Part 4 (1/2)
Muriela was on her knees clutching Conan's legs; her face pressed against his knee and her eyes tightly shut She was a quaking, quivering lance across at the aperture where the stars shone, a glance down at the chest that still blazed open on the blood-sarated ”Stay here!”
”Oh Mitra, no!” In an agony of fright she fell to the floor and caught at his sandals ”Don't!
Don't! Don't leave me!”
”Lie still and keep yourhiarded the tortuous stair He dropped fron of the monsters as his feet hit the floor A few of the torches still flared in their sockets, the phosphorescent glow throbbed and quivered, and the river floith an al, scintillant with undrealow that had heralded the appearance of the servants had vanished with theht of the jewels in the brass chest shi+ its contents in one lustful glance strange curiously-shapen stones that burned with an icy, nonterrestrial fire He slammed the lid, thrust the chest under his arm, and ran back up the steps He had no desire to encounter the hellish servants of Bit-Yakin
His gli their fighting ability Why 44
they had waited so long before striking at the invaders he was unable to say What huhts of these ence equal to humanity had been demonstrated And there on the cavern floor lay crimson proof of their bestial ferocity
The Corinthian still cowered on the gallery where he had left her He caught her wrist and yanked her to her feet, grunting: ”I guess it's tio!”
Too be on, the girl suffered herself to be led across the dizzy span It was not until they were poised over the rushi+ng water that she looked down, voiced a startled yelp and would have fallen but for Conan's ation in her ear, he snatched her up under his free ars, across the arch and into the aperture that opened at the other end Without bothering to set her on her feet, he hurried through the short tunnel into which this aperture opened An instant later they ee on the outer side of the cliffs that circled the valley Less than a hundred feet below the down, Conan vented a gusty sigh of relief He believed that he could negotiate the descent, even though burdened with the jewels and the girl; although he doubted if even he, unburdened, could have ascended at that spot He set the chest, still sa's blood and clotted with his brains, on the ledge, and was about to reirdle in order to tie the box to his back, when he was galvanized by a sound behind him, a sound sinister and unmistakable
”Stay here!” he snapped at the bewildered Corinthian ”Don't laring back into the cavern
Half way across the upper span he saw a grey, deformed shape One of the servants of Bit- Yakin was on his trail There was no doubt that the brute had seen theht be easier to defend the ht must be finished quickly, before the other servants could return
He ran out on the span, straight toward the onco monster It was no ape, neither was it ahorror spawned in the e life tee rot without the dominance of man, and drums thundered in temples that had never known the tread of a huained lordshi+p over them and with it eternal exile from humanity was a foul riddle about which Conan did not care to speculate, even if he had had opportunity
Man and hest arch of the span, where, a hundred feet below, rushed the furious black water As the rey body and the features of a 45
carven, unhuer strikes, with every ounce of thew and fury behind the blow That stroke would have sheared a human body asunder; but the bones of the servant of Bit-Yakin were like tempered steel Yet even tempered steel could not wholly have withstood that furious stroke Ribs and shoulder bone parted and blood spouted froash
There was no time for a second stroke Before the Ci clear, the sweep of a giant arm knocked hied doard the rush of the river was like a knell in his ears, but his twisting body fell half-way across the lower arch He wavered there precariously for one blood-chilling instant, then his clutching fingers hooked over the further edge, and he scrambled to safety, his sword still in his other hand
As he sprang up, he saw theblood hideously, rush toward the cliff-side of the bridge, obviously intending to descend the stair that connected the arches and renew the battle
At the very ledge the brute paused in ht and Conan saw it too Muriela, with the jewel chest under her ar wildly in the mouth of the tunnel
With a triumphant bellow the monster scooped her up under one arm, snatched the jewel chest with the other hand as she dropped it, and turning, lue Conan cursed with passion and ran for the other side also He doubted if he could cliher arch in tie into the labyrinths of tunnels on the other side
But the ushed in torrents froash in his breast, and he lurched drunkenly from side to side Suddenly he stu from the arch and hurtled doard
Girl and jewel chest fell fro terribly above the snarl of the water below
Conan was almost under the spot from which the creature had fallen The ly and shot off, but the writhing figure of the girl struck and clung, and the chest hit the edge of the span near her One falling object struck on one side of Conan and one on the other Either ithin arth; for the fraction of a split second the chest teetered on the edge of the bridge, and Muriela clung by one arm, her face turned desperately toward Conan, her eyes dilated with the fear of death and her lips parted in a haunting cry of despair
Conan did not hesitate, nor did he even glance toward the chest that held the wealth of an epoch With a quickness that would have shairl's arers slipped from the smooth stone, and snatched her up on the span with one explosive heave The chest toppled on over and struck the water ninety feet belohither the body of the servant of Bit-Yakin had already vanished A splash, a jetting 46
flash of foam marked where the Teeth of Gwahlur disappeared for ever frolance He darted across the span and ran up the cliff stair like a cat, carrying the liirl as if she had been an infant A hideous ululation caused hiher arch, to see the other servants strea fros They raced up the stair that wound up froirl uncereh the tunnel and went down the cliffs like an ape hi from hold to hold with breakneck recklessness When the fierce countenances looked over the ledge of the aperture, it was to see the Ci into the forest that surrounded the cliffs
”Well,” said Conan, setting the girl on her feet within the sheltering screen of branches, ”we can take our time now I don't think those brutes will follow us outside the valley Anyway, I've got a horse tied at a water-hole close by, if the lions haven't eaten hi about now?”
