The Chronicles of Castle Brass

by Michael Moorcock

  Hawkmoon thrust under the ape's ribs, knowing that it was too late to save Keeth Woecarrier whose body was already sinking to the damp floor. Corum appeared, stabbing the creature from the other side. It snarled, turning on them, claws reaching for them. Its eyes glazed. It stumbled. It fell backwards on to the Woecarrier's corpse.

  Hawkmoon did not wait to be attacked, but sprang over the corpses to where Baron Gotterin was locked in the grip of another orange ape. Teeth snapped, tearing the fat face free of the skull. Gotterin yelled once, almost in triumph, almost as if he felt his theory vindicated. Then he died. Ashnar the Lynx used his sword like an axe, lopping off the head of Gotterin's assassin. He stood upon the body of another slain ape. Miraculously, he had taken two of the beasts singlehanded. He was roaring out some toneless battle song. He was full of joy now.

  Hawkmoon grinned at the barbarian and rushed to Corum's assistance, making a deep cut through the neck and back of the baboon. Blood shot into his eyes and blinded him for a moment so that he thought he was doomed. But the beast was finished. It twitched for only a few seconds longer. Corum pushed it from him with the pommel of his sword.

  Hawkmoon saw that Chaz of Elaquol was also dead, but that Turning Nikhe still lived, nursing a deep gash in his face, grinning the while. Reingir the Rock lay upon his back, his throat torn out, while John ap-Rhyss, Emshon of Ariso and Thereod of the Caves had managed to survive the fight with only minor wounds. Erekose's men had fared less well. One had his arm hanging by strips of flesh alone, another had lost an eye and another had had his hand bitten clean off. The others were tending them as best they could. Brut of Lashmar, Hown Serpent-tamer, Ashnar the Lynx and Otto Blendker were also reasonably unhurt.

  Ashnar looked triumphantly upon the bodies of the two apes. ‘I begin to suspect this venture of being uneconomical,' he said. He was panting as a hound might pant after a successful kill. ‘The less time we take over it, the better. What think you, Elric?'

  'I would agree.' Elric shook blood from his fearsome sword. 'Come.'

  Without waiting for the others, he began to lead the way towards a chamber ahead. The chamber glowed with a peculiar pink light. Hawkmoon and the others followed him into it.

  Now Elric was looking down in horror. He bent and grasped something. And Hawkmoon felt his own legs seized. They were snakes, covering the floor of the chamber - long, thin reptiles, flesh-coloured and eyeless - tightening then- coils about his ankles. Wildly, Hawkmoon hacked downwards, severing two or three of the heads, but the coils did not relax. Around him, his surviving comrades were shouting with fear, trying to free themselves.

  And then the one called Hown Serpent-tamer, the warrior in the sea-green armour, began to sing.

  He sang in a voice which was like the sound of a waterfall in a mountain stream. He sang casually, for all the urgency in the set of his face, and slowly the snakes began to release their hold upon the men, slowly they fell back to the floor, appearing to sleep.

  'Now I understand how you came by your surname,' said Elric in relief.

  'I was not sure the song would work on these,' said the Serpent-tamer, 'for they are unlike any serpents I have ever seen in the seas of my own world.'

  They left the snakes behind, climbing higher, finding it difficult to keep a purchase on the yielding, slimy floor. The heat was increasing all the time and Hawkmoon felt that he might soon faint if he did not soon breathe fresher air. He became reconciled to going down on his stomach in order to squeeze through tiny, rubbery gaps in the passage; to spreading his arms at times in order to maintain his balance as tall caverns shook and rained sticky liquid on his head; to slapping at small creatures, rather like insects, which from time to time attacked; to hearing the sourceless voice crying: 'Where? Where? Oh, the pain!'

  The little beasts flew around them in clouds, nipping at their faces and hands, hardly visible yet always present.

  ‘Where?’

  Virtually blinded, Hawkmoon forced his body on, restraining the urge to vomit, desperate for sweet air, seeing warriors fall and being hardly able to help them up again. Upward, higher and higher, rose the passage, twisting in every direction, and Hown Serpent-tamer continued to sing, for there were still many snakes on the floor.

