Part 49 (1/2)
”Hoas I to know that was to be granted me?” returned Murilo ”At any rate, ood company with that cutthroat,” murmured Nabonidus ”I had suspected you
272for some time That hy I caused that pallid court secretary to disappear Before he died he toldnobleman who bribed him to filch state secrets, which the nobleman in turn sold to rival powers Are you not ashamed of yourself, Murilo, you white-handed thief?”
”I have no more cause for shame than you, you vulture-hearted plunderer,” answered Murilo proreed, and under the guise of disinterested statesar the rich, oppress the poor, and sacrifice the whole future of the nation for your ruthless a with his snout in the trough You are a greater thief than I am This Cimmerian is the most honest man of the three of us, because he steals and ether,” agreed Nabonidus equably ”And what now? My life?”
”When I saw the ear of the secretary that had disappeared, I kneas doomed,” said Murilo abruptly, ”and I believed you would invoke the authority of the king Was I right?”
”Quite so,” answered the priest ”A court secretary is easy to do aith, but you are a bit too pro a jest about you in the ”
”A jest that would have costis unaware of hed Nabonidus ”And now, since I see your companion has his knife, I fear that jest will never be told”
”You should kno to get out of these rat-dens,” said Murilo ”Suppose I agree to spare your life Will you help us to escape, and swear to keep silent about my thievery?”
”When did a priest keep an oath?” co the trend of the conversation ”Let me cut his throat; I want to see what color his blood is They say in The Maze that his heart is black, so his blood must be black too ”
”Be quiet,” whispered Murilo ”If he does not show us the way out of these pits, we may rot here Well, Nabonidus, what do you say?”
”What does a ith his leg in the trap say?” laughed the priest ”I am in your power, and if we are to escape, we must aid one another I swear, if we survive this adventure, to forget all your shi+fty dealings I swear by the soul of Mitra!”
273
”I am satisfied,” muttered Murilo ”Even the Red Priest would not break that oath Now to get out of here My friend here entered by way of the tunnel, but a grille fell behind him and blocked the way Can you cause it to be lifted?”
”Not from these pits,” answered the priest ”The control lever is in the chamber above the tunnel There is only one other way out of these pits, which I will show you But tell me, how did you come here?”
Murilo told hi stiffly He limped down the corridor, which here widened into a sort of vast chamber, and approached the distant silver disk As they advanced the light increased, though it never beca but a dim shadowy radiance Near the disk they saw a narrow stair leading upward
”That is the other exit,” said Nabonidus ”And I strongly doubt if the door at the head is bolted
But I have an idea that he ould go through that door had better cut his own throat first
Look into the disk”
What had seereatsystem of copper-like tubes jutted out froles
Glancing into these tubes, Murilo saw a bewildering array of ser mirror in the wall, and ejaculated in arunted
They seehted chaings between; there were silken couches, chairs of ebony and ivory, and curtained doorways leading off from the chamber And before one doorhich was not curtained, sat a bulky black object that contrasted grotesquely with the richness of the chaain as he looked at the horror which see directly into his eyes Involuntarily he recoiled from the mirror, while Conan thrust his head truculently forward, till his jaws al soue
”In Mitra's naasped Murilo, shaken, ”what is it?”
”That is Thak,” answered the priest, caressing his temple ”Some would call him an ape, but he is almost as different from a real ape as he is different from a real man His people dwell far to the east, in the e the eastern frontiers of Zamora There are not many of
274them, but if they are not exters, in perhaps a hundred thousand years They are in the fore; they are neither apes, as their remote ancestors were, nor h crags of well-nigh inaccessibleof shelter or gare of a sort, consisting runts and clicks