Elric in the Dream Realms - Michael Moorcock [26]
Elric, guessing these to mean him no good, withdrew so that Manag Iss and Oled Alesham and their men were surrounding him. “More of your kind, gentlemen?” he asked, his hand on the hilt of his own sword.
“They are the Moth Brotherhood,” said Oled Alesham, “and they are assassins. They do nothing but kill, Sir Thief. You would best throw in with us. Evidently someone has determined that you should be murdered before you even see the Blood Moon rising.”
“Will you help me defend myself?” asked the albino, mounting and getting ready to fight.
“We cannot,” said Manag Iss and he sounded genuinely regretful. “We cannot do battle with our own kind. But they will not kill us if we surround you. You would be best advised to accept our offer, Sir Thief.”
Then the impatient rage which was a mark of his ancient blood took hold of Elric and he drew Stormbringer without further ado. “I am tired of these little bargains,” he said. “I would ask you to stand aside from me, Manag Iss, for I mean to do battle.”
“There are too many!” Oled Alesham was shocked. “You’ll be butchered. These are skilled killers!”
“Oh, so am I, master Sorcerer Adventurer. So am I.” And with that Elric drove his horse forward, through the startled ranks of Yellow and Foxglove Sects, directly at the leader of the Moth Brotherhood.
The runesword began to howl in unison with its master and the white face glowed with the energy of the damned while the red eyes blazed and the Sorcerer Adventurers realized for the first time that an extraordinary creature had come amongst them and that they had underestimated him.
Stormbringer rose in Elric’s gloved hand, its black metal catching the rays of the glaring sun and seeming to absorb them. The black blade fell, almost as if by accident, and split the skull of the Moth Brotherhood’s leader, clove him to his breastbone and howled as it sucked the man’s soul from him in the very split second of his dying. Elric turned in his saddle, the sword swinging to bury its edge in the side of the assassin riding up on his left. The man shrieked. “It has me! Ah, no!” And he, too, died.
Now the other veiled riders were warier, circling the albino at some distance while they determined their strategy. They had thought they would need none, that all they must do was ride a Young Kingdom thief down and destroy him. There were five of the black riders left. They were calling on their fellow guild members for aid, but neither Manag Iss nor Oled Alesham was ready to give orders to his own people which could result in the unholy death they had already witnessed.
Elric showed no such prudence. He rode directly at the next assassin, who parried with great cleverness and even struck under Elric’s guard for a second before his arm was severed and he fell back in his saddle, blood gouting from the stump. Another graceful movement, half Elric’s, half his sword’s, and that man, too, had his soul drawn from him. Now the others fell back amongst the yellow and green robes of their brothers. There was panic in their eyes. They recognized sorcery, even if this was something more powerful than they had ever anticipated.
“Hold! Hold!” cried Manag Iss. “There is no need for any more of us to die! We are here to make the thief an offer. Did old Duke Ral send you here?”
“He wants no more intrigue around the Pearl,” growled one of the veiled men. “He said clean death was the best solution. But these deaths are not clean for us.”
“Those who commission us have set the pattern,” said Oled Alesham. “Thief! Put up your sword. We do not wish to fight you!”
“I believe that.” Elric was grim. The blood-lust was still upon him and he fought to control it. “I believe you merely wish to slay me without a fight. You are fools all. I have already warned Lord Gho of this. I have the power to destroy you. It is your good fortune that I am sworn to myself not to use my power merely to make others perform my will to my own selfish ends. But I am not sworn to let myself die at the hands of hired slaughterers! Go back! Go back to Quarzhasaat!