Stormbringer es-6

by Michael Moorcock

  Involuntarily, old words began to form in his throat and his lips began to move in the rune which his ancestors had known when they and all the elementals of the Earth had been allies and sworn to aid one another long ago in the dawn of the Bright Empire, more than ten thousand years before.

  Waters of the sea, thou gave us birth

  And were our milk and mother both

  In days when skies were overcast

  You who were first shall be the last.

  Sea-rulers, fathers of our blood,

  Thine aid is sought, thine aid is sought,

  Your salt is blood, our blood your salt,

  Your blood the blood of Man.

  Straasha, eternal king, eternal sea

  Thine aid is sought by me;

  For enemies of thine and mine

  Seek to defeat our destiny, and drain away our sea.

  The spoken rune was merely a vocalisation of the actual invocation which was produced mentally and went plunging into the depths, through the dark green corridors of the sea until it finally found Straasha in his domain of curving, coral-coloured, womb-like constructions which were only partially in the natural sea and partially in the plane where the dementals spent a large part of their immortal existence. Straasha knew of the Ships of Hell rising to the surface and had been pleased that his domain was now cleared of them, but Elric’s summons awakened his memory and he remembered the folk of Melnibone upon whom all the elementals had once looked with a sense of comradeship; he remembered the ancient invocation, and felt bound to answer it, though he knew his people were badly, weakened by the effect Chaos had had in other parts of the world. Not only humans had suffered; the elemental spirits of nature had been sorely pressed as well.

  But he stirred so that water and the stuff of his other plane were both disturbed. He summoned some of his followers and began to glide upwards into the domain of the Air.

  Semi-conscious now, Elric knew that his invocation had bet with success. Sprawled in the prow, he waited.

  At last the waters heaved and broke and a great green figure, with turquoise beard and hair, pale green skin that seemed made of the sea itself, and a voice that was like a rushing tide.

  «Once more Straasha answers thy summons, mortal. Our destinies are bound together. How may I aid thee, and, in aiding thee, aid myself?»

  «In the throat-torturing speech of the elemental, Elric answered, telling the sea king of the forthcoming battle and what it implied.

  «So at long last it has come to pass! I fear I cannot aid you Elric, for my folk are already suffering terribly from the deprecations of our mutual enemy. We shall attempt to aid you if we can. That's all I promise.»

  The sea king sank back into the waters and Elric watched him depart with a feeling of acute disappointment. It was with a brooding mind that he left the prow and went to the main cabin to tell his captains the news.

  They received it with mixed feelings, for only Dyvim Slonn was used to dealing with supernaturals. Moonglum had always been dubious of Elric's powers to control his wild, elemental friends, while Kargan growled that Straasha may have been an ally of Elric's folk but had been more of an enemy to his. The four of them, however, could plan with slightly more optimism and face the coming ordeal with better confidence.

  Four

  The fleet of Jagreen Lern bore towards them and' in its wake, the boiling stuff of Chaos hovered.

  Elric gave the command and the rowers hauled at their curs, sending Timber-tearer rushing towards the enemy. So far his elemental allies had not appeared, but he could not afford to wait for them.

  As Timber-tearer rode the foaming waves, Elric hauled his sword from its scabbard, brought the side wings of his helmet round to cover his face and cried the age-old ululating warshout of Melnibone, a shout full of joyous evil. Stormbringer's eerie voice joined with his, giving vent to a thrumming song, anticipating the blood and the souls it would soon feast upon.

  Jagreen Lern’s flagship now lay behind three rows of man-o-war and behind that the ships of death.

  Timber-tearer's iron ram ripped into the first enemy ship and the rowers leaned on their oars, backing away and turning to pierce another ship below the water line. Showers of arrows sprayed from the holed ship and clattered on deck and armour. Several rowers went down.

  Elric and his three companions directed their men from the main deck and suddenly they saw the streaking balls of green fire come curving out of the sky.

