Elric Swords and Roses - Michael Moorcock [150]
URLIK: “No—not that box—it contains the bomb …”
We glimpse Negrana far below.
The Man Bird slashes at Urlik again. Automatically, Urlik aims another blow with the Black Sword and shears off part of a wing.
The Man Bird shrieks and begins to fall, the box clutched to its chest.
Urlik, loathing the Black Sword, hurls Stormbringer after him shouting:
URLIK: “Take your Sword—and your Sorcery—back for ever …”
Then Urlik realizes in horror what is likely to happen as …
171. Ext. Sky over Negrana. Day.
The Black Sword impales the box and the Man Bird which immediately changes back to Belphig—box impaled against his chest by the sword—as it falls. A glimpse of Belphig’s terrified face, then …
172. Ext. Airship. Day.
Urlik stares down in horror.
URLIK: “The Hell Weapon …”
There is an enormous and evidently Atomic explosion which hurls Urlik backwards and the screen brightens to a blinding white …
173. Swirling colours.
Swirling, formless shapes and colours.
URLIK (voiceover): “I was sure I was dead—then I realized something worse had happened …”
174. Ext. Gondola of airship. Day.
Urlik is lying in the wrecked gondola as the airship, in the state we saw it in Shot 2, drifts on the wind, on fire, fluttering, ragged. One arm lies through a smashed rail. Urlik stares sightlessly down.
URLIK (voiceover): “That explosion flung me back to my own Time—separated from the woman I loved by countless thousands of years—and I was doomed to live for ever … perhaps a punishment … Because of me, the whole human race had perished …”
175. Ext. Gondola of airship. Day.
The sound of a crash. Arabs peer into the wreckage—we see them from Urlik’s viewpoint—and begin to drag him out. We focus on a piece of carving …
176. Ext. Arab camp. Day.
—we fade in on a shot of the carving Urlik was holding in Shot 11. And here is Urlik as we first saw him in those early shots, telling his story to the Arab leader, who takes the carving again, as if to inspect it, and gets up, signing to his men—who have packed their tents on their horses and are about to leave the camp.
URLIK: “That explosion created this desert where once all was green and lush …” (Urlik smiles bitterly.) “It’s a bitter price. Zayad was immortal—as I am—but there’s no evidence that any of the Eldren survived …”
The Arab leader begins to walk towards his horse and only now does Urlik realize that they are on the point of leaving. He is astonished. He begins to get up.
URLIK: “Can one man change history? Can the future itself be altered? The airship proves I wasn’t dreaming …” (The Arab leader mounts his horse.) “You don’t believe me …”
The Arab leader hands him a water bottle and some food; in a daze he accepts it.
ARAB LEADER: “I believe you, Urlik. What was legend to you is history to us …”
An Arab leads a horse forward and puts the reins in his hands. The Arab leader signs for his men to ride. They begin to ride away from Urlik.
URLIK: “But why are you leaving me here? I must find Zayad—look for Negrana again …” (He stumbles a pace or two after them and then gives up.) “Come back …”
177. Ext. Desert. Day.
A close shot of the Arab leader as he calls back to Urlik …
ARAB LEADER: “We cannot help you. You must find her yourself. For the moment, at least, you are truly alone …”
We hear music—the thin, mysterious singing sound of the Black Sword. The camera moves back with the departing Arabs, leaving Urlik a lonely, isolated figure in the desert he has himself created.
And now, for the first time, as he rides towards distant oil rigs, the veil falls away from the Arab leader’s face. We close up on it. It is not a human face at all. It is the