The Vanishing Tower (elric saga)

by Michael Moorcock

  The massive reptilian monsters bore their equally repulsive masters upon their backs, their feet leaving deep marks in the sand as they moved. And Theleb K'aarna rode at their head on a chestnut stallion-and there was something draped across his saddle.

  Then a shadow passed over Elric's head and he looked up. It was the metal bird which had borne Myshella away. But it was riderless. It wheeled over the heads of the lumbering reptiles whose masters raised their strange weapons and sent hissing streams of fire in its direction, driving it higher into the sky. Why was the bird here and not Myshella? A peculiar cry came again and again from its metal throat and Elric realized what that cry resembled-the pathetic sound of a mother bird whose young is in danger.

  He stared hard at the bundle over Theleb K'aarna's saddle and suddenly he knew what it must be. Myshella herself! Doubtless she had given Elric up for dead and had tried to go against Theleb K'aarna only to be beaten.

  Anger boiled in the albino. All his intense hatred for the sorcerer revived and his hand went to his sword. But then he looked again at the vulnerable walls of Tanelorn, at his brave companions on the battlements, and he knew that his first duty was to help them.

  But how was he to reach the walls without Theleb K'aarna seeing him and destroying him before he could bring the banners of bronze to his friends? He prepared to spur his horse forward and hope that he would be lucky. Then a shadow passed over his head again and he saw that it was the metal bird flying low, something

  CHAPTER SIX

  Pale Lord Shouting in Sunlight

  The machine in the bowl was where Elric had last seen it, just before he had attacked it and found himself plunged into Corum's world.

  Jhary seemed completely familiar with it and soon had its heart beating strongly. He shepherded the other two up to it and made them stand with their backs against the crystal. Then he handed something to Elric. It was a small vial.

  "When we have departed, " he said, "hurl this through the top of the bowl, then take your horse which I see is yonder and ride as fast as you can for Tanelorn. Follow these instructions perfectly and you will serve us all."

  Elric accepted the vial. "Very well."

  "And, " Jhary said finally as he took his place with the others, "please give my compliments to my brother Moonglum."

  "You know him? What-?"

  "Farewell, Elric! We shall doubtless meet many times in the future, though we may not recognise each other."

  Then the beating of the thing in the bowl grew louder and the ground shook and the strange darkness surrounded it-then the three figures had gone. Swiftly Elric hurled the vial upwards so that it fell through the opening of the bowl, then he ran to where his golden mare was tethered, leapt into the saddle with the bundle Jhary had given him under his arm, and galloped as fast as he could go towards Tanelorn.

  Behind him the beating suddenly ceased. The dark ness disappeared. A tense silence fell. Then Elric heard something like a giant's gasp and blinding blue light filled the desert. He looked back. Not only the bowl and the device had gone-so also had the rocks which had once surrounded it

  He came up behind them at last, just before they reached the walls of Tanelorn. Elric saw warriors on those walls.

  The massive reptilian monsters bore their equally repulsive masters upon their backs, their feet leaving deep marks in the sand as they moved. And Theleb K'aarna rode at their head on a chestnut stallion-and there was something draped across his saddle.

  Then a shadow passed over Elric's head and he looked up. It was the metal bird which had borne Myshella away. But it was riderless. It wheeled over the heads of the lumbering reptiles whose masters raised their strange weapons and sent hissing streams of fire in its direction, driving it higher into the sky. Why was the bird here and not Myshella? A peculiar cry came again and again from its metal throat and Elric realized what that cry resembled-the pathetic sound of a mother bird whose young is in danger.

  He stared hard at the bundle over Theleb K'aarna's saddle and suddenly he knew what it must be. Myshella herself! Doubtless she had given Elric up for dead and had tried to go against Theleb K'aarna only to be beaten.

  Anger boiled in the albino. All his intense hatred for the sorcerer revived and his hand went to his sword. But then he looked again at the vulnerable walls of Tanelorn, at his brave companions on the battlements, and he knew that his first duty was to help them.

  But how was he to reach the walls without Theleb K'aarna seeing him and destroying him before he could bring the banners of bronze to his friends? He prepared to spur his horse forward and hope that he would be lucky. Then a shadow passed over his head again and he saw that it was the metal bird flying low, something

  like agony in its emerald eyes. He heard its voice. "Prince Elric! We must save her."

  He shook his head as the bird settled in the sand. "First I must save Tanelorn."

  "I will help you, " said the bird of gold and silver and brass. "Climb up into my saddle."

  Elric cast a glance towards the distant monsters. Their attention was now wholly upon the city they intended to destroy. He jumped from his horse and crossed the sand to clamber into the onyx saddle of the bird. The wings began to clash and with a rush they swept into the sky, turning towards Tanelorn.

