Terhali's Particular Satisfaction, or Reading Through the Michael Moorcock Multiverse: Corum: The Coming of Chaos (The Swords Trilogy, 1971): Synopses

Mike Mignola

The Knight of the Swords (1971)

Introduction: Mankind (known as the Mabden), spreads across the Earth, conquering all that they encounter. The older, wiser races of the Vadhagh and the Nhadragh soon realize that their time is passing, but it is too late. However some, like Prince Corum Jhaelen Irsei, a Vadhagh, resist their fates.

Book One: In Which Prince Corum Learns A Lesson And Loses A Limb

At Castle Erorn: The thousand-year old Vadhagh ruler of Castle Erorn, Prince Khlonskey, and his son Corum discuss their waning abilities to travel between the five planes of existence. Prince Khlonskey tasks Corum with visiting his kin in other Vadhagh castles to see if this devolution is occuring in other members of the Older Races.
Prince Corum Sets Forth: Corum heads out from Castle Erorn and in several days passes the ruins of the Sky City, where the last great, multi-dimensional battle between the Vadhagh and the Nhadragh had taken place. He sees some rock structures which look like deformed castles, but is skeptical such decrepitude of a Vadhagh castle could be possible.
The Mabden Herd: Corum observes a procession of barbarian Mabden warriors make camp near a river. He is shocked and disgusted by their cruel ways, as they torture their (human) prisoners.
The Bane Of Beauty: The Doom Of Truth: Corum reaches Castle Crachah, now a smoking ruin. After discovering more destroyed Vadhagh castles, he learns from villagers that the Vadhagh are being hunted down by the Mabden Denledhyssi tribe, and any men who are friends to the Vadhagh are also enslaved. At the next castle he learns from a Nhadragh survivor that the few surviving Nhadragh have become slaves to the Mabden as well, and that the Denledhyssi horde has left for Corum’s own castle.
A Lesson Learned: Corum arrives home and finds his family massacred and the Denledhyssi celebrating before the burning castle. He attacks and kills several of the barbarians but is beaten in single combat by their leader Earl Glandyth-a-Krae.
The Maiming Of Corum: While Corum is chained to a board, Glandyth pokes out his right eye and cuts off his left hand. With his last remaining strength, Corum phases into an alternate plane, although he is still bound to the board. Unable to see him, the barbarians begin a search for their apparently escaped prisoner.
The Brown Man: Corum is rescued by Serwde, the mysterious, legendary Brown Man of Laahr, who serves the enigmatic Giant of Laahr. Taken out to the forest, Corum soon regains some strength and tries to go after Glandyth to claim vengeance. The Brown Man insists that the Giant of Laahr has ordered Corum to go towards a different goal and subsequently knocks him unconscious. Corum later awakes on a small island holding a single castle on it. He tries to swim away from the island as he sees Mabden approaching from the castle.
The Margravine Of Allomglyl: Corum almost drowns but is rescued by Beldan, a youth riding a giant bat. The bat takes them to the castle of Moidel’s Mount where Corum learns that the Mabden here are quite different and far more civillized than the Denledhyssi barbarians who had maimed him. He meets Rhalina of Allomglyll, the castle's Margravine (ruler of an outlying border outpost), and she explains that he is to recuperate there under orders from the enigmatic Giant of Laahr.
Concerning Love And Hatred: Corum and Rhalina quickly fall in love and months pass in peace. However, Corum eventually learns of a legend in which a sorcerer serving "the Gorged God" helps restore a legendary hero's amputated limbs. Obsessed with the possibility that there might be some truth to the story, Corum prepares to undertake a quest to seek out this sorcerer, despite Rhalina’s despair at his departure.
A Thousand Swords: Moidel’s Mount is suddenly approached by an army of Mabden. Corum soon learns that Earl Glandyth is behind this force and that he had tortured the Brown Man to death in order to find out Corum’s whereabouts.
The Summoning: Corum tries to buy time until the tide can come in and cut Glandyth’s main forces off from the castle for a time. He engages Glandyth in a duel, but Glandyth backs off in mid-fight and has his archers fire. Corum barely manages to escape back to the castle, but by this time the tide has come in, covering the connective causeway to the mainland and providing temporary relief from Glandyth’s attack. When the tide eventually goes out again, Glandyth throws his Pony Tribe allies against the castle’s defenses. While the Margravate’s soldiers defend the gates with archers and boiling lead, Rhalina is seen at the battlements mysteriously chanting off into the distance. Suddenly Glandyth’s forces retreat in a panic, as a phantom ship of animated corpses arrives, captained by Rhalina’s dead husband, the Margrave of Allomglyl.
The Margrave’s Bargain: Rhalina, in a trance, is drawn to the corpse ship by the Margrave. Corum tries to stop her but the Margrave tells him that Rhalina had obtained their aid through a bargain with Prince Shool-an-Jyvan, Lord of All That Is Dead in the Sea, the Gorged God. Since Corum seeks the Gorged God anyways, he accompanies Rhalina onto the corpse ship.

