Part 26 (1/2)

She felt herself half dragged, half lifted up the winding stair, while Conan released her and turned on the steps, his ears and instincts telling him their foes were hard at their backs And the sounds were not all those of hu up the steps, soht a chill in the air with it Conan lashed doith his great sword and felt the blade shear through soht have been flesh and bone, and cut deep into the stair beneath So touched his foot that chilled like the touch of frost, and then the darkness beneath hi, and aup the winding staircase, and through a door that stood open at the head

Valeria and Techotl were already through, and Techotl slammed the door and shot a bolt across it the first Conan had seen since they left the outer gate

Then he turned and ran across the well-lighted chah the farther door, Conan glanced back and saw the door groaning and straining under heavy pressure violently applied froh Techotl did not abate either his speed or his caution, he seemed more confident now

He had the air of a man who has come into familiar territory, within call of friends

But Conan renewed his terror by asking: ”What was that thing that I fought on the stair?”

”Theback ”I told you the halls were full of therunted Conan ”It was so that crawled, and it was as cold as ice to the touch I think I cut it asunder It fell back on theus, and must have killed one of them in its death throes”

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Techotl's head jerked back, his face ashy again Convulsively he quickened his pace

”It was the Crawler! A ht out of the catacombs to aid them! What it is, we do not know, but we have found our people hideously slain by it In Set's name, hasten! If they put it on our trail, it will follow us to the very doors of Tecuhltli!”

”I doubt it,” grunted Conan ”That was a shrewd cut I dealt it on the stair”

”Hasten! Hasten!” groaned Techotl

They ran through a series of green-lit chaiant bronze door

Techotl said: ”This is Tecuhltli!”

III

THE PEOPLE OF THE FEUD

TECHOTL smote on the bronze door with his clenched hand, and then turned sidewise, so that he could watch back along the hall

”Men have been sht they were safe,” he said

”Why don't they open the door?” asked Conan

”They are looking at us through the Eye,” answered Techotl ”They are puzzled at the sight of you” He lifted his voice and called: ”Open the door, Xecelan! It is I, Techotl, with friends froreat world beyond the forest! They will open,” he assured his allies

”They'd better do it in a hurry, then,” said Conan gri the floor beyond the hall”

Techotl went ashy again and attacked the door with his fists, screa: ”Open, you fools, open! The Crawler is at our heels!”

Even as he beat and shouted, the great bronze door swung noiselessly back, revealing a heavy chain across the entrance, over which spearheads bristled and fierce countenances regarded them intently for an instant Then the chain was dropped and Techotl grasped the ared thelance over his 226

shoulder just as the door was closing showed Conan the long dim vista of the hall, and dimly framed at the other end an ophidian shape that writhed slowly and painfully into view, flowing in a dull-hued length fro drunkenly

Then the closing door shut off the view

Inside the square chamber into which they had come heavy bolts were drawn across the door, and the chain locked into place The door was uard, of the same lank-haired, dark-skinned breed as Techotl, with spears in their hands and swords at their hips In the wall near the door there was a couessed was the Eye Techotl had ed that a narrow, crystal-paned slot in the wall could be looked through frouardsers onder, but asked no question, nor did Techotl vouchsafe any information He moved with easy confidence now, as if he had shed his cloak of indecision and fear the instant he crossed the threshold

”Colanced toward the door

”What about those felloere following us? Won't they try to storm that door?”

Techotl shook his head

”They know they cannot break down the Door of the Eagle They will flee back to Xotalanc, with their crawling fiend Come! I will take you to the rulers of Tecuhltli”

ONE of the four guards opened the door opposite the one by which they had entered, and they passed through into a hallhich, like hted by both the slot-like skylights and the clusters of winking fire-gems But unlike the other rooms they had traversed, this hall showed evidences of occupation Velvet tapestries adorned the glossy jade walls, rich rugs were on the crimson floors, and the ivory seats, benches and divans were littered with satin cushi+ons

The hall ended in an ornate door, before which stood no guard Without ceremony Techotl thrust the door open and ushered his friends into a broad cha on satin-covered couches sprang up with exclamations of amazement

The men, all except one, were of the sae-eyed, though not unbeautiful in a weird dark way They wore sandals, golden breast-plates, and scanty silk skirts supported by geirdles, and their black manes, cut square at their naked shoulders, were bound with silver circlets

227

On a wide ivory seat on a jade dais sat a man and a woiant, with an enormous sweep of breast and the shoulders of a bull Unlike the others, he was bearded, with a thick, blue-black beard which fell alirdle He wore a robe of purple silk which reflected changing sheens of color with his every movement, and one wide sleeve, drawn back to his elbow, revealed a forearm massive with corded muscles The band which confined his blue-black locks was set with glittering jewels

The wo to her feet with a startled excla over Conan, fixed the intensity on Valeria She was tall and lithe, by far the most beautiful woman in the room She was clad more scantily even than the others; for instead of a skirt she wore ilt-worked purple cloth fastened to the irdle which fell below her knees Another strip at the back of her girdle completed that part of her costume, which she ith a cynical indifference Her breast-plates and the circlet about her teems In her eyes alone of all the dark-skinned people there lurked no brooding gleam of madness She spoke no word after her first excla at Valeria

The man on the ivory seat had not risen

”Prince Ol loith arms outspread and the pal allies from the world beyond the forest In the Cha Skull slew Chic Skull!” It was a shuddering whisper of fear from the people of Tecuhltli

”Aye! Then ca with his throat cut Before I could flee, the Burning Skull came upon me, and when I looked upon it my blood became as ice and the ht nor run I could only await the stroke Then came this white-skinned woman and struck hi of Xotalanc hite paint upon his skin and the living skull of an ancient wizard upon his head! Now that skull lies inore it is a dead ed the last sentence, and was echoed in the low, savage excla listeners

”But wait!” exclaimed Techotl ”There is more! While I talked with the woman, four Xotalancas cah to prove how desperate was the fight Two the woman killed But ere hard pressed when this man came into the fray and split the skull of the fourth! Aye! Five crieance!”

228

He pointed at a black column of ebony which stood behind the dais Hundreds of red dots scarred its polished surface the bright scarlet heads of heavy copper nails driven into the black wood

”Five red nails for five Xotalanca lives!” exulted Techotl, and the horrible exultation in the faces of the listeners made them inhuman

”Who are these people?” asked Olmec, and his voice was like the low, deep rumble of a distant bull None of the people of Xuchotl spoke loudly It was as if they had absorbed into their souls the silence of the empty halls and deserted chambers