The Fortress of the Pearl eas-2 Read online

  "My lady, we do not," said Oone with great sincerity. Still, her voice was gentle. Elric was mystified by her manner but accepted that she had a clear notion of their situation.

  "What does this mean?" Elric murmured as Lady Sough descended towards her boat.

  "I think it means we are close to the Fortress of the Pearl," said Oone. "She tries to help us but is not altogether sure how best to do it."

  "You trust her?"

  "If we trust ourselves, we can trust her, I think. We must know what are the right questions to ask her."

  "I'll trust you, Oone, to trust her." Elric smiled.

  At Lady Sough's insistent beckoning they clambered into the beautiful boat, which rocked only slightly on the dark waters of what seemed to Elric an entirely artificial canal, straight and deep, moving in a sweeping curve until it disappeared from sight a mile or two from them. He peered upward, still not sure if he looked upon a strange sky or the roof of the largest cavern of all. He could just see the stairs stretching away in the distance and wondered again what had happened to the inhabitants when they had fled at the Pearl Warrior's attack.

  Lady Sough took the great tiller of the boat. With a single movement she guided the craft onto the centre of the waterway. Almost at once the ground levelled out so that it was possible to see the grey desert on all sides, while ahead was foliage, greenery, the suggestion of hills. There was a quality about the light which reminded Elric of a September evening. He could almost smell the early autumn roses, the turning trees, the orchards of Imrryr. Seated near the front of the boat with Oone beside him, leaning on his shoulder, he sighed with pleasure, enjoying the moment. "If the rest of our quest is to be conducted in such a way, I shall be glad to accompany you on many such adventures, Lady Oone."

  She, too, was in good humour. "Aye. Then all the world would desire to be dreamthieves."

  The boat rounded a bend of the canal and they were alerted by figures standing on both banks. These sad, silent people, dressed in white and yellow, regarded the sailing barge with tear-filled eyes, as if they witnessed a funeral. Elric was sure they did'not weep for himself or Oone. He called out to them, but they did not seem to hear him. They were gone almost at once and they passed by gently rising terraces, cultivated for vines and figs and almonds. The air was sweet with ripening harvests and once a small, foxlike creature ran along beside them for a while before veering off into a clump of shrubs. A little later, naked, brown-skinned men prowled on all fours until they, too, grew bored and disappeared into the undergrowth. The canal began to twist more and more and Lady Sough was forced to throw all her weight upon the tiller to keep the boat on course.

  "Why would a canal be built so?" Elric asked her when they were once more upon a straight stretch of water.

  "What was above us is now ahead and what was below is now behind," she replied. "That is the nature of this. I am the navigator and I know. But ahead, where it grows darker, the river is unbending. This is made to help understanding, I think."

  Her words were almost as confusing as the Pearl Warrior's, and Elric tried to make sense by asking her further questions. "The river helps us understand what, Lady Sough?"

  "Their nature-her nature-what you must encounter-ah, look!"

  The river was widening rapidly into a lake. There were reeds growing on the banks now, silver herons flying against the soft sky.

  "It is no great distance to the island I spoke of," said Lady Sough. "I fear for you."

  "No," said Oone with determined kindness. "Take the boat across the lake towards the Falador Gate. I thank you."

  "This thanks is ..." Lady Sough shook her head. "I would not have you die."

  "We shall not. We are here to save her."

  "She is afraid."

  "We know."

  "Those others said they would save her. But they made her-they made it dark and she was trapped..."

  "We know," said Oone, and laid a comforting hand on Lady Sough's arm as the veiled woman guided the boat out onto the open lake.

  Elric said: "Do you speak of the Holy Girl and the Sorcerer Adventurers? What imprisons her, Lady Sough? How can we release her? Bring her back to her father and her people?"

  "Oh, it is a lie!" Lady Sough almost shouted, pointing to where, swimming directly towards them, came a child. But the boy's skin was metallic, of glaring silver, and his silver eyes were begging them for help. Then the child grinned, reached to pull off its own head and submerged. "We near the Falador Gate," said Oone grimly.

