The black warrior raised his head, hope beginning to replace despair. "Tanelorn? I, too, seek Tanelorn. Only there may I discover some remedy to my dreadful fate-which is to know all previous incarnations and be hurled at random from one existence to another! Tanelorn-I must find her!"
"I, too, must discover Tanelorn." The albino seemed half amused, as if beginning to enjoy the strange situation. "For on my own plane her inhabitants are in great danger."
"So we have a common purpose as well as a common identity," said Corum. Perhaps now there was some chance of saving Jhary and finding Rhalina. "Therefore we shall fight in concert, I pray. First we must free my guide, then go on to Tanelorn."
The black giant growled, "I'll aid you willingly."
Corum bowed his head in thanks. "And what shall we call you-you who are ourselves?"
"Call me Erekose-though another name suggests itself to me-for it was as Erekose that I came closest to knowing forgetfulness and the fulfillment of love."
"Then you are to be envied, Erekose," Elric said, "for at least you have come close to forgetfulness…"
The black giant shook his reins and fell in beside Corum. He gave Elric a sideways stare and his mouth was crooked. "You have no inkling of what it is I must forget." He turned to the Prince in the Scarlet Robe. "Now Corum-which way to the Vanishing Tower?"
"This road leads to it. We ride down now to Darkvale, I believe."
With a man who was a shadow of himself on either side of him, with a sense of doom filling his mind when it should have begun to feel hope, Corum guided his horse down toward Darkvale.
BOOK THREE
In which Prince Corum discovers far more than Tanelorn
The First Chapter
VOILODION GHAGNASDIAK
Now the road narrowed and became much steeper. Corum saw it disappear into the black shadows between two high cliffs and he knew that he had come to Darkvale.
He felt ill at ease still, with the two men who were himself, and he fought not to brood upon the implications of what all this meant. He pointed down the hill and spoke as lightly as possible.
"Darkvale." He looked at the albino face on one side of him, the jet black face on the other. Both were grim and set. "I am told there was a village here once. An uninviting spot, eh-brothers…"
"I have seen worse." Erekose clapped his legs hard against his horse's sides. "Come, let's get all this done with…" He spurred the roan ahead and galloped wildly down toward the gap in the cliffs.
Corum followed him more slowly and Elric was the slowest of all. As he rode into the darkness, Corum looked up. The cliffs came so close together at the top that they met, cutting off all but a little light. And at the foot of the cliffs were ruins-what was left of the town of Darkvale after Chaos came against it. The rains were all twisted and warped as if they had become liquid and then turned solid again. Corum searched for the most likely spot where he would find the Vanishing Tower and at last he came to a pit which seemed freshly dug. He inspected it closely. It was of a size with the Vanishing Tower. "Here is where we must wait," he said.
Elric joined him. "What must we wait for, friend Corum?"
"For the tower. I would guess that this is where it appears when it is in this plane."
"And when will it appear?"
"At no particular time. We must wait. And then, as soon as we see it we must rush it and attempt to enter before it vanishes again, moving on to the next plane."
Corum looked for Erekose. The black giant was sitting on the ground with his back against a slab of the twisted rock. Elric approached him.
"You seem more patient than I, Erekose."
"I have learned patience, for I have lived since time began and will live on at the end of time."
Elric loosened his horse's girth strap, calling out to Corum. "Who told you that the Tower would appear here?"
"A sorcerer who doubtless serves Law as I do, for I am a mortal doomed to battle Chaos."
"As am I," said Erekose.
"As am I," said the albino, "though I'm sworn to serve it." He shrugged and looked strangely at the other two. Corum guessed what he was thinking. "And why do you seek Tanelorn, Erekose?"
Erekose stared up at the crack of light where the cliffs met. "I have been told that I may find peace there-and wisdom-a means of returning to the world of the Eldren where dwells the woman I love, for it has been said that since Tanelorn exists in all planes at all times it is easier for a man who dwells there to pass between the planes, discover the particular one he seeks. What interest have you in Tanelorn, Lord Elric?"
"I know Tanelorn and I know that you are right to seek it. My mission seems to be the defense of that city upon my own plane-but even now my friends may be destroyed by that which has been brought against them. I pray Corum is right and that in the Vanishing Tower I shall find a means to defeat Theleb K'aarna's beasts and their masters…"
Corum raised his jeweled hand to his jeweled eye. "I seek Tanelorn for I have heard the city can aid me in my struggle against Chaos." He said no more of Arkyn's whispered instructions so long ago in the Temple of Law.
"But Tanelorn," Elric told him, "will fight neither Law nor Chaos. That is why she exists for eternity."
Corum had heard as much from Jhary. "Aye," he said. "Like Erekose I do not seek swords, but wisdom."
When night came the three took turns to stand watch, occasionally conversing, but more often than not merely sitting or standing and staring at the place where the Vanishing Tower might appear.
Corum found his two companions rather heavy company after Jhary and he felt a certain dislike for them, perhaps because they were so much like himself.
But then at dawn, while Erekose nodded and Elric slept soundly, the air shuddered and Corum saw the familiar outlines of Voilodion Ghagnasdiak's tower begin to grow solid.
"It is here!" he shouted. Erekose sprang up at once but Elric was only just stirring. "Hasten Elric!"
Now Elric joined them and he, like Erekose, had his black sword in his hand. The swords were almost brothers-both black, both terrible in aspect, both carved with runes.
Corum was ahead of the others, determined not to be shut out this time. He ran into the dark doorway and was at first blinded, shouting for his friends to join him. "Hasten! Hasten!"
Corum ran into a small antechamber and saw that reddish, light illuminated the room, spilling from a great oil lamp which hung in chains from the ceiling. But then the door closed suddenly behind them and Corum knew they were trapped, prayed that they three would be powerful enough to resist the sorcerer. His eyes caught a movement at the slit window in the wall. Darkvale had gone and there was nothing but blue sea where it had been. The tower was already moving. He pointed it out silently to his companions.
Then he raised his head and yelled, "Jhary! Jhary-a-Conel!"
Was the dandy dead? He prayed that he was not.
He listened carefully and heard a tiny noise which might have been a reply.
"Jhary!"
Corum motioned with his long, strong sword. "Voilodion Ghagnasdiak? Am I to be thwarted? Have you left this place?"
"I have not left it. What do you want with me?"
Corum looked toward the next room, beneath a pointed arch. He led the way forward.
Brightness like the golden brightness he had seen in Limbo flickered and framed the humped shape of Voilodion Ghagnasdiak-a dwarf, overdressed in silks, ermine, and satin, a miniature sword clutched in his coarse hand, a handsome head upon his tiny shoulders, bright eyes beneath thick black brows, which met in the middle, a grin of welcome like the grin of a wolf. "At last someone new to relieve my ennui. But lay down your swords, gentlemen, I beg you, for you are to be my guests."