The Chronicles of Castle Brass

by Michael Moorcock

  'Upon this island is a ruin - perhaps it was once a city called Tanelorn - and at the centre of the ruin stands one whole building. It is this building which Agak and his sister use. It is that which you must attack. You will recognize it, I hope, at once.'

  'And we must slay this pair?' Erekose spoke as if the work were nothing.

  'If you can. They have servants who help them. These must be slain, also. Then the building must be fired. This is important.' The Captain paused. 'Fired. It must be destroyed in no other way.'

  Hawkmoon noticed that Elric was smiling. 'There are few other ways of destroying buildings, Sir Captain.'

  It seemed a pointless observation to Hawkmoon and he thought that the Captain responded with great politeness, bowing slightly and saying, 'Aye, it's so. Nonetheless, it is worth remembering what I have said.'

  'Do you know what these two look like, these Agak and Gagak?' said Corum.

  The Captain shook his head. 'No. It is possible that they resemble creatures of our own worlds. It is possible that they do not. Few have seen them. It is only recently that they have been able to materialize at all.'

  'And how may they best be overwhelmed?' Hawkmoon spoke almost banteringly.

  'By courage and ingenuity,' the Captain said.

  'You are not very explicit, sir,' said Elric in a tone which echoed Hawkmoon's.

  'I am as explicit as I can be. Now, my friend, I suggest you rest and prepare your arms.'

  They issued into the writhing mist. It clung to the ship like a desperate beast. It stirred. It threatened them. Erekose's mood had changed. 'We have little free will,' he said morosely, 'for all we deceive ourselves otherwise. If we perish or live through this venture, it will not count for much in the overall scheme of things.'

  'I think you are of a gloomy turn of mind, friend,' Hawkmoon told him sardonically. He would have continued, but Corum interrupted.

  'A realistic turn of mind.'

  They reached the cabin shared by Erekose and Elric. Corum and Hawkmoon left them there and tramped up the deck, through the white, clinging stuff, to their own cabin, there to pick the four who would follow them.

  'We are the Four Who Are One,' said Corum. 'We have great power. I know that we have great power.'

  But Hawkmoon was wearying of talk he found altogether too mystical for his own, normally practical, turn of mind.

  He hefted the sword he was honing. 'This is the most trustworthy power,' he said. 'Sharp steel.’

  Many of the other warriors murmured their agreement.

  ‘We shall see,' said Corum.

  But as he polished the blade, Hawkmoon could not help but be reminded of the outline of that other sword he had observed beneath Elric's cloak. He knew that he would recognize it when he saw it. He did not know, however, why he feared it so much, and this lack of knowledge also disturbed him. He found himself thinking of Yisselda, of Yarmila and Manfred, of Count Brass and the Heroes of the Kamarg. This adventure had begun partly because he had hoped to find all his old comrades and loved ones again. Now he was threatened with never seeing any of them again. And yet it was worth fighting in the Captain's cause if Tanelorn, and consequently his children, could be found. And where was Yisselda? Would he find her, too, in Tanelorn?

  Soon they were ready. Hawkmoon had with him John ap-Rhyss, Enshon of Ariso, Keeth Woecarrier and Turning Nikhe, while Baron Gotterin, Thereod of the Caves, Chaz of Elaquol and Reingir the Rock, awakened at last from his drunken snoozings and stumbling Wearily in the wake of the rest, made up Corum's party. Privately, Hawkmoon felt he had the pick of the men.

  Into the mist they marched, and to the side of the ship. The anchor was already rattling, the ship already settling. They could see rocky land - an isle which looked distinctly inhospitable. Could it possibly shelter Tanelorn, the fabulous city of peace?

  John ap-Rhyss sniffed suspiciously, wiping the mist from his moustache, his other hand playing with the hilt of his sword. 'I have seen no place less welcoming,' he said.

  The Captain had left his cabin. His steersman stood next to him. Both held armfuls of brands.

  With a shock, Hawkmoon saw that the steersman's face was the twin of the Captain's - but the eyes were not blind. They were sharp, they were full of knowledge. Hawkmoon could hardly bear to look at the face as he accepted his brand and tucked it into his belt.