  "Those who would possess her also guard her," said Lady Sough suddenly. "But she is not theirs."

  "I know," said Oone. Her gaze was fixed on what lay ahead of them. There was a mist on the lake. It was like the finest haze which forms on water in an autumn morning. There was an air of tranquilly which, clearly, she mistrusted. Elric looked back at Lady Sough but the navigator's eyes were expressionless, offering no clue to what dangers they might soon be facing.

  The boat turned a little and there was land just visible through the mist. Elric saw tall trees rising above a tumble of rocks. There were white pillars of limestone, shimmering faintly in that lovely light. He saw hummocks of grass and below them little coves. He wondered if Lady Sough had, after all, brought them to the island she had mentioned and was about to question her when he saw what appeared to be a massive door of carved stone and intricate mosaic bearing an air of considerable age.

  "The Falador Gate," said Lady Sough, not without a hint of trepidation.

  Then the gate had opened and a horrible wind rushed out of it, tearing at their hair and clothing, clawing at their skins, shrieking and wailing in their ears. The boat rocked and Elric feared it must capsize. He ran to the stern to help Lady Sough with the tiller. Her veil had been ripped from her face. She was not a young woman, but she bore an astonishing resemblance to the little girl they had left in the Bronze Tent, the Holy Girl of the Bauradim. And Elric, taking the tiller while Lady Sough replaced her veil, remembered that no mention had ever been made of Varadia's mother.

  Oone was lowering the sail. The wind's initial strength had died and it was possible to tack gradually towards the dark, strangely smelling entrance which had been revealed as the mosaic door had blown down.

  Three horses appeared there. Hooves flailed at the air. Tails lashed. Then they were galloping across the water in the direction of the boat. Then they had passed it and vanished into the mist. Not one of the beasts had possessed a head.

  Now Elric knew terror. But it was a familiar terror and within seconds he had regained control of himself. He knew that, whatever its name, he was about to enter a land where Chaos ruled.

  It was only as the boat sailed under the carved rocks and into the grotto beyond that he recalled he had none of his familiar spells and enchantments; not one of his allies, nor his patron Duke of Hell, was available to him here. He had only experience and courage and his ordinary sensibilities. And at that moment he doubted if they were enough.

  5 The Sadness of a Queen Who Cannot Rule

  The mighty barrier of obsidian rock suddenly started to flow. A mass of glassy green flooded down into the water which hissed and began to stink and mountains of steam rose ahead of them. As the steam gradually dissipated, another river was revealed. This one, flowing through the narrow walls of a deep canyon, appeared of natural origin and Elric, his mind now keyed to interpretation, wondered if it was not the same river they had crossed earlier, when he had fought the Pearl Warrior on the bridge.

  Then the barge, which had seemed so sturdy, appeared all at once fragile as the waters tossed it, roaring steadily downward until Elric thought they must eventually reach the very core of the world.

  Standing with Lady Sough in the prow of the boat, Oone and Elric helped her use the tiller to hold a course that was almost steady. And then, ahead, the river ended without warning and they had tipped over a waterfall and before they knew it were landing heavily in calmer water, the barge bobbing like a scrap of bread on a pond, an
d overhead they could see a sky like diseased pewter in which dark, leathery things flew and communicated with desolate cries above palms whose leaves resembled nothing so much as viridian skins stretched out to await a sun which never rose. There was a rich, rotten smell about the place and the constant splashing and distant roaring of the water filled a silence broken only by the flying creatures above the rocks and the foliage which surrounded them.

  It was warm, yet Elric shivered. Oone drew up the collar of her doublet and even Lady Sough gathered her robes more tightly about herself.

  "Are you familiar with this land, Lady Oone?" Elric asked. "You have visited this realm before, I know, but you seem as surprised as I."

  "There are always new aspects. It is in the nature of the realm. Perhaps Lady Sough can tell us more." And Oone turned courteously to their navigator.

