He turned and there was the bird of gold and silver and brass which he himself had once ridden while in Myshella's service. Its great metallic wings were folded but there was intelligence in its emerald eyes as it waited for its mistress.

"Have you come, then, to return me to Tanelorn?"

She shook her head. "Not yet. I have come to tell you where you may discover our enemy Theleb K'aarna."

He smiled. "He threatens you again?"

"Not directly."

Elric shook sand from his cloak. "I know you well, Myshella. You would not interfere in my destiny unless it had again become in some way linked with your own. You have said that I am afraid to love you. That may be true, for I think I am afraid to love any woman. But you make use of love-the men to whom you give your love are men who will serve your purpose."

"I do not deny that. I love only heroes-and only heroes who work to ensure the presence of the Power of Law upon this plane of our Earth...."

"I care not whether Law or Chaos gains predominance. Even my hatred of Theleb K'aarna has waned -and that was a personal hatred, nothing to do with any cause."

"What ft you knew Theleb K'aarna once again threatens the folk of Tanelorn?"

"Impossible. Tanelorn is eternal."

"Tanelorn is eternal-but its citizens are not. I know. More than once has some catastrophe fallen upon those who dwell in Tanelorn. And the Lords of Chaos hate Tanelorn, though they cannot attack it directly. They would aid any mortal who thought he could destroy those whom the Chaos Lords regard as traitors."

Elric frowned. He knew of the enmity of the Lords of Chaos to Tanelorn. He had heard that on more than one occasion they had made use of mortals to attack the city.

"And you say Theleb K'aarna plans to destroy Tanelorn's citizens? With Chaos' aid?"

"Aye. Your thwarting of his schemes concerning Nadsokor and Rackhir's caravan made him extend his hatred to all dwelling in Tanelorn. In Troos he discovered some ancient grimoires-things which survived from the Age of the Doomed Folk."

"How can that be? They existed a whole time cycle before Melnibone! "

"True-but Troos itself has lasted since the Age of the Doomed Folk and these were people who had many great inventions, a means of preserving their wisdom...."

"Very well. I will accept that Theleb K'aarna found their grimoires. What did those grimoires tell him?"

"They showed him the means of causing a rupture in the division which separates one plane of Earth from another. This knowledge of the other planes is

largely mysterious to us-even your ancestors only guessed at the variety of existences obtaining in what the ancients termed the 'multiverse'-and I know only a little more than do you. The Lords of the Higher Worlds can, at times, move freely between these temporal and spatial layers, but mortals cannot-at least not in this period of our being."

"And what has Theleb K'aarna done? Surely great power would be needed to cause this 'rupture' you describe? He does not have that power."

"True. But he has powerful allies in the Chaos Lords. The Lords of Entropy have leagued themselves with him as they would league themselves with anyone who was willing to be the means of destruction of those who dwell in Tanelorn. He found more than manuscripts in the Forest of Troos. He discovered those buried devices which were the inventions of the Doomed Folk and which ultimately brought about their destruction. These devices, of course, were meaningless to him until the Lords of Chaos showed him how they could be activated using the very forces of creation for their energy."

"And he has activated them? Where?"

"He brought the device he wanted to these parts, for he needed space to work where he thought he could not be observed by such as myself."

"He is in the Sighing Desert?"

"Aye. If you had continued on your horse you would have found him by now-or he you. I believe that is what drove you into the desert-a compulsion to seek him out."

"I had no compulsion save a need to die! " Elric tried to control his anger.

She smiled again. "Have it thus if you will...."

"You mean I am so manipulated by Fate that I cannot choose to die if I wish?"

"Ask yourself for that answer."

Elric's face was clouded with puzzlement and despair. "What is it, then, which guides me? And to what end?"

"You must discover that for yourself."

"You want me to go against Chaos? Yet Chaos aids me and I am sworn to Arioch."

"But you are mortal-and Arioch is slow to aid you these days, perhaps because he guesses what lies in the future."

"What do you know of the future?"

"Little-and what I know I cannot speak of to you. A mortal may choose whom he serves, Elric."

"I have chosen. I chose Chaos."

"Yet much of your melancholy is because you are divided in your loyalties."

"That, too, is true."

"Besides you would not fight for Law if you fought against Theleb K'aarna-you would merely be fighting against one aided by Chaos-and those of Chaos often fight among themselves do they not?"

"They do. It is also well known that I hate Theleb K'aarna and would destroy him whether he served Law or Chaos."

"Therefore you will not unduly anger those to whom you are loyal-though they may be reluctant to help you."

"Tell me more of Theleb K'aarna's plans."

"You must see for yourself. There is your horse." She pointed again and this time he saw the golden mare emerge from the other side of a dune. "Head North-east as you were heading, but move cautiously lest Theleb K'aarna becomes aware of your presence and traps you."

"Suppose I merely return to Tanelorn-or choose to try to die again?"

"But you will not, will you, Elric? You have loyalties to your friends, you wish in your heart to serve what I represent-and you hate Theleb K'aarna. I do not think you would wish to die for the moment."

He scowled. "Once more I am burdened with unwanted responsibilities, hedged by considerations other than my own desires, trapped by emotions which we of

Melnibone have been taught to despise. Aye-I will go, Myshella. I will do what you wish."

"Be careful, Elric. Theleb K'aarna now has powers which are unfamiliar to you, which you will find difficult to combat." She gave him a lingering look and suddenly he had stepped forward and had seized her, kissed her while tears flowed down his white face and mingled with hers.

Later he watched as she climbed into the onyx saddle of the bird of silver and gold and called out a command. The metal wings beat with a great clashing, the emerald eyes turned and the gem-studded beak opened. "Farewell, Elric, " said the bird.

But Myshella said nothing, did not look back.

Soon the metal bird was a speck of light in the blue sky and Elric had turned his horse towards the Northeast