Elric of Melnibone - Michael Moorcock [42]
‘King Grome! King Grome! Is it just to slay those who have never done you harm?’
And then, slowly, the heaving earth subsided and the ship was still and a huge, brown figure stood looking down at the ship. The figure was the colour of earth and looked like a vast, old oak. His hair and his beard were the colour of leaves and his eyes were the colour of gold ore and his teeth were the colour of granite and his feet were like roots and his skin seemed covered in tiny green shoots in place of hair and he smelled rich and musty and good and he was King Grome of the Earth Elementals. He sniffed and he frowned and he said in a soft, mighty voice that was yet coarse and grumpy: ‘I want my ship.’
‘It is not our ship to give, King Grome,’ said Elric.
Grome’s tone of petulance increased. ‘I want my ship,’ he said slowly. ‘I want the thing. It is mine.’
‘Of what use is it to you, King Grome?’
‘Use? It is mine.’
Grome stamped and the land rippled.
Elric said desperately: ‘It is your brother’s ship, King Grome. It is King Straasha’s ship. He gave you part of his domain and you allowed him to keep the ship. That was the bargain.’
‘I know nothing of a bargain. The ship is mine.’
‘You know that if you take the ship then King Straasha will have to take back the land he gave you.’
‘I want my ship.’ The huge figure shifted its position and bits of earth fell from it, landing with distinctly heard thuds on the ground below and on the deck of the ship.
‘Then you must kill us to obtain it,’ Elric said.
‘Kill? Grome does not kill mortals. He kills nothing. Grome builds. Grome brings to life.’
‘You have already killed three of our company,’ Elric pointed out. ‘Three are dead, King Grome, because you made the land-storm.’
Grome’s great brows drew together and he scratched his great head, causing an immense rustling noise to sound. ‘Grome does not kill,’ he said again.
‘King Grome has killed,’ said Elric reasonably. ‘Three lives lost.’
Grome grunted. ‘But I want my ship.’
‘The ship is lent to us by your brother. We cannot give it to you. Besides, we sail in it for a purpose—a noble purpose, I think. We...’
‘I know nothing of “purposes”—and care nothing for you. I want my ship. My brother should not have lent it to you. I had almost forgotten it. But now that I remember it, I want it.’
‘Will you not accept something else in place of the ship, King Grome?’ said Dyvim Tvar suddenly. ‘Some other gift.’
Grome shook his monstrous head. ‘How could a mortal give me something? It is mortals who take from me all the time. They steal my bones and my blood and my flesh. Could you give me back all that your kind has taken?’
‘Is there not one thing?’ Elric said.
Grome closed his eyes.
‘Precious metals? Jewels?’ suggested Dyvim Tvar. ‘We have many such in Melniboné.’
‘I have plenty,’ said King Grome.
Elric shrugged in despair. ‘How can we bargain with a god, Dyvim Tvar?’ He gave a bitter smile. ‘What can the Lord of the Soil desire? More sun, more rain? These are not ours to give.’
‘I am a rough sort of god,’ said Grome, ‘if indeed god I am. But I did not mean to kill your comrades. I have an idea. Give me the bodies of the slain. Bury them in my earth.’
Elric’s heart leapt. ‘That is all you wish of us?’
‘It would seem much to me.’
‘And for that you will let us sail on?’
‘On water, aye,’ growled Grome. ‘But I do not see why I should allow you to sail over my land. It is too much to expect of me. You can go to yonder lake, but from now this ship will only possess the properties bestowed upon it by my brother Straasha. No longer shall it cross my domain.’
‘But, King Grome, we need this ship. We are upon urgent business. We need to sail to the city yonder.’ Elric pointed in the direction of Dhoz-Kam.
‘You may go to the lake, but after that the ship will sail only on water. Now give me what I ask.’
Elric called down to the bosun who, for the first time, seemed amazed by what he was witnessing. ‘Bring up the bodies of the three dead men.’
The bodies were brought up from below. Grome stretched out