The Dragon in the Sword Read Free Page A

thunder.
    – It would not be bravery, Champion. It would be at best folly. You think you seek for something, but yours would be an act of someone merely wishing to escape torment. There are aspects of the Champion far less tolerable than your present one. And, besides, I can tell you that this particular ordeal will not last for very much longer. I would have come to you sooner, but I had business elsewhere.
    – With whom?
    – Oh, with you, of course. But that is a tale being told in some other world and perhaps in your future, for the Million Spheres roll through Time and Space at many differing speeds and where or when they intersect is frequently surprising, even to me. But I can assure you this is a poor time to be doing away with your life—or this body, even. I could not speak for the consequences, though I believe they would not be pleasant. A great and momentous adventure lies ahead of you. If you fulfill your duty as Champion in the most effective way, it could result in your partial release from this doom. It could produce a beginning and an ending of enormous import. Let them call you. Surely you have heard them?
    – I have distinguished nothing from the voices I have heard. It cannot be those warriors who call…
    – What they call for is release from their particular doom. No, these are others who call, as you have been called before. Have you heard no name? A name new to you?
    – I think not.
    – This means you should return to the Dark Ship. It is all I can think. I am deeply puzzled…
    – If you are puzzled, Sir Knight, then I am truly confounded! I have no wish to give myself up to that man and his ship. It increases my sense of impotence. Moreover, I remain in the same flesh. In this flesh, surely I cannot find Ermizhad. I must be either Erekosë or John Daker again.
    – Perhaps your new guise was not ready. The checks and balances involved in this are extremely delicate. But I do know you must somehow return to that ship…
    – Can you offer me no more than that? Can you offer me hope that if I do board the Dark Ship again I shall find my Ermizhad?
    – Forgive me, Sir Champion.
The black giant’s hand remained on my shoulder. –
I am not entirely omniscient. Who can be when the very structure of Time and Space is in flux?
    – What are you telling me?
    – I can tell you no more than I perceive myself. Let the ship take you, that is all I can say. Through this medium, I know, you will be transported to those who most require your help and whose help in turn could gain for you some form of release from your present torment. Also you will be united in such a way to promise further unity. This much I can sense…
    – But where shall I look for this ship?
    – If you are willing, the ship will come to you. It will find you, fear not
. Then the Knight in Black and Yellow whistled suddenly and from out of the orange mist there now galloped a great stallion, its hoofs striking the water but not penetrating the surface. This beast the Knight in Black and Yellow mounted. Its coat was as black as his skin and I marvelled at how it could stand on those waves without sinking an inch. Indeed, I was so astonished by this apparition that I forgot to ask the rider any further questions. I could only stand and watch as he raised the Blank Standard by way of salute to me then turned the battlehorse towards the clouds and rode rapidly away.
    I remained mystified, yet the Knight in Black and Yellow had brought me a form of hope and had stopped me from continuing in my madness. I would not kill myself, after all, though I did not relish a further passage aboard the Dark Ship, either. Instead, I thought, I would lie down upon my sea-sled while the herons bore me wherever they chose (perhaps back to the Scarlet Fjord, for they must soon reach the limit of their endurance, or perhaps they would come to perch upon the sled with me before continuing their journey out across the ocean. Sooner or later, I knew, they