The Sailor on the Seas of Fate

  Ashnar the Lynx had other reasons—or so he said—for his own lack of patience.

  “They said there'd be treasure here,” he muttered. “I thought to stake my life against a fair reward, but there's nought here of value.” He put a horny hand against the damp material of the wall. “Not even stone or brick. What are these walls made of, Elric?”

  Elric shook his head. “That has puzzled me, also, Ashnar.”

  Then Elric saw large, fierce eyes peering out of the gloom ahead. He heard a rattling noise, a rushing noise, and the eyes grew larger and larger. He saw a red mouth, yellow fangs, orange fur. Then the growling sounded and the beast sprang at him even as he raised Stormbringer to defend himself and shouted a warning to the others. The creature was a baboon, but huge, and there were at least a dozen others following the first. Elric drove his body forward behind his sword, taking the beast in its groin. Claws reached out and dug into his shoulders and waist. He groaned as he felt at least one set of claws draw blood. His arms were trapped and he could not pull Stormbringer free. All he could do was twist the sword in the wound he had already made. With all his might, he turned the hilt. The great ape shouted, its bloodshot eyes blazing, and it bared its yellow fangs as its muzzle shot towards Elric's throat. The teeth closed on his neck, the stinking breath threatened to choke him. Again he twisted the blade. Again the beast yelled in pain.

  The fangs were pressing into the metal of Elric's gorget, the only thing saving him from immediate death. He struggled to free at least one arm, twisting the sword for the third time, then tugging it sideways to widen the wound in the groin. The growls and groans of the baboon grew more intense and the teeth tightened their hold on his neck, but now, mingled with the noises of the ape, he began to hear a murmuring and he felt Stormbringer pulse on his hand. He knew that the sword was drawing power from the ape even as the ape sought to destroy him. Some of that power began to flow into his body.

  Desperately Elric put all his remaining strength into dragging the sword across the ape's body, slitting its belly wide so that its blood and entrails spilled over him as he was suddenly free and staggering backwards, wrenching the sword out in the same movement. The ape, too, was staggering back, staring down in stupefied awe at its own horrible wound before it fell to the floor of the passage.

  Elric turned, ready to give aid to his nearest comrade, and he was in time to see Terndrik of Hasghan die, kicking in the clutches of an even larger ape, his head bitten from his shoulders and his red blood gouting.

  Elric drove Stormbringer cleanly between the shoulders of Terndrik's slayer, taking the ape in the heart. Beast and human victim fell together. Two others were dead and several bore bad wounds, but the remaining warriors fought on, swords and armour smeared with crimson. The narrow passage stank of ape, of sweat and of blood. Elric pressed into the fight, chopping at the skull of an ape which grappled with Hown Serpent-tamer, who had lost his sword. Hown darted a look of thanks at Elric as he bent to retrieve his blade and together they set upon the largest of all the baboons. This creature stood much taller than Elric and had Erekose pressed against the wall, Erekose's sword through its shoulder.

  From two sides, Hown and Elric stabbed and the baboon snarled and screamed, turning to face the new attackers, Erekose's blade quivering in its shoulder. It rushed upon them and they stabbed again together, taking the monster in its heart and its lung so that when it roared at them blood vomited from its mouth. It fell to its knees, its eyes dimming, then sank slowly down.

  And now there was silence in the passage and death lay all about them.

  Terndrik of Hasghan was dead. Two of Corum's party were dead. All of Erekose's surviving men bore major wounds. One of Hawkmoon's men was dead, but the remaining three were virtually unscathed. Brut of Lashmar's helm was dented, but he was otherwise unwounded and Ashnar the Lynx was dishevelled, nothing more. Ashnar had taken two of the baboons during the fight. But now the barbarian's eyes rolled as he leaned, panting, against the wall.

  “I begin to suspect this venture of being uneconomical,” he said with a half-grin. He rallied himself, stepping over a baboon's corpse to join Elric. “The less time we take over it, the better. What think you, Elric?”