  'Only fire will destroy this enemy forever.' The Captain now handed Hawkmoon a tinder box with which to light the brand when the time came. 'I wish you success, warriors.'

  Now each man had a brand and a tinder box. Erekose was first over the side, swinging down the rope ladder, unclipping his sword so that it would not touch the water, and plunging into the milky sea up to his waist. The others followed him, wading through the shallows until they stood upon the shore, looking back at the ship.

  Hawkmoon noticed that the mist did not extend as far as the land, which had now taken on some colour. Normally, he would have thought how dull the surroundings were, but in contrast to the ship they were bright - red rocks festooned with lichen of several shades of yellow. And above his head was a great disc, bloody and still, which was the sun. It cast a great many shadows, thought Hawkmoon.

  It was only slowly that he began to notice just how many shadows were cast - shadows which could not possibly belong to the rocks alone - shadows of all sizes, of all shapes.

  Some, he saw, were the shadows of men.

  Chapter Four

  A City Haunted By Itself

  The sky was like a wound gone bad, full of dreadful, unhealthy blues, browns, dark reds and yellows, and there were shadows in it which, unlike those on the land, sometimes moved.

  One called Hown Serpent-Tamer, a member of Elric's party, whose armour was sea-green and scintillating, said: 'I have rarely been ashore, it's true, but I think the quality of this land is stranger than any other I've known. It shimmers. It distorts.’

  'Aye,' said Hawkmoon. He had noticed the same sweep of flickering light which passed from time to time over the island and distorted the outlines of the surrounding ground.

  A barbaric warrior, with braids and glaring eyes, called Ashnar the Lynx, was plainly much discomforted by all of this. 'And from whence come all these shadows?' he growled. 'Why cannot we see that which casts them?'

  They continued to march inland, though all were reluctant to leave the shore and the ship behind. Corum seemed the least disturbed. He spoke in a tone of philosophical curiosity.

  'It could be that these are shadows cast by objects existing in other dimensions of the Earth,' said the Prince in the Scarlet Robe. 'If all dimensions meet here, as has been suggested, that could be a likely explanation. This is not the strangest example I have witnessed of such a conjunction.'

  A black man, whose face bore a peculiar V-shaped scar, and who was called Otto Blendker, fingered the sword belt which crossed his chest and grunted. 'Likely? Pray let none give me an unlikely explanation, if you please!'

  Thereod of the Caves said: 'I have witnessed a similar peculiarity in the deepest caves of my own land, but nothing so vast. There, I was told, dimensions met. So Corum is doubtless right.' He shifted the long, slender sword on his back. He spoke no more to the party in general, but fell to conversing with the dwarfish Emshon of Ariso who was, as usual, grumbling about something.

  Hawkmoon was still considering if they had been duped by the Captain. They still had no proof that the blind man truly meant them well. For all Hawkmoon knew the Captain himself had designs upon the worlds and was using them against their fellows. But he voiced nothing of this to the others, all of whom seemed prepared to do the Captain's bidding without question.

  Once more Hawkmoon found himself eyeing the shape of the sword beneath Ekic's cloak and wondering why it perturbed him so much. He became lost in his own thoughts, looking as little as possible at the disturbing landscape around him, reviewing die events which had led to his finding himself in this company. He was aroused from his reverie by Corum's voice
saying:

  'Perhaps this is Tanelorn - or, rather, all the versions of Tanelorn there have ever been. For Tanelorn exists in many forms, each form depending upon the wishes of those who most desire to find her.'

  Hawkmoon looked and he saw the city. It was a crazy assortment of ruins, displaying every possible idiosyncratic style of architecture, as if some god had collected examples of buildings from every world of the multiverse and placed them here, willy-nilly. All were in ruins. They stretched away to the horizon - tottering towers, shattered minarets, crumbling castles - and all cast shadows. Moreover, in this city, too, there were many shadows which had no apparent origin. Shadows of buildings not visible to their eyes.

  Hawkmoon was shocked. 'This is not the Tanelorn I expected to find,' he said.

  'Nor I.' Erekose spoke in a tone which echoed Hawkmoon's.

  'Perhaps it is not Tanelorn.' Elric stopped short, his crimson eyes scanning the ruins. 'Perhaps it is not.'

