The Eternal Champion

CHAPTER FIFTEEN THE RETURNING

Next morning I arose, washed myself, dressed and knocked on Ermizhad's door.

There was no reply.

Thinking that she had, perhaps, escaped and that Katorn would be instantly suspicious that I had helped her, I flung open the door and entered.

She had not escaped. She still lay on the bed, but now her eyes were open again as she stared at the ceiling. Those eyes were as mysterious to me as the star-flecked depths of the universe.

'Did you sleep well?' I asked.

She did not reply.

'Are you unwell?' was my next rather stupid, question. But she had plainly decided to communicate with me no further. I made one last attempt and the left, going down to the great hall of the slain Warden. Here Roldero was waiting for me and there were a few other marshals, looking the worse for wear, but King Rigenos and Katorn were not present.

Roldero's eyes twinkled. 'There are no drums beating in your skull by the look of you.'

He was right. I had not considered it, but I had no after effects from the huge quantities of wine drunk the night before.

'I feel very well,' I said.

'Ah, now I believe you are an immortal!' he laughed. 'I have not escaped so lightly. Neither, it seems, have King Rigenos and Lord Katorn, or some of the others who were enjoying themselves so much last night.' He drew closer and said quietly: 'And I hope you are in better spirits today, my friend.'

'I suppose I am,' I said. I felt drained of emotion, in fact.

'Good. And what of that Eldren creature? Still safe?'

'Still safe.'

'She did not try to seduce you?'

'On the contrary-she will not speak to me at all!'

'Just as well.' Roldero looked around impatiently. 'I hope they get up soon. There's much to discuss. Do we carry on inland or what?'

'I thought we agreed that the best plan was to leave a good force here, strong enough to defend the city, and get back to the Two Continents to re-equip and to check any attempt to invade us while our fleet's at Paphanaal.'

Roldero nodded. 'It's the most sensible plan. But I do not like it very much. While it has logic it does not suit my impatience to get at the enemy as soon as possible.'

I agreed with him. 'I would like to have done with this as soon as I could,' I told him.

But we had little clear idea where the rest of the Eldren forces were marshalled. There were four other major cities on the continent of Mernadin. The chief of these was Loos Ptokai which lay near to the Plains of Melting Ice. This was Arjavh's headquarters and, from what the Eldren on the flagship had said, he was either there now or marching to recapture Paphanaal. It seemed to us that he would attempt this, because Paphanaal was the most important position on the coast. With it in our hands we had a good harbour in which to bring our ships and land our men.

And if Arjavh did march against us, then all we had to do was save our energy and wait. We thought that we could leave our main force in Paphanaal, return to our own base at Noonos, bringing back the divisions of warriors who, because of insufficient ships, had been unable to come with us on the preliminary expedition.

But Roldero had something else on his mind. 'We must not forget the sorcerous fortress of the Outer Islands,' he told me. 'They lie at World's Edge. The Outer Islands should be taken as soon as possible.'

'What exactly are the Outer Islands? Why are they so strategic,' I asked him. 'And why haven't they been mentioned before in our plans?'

'Ah,' said Count Roldero. 'Ah, it is because of our reluctance, particularly when at home, to discuss the Ghost Worlds…'

I made a sign of mock despair. 'The Ghost Worlds again!'

'The Outer Islands lie in the Gateway to the Ghost Worlds,' Roldero said seriously. 'From there the Eldren can summon their ghoulish allies. Perhaps, now Paphanaal is taken, we should concentrate on smashing their strength in the west-at World's Edge.'

Had I been wrong to be so sceptical? Or was Roldero overestimating the power of the Ghost World denizens. 'Roldero-have you ever seen these halflings?' I asked him.

'Oh yes, my friend,' he replied. 'You are wrong if you believe them legendary beings. They are, in one sense, real enough.'

I became more convinced. I trusted Roldero's opinions more than most.

'Then perhaps we should alter our strategy slightly,' I said. 'We can leave the main army here to wait for Arjavh to march against the city and waste his strength trying to take it from the land side. We return to Noonos with the large portion of the fleet, add any new ships that are ready to our force, take fresh warriors aboard-and sail against the Outer Islands while, if we are right, Arjavh expends his own force trying to retake Paphanaal.'

Roldero nodded. 'It seems a wise plan to me, Erekose. But what of the girl-our hostage? How shall we use her to our best advantage?'

I frowned. I did not like the idea of using her at all. I wondered where she would be safest.

'I suppose we should keep her as far away from here as possible,' I said. 'Necranal would be best. There is little chance of her people being able to rescue her and she would have a difficult time getting back if she managed to escape. What do you think?'

Roldero nodded. 'I think you are right. That's sensible.'

'We must discuss all this with the king, of course,' I said gravely.

'Of course,' said Roldero, and winked.

'And Katorn,' I added.

'And Katorn,' he agreed. 'Especially Katorn.'

It was well after noon before we had a chance to speak with Katorn or the king. Both were palefaced and were quick to agree with our suggestions as if they would agreed to anything so long as they were left alone.

