CHAPTER FIVE
Things Which Are Not Women
The beggars had been too absorbed in their triumph over the albino and their plans for their attack on the caravan of Tanelorn to think to seek the mounts on which Elric and Moonglum had come to Nadsokor.
They found the horses where they had left them the previous night. The superb Shazarian steeds were cropping the grass as if they had been waiting only a few minutes.
They climbed into their saddles and soon were riding as fast as the fleet horses could carry them-Northnorth-east to the point the caravan was logically due to reach.
Shortly after noon they had found it-a long sprawl of waggons and horses, awnings of gay, rich silks, brightly decorated harness, it stretched across the floor of a shallow valley. And surrounding it on all sides was the squalid and motley beggar army of King Urish of Nadsokor.
Elric and Moonglum reined in their horses when they reached the brow of the hill and they watched.
Theleb K'aarna and King Urish were not immediately visible and at last Elric saw them on the opposite hill. By the way in which the sorcerer was stretching out his arms to the deep blue sky Elric guessed he was already summoning the aid he had promised Urish.
Below Elric saw a flash of red and knew that it must be the scarlet garb of the Red Archer. Peering closer he saw one or two other shapes he recognised-Brut of Lashmar with his blond hair and his huge, burly
body almost dwarfing his warhorse; Carkan, once of Pan Tang himself, but now dressed in the chequered cloak and fur cap of the barbarians of Southern Ilmiora. Rackhir himself had been a Warrior Priest from Moonglum's country beyond the Weeping Waste, but all these men had foresworn their gods to go to live in peaceful Tanelorn where, it was said, even the greatest Lords of the Higher Worlds could not enterEternal Tanelorn, which had stood for uncountable cycles and would outlive the Earth herself.
Knowing nothing of Theleb K'aarna's plan Rackhir was plainly not too worried by the appearance of the beggar rabble which was as poorly armed as those Elric and Moonglum had fought in Nadsokor.
"We must ride through their army to reach Rackhir now, " Moonglum said.
Elric nodded but he made no move. He was watching the distant hill where Theleb K'aarna continued his incantation, hoping that he might guess what kind of aid the sorcerer was summoning.
A moment later Elric yelled and spurred his horse down the hill at a gallop. Moonglum was almost as startled as the beggars as he followed his friend into the thick of the ragged horde, slashing this way and that with the longest of his swords.
Elric's Stormbringer emitted black radiance as it carved a bloody path through the beggar army, leaving in its wake a mess of dismembered bodies, entrails and dead, horrified eyes.
Moonglum's horse was splashed with blood to the shoulder and it snorted and balked at following the white-skinned demon with the howling black blade, but Moonglum, afraid that the beggar ranks would close, forced it on until at last they were both riding towards the caravan and someone was yelling Elric's name.
It was Rackhir the Red Archer, clothed in scarlet from head to foot, with a red bone bow in his hand and a red quiver of crimson-fletched arrows on his back. On his head was a scarlet skull cap decorated with a single scarlet feather. His face was weather beaten and all but fleshless. He had fought with Elric before the Fall of Imrryr and together they had discovered the Black Swords. Rackhir had gone on to seek Tanelorn and find it at last.
Elric had not seen Rackhir since then. Now he noted an enviable look of peace in the archer's eyes. Rackhir had once been a Warrior Priest in the Eastlands, serving Chaos, but now he served nothing but his tranquil Tanelorn.
"Elric! Have you come to help us send Urish and his beggars back to where they came from?" Rackhir was laughing, evidently pleased to see his old friend. "And Moonglum! When did you two meet? I have not seen thee since I left the Eastlands! "
Moonglum grinned. "Much has come to pass since those days, Rackhir."
Rackhir rubbed at his aquiline nose. "Aye-so I've heard."
Elric dismounted swiftly. "No time for reminiscence now, Rackhir. You're in greater danger than you know."
"What? When did the beggar rabble of Nadsokor offer anything to fear? Look how poorly armed they are! "
"They have a sorcerer with them-Theleb K'aarna of Pan Tang. See-that's him on yonder hill."
Rackhir frowned. "Sorcery. These days I've little guard against that. How good is the sorcerer, do you know?"
"He is one of the most powerful in Pan Tang."
"And the wizards of Pan Tang almost equal your folk, Elric, in their skills."
"I fear he more than equals me at present, for my Actorios Ring has been stolen from me by Urish."
Rackhir looked strangely at Elric, noting something in the albino's face which he had evidently not seen there when they last parted. "Well, " he said, "we shall have to defend ourselves as best we can...."
"If you cut loose your horses so that all your folk could be mounted we might be able to escape before
Theleb K'aarna invokes whatever supernatural aid it is he seeks." Elric nodded as the giant, Brut of Lashmar, rode up grinning at him. Brut had been a hero in Lashmar before he had disgraced himself.
Rackhir shook his head. "Tanelorn needs the provisions we carry."
"Look, " said Moonglum quietly.
On the hill where Theleb K'aarna had been standing there had now appeared a billowing cloud of redness, like blood in clear water.
"He is successful." Rackhir murmured. "Brut! Let all be mounted. We've no time to prepare further defences, but we'll have the advantage of being on horseback when they attack."
Brut thundered off, yelling at the men of Tanelorn. They began to unharness the wagon horses and ready their weapons.
The cloud of redness above was beginning to disperse and out of it shapes were emerging. Elric tried to distinguish the shapes but could not at that distance. He climbed back into his saddle as the horsemen of Tanelorn now formed themselves into groups which would, when the attack came, race through the unmounted beggars striking swiftly and passing on. Rackhir waved to Elric and went to join one of these divisions. Elric and Moonglum found themselves at the head of a dozen warriors armed with axes, pikes and lances.
Then Urish's voice cawed out over the waiting silence.
"Attack, my beggars! They are doomed! "
The beggar rabble began to move down the sides of the valley. Rackhir raised his sword as the signal to his men. Then the first groups of cavalry rode out from the caravan, straight at the advancing beggars.
Rackhir replaced his blade and took up his bow. From where he sat on his horse he began to send arrow after arrow into the beggar ranks.
There was shouting everywhere now as the warriors of Tanelorn met their foes, driving wedges everywhere in their mass.
Elric saw Carkan's chequered cape in the midst of a sea of rags, filthy limbs, clubs and knives. He saw Brut's great blond head towering over a cluster of human filth.
And Moonglum said: "Such creatures as these are unfit opponents for the warriors of Tanelorn."
Elric pointed grimly up the hill. "Perhaps they'll prefer their new foes."
Moonglum gasped. "They are women! "
Elric drew Stormbringer from its scabbard. "They are not women. They are Elenoin. They come from the Eighth Plane-and neither are they human. You will see."
"You recognize them?"
"My ancestors fought them once."
A strange, shrill ululation reached their ears now. It came from the hillside where Theleb K'aarna's figure could again be seen. It came from the shapes which Moonglum was sure were women. Red-haired women whose tresses fell almost to their knees and covered their otherwise completely naked bodies. They danced down the hill towards the besieged caravan and they whirled swords about their heads which must have been over five feet long.