  Ashnar the Lynx had lost his short-lived ebullience. 'We can survive this only a little longer. We shall be in no condition to meet the sorcerer if we ever find him or his sister.'

  'My thoughts, too,' said Elric. 'Yet what else may we do, Ashnar?'

  'Nothing,' Hawkmoon heard Ashnar murmur. 'Nothing,'

  And the same word was repeated, sometimes louder, sometimes softer:

  ‘Where?’ it said.

  ‘Where?’ it demanded.

  'Where? Where? Where?'

  And soon the voice had grown to a shout It rang in Hawkmoon's ears. It grated on his nerves.

  'Here,' he muttered. 'Here we are, sorcerer.'

  Then they had come to the end of the passage at last and saw an archway of regular proportions, and beyond the archway a well-lit chamber.

  'Agak's room, without doubt,' said Ashnar the Lynx.

  They stepped into an octagonal chamber.

  Chapter Five

  Agak And Gagak

  There were eight milky colours to each of the eight inwardly sloping sides of the chamber; each colour changing in unison with the others. From time to time a side would become almost transparent and it was possible to see through it to the ruins of the city below, the other building, still connected by a network of tubes and threads.

  There were noises within the chamber - a sighing, a whispering, a bubbling. They came from a great pool set into the centre of the floor.

  Reluctantly, they filed into the chamber. Reluctantly they looked into the pool and saw that the substance there might be the stuff of life itself, for it moved constantly, it formed shapes - faces, bodies, limbs of all manner of men and beasts; structures which rivalled those of the city outside for architectural variety; whole landscapes in miniature; unfamiliar firmaments, suns and planets; creatures of unlikely beauty and of convincing ugliness; scenes of battles, of families at peace in their households, of harvests, ceremonies, pomp; ships both outlandish and familiar, some of which flew through the skies, or through the darks of space, or below the waves, in nameless materials, unusual timbers, peculiar metals.

  In fascination, Hawkmoon stared and stared, until a voice roared from the pool, revealing its source at last.

  'what? what? who invades?'

  Hawkmoon saw Elric's face in the pool. He saw Corum's face there and he saw Erekose's. When he recognized his own, he turned away.

  'WHO INVADES? AH! I AM TOO WEAK!'

  Elric was the first to reply:

  'We are of those you would destroy. We are those on whom you would feed.'

  'ah! agak! agak! I am sick! where are you?'

  Hawkmoon exchanged puzzled glances with Corum and with Erekose. None could explain the sorcerer's response.

  Shapes rose from the liquid and fell apart, fell back into the pool.

  Hawkmoon saw Yisselda there, and other women who reminded him of Yisselda, though they did not resemble her. He cried out, starting forward. Erekose restrained him. The figures of the women disintegrated and were replaced by the twisting towers of an alien city.

  'I WEAKEN ... MY ENERGY NEEDS TO BE REPLENISHED . . . WE MOST BEGIN NOW, AGAK ... IT TOOK US SO LONG TO REACH THIS PLACE., I THOUGHT I COULD REST. BUT THERE IS DISEASE HERE. IT FILLS MY BODY. AGAK. AWAKEN AGAK. AWAKEN!'

  Hawkmoon controlled the shudders which began to rack his body. Elric was staring intently into the pool, an expression of dawning realization on his pale face.

  'Some servant of Agak's, charged with the defence of the chamber?' This was Hown Serpent-tamer's suggestion.

  'Will Agak wake?' Brut glanced around the eight-sided chamber. 'Will he come?’

  'Agak!' Ashnar the Lynx raised his braided head in a challenge. 'Coward!'

  'Agak!' cried John ap-Rhyss, dr
awing his sword.

  'Agak!' shouted Emshon of Ariso.

  The others all took up the shout; all save the four heroes.

  Hawkmoon was beginning to guess what the words had meant. And something was growing inside his mind - another understanding, an understanding of how the sorcerers must be slain. His lips formed the word 'No,' but could not voice it. He looked again into the faces of the three other aspects of the Champion Eternal. He saw that the others were also afraid.

  'We are the Four Who Are One.' Erekose's voice was shaking.

  'No . .' Elric spoke now. He was making some sort of attempt to sheath his black sword, but the sword seemed to be refusing to enter the scabbard. There was panic and horror in the albino's crimson eyes.

