields touched by the moon. The days were short, it seemed, in this part of Chaos. A path stretched skyward. The Duke of Queens drove the chariot straight up it, heading for the moon itself.

  The moon grew larger and larger and still the demons pursued them, but they could not fly as fast as the chariot which went so swiftly that sorcery must surely speed it. Now they could only be heard in the darkness behind and the silver moon was huge.

  "There! " called Werther. "There is safety! "

  On they raced until the moon was reached, the oxen leaping in their traces, galloping over the gleaming surface to where a white palace awaited them.

&n
bsp; "Sanctuary, " said the Duke of Queens. And he laughed a wild, full laugh of sheer joy.

  The palace was like ivory, carved and wrought by a million hands, every inch covered with delicate designs.

  Elric wondered. "Where is this place?" he asked. "Does it lie outside the Realm of Chaos?"

  Werther seemed nonplussed. "You mean our world?"

  "Aye."

  "It is still part of our world, " said the Duke of Queens.

  "Is the palace to your liking?" asked Werther.

  "It is lovely."

  "A trifle pale for my own taste, " said the Last Romantic. "It was Mistress Christia's idea."

  "You built this?" The albino turned to the woman. "When?"

  "Just now." She seemed surprised.

  Elric nodded. "Aha. It is within the power of Chaos to create whatever whims it pleases."

  The chariot crossed a white drawbridge and entered a white courtyard. In it grew white flowers. They dismounted and entered a huge hall, white as bone, in which red lights glowed. Again Elric began to suspect mockery, but the faces of the Chaos lords showed only pleasure. He realized that he was dizzy with hunger and weariness, as he had been ever since he had been flung into this terrible world where no shape was constant, no idea permanent.

  "Are you hungry?" asked Mistress Christia.

  He nodded. And suddenly the room was filled by a long table on which all kinds of food were heaped — and everything, meats and fruits and vegetables, was white.

  Elric moved to take the seat she indicated and he put some of the food on a silver plate and he touched it to his lips and he tasted it. It was delicious. Forgetting suspicion, he began to eat heartily, trying not to consider the colourless quality of the meal. Werther and the Duke of Queens also took some food, but it seemed they ate only from politeness. Werther glanced up at the faraway roof. "What a wonderful tomb this would make, " he said. "Your imagination improves, Mistress Christia."

  "Is this your domain?" asked Elric. "The moon?"

  "Oh no, " she said. "It was all made for the occasion."

  "Occasion?"

  "For your adventure, " she said. Then she fell silent.

  Elric became grave. "Those demons? They were not your enemies. They belong to you! "

  "Belong?" said Mistress Christia. She shook her head.

  Elric frowned and pushed back his plate. "I am, however, most certainly your captive." He stood up and paced the white floor. "Will you not return me to my own plane?"

  "You would come back almost immediately, " said Werther de Goethe. "It is called the Morphail Effect. And if you did not come here, you would yet remain in your own future. It is in the nature of Time."

  "This is nonsense, " said Elric. "I have left my own realm before and returned — though admittedly memory becomes weak, as with dreams poorly recalled."

  "No man can go back in Time, " said the Duke of Queens. "Ask Brannart Morphail."

  "He, too, is a Lord of Chaos?"

  "If you like. He is a colleague."

  "Could he not return me to my realm? He sounds a clever being."

  "He could not and he would not, " said Mistress Christia. "Haven't you enjoyed your experiences here so far?"

  "Enjoyed?" Elric was astonished. "Madam, I think … Well, what has happened this day is not what we mortals would call 'enjoyment'! "

  "But you seemed to be enjoying yourself, " said the Duke of Queens in some disappointment. "Didn't he, Werther?"

  "You were much more cheerful through the whole episode, " agreed the Last Romantic. "Particularly when you were fighting the demons."

  "As with many time travellers who suffer from anxieties, " said Mistress Christia, "you appeared to relax when you had something immediate to capture your attention…"

  Elric refused to listen. This was clever Chaos talk, meant to deceive him and take his mind from his chief concern.

  "If I was any help to you, " he began, "I am, of course…"

  "He isn't very grateful, " Mistress Christia pouted.

  Elric felt madness creeping nearer again. He calmed himself.

  "I thank you for the food, madam. Now, I would sleep."

  "Sleep?" she was disconcerted. "Oh! Of course. Yes. A bedroom?"

  "If you have such a thing."

  "As many as you like." She moved a stone on one of her rings. The walls seemed to draw back to show bedchamber after bedchamber, in all manner of styles, with beds of every shape and fashion. Elric controlled his temper. He bowed, thanked her, said goodnight to the two lords and made for the nearest bed.

  As he closed the door behind him, he thought he heard Werther de Goethe say: "We must try to think of a better entertainment for him when he wakes up."