  “I would agree.” Elric returned his grin. “Come.” And he led the way through the passage and into a chamber whose walls gave off a pinkish light. He had not walked far before he felt something catch at his ankle and he stared down in horror to see a long, thin snake winding itself about his leg. It was too late to use his sword; instead he seized the reptile behind its head and dragged it partially free of his leg before hacking the head from the body. The others were now stamping and shouting warnings to each other. The snakes did not appear to be venomous, but there were thousands of them, appearing, it seemed from out of the floor itself. They were flesh-coloured and had no eyes, more closely resembling earthworms than ordinary reptiles, but they were strong enough.

  Hown Serpent-tamer sang a strange song now, with many liquid, hissing notes, and this seemed to have a calming effect upon the creatures. One by one at first and then in increasing numbers, they dropped back to the floor, apparently sleeping. Hown grinned at his success.

  Elric said: “Now I understand how you came by your surname.”

  “I was not sure the song would work on these,” Hown told him, “for they are unlike any serpents I have ever seen in the seas of my own world.”

  They waded on through mounds of sleeping serpents, noticing that the next passage rose sharply. At times they were forced to use their hands to steady themselves as they climbed the peculiar, slippery material of the floor.

  It was much hotter in this passage and they were all sweating, pausing several times to rest and mop their brows. The passage seemed to extend upwards forever, turning occasionally, but never levelling out for more than a few feet. At times it narrowed to little more than a tube through which they had to squirm on their stomachs and at other times the roof disappeared into the gloom over their heads. Elric had long since given up trying to relate their position to what he had seen of the outside of the castle. From time to time small, shapeless creatures rushed towards them in shoals apparently with the intention of attacking them, but these were rarely more than an irritation and were soon all but ignored by the party as it continued its climb.

  For a while they had not heard the strange voice which had greeted them upon their entering, but now it began to whisper again, its tones more urgent than before.

  “Where? Where? Oh, the pain!”

  They paused, trying to locate the source of the voice, but it seemed to come from everywhere at once.

  Grim-faced, they continued, plagued by thousands of little creatures which bit at their exposed flesh like so many gnats, yet the creatures were not insects. Elric had seen nothing like them before. They were shapeless, primitive and all but colourless. They battered at his face as he moved; they were like a wind. Half-blinded, choked, sweating, he felt his strength leaving him. The air was so thick now, so hot, so salty, it was as if he moved through liquid. The others were as badly affected as was he; some were staggering and two men fell, to be helped up again by comrades almost as exhausted. Elric was tempted to strip off his armour, but he knew this would leave more of his flesh to the mercy of the little flying creatures.

  Still, they climbed and now more of the serpentine things they had seen earlier began to writhe around their feet, hampering them further, for all that Hown sang his sleeping song until he was hoarse.

  “We can survive this only a little longer,” said Ashnar the Lynx, moving close to Elric. “We shall be in no condition to meet the sorcerer if we ever find him or his sister.”

  Elric nodded a gloomy head. “My thoughts, too, yet what else may we do, Ashnar?”

  “Nothing,” said Ashnar in a low voice. “Nothing.”

  “Where? Where? Where?” The word rustled all about them. Many of the party were becoming openly nervous.

  Chapter 5

&nbs
p; They had reached the top of the passage. The querulous voice was much louder now, but it quavered more. They saw an archway and beyond the archway a lighted chamber.

  “Agak's room, without doubt,” said Ashnar, taking a better grip on his sword.

  “Possibly,” said Elric. He felt detached from his body. Perhaps it was the heat and the exhaustion, or it was his growing sense of disquiet, but something made him withdraw into himself and hesitate before entering the chamber.

  The place was octagonal and each of its eight sloping sides was of a different colour and each colour changed constantly. Occasionally the walls became semi-trans­parent, revealing a complete view of the ruined city (or collection of cities) far below, and also a view of the twin castle to this one, still connected by tubes and wires.