Book Two: In Which Prince Corum Receives A Gift And Makes A Pact

The Ambitious Sorcerer: The ship takes Corum and the entranced Rhalina to Prince Shool, who is a self-made god. He explains that he is at war with the Sword Lords, and blames the Knight of the Swords for allowing the Mabden to become so powerful. He tells Corum that if he can retrieve the Heart of the Knight of the Swords, Shool will release Rhalina. As a gesture of faith, Shool reunites Rhalina with Corum (and letting the Margrave die forever).
The Eye Of Rhynn And The Hand Of Kwll: Shool shows Corum the Eye Of Rhynn and the Hand Of Kwll, the last remains of two ancient superbeings who had destroyed each other in an era long past. Corum reluctantly accepts these gifts and wakes up with the objects grafted onto his body. Rhalina is horrified by his new additions.
Beyond The Fifteen Planes: Shool explains how he had obtained the island from the Gorged God, a minor relative of the Knight of the Swords named Pilproth. He explains that Corum’s new eye has the ability to see into many strange dimensions.

Book Three: In Which Prince Corum Achieves That Which Is Both Impossible And Unwelcome

The Wading God: Corum departs Shool’s island and heads north. Near the Thousand League Reef his boat is rocked by waves caused by a giant sea god wading nearby, pulling a giant net after him. The waves propel Corum towards a shore lined with cliffs.
Temgol-Lep: Corum’s boat is lost in the turbulence, but he makes it to shore. He is found by odd-looking natives (the Ragha-da-Kheta) and taken to their leader Temgol-Lep. Temgol-Lep tells Corum that Arioch, the Knight of the Swords, has decided that all of the other races are no longer relevent and that now is the time of the Mabden. Corum disagrees but accepts the king’s drink. The Hand of Kwll goes out of control and strangles Temgol-Lep before Corum can drink the potion. Corum then falls into a pit containing an unknown occupant.
The Dark Things Come: Corum meets the imprisoned Hanafax of Pengarde, and learns that the goblet from Temgol-Lep had probably been poisoned. Hanafax is from the same country as Rhalina and a rebel priest, opposed to Arioch. Corum uses the Hand of Kwll and the Eye of Rhynn to summons four shadowy creatures with scythes. They break Corum and Hanafax out of the prison and attack the Ragha-da-Kheta natives. Corum and Hanafax escape on Hanafax’s sorcerous kite and leave the City of Arke and the Ragha-da-Kheta.
In The Flamelands: Hanafax relates a legend that claims that the Vadhagh and other older races were created when the Lord of Order still existed on this world. After Order had been banished, the Chaos Lords decided to eliminate the older races and replace them with the Mabden, their own creation. Hanafax's kite takes the pair over a wall of flame and they crash in a hellish volcanic area. When they encounter armored warriors on lizard-like beasts, Corum uses the Hand and the Eye to summon his recent victims, Temgol-Lep and his Ragha-da-Kheta. They kill the Flameland warriors, but Corum realizes too late that these are actually armored Vadhagh warriors. The last Vadhagh, the blind Ooresé - Queen of Cira-an-Venl - appears and offers to show them the way to Duke Arioch's realm.
Through The Lion’s Mouth: As the trio approach the stone monument leading to Arioch’s realm, Hanafax begins to have some kind of internal mental struggle, apparently with his former patronage to Arioch. The Hand of Kwll reaches out of its own volition and kills him, despite Hanafax’s assurances of self-control. After briefly sighting a mysterious figure (later revealed to be Kwll himself), Corum enters a cave and is assailed by various surreal visions but manages to get through a silver and gold tunnel to reach the door to the Court of the Knight of the Swords.
