Elric_ The Stealer of Souls - Michael Moorcock [189]
Dyvim Slorm and Moonglum and the rest of the dragon flight followed his example and Dyvim Slorm called across the air to him. “What now, Elric? I had not expected a city to be here so soon!”
“Neither had I. But look—” he pointed with a trembling hand he could hardly lift, “there’s Jagreen Lern’s Merman standard. And there—” now he pointed to the left and right, “the standards of a score of the Dukes of Hell! Yet I see no other human standards.”
Moonglum shouted: “Those castles we destroyed. I suspect that Jagreen Lern has already divided up these sundered lands and given them to his hirelings. How can we tell how much time has really passed—time in which all this could have been brought about?”
“True,” Elric nodded, looking up at the still sun. He lurched forward in his saddle, half-swooning, pulled himself upright, breathing heavily. The Chaos Shield seemed like a huge weight on his arm, but he held it warily before him.
Then he acted on impulse and goaded Flamefang into speed so that the dragon rushed towards the city, diving down towards the castle of Jagreen Lern.
Nothing sought to stop him and he landed the beast among the turrets of the castle. Silence was dominant. He looked around, puzzled, but could see nothing save the towering buildings of dark stone that seemed to ooze beneath Flamefang’s feet.
The straps stopped him from dismounting, but he saw enough to be sure the city was deserted. Where was the horde of hell? Where was Jagreen Lern?
Dyvim Slorm and Moonglum came to join him, while the rest of the dragons circled above. Claws scratched on rock, wings slashed the air and they settled, turning their mighty heads this way and that, ruffling their scales restlessly for, once aroused from their slumber, the dragons preferred the air to the land.
Dyvim Slorm stayed but long enough to mutter: “I’ll scout the city,” and then was flying away again, low amongst the castles until they heard him cry out and saw him swoop out of sight. There came a yell, but they could not see what caused it, a pause, and then Dyvim Slorm’s dragon was flapping up again and they saw he had a writhing prisoner slung over the front of his saddle. He landed. The thing he had captured bore resemblance to a human being, but was misshapen and ugly with a jutting underlip, low forehead and no chin; huge, square, uneven teeth bristled in its mouth and its bare arms were covered in waving hairs.
“Where are your masters?” Dyvim Slorm demanded. The thing seemed to possess no fear, but chuckled: “They predicted your coming and, since the city limits movement, have assembled their armies on a plateau they have made five miles to the north-east.” It turned its dilated eyes to Elric. “Jagreen Lern sent greetings and said he anticipated your foolish downfall.”
Elric shrugged.
Dyvim Slorm drew his own runeblade and hacked the creature down. It cackled as it died, for its sanity had fled with its fear. He shivered as the thing’s soul-stuff blended with his own and passed extra energy to him. Then he cursed and looked at Elric with pain in his eyes.
“I acted in haste—I should have given him to you.”
Elric said nothing to this but whispered in his failing voice: “Let’s to their battlefield. Hurry!”
Up to join their flight they went again, into the rushing, populated air and towards the north-east.
It was with astonishment that they sighted Jagreen Lern’s horde, for they could not understand how it could have managed to regroup itself so swiftly. Every fiend and warrior on Earth seemed to have come to fight under the Theocrat’s standard. It clung like a vile disease to the undulating plain. And around it, clouds grew darker, even though lightning, obviously of supernatural origin, blossomed and shouted, criss-crossing the plain.
Into this noisy agitation swept the dragon flight and they recognized the force commanded by Jagreen Lern himself for his banner flew above it. Other divisions