Moonglum stared at him in puzzlement. 'What do you mean, Elric?'
'Know you not that two forces govern the worldfighting an eternal battle?' Elric replied: 'Law and Chaos. The upholders of Chaos state that in such a world as they rule, all things are possible. Opponents of Chaos those who ally themselves with the forces of Law say that without Law nothing material is possible.
‘Some stand apart, believing that a balance between the two is the proper state of things, but we cannot. We have become embroiled in a dispute between the two forces. The Book is valuable to either faction, obviously, and I could guess that the minions of Entropy are worried what power we might release if we obtain this Book. Law and Chaos rarely interfere directly in Men's lives that is why we have not been fully aware of their presence. Now perhaps, I will discover at last the answer to the one question which concerns me does an ultimate force rule over the opposing factions of Law and Chaos?'
Elric stepped through the cave entrance, peering into the gloom while the others hesitantly followed him.
'The cave stretches back a long way. All we can do is press on until we find its far wall, ' Elric said.
'Let's hope that its far wall lies not downwards' Moonglum said ironically as he motioned Elric to lead on.
They stumbled forward as the cave grew darker and darker. Their voices were magnified and hollow to their own ears as the floor of the cave slanted sharply down. 'This is no cave, ' Elric whispered, 'it's a tunnel-but I cannot guess where it leads.'
For several hours they pressed onwards in pitch darkness, dinging to one another as they reeled forward, uncertain of their footing and still aware that they were moving down a gradual incline. They lost all sense of time and Elric began to feel as if he were living through a dream. Events seemed to have be, come so unpredictable and beyond his control that he could no longer cope with thinking about them in ordinary terms. The tunnel was long and dark and wide and cold. It offered no comfort and the floor eventually became the only thing which had any reality. It was firmly beneath his feet. He began to feel that possibly he was not moving that the floor, after all, was moving and he was remaining stationary. His companions clung to him but he was not aware of them. He was lost and his brain was numb. Sometimes he swayed and felt that he was on the edge of a precipice. Sometimes he fell and his groaning body met hard stone, disproving the proximity of the gulf down which he half-expected to fall.
All the While he made his legs perform walking motions, even though he was not at all sure whether he was actually moving forward. And time meant nothing became a meaningless concept with relation to nothing.
Until, at last, he was aware of a faint, blue glow ahead of him and he knew that he had been moving forward. He began to run down the incline, but found that he was going too fast and had to check’his speed. There was a scent of alien strangeness in the cool air of the cave tunnel and fear was a fluid force which surged over him, something separate from himself.
The others obviously felt it, too, for though they said nothing, Elric could sense it. Slowly they moved downward, drawn like automatons towards the pale blue glow below them.
And then they were out of the tunnel, staring awestruck at the unearthly vision which confronted them. Above them, the very air seemed of the strange blue colour which had originally attracted them. They were standing on a jutting slab of rock and, although it was still somehow dark, the eerie blue glow illuminated a stretch of glinting silver beach beneath them. And the beach was lapped by a surging dark sea which moved restlessly like a liquid giant in disturbed slumber. Scattered along the silver beach were the dim shapes of wrecks the bones of peculiarly designed boats, each of a different pattern from the rest. The sea surged away into darkness and there was no horizon-only blackness.
Behind them, they could see a sheer cliff which was also lost in darkness beyond a certain point. And it was cold bitterly cold, with an unbelievable sharpness. For though the sea threshed beneath them, there was no dampness in the air no smell of salt. It was a bleak and awesome sight and, apart from the sea, they were the only things that moved the only things to make sound, for the sea was horribly silent in its restless movement.
'What now, Elric?' whispered Moonglum, shivering.
Elric shook his head and they continued to stand there for a long time until the albino his white face and hands ghastly in the alien light said: 'Since it is impracticable to return we shall venture over the sea' His voice was hollow and he spoke as one who was unaware of his words.
Steps, cut into the living rock, led down towards the beach and now Elric began to descend them. The others allowed him to lead them staring around them, their eyes lit by a terrible fascination.
FOUR
Their feet profaned the silence as they reached the silver beach of crystalline stones and crunched across it. Elric's crimson eyes fixed upon one of the objects littering the beach and he smiled. He shook his head savagely from side to side, as if to clear it. Trembling, he pointed to one of the boats, and the pair saw that it was intact, unlike the others. It was yellow and red vulgarly gay in this environment and nearing it they observed that it was made of wood, yet unlike any wood they had seen. Moonglum ran his stubby fingers along its length.
'Hard as iron, ' he breathed. 'No wonder it has not rotted as the Others have.' He peered inside and shuddered. 'Well the owner won't argue if we take it, ' he said wryly.
Elric and Shaarilla understood him when they saw the unnaturally twisted skeleton which lay at the bottom of the boat. Elric reached inside and pulled the thing out, hurling it on to the stones. It rattled and rolled over the gleaming shingle, disintegrating as it did so, scattering bones over a wide area. The skull came to rest by the edge of the beach, seeming to stare sightlessly out over the disturbing ocean. As Elric and Moonglum strove to push and pull the boat down the beach towards the sea, Shaarilla moved ahead of them and squatted down, putting her hand into the wetness. She stood up sharply, shaking the stuff from her hand.
'This is not water as I know it, ' she said. They heard her, but said nothing.
'We'll need a sail, ' Elric murmured. The cold breeze was moving out over the ocean. 'A cloak should serve.' He stripped off his cloak and knotted it to the mast of the vessel. 'Two of us will have to hold this at either edge, ' he said. 'That way we'll have some slight control over the direction the boat takes. It's makeshift but the best we can manage.' They shoved off, taking care not to get their feet in the sea.
The wind caught the sail and pushed the boat out over the ocean; moving at a faster pace than Elric had at first reckoned. The boat began to hurtle forward as if possessed of its own volition and Elric's and Moonglum's muscles ached as they clung to the bottom ends of the sail.
Soon the silver beach was out of sight and they could see .little the pale blue light above them scarcely penetrating the blackness. It was then that they heard the dry flap of wings over their heads and looked up.
Silently descending were three massive ape-like creatures, borne on great leathery wings. Shaarilla recognized them and gasped.’Clakars!’