The God Feasters: Inside, Corum finds a Dante-esque scene where a castle-sized Arioch lords over pathetic Mabden in a tableaux of filthy debauchery. Eventually Arioch notices Corum and in order to pass the time gives him a tour of his realm. Corum suspects Arioch’s Heart is hidden behind a door with the orange-lit “Sign of Chaos” (eight arrows radiating from a central hub).
The Bane Of The Sword Rulers: After a sleep period, Corum finds his way back to the Sign of Chaos, and opens the massive door with the aid of the Hand of Kwll. Inside, he finds other warriors previously sent by Shool, who had become immobilized by blue beams protecting a blue heart-shaped jewel. Corum is able to reach the blue heart and the Mabden warriors are unfrozen. They escape to the main floor where Arioch greets them and kills the briefly-liberated Mabden warriors. Corum is disconcerted to learn that he has done Arioch a favor by retrieving his Heart, which he could not have otherwise obtained without outside help. Reunited with his Heart, Arioch now has the power to expand his domain to other planes. He lifts Corum towards his mouth to swallow him, but the Hand of Kwll crushes the blue Heart and Arioch fades away, cursing.
A Pause In The Struggle: In a vision of Law and Chaos, the Balance decrees that Corum must right the balance, despite Corum’s reluctance to accept this burden. Lord Arkyn of Law appears and reveals that until this time he had only been able to retain a presence on this plane as the Giant of Laahr, but with Arioch gone he is now able to begin to retake his home. He thanks Corum and transports him back to Shool’s home. There he finds Shool has become decrepit, his power departed with Arioch’s banishment. Corum locates Rhalina, and as they depart the island they see Shool’s carnivorous plants eating their former master.

White Wolf Omnibus Interior (Don Maitz)

The Queen of the Swords (1971)

Book One: In Which Prince Corum Meets A Poet, Hears A Portent And Plans A Journey

What The Sea God Discarded: On the way home, Corum and Rhalina witness another passing of the gigantic Wading God. When they return to Moidel’s Mount, they receive a visitor, Jhary-a-Conel, an enigmatic yet likeable poet had been unceremoniously dumped near their castle when the Sea God had emptied his nets. Pledging a fateful allegiance to Corum, Jhary offers to have his flying cat Whiskers spy on Corum’s Mabden enemies at King Lyr’s Court in Kalenwyr.
The Gathering At Kalenwyr: At Lyr’s court, Earl Glandyth brings in a Nadhragh seer who reports on the slow return of the forces of Law across the realm (due to Arioch's demise). A cage of villagers is sacrificed to a fire, conjuring the bestial Dog and Bear gods of the Mabden to Lyr’s throne-room. The creatures tell Lyr that they will provide aid, but that Corum must be captured in order to act as a new vessel for Arioch to return in. Whiskers returns to Jhary to report on Glandyth's scheming.
Lywm-An-Esh: Corum and his friends abandon Moidel’s Mount and decide to go to Halwyg-nan-Vake (capital of the Mabden country of Lywm-an-Esh) in order to warn Rhalina’s people. On the way, they run into a priest of Chaos who tries to rally the skeptical citizens against Law’s return. Corum and his friends stop and give aid to Duke Gwelhen on the way to the capitol.
The Wall Between The Realms: Reaching Halwyg-nan-Vake, Corum is greeted by Lywm-an-Esh’s King Onald, who believes that they will be unable to resist Lyr’s superior forces. The heroes are then visited by Arkyn, the recently reinstated Lord of Law of this plane, who tells them that they must go to Queen Xiombarg’s plane and enlist aid from the City in the Pyramid. He conjures a door to Xiombarg’s plane, allowing Corum and his friends to instantly journey to a strange shore lying against black mountains.

