Vanishing Tower - Michael Moorcock [34]
And Elric turned.
And Elric ran.
And Checkalakh, the Burning God, came fast as a flash fire behind him.
Elric felt pain in his shoulder and he smelled burning cloth. He increased his speed, having no notion of where he ran.
And still the Burning God pursued him.
"Stop, mortal! It is futile! Thou canst not escape Checkalakh of Chaos!"
Elric shouted back in desperate humour. "I'll be no one's roast pork!" His step began to falter. "Not—not even a god's!"
Like the roar of flames up a chimney, Checkalakh replied, "Do not defy me, mortal! It is an honour to feed a god!"
Both the heat and the effort of running were exhausting Elric. A plan of sorts had formed in his brain when he had first encountered the Burning God. That was why he had started to run.
But now, as Checkalakh came on, he was forced to turn.
"Thou art somewhat feeble for so mighty a Lord of Chaos," he panted, readying his sword.
"My long sojourn here has weakened me," Checkalakh replied, "else I would have caught thee ere now! But catch thee I will! And devour thee I must!"
Stormbringer whined its defiance at the enfeebled Chaos God and blade struck out at flaming head and gashed the god's right cheek so that paler fire flickered there and something ran up the black blade and into Elric's heart so that he trembled in a mixture of terror and joy as some of the Burning God's lifeforce entered him.
Eyes of flame stared at the Black Sword and then at Elric. Brows of flame furrowed and Checkalakh halted.
"Thou art no ordinary beggar, 'tis true!"
"I am Elric of Melniboné and I bear the Black Sword. Lord Arioch is my master—a more powerful entity than you, Lord Checkalakh."
Something akin to misery passed across the god's fiery countenance. "Aye—there are many more powerful than me, Elric of Melniboné."
Elric wiped sweat from his face. He drew in great gulps of burning air. "Then why—why not combine your strength with mine. Together we can tear down the portal and take vengeance on those who have conspired to bring us together."
Checkalakh shook his head and little tongues of fire fell from it. "The portal will only open when I am dead. So it was decreed when Lord Donblas of Law imprisoned me here. Even if we were successful in destroying the portal—it would result in my death. Therefore, most powerful of mortals, I must fight thee and eat thee."
And again Elric began to run, desperately seeking the portal, knowing that the only light he could hope to find in the labyrinth came from the Burning God himself. Even if he were to defeat the god, he would still be trapped in the complex maze.
And then he saw it. He was back at the place where he had been thrown through the membrane.
"It is only possible to enter my prison through the portal, not leave it!" called Checkalakh.
"I'm aware of that!" Elric took a firmer grip on Stormbringer and turned to face the thing of flame.
Even as his sword swung back and forth, parrying every attempt of the Burning God's to seize him, Elric felt sympathy for the creature. He had come in answer to the summonings of mortals and he had been imprisoned for his pains.
But Elric's clothes had begun to smoulder now and even though Stormbringer supplied him with energy every time it struck Checkalakh the heat itself was beginning to overwhelm him. He sweated no more. Instead his skin felt dry and about to split. Blisters were forming on his white hands. Soon he would be able to hold the blade no longer.
"Arioch!" he breathed. "Though this creature be a fellow Lord of Chaos, aid me to defeat him!"
But Arioch lent him no extra strength. He had already learned from his patron demon that greater things were being planned on and above the Earth and that Arioch had little time for even the most favourite of his mortal charges.
Yet, from habit, still Elric murmured Arioch's name as he swept the sword so that it struck first Checkalakh's burning hands and then his burning shoulder and more of the god's energy entered him.
It seemed to Elric that even Stormbringer was beginning to burn