"Very well. Power for them, too."
"Great, fierce power!" Glandyth's eyes were afire. "Massive power! Invincible power!"
"There is no such thing while the Balance rules. You shall have what you can carry."
"Good. I can carry much. I shall sail for the mainland, take their cities and their castles once again, while they fight amongst themselves. I will rule this whole world. Lyr and the rest were weak. But I shall be strong, with the Power of Chaos at my command!"
"Lyr, too, had aid from Chaos," Yrkoon reminded him sardonically.
"But he knew not how to use it. I begged him to give me more men to destroy Corum, but he would not give me enough. If Corum were dead, Lyr would be alive today. That is my proof."
"It must give you satisfaction," said the demon. "Now listen. I will tell you what you must do."
The Fifth Chapter
THE DESERTED CITY
The sky ship flew over the hill in the sea where Castle Moidel had once stood. There was no castle there now. Corum looked down on it with a sense of regret which was quickly gone, for the euphoria of the potion was still upon him. And soon they had reached the coast of Lywm-an-Esh. At first the land seemed normal, but after a while they saw small groups of riders, rarely more than three or four, rushing wildly through fields and forests, attacking any other group they came upon. Women fought women and children fought children. There were many corpses.
Corum's apathy slowly changed to horror and he was glad that Rhalina slept, that Jhary had time to look down only occasionally.
"Make haste for Halwyg-nan-Vake," Corum told his friend when Jhary glanced questioningly at him. "There is nothing we can do for them until we discover what causes their madness."
Jhary took the bottle from his pouch and held it up, but Corum shook his head. "No. There is not enough. Besides, how could we persuade them to take it? If we are to save any lives at all, we must attack that which attacks us."
Jhary sighed. "How do you attack a madness, Corum?"
"That we must discover. I pray that the Temple of Law still stands and that Arkyn will come to it if we attempt to summon him."
Jhary jerked his thumb downward. "This is like the madness which touched them before."
"Only it is stronger. Before it merely nibbled at their brains. Now it eats them entirely."
"They destroy all that they rebuilt. Is there any point in-?"
"They can rebuild again. There is a point."
Jhary shrugged. "I wonder where my cat has gone," he said.
When the sky ship circled over Halwyg-nan-Vake and began to land near the Temple of Law Rhalina woke up. She smiled at Corum as if she had forgotten all that had recently passed. But then she frowned as if remembering a nightmare. "Corum?"
"It is true," he said softly. "And we are at Halwyg now. The Floral City seems deserted. I do not know the explanation."
He had half expected to see the beautiful city in flames. Instead, save for one or two damaged buildings and gardens, it was intact. Yet none walked its streets or patrolled its walls. The palace was unoccupied as far as he could tell.
Jhary brought the sky ship down as he had learned to do when, in gentler times, Bwydyth-a-Horn had taught him its secrets.
They landed in a wide, white street. Nearby stood the Temple of Law, of but one story and without ostentatious decoration. A simple building with a sign over its portal-a single straight arrow-the Arrow of Law.
They climbed from the sky ship on trembling legs. The combination of the flight and the potion had weakened them somewhat. They began, unsteadily, to advance up the path toward the temple.
It was then that a figure appeared in the doorway. His clothes were torn and bloody and one eye had been gouged from his old face. He was sobbing, but his hands clawed out at them like the talons of a wounded, ferocious animal.
"It is Aleryon!" Rhalina gasped. "The priest-Aleryon-a-Nyvish! The sickness is upon him, too!"
The old man was weak and he could not resist when Corum and Jhary stepped swiftly forward and grasped him, pinning his arms to his sides while Jhary removed the stopper of his bottle with his teeth, dabbed a little of his potion on his finger and let Corum force the old man's jaw open. Jhary smeared the stuff on Aleryon's tongue. The priest tried to spit it out, his eyes rolling, his nostrils dilating like those of a horse in fever. But almost immediately he was quiet. His body went limp and he began to slide to the ground.
"Let us take him into the Temple," Corum said.
When they lifted him he offered no resistance. They carried him into the coolness of the interior and laid him on the floor.
"Corum?" croaked the priest, opening his eyes. "The Chaos fury leaves me. I am myself again-or almost so."
"What has happened to the folk of Halwyg?" Jhary asked him. "Are they all destroyed? Where have they gone?"
"They are mad. Not one was sane by yesterday. I fought the sickness as long as I could…"
"But where are they, Aleryon?"
"Gone. They are off in the hills, on the plains, in the forests. They are hiding from each other-attacking each other from time to time. Not one man trusted another and so they left the city, you see…"
"Has Lord Arkyn visited your Temple?" Corum asked the old priest. "Has he spoken to you?"
"Once-early on. He told me to send for you, but I could not. No one would go and I knew of no other way of reaching you, Prince Corum. And when the rage came, then I was in no state to-to receive Lord Arkyn. I could not summon him, as, traditionally, I summoned him every day."
Corum helped Aleryon to his feet. "Summon him now. The whole world is possessed by Chaos. Summon him now, Aleryon!"
"I am not sure."
"You must."
"I will try." Aleryon's wounded face grew grim, for now he fought against the euphoria of Jhary's potion. "I will try."
And he tried. He tried for all the rest of that afternoon, his voice growing hoarse as he chanted the ritual prayer to Law. For many years that prayer had gone unanswered, while Law was banished and Arioch ruled in the name of Chaos. But recently the prayer had sometimes summoned the great Lord of Law.
Now there was no answer.
Aleryon paused at last. "He does not hear. Or, if he hears, he cannot come. Is Chaos returned in all her power, Corum?"
Corum Jhaelen Irsei looked at the floor and slowly shook his head. "Perhaps."
"Look!" said Rhalina, pushing her long black hair away from her face. "Jhary, it is your cat."
The little black-and-white cat flew through the door and settled on Jhary's shoulder. It nuzzled his ear, a series of low sounds coming from its throat. Jhary looked surprised and then became intent, listening closely to the cat.
"It speaks to him!" Aleryon murmured in astonishment. "The creature speaks!"
"It communicates," Jhary told him, "yes." At length the cat became quiet and, balancing on Jhary's shoulder still, began to wash itself.
"What did it tell you?" Corum asked.
"It told me of Glandyth-a-Krae."
"So-he does live!"
"Not only does he live but he appears to have made a pact with King Mabelrode of Chaos-through the medium of a treacherous Nhadragh sorcerer. And Chaos told him of the spell which is now upon us. And Chaos has promised him yet greater power."
"Where is Glandyth?"
"On Maliful-in Os."
"We must go there, find Glandyth, destroy him."
"No point. Glandyth is coming to us."
"By sea? There is still time."
"Across the sea. He and his men have some Chaos beasts at their command-things which the cat could not describe. Even now Glandyth flies for Lywm-an-Esh-and he is seeking us, Corum."
"We shall be here and we shall fight him at long last."