  Lady Sough had secured her veils more firmly. She seemed unhappy that Elric had seen her face. "I am the Queen of this land," she said, exhibiting no pride or any other emotion.

  "Then you have minions who can assist us?"

  "It was a Queen for me, so that I had no power over it, only the land's protection. This is where you call Falador."

  "And is it mad?" is

  "It has many defences."

  "They keep out what might also wish to leave," said Oone, almost to herself. "Are you afraid of those who protect Falador, Lady Sough?"

  "I am Queen Sough now." A drawing up of the graceful body, but whether hi parody or in earnest Elric could not tell. "I am protected. You are not. Even I am not so able to guard you here."

  The barge continued to float slowly along the water-course. The slime of the rocks appeared to shift and move as if alive and there were shapes in the water which disturbed Elric. He would have drawn his sword if it had not seemed ill-mannered.

  "What must we fear here?" he asked the Queen.

  Now they floated below a great spur of rock on which a horseman had positioned himself. It was the Pearl Warrior, glaring down with the same mixture of mockery and mindlessness. He lifted a long stick to which he had tied some animal's sharp, twisted horn.

  Queen Sough shook her hand at him. "Pearl Warrior shall not do this! Pearl Warrior cannot defy, even here!"

  The warrior let out his hideous chuckle and turned his horse back from the rock. Then he was gone.

  "Will he attack us?" Oone asked the Queen.

  Queen Sough was concentrating on her tiller, steering the boat subtly along a smaller water-course, away from the main river. Perhaps she already aimed to avoid any conflict. "He is unpermitted," she said. "Ah!"

  The water had turned a ruby red and there were now banks of glistening brown moss, gently rising towards the walls of rock. Elric was convinced he saw ancient faces staring at him both from the banks and from the cliffs, but he did not feel threatened. The red liquid looked like wine and there was a heady sweetness here. Did Queen Sough know all the secret, tranquil places of this world and was she guiding them through so as to avoid its dangers?

  "Here my friend Edif has influence," she told them. "He is a ruler whose chief interest is poetry. Will it be now? I do not know."

  They had quickly become used to her strange speech forms and were finding her more easily understood, though they had no idea who Edif might be and had passed through his land into a place where the desert appeared suddenly on both sides of them, beyond flanking lines of palms, as if they moved towards an oasis. Yet no oasis materialised.

  Soon the sky was the colour of bad liver again and the rocky walls had risen around them and there was the sticky, oppressive odour which reminded Elric of some decadent court's anterooms. Perfume which had once been sweet but had now grown stale; food which had once made the mouth water but which was now too old; flowers which no longer enhanced but reminded one only of death.

  The walls on either side now had great jagged caves in them where the water echoed and tumbled. Queen Sough seemed nervous of these and kept the barge carefully in the centre of the river. Elric saw shadows moving within the caves, both above and below the water. He saw red mouths opening and closing and saw pale, unblinking eyes staring. They bad the air of Chaos-born creatures and he wished mightily then for his runesword, for his patron Duke of Hell, for his repertoire of spells and incantations.

  The albino was not altogether surprised when at last a voice spoke from one of the caverns.

  "I am Balis Jamon, Lord of the Blood, and I wish to have some kidneys."

  "We sail on!" cried Queen Sough in response. "I am not your food nor shall I ever be."

  "Their kidneys! Theirs!" the voice demanded implacably. "I have fed on no true grub for so long. Some kidneys! Some kidneys!"

  Elric drew his sword and his dagger. Oone did the same.

  "You'll not have mine, sir," said the albino.

  "Nor mine," said Oone, seeking the source of the voice. They could not be sure which of the many caves sheltered the speaker.

  "I am Balis Jamon, Lord of the Blood. You'll pay a toll here in my land. Two kidneys for me!"

  "I'll take yours instead, sir, if you like!" said Elric defiantly.

  "Will you, now?"

