Vanishing Tower - Michael Moorcock [0]
The Elric Saga
Book IV
Michael Moorcock
Content
Book One The Torment of the Last Lord
Chapter One Pale Prince on a Moonlit Shore
Chapter Two White Face Staring Through Snow
Chapter Three Feathers Filling a Great Sky
Chapter Four Old Castle Standing Alone
Chapter Five Doomed Lord Dreaming
Chapter Six Jewelled Bird Speaking
Chapter Seven Black Wizard Laughing
Chapter Eight A Great Host Screaming
Book Two To Snare the Pale Prince
Chapter One The Beggar Court
Chapter Two The Stolen Ring
Chapter Three The Cold Ghouls
Chapter Four Punishment of the Burning God
Chapter Five Things Which Are Not Women
Chapter Six The Jesting Demon
Book Three Three Heroes with a Single Aim
Chapter One Tanelorn Eternal
Chapter Two Return of a Sorceress
Chapter Three The Barrier Broken
Chapter Four The Vanishing Tower
Chapter Five Jhary-a-Conel
Chapter Six Pale Lord Shouting in Sunlight
Book One
The Torment of the Last Lord
... and then did Elric leave Jharkor in pursuit of a certain sorcerer who had, so Elric claimed, caused him some inconvenience ...
—The Chronicle of the Black Sword
Chapter One
Pale Prince on a Moonlit Shore
In the sky, a cold moon, cloaked in clouds, sent down faint light that fell upon a sullen sea where a ship lay at anchor off an uninhabited coast.
From the ship a boat was being lowered. It swayed in its harness. Two figures, swathed in long capes, watched the seamen lowering the boat while they, themselves, tried to calm horses which stamped their hooves on the unstable deck and snorted and rolled their eyes.
The shorter figure clung hard to his horse's bridle and grumbled.
"Why should this be necessary? Why could not we have disembarked at Trepesaz? Or at least some fishing harbour boasting an inn, however lowly. . . ."
"Because, friend Moonglum, I wish our arrival in Lormyr to be secret. If Theleb K'aarna knew of my coming—as he soon would if we went to Trepesaz—then he would fly again and the chase would begin afresh. Would you welcome that?"
Moonglum shrugged. "I still feel that your pursuit of this sorcerer is no more than a surrogate for real activity. You seek him because you do not wish to seek your proper destiny. . . ."
Elric turned his bone-white face in the moonlight and regarded Moonglum with crimson, moody eyes. "And what of it? You need not accompany me if you do not wish to. . . ."
Again Moonglum shrugged his shoulders. "Aye. I know. Perhaps I stay with you for the same reasons that you pursue the sorcerer of Pan Tang." He grinned. "So that's enough of debate, eh, Lord Elric?"
"Debate achieves nothing," Elric agreed. He patted his horse's nose as more seamen, clad in colourful Tarkeshite silks, came forward to take the horses and hoist them down to the waiting boat.
Struggling, whinnying through the bags muffling their heads, the horses were lowered, their hooves thudding on the bottom of the boat as if they would stave it in. Then Elric and Moonglum, their bundles on their backs, swung down the ropes and jumped into the rocking craft. The sailors pushed off from the ship with their oars and then, bodies bending, began to row for the shore.
The late autumn air was cold. Moonglum shivered as he stared towards the bleak cliffs ahead. "Winter is near and I'd rather be domiciled at some friendly tavern than roaming abroad. When this business is done with the sorcerer, what say we head for Jadmar or one of the other big Vilmirian cities and see what mood the warmer clime puts us in?"
But Elric did not reply. His strange eyes stared into the darkness and they seemed to be peering into the depths of his own soul and not liking what they saw.
Moonglum sighed and pursed his lips. He huddled deeper in his cloak and rubbed his hands to warm them. He was used to his friend's sudden lapses of silence, but familiarity did not make him enjoy them any better. From somewhere on the shore a nightbird shrieked and a small animal squealed. The sailors grunted as they pulled on their oars.
The moon came out from behind the clouds and it shone