Free The Bull and the Spear - 05 by Michael Moorcock Page B

too," he added. Leaving his horse, he walked to the edge of the cliff and looked down. The sea had made a narrow channel through the gap. He looked across at the remains of the tower. He remembered Rhalina and his family—his father Prince Khlonskey, his mother the Princess Colatalarna, his sisters Hastru and Pholhin-ra, his uncle Prince Rhanan, his cousin Sertreda. All dead now. Rhalina at least had lived her natural lifespan, but the others had been brutally slain by Glandyth-a-Krae and his murderers. Now none remembered them save Corum. For a moment he envied them, for too many remembered Corum.
     
    "But you live," she said simply.
     
    "Do I? I wonder if perhaps I am no more than a shade, a figment of your folk's desires. Already my memories of my past life grow dim. I can barely remember how my family looked."
     
    "You have a family—where you come from."
     
    ' 'I know that the legend says that I slept in the mound until I was needed, but that is not true. I was brought here from my own time— when Castle Erorn stood where ruins stand now. Ah, there have been so many ruins in my life . . ."
     
    "And your family is there? You left it to help us?"
     
    Corum shook his head and turned to look at her, smiling a bitter smile.
     
    "No, lady, I would not have done that. My family was slain by your race—by Mabden. My wife died." He hesitated. "Slain, too?" "No, she died of old age." "She was older than you?" "No."
     
    ''You are truly immortal, then?" She looked down at the distant
     
    sea.
     
    "As far as it matters, yes. That is why I fear to love, you see." "I would not fear that."
     
    ' 'Neither did the Margravine Rhalina, my bride. And I think I did not fear it, for I could not experience it until it happened. But when I experienced the loss of her I thought I could never bear that emotion again."
     
    A single gull appeared from nowhere and perched on a nearby spur of rock. There had been many gulls here once.
     
    "You will never feel that exact emotion again, Corum."
     
    'True. And yet . . ."
     
    "You love corpses?"
     
    He was offended. "That is cruel ..."
     
    ' 'What is left of dead people is the corpse. And if you do not love corpses, then you must find someone living to love."
     
    He shook his head. "Is it so simple to you, lovely Medhbh?"
     
    ''I did not think that I said something simple, Lord Corum of the Mound."
     
    He made an impatient gesture with his silver hand.' 'I am not, 'of the Mound.' I do not like the implications of that title. You speak of corpses—that title makes me feel like a corpse that has been resurrected. I can smell the mold on my clothes when you speak of 'the Lord of the Mound'."
     
    "The older legends said you drank blood. There were sacrifices on the mound during the darker times."
     
    "I have no taste for blood." His mood was lifting. The experience of the fight with the Hounds of Kerenos had helped rid him of some of his gloomy thoughts and replaced them with more practical considerations.
     
    And now he was reaching out to touch her face, to trace, with his hand of flesh, the line of her lips, her neck, her shoulder. And now they were embracing and he was weeping and full of
     
    joy.
     
    They kissed. They made love near the ruins of Castle Erorn while the sea pounded in the bay below. And then they lay in the last of the sunshine, looking out to sea.
     
    "Listen." Medhbh raised her head, her hair floating about her face.
     
    He heard it. He had heard it a little while before she mentioned it, but he had not wanted to hear it.
     
    "A harp," she said. "What sweet music it plays. How melancholy it is, that music. Do you hear it?"
     
    "Yes."
     
    "It is familiar ..."
     
    "Perhaps you heard it this morning, just before the attack?" He spoke reluctantly, distantly.
     
    "Perhaps. And in the grove of the mound."
     
    ' 'I know—just before your folk tried to summon me for the first time."
     
    "Who is the harpist? What is the music?" Corum was looking across the