Part 42 (1/2)

He seemed blinded She took his darkly stained hand and led hi a rush of yellow figures through the arches at any instant

”Drink while I keep watch,” he muttered

”No, I am not thirsty Lie down beside the fountain and I will bathe your wounds”

”What of the swords of Xuthal?” He continually raked his arht

”I hear no one All is silent”

He sank down gropingly and plunged his face into the crystal jet, drinking as if he could not get enough When he raised his head there was sanity in his bloodshot eyes and he stretched his massive lih he kept his saber in his hand, and his eyes continually roved toward the archways She bathed his torn flesh and bandaged the deeper wounds with strips torn fro She shuddered at the appearance of his back; the flesh was discolored, mottled and spotted black and blue and a sickly yellohere it was not raw As she worked she sought frantically for a solution to their problem If they stayed where they were, they would eventually be discovered Whether thethe palaces for them, or had returned to their dreams, she could not know

As she finished her task, she froze Under the hanging that partly concealed an alcove, she saw a hand's breadth of yellow flesh

Saying nothing to Conan, she rose and crossed the cha his poniard Her heart pounded suffocatingly as she cautiously drew aside the hanging On the dais lay a young yellooman, naked and apparently lifeless At her hand stood a jade jar nearly full of peculiar golden-colored liquid Natala believed it to be the elixir described by Thalis, which lent vigor and vitality to the degenerate Xuthal She leaned across the supine forirl's bosom The latter did not wake

234

With the jar in her possession, Natala hesitated, realizing it would be the safer course to put the sleeping girl beyond the power of waking and raising an alare the Cimmerian poniard into that still boso and returned to Conan, who lay where she had left hily only partly conscious

She bent and placed the jar to his lips He drank, mechanically at first, then with a suddenly roused interest To her amazement he sat up and took the vessel from her hands When he lifted his face, his eyes were clear and norone from his features, and his voice was not the et this?”

She pointed ”Fro”

He thrust his olden liquid

”By Croh, ”I feel new life and power rush like wildfire through my veins Surely this is the very elixir of Life!”

He rose, picking up his saber

”We had best go back into the corridor,” Natala ventured nervously ”We shall be discovered if we stay here long We can hide there until your wounds heal ”

”Not I!” he grunted ”We are not rats, to hide in dark burrows We leave this devil-city now, and let none seek to stop us”

”But your wounds!” she wailed

”I do not feel theiven me, but I swear I am aware of neither pain nor weakness”

With sudden purpose he crossed the chamber to ashe had not noticed Over his shoulder she looked out A cool breeze tossed her tousled locks Above was the dark velvet sky, clustered with stars Below theue expanse of sand

”Thalis said the city was one great palace,” said Conan ”Evidently some of the chambers are built like towers on the wall This one is Chance has led us well”

”What do youapprehensively over her shoulder