The Bull and the Spear - 05 Read Online Free PDF Page B

established after the conjunction. But established by what? And by whom?" Corum leaned against the battlements, looking out across the narrow bay. I suspect that it is we who make those laws. And yet we do so unknowingly. We are not even sure what is good and what is evil—or, indeed, if anything is either. Kwll had no such beliefs and I envied him. How pitiful we are. How pitiful am I that I cannot bear to live without loyalties. Is it strength which makes me decide to go to these people? Or is it weakness?"
     
    "You speak of good and evil and say you know not what they are—it is the same with strength and weakness. The terms are meaningless.'' Jhary shrugged.' 'Love means something to me, and so does hate. Physical strength is given to some of us—I can see it. And some are physically weak. But why equate the elements in a man's character with such attributes. And, if we do not condemn a man because, through luck, he is not physically strong, why condemn him if, for instance, his resolve is not strong. Such instincts are the instincts of the beasts and, for beasts, they are satisfactory instincts. But men are not beasts. They are men. That is all."
     
    Corum's smile had some bitterness in it.' 'And they are not gods, Jhary."
     
    "Not gods—or devils, either. Just men and women. How much happier would we be if we accepted that!'' And Jhary threw back his head and laughed suddenly. "But perhaps we should be more boring, too! We are both of us beginning to sound too pious, my friend. We are warriors, not holy men!"
     
    Corum repeated a question of the previous night. ‘ 'You know this land where I have decided to go. Shall you go there, too—tonight?"
     
    ' 'I am not my own master.'' Jhary began to pace the flagstones. "You know that, Corum."
     
    "I hope that you do."
     
    ' 'You have many manifestations in the Fifteen Planes, Corum. It could be that another Corum somewhere needs a companion and that I shall have to go with him."
     
    "But you are not sure?"
     
    "I am not sure."
     
    Corum shrugged. "If what you say is true—and I suppose I must accept that it is—then perhaps I shall meet another aspect of you, one who does not know his fate?"
     
    "My memory often fails me, as I have told you before. Just as yours fails you in this incarnation."
     
    "I hope that we shall meet on this new plane and that we shall recognize one another."
     
    "That is my hope, also, Corum."
     
    They played chess that evening and spoke little, and Corum went early to his bed. When the voices came, he spoke to them slowly: ' 'I shall come in armor and I shall be armed. I shall ride upon a red horse. You must call me with all your powers. I give you time to rest now. Gather your strength and in two hours begin the invocation.''
     
    In one hour Corum rose and went down to put his armor on, to dress himself in silk and samite, to have his ostler lead his horse into the courtyard. And when he was ready, with his reins in his gloved left hand and his silver hand upon the pommel of a poignard, he spoke to his retainers and told them that he rode upon a quest and that if he did not return they should throw open Castle Erorn to any traveller who needed shelter. They should also feast such travellers well, in Corum's name. Then he rode through the gates and down the slope and into the great wood, as he had ridden nearly a century before when his father and his mother and his sisters had been alive. But then he had ridden through the morning. Now he rode into the night, beneath the moon.
     
    Of all those in Castle Erorn, only Jhary-a-Conel had not bid goodbye to Corum.
     
    Now the voices grew louder in Corum's ears as he rode through the dark, ancient forest.
     
    "Corum! Corum!"
     
    Strangely, his body began to feel light. He touched spurs to the flanks of his horse and it broke into a gallop. "Corum! Corum!"
     
    "I am coming!" The stallion galloped harder, its hooves pounding the soft turf, plunging deeper and deeper into the dark