Stormbringer - Michael Moorcock [10]
"Then let us hope we win," he said.
Elric stood among the captains as they surveyed the mobilising army. Tall Dyvim Slorm was by his side, his golden shirt loose on his slim body and his manner confident, arrogant. Also here were hardened soldiers of many smaller campaigns; short, dark-faced men from Tarkesh with thick armour and black, oiled hair and beards. The half-naked winged men from Myyrrhn had arrived, with their brooding eyes, hawk-like faces, their great wings folded on their backs, quiet, dignified, seldom speaking. The Shazarian commanders were there also, in jackets of grey, brown and black, in rust-coloured bronze armour. With them stood the captain of Yishana's White Leopards, a long-legged, thick-bodied man with blond hair tied in a knot at the back of his bull-necked head, silver armour bearing the emblazon of a leopard, albino like Elric, rampant and snarling.
The time of the battle was drawing close...
Now, in the grey dawn, the two armies advanced upon each other, coming from opposite ends of a wide valley, flanked by low, wooded, hills.
The army of Pan Tang and Dharijor moved, a tide of dark metal, up the shallow valley to meet them. Elric, still un-armoured, watched as they approached, his horse stamping the turf. Dyvim Slorm, beside him, pointed and said: "Look—there are the plotters—Sarosto on the left and Jagreen Lern on the right!"
The leaders headed their army, banners of dark silk rustling above their helms. King Sarosto and his thin ally, aquiline Jagreen Lern in glowing scarlet armour that seemed to be red hot and may have been. On his helm was the Merman Crest of Pan Tang, for he claimed kinship with the sea-people. Sarosto's armour was dull, murky yellow, emblazoned with the Star of Dharijor upon which was the Cleft Sword which history said was borne by Sarosto's ancestor Atarn, the City-Builder.
Behind them, instantly observable, came the Devil Riders of Pan Tang on their six-legged reptilian mounts, bred by sorcery it was said. Swarthy and with introspective expressions on their sharp faces, they carried long, curved sabres, naked at their belts. Prowling among them came over a hundred hunting tigers, trained like dogs, with tusk-like teeth and claws that could rend a man to the bone with a single sweep. Beyond the rolling army as it moved towards them, Elric could just see the tops of the mysterious cage-wagons. What weird beasts did they contain, he wondered.
Then Yishana shouted a command.
The archers' arrows spread a rattling black cloud above them as Elric led the first wave of infantry down the hill to meet the van of the enemy army. That he should be forced to risk his life embittered him, but if he was ever to discover Zarozinia's whereabouts he had to play out his ordered part and pray that he lived.
The main force of cavalry followed the infantry, flanking it with orders to encircle the enemy if possible. Brightly clad Imrryrians and bronze-armoured Shazarians were to one side. Blue-armoured Tarkeshites with brilliant plumes of red, purple and white, long lances levelled, and gold-armoured Jharkorians, longswords already unscabbarded, galloped on the other side. In the centre of Elric's advance phalanx loped Yichana's White Leopards and the queen herself rode beneath her banner, behind the first phalanx, leading a battalion of knights.
Down they rushed towards the enemy whose own arrows rose upwards and then swept down to clash against helmets or thud into flesh.
Now the sound of war-shouts smashed through the still dawn as they streaked down the slopes and clashed.
Elric found himself confronting lean Jagreen Lern, and the snarling Theocrat met Stormbringer's swing with a flame-red buckler which successfully protected him—proving the shield to be treated against sorcerous weapons.
Jagreen Lern's features wrinked into a malicious smile as he recognised Elric. "I was told you'd be here, Whiteface. I know you Elric and I know your doom!"
"Too many men appear to know my destiny better than I," said the albino. "But perhaps if I slay you, Theocrat, I may force