Elric_ The Sleeping Sorceress - Michael Moorcock [100]
“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. Ask a third.”
“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 his beautiful hand. “Although I have answered further questions which are, one could argue, part of the same question, I will answer no more. It could be in your interest to destroy the mirror, but it might be better to consider other means of countering its effects, for it does, I remind you, contain many memories, some of which have been imprisoned for thousands of years. Now I must go. And you must go—to the lands of Oin and Yu which lie several months’ journey from here, to the South and well beyond Lormyr. They are best reached by the Ship Which Sails Over Land and Sea. Farewell, Elric.”
And a fly buzzed for a moment upon the wall before vanishing.
Elric rushed from the room, shouting for his slaves.
CHAPTER FIVE
The Ship Which Sails Over Land and Sea
“And how many dragons still sleep in the caverns?” Elric paced the gallery overlooking the city. It was morning, but no sun came through the dull clouds which hung low upon the towers of the Dreaming City. Imrryr’s life continued unchanged in the streets below, save for the absence of the majority of her soldiers who had not yet returned home from their fruitless quests and would not be home for many months to come.
Dyvim Tvar leaned on the parapet of the gallery and stared unseeingly into the streets. His face was tired and his arms were folded on his chest as if he sought to contain what was left of his strength.
“Two perhaps. It would take a great deal to wake them and even then I doubt if they’d be useful to us. What is this ‘Ship Which Sails Over Land and Sea’ which Arioch spoke of?”
“I’ve read of it before—in the Silver Grimoire and in other tomes. A magic ship. Used by a Melnibonéan hero even before there was Melniboné and the empire. But where it exists, and if it exists, I do not know.”
“Who would know?” Dyvim Tvar straightened his back and turned it on the scene below.
“Arioch?” Elric shrugged. “But he would not tell me.”
“What of your friends the water elementals? Have they not promised you aid? And would they not be knowledgable in the matter of ships?”
Elric frowned, deepening the lines which now marked his face. “Aye—Straasha might know. But I’m loath to call on his aid again. The water elementals are not the powerful creatures that the Lords of Chaos are. Their strength