The Weird of the White Wolf - Michael Moorcock [29]
Gasping, he tried to stand, but found his legs incredibly weak beneath him. He rose, staggered, and fell. Shaarilla knelt down beside him.
“Are you hurt?”
Elric smiled in spite of his weakness. “I don't think so.”
“It was dreadful. I couldn't see properly what was happening. You seemed to disappear and then—then you screamed that—that name!” She was trembling, her face pale and taut.
“What name?” Elric was genuinely puzzled. “What name did I scream?”
She shook her head. “It doesn't matter—but whatever it was—it saved you. You reappeared soon afterwards and fell into the marsh ....”
Stormbringer's power was still flowing into the albino. He already felt stronger.
With an effort, he got up and stumbled unsteadily towards his horse.
“I'm sure that the Mist Giant does not usually haunt this marsh—it was sent here. By what—or whom—I don't know, but we must get to firmer ground while we can.”
Shaarilla said: “Which way—back or forward?”
Elric frowned. “Why, forward, of course. Why do you ask?”
She swallowed and shook her head. “Let's hurry, then,” she said.
They mounted their horses and rode with little caution until the marsh and its cloak of mist was behind them.
Now the journey took on a new urgency as Elric realised that some force was attempting to put obstacles in their way. They rested little and savagely rode their powerful horses to a virtual standstill.
On the fifth day they were riding through barren, rocky country and a light rain was falling.
The hard ground was slippery so that they were forced to ride more slowly, huddled over the sodden necks of their horses, muffled in cloaks which only inadequately kept out the drizzling rain. They had ridden in silence for some time before they heard a ghastly cackling baying ahead of them and the rattle of hooves.
Elric motioned towards a large rock looming to their right. “Shelter there,” he said. “Something comes towards us—possibly more enemies. With luck, they'll pass us.” Shaarilla mutely obeyed him and together they waited as the hideous baying grew nearer.
“One rider—several other beasts,” Elric said, listening intently. “The beasts either follow or pursue the rider.”
Then they were in sight—racing through the rain. A man frantically spurring an equally frightened horse—and behind him, the distance decreasing, a pack of what at first appeared to be dogs. But these were not dogs—they were half-dog and half-bird, with the lean, shaggy bodies and legs of dogs but possessing birdlike talons in place of paws and savagely curved beaks which snapped where muzzles should have been.
“The hunting dogs of the Dharzi!” gasped Shaarilla. “I thought that they, like their masters, were long extinct!”
“I, also,” Elric said. “What are they doing in these parts? There was never contact between the Dharzi and the dwellers of this Land.”
“Brought here—by something,” Shaarilla whispered. “Those devil-dogs will scent us to be sure.”
Elric reached for his runesword. “Then we can lose nothing by aiding their quarry,” he said, urging his mount forward. “Wait here, Shaarilla.”
By this time, the devil-pack and the man they pursued were rushing past the sheltering rock, speeding down a narrow defile. Elric spurred his horse down the slope.
“Ho there!” he shouted to the frantic rider. “Turn and stand, my friend—I'm here to aid you!”
His moaning runesword lifted high, Elric thundered towards the snapping, howling devil-dogs and his horse's hooves struck one with an impact which broke the unnatural beast's spine. There were some five or six of the weird dogs left. The rider turned his horse and drew a long sabre from a scabbard at his waist. He was a small man, with a broad ugly mouth. He grinned in relief.
“A lucky chance, this meeting, good master!”
This was all he had time to remark before two of the dogs were leaping at him and he was forced to give his whole attention to defending himself from their slashing talons and snapping beaks.
The other three dogs concentrated their