Part 40 (2/2)
”We shall see,” answered the Stygian coolly from the confidence of her power over men ”At any rate, you will not knohether he stabs or kisses me, because you will be the bride of him ells in darkness Coht like a wild thing, but it availed her nothing With a lithe strength she would not have believed possible in a woman, Thalis picked her up and carried her down the black corridor as if she had been a child Natala did not screaian's sinister words; the only sounds were her desperate quick panting and Thalis' soft taunting lascivious laughter Then the Brythunian's fluttering hand closed on so froirdle Natala jerked it forth and struck blindly and with all her girlish power
A scream burst from Thalis' lips, feline in its pain and fury She reeled, and Natala slipped frorasp, to bruise her tender li, she scurried to the nearest wall and stood there panting and treainst the stones She could not see Thalis, but she could hear her The Stygian was quite certainly not dead She was cursing in a steady stream, and her fury was so concentrated and deadly that Natala felt her bones turn to wax, her blood to ice
”Where are you, you little she-devil?” gasped Thalis ”Let rew physically sick as Thalis described the bodily injuries she intended to inflict on her rival The Stygian's choice of language would have shahest courtezan in Aquilonia
Natala heard her groping in the dark, and then a light sprang up Evidently whatever fear Thalis felt of this black corridor was subems which adorned the walls of Xuthal This Thalis had rubbed, and now she stood bathed in its reddish glow: a light different from that which the others had emitted One hand was pressed to her side and blood trickled between the fingers But she did not seem weakened or badly hurt, and her eyes blazed fiendishly What little courage re lilow, her beautiful face contorted with a passion that was no less than hellish She now advanced with a pantherish tread, drawing her hand away fro the blood drops iers
Natala saw that she had not badly harlanced froirdle and inflicted a very superficial flesh-wound, only enough to rouse the Stygian's unbridled fury
”Giveup to the cowering girl
Natala knew that she ought to fight while she had the chance, but she sihter, the darkness, violence and horror of her adventure had left her lier froers and threw it conteround between her teeth, slapping the girl viciously with either hand
”Before I drag you down the corridor and throw you into Thog's jaws, I'll have a little of your blood myself! You would dare to knifeher by the hair, Thalis dragged her down the corridor a short distance, to the edge of the circle of light Ashowed in the wall, above the level of a ht stripped from her, and the next instant Thalis had jerked up her wrists and bound the, naked as the day she was born, her feet barely touching the floor Twisting her head, Natala saw Thalis unhook a jewel-handled whip fro The lashes consisted of seven round silk cords, harder yet s
With a hiss of vindictive gratification, Thalis drew back her arm, and Natala shrieked as the cords curled across her loins The tortured girl writhed, twisted and tore agonizedly at the thongs which i ht summon, and so apparently had Thalis Every stroke evoked screas Natala had received in the Shenificance before this
She had never guessed the punishi+ng power of hard-woven silk cords Their caress was s They whistled venomously as they cut the air
Then, as Natala twisted her tear-stained face over her shoulder to shriek for ave place to paralyzing horror in her beautiful eyes
Struck by her expression, Thalis checked her lifted hand and whirled quick as a cat Too late!
An awful cry rang fro Natala saw her for an instant, a white figure of fear etched against a great black shapeless ure hipped off its feet, the shadow receded with it, and in the circle of di with terror
From the black shadows ca She heard Thalis'
voice pleading frenziedly, but no voice answered There was no sound except the Stygian's panting voice, which suddenly rose to screaled with sobs This dwindled to a convulsive panting, and presently this too ceased, and a silence more terrible hovered over the secret corridor
Nauseated with horror, Natala twisted about and dared to look fearfully in the direction the black shape had carried Thalis She saw nothing, but she sensed an unseen peril, ainst a rising tide of hysteria Her bruised wrists, her sotten in the teeth of this menace which she dimly felt threatened not only her body, but her soul as well
She strained her eyes into the blackness beyond the riht see A whi forrew up out of the void She saw a giant ht At least she took it for a head, though it was not the reat toad-like face, the features of which were as dihtht have been eyes blinked at her, and she shook at the cos about the creature's body Its outline seemed to waver and alter subtly even as she looked at it; yet its substance was apparently solid enough There was nothing hostly about it
As it caled, flew or crept Its method of locomotion was absolutely beyond her coed from the shadows she was still uncertain as to its nature The light froem did not illumine it as it would have illu seeht Its details were still obscure and indistinct, even when it halted so near that it al toad-like face stood out with any distinctness The thing was a blur in the sight, a black blot of shadow that normal radiance would neither dissipate nor illuminate
She decided she waslooked up at her or towered above her She was unable to say whether the dim repulsive face blinked up at her from the shadows at her feet, or looked down at her froht convinced her that whatever its mutable qualities, it was yet composed of solid substance, her sense of feel further assured her of that fact A dark tentacle-like member slid about her body, and she screamed at the touch of it on her naked flesh It was neither war that had ever touched her before, and at its caress she knew such fear and shame as she had never dreamed of All the obscenity and salacious infamy spawned in the muck of the abysmal pits of Life seemed to drown her in seas of cosmic filth And in that instant she knew that whatever for represented it was not a beast
She began to screaed at her as if to tear her fro crashed above their heads, and a forh the air to strike the stone floor
When Conan wheeled to see the tapestry settling back in place and to hear Natala's ainst the ith afrom the impact that would have splintered the bones of a lesserwhat appeared to be a blank wall Beside hih the
A score of figures faced him, yellow men in purple tunics, with short swords in their hands As he turned they surged in on him with hostile cries He made no attempt to conciliate them