Elric in the Dream Realms - Michael Moorcock [71]
“Alnac?”
Again Elric tried to appeal to whatever part of Alnac Kreb was there, but this time he was completely ignored. That same hideous, inhuman chuckling filled the air; the horse snorted, its hoofs pawing at the woman as she struggled on the step.
Scarcely aware of his own movement, Elric reached the rider and leapt forward, dragging at his back, trying to haul him from the horse. The rider growled and managed to turn. His whistling sword was parried by Elric’s and the albino had unseated him. Together the pair fell to the sand, a few inches from where Oone lay. Elric’s sword-hand was crushed under his attacker’s armoured back, but he managed to tug the poignard free with his left hand and would have struck at those hideous dead eyes had not the man’s fingers closed on his wrist.
“You’ll kill me before you harm her!” Elric’s normally melodic voice was a snarl of hatred. But the warrior merely laughed again, the ghost of Alnac fading from his eyes.
They fought thus for several moments, neither gaining any true advantage. Elric could hear his own breathing, the grunting of the armoured man, the whinnying of the horse and Oone’s gasp as she tried to get to her feet.
“Pearl Warrior!”
It was another voice. Not Oone’s, but a woman’s; and it carried considerable authority.
“Pearl Warrior! You must do no further violence to these travelers!”
The warrior grunted but ignored the woman. His teeth snapped at Elric’s throat. He tried to turn the poignard towards the albino’s heart. There were drops of foaming saliva on his lips now—beads of white rimming his mouth.
“Pearl Warrior!”
Suddenly the warrior began to speak, whispering to Elric as if to a fellow conspirator. “Don’t listen to her. I can aid thee. Why do you not come with us and learn to explore the Great Steppe, where all the hunting is rich? And there are melons, tasting like the most delicate cherries. I can give thee such wonderful clothing. Do not listen. Do not listen. Yes I am Alnac, thy friend. Yes!”
Elric was repelled by the insane babble, more than he had been by the creature’s horrible appearance and his violence.
“Think of all the power there is. They fear thee. They fear me. Elric. I know thee. Let us not be rivals. Together we can succeed. I am not free, but thou couldst journey for us both. I am not free, but thou wouldst never bear responsibilities. I am not free, but, Elric, I have many slaves at my disposal. They are thine. I offer thee new wealth and new philosophies, new ways of fulfilling every desire. I fear thee and thou fearest me. So we will bind us together, one to the other. It is the only tie that ever means anything. They dream of thee, all of them. Even I, who do not dream. Thou art the only enemy …”
“Pearl Warrior!”
With a rattle of bone and ivory, of tortoiseshell and mother-of-pearl, the leprous-skinned warrior disentangled himself from Elric. “Together we can defeat her,” he mumbled urgently. “There would be no force to resist us. I will give thee my ferocity!”
Nauseated by all this, Elric climbed slowly to his feet, turning to stare in the same direction as Oone, who now sat on the step, nursing limbs to which life seemed to be restored.
A woman, taller either than Elric or Oone, stood there. She was veiled and hooded. Her eyes moved steadily from them to the one she called Pearl Warrior and then she raised the great staff she held in her right hand and struck at the ground with it.
“Pearl Warrior! You must obey me!”
The Pearl Warrior was furious. “I do not wish this!” he snarled and, clattering, brushed at his breastplate. “You anger me, Lady Sough.”
“These are my charges and under my protection. Go, Pearl Warrior. Kill elsewhere. Kill the true enemies of the Pearl.”
“I do not want you to order me!” He was surly, sulking like a child. “All are enemies of the Pearl. You, too, Lady Sough.”
“You are a silly creature! Begone!” And she lifted the staff to point beyond the stairway, where hazy rock could be seen, rising up for ever.
He said again, warningly, “You make me