  «Prepare to quench fires! » Kargan yelled and the group of men already primed for this leapt for the tubs containing a special brew, which Elric had told them how to make earlier. This was spread on decks and splashed on canvas and, when the fire-balls landed, they were swiftly put out by the stuff.

  «Don't engage unless forced to, » Elric called to the seamen, «keep aiming for the flagship. If we take that our advantage will be good! »

  «Where are your allies, Elric?» Kargan asked sardonically, shuddering a little as he saw the Chaos stuff in the distance suddenly move and erupt tendrils of black matter into the sky.

  «They'll come, never fear, » Elric answered, but he was unsure.

  Now they were in the thick of the enemy fleet, the ships of their squadron followed behind. The war-engines of their own fleet sent up a constant barrage of fire and heavy stones.

  Only a handful of Bine's craft broke through the enemy's first rank and reached the open sea, sailing towards Jagreen Lern»s flagship.

  As they were observed, the enemy ships sailed to protect the flagship and the scintillating ships of death, moving with fantastic speed for their size, surrounded the Theocrat's vessel.

  Shouting over the waters, Kargan ordered their diminished squadron into a new formation.

  Moonglum shook his head in astonishment «How can things of that size support themselves on the water?» he said to Elric.

  Elric said: «It's unlikely that they actually do.» As then ship manoeuvred into its new position, he stared at the huge craft, twenty of them, dwarfing everything else on the sea. They seemed covered with a kind of scintillating wetness which flashed all the colours of the spectrum so that their outlines were hard to see and the shadowy figures moving about on their gigantic decks could not easily be observed. Whisps of dark stuff began to drift across the scene, close to the water, and Dyvim Slonn, from the lower deck, pointed and shouted:

  «See! Chaos comes. Where is Straasha and his folk?»

  Elric shook his head, perturbed. He had expected aid by now.

  «We cannot wait. We must attack! » Kargan's voice was pitched higher than usual.

  A mood of bitter recklessness came upon Elric then he smiled. «Come then. Let's do so! »

  Speedily the squadron coursed towards like disturbing ships of death.

  Moonglum muttered: «We are going to our doom, Elric. No man would willingly get close to those ships. Only the dead are drawn to them, and they do not go with joy! »

  But Elric ignored his friend.

  A strange silence seemed to come upon the waters so that the sound of the splashing oars was sharp. The death fleet waited for them, impassively, as if they did not need to prepare for battle.

  He tightened his grip on Stormbringer. The blade seemed to respond to the pounding of his pulse-beat, moving in his hand with each thud of his heart as if linked to it by veins and arteries.

  Now they were so close to the Chaos ships that they could make out better the figures crowding the great decks. Horribly, Elric thought he recognised some of the gaunt faces of the dead and, involuntarily, he called to the sea-folk's king.

  «Straasha! »

  The waters heaved, foamed and seemed to be attempting to rise but then subsided again. Straasha heard-but he was finding it difficult to fight against the forces of Chaos.

  «Straasha.»

  It was no good, the waters hardly moved.

  A mood of wild despair came over Elric. He screamed to Kargan: «We cannot wait for aid. Swing the ship round the Chaos fle
et and we'll attempt to reach Jagreen Lern's flagship from the rear.»

  Under Kargan's expert direction, the ship swung to avoid the Ships of Hell in a wide semi-circle. Spray cascaded against Elric's face, flooding the decks. He could hardly see through it as they cleared the Chaos ships which had now engaged other craft and were altering the nature of their timbers so that they fell apart and the unfortunate crews were drowned or warped into alien shapes.

  To his ears came the miserable cries of the defeated and the triumphantly surging thunder of the Chaos Fleet's music as it pushed forward to destroy the eastern ships.

  Timber-tearer was rocking badly and was hard to control, but at last they were around the hell fleet and bearing down on Jagreen Lern's vessel from the rear.