Book Two: In Which Prince Corum And His Companions Gain The Further Enmity Of Chaos And Experience A Strange, New Form Of Sorcery

The Lake Of Voices: Black birds attack the heroes, and Corum is forced to use the Eye of Rhynn and the Hand of Kwll to call forth his earlier Vadhagh victims from the Flamelands. The damned Vadhagh dispatch the birds and tell Corum that he must next cross the Lake of Voices. As they approach the Lake, they hear countless pleading voices emanating from its placid surface.
The White River: The heroes defy the insane babbling emanating from the river and trick the River’s malevolent water sprite into releasing its imprisoned souls. Farther inland, they run into Noreg-Dan, a beaten-down “King Without a Country” whose people have become ensorcelled and mutated by Xiombarg. Using Noreg-Dan’s horse, they retrieve their boat from the Lake of Voices and set sail down the corrosive River of Milk, which spills out across the Blood Plain (dyed from blood spilled from a war between Law and Chaos). They become concerned when they see that the river leads to a waterfall.
Beasts Of The Abyss: The group leave the River of Milk and head inland, following the edge of a yellow-misted abyss. They end up being confronted by a bat-winged, shark-like Ghanh. Corum calls the birds that he had earlier dispatched with the Eye and the Hand, and they drive off the Ghanh and eventually kill it. After descending a stair cut into the wall of the abyss, they are captured by an animal–headed Chaos pack driving Chariots of Chaos. Corum again uses the Hand and the Eye to call the now-undead Ghanh from the Eye’s netherworld. After the Chaos pack is destroyed by the Ghanh, the group head into a nearby forest riding the pack’s Chariots.
The Frozen Army: After passing a frozen army of Xiombarg’s former foes, the heroes are threatened when Xiombarg sets her tentacled, chanting creatures the Karmanal of Zert on them. Jhary (who Xiombarg recognizes) reveals to her that she is in the presence of Corum, who had killed her brother Arioch. Xiombarg calls off the Karmanal, promising to invoke a much greater form of vengeance on Corum later, when she is ready.
The City In The Pyramid: An alien airship appears (apparently led back to them by Whiskers, had earlier been sent off on a search mission), and they are flown across a sea of Chaos to arrive at the City in the Pyramid (Gwlās-cor-Gwrys, a giant ziggurat structure). They learn that Gwlās-cor-Gwrys is a Vadhagh Sky City from Corum’s plane, which had long ago found itself stranded in Xiombarg’s realm while exploring other planes. Although they have been able to resist Xiombarg’s Chaos attacks (for the time being), they require special elements from Corum’s plane in order to return home. Corum and his friends borrow one of the Gwlās-cor-Gwrys’ airships to return to their home plane in order to retrieve the minerals needed by the lost Vadhagh people.

Book Three: In Which Prince Corum And His Companions Wage War, Win A Victory And Wonder At The Ways Of Law

