Duke Elric - Michael Moorcock [34]
Meanwhile the man from the Purple Towns, unaided by sorcery, put axe and sword to good work and dealt with three more of his onetime comrades, exulting in his work as if he had nursed a taste for it for some time.
“Yoi! But this is worthwhile slaughter!” cried the black-bearded one.
And then that busy butchery was suddenly done and Elric realized that none was left save himself and his new ally, who stood leaning on his axe, panting and grinning like a hound at the kill, replacing a steel skull-cap upon his pate from where it had fallen during the fight, and wiping a bloody sleeve over the sweat glistening on his brow, and saying, in a deep, good-humoured tone:
“Well now, it is we who are wealthy, of a sudden.”
Elric sheathed a Stormbringer still reluctant to return to its scabbard. “You desire their gold. Is that why you aided me?”
The black-bearded soldier laughed. “I owed them a debt and had been biding my time, waiting to pay. These rascals are all that were left of a pirate crew which slew everyone aboard my own ship when we wandered into strange waters—they would have slain me had I not told them I wished to join them. Now I am revenged. Not that I am above taking the gold, since much of it belongs to me and my dead brothers. It will go to their wives and their children when I return to the Purple Towns.”
“How did you convince them not to kill you, too?” Elric sought among the ruins of the fire for something to eat. He found some cheese and began to chew upon it.
“They had no captain or navigator, it seemed. None were real sailors at all, but coast-huggers, based upon this island. They were stranded here, you see, and had taken to piracy as à last resort, but were too terrified to risk the open sea. Besides, after the fight, they had no ship. We had managed to sink that as we fought. We sailed mine to this shore, but provisions were already low and they had no stomach for setting sail without full holds, so I pretended that I knew this coast (may the gods take my soul if I ever see it again after this business) and offered to lead them inland to a village they might loot. They had heard of no such village, but believed me when I said it lay in a hidden valley. That way I prolonged my life while I waited for the opportunity to be revenged upon them. It was a foolish hope, I know. Yet—” grinning—“as it happened, it was well-founded after all! Eh?”
The black-bearded man glanced a little warily at Elric, uncertain of what the albino might say, hoping, however, for comradeship, though it was well known how haughty Melniboneans were. Elric could tell that all these thoughts went through his new acquaintance's mind; he had seen many others make similar calculations. So he smiled openly and slapped the man on the shoulder.
“You saved my life, also, my friend. We are both fortunate.”
The man sighed in relief and slung his axe upon his back. “Aye—lucky's the word. But shall our luck hold, I wonder?”
“You do not know the island at all?”
“Nor the waters, either. How we came to them I'll never guess. Enchanted waters, though, without question. You've seen the colour of the sun?”
“I have.”
“Well—” the seaman bent to remove a pendant from around the Pan Tangian's throat—“you'd know more about enchantments and sorceries than I. How came you here, Sir Melnibonean?”
“I know not. I fled from some who hunted me. I came to a shore and could flee no further. Then I dreamed a great deal. When next I awoke I was on the shore again, but of this island.”
“Spirits of some sort—maybe friendly to you—took you to safety, away from your enemies.”
“That's just possible,” Elric agreed, “for we have many allies among the elementals. I am called Elric and I am self-exiled from Melnibone. I travel because I believe I have something to learn from the folk of the Young Kingdoms. I have no power, save what you see …”
The black-bearded man's eyes narrowed in appraisal as he pointed at himself with his