The Oak and the Ram - 04 by Michael Moorcock Read Free Book Online Page B

obscure their tracks and spread their scent in all directions and they would have time to reach Caer Llud and find Amergin the Archdruid before Gaynor or the Fhoi Myore had any hint of their plan.
    Gaynor had spoken the truth when he had told them that they could never reach Caer Mahlod with all the Hounds of Kerenos hunting for them, but when Gaynor found them gone it was almost certain that for a while he would waste time riding in the wrong direction while his dogs cast for their scent. Gaynor's jaundiced view of mortal character had worked this time to his disadvantage. He had reckoned without the quick thinking of Corum and Jhary-a-Conel, without their determination or their willingness to risk their lives for a cause. He had spent too long in the company of the weak, the greedy and the decadent. Doubtless he preferred such company, since he basked in it.
    As he rode, Corum considered what he had learned from Gaynor the Damned. Did-Craig Don still possess the properties Gaynor had described, or had they only worked for the Sidhi? Was Craig Don now only a shell, avoided by the Fhoi Myore out of superstition rather than knowing respect for its powers? He hoped that there would come a time when he could discover the truth for himself. If Craig Don was still truly a place of power there might be a way found to make use of it again.
    But now he must forget Craig Don as the pillars faded to black shadows in the distance and then were obscured entirely by the swirling snow. Now he must think ahead, of Caer Llud and Amergin under a glamour in his tower by the river, guarded both by men and things which were not men.
    They were cold and they were hungry. The coats of their horses were rimed and their own cloaks sparkled with frost. Their faces were numbed by the cold wind and their bodies ached whenever they moved.
    But they had found Caer Llud. They drew rein upon a hill and saw a wide, frozen river. On both banks of the river and connected by well-constructed wooden bridges was the City of the High King, pale granite coated with snow, some of the buildings rising several stories. For this world it was a large city, perhaps the largest, and must once have contained a population of twenty or thirty thousand.
    But now the city had the appearance of having been abandoned, for all that shapes could be seen moving through the mist which hung in its streets.
    The mist was everywhere. Thinner in some places, it clung to Caer Llud like a threadbare shroud. Corum recognized the mist. It was Fhoi Myore mist. It was the mist which followed the Cold Folk wherever they traveled in their huge, poorly made wicker war-carts. Corum feared that mist, as he feared the primitive, amoral power of the surviving Lords of Limbo. Even as they watched, he saw a movement where the mist was thickest, close to the river bank. He saw a suggestion of a dark, homed head; of a gigantic torso which faintly resembled the body of a toad; of the outlines of a huge, creaking cart drawn by something as oddly formed as the rider. Then it had gone.
    From Corum's frost-cracked lips came a single word: "Kerenos."
    "He who is master to the hounds?" Jhary sniffed.
    "And master of much more," Corum added.
    Jhary blew his nose upon a large linen rag he took from under his jerkin. "I fear this weather affects my health badly," he said. "I would not mind coming to blows with some of those who created such weather!"
    Corum shook his head. "We are not strong enough, you and I. We must wait. We must be as careful to avoid conflict with the Fhoi Myore as Gaynor is in avoiding direct conflict with me." He peered through the mist and the eddying snow. ' 'Caer Llud is not guarded. Plainly they fear no attack from the Mabden. Why should they? That is to our advantage." He looked at Jhary ‘ s face which was blue with cold. ' 'I think we'd both pass for living corpses if we entered Caer Llud now. If stopped, we shall announce that we are Fhoi Myore men. While it is impossible to reason