Elric in the Dream Realms - Michael Moorcock [27]
This last was almost screamed and the sword echoed it as he lifted the great black blade into the sky, to warn them of what would befall them if they did not obey.
Manag Iss said softly to Elric, “We cannot, Sir Thief. We can only pursue our commissions. It is the way of our guild, of all the Sorcerer Adventurers. Once we have agreed to perform a task, then the task must be performed. Death is the only excuse for failure.”
“Then I must kill you all,” said Elric simply. “Or you must kill me.”
“We can still make the bargain I spoke of,” said Manag Iss. “I was not deceiving you, Sir Thief.”
“My offer, too, is sound,” said Oled Alesham.
“But the Moth Brotherhood is sworn to kill me,” Elric pointed out, almost amused, “and you cannot defend me against them. Nor, I would guess, can you do anything but aid them against me.”
Manag Iss was trying to draw back from the black-robed assassins but it was clear they were determined to retain the safety of their guild ranks.
Then Oled Alesham murmured something to the leader of the Yellow Sect which made Manag Iss thoughtful. He nodded and signed to the remaining members of the Moth Brotherhood. For a few moments they were in conference, then Manag Iss looked up and addressed Elric.
“Sir Thief, we have found a formula which will leave you in peace and allow us to return with honour to Quarzhasaat. If we retreat now, will you promise not to follow us?”
“If I have your word you’ll not let those Moths attack me again.” Elric was calmer now. He laid the crooning runeblade across his arm.
“Put away your swords, brothers!” cried Oled Alesham and the Moths obeyed at once.
Next Elric sheathed Stormbringer. The unholy energy which he had drawn from those who sought to slay him was filling him now and he felt all the old heightened sensibility of his race, all the arrogance and all the power of his ancient blood. He laughed at his enemies. “Know you not whom you would kill, gentlemen?”
Oled Alesham scowled a little. “I am beginning to guess a little of your origins, Sir Thief. ‘Tis said that the lords of the Bright Empire carried such blades as yours once, in a time before this time. In a time before history. ‘Tis said those blades are living things, a race allied to your own. You have the look of our long-lost enemies. Does this mean that Melniboné did not drown?”
“I’ll leave that for you to think on, Master Oled Alesham.” Elric suspected that they plotted some trick but was almost careless. “If your people spent less time maintaining their own devalued myths about themselves and more upon studying the world as it is I think your city would have a greater chance of surviving. As it is, the place is crumbling beneath the weight of its own degraded fictions. The legends which offer a race their sense of pride and history eventually become putrid. If Melniboné drowns, Master Sorcerer Adventurer, it will be as Quarzhasaat drowns now …”
“We are unconcerned with matters of philosophy,” Manag Iss said with evident poor temper. “We do not question the motives or the ideas of those who employ us. That is written in our charters.”
“And must therefore be obeyed!” Elric smiled. “Thus you celebrate your decadence and resist reality.”
“Go now,” said Oled Alesham. “It is not your business to instruct us in moral matters and not ours to listen. We have left our student days behind.”
Elric accepted this mild rebuke and turned his tiring horse again towards the Silver Flower Oasis. He did not look back once at the Sorcerer Adventurers but guessed them to be deeper than ever in conversation. He began to whistle as the Red Road stretched before him and the stolen energy of his enemies filled him with euphoria. His thoughts were on Cymoril and his return to Melniboné where he hoped to ensure his nation’s survival by bringing about in her the very changes he had spoken of to the Sorcerer Adventurers. At this moment, his goal seemed a little closer, his mind clearer than it had been for several months.
Night seemed to come swiftly and with it a rapid descent in temperature which left the albino shivering