Elric: The Stealer of Souls
- Автор: Муркок Майкл
- Серия: Chronicles of the Last Emperor of Melnibone #1
- Язык: английский
- Жанр: Фэнтези
Электронная книга - «Elric: The Stealer of Souls». Краткое содержание книги:
–from the Foreword by Alan Moore, creator of V for Vendetta
Disconcerted, the Southerners straggled from the hall in silence.
Elric turned to Kargan Sharpeyes. "What have you decided, sea-lord?"
"We stand with you," Kargan said simply. "My brother Smiorgan Baldhead always spoke well of you and I remember his words rather than the rumours which followed his death under your leadership. Moreover," he smiled broadly, "it is in our nature to believe that whatever a Southern weakling decides must therefore be wrong. You have the Purple Towns as allies-and our ships, though fewer than the combined fleets of the South, are smooth-sailing fighting ships and well-equipped for war."
"I must warn you that we stand little chance without Southern aid," Elric said gravely.
"I'm doubtful if they'd have been more than an encumbrance with their guile and squabblings," Kargan replied. "Besides-have you no sorcery to help us in this?"
"I plan to seek some tomorrow," Elric told him. "Moonglum and myself will be leaving my cousin Dyvim Slorm in charge here while we go to Sorcerers' Isle, beyond Melnibone. There, among the hermit practitioners of the White Arts, I might find means of contacting the Lords of Law. I, as you know, am half-sworn to Chaos, though I fight it, and am finding increasingly that my own demon-god is somewhat loath to aid me these days. At present, the White Lords are weak, beaten back, just as we are on Earth, by the increasing power of the Dark Ones. It is hard to contact them. The hermits can likely help me."
Kargan nodded. " 'Twould be a relief to us of the Purple Towns to know that we were not too strongly leagued with dark spirits, I must admit."
Elric frowned. "I agree, of course. But our position is so weak that we must accept any help-be it black or white. I presume that there is dispute among the Masters of Chaos as to how far they should go-that is why some of my own help still comes from Chaos. This blade that hangs at my side, and the twin which Dyvim Slorm bears, are both evil. Yet they were forged by creatures of Chaos to bring an end, on Earth at least, to the Masters' rule here. Just as my blood-loyalties are divided, so are the swords' loyalties. We have no supernatural allies we can wholly rely upon."
"I feel for you," Kargan said gruffly, and it was obvious that he did. No man could envy Elric's position or Elric's destiny.
Orgon, Kargan's cousin-in-law, said bluntly: "We'll to bed now. Has your kinsman your full confidence?"
Elric glanced at Dyvim Slorm and smiled. "My full confidencehe knows as much as I about this business. He shall speak for me since he knows my basic plans."
"Very well. We'll confer with him tomorrow and, if we do not see you before we leave, do well for us on Sorcerers' Isle."
The sea-lords left.
Now, for the first time, the Regent of Vilmir spoke. His voice was clear and cool. "We, too, have confidence in you and your kinsman, Elric. Already we know you both for clever warriors and cunning planners. Vilmir has good cause to know it from your exploits in Bakshaan and elsewhere throughout our territories. We, I feel, have the good sense to bury old scores." He turned to the merchant princes for confirmation and they nodded their agreement.
"Good," Elric said. He addressed the gaunt-faced archer, Rackhir, his friend, whose legend almost equaled his own.
"You come as a spokesman of Tanelorn, Rackhir. This will not be the first time we have fought the Lords of Chaos."
"True," Rackhir nodded. "Most recently we averted a threat with certain aid from the Grey Lords-but Chaos had caused the gateways to the Grey Lords to be closed to mortals. We can offer you only our warriors' loyalty."
"We shall be grateful for that." Elric paced the dais. There was no need to ask the senators of Karlaak and the other cities of Ilmiora, for they had agreed to support him, come what may, long before the other rulers were called.
The same was true of the bleak-faced band who made up the refugees from the West, headed by Viri-Sek, the winged youth from Myyrrhn, last of his line since all the other members of the ruling family had been slain by Jagreen Lern's minions.
Just beyond the walls of Karlaak was a sea of tents and pavilions over which the banners of many nations waved sluggishly in the hot, moist wind. At this moment, Elric knew, the proud lords of the South were uprooting their standards and packing their tents, not looking at the war-battered warriors of Shazaar, Jharkor and Tarkesh who stared at them in puzzlement. Sight of those dull-eyed veterans should have decided the Southern nobles to ally themselves with the East, but evidently it had not.
Elric sighed and turned his back on the others to contemplate the great map of the world with its shaded dark areas.
"Now only a quarter is black," he said softly to Moonglum. "But the dark tide spreads farther and faster and soon we may all be engulfed."
"We'll dam the flow-or try to-when it comes," Moonglum said with attempted jauntiness. "But meanwhile your wife would spend some time with you before we leave. Let's both to bed and trust our dreams are light!"
Chapter Two
Two nights later they stood on the quayside in the city of Jadmar while a cold wind sliced its way inland.
"There she is," Elric said, pointing down at the small boat rocking and bumping in the water below.
"A small craft," Moonglum said dubiously. "She scarcely looks sea-worthy."
"She'll stay afloat longer than a larger vessel in a heavy storm."
Elric clambered down the iron steps. "Also," he added, as Moonglum put a cautious foot on the rung above him, "she'll be less noticeable and won't draw the attention of any enemy vessels which might be scouting in these waters."
He jumped and the boat rocked crazily. He leaned over, grasped a rung and steadied the boat so that Moonglum could climb aboard.
The cocky little Eastlander pushed a hand through his shock of red hair and stared up at the troubled sky.
"Bad weather for this time of year," he noted. "It's hard to understand. All the way from Karlaak we've had every sort of weather, freak snow-storms, thunder-storms, hail and winds as hot as a furnace blast.
Those rumours were disturbing, too-a rain of blood in Bakshaan, balls of fiery metal falling in the west of Vilmir, unprecedented earth-quakes in Jadmar a few hours before we arrived. It seems nature has gone insane."
"Not far from the truth," Elric said grimly, untying the mooring line. "Lift the sail will you, and tack into the wind?"
"What do you mean?" Moonglum began to loosen the sail. It billowed into his face and his voice was muffled. "Jagreen Lern's hordes haven't reached this part of the world yet."
"They haven't needed to. I told you the forces of nature were being disrupted by Chaos. We have only experienced the backwash of what is going on in the West. If you think these weather conditions are peculiar, you would be horrified by the effect which Chaos has on those parts of the world where its rule is almost total!"
"I wonder if you haven't taken on too much in this fight."
Moonglum adjusted the sail and it filled to send the little boat scudding between the two long harbour walls towards the open sea.
As they passed the beacons, guttering in the cold wind, Elric gripped the tiller tighter, taking a south-westerly course past the Vilmirian peninsula. Overhead the stars were sometimes obscured by the tattered shreds of clouds streaming before the cold, unnatural blast of the wind. Spray splashed in his face, stinging it in a thousand places, but he ignored it. He had not answered Moonglum, for he also had doubts about his ability to save the world from Chaos.