  Hawkmoon took a small step backward, hating the images which now filled his head, hating the impulse which had seized his will.

  'AGAK! QUICKLY!'

  The pool boiled.

  Hawkmoon heard Erekose saying:

  'If we do not do this thing, they will eat all our worlds. Nothing will remain.'

  Hawkmoon did not care.

  Elric, closest to the pool, was clutching his bone-white head and swaying, threatening to fall. Hawkmoon made a movement towards him, hearing the albino groan, hearing Corum's urgent, echoing voice behind him, feeling desperate, wholehearted comradeship with his three counterparts.

  'We must do it, then,' said Corum.

  Elric was panting. 'I will not,' he said. 'I am myself.’

  'And I!' Hawkmoon stretched out a hand, but Elric did not see it.

  'It is the only way for us,' said Corum, 'for the single thing that we are. Do you not see that? We are the only creatures of our worlds who possess the means of slaying the sorcerers - in the only manner in which they can be slain!'

  Hawkmoon's eyes met Elric's; they met those of Corum; they met Erekose's. And Hawkmoon knew and the individual that was Hawkmoon recoiled from the knowledge.

  'We are the Four Who Are One.' Erekose's tones were firm. 'Our united strength is greater than the sum. We must come together, brothers. We must conquer here before we can hope to conquer Agak.'

  'No ...' said Elric, voicing Hawkmoon's emotion.

  But something greater than Hawkmoon was at work within him. He moved to one corner of the pool and stood there, seeing that the others had taken up positions at each of the other corners.

  'AGAK!' said the voice. 'AGAK!' And the pool's activity became more violent.

  Hawkmoon could not speak. He saw that the faces of his three counterparts were as frozen as his own. He was only dimly aware of the warriors who had followed them here. They were moving away from the pool, guarding the entrance, looking about them for signs of attack, protecting the Four, but their eyes held terror.

  Hawkmoon saw the great black sword move upwards, but he could feel no more fear of it as his own sword rose to meet it. Then all four swords were touching, their tips meeting over the exact centre of the pool.

  At the moment when the tips met, Hawkmoon gasped, feeling a power fill his soul. He heard Elric shout and knew that the albino was experiencing the same sensation. Hawkmoon hated the power. It enslaved him. He wished to escape from it, even now.

  '/ understand.' It was Corum's voice, but the lips were Hawkmoon's. 'It is the only way.'

  'Oh, no, no!' And Hawkmoon's voice sprang from Elric's throat.

  Hawkmoon felt his name go away.

  'AGAK! AGAK!' The substance of the pool writhed, boiled and leaped. 'QUICKLY! WAKE!'

  Hawkmoon knew that his identity was fading. He was Elric. He was Erekose. He was Corum. And he was Hawkmoon, too, A little of him was still Hawkmoon. And he was a thousand others - Urlik, Jherek, Asquiol... He was a part of a gigantic, a noble beast...

  His body had changed. He hovered over the pool. The vestige of Hawkmoon could see it for a second before that vestige joined the central being.

  On each side of its head was a face and each face belonged to one of the companions. Serene and terrible, the eyes did not blink. It had eight arms and the arms were still; it squatted over the pool on eight legs, and its armour and accoutrements were of all colours blending and at the same time separate.

  The being clutched a single great sword in all eight hands and both he and the sword glowed with a ghastly golden light.

  'Ah,' he thought, 'now I am whole.'

  The Four Who Were One reversed its monstrous sword so that the point was directed downward at the frenetically boiling stuff in the pool below. The stuff feared the sword. It mewled.

  'Agak, Agak ...'

  The being of whom Hawkmoon was a part gathered its great strength and began to plunge the sword down.

  Shapeless waves appeared on the surface of the pool. Its whole colour changed from sickly yellow to an unhealthy green. 'Agak, I die...'

  Inexorably the sword moved down. It touched the surface.

  The pool swept back and forth; it tried to ooze over the sides and on to the floor. The sword bit deeper and the Four Who Were One felt new strength flow up the blade. There came a moan; slowly the pool quietened. It became silent. It became still. It became grey.

  Then the Four Who Were One descended into the pool to be absorbed.

