Elric in the Dream Realms - Michael Moorcock [83]
And now Elric recalled where he had heard the name. When he had arrived in Quarzhasaat he had in his fever wandered in the market places and listened to the story-tellers. At least three of the stories he had heard had concerned Chamog Borm, hero of legend, the last brave knight of the empire. His name was venerated everywhere, even in the camps of the nomads. Yet Elric was sure Chamog Borm had existed—if he had ever existed—at least a thousand years earlier!
“What was the action of which you were accused?” he asked.
“I failed to save the Pearl, which now lies under an enchantment, imprisoning us all in perpetual suffering.”
“What was that enchantment?” Oone asked quickly.
“It became impossible for our monarch and many of the retainers to leave the Fortress. It was for me to free them. Instead I brought a worse enchantment upon us. And my punishment is contrary to theirs. They may not leave. I may not return.” As he spoke he became increasingly melancholy.
Elric, still astonished at this conversation with a hero who should have been dead centuries before, could say little, but Oone seemed to understand completely. She made a sympathetic gesture.
“Can the Pearl be found there?” Elric asked, conscious of the bargain he had made with Lord Gho, of Anigh’s impending torture and death, of Oone’s predictions.
“Of course,” Chamog Borm was surprised. “Some believe it rules the whole Court, perhaps the world.”
“Was this always so?” Oone asked softly.
“I have told you that it was not.” He looked at them both as if they were simpletons. Then he lowered his eyes, lost in his own dishonour and humiliation.
“We hope to free her,” said Oone. “Would you come with us, to help us?”
“I cannot help. She no longer trusts me. I am banished,” he said. “But I can let you have my armour and my weapons so that part of me, at least, can fight for her.”
“Thank you,” said Oone. “You are generous.”
Chamog Borm grew more animated as he helped them choose from his store. Elric found that the breastplate and greaves fitted him perfectly, as did the helmet. Similar equipment was found for Oone and the straps tightened to adjust to her slightly smaller body. They looked almost identical in their new armour, and something in Elric was again struck, some deep sense of satisfaction that he could hardly understand but which he welcomed. The armour gave him not only a greater sense of security but a sense of deep recognition of his own inner strength, a strength which he knew he must call upon to the utmost in the encounter to come. Oone had warned him of subtler dangers at the Fortress of the Pearl.
Chamog Borm’s gifts continued, in the shape of two grey horses which he led from their stable at the back of the house. “These are Taron and Tadia. Brother and sister, they were twin foals. They have never been separated. Once I rode them into battle. Once I took up arms against the Bright Empire. Now the last emperor of Melniboné will ride in my place to fulfill my destiny and end the siege of the Fortress of the Pearl.”
“You know me?” Elric looked hard at the handsome youth, seeking deception or even irony, but there was none in those steady eyes.
“A hero knows another, Prince Elric.” And Chamog Borm reached out to grip Elric’s forearm in the gesture of friendship of the desert peoples. “May you gain all you wish to gain and may you do so with honour. You, too, Lady Oone. Your courage is the greatest of all. Farewell.”
The exile watched them from the roof of his little house until they were out of sight. Now the great mountains were close, almost embracing them, and they could see a wide, white road stretching through them. The light was like that of a late summer afternoon, though Elric could still not be sure if it was sky above them or the distant roof of a vast cavern, for the sun was still not in evidence. Was the Dream Realm a limitless series of such caverns or had the dreamthieves mapped the entire world? Could they cross the mountains, cross the