Elric_ The Sleeping Sorceress - Michael Moorcock [64]
He stared hard at the bundle over Theleb K’aarna’s saddle and suddenly he knew what it must be. Myshella herself! Doubtless she had given Elric up for dead and had tried to go against Theleb K’aarna only to be beaten.
Anger boiled in the albino. All his intense hatred for the sorcerer revived and his hand went to his sword. But then he looked again at the vulnerable walls of Tanelorn, at his brave companions on the battlements, and he knew that his first duty was to help them.
But how was he to reach the walls without Theleb K’aarna seeing him and destroying him before he could bring the banners of bronze to his friends? He prepared to spur his horse forward and hope that he would be lucky. Then a shadow passed over his head again and he saw that it was the metal bird flying low, something like agony in its emerald eyes. He heard its voice. “Prince Elric! We must save her.”
He shook his head as the bird settled in the sand. “First I must save Tanelorn.”
“I will help you,” said the bird of gold and silver and brass. “Climb up into my saddle.”
Elric cast a glance towards the distant monsters. Their attention was now wholly upon the city they intended to destroy. He jumped from his horse and crossed the sand to clamber into the onyx saddle of the bird. The wings began to clash and with a rush they swept into the sky, turning towards Tanelorn.
More streaks of fire hissed around them as they neared the city, but the bird flew rapidly from side to side and avoided them. Down they drifted now to the gentle city, to land on the wall itself.
“Elric!” Moonglum came running along the defenses. “We were told you were dead!”
“By whom?”
“By Myshella and by Theleb K’aarna when he demanded our surrender.”
“I suppose they could only believe that,” Elric said, separating the staffs around which were furled the thin sheets of bronze. “Here, you must take these. I am told that they will be useful against the reptiles of Pio. Unfurl them along the walls. Greetings, Rackhir.” He handed the astounded Red Archer one of the banners.
“You do not stay to fight with us?” Rackhir asked.
Elric looked down at the twelve slender arrows in his hand. Each one was perfectly carved from multicoloured quartz so that even the fletchings seemed like real feathers. “No,” he said. “I hope to rescue Myshella from Theleb K’aarna—and I can use these arrows better from the air, also.”
“Myshella, thinking you dead, seemed to go mad,” Rackhir told him. “She conjured up various sorceries against Theleb K’aarna—but he retaliated. At last she flung herself from the saddle of that bird you ride—flung herself upon him armed only with a knife. But he overpowered her and has threatened to slay her if we do not allow ourselves to be killed without retaliating. I know that he will kill Myshella anyway. I have been in something of a quandary of conscience . . .”
“I will resolve that quandary, I hope.” Elric stroked the metallic neck of the bird. “Come, my friend, into the air again. Remember, Rackhir—unfurl the banners along the walls as soon as I have gained a good height.”
The Red Archer nodded, his face puzzled, and once again Elric was rising into the air, the arrows of quartz clutched in his left hand.
He heard Theleb K’aarna’s laughter from below. He saw the monstrous beasts moving inexorably towards the walls. The gates opened suddenly and a group of horsemen rode out. Plainly they had hoped to sacrifice themselves in order to save Tanelorn and Rackhir had not had time to warn them of Elric’s message.
The riders galloped wildly towards the reptilian monsters