  It was the large pool in the centre of the chamber which attracted their attention mostly. It seemed deep and was full of evil-smelling, viscous stuff. It bubbled. Shapes formed in it. Grotesque and strange, beautiful and familiar, the shapes seemed always upon the brink of taking permanent form before falling back into the stuff of the pool. And the voice was still louder and there was no question now that it came from the pool.

  “WHAT? WHAT? WHO INVADES?”

  Elric forced himself closer to the pool and for a moment saw his own face staring out at him before it melted.

  “WHO INVADES? AH! I AM TOO WEAK!”

  Elric spoke to the pool. “We are of those you would destroy,” he said. “We are those on whom you would feed.”

  “AH! AGAK! AGAK! I AM SICK! WHERE ARE YOU?”

  Ashnar and Brut joined Elric. The faces of the warriors were filled with disgust.

  “Agak,” growled Ashnar the Lynx, his eyes narrowing. “At last some sign that the sorcerer is here!”

  The others had all crowded in, to stand as far away from the pool as possible, but all stared, fascinated by the variety of shapes forming and disintegrating in the viscous liquid.

  “I WEAKEN...MY ENERGY NEEDS TO BE RE­PLENISHED... WE MUST BEGIN NOW, AGAK... IT TOOK US SO LONG TO REACH THIS PLACE. I THOUGHT I COULD REST. BUT THERE IS DISEASE HERE. IT FILLS MY BODY. AGAK. AWAKEN, AGAK. AWAKEN!”

  “Some servants of Agak's, charged with the defence of the chamber?” suggested Hown Serpent-tamer in a small voice.

  But Elric continued to stare into the pool as he began, he thought, to realize the truth.

  “Will Agak wake?” Brut said. “Will he come?” He glanced nervously around him.

  “Agak!” called Ashnar the Lynx. “Coward!”

  “Agak!” cried many of the other warriors, brandishing their swords.

  But Elric said nothing and he noted, too, that Hawkmoon and Corum and Erekose all remained silent. He guessed that they must be filled with the same dawning understanding. He looked at them. In Erekose's eyes he saw an agony, a pity both for himself and his comrades.

  “We are the Four Who Are One,” said Erekose. His voice shook.

  Elric was seized by an alien impulse, an impulse which disgusted and terrified him. “No...” He attempted to sheath Stormbringer, but the sword refused to enter its scabbard.

  “AGAK! QUICKLY!” said the voice from the pool.

  “If we do not do this thing,” said Erekose, “they will eat all our worlds. Nothing will remain.”

  Elric put his free hand to his head. He swayed upon the edge of that frightful pool. He moaned.

  “We must do it, then.” Corum's voice was an echo.

  “I will not,” said Elric. “I am myself.”

  “And I!” said Hawkmoon.

  But Corum Jhaelen Irsei said: “It is the only way for us, for the single being that we are. Do you not see that? We are the only creatures of our worlds who possess the means of slaying the sorcerers—in the only manner in which they can be slain!”

  Elric looked at Corum, at Hawkmoon, at Erekose, and again he saw something of himself in all of them.

  “We are the Four Who Are One,” said Erekose. “Our united strength is greater than the sum. We must come together, brothers. We must conquer here before we can hope to conquer Agak.”

  “No...” Elric moved away, but somehow he found himself standing at a corner of the bubbling, noxious pool from which the voice still murmured and complained, in which shapes still formed, re-formed and faded. And at each of the other three corners stood one of his companions. All had a set, fatalistic look to them.

  The warriors who had accompanied the Four drew back to the walls. Otto Blendker and Brut of Lashmar stood near the doorway, listening for anything which might come up the passage to the chamber. Ashnar the Lynx fingered the brand at his belt, a look of pure horror on his rugged features.

  Elric felt his arm begin to rise, drawn upward by his sword, and he saw that each of his three companions was also lifting his sword. The swords reached out across the pool and their tips met above the exact centre.

  Elric yelled as something entered his being. Again he tried to break free, but the power was too strong. Other voices spoke in his head.

  “I understand…” This was Corum's distant murmur. “It is the only way.”

  “Oh, no, no...” And this was Hawkmoon, but the words came from Elric's lips.

