Corum said, "What must I steal?"
Shool chuckled. "His heart, Master Corum."
"You wish me to kill a God and take his heart…"
"Plainly you know nothing of Gods. If you killed the Knight, the consequences would be unimaginable. He does not keep his heart in his breast It is better guarded than that. His heart is kept on this plane. His brain is kept on another-and so on. This protects him, do you see?"
Corum sighed. "You must explain more later. Now. Release Rhalina from that ship and I will try to do what you ask of me."
"You are excessively obstinate, Master Corum!"
"If I am the only one who can help you further your ambitions, Prince Shool, then I can surely afford to be."
The young lips curled in a growl that was almost Mabden. "I am glad you are not immortal, Master Corum. Your arrogance will only plague me for a few hundred years at most Very well, I will show you Rhalina. I will show that she is safe. But I will not release her. I will keep her here and deliver her to you when the heart of the Knight of the Swords is brought to me."
"What use is the heart to you?"
"With it, I can bargain very well."
"You may have the ambitions of a God, Master Shool, but you have the methods of a peddler."
"Prince Shool. Your insults do not touch me. Now…”
Shool disappeared behind a cloud of milky green smoke that came from nowhere. A scene formed in the smoke. Corum saw the ship of the dead and he saw the cabin. He saw the corpse of the Margrave embracing the living flesh of his wife, Rhalina, the Margravine. And Corum saw that Rhalina was shouting with horror but unable to resist.
"You said she would be unharmed! Shool! You said she would be safe!"
"So she is-in the arms of a loving husband," came an offended voice from nowhere.
"Release her, Shool!"
The scene dissolved. Rhalina stood panting and terrified in the chamber that had no door. "Corum?"
Corum ran forward and held her, but she drew away with a shudder. "Is it Corum? Are you some phantom? I made a bargain to save Corum…”
"I am Corum. In turn, I have made a bargain to save you, Rhalina."
"I had not realized it would be so foul I did not understand the terms… He was going to…"
"Even the dead have their pleasures, Mistress Rhalina." An anthropoid creature in a green coat and breeks stood behind them. It noted Corum's astonishment with pleasure. "I have several bodies I can utilize. This was an ancestor of the Nhadragh, I think. One of those races."
"Who is it, Corum?" Rhalina asked. She drew closer to him and he held her comfortingly now. Her whole body shook. Her skin was oddly damp.
"This is ShooL-an-Jyvan. He claims to be a God. It was he who saw that your Summoning was answered. He has suggested that I perform an errand for him and in return he will allow you to live safely here until I return. Then we will leave together."
"But why did he…?"
"It was not you I wanted but your lover," Shool said impatiently. "Now that I have broken my promise to your husband I have lost my power over him! It is irritating."
"You have lost your power over Moidel, the Margrave?" Rhalina asked.
"Yes, yes. He is completely dead. It would be far too much effort to revive him again."
"I thank you for releasing him," Rhalina said.
"It was no wish of mine. Master Corum made me do it." Prince Shool sighed. "However, there are plenty more corpses in the sea. I shall have to find another ship, I suppose."
Rhalina fainted. Corum supported her with his good hand.
"You see," Shool said, with a trace of triumph, "the Mabden fear me excellently."
"We will need food, fresh clothing, beds, and the like," Corum said, "before I will discuss anything further with you, Shool."
Shool vanished.
A moment later the large room was full of furniture and everything else Corum had desired.
Corum could not doubt ShooPs powers, but he did doubt the being's sanity. He undressed Rhalina and washed her and put her into bed. She awoke then and her eyes were still full of fear, but she smiled at Corum. "You are safe now," he said. "Sleep."
And she slept.
Now Corum bathed himself and inspected the clothes that had been laid out for him. He pursed his lips as he picked up the folded garments and looked at the armor and weapons that had also been provided. They were Vadhagh clothes. There was even a scarlet robe that was almost certainly his own.
He began to consider the implications of his alliance with the strange and amoral sorcerer of Svi-an-Fanla-Brool.
The Second Chapter
THE EYE OF RHYNN AND THE HAND OF KWLL
Corum had been asleep.
Now, suddenly, he was standing upright. He opened his eyes.
"Welcome to my little shop." Shool’s voice came from behind him. He turned. This time he confronted a beautiful girl of about fifteen. The chuckle that came from the young throat was obscene.
Corum looked around the large room. It was dark and it was cluttered. All manner of plants and stuffed animals filled it. Books and manuscripts teetered on crazily leaning shelves. There were crystals of a peculiar color and cut, bits of armor, jeweled swords, rotting sacks from which treasure, as well as other, nameless, substances, spilled. There were paintings and figurines, an assortment of instruments and gauges, including balances, and what appeared to be clocks with eccentric divisions marked in languages Corum did not know. Living creatures scuffled amongst the piles or chittered in comers. The place stank of dust and mold and death.
"You do not, I think, attract many customers," Corum said.
Shool sniffed. "Tliere are not many I should desire to serve. Now…" In his young girl's form, he went to a chest that was partially covered by the shining skins of a beast that must have been large and fierce in life. He pushed away the skins and muttered something over the chest Of its own accord, the lid flew back. A cloud of black stuff rose from within and Shool staggered away a pace or two, waving his hands and screaming in a strange speech. The black cloud vanished. Cautiously, Shool approached the chest and peered in. He smacked his lips in satisfaction. "… here we are!"
He drew out two sacks, one smaller than the other. He held them up, grinning at Corum. "Your gifts."
"I thought you were going to restore my hand and my eye."
"Not 'restore,' exactly. I am going to give you a much more useful gift than that. Have you heard of the Lost Gods?"
"I have not."
"The Lost Gods who were brothers? Their names were Lord Rhynn and Lord Kwll. They existed even before I came to grace the universe. They became involved in a struggle of some kind, the nature of which is now obscured. They vanished, whether voluntarily or involuntarily, I do not know. But they left a little of themselves behind." He held up the sacks again. "These."
Conim gestured impatiently.
Shool put out his girl's tongue and licked his girl's lips. The old eyes glittered at Corum. "The gifts I have here, they once belonged to those warring Gods. I heard a legend that they fought to the death and only these remained to mark the fact that they had existed at all.” He opened the smaller sack, A large object fell into his hand. He held it out for Corum to see. It was jeweled and faceted. The jewels shone with somber colors, deep reds and blues and blacks.