The Horde From Hell: On the way back to Halwyg-nan-Vake, Corum and his friends save a farmer’s family from Lyr’s Mabden barbarians. Approaching the main city, the airship passes over Lyr’s main horde made up of Mabden and the inhuman Armies of the Dog and Bear Gods.
The Siege Begins: At Halwyg-nan-Vake, Corum and his friends see that the beseiged city will soon fall. At the temple they speak with Lord Arkyn, who is willing to search for the materials needed to bring Gwlās-cor-Gwrys back to its home plane. However, in order to buy time for Arkyn to do this, Corum is tasked with fighting Xiombarg’s representative, Prince Gaynor the Damned, who leads Lyr’s Mabden forces.
Prince Gaynor The Damned: Corum challenges Gaynor to a duel, but Gaynor treacherously calls for his inhuman Chaos army to attack Corum instead. Corum uses the Hand and the Eye to call for the undead Chaos pack captured in Xiombarg's plane to engage Gaynor’s forces. Gaynor’s forces are routed but Gaynor gains the upper hand in single combat with Corum.
The Barbarian Attack: The hand of Kwll comes to Corum’s aid once again and pulls off Gaynor’s helm, revealing his mutated face and banishing him from the plane. Lyr’s barbarians attack the castle but without Gaynor’s leadership their assaults are doomed to failure. Back at Onald's castle, Corum is summoned by Lord Arkyn, who gives Corum the alien elements needed by the City in the Pyramid in order to cross the planes back home. The City’s airship departs home with the special minerals. King Onald is killed in the next barbarian attack.
The Fury Of Queen Xiombarg: As the Army of the Dog and the Army of the Bear approach the city walls, Corum calls for a retreat back to the palace. As the Armies enter into the city limits, Corum uses the Hand to summon Gaynor’s recently-captured Chaos warriors to engage them. However, Lyr’s Mabden barbarians are so numerous that Corum and his supernatural undead slaves are forced to retreat back to the palace. Suddenly the Vadhagh Sky City of Gwlās-cor-Gwrys appears, followed by a furious Xiombarg apparently in hot pursuit. Noreg-Dan gives Corum an advanced Vadhagh weapon which Corum immediately uses to kill King Lyr (whose forces have now breached the palace barriers). The airships of the Vadhagh decimate Lyr’s remaining Mabden. Arkyn appears and declares that Xiombarg’s appearance in this plane is a violation of the rules of the Balance. Xiombarg is defiant, but the Balance appears and banishes her. Corum is greeted by the Vadhagh Prince Yurette, who promises to restore the glory of the Vadhagh to this plane.

Epilogue: Earl Glandyth-A-Krae, absent from Lyr's man attack, sees the carnage from a distance and realizes that Lyr’s Mabden force has been destroyed. He plans revenge at a later date.

Berkley, Ken Barr

The King of the Swords (1971)

Book One: In Which Prince Corum Sees Serenity Transformed Into Strife.

The Shape on the Hill: Now living with his friends at his ancestral home of Castle Erorn, Corum sights a furtive, somewhat familiar shape skulking amongst the trees on a hill. He and Jhary briefly feel a sense of anger towards each other, possibly caused by the figure’s presence (or possibly something unrelated). Rhalina reports that recently she has also been unseemingly angry towards her retainers.
The Sickness Spreads: Corum, Jhary and Rhalina all feel something which is making them increasingly hate each other. When visitors from Prince Yurette’s restored Vadhagh city arrive they also show signs of extreme self-destructive tendencies and start attacking.
Chaos Returned: Corum and Jhary are forced to kill the maddened Vadhagh. Jhary produces an elixir which halts the madness, but unfortunately also causes drowsiness. They depart in an airship towards Lywm-an-Esh to seek out Lord Arkyn’s advice.
A New Ally for Earl Glandyth: Meanwhile, Jhary’s cat Whiskers is drawn to the Nhadragh reservation Maliful and sees Earl Glandyth and his Nhadragh wizard-slave Ertil summon a demon named Yyrkoon from the plane of the King of the Swords, Mabelode. Whiskers learns that Glandyth's Nhadragh had been the one responsible for the Cloud of Contention causing so much bloodthirtiness aboad and amongst Corum and his friends. However, Glandyth is unsatisfied with this form of passive harassment, and states that he is willing to sacrifice his own humanity in order to gain enough power to destroy Corum personally.
The Deserted City: Corum and his friends arrive at Halwyg-nan-Vake ("City of the Flowers") but find the city deserted. They find Aleryon, a Priest of Law, and learn that the citizens are all running berserk in the fields. They try to summon Lord Arkyn but there is no response. Soon Glandyth’s inhuman, dragonlike creatures approach the city. Corum tries to use the Hand and the Eye to call forth allies, but they do not work for some reason.
The Weary God: Arkyn finally appears, weakened from fighting Mabelode on so many planes. He tells Corum that his only hope is to find an answer in Tanelorn, and that he must use the Vadhagh airship to cross the planes in search of it. Glandyth’s winged forces attack and Jhary is able to pilot the airship into a void between planes to escape the evilly-transformed creatures.

