The Sailor on the Seas of Fate (Elric Saga) by Michael Moorcock

Author:Michael Moorcock
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Tags: Science fiction, Fiction, Fantasy, General, English, Epic
ISBN: 9780441748631
Publisher: ACE Charter
Published: 1987-09-15T09:21:19+00:00

Book THREE

SAILING TO THE PAST

I

Elric sat back in the comfortable, wellpadded chair and accepted the wine cup handed him by his host. While Smiorgan ate his fill of the hot food provided for them, Elric and Duke Avan appraised one another.

Duke Avan was a man of about forty, with a square, handsome face.

He was dressed in a gilded silver breastplate, over which was arranged a white cloak. His britches, tucked into black kneelength boots, were of creamcolored doeskin. On a small seatable at his elbow rested his helmet, crested with scarlet feathers.

"I am honored, sir, to have you as my guest," said Duke Avan. "I know you to be Elric of Melnibonè. I have been seeking you for several months, ever since news came to me that you had left your homeland (and your power) behind and were wandering, as it were, incognito in the Young Kingdoms."

"You know much, sir."

"I, too, am a traveler by choice. I almost caught up with you in Pikarayd, but I gather there was some sort of trouble there. You left quickly and then I lost your trail altogether. I was about to give up looking for your aid when, by the greatest of good fortune, I found you floating in the water!" Duke Avan laughed.

"You have the advantage of me," said Elric, smiling. "You raise many questions."

"He's Avan Astran of Old Hrolmar," grunted Count Smiorgan from the other side of a huge ham bone. "He's well known as an adventurer

explorertrader. His reputation's the best. We can trust him, Elric."

"I recall the name now," Elric told the duke. "But why should you seek my aid?"

The smell of the food from the table had at last impinged and Elric got up. "Would you mind if I ate something while you explained, Duke Avan?"

"Eat your fill, Prince Elric. I am honored to have you as a guest."

"You have saved my life, sir. I have never had it saved so courteously!"

Duke Avan smiled. "I have never before had the pleasure of, let us say, catching so courteous a fish. If I were a superstitious man, Prince Elric, I should guess that some other force threw us together in this way."

"I prefer to think of it as coincidence," said the albino, beginning to eat. "Now, sir, tell me how I can aid you."

"I shall not hold you to any bargain, merely because I have been lucky enough to save your life," said Duke Avan Astran; "please bear that in mind."

"I shall, sir."

Duke Avan stroked the feathers of his helmet. "I have explored most of the world, as Count Smiorgan rightly says. I have been to your own Melnibonè and I have even ventured east, to Elwher and the Unknown Kingdoms. I have been to Myyrrhn, where the Winged Folk live. I have traveled as far as World's Edge and hope one day to go beyond. But I have never crossed the Boiling Sea and I know only a small stretch of coast along the western continentthe continent that has no name.

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