Part 17 (1/2)
Conan jangled his keys discouragedly
”The grille to the outer door is made fast by a bolt which can be worked only from the outside
Is there no other exit from these tunnels?”
”Only one, which neither of us would care to use, seeing that it goes down and not up,”
laughed Pelias ”But no rille”
He -unused liradually became more sure As he followed Conan re about this tunnel Let us be wary lest we step into his rimly, ”the more as I was forced to watch while ten of my acolytes were fed to him He is Satha, the Old One, chiefest of Tsotha's pets”
”Did Tsotha dig these pits for no other reason than to house his cursedtheo there were ruins of an earlier city on and about this hill King Khossus V, the founder, built his palace on the hill, and digging cellars beneath it, came upon a walled-up doorhich he broke into and discovered the pits, which were about as we see therisly end in theain He said the vizier fell into a well but he had the cellars filled in, and later abandoned the palace itself, and built himself another in the suburbs, fro some black
”He then departed with his whole court to the eastern corner of the kingdom and built a new city The palace on the hill was not used and fell into ruins When Akkutho I revived the lost
105glories of Khorshemish, he built a fortress there It remained for Tsotha-lanti to rear the scarlet citadel and open the way to the pits again Whatever fate overtook the grand vizier of Khossus, Tsotha avoided it He fell into no well, though he did descend into a well he found, and cae expression which has not since left his eyes
”I have seen that well, but I do not care to seek in it for wisdom I am a sorcerer, and older than men reckon, but I airl of Shadizar slept too near the pre-hurip of a black demon; from that unholy union was spawned an accursed hybrid men call Tsotha-lanti ”
Conan cried out sharply and recoiled, thrusting his co white foreless hate in its eyes Conan tensed hi fagot into that fiendish countenance and throw his life into the ripping sword-stroke But the snake was not looking at hi over his shoulder at theAnd in the great cold yellow eyes slowly the hate died out in a glitter of pure fear the only time Conan ever saw such an expression in a reptile's eyes With a swirling rush like the sweep of a strong wind, the great snake was gone
”What did he see to frighten hi his companion uneasily
”The scaled people see what escapes the mortal eye,” answered Pelias, cryptically ”You see uise; he saw my naked soul”
An icy trickle disturbed Conan's spine, and he wondered if, after all, Pelias were a man, or merely another demon of the pits in ahis sword through his companion's back without further hesitation But while he pondered, they carille, etched blackly in the torches beyond, and the body of Shukeli, still sluainst the bars in a curdled welter of crih was not pleasant to hear
”By the ivory hips of Ishtar, who is our dooredhter! Do you sleep, Shukeli? Why do you lie so stiffly, with your fat belly sunk in like a dressed pig's?”
”He is dead,” muttered Conan, ill at ease to hear these ords
”Dead or alive,” laughed Pelias, ”he shall open the door for us”
He clapped his hands sharply and cried, ”Rise, Shukeli! Rise from hell and rise from the
106bloody floor and open the door for your roan reverberated through the vaults Conan's hair stood on end and he felt clammy sweat bead his hide For the body of Shukeli stirred and hter of Pelias was merciless as a flint hatchet, as the forrille Conan, glaring at him, felt his blood turn to ice, and the marrow of his bones to water; for Shukeli's wide-open eyes were glassy and e li his entrails as he worked the bolt,like a brainless autoht that by some incredible chance the eunuch was alive; but the man was dead had been dead for hours
Pelias sauntered through the opened grille, and Conan crowded through behind hi away frorate it held open Pelias passed on without a backward glance, and Conan followed hihtmare and nausea He had not taken half a dozen strides when a sodden thud brought hirille
”His task is done, and hell gapes for hi not to notice the strong shudder which shook Conan'sstairs, and through the brass skull-crowned door at the top Conan gripped his sword, expecting a rush of slaves, but silence gripped the citadel They passed through the black corridor and ca forth their everlasting incense Still they saw no one