Part 8 (1/2)

He brushed aside the implication with an impatient hand

'Scratches that wouldn't hurt a baby Your skewer cah

But for it Tarascus' ht now But what now?'

'Follow me,' she whispered 'I will lead you outside the city wall I have a horse concealed there'

She turned to lead the way down the corridor, but he laid a heavy hand on her naked shoulder

'Walk besidehis massive arm about her lithe waist 'You've played me fair so far, and I' only because I've trusted no one too far, man or woman So! Now if you play me false you won't live to enjoy the jest'

She did not flinch at sight of the reddened poniard or the contact of his hard muscles about her supple body

'Cut me doithout mercy if I play you false,' she answered 'The very feel of your arm about me, even in menace, is as the fulfillment of a dream'

The vaulted corridor ended at a door, which she opened Outside lay another black iant in turban and silk loin-cloth, with a curved sword lying on the flags near his hand He did notto avoid the recuuard of the pits None ever escaped from them before, and none has ever wished to seek theuard the Conan that Xaltotun brought a prisoner in his chariot I atching, sleepless, from an upper caseirls slept; for I knew that a battle was being fought, or had been fought, in the west, and I feared for you

'I saw the blacks carry you up the stair, and I recognized you in the torchlight I slipped into this wing of the palace tonight, in time to see thehtfall You ed senselessness all day in Xaltotun's chas are afoot in the palace tonight The slaves said that Xaltotun slept as he often sleeps, drugged by the lotus of Stygia, but Tarascus is in the palace He entered secretly, through the postern, wrapped in his cloak which was dusty as with long travel, and attended only by his squire, the lean silent Arideus I cannot understand, but I am afraid'

They ca it, passed through a narrow panel which she slid aside When they had passed through, she slipped it back in place, and it became merely a portion of the ornate wall They were in a more spacious corridor, carpeted and tapestried, over which hanging lalow

Conan listened intently, but he heard no sound throughout the palace He did not knohat part of the palace he was, or in which direction lay the cha the corridor, to halt presently beside an alcovethis aside, she motioned for him to step into the niche, and whispered: 'Wait here! Beyond that door at the end of the corridor we are likely to ht I will go and see if the way is clear, before we essay it'

Instantly his hair-trigger suspicions were aroused

'Are you leadinginto her dark eyes She sank to her knees and seized his , do not ency 'If you doubt and hesitate, we are lost! Why should I bring you up out of the pits to betray you now?'

'All right,' he h, by Crom, the habits of a lifetime are not easily put aside Yet I wouldn't harht all the swordsmen in Nemedia upon me But for you Tarascus'

cursed ape would have coirl'

Kissing his hands, she sprang lithely up and ran down the corridor, to vanish through a heavy double door

He glanced after her, wondering if he was a fool to trust her; then he shrugged his ether, e that a passionate young beauty should be risking her life to aid hih in his life Many wos, and in the tishi+p

Yet he did not re for her return

Following his instincts, he explored the niche for another exit, and presently found one--the opening of a narrow passage, masked by the tapestries, that ran to an ornately carved door, barely visible in the diht that filtered in from the outer corridor And as he stared into it, somewhere beyond that carven door he heard the sound of another door opening and shutting, and then a low mumble of voices The familiar sound of one of those voices caused a sinister expression to cross his dark face Without hesitation he glided down the passage, and crouched like a stalking panther beside the door It was not locked, andit delicately, he pushed it open a crack, with a reckless disregard for possible consequences that only he could have explained or defended

It was h a thin slit in the velvet he looked into a chamber lit by a candle on an ebony table There were tworuffian in leather breeks and ragged cloak; the other was Tarascus, king of Nehtly pale, and he kept starting and glancing about hi to hear some sound or footstep

'Go swiftly and at once,' he was saying 'He is deep in drugged slue to hear words of fear issuing from the lips of Tarascus,'