'We'll establish our position here,' I told the king, 'and set sail back to Noonos within the week. We should waste no time. Now that we have gained Paphanaal, we can expect savage counter-attacks from the Eldren…'

'Aye,' muttered Katorn. He was red eyed. 'And you are right to try to block off Arjavh's summoning of his frightful Ghost Armies.'

'I am glad you approve of my plan, Lord Katorn,' I said.

His smile was twisted. 'You're beginning to prove yourself, my lord, I'll say that for you. Still a little soft towards our enemies, but you're beginning to realise what they're like…'

'I wonder,' I said.

There were minor details of the plan to discuss and, while the victorious warriors continued to pleasure themselves on Eldren spoils, we talked of these matters until they were completely settled.

It was a good plan.

It would work if the Eldren reacted as we expected And we were sure that they would.

We agreed that I and King Rigenos would return with the fleet, leaving Katorn to command the army at Paphanaal. Roldero also elected to return with us. The bulk of the warriors would remain behind. We had to hope that the Eldren did not have another fleet in the vicinity, for we would be sailing back with just the minimum crews and would be hard-pressed to defend ourselves if attacked at sea.

But there were risks to all the different possibilities and we had to decide which actions the Eldren were most likely to take and act accordingly.

The next few days were spent in preparation for the voyage back and soon we were ready to sail.

We sailed out of Paphanaal on a dawn tide, our ships moving sluggishly through the water, for they groaned with captured Eldren treasure.

Begrudgingly the king had agreed to giving Ermizhad decent quarters next to mine. His attitude towards me seemed to have changed since the first drunken night in Paphanaal. He was reserved, almost embarrassed by my presence. Doubtless he remembered vaguely that he had made some sort of fool of himself. Perhaps he remembered my own refusal to celebrate the victory, perhaps the glory that I had won for him made him jealous, though the gods knew I wanted nothing of that tainted glory.

Or perhaps he sensed my own disgust with the war I had agreed to fight for him and was nervous that I might suddenly refuse to be the Champion he felt he so desperately needed?

I had no opportunity to discuss this with him and Count Roldero could offer no explanation save to say, in the king's favour, that the slaughter might have wearied the king just as it had wearied me.

I was not sure of this, for the king seemed to hate the Eldren even more than before, as was made evident by his treatment of Ermizhad.

Ermizhad still refused to speak. She hardly ate and she rarely left her cabin. But one evening, as I strolled on deck, I saw her standing at the rail and staring down into the sea as if she contemplated hurling herself into its depths.

I increased my pace so that I should be near if she did attempt to throw herself overboard. She half turned as I approached and then looked away again.

At this point the king emerged on the poop-deck and called down to me.

'I see you've taken pains to make sure the wind's behind you when you get near to the Eldren bitch, Lord Erekose.'

I stopped and looked up. At first I hardly understood the reference. I glanced at Ermizhad who pretended not to have heard the king's insult. I, too, pretended I had not understood the significance of the remark and gave a slight, polite bow.

Then, deliberately, I walked past Ermizhad and paused near the rail, staring out to sea.

'Perhaps you have no sense of smell, Lord Erekose,' the king called. Again, I ignored the remark.

'It seems a pity that we must tolerate vermin on our ship when we took such pains to scrub our decks free of their tainted blood,' the king went on.

At last, furious, I turned round, but he had left the poop-deck. I looked at Ermizhad, She continued to stare down into the dark waters as they were pierced by our oars. She seemed almost mesmerised by the rhythm. I wondered if she really had not heard the insults.

There were several more occasions of that kind on board the flagship lolinda as we sailed on for Noonos.

Whenever King Rigenos got the opportunity, he would speak of Ermizhad in her presence as if she were not there; spoke disdainfully of her and his disgust for all her kind.

Increasingly, I found it harder to control my anger, but control it I did and Ermizhad, for her part, showed no sign that she was offended by the king's crude references to her and her race.

I saw less of Ermizhad than I wished but, in spite of the king's warnings, came to like her. She was certainly the most beautiful woman I had ever seen. Her beauty was different from the cool beauty of lolinda, my betrothed.

What is love? Even now, now that the whole pattern of my particular destiny seems to have been fulfilled, I do not know. Oh yes, I still loved lolinda, but I think that, while I did not know it, I was falling in love with Ermizhad, too.

I refused to believe in the stories told about her and held affection for her though, at that time, I had no thought of letting this affect my attitude towards her. That attitude had to be of a gaoler for his prisoner-an important prisoner, at that. A prisoner who could help decide the war against the Eldren in our favour.

I did pause, once or twice, to wonder about the logic of keeping her as a hostage. If, as King Rigenos insisted, the Eldren were cold-hearted and unhuman, then why should Arjavh care if his sister were murdered by us?

Ermizhad, if she were the creature King Rigenos believed her to be, showed no signs of her evil. Rather she seemed to be to exhibit a singular nobility of soul that was in excellent contrast to the king's rude banter.

And then I wondered if the king realised the affection I felt for Ermizhad and was afraid that the union between his daughter and his immortal Champion was threatened.

