Elric in the Dream Realms - Michael Moorcock [118]
KING STRAASHA: “Little mortals, I have no argument with thee. But if you interfere with your enemy’s plans, ‘tis I who shall suffer. I have no choice but to do what I must do.”
Elric attempts to persuade the sea-king.
ELRIC: “King Straasha! Lord of the Waters. We mean you no ill. We seek to discover why your realm is vanishing so rapidly …”
STRAASHA: “Well, little mortal, I believe you. I can show you the source of our mutual danger. But I cannot let you fight it…”
King Straasha speeds with his mortal captives through the waters. He needs water to take shape so he can’t go too far into the shallows.
STRAASHA: “This is the closest I can take you …”
He lifts his hand so that they can see further…
Standing in King Straasha’s watery palm the two men look into the distance to where a monstrous form can be seen. He is Artigkern, Lord of Chaos—bloated and disgusting. He has taken the form of a gigantic toad and is sucking up water through a great hollow tree.
STRAASHA: “He is Artigkern of Chaos. He has already sucked the fourth planet dry of all its water and he will do the same to us. Agras Ti of the Falkryn brought him here through sorcery and I fear to stop him. He is too powerful—and—and …
ELRIC: “Great lord of elementals. You fear nothing. He must have some other hold over you.”
Straasha frowns, almost ashamed.
STRAASHA: “What if he does? I must do what he demands or he will take all the water. Through this bargain, he leaves me a little hope … But as the water drains, so does my power. Even if he died, he says he will spit all the water into the sun first. There is nothing I can do against him …”
Elric is horrified, remonstrates with the great king of elementals.
ELRIC: “But, my lord king—this world will die as the last one did. Would you not help us to fight against him?”
STRAASHA (truly shamefaced now): “I cannot.”
STRAASHA: “He holds my sister hostage. If I resist him, she dies. Come now, I have kept my promise …”
We see a cut of a beautiful merwoman, Straasha’s sister, held in a gigantic semi-transparent clam shell.
ELRIC: “Upon my oath, King Straasha, if you take us to Melniboné I promise you I shall do all I can to save your sister.”
STRAASHA: “What can a little mortal do? But I thank thee for thy good intent. For that I’ll not return thee to Agras Ti, but take thee to thy destination.”
Straasha transports the two men back to Melniboné.
He deposits them on the shores near their home island, which is visible far away across the glistening mud-flats—all kinds of abandoned ships, sea-creatures and so forth.
STRAASHA: “Thy heart is a good one, mortal. If only thou knew some way of saving my sister, I would be in thy debt for ever.”
ELRIC: “I will think on it, sire. All our interests depend on defeating this Chaos creature!”
The two men are exhausted by the time they get to Imrryr. They stagger through the streets, issuing warnings to any who pause to listen—
ELRIC: “Arm yourselves! The Falkryn march upon Melniboné!”
DYVIM MAR: “They drain the sea—to remove our defenses!”
They come into the throne room where the queen sits on the traditional Ruby Throne of Melniboné. She scowls, scarcely believing what they have to say.
ELRIC: “Scarcely three days, your majesty, and the Falkryn horde’s upon us! The dragons sleep. We have no walls against them!”
QUEEN SHYRIX’X: “You clearly have no faith in the courage and skill of our warriors, White Crow. Melniboné can beat any barbarian horde, no matter how large!”
DYVIM MAR: “A renegade Melnibonéan is with them, madam! They call him Wild Dog.”
SHYRIX’X: “I know of no ‘Wild Dog.’ What I’d rather hear is how you came to lose one of our Phoorn. Where is the dragon on which you rode?”
Dyvim Mar is embarrassed. He explains and we hear him at the end of his explanation …
DYVIM MAR: “…then she was seized by a water elemental and exhausted. We were forced to abandon her in the drained lake. At that point we were captured by the Falkryn horde …”
SHYRIX’X: “Cowards! You concoct a fantasy to explain your own incompetence.