  Hawkmoon rode for Londra and with him were Huillam D'Averc, Yisselda of Brass, Oladahn of the Bulgar Mountains, Bowgentle the philosopher, and Count Brass. Each of these wore a mirror helm which reflected the rays of the sun.

  Hawkmoon held the Horn of Fate in his hands. He put it to his lips. He blew the blast to herald in the night of the new earth. The night that would precede the new dawn. And though the horn's note was triumphant, Hawkmoon was not. He stood full of infinite loneliness and infinite sorrow, his head tilted back as the sound rang on.

  Hawkmoon relived the torment he had suffered in the forest, when Glandyth had struck off his hand. He screamed as the pain came to his wrist once more and then there was fire in his face and he knew that Kwll had plucked his brother's jewelled eye from his skull, now that his powers were restored. Red darkness swam in his brain. Red fire drained his energy. Red pain consumed his flesh.

  And Hawkmoon spoke in tones of the most terrible torment. 'Which of the names will I have next time you call?'

  'Now Earth is peaceful. The silent air carries only the sounds of quiet laughter, the murmur of conversation, the small noises of small animals. We and Earth are at peace.'

  'But how long can it last?'

  'Oh, how long can it last?'

  The beast that was the Champion Eternal could see clearly now.

  It tested its body. It controlled every limb, every function. It had triumphed; it had revitalized the pool.

  Through its single octagonal eye it looked in all directions at the same time over the wide ruins of the city; then it focused all its attention upon its twin.

  Agak had awakened too late, but he was awakening at last, roused by the dying cries of his sister Gagak whose body the mortals had first invaded and whose intelligence they had overwhelmed, whose eye they now used and whose powers they would soon attempt to utilize.

  Agak did not need to turn his head to look upon the being he still saw as his sister. Like hers, his intelligence was contained within the huge octagonal eye. 'Did you call me, sister?'

  'I spoke your name, that is all, brother.' There were enough vestiges of Gagak's lifeforce in the Four Who Were One for it to imitate her manner of speaking. 'You cried out?'

  'A dream.' The Four paused and then it spoke again: 'A disease. I dreamed that there was something upon this island which made me unwell.'

  'Is that possible? We do not know sufficient about these dimensions or the creatures inhabiting them. Yet none is as powerful as Agak and Gagak. Fear not, sister. We must begin our work soon.'

  'It is nothing. Now I am awake.'

  Agak was puzzled. 'You speak oddly.'

  'The dream ...' answered the creature which had entered Gagak's body and destroyed her.

  'We must begin,' said Agak. 'The dime
nsions turn and the time has come. Ah, I feel it. It waits for us to take it. So much rich energy. How we shall conquer when we go home!'

  'I feel it,' replied the Four, and it did.

  It felt its whole universe, dimension upon dimension, swirling all about it. Stars and planets and moons through plane upon plane, all full of the energy upon which Agak and Gagak had desired to feed. And there was enough of Gagak still within the Four to make the Four experience a deep, anticipatory hunger which, now that the dimensions attained the right conjunction, would soon be satisfied.

  The Four was tempted to join with Agak and feast, though it knew if it did so it would rob its own universe of every shred of energy. Stars would fade, worlds would die. Even the Lords of Law and Chaos would perish, for they were part of the same universe. Yet to possess such power it might be worth committing such a tremendous crime…

  It controlled this desire and gathered itself for its attack before Agak became too wary.

  'Shall we feast, sister?'

  The Four realized that the ship had brought it to the island at exactly the proper moment. Indeed, they had almost come too late.

  'Sister?' Agak was again puzzled. 'What...?'

  The Four knew it must disconnect from Agak. The tubes and wires fell away from his body and were withdrawn into Gagak's.

  'What’s this?' Agak's strange body trembled for a moment 'Sister?’

  The Four prepared itself, For all that it had absorbed Gagak's memories and instincts, it was still not confident that it would be able to attack Agak in her chosen form. And since the: sorceress had possessed the power to change her form, the Four, began to change, groaning greatly, experiencing dreadful pain, drawing all the materials of its stolen being together so that what had appeared to be a building now became pulpy, unformed flesh. And Agak, stunned, looked on.

  'Sister? Your Sanity...'

  The building, the creature that was Gagak, threshed, melted and erupted.