The Chaos Pack had seized Corum again, but now he was smiling as, with a tortured screech, the Ghanh's great body engulfed a near-by chariot and its strange wings wrapped themselves around the whole thing and began to crush the occupants to death.
So astonished were the Chaos Beasts holding Corum that he was able to tug himself free. They came after him but he turned and the Hand of Kwll smashed into the face of one, cracked another's collar-bone. He raced for Polib-Bav's chariot. The leader of the Beasts had left his chariot and stood beside it, his huge, horse's eyes fixed on what was happening to his companions. Before he had really noticed Corum, the Prince in the Scarlet Robe had grabbed his sword from the pile on the floor of the chariot and aimed a blow at Polib-Bav. The horse-thing jumped back, drawing his own sword. But his movements were dazed and clumsy. He parried, tried to stab, missed as Corum dodged aside, and received the Vadhagh metal in his throat. Choking, he died.
Quickly Corum cut the bonds of his friends and they, too, retrieved their swords, ready to fight the Chaos creatures. But the Pack, recovering from its initial horror, was fleeing. Its chariots raced hither and yon through the pale, sickly trees as the Ghanh left its first victims and pursued some more. Corum bent and stripped the corpse of Polib-Bav, taking his water bottle and the pouch of coarse bread at his belt. Soon the Chaos Pack had disappeared and they were left alone on the road through the forest.
Corum inspected the chariot. The reptiles seemed passive enough.
'Could we drive this, do you think, King Noreg-Dan?' he asked.
The King Without a Country shook his head dubiously. 'I am not sure. Perhaps…'
'I think I could drive it,' Jhary told them. 'I've had a little experience of such chariots and the creatures which pull them.' His sack bouncing at his belt, the wide brim of his hat waving, he jumped into the chariot, taking up the reins. He turned and grinned at them. 'Where would you go? Still to Xiombarg's palace?'
Corum laughed. 'Not yet, I think. She'll send for us when she learns what became of her Pack. We'll take that direction, I think.' He pointed away through the trees. He helped Rhalina into the chariot, then waited while King Noreg-Dan climbed aboard. Finally, he got in himself. Jhary shook the reins, turned the chariot and soon it had bounced through the leprous forest and was rolling down a hill towards a valley full of what seemed to be upright, slender stones.
CHAPTER FIVE
The Frozen Army
They were not stones.
They were men.
Each man a warrior - each warrior frozen like a statue, his weapons in his hands.
'This,' said Noreg-Dan in quiet awe, 'is the Frozen Army. The last army to take arms against Chaos.
'Was this its punishment?' Corum asked.
'Aye.'
Jhary, gripping the reins, said: 'They live? Is that so? They know that we pass through their ranks?'
'Aye. I heard that Queen Xiombarg said that since they supported Law so wholeheartedly they should have a taste of what Law aimed for - they should know the ultimate in tranquillity,' Noreg-Dan said.
Rhalina shivered. 'Is this really what Law comes to?'
'So Chaos would have us believe,' Jhary said. 'But it matters not, for the Cosmic Balance requires equilibrium - something of Chaos, something of Law - so that each stabilizes the other. The difference is that Law acknowledges the authority of the Balance, while Chaos would deny it. But Chaos cannot deny that authority completely for its adherents know that to disobey some things is to be destroyed. Thus Queen Xiombarg dare not enter the Realm of another Great Old God and, as in the case of your Realm, must work through others. She, like the rest, must also watch her dealings with mortals, for they cannot be destroyed by her willy-nilly - there are rules…'
'But no rules to protect these poor creatures,' Rhalina said.
'Some. They have not died. She has not killed them.'
Corum remembered the tower where he had found Arioch's heart. There, too, had been frozen men.
'Unless directly attacked,' Jhary explained, 'Xiombarg cannot kill mortals. But she can use those loyal to her to kill other mortals, do you see, and she can suspend the lives of warriors like these.'
'So we are safe from Queen Xiombarg,' Corum said.
'If you choose to think so.' Jhary smiled. 'You are by no means safe from her minions and, as you have seen, she has many of those.'
'Aye,' said the King Without a Country feelingly. 'Aye. Many.'
Holding his reins in one hand Jhary dusted at his clothes. They were tattered and bloodstained from the various flesh-wounds he had sustained in the battle with the Chaos Pack. 'I would give much for a new suit,' he murmured. 'I'd make a bargain with Xiombarg herself…'
'We mention that name too often,' King Noreg-Dan said nervously as he clung to the side of the jolting chariot. 'We shall bring her down on us if we are not more discreet.'
Then the sky laughed.
Golden light began to dapple the clouds. A brilliant orange aura sprang up in the distance ahead and cast giant shadows for the frozen warriors.
Jhary jerked the chariot to a halt, his face suddenly pale.
Purple brilliance came from the sky in fragments the size of raindrops.
And the laughter went on and on.
'What is it?' Rhalina's hand went to her sword.
The King Without a Country put his haggard face in his hands and his shoulders slumped. 'It is she. I warned you. It is she.'
'Xiombarg?' Corum drew his own sword. 'Is it Xiombarg, Noreg-Dan?'
'Aye, it is she.'
The ground shook with the laughter. Several of the frozen warriors toppled and fell, still in the same positions. Corum looked about for the source of the laughter. Was it in the aura? Or in the golden light? Or the purple rain?
'Where are you Queen Xiombarg!' He brandished his sword. His mortal eye flashed his defiance. 'Where are you, creature of Evil?'
'I AM EVERYWHERE!' answered a huge, sweet voice. 'I AM THIS REALM AND THIS REALM IS XIOMBARG OF CHAOS!'
'We are surely doomed,' stuttered the King Without a Country.
'You said she could not attack us,' Corum said to Jhary-a-Conel.
'I said she could not directly attack us. But see…'
Corum looked. Over the valley now came hopping things. They hopped on several legs and from their bodies sprouted a dozen or more tentacles. Their huge eyes rolled, their massive fangs clashed.
'The Karmanal of Zert', Jhary said in mild surprise as he dropped the reins and armed himself with sword and poignard. 'I have encountered these before.'
'How did you escape them?' Rhalina asked.
'I was at that time companion to a champion who had the power to destroy them.'
'I too, have a power,' Corum said grimly, raising his hand to his eye. But Jhary shook his head and grimaced.
'I fear not. The Karmanal of Zert are indestructible. Both Law and Chaos have, in their time, taken steps to do away With them - they are fickle creatures who fight for one side or another without apparent reason. They have no souls, no true existence.'
'Therefore they should not be able to harm us!'
The laughter rang on.
'I agree that, logically, they should not be able to harm us,' Jhary answered equably. 'But I am afraid that they can.'
About ten of the hopping creatures were nearing their chariot, weaving between the statue-like warriors.
And they were singing.
'The Karmanal of Zert always sing before they feast,' Jhary told them. 'Always.'
Corum wondered if Jhary had gone mad. The tentacled monsters were almost upon them and the companion to champions continued to chat without apparent awareness of their danger.