Part 20 (1/2)
”All right,” he grunted ”All right! What's the young reprobate's nairl I have danced often before the satrap, Jungir Khan, and his mistress Nafertari, and before all the lords and royal ladies of Zamboula
Totrasmek desired me, and because I repulsed hiainst Alafdhal I asked a love potion of Totrasaveto mix with my lover's wine, and he swore that when Alafdhal drank it, he would love rantsecretly withs came about as I have told you Curse Totrasht his arm convulsively and both stopped short They had cohted, for the hour was late They were passing an alley, and in its , ht the weird glealy His skin crawled, not with fear of the sword in the estion of his posture and silence
They suggested irl aside and drew his sword
”Don't kill hied ”In the na overpower hi his sword in his right hand and clenching his left into a 177
mallet-like fist
He took a wary step toward the alley and with a horriblehis sword, rising on his toes as he put all the power of his body behind the blows Sparks flashed blue as Conan parried the blade, and the next instant thebuffet of Conan's left fist
The girl ran forward
”Oh, he is not he is not ”
Conan bent swiftly, turned the ers over hi at the nose, but anybody's likely to do that, after a clout on the jaw He'll coht In the meantime I'll tie his wrists with his sword-belt so Nohere do you want me to take hiure, seized the bound hands and scanned the her head as if in baffled disappointiant Ci breast Her dark eyes, like wet black jewels in the starlight, gazed up into his
”You are a man! Help me! Totrasmek must die! Slay hirunted
”Nay!” The slender ar as pliant steel, were around his corded neck Her supple body throbbed against his ”The Hyrkanians have no love for Totrasrel, who rules men by fear and superstition I worshi+p Set, and the Turanians bow to Erlik, but Totrasmek sacrifices to Hanuman the accursed! The Turanian lords fear his black arts and his power over the hybrid population, and they hate hiir Khan and his mistress Nafertari fear and hate hiht, they would not seek his slayer very closely”
”And what of hisman,” she answered ”To risk your life is part of your profession”
”For a price,” he ad on tip-toes, to gaze into his eyes The nearness of 178
her vibrant body drove a flah his veins The perfume of her breath mounted to his brain But as his arure she avoided the: ”Wait! First serve me in this matter”
”Name your price” He spoke with some difficulty
”Pick upthe tall form easily to his broad shoulder At the ir Khan's palace with equal ease The girl murmured an endearment to the unconscious man, and there was no hypocrisy in her attitude She obviously loved Alafdhal sincerely Whatever business arrange on her relationshi+p with Alafdhal
Wos than men What Alafdhal never kneould not hurt hi the street, while the Cimmerian strode easily after her, in no way discomforted by his li under arches, but saw nothing suspicious Doubtless the irl turned down a narrow side street, and presently knocked cautiously at an arched door
Almost instantly a wicket opened in the upper panel, and a black face glanced out She bent close to the opening, whispering swiftly Bolts creaked in their sockets, and the door opened A giant black low of a copper lalance showed Conan the man was not from Darfar His teeth were unfiled and his kinky hair was cropped close to his skull He was froave the li officer laid on a velvet divan He showed no signs of returning consciousness The blow that had rendered hiht have felled an ox Zabibi bent over hi Then she straightened and beckoned the Cimmerian
The door closed softly, the locks clicked behind thelow of the laht of the street Zabibi took Conan's hand Her own hand trembled a little
”You will not fail ainst the stars
”Then follow me to Hanuman's shrine, and the Gods havethe silent streets they moved like phantoirl was thinking of her lover lying senseless on the divan under the copper la with fear of what lay ahead of them in the de only of the wo so supply beside him The perfume of her scented hair was in his nostrils, the sensuous aura of her presence filled his brain and left roohts
Once they heard the clank of brazen-shod feet, and drew into the shadows of a gloo past There were fifteen of them; they marched in close formation, pikes at the ready, and the rear on their backs, to protect the menace of the black man-eaters was a threat even to ar of their sandals had receded up the street, Conan and the girl e place and hurried on A few moht loo ahead of them
The temple of Hanuman stood alone in the midst of a broad square, which lay silent and deserted beneath the stars Adirectly before the portico This opening had no gate or any sort of barrier
”Why don't the blacks seek their prey here?”to keep the of Zabibi's body as she pressed close to him
”They fear Totrasir Khan and Nafertari Coe flows froirl's fear was evident, but she did not falter Conan drew his sword and strode ahead of her as they advanced through the open gateway He knew the hideous habits of the priests of the East, and are that an invader of Hanuhtood chance that neither he nor the girl would ever leave the shrine alive, but he had risked his life too ht to that consideration
They entered a court paved with ht of broad reat bronze doors stood wide open as they had stood for centuries But no worshi+ppers burnt incense within In the day ht cos to the ape-God on the black altar At night the people shunned the temple of Hanuman as hares shun the lair of the serpent
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Burning censers bathed the interior in a soft weird glow that created an illusion of unreality
Near the rear wall, behind the black stone altar, sat the God with his gaze fixed for ever on the open door, through which for centuries his victiroove ran from the sill to the altar, and when Conan's foot felt it, he stepped away as quickly as if he had trodden upon a snake That groove had been worn by the faltering feet of the riht Hanuman leered with his carven ed as a man would sit, but his aspect was no less simian for that reason He was carved frolowed red and lustful as the coals of hell's deepest pits His great hands lay upon his lap, palross emphasis of his attributes, in the leer of his satyr-countenance, was reflected the aboenerate cult which deified hi toward the back wall, and when her sleek flank brushed against a carven knee, she shrank aside and shuddered as if a reptile had touched her
There was a space of several feet between the broad back of the idol and the old leaves On either hand, flanking the idol, an ivory door under a gold arch was set in the wall
”Those doors open into each end of a hair-pin shaped corridor,” she said hurriedly ”Once I was in the interior of the shrine once!” She shi+vered and twitched her sli and obscene ”The corridor is bent like a horseshoe, with each horn opening into this room Totrasmek's chambers are enclosed within the curve of the corridor and open into it But there is a secret door in this hich opens directly into an inner chaan to run her hands over the smooth surface, where no crack or crevice showed Conan stood beside her, sword in hand, glancing warily about hiination picturing what ht lie behind that wall,a trap
”Ah!” The girl had found a hidden spring at last; a square opening gaped blackly in the wall
Then: ”Set!” she screareat misshapen hand had fastened itself in her hair She was snatched off her feet and jerked headfirst through the opening Conan, grabbing ineffectually at her, felt his fingers slip from a naked limb, and in an instant she had vanished and the wall showed blank as before Only frole, a screaeal in his veins
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III
BLACK HANDS GRIPPING