Sailor on the Seas of Fate - Michael Moorcock [56]
The noise of their passage through the forest was the only sound to be heard on the island as they forced their way on the next morning.
With lodestone in one hand and map in the other, Duke Avan Astran sought to guide them, directing his men where to cut their path. But the going became even slower and it was obvious that no creatures had come this way for many ages.
By the fourth day they had reached a natural clearing of flat volcanic rock and found a spring there. Gratefully they made camp. Elric began to wash his face in the cool water when he heard a yell behind him. He sprang up. One of the crewmen was reaching for an arrow and fitting it to his bow.
"What is it?" Duke Avan called.
"I saw something, my lord!"
"Nonsense, there are no—"
"Look!" The man drew back the string and let fly into the upper terraces of the forest. Something did seem to stir then and Elric thought he saw a flash of gray among the trees.
"Did you see what kind of creature it was?" Smiorgan asked the man.
"No, master. I feared at first it was those reptiles again."
"They're too frightened to follow us onto this island," Duke Avan reassured him.
"I hope you're right," Smiorgan said nervously.
"Then what could it have been?" Elric wondered.
"I—I thought it was a man, master," the crewman stuttered.
Elric stared thoughtfully into the trees. "A man?"
Smiorgan asked, "You were hoping for this, Elric?"
"I am not sure...."
Duke Avan shrugged. "More likely the shadow of a cloud passing over the trees. According to my calculations we should have reached the city by now."
"You think, after all, that it does not exist?" Elric said.
"I am beginning not to care, Prince Elric." The duke leaned against the bole of a huge tree, brushing aside a vine which touched his face. "Still there's naught else to do. The ship won't be ready to sail yet." He looked up into the branches. "I did not think I should miss those damned insects that plagued us on our way here...."
The crewman who had shot the arrow suddenly shouted again. "There! I saw him! It is a man!"
While the others stared but failed to discern anything Duke Avan continued to lean against the tree. "You saw nothing. There is nothing here to see."
Elric turned toward him. "Give me the map and the lodestone, Duke Avan. I have a feeling I can find the way."
The Vilmirian shrugged, an expression of doubt on his square, handsome face. He handed the things over to Elric.
They rested the night and in the morning they continued, with Elric leading the way.
And at noon they broke out of the forest and saw the ruins of R'lin K'ren A'a.
V
* * *
Nothing grew among the ruins of the city. The streets were broken and the walls of the houses had fallen, but there were no weeds flowering in the cracks and it seemed that the city had but recently been brought down by an earthquake. Only one thing still stood intact, towering over the ruins. It was a gigantic statue of white, gray, and green jade—the statue of a naked youth with a face of almost feminine beauty that turned sightless eyes toward the north.
"The eyes!" Duke Avan Astran said. "They're gone!"
The others said nothing as they stared at the statue and the ruins surrounding it. The area was relatively small and the buildings had had little decoration. The inhabitants seemed to have been a simple, well-to-do folk—totally unlike the Melnibonéans of the Bright Empire. Elric could not believe that the people of R'lin K'ren A'a had