  “AGAK!” cried the pool. The stuff became more agitated, more alarmed. “AGAK! QUICKLY! WAKE!”

  Elric's body began to shake, but his hand kept a firm hold upon the sword. The atoms of his body flew apart and then united again into a single flowing entity which travelled up the blade of the sword towards the apex. And Elric was still Elric, shouting with the terror of it, sighing with the ecstasy of it.

  Elric was still Elric when he drew away from the pool and looked upon himself for a single moment, seeing himself wholly joined with his three other selves.

  A being hovered over the pool. On each side of its head was a face and each face belonged to one of the companions. Serene and terrible, the eyes did not blink. It had eight arms and the arms were still; it squatted over the pool on eight legs, and its armour and accoutrements were of all colours blending and at the same time separate.

  The being clutched a single great sword in all eight hands and both he and the sword glowed with a ghastly golden light.

  Then Elric had rejoined this body and had become a different thing—himself and three others and something else which was the sum of that union.

  The Four Who Were One reversed the monstrous sword so that the point was directed downward at the frenetically boiling stuff in the pool below. The stuff feared the sword. It mewled.

  “Agak, Agak...”

  The being of whom Elric was a part gathered its great strength and began to plunge the sword down.

  Shapeless waves appeared on the surface of the pool. Its whole colour changed from sickly yellow to an unhealthy green. “Agak, I die...”

  Inexorably the sword moved down. It touched the surface.

  The pool swept back and forth; it tried to ooze over the sides and onto the floor. The sword bit deeper and the Four Who Were One felt new strength flow up the blade. There came a moan; slowly the pool quietened. It became silent. It became still. It became grey.

  Then the Four Who Were One descended into the pool to be absorbed.

  It could see clearly now. It tested its body. It controlled every limb, every function. It had triumphed; it had revitalized the pool. Through its single octagonal eye it looked in all directions at the same time over the wide ruins of the city; then it focused all its attention upon its twin.

  Agak had awakened too late, but he was awakening at last, roused by the dying cries of his sister Gagak whose body the mortals had first invaded and whose intelligence they had overwhelmed, whose eye they now used and whose powers they would soon attempt to utilize.

  Agak did not need to turn his head to look upon the being he still saw as his sister. Like hers, his intelligence was contained within the huge eight-sided eye.

  “Did you call me, sister?”

  “I spoke your name, that is all, brothe
r.” There were enough vestiges of Gagak's life-force in the Four Who Were One for it to imitate her manner of speaking.

  “You cried out?”

  “A dream.” The Four paused and then it spoke again: “A disease. I dreamed that there was something upon this island which made me unwell.”

  “Is that possible? We do not know sufficient about these dimensions or the creatures inhabiting them. Yet none is as powerful as Agak and Gagak. Fear not, sister.”

  “It is nothing. Now I am awake.”

  Agak was puzzled. “You speak oddly.”

  “The dream...” answered the creature which had entered Gagak's body and destroyed her.

  “We must begin,” said Agak. “The dimensions turn and the time has come. Ah, feel it. It waits for us to take it. So much rich energy. How we shall conquer when we go home!”

  “I feel it,” replied the Four, and it did. It felt its whole universe, dimension upon dimension, swirling all about it. Stars and planets and moons through plane upon plane, all full of the energy upon which Agak and Gagak had desired to feed. And there was enough of Gagak still within the Four to make the Four experience a deep, anticipatory hunger which, now that the dimensions attained the right conjunction, would soon be satisfied.

  The Four was tempted to join with Agak and feast, though it knew if it did so it would rob its own universe of every shred of energy. Stars would fade, worlds would die. Even the Lords of Law and Chaos would perish, for they were part of the same universe. Yet to possess such power it might be worth committing such a tremendous crime.. .It controlled this desire and gathered itself for its attack before Agak became too wary.

  “Shall we feast, sister?”

  The Four realized that the ship had brought it to the island at exactly the proper moment. Indeed, they had almost come too late.

  “Sister?” Agak was again puzzled. “What...?”