But I remained loyal to lolinda. It did not occur to me to question that we should not be married on my return, as we had agreed.

There must be countless forms of love. Which is the form which conquers the rest? I cannot define it. I shall not try,

Ermizhad's beauty had the fascination of being an unhuman beauty, but close enough to my own race's ideal to attract me.

She had the long pointed Eldren face that John Daker might have tried to describe as 'elfin' and failed to do justice to its nobility. She had the slanting eyes that seemed blind in their strange milkiness, the slightly pointed ears, the high slanting cheekbones and a slender body that was almost boyish. All the Eldren women were slender like this, small-breasted and narrow-waisted. Her red lips were fairly wide, curving naturally upwards so that she always seemed to be on the point of smiling when her face was in repose.

For the first two weeks of our voyage she continued to refuse to speak, although I showed her every courtesy. I saw that she had everything for her comfort and she thanked me through her guards, that was all. But one day I stood outside the set of cabins where she, the king and myself had our apartments, leaning over the rail and looking at a grey sea and an overcast sky, and I saw her approach me.

'Greetings, Sir Champion,' she said half-mockingly as she came out of her cabin.

I was surprised.

'Greetings, Lady Ermizhad,' said I. She was dressed in a cloak of midnight blue flung around a simple smock of pale blue wool.

'A day of omens, I think,' she said, looking at the gloomy sky which boiled darkly now above us, full of heavy greys and dusty yellows.

'Why think you?' I enquired.

She laughed. It was lovely to hear-crystal and gold-strung harps. It was the music of heaven, not of hell. 'Forgive me,' she said. 'I sought to disturb you-but I see you are not so prone to suggestion as others of your race.'

I grinned. 'You are very complimentary, my lady. I find their superstitions a trifle tedious, I must admit. Not to mention their insults…'

'One is not troubled by those,' she said. 'They are sad little insults, really.'

'You are very charitable.'

'We Eldren are a charitable race, I think.'

'I have heard otherwise.'

'I suppose you have.'

'I have bruises that prove otherwise!' I smiled. 'Your warriors did not seem particularly charitable in the seafight beyond Paphanaal.'

She bowed her head. 'And yours were not charitable when they came to Paphanaal. Is it true? Am I the only survivor?'

I licked my lips. They were suddenly dry. 'I believe so,' I said quietly.

'Then I am lucky,' she said, her voice rising a little.

There was, of course, no reply I could make.

We stood there in silence, looking at the sea.

Later she said quietly: 'So you are Erekose. You are not like the rest of your race. In fact, you do not seem wholly of that race…'

'Aha,' I replied. 'Now I know you are my enemy.'

'What do you mean?'

'My enemies-the Lord Katorn in particular-suspects my humanity.'

'And are you human?'

'I am nothing else. I am sure of that. I have the problems of any ordinary mortal. I am as confused as the rest, though my problems are, perhaps, different. How I came here, I do not know. They say I am a great hero reborn. Come to aid them against your people. They brought me here by means of an incantation. But then it sometimes seems to me, in dreams, at night, that I have been many heroes…'

'And all of them human?'

'I am not sure. I do not think my basic character has altered in any of those incarnations. I have no special wisdom, no special powers, as far as I know. Would you not think that an immortal would have gathered a great store of wisdom?'

She nodded slightly. 'I would think so, my lord.'

'I am not even sure where I am,' I continued. 'I do not know if I came here from the far future or from the far past…'

'The terms mean little to the Eldren,' she said. 'But some of us believe that past and future are the same-that time moves in a circle, so that the past is the future and the future is the past.'

'An interesting theory,' I said. 'But a rather simple one, is it not?'

'I think I would agree with you,' she murmured. 'Time is a subtle thing. Even our wisest philosophers do not fully understand its nature. The Eldren do not think very much about time-we do not have to, normally. Of course, we have our histories. But history is not mine. History is merely a record of certain events.'

'I understand you,' I said.

Now she came and stood by the ship's rail, one hand resting lightly upon it.

At that moment I felt the affection that I suppose a father might have for a daughter. A father who delights in his offspring's assured innocence. She could not have been, I felt, much more than nineteen. Yet her voice had a confidence that comes with knowledge of the world, her carriage was proud, also confident. I realised then that King Rigenos might well have spoken the truth. How, indeed, could you gauge the age of an immortal?

'I thought at first,' I said, 'that I came from your future. But now I am not sure. Perhaps I come from your past-that this world is, in relation to what I call the "twentieth century", in the far future.'

'This world is very ancient,' she agreed.

'Is there a record of a time when only human beings occupied the Earth?'

'We have no such records,' she smiled. 'There is an echo of a myth, the thread of a legend, which says that there was a time when only the Eldren occupied the Earth. My brother has studied this. I believe he knows more.'

I shivered. I did not know why but my vitals seemed to chill within me. I could not, easy, continue the conversation, though I wanted to.

She appeared not to have noticed my discomfort.

At last I said: 'A day of omens, madam. I hope to talk with you again soon.' I bowed and returned to my cabin.