Elric of Melnibone - Michael Moorcock [30]
It began to dawn on him that this fly was no ordinary creature. It had features that were in some way faintly human.
The fly smiled at him.
From his hoarse throat and through his parched lips Elric was able to utter but one word:
‘Arioch?’
And a beautiful youth stood where the fly had hovered. The beautiful youth spoke in a beautiful voice—soft and sympathetic and yet manly. He was clad in a robe that was like a liquid jewel and yet which did not dazzle Elric, for in some way no light seemed to come from it. There was a slender sword at the youth’s belt and he wore no helm, but a circlet of red fire. His eyes were wise and his eyes were old and when they were looked at closely they could be seen to contain an ancient and confident evil.
‘Elric.’
That was all the youth said, but it revived the albino so that he could raise himself to his knees.
‘Elric.’
And Elric could stand. He was filled with energy.
The youth was taller, now, than Elric. He looked down at the Emperor of Melniboné and he smiled the smile that the fly had smiled. ‘You alone are fit to serve Arioch. It is long since I was invited to this plane, but now that I am here I shall aid you, Elric. I shall become your patron. I shall protect you and give you strength and the source of strength, though master I be and slave you be.’
‘How must I serve you, Duke Arioch?’ Elric asked, having made a monstrous effort of self-control, for he was filled with terror by the implications of Arioch’s words.
‘You will serve me by serving yourself for the moment. Later a time will come when I shall call upon you to serve me in specific ways, but (for the moment) I ask little of you, save that you swear to serve me.’
Elric hesitated.
‘You must swear that,’ said Arioch reasonably, ‘or I cannot help you in the matter of your cousin Yyrkoon or his sister Cymoril.’
‘I swear to serve you,’ said Elric. And his body was flooded with ecstatic fire and he trembled with joy and he fell to his knees.
‘Then I can tell you that, from time to time, you can call on my aid and I will come if your need is truly desperate. I will come in whichever form is appropriate, or no form at all if that should prove appropriate. And now you may ask me one question before I depart.’
‘I need the answers to two questions.’
‘Your first question I cannot answer. I will not answer. You must accept that you have now sworn to serve me. I will not tell you what the future holds. But you need not fear, if you serve me well.’
‘Then my second question is this: Where is Prince Yyrkoon.’
‘Prince Yyrkoon is in the south, in a land of barbarians. By sorcery and by superior weapons and intelligence he has effected the conquest of two mean nations, one of which is called Oin and the other of which is called Yu. Even now he trains the men of Oin and the men of Yu to march upon Melniboné, for he knows that your forces are spread thinly across the earth, searching for him.’
‘How has he hidden?’
‘He has not. But he has gained possession of the Mirror of Memory—a magical device whose hiding place he discovered by his sorceries. Those who look into this mirror have their memories taken. The mirror contains a million memories: the memories of all who have looked into it. Thus anyone who ventures into Oin or Yu or travels by sea to the capital which serves both is confronted by the mirror and forgets that he has seen Prince Yyrkoon and his Imrryrians in those lands. It is the best way of remaining undiscovered.’
‘It is.’ Elric drew his brows together. ‘Therefore it might be wise to consider destroying the mirror. But what would happen then, I wonder?’
Arioch raised