  More streaks of fire hissed around them as they neared the city, but the bird flew rapidly from side to side and avoided them. Down they drifted now to the gentle city, to land on the wall itself.

  "Elric! " Moonglum came running along the defences. "We were told you were dead! "

  "By whom?"

  "By Myshella and by Theleb K'aarna when he demanded our surrender."

  "I suppose they could only believe that, " Elric said, separating the staffs around which were furled the thin sheets of bronze. "Here, you must take these. I am told that they will be useful against the reptiles of Pio. Unfurl them along the walls. Greetings, Rackhir." He handed the astounded Red Archer one of the banners.

  "You do not stay to fight with us?" Rackhir asked.

  Elric looked down at the twelve slender arrows in his hand. Each one was perfectly carved from multicoloured quartz so that even the fletchings seemed like real feathers. "No, " he said. "I hope to rescue Myshella from Theleb K'aarna-and I can use these arrows better from the air, also."

  "Myshella, thinking you dead, seemed to go mad, " Rackhir told him. "She conjured up various sorceries against Theleb K'aarna-but he retaliated. At last she flung herself from the saddle of that bird you rideflung herself upon him armed only with a knife. But he overpowered her and has threatened to slay her if we

  do not allow ourselves to be killed without retaliating. I know that he will kill Myshella anyway. I have been in something of a quandary of conscience...."

  "I will resolve that quandary, I hope." Elric stroked the metallic neck of the bird. "Come, my friend, into the air again. Remember, Rackhir-unfurl the banners along the walls as soon as I have gamed a good height."

  The Red Archer nodded, his face puzzled, and once again Elric was rising into the air, the arrows of quartz clutched in his left hand.

  He heard Theleb K'aarna's laughter from below. He saw the monstrous beasts moving inexorably towards the walls. The gates opened suddenly and a group of horsemen rode out. Plainly they had hoped to sacrifice themselves in order to save Tanelorn and Rackhir had not had time to warn them of Elric's message.

  The riders galloped wildly towards the reptilian monsters of Pio, their swords and lances waving, their yells rising to where Elric drifted high above. The monsters roared and opened their huge jaws, their masters pointed their ornate weapons at the horsemen of Tanelorn. Flames burst from the muzzles, the riders shrieked as they were devoured by the dazzling heat.

  In horror Elric directed the metal bird downwards. And at last Theleb K'aarna saw him and reined in his horse, his eyes wide with fear and rage. "You are dead! You are dead! "

  The great wings beat at the air as the bird hovered over Theleb K'aarna's head. "I am
alive, Theleb K'aarna-and I come to destroy you at long last! Give Myshella up to me."

  A cunning expression came over the sorcerer's face. "No. Destroy me and she is also destroyed. Beings of Pio-turn your full strength against Tanelorn. Raze it utterly and show this fool what we can do! "

  Each of the reptilian riders directed their oddly shaped weapons at Tanelorn where Rackhir, Moonglum and the rest waited on the battlements.

  "No! " shouted Elric. "You cannot-"

  There was something flashing on the battlements. They were unfurling at last the banners of bronze. And as each banner was unfurled a pure golden light blazed out from it until there was a vast wall of light stretching the whole length of the defences, making it impossible to see the banners themselves or the men who held them. The beings of Pio aimed their weapons and released streams of fire at the barrier of light which immediately repelled them.

  Theleb K'aarna's face was suffused with anger. "What is this? Our earthly sorcery cannot stand against the power of Pio! "

  Elric smiled savagely. "This is not our sorcery-it is another sorcery which can resist that of Pio! Now, Theleb K'aarna, give up Myshella! "

  "No! You are not protected as Tanelorn is protected. Beings of Pio-destroy him! "

  And, as the weapons began to be directed at him, Elric flung the first of the arrows of quartz. It flew true-directly into the face of the leading reptilian rider. A high whining escaped the rider's throat as it raised its webbed hands towards the arrow embedded in its eye. The beast the rider sat upon reared, for it was plain that it was only barely controlled. It turned away from the blinding light from Tanelorn and it galloped at earth-shaking speed away into the desert, the dead rider falling from its back. A streak of fire barely missed Elric and he was forced to take the bird up higher, flinging down another arrow and seeing it strike a rider's heart. Again the mount went out of control and followed its companion into the desert. But there were ten more of the riders and each now turned his weapon against Elric, though finding it hard to aim as all the mounts grew restive and sought to accompany the two who had fled. Elric left it to the metal bird to duck and to dive through the criss-cross of beams and he hurled down another arrow and another. His clothes and his hair were singed and he remembered another tune when he had ridden the

  bird across the Boiling Sea. Part of the bird's right wing-tip had been melted and its flight was a little more erratic. But still it climbed and dived and still Elric threw the arrows of quartz into the ranks of the beings of Pio. Then, suddenly, there were only two left and they were turning to flee, for nearby a cloud of unpleasant blue smoke had begun to erupt where Theleb K'aarna had been. Elric flung the last arrows after the reptiles of Pio and took each rider in the back. Now there were only corpses upon the sand.