  'Or perhaps this is a graveyard.' Corum frowned. 'A graveyard containing all the forgotten versions of that strange city?'

  Hawkmoon refused to pause. He kept walking until he had reached the ruins, and the others began to follow him, until they were all clambering through the broken stones, inspecting here a piece of engraving, there a fallen statue. Behind him, Hawkmoon heard Erekose speaking in a low voice to Elric.

  'Have you noticed,' said Erekose, 'that the shadows now represent something?'

  Hawkmoon heard Elric reply. 'You can tell from the ruins what some of the buildings looked like when they were whole. The shadows are the shadows of those buildings - the original buildings before they became ruined.'

  Hawkmoon looked for himself and saw that Elric was right. It was a city haunted by itself.

  'Just so,' said Erekose.

  Hawkmoon turned. 'We were promised Tanelorn. We were promised a corpse!"

  'Possibly,' said Corum, thoughtfully. 'But do not come to too hasty a conclusion, Hawkmoon.'

  'I would judge the centre to be over there, ahead of us,' said John ap-Rhyss. 'Would that be the best place to look for those we fight?'

  The others agreed and they altered the direction of their march a little, making for a cleared space amongst the ruins where a building could be seen, its outline sharp and clean where the outlines of the others were indistinct. Its colours, too, were brighter, with planes of curved metal going at all angles, connected by tubes which might have been of crystal and which glowed and throbbed.

  'It resembles a machine more than a building.' Hawkmoon found his curiosity aroused.

  'And a musical instrument more than a machine.' Corum's single eye viewed the building with a certain awe.

  The four heroes stopped and their men stopped with them.

  "This must be the dwelling of the sorcerers,' said Emshon of Ariso. ‘They do themselves well, eh? And look - it is really two identical buildings, connected by those tubes.'

  'A home for the brother and a home for the sister,' said Reingir the Rock. He belched and looked apologetic.

  Two buildings,' Erekose remarked. 'We were not prepared for this. Shall we split up and attack both?'

  Elric shook his head. 'I think we should go together into one, else our strength will be weakened.

  'I agree," said Hawkmoon, wishing he knew why he was so reluctant, nonetheless, to follow Elric into the building.

  'Well, let us set to it,' Baron Gotterin said. 'Let us enter Hell, if this is not Hell already.'

  Corum gave the Baron an amused glance. 'You are certainly determined to prove your theory!'

  Again Hawkmoon took the initiative, heading over the level ground towards what he guessed to be the doorway of the nearest building - a dark, asymmetrical gash. As the twenty warriors approached, experienced eyes wary for attack by any possible defenders, the building seemed to take on a brighter glow, seemed to pulse with a steady beat, seemed to emit peculiar, almost inaudible, whispering noises. Used to the sorcerous technology of the Dark Empire, Hawkmoon still found himself fearing the place, and suddenly he was holding back, letting Elric lead the way in, his four chosen comrades with him. Hawkmoon and his men went next through the black portal and they were in a passage which curved sharply almost as soon as they had entered; a humid passage which brought sweat to their faces. Again they paused, glancing at one another. Then they began to move again, ready to meet whatever defenders there were.

  They had gone some distance along the passage before its walls and floor began to shake so heavily that Hown Serpent-tamer was flung downwards, to lie sprawled and swearing while the others barely managed to keep their balance, and at the same time there came a booming, faraway voice from ahead - a voice full of querulous outrage.

  ‘Who? Who? Who?'

  Hawkmoon, gripped by inapposite humour, thought it the voice of a mad and gigantic owl.

  ‘Who? Who? Who invades me?'

  With the help of the others, Hown had regained his footing. They pushed on as the passage's motion became somewhat less violent, while the voice continued to mutter, distracted, as if to itself.

  ‘What attacks? What?'

  None had any explanation for the voice. All were bewildered by it. They said nothing, letting Elric lead them into a fairly large hall. Within the hall the air was even warmer and hard to breathe. Viscous fluid dripped from the ceiling and oozed down the walls. Hawkmoon found himself disgusted and quelled a strong desire to turn back. Then Ashnar the Lynx yelped and pointed at the beasts which squeezed themselves through the walls and came slithering at them, mouths gaping. They were snake-like things and sight of them brought bile to Hawkmoon's throat.

