Sailor on the Seas of Fate - Michael Moorcock [44]
Saxif D'Aan fought well, and Carolak fought nobly, for on many occasions he avoided an obvious advantage, but at length Saxif D'Aan threw away his sword, crying: "Enough. I'll give you your vengeance, Prince Carolak. I'll let you take the girl. But you'll not give me your damned mercy—you'll not take my pride."
And Carolak nodded, stepped forward, and struck straight for Saxif D'Aan's heart.
The blade entered clean and Earl Saxif D'Aan should have died, but he did not. He crawled along the deck until he reached the base of the mast, and he rested his back against it, while the blood pumped from the wounded heart. And he smiled.
"It appears." he said faintly, "that I cannot die, so long have I sustained my life by sorcery. I am no longer a man."
He did not seem pleased by this thought, but Prince Carolak, stepping forward and leaning over him, reassured him. "You will die," he promised, "soon."
"What will you do with her—with Gratyesha?"
"Her name is Vassliss," said Count Smiorgan insistently. "She is a merchant's daughter, from Jharkor."
"She must make up her own mind," Carolak said, ignoring Smiorgan.
Earl Saxif D'Aan turned glazed eyes on Elric. "I must thank you," he said. "You brought me the one who could bring me peace, though I feared him."
"Is that why, I wonder, your sorcery was so weak against me?" Elric said. "Because you wished Carolak to come and release you from your guilt?"
"Possibly, Elric. You are wiser in some matters, it seems, than am I."
"What of the Crimson Gate?" Smiorgan growled. "Can that be opened? Have you still the power, Earl Saxif D'Aan?"
"I think so." From the folds of his bloodstained garments of gold, the sorcerer produced a large crystal which shone with the deep colors of a ruby. "This will not only lead you to the gate, it will enable you to pass through, only I must warn you . . ." Saxif D'Aan began to cough. "The ship—" he gasped, "the ship—like my body—has been sustained by means of sorcery—therefore . . ." His head slumped forward. He raised it with a huge effort and stared beyond them at the girl who still held the reins of the white stallion. "Farewell, Gratyesha, Princess of Fwem-Omeyo. I loved you." The eyes remained fixed upon her, but they were dead eyes now.
Carolak turned back to look at the girl. "How do you call yourself, Gratyesha?"
"They call me Vassliss," she told him. She smiled up into his youthful, battle-scarred face. "That is what they call me, Prince Carolak."
"You know who I am?"
"I know you now."
"Will you come with me, Gratyesha? Will you be my bride, at last, in the strange new lands I have found, beyond the world?"
"I will come," she said.
He helped her up into the saddle of his white stallion and climbed so that he sat behind her. He bowed to Elric of Melniboné. "I thank you again, Sir Sorcerer, though I never thought to be helped by one of the royal blood of Melniboné."
Elric's expression was not without humor. "In Melniboné," he said, "I'm told it's tainted blood."
"Tainted with mercy, perhaps."
"Perhaps."
Prince Carolak saluted them. "I hope you find peace, Prince Elric, as I have found it."
"I fear my peace will more resemble that which Saxif D'Aan found," Elric said grimly. "Nonetheless, I thank you for your good words, Prince Carolak."
Then Carolak, laughing, had ridden his horse for the rail, leaped it, and vanished.
There was a silence upon the ship. The remaining ruffians looked uncertainly from one to the other. Elric addressed them:
"Know you this—I have the key to the Crimson Gate—and only I have the knowledge to use it. Help me sail the ship, and you'll have freedom from this world! What say you?"
"Give us our orders, Captain," said a toothless individual, and he cackled with mirth. "It's the best offer we've had in a hundred years or more!"
VII
* * *
It was Smiorgan who first saw the Crimson Gate. He held the great red gem in his hand and pointed ahead.
"There!