  The blue smoke cleared and Theleb K'aarna's horse stood there. And there was another corpse revealed. It was that of Myshella, Empress of the Dawn, and her throat had been cut. Theleb K'aarna had vanished, doubtless with the aid of sorcery.

  Sickened, Elric descended on the bird of metal. On the walls of Tanelorn the light faded. He dismounted and he saw that the bird was weeping dark tears from its emerald eyes. He knelt beside Myshella.

  An ordinary mortal could not have done it, but now she opened her lips and she spoke, though blood bubbled from her mouth and her words were hard to make out.

  "Elric..."

  "Can you live?" Elric asked her. "Have you some power to..."

  "I cannot live. I am slain. Even now I am dead. But it will be some comfort to you to know that Theleb K'aarna has earned the disdain of the great Chaos Lords. They will never aid him again as they aided him this tune, for in their eyes he has proved himself incompetent."

  "Where has he gone? I will pursue him. I will slay him the next time, that I swear."

  "I think that you will. But I do not know where he went. Elric-I am dead and my work is threatened. I have fought against Chaos for centuries and now, I think, Chaos will increase its power. Soon the great battle between the Lords of Law and the Lords of Entropy will take place. The threads of destiny be come much tangled-the very structure of the universe seems about to transform itself. You have some part in this... some part.... Farewell, Elric! "

  "Oh, Myshella! "

  "Is she dead now?" It was the sombre voice of the bird of metal.

  "Aye." The word was forced from Elric's tight throat.

  "Then I must take her back to Kaneloon."

  Gently Elric picked up Myshella's bloody corpse, supporting the half-severed head on his arm. He placed the body in the onyx saddle.

  The bird said: "We shall not see each other again, Prince Elric, for my death shall follow closely upon Lady Myshella's."

  Elric bowed his head.

  The shining wings spread and, with the sound of cymbals clashing, beat at the air.

  Elric watched the beautiful creature circle in the sky, and then turn and fly steadily towards the south and World's Edge.

  He buried his face in his hands, but he was beyond weeping now. Was it the fate of all the women he loved to die? Would Myshella have lived if she had let him die when he had wanted to? There was no rage left in him, only a sense of impotent despair.

  He felt a hand on his shoulder and he turned. Moonglum stood there, with Rackhir beside him. They had ridden out from Tanelorn to find him.

  "The banners have vanished, " Rackhir told him. "And the arrows, too. Only the corpses of those creatures remain and we shall bury them. Will you come back with us, now, to Tanelorn?"

  "Tanelorn cannot give me peace, Rackhir."

  "I believe that to be true. But I have a potion in my house which will deaden some of your memories, help you forget some of what has happened lately."

  "I would be grateful for such a potion. Though I doubt..."

  "It will work. I promise. Another would achieve

  complete forgetfulness from drinking this potion. But you may hope to forget a little."

  Elric thought of Corum and Erekose and Jhary-aConel and the implications of his experiences-that even if he were to die he would be reincarnated in some other form to fight again and to suffer again. An eternity of warfare and of pain. If he could forget that knowledge it would be enough. He had the impulse to ride far away from Tanelorn and concern himself as much as he could in the pettier affairs of men.

  "I am so weary of gods and their struggles, " he murmured as he mounted his golden mare.

  Moonglum stared out into the desert.

  "But when will the gods themselves weary of it, I wonder?" he said. "If they did, it would be a happy day for Man. Perhaps all our struggling, our suffering, our conflicts are merely to relieve the boredom of the Lords of the Higher Worlds. Perhaps that is why when they created us they made us imperfect."

  They began to ride towards Tanelorn while the wind blew sadly across the desert. The sand was already beginning to cover up the corpses of those who had sought to wage war against eternity and had, inevitably, found that other eternity which was death.

  For a while Elric walked his horse beside the others. His lips formed a name but did not speak it.

  And then, suddenly, he was galloping towards Tanelorn dragging the screaming runesword from its scabbard and brandishing it at the impassive sky, making the horse rear up and lash its hooves in the air, shouting over and over again in a voice full of roaring misery and bitter rage:

  "Ah, damn you! Damn you! Damn you! "

  But those who heard him-and some might have been the Gods he addressed-knew that it was Elric of Melnibone himself who was truly damned.

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