Elric in the Dream Realms - Michael Moorcock [40]
“There could be no fairer promise,” said Elric gratefully. “Meanwhile, I pledge myself to you, Raik Na Seem, to help guard your daughter against all those who would harm her and to watch over her until Alnac should bring her back to you.”
Alnac had moved a little away from the other two and was standing in deep thought on the edge of the torchlight, his white night-cloak drenched a dark pinkish hue by the rays of the Blood Moon. From his belt he had drawn his hooked staff and was holding it in his two hands, looking at it and murmuring to it, much as Elric might speak to his own runesword.
At length the dreamthief turned back to them, his face full of great seriousness. “I will do my best,” he said. “I will call upon every resource within myself and upon everything I have been taught, but I should warn you that I have weaknesses of character I have not yet overcome. These are weaknesses which I can control if called upon to exorcize an old merchant’s nightmares or a boy’s love-trance. What I see here, however, might defeat the cleverest dreamthief, the most experienced of my calling. There can be no partial success. I succeed or I fail. I am willing, because of the circumstances, because of our old friendship, because I loathe everything that the Sorcerer Adventurers represent, to attempt the task.”
“It is all I would hope,” said Raik Na Seem sombrely. He was impressed by Alnac’s tone.
“If you succeed you bring the child’s soul back to the world where it belongs,” said Elric. “What do you lose if you fail, Master Dreamthief?”
Alnac shrugged. “Nothing of any great value, I suppose.”
Elric, looking hard into his new friend’s face, saw that he lied. But he saw, too, that he wished to be questioned no further in the matter.
“I must rest,” said Alnac. “And eat.” He wrapped himself in the folds of his night-cloak, his dark eyes staring back at Elric as if he wished for all the world to share some secret which he felt in his heart should never be shared. Then he turned away suddenly, laughing. “If Varadia should wake as a result of my efforts and if she knows the whereabouts of your terrible pearl, why then, Prince Elric, I’ll have done most of your work for you. I’ll expect part of your reward, you know.”
“My reward will be the slaying of Lord Gho,” said Elric quietly.
“Aye,” said Alnac, moving towards the Bronze Tent, which shifted and shimmered like some half-materialized artifact of Chaos, “that is exactly what I hope to share!”
The Bronze Tent consisted of the great central chamber and then a series of smaller chambers, where travelers could rest and revive themselves, and it was to one of these that the three men went to lay themselves down and, still wakeful, consider the work which must begin the next day. They did not talk, but it was several hours before all were eventually asleep.
In the morning, while Elric, Raik Na Seem and Alnac Kreb approached the place where the Holy Girl still lay, those who still remained in the Bronze Tent drew back respectfully. Alnac Kreb held his dreamwand gently in his right hand, balancing it rather than gripping it, as he stared down into the face of the child he loved almost as his own daughter. A long sigh escaped him and Elric saw that his sleep had not apparently refreshed him. He looked drawn and unhappy. He turned, smiling to the albino. “When I saw you partaking of the contents of that silver flask earlier, I had half a mind to ask you for a little …”
“The drug’s poison and it’s addictive,” said Elric, shocked. “I thought I had explained as much.”
“You had.” Alnac Kreb again revealed by his expression that he possessed thoughts he felt unable to share. “I had merely thought that, in the circumstances, there would be little point in fearing its power.”
“That is because you do not know it,” said Elric forcefully. “Believe me, Alnac, if there was any way in which I could help you in this task I would do so. But to offer you poison would not, I think, be an act of friendship …”
Alnac Kreb smiled a little. “Indeed. Indeed.” He