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“Perhaps.”

“Now that I see you at last, face to face, I find your dark legend a little hard to credit in parts—and yet, on the other hand,” she put her head on one side and regarded him frankly, “it would seem that the legends speak of a less subtle man than the one I see before me.”

“That is the way with legends.”

“Ah,” she half-whispered, “what a force we could be together, you and I…”

“Speculation of that sort irritates me, Queen Yishana. What is your purpose in coming here?”

“Very well, I did not expect you to listen, even.”

“I’ll listen—but expect nothing more.”

“Then listen. I think the story will be appreciated, even by you.”

Elric listened and, as Yishana had suspected, the tale she told began to catch his interest…

Several months ago, Yishana told Elric, peasants in the Gharavian province of Jharkor began to talk of some mysterious riders who were carrying off young men and women from the villages.

Suspecting bandits, Yishana had sent a detachment of her White Leopards, Jharkor’s finest fighting men, to the province to put down the brigands.

None of the White Leopards had returned. A second expedition had found no trace of them but, in a valley close to the town of Thokora, they had come upon a strange citadel. Descriptions of the citadel were confused. Suspecting that the White Leopards had attacked and been defeated, the officer in charge had used discretion, left a few men to watch the citadel and report anything they saw, and returned at once to Dhakos. One thing was certain—the citadel had not been in the valley a few months before.

Yishana and Theleb K’aarna had led a large force to the valley. The men left behind had disappeared but, as soon as he saw the citadel, Theleb K’aarna had warned Yishana not to attack.

“It was a marvelous sight, Lord Elric,” Yishana continued. “The citadel scintillated with shining, rainbow colours—colours that were constantly altering, changing. The whole building looked unreal—sometimes it stood out sharply; sometimes it seemed misty, as if about to vanish. Theleb K’aarna said its nature was sorcerous, and we did not doubt him. Something from the Realm of Chaos, he said, and that seemed likely.” She got up.

She spread her hands. “We are not used to large-scale manifestations of sorcery in these parts. Theleb K’aarna was familiar enough with sorcery—he comes from the City of Screaming Statues on Pan Tang, and such things are seen frequently—but even he was taken aback.”

“So you withdrew,” Elric prompted impatiently.

“We were about to—in fact Theleb K’aarna and myself were already riding back at the head of the army when the music came…It was sweet, beautiful, unearthly, painful—Theleb K’aarna shouted to me to ride as swiftly as I could away from it. I dallied, attracted by the music, but he slapped the rump of my horse and we rode, fast as dragons in flight, away from there. Those nearest us also escaped—but we saw the rest turn and move back towards the citadel, drawn by the music. Nearly two hundred men went back—and vanished.”

“What did you do then?” Elric asked as Yishana crossed the floor and sat down beside him. He moved to give her more room.

“Theleb K’aarna has been trying to investigate the nature of the citadel—its purpose and its controller. So far, his divinations have told him little more than he guessed: that the Realm of Chaos has sent the citadel to the Realm of Earth and is slowly extending its range. More and more of our young men and women are being abducted by the minions of Chaos.”

“And these minions?” Yishana had moved a little closer, and this time Elric did not move away.

“None who has sought to stop them has succeeded—few have lived.”

“And what do you seek of me?”

“Help.” She looked closely into his face and reached out a hand to touch him. “You have knowledge of both Chaos and Law—old knowledge, instinctive knowledge if Theleb K’aarna is right. Why, your very gods are Lords of Chaos.”

“That is exactly true, Yishana—and because our patron