"We are wasting time again," Corum put in. "I wish to get my task over with so that Rhalina and I can leave this place."
Shool calmed down, turned, and said, "You are a fool to give so much for this creature. She, tike all her kind, fears knowledge, fears the deep, dark wisdom that brings power."
"We'll discuss the heart of the Knight of the Swords," Corum said. "How do I steal it?"
"Come," said Shool.
They stood in a garden of monstrous blossoms that gave off an almost overpoweringly sweet scent. The sun was red in the sky above them. The leaves of the plants were dark, near-black. They rustled.
Shool had returned to his earlier form of a youth dressed in a flowing blue robe. He led Corum along a path.
"This garden I have cultivated for millenia. It has many peculiar plants. Filling most of the island not filled by my castle, it serves a useful purpose. It is a peaceful place in which to relax, it is hard for any unwanted guests to find their way through."
"Why is the island called the Home of the Gorged God?"
"I named it that-after the being from whom I inherited it. Another God used to dwell here, you see, and all feared him. Looking for a safe place where I could continue with my studies, I found the island. But I had heard that a fearsome God inhabited it and, naturally, I was wary. I had only a fraction of my present wisdom then, being little more than a few centuries old, so I knew that I did not have the power to destroy a God."
A huge orchid reached out and stroked Corum's new hand. He pulled it away.
"Then how did you take over his island?" he asked Shool.
"I heard that the God ate children. One a day was sacrificed to him by the ancestors of those you call the Nhadragh. Having plenty of money it occured to me to buy a good number of children and feed them to him all at once, to see what would happen."
"What did happen?"
"He gobbled them all and fell into a gorged slumber.”
"And you crept up and killed him!"
"No such thing! I captured him. He is still in one of his own dungeons somewhere, though he is no longer the fine being he was when I inherited his palace. He was only a little God, of course, but some relative to the Knight of the Swords. That is another reason why the Knight, or any of the others, does not trouble me too much, for I hold Pliproth prisoner."
"To destroy your island would be to destroy their brother?"
"Quite."
"And that is another reason why you must employ me to do this piece of thievery. You are afraid that if you leave they will be able to extinguish you."
"Afraid? Not at all. But I exercise a reasonable degree of caution. That is why I still exist."
"Where is the heart of the Knight of the Swords?"
"Well, it lies beyond the Thousand League Reef, of which you have doubtless heard."
"I believe I read a reference to it in some old Geography. It ties to the north, does it not?" Corum untangled a vine from his leg.
"It does."
"Is that all you can tell me?"
"Beyond the Thousand-League Reef is a place called Urde that is sometimes land and sometimes water. Beyond that is the desert called Dhroonhazat. Beyond the desert are the Kamelands where dwells the Blind Queen, Oorese. And beyond the Ramelands is the Ice Wilderness, where the Brifcling wander."
Corum paused to peel a sticky leaf from his face. The thing seemed to have tiny red lips which kissed him, "And beyond that?" he asked sardonically.
"Why, beyond that is the domain of the Knight of the Swords."
"These strange lands. On which plane are they situated?"
"On all five where the Knight has influence. Your power to move through the planes will be of no great use to you, I regret."
"I am not sure I still have that power. If you speak truth, the Knight of the Swords has been taking that power away from the Vadhagh."
"Worry not, you have powers that are just as good." Shool reached over and patted Corum's strange new hand.
That hand was now responding like any ordinary limb. From curiosity, Corum used it to lift the jeweled patch that covered his jeweled eye. He gasped and lowered the patch again quickly.
Shool said, "What did you see?"
"I saw a place."
"Is that all?"
"A land over which a black sun burned. Light rose from the ground, but the black sun's rays almost extinguished it. Four figures stood before me. I glimpsed their faces and…" Corum licked his lips. "I could look no longer."
"We touch on so many planes," Shool mused. "The horrors that exist and we only sometimes catch sight of them-in dreams, for instance. However, you must learn to confront those faces and all the other things you see with your new eye, if you are to use your powers to the full."
"It disturbs me, Shool, to know that those dark, evil planes do exist and that around me lurk so many monstrous creatures, separated only by some thin, astral fabric."
"I have learned to live knowing such things-and using such things. You become used to almost everything in a few millenia."
Corum pulled a creeper from around his waist "Your, garden plants seem overfriendly."
"They are affectionate. They are my only real friends. But it is interesting that they like you. I tend to judge a being on how my plants react to him. Of course, they are hungry, poor things. I must induce a ship or two to put in to the island soon. We need meat. We need meat.
All this preparation has made me forgetful of my regular duties."
"You still have not described very closely how I may find the Knight of the Swords."
"You are right Well, the Knight lives in a palace on top of a mountain that is in the very center of both this planet and the five planes. In the top-most tower of that palace he keeps his heart. It is well guarded, I understand."
"And is that all you know? You do not know the nature of his protection?"
"I am employing you, Master Corum, because you have a few more brains, a jot more resilience, and a fraction more imagination and courage than the Mabden. It will be up to you to discover what is the nature of his protection. You may rely upon one thing, however."
"What is it, Master Shool?"
"Prince Shool. You may rely upon the fact that he will not be expecting any kind of attack from a mortal such as yourself. Like the Vadhagh, Master Corum, the Sword Rulers grow complacent. We all climb up. We all fall down." Shool chuckled. "And the planes go on turning, eh?"
"And when you have climbed up, will you not fall down?"
"Doubtless-in a few billenia. Who knows? I could rise so high I could control the whole movement of the multiverse. I could be the first truly omniscient and omnipotent God. Oh, what games I could play!"
"We studied little of mysticism amongst the Vadhagh folk," Corum put in, "but I understood all Gods to be omniscient and omnipotent."
"Only on very limited levels. Some Gods-the Mabden patheon, such as the Dog and the Horned Bear-are more or less omniscient concerning the affairs of Mabden, and they can, if they wish, control those affairs to a large degree. But they know nothing of my affairs and even less of those of the Knight of the Swords, who knows most things, save those that happen upon my well-protected island. This is an Age of Gods, I am afraid, Master Corum. There are many, big and small, and they crowd the universe. Once it was not so. Sometimes, I suspect, the universe manages with none at all!”
"I had thought that."
"It would come to pass. It is thought," Shool tapped Ms skull, "that creates Gods and Gods who create thought. There must be periods when thought-which I sometimes consider overrated-does not exist. Its existence or lack of it does not concern the universe, after all. But if I had the power-I would make the universe concerned!" Shool's eyes shone. "I would alter its very nature! I would change all the conditions! You are wise to aid me, Master Corum."