  ‘Attack!’ The voice cried again. 'Destroy this! Destroy it!' There was a terrible, mindless quality to the command.

  Instinctively the warriors formed themselves into four groups, standing back to back to meet the attack.

  Instead of real teeth, the beasts had sharp bone ridges in their mouths, like twin knives, making a horrid clashing sound as they drew their shapeless, disgusting bodies through the slime of the floor.

  Elric was the first to draw his sword and Hawkmoon was distracted for a second as he saw the huge black blade rise over the albino's head. He could have sworn that he heard the blade moan, that it glowed with a life which was its own. But then he was cutting at the beasts which slithered all around him, striking into flesh which parted with nauseating ease and which gave off a stink threatening to overwhelm them all. The air grew thicker and the fluid on the floor was deeper and Elric was shouting to them. 'Move on through them!' he cried. 'Hacking a path through as you go. Head for yonder opening.'

  Hawkmoon saw the doorway and he knew that Elric's plan was the best they could hope for. He began to press forward, his men moving with him, destroying a multitude of the horrid beasts as they went. As a result the stench increased and Hawkmoon was gagging now.

  ‘The creatures are not hard to fight!' Hown Serpent-tamer was panting. 'But each one we kill robs us a little of our own chances of life.'

  'Cunningly planned by our enemies, no doubt,' answered Elric.

  Elric was the first to reach the passage, waving them to join him.

  Thrusting, swinging, slicing, they gained the door and the beasts were reluctant to follow. Here the air was a little more breathable. Hawkmoon leaned against the wall of the passage, listening to the others debate, but unable to join the conversation.

  'Attack! Attack!' ordered the faraway voice. But no further attack came.

  'I like not this castle at all.' Brut of Lashmar fingered a tear in his cloak. 'High sorcery commands it.'

  'It is only what we knew,' said Ashnar the Lynx, his barbarian's eyes darting this way and that.

  Otto Blendker, another of Elric's men, wiped sweat from his black brow. ‘They are cowards, these sorcerers. They do not show themselves.' He was almost shouting. 'Is their aspect so loathsome that they are afraid lest we look upon them?' Hawkmoon realized that Blendker was speaking for the benefit of the two sorcer
ers, Agak and Gagak, hoping to shame them into appearing. But there was no response. Soon they were pushing on through the fleshy passages, which changed dimensions frequently and were sometimes all but impassable. The light, too, was inconstant, and often they moved in complete darkness, linking hands so as not to become separated.

  ‘The floor rises all the time,' murmured Hawkmoon to John ap-Rhyss, who was nearest to him. 'We must be fairly close to the top of the building.'

  ap-Rhyss made no reply. His teeth were clenched as if he tried not to betray his fear.

  ‘The Captain said that the sorcerers could probably change shape,' Emshon of Ariso said. They must change frequently, for these passages are not designed for creatures of any one particular size.'

  Elric, at the head of the twenty, said: 'I become impatient to confront these shape changers.'

  Ashnar the Lynx, next to him, growled: ‘They said there'd be treasure here. I thought to stake my life against a fair reward, but there's nought here of value.' He touched the wall. 'Not even stone or brick. What are these walls made of, Elric?'

  Hawkmoon had wondered the same thing and he hoped that the albino would offer an explanation, but Elric was shaking his head. ‘That has puzzled me, also, Ashnar.'

  Hawkmoon heard Elric draw in his breath, saw him raise his strange, heavy sword - and there were new attackers coming at them. These were beasts with red, snarling mouths and their bristling fur was orange. Yellow fangs dripped saliva. Elric was the first to be threatened, driving his sword deep into the first beast's belly even as its claws fell on him. It was like a huge baboon and the thrust had not killed it.

  Then Hawkmoon was engaged with another of the apes, slashing at it while it feinted, side-stepping his blows, and Hawkmoon was aware that he had little chance, individually, against it. He saw Keeth Woecarrier, careless of his safety, come blundering to his aid, big sword swinging, a look of resignation upon his melancholy face. The ape turned its attention to the Woecarrier, throwing the whole weight of its body at him. Keeth's blade ran it through the chest, but its fangs were on the large man's throat and blood was bursting from the jugular almost in an instant.