Elric to Rescue Tanelorn - Michael Moorcock [150]
“Older even than Chaos?” asked Elric.
“Oh, far older,” said Werther.
“It’s almost completely collapsed, it’s so old,” added the Duke of Queens.
Elric was baffled. “Thriss?”
“Chaos,” said the Duke.
Elric let a thin smile play about his lips. “You still mock me, my lord. The power of Chaos is the greatest there is, only equaled by the power of Law.”
“Oh, certainly,” agreed the Duke of Queens.
Elric became suspicious again. “Do you play with me, my lord?”
“Well, naturally, we try to please our guests…”
Werther interrupted. “Yonder doomy edifice holds the one I love. Somewhere within its walls she is incarcerated, while ghouls taunt at her and devils threaten.”
“The bird-monsters…?” began Elric.
“Chimerae,” said the Duke of Queens. “You saw only one of the shapes they assume.”
Elric understood this. “Aha!”
“But how can we enter it?” Werther spoke almost to himself.
“We must wait until nightfall,” said Elric, “and enter under the cover of darkness.”
“Nightfall?” Werther brightened.
Suddenly they were in utter darkness.
Somewhere the Duke of Queens lost his footing and fell with a muffled curse.
CHAPTER NINE
In Which Mrs. Persson at Last Makes
Contact with Her Old Friend
They stood together beneath the striped awning of the tent while a short distance away armoured men, mounted on armoured horses, jousted, were injured or died. The two members wore appropriate costumes for the period. Lord Jagged looked handsome in his surcoat and mail, but Una Persson merely looked uncomfortable in her wimple and kirtle.
“I can’t leave just now,” he was saying. “I am laying the foundations for a very important development.”
“Which will come to nothing unless Elric is returned,” she said.
A knight with a broken lance thundered past, covering them in dust.
“Well played Sir Holger!” called Lord Jagged. “An ancestor of mine, you know,” he told her.
“You will not be able to recognize the world of the End of Time when you return, if this is allowed to continue,” she said.
“It’s always difficult, isn’t it?” But he was listening to her now.
“These disruptions could as easily affect us and leave us stranded,” she added. “We would lose any freedom we have gained.”
He bit into a pomegranate and offered it to her. “You can only get these in this area. Did you know? Impossible to find in England. In the thirteenth century, at any rate. The idea of freedom is such a nebulous one, isn’t it? Most of the time when angry people are speaking of ‘freedom’ what they are actually asking for is much simpler—respect. Do those in authority or those with power ever really respect those who do not have power?” He paused. “Or do they mean ‘power’ and not ‘freedom’. Or are they the same…?”
“Really, Jagged, this is no time for self-indulgence.”
He looked about him. “There’s little else to do in the Middle East in the 13th century, I assure you, except eat pomegranates and philosophize…”
“You must come back to the End of Time.”
He wiped his handsome chin. “Your urgency,” he said, “worries me, Una. These matters should be handled with delicacy—slowly…”
“The entire fabric will collapse unless he is returned to his own dimension. He is an important factor in the whole plan.”
“Well, yes, I understand that.”
“He is, in one sense at least, your protégé.”
“I know. But not my responsibility.”
“You must help,” she said.
There was a loud bang and a crash.
A splinter flew into Mrs. Persson’s eye.
“Oh, zounds!” she said.
CHAPTER TEN
In Which the Castle is Assaulted and the Plot Thickened
Amoon had appeared above the spires of the castle which seemed to Elric to have changed its shape since he had first seen it. He meant to ask his companions for an explanation, but at present they were all sworn to silence as they crept nearer. From within the castle burst light, emanating from guttering brands stuck into brackets on the walls. There was laughter, noise of feasting. Hidden behind a rock