Vanishing Tower - Michael Moorcock [11]
"She cannot be awakened by such as we. I told you, Moonglum. . . ." Elric drew another deep breath. "It is an enchanted sleep she is in. I could not wake Cymoril from it, with all my powers of sorcery. Unless one has certain magical aids, some knowledge of the exact spell used, there is nothing that can be done. Quickly, Moonglum, let us depart."
There was an edge to Elric's voice which made Moonglum shiver.
"But..."
"Then I will go!"
Elric almost ran from the room. Moonglum heard his footsteps echoing rapidly down the long staircase.
He went up to the sleeping woman and stared down at her beauty.
He touched the skin. It was unnaturally cold. He shrugged and made to leave the chamber, pausing for a moment only to notice that a number of ancient battle-shields and weapons hung on one wall of the room, behind the bed. Strange trophies with which a beautiful woman should wish to decorate her bedroom, he thought. He saw the carved wooden table below the trophies. Something lay upon it. He stepped back into the room. A peculiar sensation filled him as he saw that it was a map. The castle was marked and so was the Zaphra-Trepek river.
Holding the map down to the table was a lodestone, set in silver on a long silver chain.
He grabbed the map in one hand and the lodestone in the other and ran from the room.
"Elric! Elric!"
He raced down the stairs and reached the hall. Elric had gone. The door of the hall was open.
He followed the albino out of the mysterious castle and into the snow.
"Elric!"
Elric turned, his face set and his eyes tormented.
Moonglum showed him the map and the lodestone.
"We are saved, after all, Elric!"
Elric looked down at the snow. "Aye. So we are."
Chapter Five
Doomed Lord Dreaming
And two days later they reached the upper reaches of the Zaphra-Trepek and the trading town of Alorasaz with its towers of finely carved wood and its beautifully made timber houses.
To Alorasaz came the fur trappers and the miners, the merchants from Iosaz, downriver, or from afar as Trepesaz on the coast. A cheerful, bustling town with its streets lit and heated by great, red braziers at every corner. These were tended by citizens specially commissiond to keep them burning hot and bright. Wrapped in thick woollen clothing, they hailed Elric and Moonglum as they entered the city.
For all they had been sustained by the wine and meat Moonglum had thought to bring, they were weary from their walk across the steppe.
They made their way through the rumbustious crowd—laughing, red-cheeked women and burly, fur-swathed men whose breath steamed in the air, mingling with the smoke from the braziers, as they took huge swallows from gourds of beer or skins of wine, conducting their business with the slightly less bucolic merchants of the more sophisticated townships.
Elric was looking for news and he knew that if he found it anywhere it would be in the taverns. He waited while Moonglum followed his nose to the best of Alorasaz's inns and came back with the news of where it could be found.
They walked a short distance and entered a rowdy tavern crammed with big, wooden tables and benches on which were jammed more traders and more merchants all arguing cheerfully, holding up furs to display their quality or to mock their worthlessness, depending on which point of view was taken.
Moonglum left Elric standing in the doorway and went to speak with the landlord, a hugely fat man with a glistening scarlet face.
Elric saw the landlord bend and listen to Moonglum. The man nodded and raised an arm to bellow at Elric to follow him and Moonglum.
Elric inched his way through the press and was knocked half off his feet by a gesticulating trader who apologised cheerfully and profusely and offered to buy him a drink.
"It is nothing," Elric said faintly.
The man got up. "Come on, sir, it was my fault. . . ." His voice tailed off as he saw the albino's face. He mumbled something and sat down again, making a wry remark to one of his companions.
Elric followed Moonglum