  Elric, having but recently been a prisoner upon it, recognized it at once. Now they nearly struck the Theocrat's vessel with their ram, but were swept off-course and had to manoeuvre again. Arrows rose from the enemy's decks and thudded and rattled on their own. They retaliated as, riding a huge wave, they slid alongside the flagship and flung out grappling irons. A few held, dragging them towards the Theocrat's vessel as the men of Pan Tang strove to cut the grappling ropes. More ropes followed and then a boarding platform fell from its harness and landed squarely on Jagreen Lern's deck. Another followed it.

  Elric ran for the nearest platform. Kargan behind him, and they led a body of warriors over it, searching for Jagreen Lern.

  Stormbringer took a dozen lives and a dozen souls before Elric had gained the main-deck. There a resplendent commander stood, surrounded by a group of officers. But it was not Jagreen Lern. Elric clambered up the gangway, slicing through a warrior's waist as the man sought to block his path. He yelled at the group: «Where's your cursed leader? Where's Jagreen Lern?»

  The commander's face was pale for he had seen in the past what Elric and his hell-blade could do.

  «He's not here, Elric, I swear.»

  «What? Am I to be thwarted again? I know you are lying! » Elric advanced on the group who backed away, their swords ready.

  «Our theocrat does not need to protect himself by means of lies, doom-fostered one! » sneered a young officer, braver than the rest.

  «Perhaps not, » cried Elric with a wild laugh as he rushed towards him swinging Stormbringer in a shrieking arc, «but at least I’ll have your life before I put the truth of your words to the test. My sword and I need revitalising-and your soul should make an appetiser before I take Jagreen Lern's! »

  The man put up his blade to block Stormbringer's swing. The runesword cut through the metal with a triumphant cry, swung back again and plunged itself into the officer's side. He gasped, but remained standing with his hands clenched.

  «No! » he groaned. «Oh, not my soul! No! » His eyes widened, tears streamed from them and madness came into them for a second before Stormbringer satiated itself and Elric drew it out, replenished. He had no sympathy for the man. «Your soul would have gone to the depths of hell in any case, » he said lightly. «But now I've put it to some use at least»

  Two other officers scrambled over the rail, seeking to escape their comrade's fate.

  Elric hacked at the hand of one so that he fell, screaming, to the deck, his hand still grasping the rail. The other he skewered in the bowels and, as Stormbringer sucked out his soul, he hung there, pleading incoherently, in an effort to avert the inevitable.

  So much vitality flowed into Elric now, that as he rushed at the remaining group around the commander, he seemed almost to fly over the deck and rip into them, slicing away Umbs as if they were stalks of Sowers, until he encountered the commander himself.

  The commander said softly, weakly: «I surrender. Do not take my soul»

  «Where is Jagreen Lern?»

  The commander pointed into the distance, where the Chaos fleet could be seen creating havoc amongst the eastern ships. «There! He sails with Lord Pyaray of Chaos whose fleet that is. You cannot reach him there for any man not protected or not already dead-would turn to flowing, liquid flesh once he neared the fleet»

  «That cursed hellspawn still cheats me, » Elric spat «Here's payment for your information-»

  Without mercy for one of those who had wasted and eat slaved two continents, Elric struck his blade through the ornate armour and, delicately, with all the old malevolence of his sorcerer ancestors, tickled the man's heart before finishing him.

  He looked around for Kargan, but could not see him. Then he saw that the Chaos fleet had turned back! At first he « thought it was because Straasha had at last brought aid, but then he saw that the remnants of his fleet were fleeing.

  Jagreen Lern was victorious. Their plans, their formations their courage-none of these had been capable of withstanding the horrible warpings of Chaos.

  And now the dreadful fleet was bearing down on the two flagships, locked together by their grapples. There was no chance of cutting one of them free before the fleet arrived.

  Elric yelled to Dyviro Slorm and Moonglum whom he saw naming towards him from the other end of the deck.

  «Over the side! Over the side for your lives-and swim as far as you can away from here, the Chaos fleet comes! »

  They looked at him, startled, teen realised the truth of his words. Other men of both sides were already leaping into the Moody water. Elric sheated his sword and dived. The left was cold, for all the warm blood in it, and he gasped as he swam in the direction of Moonglum’s red head, which he could see ahead, and, dose to it, Dyvim Slorm's honey coloured hair.

