She took his head in her lap and began to massage his temples. Her look was tender.
He said sleepily: "I cannot betray Cymoril. I cannot..."
"I ask no more of you but that you sleep," she said. "One day you will have much to regret and you will know real remorse. Until then, I can take away a little of what is unimportant."
"Unimportant?" His voice was slurred as she gradually stroked him into slumber.
"To you, I think, my lord. Though not to me..."
And the dreamthief began to sing. She sang a lullaby. She sang of a sickly child and a grieving father. She sang of happiness found in simple things.
And Elric slept. And as he slept the dreamthief performed her easy magic and took away just a few of the half-forgotten memories which had spoiled his nights in the past and might spoil those yet to come.
And when Elric awoke that next morning, it was with a light heart and an easy conscience, only the faintest memories of his adventures in the Dream Realm, a continuing affection for Oone and a determination to reach Quarzhasaat as soon as possible and take to Lord Gho what Lord Gho most desired in all the world.
His farewells to the people of the Bauradim were sincere and his sadness in parting was reciprocated. They begged him to return, to join them on their travels, to hunt with them as Rackhir, his Mend, had once hunted.
"I will try to return to you one day," he said. "But first I have more than one oath to fulfill."
A nervous boy brought him his great black battle-blade. As he buckled on Stormbringer the sword seemed to moan with considerable satisfaction at being reunited with him.
It was Varadia, clasping his hands and kissing them, who gave him the blessing of her clan. It was Raik Na Seem who told him that he was now Varadia's brother, his own son, and then Oone the Dreamthief stepped forward. She had decided to remain a while as a guest of the Bauradim.
"Farewell, Elric. I hope that we may meet again. In better circumstances."
He was amused. "Better circumstances?"
"For me, at any rate." She grinned, contemptuously tapping the pommel of his runesword. "And I wish you well with your attempts to become that thing's master."
"I am its master now, I think," he said.
She shrugged. "I'll ride with you a little way up the Red Road."
"I would welcome your company, my lady."
Side by side, as they had done in the Dream Realm, Elric and Gone rode together. And, although he did not remember how he had felt before, Elric knew a certain resonance of recognition, as if he had found his soul's satisfaction, so that it was with sadness that eventually he parted from her to go on alone towards Quarzhasaat.
"Farewell, good friend. I'll remember how you defeated the Pearl Warrior in the Fortress of the Pearl. That is one memory I do not think will ever fade."
"I am flattered." There was a touch of melancholy irony in her voice. "Farewell, Prince Elric. I trust you will find all that you need and that you will know peace when you return to Melniboné."
"It is my firm intention, madam." A wave to her, not wishing to prolong the sadness, and he spurred his horse forward.
With eyes which refused to weep she watched him ride away up the long Red Road to Quarzhasaat.
4 Certain Matters Resolved in Quarzhasaat
When Elric of Melniboné rode into Quarzhasaat he was limp in his saddle, hardly controlling his horse at all, and the people who gathered around him asked him if he was ill, while some feared that he brought plague to their beautiful city and would have driven him out at once.
The albino lifted his strange head long enough to gasp out the name of his patron, Lord Gho Fhaazi, and to say that all he lacked was a certain elixir which that nobleman possessed. "I must have that elixir," he told them, "or I will be dead before I have accomplished my task..."
The old towers and minarets of Quarzhasaat were lovely in the fading rays of a huge red sun and there was a certain peace about the city which comes when the day's business is done and before it begins to take its pleasures.
A rich water-merchant, anxious to find favour with one who might soon be elected to the Council, personally led Elric's horse through the elegant alleys and impressive avenues until they came to the great palace, all golds and faded greens, of Lord Gho Fhaazi.
The merchant was rewarded by a steward's promise to mention his name to the nobleman, and Elric, now mumbling and whimpering to himself, sometimes groaning a little and licking anxious lips, passed through into the lovely gardens surrounding the main palace.
Lord Gho himself came to meet the albino. He was laughing heartily at the sight of Elric hi such poor condition.
"Greetings, greetings, Elric of Nadsokor! Greetings, white-faced clown-thief. Oh, you are not so proud today! You were profligate with the elixir I gave you and now you return to beg for more-in worse condition than when you first arrived here!"
"The boy..." whispered Elric, as servants helped him from the horse. His arms hung limply as they carried him on their shoulders. "Does he live?"
"In better health than yourself, sir!" Lord Gho Fhaazi's pale green eyes were full of exquisite malice. "And in perfect safety. You were most adamant about that before you set off. And I am a man of my word." The politician stroked the ringlets of his oily beard and chuckled to himself. "And you, Sir Thief, do you also keep your word?"
"To the letter," muttered the albino. His red eyes rolled back hi his head and it appeared for a second that he died. Then he turned a painful gaze in Lord Gho's direction. "Will you give me the antidote and all that you've promised? The water? The wealth? The boy?"
"No doubt, no doubt. But you have a poor bargaining position at present, thief. What of the Pearl? Did you find it? Or are you here to report failure?"
"I found it. And I have it hidden," said Elric. "The elixir has..."
"Yes, yes. I know what the elixir does. You must have a fundamentally strong constitution even to be able to speak by now." The Quarzhasaati supervised the men and women who carried Elric into the cool ulterior of the palace and placed him on great tasselled cushions of scarlet and blue velvet and gave him water to drink and food to eat.
"The craving grows worse, does it not?" Lord Gho took considerable pleasure at Elric's discomfort. "The elixir must feed off you, just as you appear to feed off it. You are cunning, eh, Sir Thief? You have hidden the Pearl, you say? Do you not trust me? I am a nobleman of the greatest city in the world!"
Elric, all dusty from his long ride, sprawled on the cushions and wiped his hands slowly on a cloth. "The antidote, my lord..."
"You know I shall not let you have the antidote until the Pearl is in my hands..." Lord Gho was expansively condescending as he looked down on his victim. "To tell you the truth, thief, I had not expected you to be as coherent as you are! Would you care for another draft of my elixir?" "Bring it if you will."
Elric appeared to be careless, but Lord Gho understood how desperate he must actually be. He turned to give instructions to his slaves.
Then Elric said: "But bring the boy. Bring the boy so that I may see he has come to no harm and hear from his own lips what has taken place while I have been gone..."
It's a small request. Very well." Lord Gho Fhaazi signed to a slave. "Bring the boy Anigh."
The nobleman crossed to a great chair, placed on a small dais between brocaded awnings, and slumped himself down in it while they waited. "I had scarcely expected you to survive the journey, Sir Thief, let alone succeed in finding the Pearl. Our Sorcerer Adventurers are the bravest, most skillful of warriors, trained in all the arts of sorcery and incantation. Yet those I sent, and all their brothers, failed! Oh, this is a happy day for me. I will revive you, I promise, so that you can tell me all that happened. What of the Bauradim? Did you kill many? You will recount everything so that when I present the Pearl to obtain my position I can give the story that goes with it.