  There was a great movement from the furthest cave and water foamed in and out. Then something stooped and came wading into midstream, its fleshy body festooned with half-decayed plants and ruined blooms, its horned snout lifted so that it could stare at them from two tiny black eyes. The fangs in the snout were broken, yellow and black, and a red tongue licked at them, flicking little pieces of rotten meat into the water. It held one great paw over its chest and when the paw was lowered it revealed a dark, gaping hole where the heart would have been.

  "I am Balis Jamon, Lord of the Blood. Look what I must fill for me to live! Have mercy, little creatures. A kidney or two and I'll let you pass. I have nothing here, while you are complete. You must make justice and share with me."

  "This is my only justice for you, Lord Balis," said Elric, gesturing with a sword, which seemed a feeble thing even to him.

  "You will never be complete, Balis Jamon!" called out Queen Sough. "Not until you know more of mercy!"

  "I am fair! One kidney will do!" The paw began to reach towards Elric, who cut at it but missed, then cut again and felt the sword strike the creature's hide, which scarcely showed a mark. The paw grabbed at the sword. Elric withdrew it. Balis Jamon growled with a mixture of frustration and self-pity and reached both paws towards the albino.

  "Stop! Here's your kidney!" Oone held up something which dripped. "Here it is, Balis Jamon. Now let us pass. We are agreed."

  "Agreed." He turned, evidently mollified, delicately took what she handed up to him and popped it into the hole in his chest. "Good. Go!" And he waded passively back towards his cave, honour and hunger both satisfied.

  Elric was baffled, though grateful that she had saved his life. "What did you do, Lady Oone?"

  She smiled. "A large bean. Some of the provisions I still carried in my purse. It looked similar to a kidney, especially when dipped in water. And I doubt if he knows the difference. He seemed a simple creature."

  Queen Sough's eyes were lifted upward even as she steered the barge past the caves and into a wider stretch of water where buffalo lifted their heads from where they drank and stared at them with wary curiosity.

  Elric followed the navigator's gaze but saw only the same lead-coloured sky. He sheathed his sword. "These creatures of Chaos seem simple enough. Less intelligent in some ways than others I've encountered."

  "Aye." Oone was unsurprised. "That's likely, I think. She would be-"

  The boat was lifted suddenly and for a second Elric thought Lord Balis had returned to take vengeance on them for tricking him. But they appeared to be on the crest of a huge wave. The water level rose rapidly between the slimy walls and now, on the cliffs' edges figures appeared. They were of every kind of distorted shape and unlikely size and Elric was reminded a little of the beggar populace of Nadsokor, for these, too, were dressed in rags and bo
re the evidence of self-mutilation, as well as disease, wounding and ordinary neglect. They were filthy. They moaned. They looked greedily at the boat and they licked their lips.

  Now, more than ever before, Elric wished he had Stormbringer with him. The runesword and a little elemental aid would have driven this rabble away in terror. But he had only the blades captured from the Sorcerer Adventurers. He must rely upon those, his alliance with Oone and their naturally complementary fighting skills. There came a juddering from the bottom of the barge and the wave receded as suddenly as it had risen, but now they were stranded on the very top of the cliff, with the misshapen horde all around them, panting and grunting and sniffing at their prey.

  Elric wasted no time with parleying but jumped at once from the boat's prow and cut at the first two who grabbed for him. The blade, still sharp enough, severed their heads and he stood over their bodies grinning at them like the wolf he was sometimes called. "I want you all," he said. He used the battle bravado he had learned from the pirates of the Vilmirian Straits. He moved forward again and thrust, catching still another Chaos-creature in the chest. "I must kill every one of you before I am satisfied!"

  They had not expected this. They shuffled. They looked at each other. They turned their weapons in their hands, they adjusted their rags and tugged at their limbs.

  Now Oone was beside Elric. "I want my fair share of these," she cried. "Save them for me, Elric." Then she, too, darted forward and cut down an ape-faced thing which carried a jewelled axe of beautiful workmanship, clearly stolen from an earlier victim.