And everywhere did the folk of the City in the Pyramid go about their day-to-day business. Some tended gardens and others saw to the distribution of food. There were many artists at work, performing musical compositions or displaying the pictures they had made - pictures on velvet and marble and glass very similar in technique to those produced by Corum's own Vadhagh folk, but often with different styles and subjects, some of which Corum could not find it in him to like, perhaps because they were so strange.
They were shown the huge, beautiful machines which kept the city alive. They were shown its armaments, which protected it from the attacks of Chaos, the bays where its ships of the air were kept. They saw its schools and its restaurants and its theatres, its museums and its art galleries. And here was everything which Corum thought destroyed forever by Glandyth-a-Krae and his barbarians. But now all this, too, was threatened with destruction and destruction from the same source, ultimately.
They slept, they ate and their tattered, battered clothes were copied by the tailors and arms-smiths of Gwlгs-cor-Gwrys so that when they awoke they found themselves with fresh raiment identical to that which they had worn upon starting out on their quest for the city.
Jhary-a-Conel was particularly pleased by this example of the city's hospitality and when, at last, they were invited to attend upon Prince Yurette, he expressed that gratitude roundly.
'The Sky Ship is ready,' said Prince Yurette gravely. 'You must go quickly now, for Queen Xiombarg, I learn, mounts a great attack upon us.'
'Will you be able to withstand it with your power weakened?' Jhary asked.
'I hope so.'
The King Without a Country stepped forward. 'Forgive me, Prince Yurette, but I would stay here with you. If Law is to battle Chaos in my own Realm, then I would battle with it.'
Yurette inclined his head. 'It shall be as you wish. But now hurry, Prince Corum. The Sky Ship awaits you on the roof. Stand on that mosaic circle there and you will be transported to the ship. Farewell!'
They stood within the mosaic circle on the prince's floor and, a heartbeat later, were once again upon the deck of the ornate flying craft.
The steersman was the same who had first greeted them.
'I am Bwydyth-a-Horn,' he said. 'Please sit where you sat before and cling tightly to the rail.'
'Look!' Corum pointed beyond the green pyramid, out across the black plain. The huge shape of Queen Xiombarg could be seen again, her face alive with fury. And beneath her there marched a vast army, a foul army of fiends.
Then the Sky Ship had entered the air and sailed through the dark green oval into a world which rang with the voices of the fiends.
And over all these voices sounded the hideous, vengeful laughter of Queen Xiombarg of Chaos.
'BEFORE I MERELY TOYED WITH THEM BECAUSE I ENJOYED THE GAME! BUT NOW THAT THEY HARBOUR THE DESTROYER OF MY BROTHER, THEY WILL PERISH IN BLACK AGONY!'
The air began to vibrate, a green globe of light now encircled the ship. The City in the Pyramid, the army of Hell, Queen Xiombarg, all faded. The ship rocked crazily up and down, the moaning increased in pitch until it became a painful whine.
And then they had left the Realm of Queen Xiombarg and come again to the Realm of Arkyn of Law.
They sailed over the land of Lywm-an-Esh and it was not very different from the world they had just left. Chaos, here too, was on the march.
BOOK THREE
In which Prince Corum and his companions wage war, win a victory and wonder at the ways of Law
CHAPTER ONE
The Horde from Hell
Thick smoke coiled from blazing villages, towns and cities. They were to the South-East of the River Ogyn in the Duchy of Kernow-a-Laun and it was plain that one of King Lyr-a-Brode's armies had landed on the coast, well South of Moidel's Mount.
'I wonder if Glandyth has yet discovered our leaving,' Corum said as he stared miserably from the Sky Ship at the burning land. Crops had been destroyed, corpses lay rotting in the summer sun, even animals had been needlessly slaughtered. Rhalina was sickened by what had happened to her country and she could not look at it for long.
'Doubtless he has,' she said quietly. 'Their army has plainly been on the march for some time.'
From time to time they saw small parties of barbarians in chariots or riding shaggy ponies, looting what was left of the settlements, though there was none left for them to slay or torture. Sometimes, too, they saw the refugees streaming Southwards towards the mountains where doubtless they hoped to find a hiding place.
When, finally, they came to the River Ogyn itself it was clogged with death. Corpses of whole families rotted in the river, along with cattle, dogs and horses. The barbarians were ranging widely, following the main army, making sure that nothing lived where it had passed. And now Rhalina was weeping openly and Corum and Jhary were grim-faced as they strove to keep the stink of death from their nostrils and fretted that the Sky Ship, moving faster than any horse could, did not move more swiftly.
And then they saw the farmhouse.
Children were running inside the house, shepherded by their father who was armed with an old, rusty broadsword. The mother was putting up crude barricades.
Corum saw the source of their fear. A party of barbarians, about a dozen strong, were riding down the valley towards the farm. They had brands in their hands and were riding rapidly, whooping and roaring.
Corum had seen Mabden like these. He had been captured by them, tortured by them. They were no different from Glandyth-a-Krae's Denledhyssi, save that they rode ponies instead of chariots. They wore filthy furs and bore captured bracelets and necklaces all over them, their braids laced with ribbons of jewels.
He got up and went into the wheel-house. 'We must go down,' he said harshly to Bwydyth-a-Horn. 'There is a family - it is about to be attacked…'
Bwydyth looked at him sadly. 'But there is so little time, Prince Corum.' He tapped his jerkin. 'We have to get this list of substances to Halwyg-nan-Vake if we are to rescue the city and, in turn, save Lywm-an-Esh…'
'Go down,' Corum ordered.
Bwydyth said softly: 'Very well.' And he made adjustments to the controls, looking through a viewer which showed him the country below. 'That farm?'
'Aye - that farm.'
The Sky Ship began to descend. Corum went out on deck to watch. The barbarians had seen the ship and were pointing upwards in consternation, reining in their ponies. The ship began to circle towards the farmyard where there was barely space for it to land. Chickens ran squawking as its shadow fell on them. A pig scampered into its sty.
The ship's moaning dropped in pitch as it descended.
'Have your sword ready, Master Jhary,' Corum said.
Jhary's sword was already in his hand. 'There are ten or more of them,' he cautioned. 'Two of us. Will you use your powers?'
'I hope not. I am disgusted by all that is of Chaos.'
'But, two against ten…'
'There is the steersman. And the farmer.'
Jhary pursed his lips but said no more. The ship bumped to the ground. The steersman emerged holding a long pole-axe.