The Weird of the White Wolf - Michael Moorcock [5]
The staircase seemed to lead up into a tower, and when he finally reached the small door at its top he was feeling out of breath and paused before entering. Then he pushed the door open and went in.
A huge window was set in one wall, a window of clear glass through which he could see the ominous stuff of Chaos leaping. A woman stood by this window as if awaiting him.
“You are indeed a champion, Earl Aubec,” said she with a smile that might have been ironic.
“How do you know my name?”
“No sorcery gave it me, Earl of Malador—you shouted it loudly enough when you first saw the hall in its true shape.”
“Was not that, then, sorcery,” he said ungraciously, “the labyrinth, the demons—even the valley? Was not the golem made by sorcery? Is not this whole cursed castle of a sorcerous nature?”
She shrugged. “Call it so if you'd rather not have the truth. Sorcery, in your mind at least, is a crude thing which only hints at the true powers existing in the universe.”
He did not reply, being somewhat impatient of such statements. He had learned, by observing the philosophers of Klant, that mysterious words often disguised commonplace things and ideas. Instead, he looked at her sulkily and over-frankly.
She was fair, with green-blue eyes and a light complexion. Her long robe was of a similar colour to her eyes. She was, in a secret sort of way, very beautiful and, like all the denizens of Kaneloon he'd encountered, a trifle familiar.
“You recognise Kaneloon?” she asked.
He dismissed her question. “Enough of this—take me to the masters of this place!”
“There is none but me, Myshella the Dark Lady—and I am the mistress.”
He was disappointed. “Was it just to meet you that I came through such perils?”
“It was—and greater perils even than you think, Earl Aubec. Those were but the monsters of your own imagination!”
“Taunt me not, lady.”
She laughed. “I speak in good faith. The castle creates its defences out of your own mind. It is a rare man who can face and defeat his own imagination. Such a one has not found me here for two hundred years. All since have perished by fear—until now.”
She smiled at him. It was a warm smile.
“And what is the prize for so great a feat?” he said gruffly.
She laughed again and gestured towards the window which looked out upon the edge of the world and Chaos beyond. “Out there nothing exists as yet. If you venture into it, you will be confronted again by creatures of your hidden fancy, for there is nothing else to behold.”
She gazed at him admiringly and he coughed in his embarrassment. “Once in a while,” she said, “there comes a man to Kaneloon who can withstand such an ordeal. Then may the frontiers of the world be extended, for when a man stands against Chaos it must recede and new lands spring into being!”
“So that is the fate you have in mind for me, sorceress!”
She glanced at him almost demurely. Her beauty seemed to increase as he looked at her. He clutched at the hilt of his sword, gripping it tight as she moved gracefully towards him and touched him, as if by accident. “There is a reward for your courage.” She looked into his eyes and said no more of the reward, for it was clear what she offered. “And after—do my bidding and go against Chaos.”
“Lady, know you not that ritual demands of Klant's Champion that he be the queen's faithful consort? I would not betray my word and trust!” He gave a hollow laugh. “I came here to remove a menace to my queen's kingdom—not to be your lover and lackey!”
“There is no menace here.”
“That seems true ...”
She stepped back as if appraising him anew. For