The Sailor on the Seas of Fate
The Sailor on the Seas of Fate is the second Elric book by Michael Moorcock. It is chronologically the third in the series (the events of The Fortress of the Pearl occur between Elric of Melniboné and Sailor on the Seas of Fate).
Plot
The book is divided into three parts.
Sailing to the Future
The story begins with Elric lost somewhere in the Young Kingdoms and near the sea. A mysterious ship appears and he is welcomed aboard by its captain and introduced to three other powerful warriors. The captain informs the adventurers that they are traveling across time and between realities. They have been found because they alone have the power to stop alien sorcerers from destroying their worlds. They come to understand that they (Elric, Erekosë, Dorian Hawkmoon, and Corum Jhaelen Irsei) are Eternal Champions and are actually four different iterations of the same being. The Champions are instructed that they must slay the evil beings and destroy their building by fire. Upon finding the dwelling place of the creatures they face many dangers within. The champion finds a sentient pool in a well that seems to be trying to communicate to its partner. The four champions assimilate into one eight armed being, and destroy the creature in the pool only to discover, the 'building' they have invaded is the body of the other creature. They destroy it and go their separate ways, with the memory of what happened fading like a dream.
Sailing to the Present
Elric encounters himself on another shore without the memory of his last adventure. He meets a sailor named Count Smiorgan Baldhead who accompanies Elric as they are followed by a mysterious riderless horse. Elric and Smiorgan find that they are in another world, one inhabited by a Melnibonéan nobleman named Saxif D’an. Saxif recognizes Elric but does not honor his sovereignty in this realm. Saxif is the subject of an old Melnibonean tale. In the legend, Saxif loved a half-human woman but she loved another; Prince Carolak. In the legend, Saxif kills the woman rather than see her with another, only to learn with her dying breath that she still loved him. Saxif is now obsessed with a woman, Vassliss, who resembles his dead love and Prince Carolak reveals himself on a horse and defeats Saxif.