Duke Elric - Michael Moorcock [82]
MASK OF THE LIONESS
The Western Sahara. 9th August, 1000 AD. Captured by the Desert Wind …
EIric, Isaak and the dead Mustapha are still staked out in the sand. Lo-bin-Gha, mounted, has ordered his men to kill the two left alive. Rebecca, who has been freed, runs to the open chest and grabs from it one of Isaacs books, carrying it towards LBG and offering it to him.
ISAAK (pleading): “Great lord! Surely you don't forget the owner of those books?”
LBG (inset): “What? Books?”
ISAAK: “We fought together, my lord!”
Flashback to LBG and Isaak riding at the head of a great army.
ISAAK (inset of the two men in friendly debate over books): “… as fiercely as we argued on philosophy!”
LBG: “Isaak! My old comrade! Forgive me! I am one man in war and another in peace …”
LBG (to one of his puzzled-looking men): “Release them!”
Once freed, Isaak helps the still-weakened Elric to rise.
LBG: “You'll be my guests. We camp at the Romi city, yonder.”
Outside LBG's tent, pitched in a square of the Romi city. Elric lies on a stretcher, being tended to by Rebecca.
ELRIC: “We all seek the City of the Silverskin …”
ISAAK: “… said to lie somewhere near the Interior.”
LBG: “I have heard the tale. That city's not far from my own land …”
Flashback to two tall, native-dressed African men walking near an idyllic-looking, riverside tribal village.
LBG (inset): “I was taken from it as a child … and I yearn to return …”
LBG: “What if we were to combine forces?”
ISAAK: “It would greatly improve our chances!”
ELRIC: “But our map is stolen …”
ISAAK (pulling a scroll from beneath an outer garment): “I took the precaution of making a rough copy.”
LBG (taking the scroll, unrolling and examining it): “Yes! This directs us to Tan-al-Oorn, lost city of the Silverskin—and beyond it is the land of King Solomon. The land of gold. My land.”
ISAAK: “Then it's agreed?”
LBG: “I'll prepare at once. We leave in the morning!”
That night—
Isaak sits consulting old books beside Elric, still prone on his stretcher.
ISAAK: “These herbals and grimoires are bound to provide some cure for your affliction, friend Elric.”
ELRIC: “I fear you're optimistic, Isaak. Without my sword—I'm useless …”
ISAAK: “YOU have a poor opinion of yourself.”
ELRIC: “Maybe …”
ISAAK (rising to leave): “Sleep well, friend.”
Later—
Elric awoke suddenly …
He is being carried away from the camp, still on his stretcher, by a group of strange creatures. They are pallid, grey-skinned, slightly simian-looking, with large, black eyes skinny, hairless, and dressed only in small, tight loincloths.
ELRIC: “What? Who are you?”
Next morning …
Isaak, LEG and Rebecca discover Elric's absence. Rebecca crouches down, examining possible tracks leading away from their camp.
ISAAK: “But how could he have vanished?”
LBG: “A hungry lion, maybe? Even jackals will attack a feeble man …”
LBG (head bowed): “He's dead. We must press on.”
Meanwhile, far underground …
Elric is still being carried, through corridors and caves half man-made, half natural. Seeming to know where they are going, as if it is home to them, the troglodytes begin chanting, ignoring Elric's pleas …
ELRIC: “Deeper and deeper! Where do you take me?”
TROGLODYTES: “Silvery-silvery-silvery-skin silvery-silvery-silvery-sweet…”
The intermittent man-made sections of the tunnels give way finally to a vast, natural cavern, hung with stalactites. In the shadows ahead of Elric and his abductors can be seen other creatures, standing in front of what appears to be a cage containing yet another, larger beast.
SMALL TROG: “Now we trade!”
FIRST LARGE TROG: “More blood! Less bone!”
SECOND LARGE TROG: “Good bone bad blood!”
Elric knew they were bargaining with his life—but why?
The larger trogs are revealed; just as pale and simian as the smaller ones but broad-shouldered, muscular, fierce-looking, with bigger heads covered in matted hair.
They were reaching agreement…
The large trogs move to take possession of Elric's stretcher, sending the smaller ones over towards the