  He turned once and saw the very timbers of the two ships begin to melt, to twist and curl in strange patterns as the Ships of Hell arrived. He felt very relieved he had not been aboard.

  He reached his two friends.

  «A short-term measure this, » said Moonglum, spitting water from his mouth. «What now, Elric? Shall we strike for the Purple Towns?» Moonglum's capacity for facetiousness had not, it seemed, been limited by witnessing the defeat of their fleet and the advance of Chaos. The Isle was too far away.

  Then, to their left they saw the water froth and form itself into what was to Elric a familiar shape.

  «Straashal»

  I could not aid thee, I could not aid thee. Though I tried, my ancient enemy was too strong for me. Forgive me. In recompense let me take you and your friends back with me to my own land and save you, at least from Chaos.

  «But we cannot breathe beneath the sea! »

  «You will not need to.»

  «Very well.»

  Trusting to the elemental's words, they allowed themselves to be dragged beneath the waters and down into the cool, green depths of the sea, deeper and deeper until no sunlight filtered there and all was wet darkness and they lived, though at normal times the pressure would have crushed them.

  They seemed to travel for miles through the mysterious underwater grottoes until at last they came to a place of coral coloured rounded constructions that seemed to drift Slowly in a sluggish current Brie knew it by a description in one of his grimoires. The domain of Straasha the Sea King.

  The elemental bore them to the largest construction and one section of it seemed to fade away to admit teem. They moved now through twisting corridors of a delicate pink texture, slightly shadowed, no longer in water. They were now on the plane of the elemental folk. In a huge circular cave, they came to rest.

  With a peculiar rushing sound, the Sea King walked to a large throne of milky jade and sat upon it, his green head on his green fist.

  «Elric, once again I regret I was unable, after all, to aid you. All I can do now is have some of my folk carry you back to your own land when you have rested here for a while. We are all, it seems, helpless against this new strength which Chaos has of late.»

  Elric nodded. «Nothing can stand against its warping influence-unless it is the Chaos Shield.» Straasha straightened his back. «The Chaos Shield. Ah, yes. It belongs to an exiled god, does it not? But his castle is virtually impregnable.»

  «Why
is that?»

  «It lies upon the topmost crag of a tall and lonely mountain, reached by one hundred and thirty-nine steps. Lining these steps are forty-nine ancient elder trees, and of these you would have to be specially wary. Also he has a guard of one hundred and forty-four warriors.»

  «Of the warriors I would certainly be wary. But why the elders?»

  «Each elder contains the soul of one of Mordaga's followers who was punished thus. They are malevolent trees-ever ready to take the life of anyone that comes into their domain.»

  «A hard task, to get that shield for myself, » Elric mused. «But get it I must, for without it Fate's purpose would be forever thwarted-and with it I might have vengeance on the one who commands the Chaos Fleet-and Jagreen Lern who sails with him.»

  «Slay Pyaray, Lord of the Fleet of Hell, and, lacking his direction, the fleet itself would perish. His life-force is contained in a blue crystal set in the top of his head and striking at that with a special weapon is the only means of killing him.»

  «Thanks for that information, » Elric said gratefully. «For when the time comes, I shall need it.»

  «What do you plan to do, Elric?» Dyvim Slonn asked.

  «Put all else aside for the moment and see the sad giant's shield. I must-for if I do not have it, every battle fought will be a repetition of the one we have just lost»

  «I will come with you, Elric, » Moonglum promised.

  «I also, » said Dyvim Storm.

  «We shall require a fourth if we are to carry out the prophecy, » Elric said. «I wonder what became of Kargan.»

  Moonglum looked at the ground. «Did you not notice?»

  «Notice what?»

  «On board Jagreen Lern’s flagship when you were hewing about you in an effort to reach the main deck. Did you not know, then, what you had done-or rather what your cursed sword did?»