Vanishing Tower - Michael Moorcock [5]
"Not an aesthetic combination," said Elric.
The ground shook as it charged towards them.
They stood shoulder to shoulder as it approached. It was almost upon them—
—and at the last moment they divided, Elric throwing himself to one side and Moonglum to the other.
The chimera passed between them and Elric struck at the thing's side with his runesword.
The sword sang out almost lasciviously as it bit deep into the flesh which instantly changed and became a dragon dripping flaming venom from its fangs.
But it was badly wounded.
Blood ran from the deep wound and the chimera screamed and changed shape again and again as if seeking some form in which the wound could not exist.
Black blood now burst from its side as if the strain of the many changes had ruptured its body all the more.
It fell to its knees and the lustre faded from its feathers, died from its scales, disappeared from its skin. It kicked out once and then was still—a heavy, black, piglike creature whose lumpen body was the ugliest Elric and Moonglum had ever seen.
Moonglum grunted.
"It is not hard to understand why such a creature should want to change its form. . . ."
He looked up.
Another was descending.
This had the appearance of a whale with wings, but with curved fangs, like those of a stomach fish, and a tail like an enormous corkscrew.
Even as it landed it changed shape again.
Now it had assumed human form. It was a huge, beautiful figure, twice as tall as Elric. It was naked and perfectly proportioned, but its stare was vacant and it had the drooling lips of an idiot child. Lithely it ran at them, its huge hands reaching out to grasp them as a child might reach for a toy.
This time Elric and Moonglum struck together, one at each hand.
Moonglum's sharp sword cut the knuckles deeply and Elric's lopped off two fingers before the Oonai altered its shape again and began first to be an octopus, then a monstrous tiger, then a combination of both, until at last it was a rock in which a fissure grew to reveal white, snapping teeth.
Gasping, the two men waited for it to resume the attack. At the base of the rock some blood was oozing. This put a thought into Elric's mind.
With a sudden yell he leapt forward, raised his sword over his head and brought it down on top of the rock, splitting it in twain.
Something like a laugh issued from the black sword then as the sundered shape flickered and became another of the piglike creatures. This was completely cut in two, its blood and its entrails spreading themselves upon the ground.
Then, through the snowy dusk, another of the Oonai came down, its body a glowing orange, its shape that of a winged snake with a thousand rippling coils.
Elric struck at the coils, but they moved too rapidly.
The other chimerae had been watching his tactics with their dead companions and they had now gauged the skill of their victims. Almost immediately Elric's arms were pinned to his sides by the coils and he found himself being borne upward as a second chimera with the same shape rushed down on Moonglum to seize him in an identical way.
Elric prepared to die as the horses had died. He prayed that he would die swiftly and not slowly, at the hands of Theleb K'aarna, who had always promised him a slow death.
The scaly wings flapped powerfully. No snout came down to snap his head off.
He felt despair as he realised that he and Moonglum were being carried swiftly northward over the great Lormyrian steppe.
Doubtless Theleb K'aarna awaited them at the end of their journey.
Chapter Three
Feathers Filling a Great Sky
Night fell and the chimerae flew on tirelessly, their shapes black against the falling snow.
The coils showed no signs of relaxing, though Elric strove to force them apart, keeping tight hold of his runesword and racking his brains for some means of defeating the monsters.
If only there were a spell. . . .
He tried to keep his thoughts from what Theleb K'aarna would do if, indeed, it was that wizard who had set the Oonai