Stormbringer

Rackhir had expended au his arrows in what had virtually been an act of mercy. He engaged the enemy with his sword and killed two, taking Moonglum's third opponent from behind with an upward thrust into the man's side and through to his heart.

Then they went with little stomach into the main fray and found that already the turf was littered with a great many corpses.

Rackhir cried to Elric: «Stop! Elric - let us finish these. You have no need to take their souls. We can kill them with more natural methods! » But Elric laughed and carried on his work.

As Elric finished another warrior and there were no others in the immediate area, Rackhir seized him by the arm. «Elric-»

Stormbringer turned in Elric's hand, howling its satiated glee, and clove down at Rackhir.

Seeing his fate, Rackhir sobbed and sought to avoid the mow. But it landed in his shoulder blade and sheared down to his breast-bone.

«Elric! » he cried. «Not my soul, too! » And so died the hero Rackhir the Red Archer, famous in the Eastlands, cloven by a treacherous blade. By the friend whose life he had saved, long ago when they had first met near the city of Ameeron.

Then came realisation. Elric tried to tug the sword away but it was too late. Again he had involuntarily slain one close to him while in the power of his runesword.

«Oh, Rackhir! » he cried, kneeling beside the body and taking it in his arms. The stolen energy still pulsed in him, but his great grief no longer gave it the same control over him. Tears streamed down Elric's tortured face and a great, racking groan came from him.

«Once more.» he muttered, «once more. Will it never cease?»

Beyond him, his two remaining companions stood on the opposite sides of the field of the slain. Dyvim Slorm had done with slaying, but only because there were none left to kill. He was gasping, staring around him half in bewilderment. Moonglum stared at Elric with horrified eyes which yet held a gleam of sympathy for his friend, for he knew well Elric's doom and knew that the life of one close to Elric was the price Stormbringer demanded for supplying the albino with his vitality.

«Rackhir! No gentler hero was there, no man more desirous of peace and order than you! » Elric raised himself to his feet and turned to look at the huge castle of granite and milestone, which stood in enigmatic silence as if awaiting his next action. On the battlements of the topmost turret he could make out a figure which could only be a giant.

«I swear by your stolen soul, Rackhir, that what you wished to come to pass shall come to pass, though I, a thing of Chaos, achieve that Law will triumph and Chaos will be driven back! Si

Dyvim Slorm, not realising quite what had happened, shouted in exultation to be unhuman: «Elric - let’s visit the sad giant now! »

But Moonglum, coming up to gaze down on the ruined body of Rackhir, murmured: «Aye, Chaos is the cause, Elric. I’ll join in your vengeance with a will so long as, » he shuddered, «I’m spared from the attentions of your hell-blade.»

Together, three abreast, they marched through the open portal of Mordaga's castle and were distinctly in a rich and barbariously furnished hall.

«Mordaga! » Elric cried. «We have come to fulfill a prophecy! We await you.»

They waited impatiently, until at last, a bulky figure came through a great arch at the end of the vast hall.

Mordaga was as tall as two men, but his back was slightly stooped. He had long, curling black hair and was in deep blue smock, belted at the waist. Upon his great feet were simple leather sandals. His black eyes were full of a sorrow such as Moonglum had only seen before in Elric's eyes.

Upon the sad giant's arm was a round shield which bear upon it the eight amber arrows of Chaos. It was of a silvery green colour and very beautiful. He had no other weapons.

«I know the prophecy, » he said in a voice that was like a lonely, roaring wind. «But still I must seek to avert it Will you take the shield and leave me in peace, human? I do not want death.»

Elric felt a kind of empathy for sad Mordaga and he knew something of what the fallen god must feel at his moment

«The prophecy says death, » he said softly.

«Take the shield.» Mordaga lifted it off his mighty arm and held it towards Elric. 'Take the shield and change fate this once.»

Elric nodded. «I will.»

With a tremendous sigh, the giant deposited the Chaos Shield upon the floor.

«For thousands of years I have lived in the shadow of that prophecy, » he said, straightening his back. «Now, though I die in old age, I shall die in peace and, though I once did not think so, I shall welcome such a death after all his time, I think.»

«You may not die thus, with your shield's protection gone, » Elric warned him, «for Chaos comes and will engulf you as it will engulf everything unless I can stop it. But at least, it seems, you'll be in a more philosophic frame of mind to meet it»

«Farewell and I thank you, » said the giant turning and he plodded back towards the entrance through which he had come.

As Mordaga disappeared, Moonglum dashed forward on fleet feet and followed him through the entrance before either dit Elric or Dyvim Slorm could cry out or stop him. Then they heard a single shriek that seemed to echo away into eternity, a crash which shook the hall and then the foot fall returning. Moonglum reappeared in the entrance, a bloody sword in his hand.

Unable to understand this uncharacteristic action, Elric was silent merely staring at the Eastlander as he approached down the hall

«It was murder, » said Moonglum simply. «I admit it, I took him in the back before he was aware of it. It was a good, quick death and he died whilst happy. Moreover it was a better death than any his minions tried to mete to us. It was murder, but it was necessary murder in my eyes.»

«Why» said Elric, still mystified.

Grimly, Moonglum continued: «He had to perish as fate decreed. We are servants of fate, now, Elric, and to divert it, in any small way is to hamper its aims. But more than that it was the begi

Elric shook his head. «Blame me for that, Moonglum. The giant should not have perished for my own sword's crime.»

«Someone had to perish, » said Moonglum steadfastly, «and since the prophecy contained Mordaga's death, he was the one. Who else, here, could I kill, Elric?»

Elric turned away. «I wish it were I, » he sighed. He looked down at the great, round shield with its shifting amber arrows and its mysterious silver-green colour. He picked it up easily enough and placed it on his arm. It virtually covered his body from chin to ankles.

«Come, let's make haste and leave this place of death and misery. The lands of Umiora and Vumir await our aid-if they have not already wholly fallen to Chaos! »

It was in the mountains separating the Signing Desert from the Weeping Waste, that they first learned of the fate of the last of the Young Kingdoms. They came upon a party of six tired warriors led by Lord Voashooo, Zarozinia's father.

«What has happened?» Elric asked anxiously. «Where is Zarozinia?»

«Our continent has fallen to Chaos, Elric. As for Zarozinia, I know not if she's lost, fled or captured.»

«Did you not seek for her?» Elric said accusingly.

The old man shrugged. «My son, I have looked upon so much horror these past days not I am now bereft of emotion. I care for nothing but a quick release from all this. The day of mankind is over on the Earth. Go no further than here, for even the Weeping Waste is begi