Sailor on the Seas of Fate - Michael Moorcock [7]
"We? You mean your race or those aboard your ship?"
The captain smiled. "I have no race, save myself. I speak, I suppose, of all humanity."
"These enemies are not human, then?"
"No. They are inextricably involved in human affairs, but this fact has not instilled in them any loyalty to us. I use 'humanity,' of course, in its broader sense, to include yourself and myself."
"I understood," said Elric. "What is this folk called?"
"Many things," said the captain. "Forgive me, but I cannot continue longer now. If you will ready yourself for battle I assure you that I will reveal more to you as soon as the time is right."
Only when Elric stood again outside the reddish-brown door, watching Erekosë advancing up the deck through the mist, did the albino wonder if the captain had charmed him to the point where he had forgotten all common sense. Yet the blind man had impressed him and he had, after all, nothing better to do than to sail on to the island. He shrugged. He could always alter his decision if he discovered that those upon the island were not, in his opinion, enemies.
"Are you more mystified or less, Elric?" said Erekosë, smiling.
"More mystified in some ways, less in others," Elric told him. "And, for some reason, I do not care."
"Then you share the feeling of the whole company," Erekosë told him.
It was only when Erekosë led him to the cabin aft of the mast that Elric realized he had not asked the captain what the significance of the Four might be.
III
* * *
Save that it faced in the opposite direction, the other cabin resembled the first in almost every detail. Here, too, were seated some dozen men, all experienced soldiers of fortune by their features and their clothing. Two sat together at the center of the table's starboard side. One was bareheaded, fair, and careworn, the other had features resembling Elric's own and he seemed to be wearing a silver gauntlet on his left hand while the right hand was naked; his armor was delicate and outlandish. He looked up as Elric entered and there was recognition in his single eye (the other was covered by a brocade-work patch).
"Elric of Melniboné!" he exclaimed. "My theories become more meaningful!" He turned to his companion. "See, Hawkmoon, this is the one of whom I spoke."
"You know me, sir?" Elric was nonplussed.
"You recognize me, Elric. You must! At the Tower of Voilodion Ghagnasdiak? With Erekosë—though a different Erekosë."
"I know of no such tower, no name which resembles that, and this is the first I have seen of Erekosë. You know me and you know my name, but I do not know you. I find this disconcerting, sir."
"I, too, had never met Prince Corum before he came aboard," said Erekosë, "yet he insists we fought together once. I am inclined to believe him. Time on the different planes does not always run concurrently. Prince Corum might well exist in what we would term the future."
"I had thought to find some relief from such paradoxes here," said Hawkmoon, passing his hand over his face. He smiled bleakly. "But it seems there is none at this present moment in the history of the planes. Everything is in flux and even our identities, it seems, are prone to alter at any moment."
"We were Three," said Corum. "Do you not recall it, Elric? The Three Who Are One?"
Elric shook his head.
Corum shrugged, saying softly to himself, "Well, now we are Four. Did the captain say anything of an island we are supposed to invade?"
"He did," said Elric. "Do you know who these enemies might be?"
"We know no more or less than do you, Elric," said Hawkmoon. "I seek a place called Tanelorn and two children. Perhaps I seek the Runestaff, too. Of that I am not entirely sure."
"We found it once," said Corum. "We three. In the Tower of Voilodion Ghagnasdiak. It was of considerable help to us."
"As it might be to me," Hawkmoon told him. "I served it once. I gave it a great deal."
"We have much in common," Erekos