Stormbringer - Michael Moorcock [38]
The ululating noise of the battle filled his ears, the dreadful sight of the toiling conflict clouded his vision. Without Stormbringer's evil vitality, he felt weak and limp. He felt his knees shake and crumple and he could do nothing to aid the black sword's brothers as they clashed with the Dukes of Hell.
He collapsed, aware that if he witnessed further horror he would become totally insane. Thankfully, he felt his mind go blank and then, at last, he was unconscious, unable to know which would win.
Eleven
His body itched. His arms and back ached. His wrists pounded with agony. Elric opened his eyes.
Immediately opposite him, spreadeagled in chains against the wall, he saw Moonglum. Dull flame flickered in the centre of the place and he felt pain on his naked knee, looked down and saw Jagreen Lern.
The Theocrat spat at him.
"So," Elric said thickly, "I failed. You triumph after all."
Jagreen Lern did not look triumphant. Rage still burned in his eyes.
"Oh, how shall I punish you?" he whispered.
"Punish me? Then—?" Elric's heartbeat increased.
"Your final spell succeeded," the Theocrat said flatly, turning away to contemplate the brazier. "Both your allies and mine vanished and all my attempts to contact the dukes have proved fruitless. You achieved your threat—or your minions did—you sent them back to Chaos forever!"
"My sword? What of that?"
The Theocrat smiled bitterly. "That's my only pleasure. Your sword vanished with the others. You are weak and helpless now, Elric. You are mine to maim and torture until the end of my life."
Elric was dumbfounded. Part of him rejoiced that the dukes had been beaten. Part of him lamented the loss of his sword. As Jagreen Lern had emphasised, without the blade, he was less than half a man, for his albinoism weakened him. Already, his eyesight was dimmer and he felt no response in his limbs.
Jagreen Lern looked up at him.
"Enjoy the comparatively painless days left you, Elric. I leave you to anticipate what I have in store for you. I must away and instruct my men in the final preparations for the warfleet soon to sail against the South. I won't waste time with crude torture now, for all the while I shall be scheming the most exquisite tortures conceivable. You shall take long years to die, I swear."
He left the cell and, as the door slammed, Elric heard Jagreen Lern instructing the guard.
"Keep the brazier at full blast. Let them sweat like damned souls. Feed them enough to keep them alive once every three days. They will soon be crying for water. Give them only sufficient to sustain their lives. They deserve far worse than this and they'll get their deserts when my mind has had time to work on the problem."
A day later, the real agony began. Their bodies gave out the last of their sweat. Their tongues were swollen in their heads and all the time as they groaned in their torment they were aware that this terrible torture would be nothing to what they might expect. Elric's weakened body would not respond to his desperate struggling and at length his mind dulled, the agony became constant and familiar, and time was non-existent.
Finally, through a pain-thick daze, he recognised a voice. It was the hate-filled voice of Jagreen Lern.
Others were in the chamber. He felt their hands seize him and his body was suddenly light as he was borne, moaning, from the cell.
Though he heard disjointed phrases, he could make no sense of Jagreen Lern's words. He was taken to a dark place, that rolled about, hurting his scorched chest.
Later, he heard Moonglum's voice and strained to hear the words.
"Elric! What's happening? We're aboard a ship at sea, I'd swear!"
But Elric mumbled without interest. His deficient body was weakening faster than would a normal man's. He thought of Zarozinia, whom he would never see again. He knew he would not live to know whether Law or Chaos finally won, or even if the Southlands would stand against the Theocrat.
And these problems were fading in his mind again.
Then the food started