Part 37 (1/2)
The Gods be thanked!” He lifted quivering hands on high and then, with a fiendish convulsing of his dark features he spat on the corpses and kicked thelee His recent allies eyed him in amazement, and Conan asked, in Aquilonian: ”Who is this ed her shoulders
”He says his naather that his people live at one end of this crazy city, and these others at the other end Maybe we'd better go with hi and he turned to the with fear in his repellant countenance
”Come away, now!” he chattered ”Come on! Cos! Not in years have we slain soa man nay, one man we lost, but we slew five! My people will honor you! But come! It is far to Techulthli At any reat even for your swords!”
”All right,” grunted Conan ”Lead the way”
Techotl turned instantly andthe to move swiftly to keep on his heels
”What sort of a place can this be?” muttered Valeria under her breath
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”Croh There's a tribe of the on the shores of Lake Zuad, near the Kushi+te border They're a sort of ians, ia froo, and were absorbed by the to bet they didn't build this city, though”
They were traversing a series of chambers and halls and Techotl's fear did not see his head on his shoulder to stare back fearfully and strain his ears for sounds of pursuit
”They may have prepared an aet out of this infernal palace, and take to the streets?” demanded Valeria
”There are no streets in Xuchotl,” he answered ”No squares or open courts All the buildings are connected; rather, all are under one great roof The only doors opening into the outer world are the city-gates through which no one has passed for fifty years”
”How long have you dwelt here?” asked Conan
”I was born in Tecuhltli, and I am thirty-five years old For the love of the Gods, let us be silent! These hallsdevils Olmec shall tell you all e reach Tecuhltli”
Theyoverhead and the fla under their feet, and it seeuided by a lank-haired goblin
Through di corridors they moved swift and silent, until Conan halted them
”You think so to ah these halls at all hours,” answered Techotl ”As do we The chambers and corridors between Techuhltli and Xecalanc are a hunting ground owned by no man Why do you ask?”
”Because men are in the chaainst stone”
Again a shaking seized Techotl and he clenched his teeth to keep the
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”Perhaps they are your friends,” suggested Valeria
”We can not chance it,” he answered, and moved with frenzied activity He wheeled aside and led theed recklessly
”It reat beads of perspiration standing out on his brow ”But we must chance it that they have laid their aroped their way along the black corridor and were presently galvanized by the sound of a door opening softly behind them Men had come into the corridor behind them
”Swiftly!” panted Techotl, a note of hysteria in his voice, and fled away down the corridor
Conan and Valeria followed hi feet drew closer and closer Their pursuers knew the corridor better than he did He wheeled suddenly and sely in the dark, felt his blade jar horoan and fall The next instant the corridor was flooded with light as Techotl threw open a door
Conan followed the Tecuhltli and the girl through the door, and Techotl slammed it and shot a bolt across it the first Conan had seen on any door
Then he turned and ran across the charoaned and strained inward under heavy pressure violently applied Conan and Valeria followed their guide through a series of well-lighted cha a broad hall They paused at a powerful bronze door, and Techotl said: ”This is Tecuhltli!”
CHAPTER
He knocked cautiously and then stepped back and waited Conan decided that the people on the other side of the door had so whoever stood before it Presently the door swung noiselessly back, revealing a heavy chain across the entrance Spear heads bristled and a fierce countenance regarded them suspiciously before the chain was removed
Techotl led the way in and as soon as Conan and Valeria were inside, the door was closed, heavy bolts drawn, and the chain locked into place Four men stood there, of the same lank- haired, dark-skinned breed as Techotl, with spears in their hands and swords at their hips They regarded the strangers with amazement, but asked no questions
They had come into a square chauards opened the door and they entered the hall which, like the guard-chaht on each side of which winked the green fire-gems
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”I will take you to Olhtaway led them down the hall and into a broad chaed on satin- covered couches These sat up and stared in wonder The men were of the same type as Techotl, all except one, and the woe-eyed, but were not unbeautiful in a weird dark way They wore sandals, gold breast-plates, and scanty silk skirts supported by geirdles, and their black manes, cut square at their shoulders, were confined by silver circlets
On a wide ivory seat on a jade dais sat a man and a woiant as tall as the Cimmerian and heavier, 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 sheens of changing color with his every motion, and one wide sleeve, drawn back to his elbow, revealed a forearm massive with corded muscles The band which confined his thick black locks was set with sparkling jewels
The wo to her feet with a startled exclaht of Valeria, was tall and lithe, by far the most beautiful woman in the room She was clad evenly more scantily than the others, for instead of a skirt, she wore ilt-worked cloth fastened to the irdle, which fell below her knees Another at the back of her girdle completed that part of her costume Her breast-plates and the circlet about her te to her feet as the strangers entered Her eyes, passing over Conan, fixed the intensity on Valeria The people in the cha theers saw no children
”Prince Ol loith ar allies fro Skull slew Chic Skull!” the people breathed fearfully
”Aye! Then ca with his throat cut Before I could flee the Living Skull calare of his eyes I became as one paralyzed I could not move I could only await the stroke Then came this white-skinned wo of Xecalanc hite paint upon his skin and ahiic of the Xecalancas had invoked from the catacombs But he was only a man, and now he is a dead ed the last sentence, and was echoed in the low, savage 329
excla people
”But wait!” exclaimed Techotl ”There is more! While I talked with the woman, four Xecalancas 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!”
He pointed to a black column of ebony which stood behind the dais Hundreds of red dots showed there the bright scarlet heads of heavy nails driven into the black wood