Part 47 (1/2)

Rogues in the House

”One fled, one dead, one sleeping in a golden bed”

Old Rime

At a court festival, Nabonidus, the Red Priest, as the real ruler of the city, touched Murilo, the young aristocrat, courteously on the araze, and to wonder at the hiddentherein No words passed between theold cask The young noble without reason, excused himself at the first opportunity and returned hastily to his chamber There he opened the cask and found within a hunized by a peculiar scar upon it He broke into a profuse sweat, and was no longer in doubt about the lance

But Murilo, for all his scented black curls and foppish apparel, was no weakling to bend his neck to the knife without a struggle He did not knohether Nabonidus was o into voluntary exile, but the fact that he was still alive and at liberty proved that he was to be given at least a few hours, probably for meditation But he needed no meditation for decision; what he needed was a tool And Fate furnished that tool, working a the dives and brothels of the squalid quarters even while the young nobleman shi+vered and pondered in the part of the city occupied by the purple-towered marble and ivory palaces of the aristocracy

There was a priest of Anu whose tee of the slums district, was the scene of more than devotions The priest was fat and full-fed, and he was at once a fence for stolen articles and a spy for the police He worked a thriving trade both ways, because the district on which he bordered was The Maze, a tangle ofalleys and sordid dens, frequented by the boldest thieves in the kingdo above all were a Gunderman deserter from the mercenaries and a barbaric Cimmerian Because of the priest of Anu, the Gundered in thein devious ways of the priest's treachery, he entered the teht, and cut off the priest's head There followed a great turmoil in the city, but search for the killer proved fruitless until his punk betrayed hiuard and his squad to the hidden cha to stupefied but ferocious life when they seized hih his assailants and would have escaped, but for the liquor that still clouded his senses Bewildered and half blinded, he ht, and dashed his head against the stone wall so terrifically that he knocked hieon in the city, shackled to the ith chains not even his barbaric thews could break

To this cell came Murilo, masked and wrapped in a wide black cloak The Ci hihts, and regarded hieon, with his limbs loaded with chains, the prihty body and thick- rizzly with the quickness of a panther Under his tangled black ery

”Would you like to live?” asked Murilo The barbarian grunted, new interest glinting in his eyes

”If I arrange for your escape will you do a favor for me?” the aristocrat asked

The Ciaze answered for him

”I want you to kill a man for me”

”Whom?”

Murilo's voice sank to a whisper ”Nabonidus, the king's priest!”

The Cin of surprize or perturbation He had none of the fear or reverence for authority that civilization instills in ar, it was all one to him

Nor did he ask why Murilo had come to him, when the quarters were full of cutthroats outside prisons

”When am I to escape?” he deuard in this part of the dungeon at night He can be bribed; he has been bribed See, here are the keys to your chains I'll reuard, Athicus, will unlock the door to your cell You will bind him with strips torn from your tunic; so when he is found, the authorities will think you were rescued from the outside, and will not suspect him Go at once to the house of the Red Priest, and kill hiive you a pouch of gold and a horse With those you can escape from the city and flee the country”

263

”Take off these cursed chains now,” de me food By Crom, I have lived on h to fa”

”It shall be done; but remember you are not to escape until I have had time to reach my house”

Freed of his chains, the barbarian stood up and stretched his heavy arain felt that if any man in the world could accomplish the task he had set, this Cimmerian could With a few repeated instructions he left the prison, first directing Athicus to take a platter of beef and ale in to the prisoner He knew he could trust the guard, not only because of the money he had paid, but also because of certain infor the man

When he returned to his chamber, Murilo was in full control of his fears Nabonidus would strike through the king of that he was certain And since the royal guards at his door, it was as certain that the priest had said nothing to the king, so far

Tomorroould speak, beyond a doubt if he lived to see tomorrow

Murilo believed the Cimmerian would keep faith with him Whether the man would be able to carry out his purpose remained to be seen Men had attempted to assassinate the Red Priest before, and they had died in hideous and nameless ways But they had been products of the cities ofthe wolfish instincts of the barbarian The instant that Murilo, turning the gold cask with its severed ear in his hands, had learned through his secret channels that the Cimmerian had been captured, he had seen a solution of his probleain, he drank a toast to the ht And while he was drinking, one of his spies brought him the news that Athicus had been arrested and thrown into prison The Cimmerian had not escaped