  11 In which Mrs Persson Witnesses the First Sign of the Megaflow's Disintegration

  In Castle Canaria Lord Jagged unrolled his antique charts. He had had them drawn for him by a baffled astrologer in 1950. They were one of his many affectations. At the moment, however, they were of considerably greater use than Alvarez's electronics.

  While he used a wrist computer to check his figures, Una Persson looked out of the window of Castle Canaria and wondered who had invented this particular landscape. A green and orange sun cast sickening light over the herds of grazing beasts who resembled, from this distance at any rate, nothing so much as gigantic human hands. In the middle of the scene was raised some kind of building in the shape of a vast helmet, vaguely Greek in conception. Beyond that was a low, grey moon. She turned away.

  "I must admit, " said Lord Jagged, "that I had not understood the extent…"

  "Exactly, " she said.

  "You must forgive me. A certain amount of amnesia — euphoria, perhaps? — always comes over one in these very remote periods."

  "Quite."

  He looked up from the charts. "We've a few hours at most."

  Her smile was thin, her nod barely perceptible.

  While she made the most of having told him so, Lord Jagged frowned, turned a power ring and produced an already lit pipe which he placed thoughtfully in his mouth, taking it out again almost immediately. "That wasn't Dunhill Standard Medium." He laid the pipe aside.

  There came a loud buzzing noise from the window. The scene outside was disintegrating as if melting on glass. An eerie golden light spread everywhere, flooding from an apex of deeper gold, as if forming a funnel.

  "That's a rupture, " said Lord Jagged. His voice was tense. He put his arm about her shoulders. "I've never seen anything of the size before."

  Rushing towards them along the funnel of light there came an entire city of turrets and towers and minarets in a wide variety of pastel colours. It was set into a saucer-shaped base which was almost certainly several miles in circumference.

  For a moment the city seemed to retreat. The golden light faded. The city remained, some distance away, swaying a little as if on a gentle tide, a couple of thousand feet above the ground, the grey moon below it.

  "That's what I call megaflow distortion, " said Una Persson in that inappropriately facetious tone adopted by those who are deeply frightened.

  "I recognize the period." Jagged drew a telescope from his robes. "Second Candlemaker's Empire, mainly based in Arcturus. This is a village by their standards. After all, Earth was merely a rural park during that time." He retreated into academe, his own response to fear.

  Una craned her head. "Isn't that some sort of vehicle heading towards the city. From the moon — good heavens, they've spotted it already. Are they going to try to put the whole thing into a menagerie?"

  Jagged had the advantage of the telescope. "I think not." He handed her the instrument.

  Through it she saw a scarlet and black chariot borne by what seemed to be some form of flying fairground horses. In the chariot, armed to the teeth with lances, bows, spears, swords, axes, morningstars, maces and almost every other barbaric hand-weapon, clad in quasi-mythological armour, were Werther de Goethe, the Duke of Queens and Elric of Melnibone.

  "Th
ey're attacking it! " she said faintly. "What will happen when the two groups intersect?"

  "Three groups, " he pointed out. "Untangling that in a few hours is going to be even harder."

  "And if we fail?"

  He shrugged. "We might just as well give ourselves up to the biggest chronoquake the universe has ever experienced."

  "You're exaggerating, " she said.

  "Why not? Everyone else is."

  12 The Attack on the Citadel of the Skies

  "Melnibone! Melnibone! " cried the albino as the chariot circled over the spires and turrets of the city. They saw startled faces below. Strange engines were being dragged through the narrow streets.

  "Surrender! " Elric demanded.

  "I do not think they can understand us, " said the Duke of Queens. "What a find, eh? A whole city from the past! "

  Werther had been reluctant to embark on an adventure not of his own creation, but Elric, realizing that here at last was a chance of escape, had been anxious to begin. The Duke of Queens had, in an instant, aided the albino by producing costumes, weapons, transport. Within minutes of the city's appearance, they had been on their way.

  Exactly why Elric wished to attack the city, Werther could not make out, unless it was some test of the Melnibonean's to see if his companions were true allies or merely pretending to have befriended him. Werther was learning a great deal from Elric, much more than he had ever learned from Mongrove, whose ideas of angst were only marginally less notional than Werther's own.

  A broad, flat blue ray beamed from the city. It singed one wheel of the chariot.

  "Ha! They make sorcerous weapons, " said Elric. "Well, my friends. Let us see you counter with your own power."

  Werther obediently imitated the blue ray and sent it back from his fingers, slicing the tops off several towers. The Duke of Queens typically let loose a different coloured ray from each of his extended ten fingers and bored a hole all the way through the bottom of the city so that fields could be seen below. He was pleased with the effect.