Book Two: In Which Prince Corum And His Companions Learn The Full Import Of What Chaos Is And What It Intends To Become And Discover Something More Concerning The Nature Of Time And Identity.

Chaos Unbounded: While stuck in an unknown limbo, the heroes are witness to scenes from the lives of various other Eternal Champions (Elric in final battle with the Lords of Chaos, Erekosë at the gates of Loos Ptokai, Hawkmoon fighting Granbretan armies at the final battle of Londra). Eventually they land in Mabelode’s plane, a chaotic realm of constant flux.
The Castle Built of Blood: Corum’s airship is drawn to a red castle which reeks of blood (and is later revealed to be made of it). They encounter a Duke of Hell named Teer, an underling of Mabelode’s . They try to trick Duke Teer into thinking that they are on an errand for Mabelode, but their subterfuge is tested when Teer demands Rhalina’s blood as payment for their unannounced visit.
The Rider on the Yellow Horse: In the distance, Earl Glandyth’s pursuit forces appear and approach. Jhary and Corum convince Duke Teer that Glandyth is actually Corum, the famous enemy of Chaos, and use the confusion to escape in a last-ditch shift between planes. The airship explodes and Corum finds himself alone in a small rural town. Briefly cared for by the town doctor, he soon spies a human figure who has a hand and eye similar to his own. Jhary suddenly appears and warns Corum that it is very dangerous for him to exist in the same realm as one of his other close incarnations.
The Manor in the Forest: Jhary reveals that they have been thrown beyond their own Fifteen Planes and into a different universe and time, to a place called Kernow (Cornwall). This world is a medieval world which is apparently a future version of Corum’s own, with slightly more advanced technology. After defeating some superstitious villagers, they eventually find the Manor home of the seeress Lady Jane Pentallyon.
The Lady Jane Pentallyon: The mysterious, aged Lady Jane describes how she had once conjured up a Vadhagh (“elf”) to her own world to be her lover, only to see her Egyptian co-conspirator friend Aireda become jealous and summon additional demonic creatures to kill her rival (but killing Aireda herself in the process). Lady Jane gives Corum a “witch-knife” which she says he will need during the coming conjunction of the spheres (planes).
Sailing on the Seas of Time: Lady Jane's "Friar" friend, Bolorhiag, arrives and recognizes Jhary as someone named Timeras. Corum and Jhary board Bolorhiag’s timeship and they sail the ever-changing seas of time into the future, as the world changes around them.
The Land of Tall Stones: Corum sees that their destination is filled with standing stones, apparently erected for artistic effect by its inhabitants. Bolorhiag tells them that they must search out the “Vanishing Tower” in order to get back to their own plane. He also tells Corum that he will have to summon the “Three-Who-Are-One”. Corum and Jhary soon find the vanishing, time-travelling tower of Voilodion Ghagnasdiak, but right after Jhary enters, the door locks shut, stranding Corum outside. The tower then vanishes.
Into the Small Storm: Wandering alone in the marshes, Corum is suddenly drawn up into the Wading God’s temporal net and cast on yet another plane. There, he obtains horses and heads towards Darkvale. Soon he comes across a strange, locally-contained lightning storm. Using the Lady Jane’s witch-knife and Bolorhiag’s instructions, he is able to summon Elric of Melniboné from the storm (taking Elric away from his attack on Theleb K’aarna during The Sleeping Sorceress). Elric agrees to help Corum penetrate the Vanishing Tower and they eventually come across Erekosë waiting for them along their journey. Together, the three Champions head towards Darkvale to face Voilodion Ghagnasdiak and find Tanelorn.

