Summary: his triad of tales begins with Sailing to the Future. Elric is 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. In Sailing to the Present, Elric finds himself on another shore without the memory of his last adventure. He meets a sailor called 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 legend. Finally, in Sailing to the Past, Elric and Smiorgan, after passing through the Crimson Gate, are saved from drowning by Duke Avan and his men. Duke Avan is travelling to find R’lin K’Ren A’a, the ancestral city of the Melnibonéans, where he seeks two rare gems purported to be the eyes of a large jade statue of Arioch. Elric and Smiorgan decide to join him on the voyage.
