Only when I looked up the year in which this novella was written, I noticed that this one was very new. All the other novellas in the omnibus are written in the early sixties till 1971. I did not notice any difference in writing style and that is a good sign I guess.
In this new tale, Elric, the albino prince of Melniboné, encounters the ghost of his father, Sadric and he has a task for Elric.
His father's soul is hostage to the rivalries between Elric's patron Arioch, the Lord of Hell, and Count Mashabak of Chaos. Elric must free his father's soul, which is hidden in a box of black rosewood, so that Sadric can join Elric's mother in the Forest of Souls. If Elric succeeds both are released, if he fails his father's soul will leave its prison and enter Elric till he dies. Because there is still much hatred between them, Elric doesn't like the prospect of being united with his father. So he sets off to find Sadric's soul.
As I mentioned earlier, the writing style is exactly the same as in the older novellas; full of doom and gloom, of Stormbringer murmuring and feasting upon souls, of scarlet eyes blazing and Elric in all his power in the centre of it.
It is a treat!