Book Three: In Which Prince Corum Discovers Far More Than Tanelorn.

Voilodion Ghagnasdiak: When the tower reappears in the pass of Darkvale, the three Champions quickly enter it to confront Voilodion Ghagnasdiak, a dwarf. Voilodion Ghagnasdiak conjures up armed, winged tiger-men, which the heroes are hard-pressed to fend off until Elric realizes that the tiger-men can only be harmed by their own blades. Nonetheless, the heroes are still worn down by the unending army until Jhary-a-Conel appears with Whiskers, who uses his claws to blind the evil dwarf. On Jhary’s advice, the three heroes then link arms to multiply their strength (as the "Three-Who-Are-One"). With the battle won, the tower begins to come apart. Jhary-A-Conel quickly leads them down to Voilodion Ghagnasdiak’s treasure vault where he retrieves the Runestaff (and his signature hat).
To Tanelorn: The Runestaff transports the quartet back to the Sighing Desert (of Elric’s world), after which Theleb K’aarna’s dimensional machine transports Corum and Jhary to a path just outside of Tanelorn.
The Conjunction of the Million Spheres: Tanelorn appears to be a beautiful, blue-hued city, but in this particular incarnation (unlike versions seen in Rackhir and Elric's stories) appears to be abandoned. Eventually they come across a strange, multi-limbed statue encrusted with jewels. They soon find that this entity is actually Kwll, whose hand Corum has been using all this time. Jhary realizes that the Three-Who-Are-One were called together not by the Balance but by Kwll (in an elaborate plot to regain his hand), and that all of this was possible only due to the Conjunction of the Million Spheres. He also realizes that it was Kwll’s shadow that he had seen in the snow at Castle Erorn. Corum returns Kwll’s hand (and Rhynn’s Eye), freeing the godlike creature from his imprisonment in Tanelorn, and then bargains for his aid. Kwll declares that there is no reason for him to repay Corum for returning his lost hand, but Jhary convinces him that it is in his best interests to honor his debts to an Eternal Champion.
The King of the Swords: Kwll brings them to a castle formed in the shape of Rhalina. Inside, they are greeted by Mabelode the Faceless, who has created his castle in the shape of Rhalina in order to lure Corum to see him (in order to claim vengeance for the fates of Arioch and Xiombarg). He claims that he had tried to capture Corum when the Vadhagh airship had exploded earlier, but somehow he had escaped (through Kwll?). A confident Kwll confronts Mabelode and his many Dukes of Hell. However, before the battle between the gods begins, Kwll sends Corum, Jhary and Rhalina back to their own plane. Corum and Rhalina arrive at Moidel’s Mount and Corum throws the Eye of Rhynn into the sea, as instructed by Qwll.
The Last of Glandyth: Departing Castle Erorn, the heroes see the Wading God in the ocean. They journey to Malifel and discover that the Nhadragh sorceror Ertil has succumbed to his own Cloud of Contention, and is slowly eating himself to death. Earl Glandyth soon appears with his black Chaos creatures and Corum challenges him to single combat (despite now without an eye and hand again). When the Wading God suddenly appears, Glandyth is distracted and Corum is able to strike a killing blow. The Wading God (revealed to be Rhynn) and Qwll eliminate the remainder of Earl Glandyth’s Denledhyssi barbarians. Afterwards Qwll states that he and Rhynn have destroyed the Lords of Chaos. He also reports that they have destroyed the Lords of Law for good measure, ensuring peace (at least from Law and Chaos Lords) in the Fifteen Planes. With no manipulating gods interfering in his life, Corum looks forward to growing old uneventfully with Rhalina, but Jhary departs in search of more adventure.

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