She covered her tear-stained face with her hands, and her slim shoulders shook with sobs
”I lost the jewels for you,” she wailed miserably ”It was e, that brute would never have seen ereed ”But forget it Never worry about what's past And stop crying, will you? That's better Co to keep me? Take me with you?” she asked hopefully
”What else do you suppose I'd do with you?” He ran an approving glance over her voluptuous figure and grinned at the torn skirt which revealed a generous expanse of te ivory-tinted curves ”I can use an actress like you There's no use going back to Keshi+a There's nothing in Keshan now that I want We'll go to Punt The people of Punt worshi+p an ivory woold out of the rivers in wicker baskets I'll tell the with Thutmekri to enslave them which is true and that the Gods have sent old If I can e places with their ivory Goddess, we'll skin theh with them!”
47
Beyond the Black River Beyond the Black River I
CONAN LOSES HIS AXE
The stillness of the forest trail was so pri disturbance At least it see the path with the caution that must be practised by anyht, with an open countenance and a arb was coh for that country a coarse tunic, belted at the waist, short leather breeches beneath, and soft buckskin boots that came short of the knee A knife hilt jutted from one boot-top The broad leather belt supported a short heavy sword, and a buckskin pouch There was no perturbation in the wide eyes that scanned the green walls which fringed the trail Though not tall, he ell built, and the arms that the short wide sleeves of the tunic left bare were thick with corded h the last settler's cabin lay ri shadow over the ancient forest
He was not h he well knew that the faint tread of his booted feet would be like a tocsin of alar in the treacherous green fastness His careless attitude was not genuine; his eyes and ears were keenly alert; especially his ears, for no gaze could penetrate the leafy tangle for more than a few feet in either direction
But it was instinct ht him up suddenly, his hand on his hilt He stood stock-still in thehis breath, wondering what he had heard, and wondering if he had heard anything The silence seemed absolute Not a squirrel chattered or bird chirped Then his gaze fixed itself on a mass of bushes beside the trail a few yards ahead of him There was no breeze, yet he had seen a branch quiver The short hairs on his scalp prickled, and he stood for an instant undecided, certain that aat hi crunch sounded behind the leaves The bushes were shaken violently, and 48
simultaneously with the sound, an arrow arched erratically fro the trail The wayfarer gli frantically to cover
Crouching behind a thick steers, he saw the bushes part, and a tall figure stepped leisurely into the trail The traveller stared in surprize The stranger was clad like hih the latter were of silk instead of leather
But he wore a sleeveless hauberk of dark mesh-mail in place of a tunic, and a helaze; it ithout a crest, but adorned by short bull's horns No civilized hand ever forged that head-piece Nor was the face below it that of a civilizedblue eyes, it was a face as untaround The e was smeared with crimson
”Come on out!” he called, in an accent unfamiliar to the wayfarer ”All's safe now There was only one of the dogs Coed dubiously and stared at the stranger He felt curiously helpless and futile as he gazed on the proportions of the forest man the massive iron-clad breast, and the arm that bore the reddened sword, burned dark by the sun and ridged and corded with erous ease of a panther; he was too fiercely supple to be a product of civilization, even of that fringe of civilization which co, he stepped back to the bushes and pulled them apart Still not certain just what had happened, the wayfarer from the east advanced and stared down into the bushes A man lay there, a short, dark, thickly-muscled man, naked except for a loin cloth, a necklace of human teeth and a brass arirdle of the loin cloth, and one hand still gripped a heavy black bow Theblack hair; that was about all the wayfarer could tell about his head, for his features were a mask of blood and brains His skull had been split to the teeth