Part 11 (2/2)

'Fools!' muttered Conan thickly 'Fools! Why could they not trust Prospero? Zelata, if you are ame of me, with some trickery----'

'This has passed,' answered Zelata i of the day that has passed when Prospero rode out of Tarantia, with the hosts of Aht Fro So I read it in the smoke At sunset the Nemedians rode into Tarantia, unopposed Look! Even now, in the royal hall of Tarantia----'

Abruptly Conan was looking into the great coronation hall Valerius stood on the regal dais, clad in ermine robes, and Amalric, still in his dusty, blood-stained ar circlet on his yellow locks--the crown of Aquilonia! The people cheered; long lines of steel-clad Ne in disfavor at Conan's court strutted and swaggered with the emblem of Valerius on their sleeves

'Crom!' It was an explosive ireat fists clenched into ha, his features convulsed 'A Neade--in the royal hall of Tarantia!'

As if dispelled by his violence, the s at hih the mist

'You have seen--the people of your capital have forfeited the freedom you won for them by sweat and blood; they have sold themselves to the slavers and the butchers They have shown that they do not trust their destiny Can you rely upon theht I was dead,' he grunted, recovering sooverned by a memory What if the Nemedians have taken Tarantia? There still remain the provinces, the barons, and the people of the countrysides Valerius has won an ehter I cannot show you the future, I cannot show you all the past Nay, _I_ show you nothing I uessed Would you look into the past for a clue of the present?'

'Aye' He seated hireen ses unfolded before hireat towering black walls, pedestals half hidden in the shadows upholding ies of hideous, half-bestial Gods Men moved in the shadows, dark, wiry reen jade sarcophagus along a gigantic black corridor But before he could tell much about what he saw, the scene shi+fted He saw a cavern, diible horror On an altar of black stone stood a curious golden vessel, shaped like the shell of a scallop Into this cavern came some of the same dark, wiry olden vessel, and then the shadoirled around theli fire Then the s up fro

'But what does this portend?' he demanded, bewildered 'What I saw in Tarantia I can understand But what h a subterranean teia? And that cavern--I've never seen or heard of anything like it, in all s If you can show , disjointed, why can you not show me all that is to occur?'

Zelata stirred the fire without replying

'These things are governed by immutable laws,' she said at last 'I can not ether understand h places for h I would if I ht Man must, at last, work out his own salvation Yet perhaps wisdoive you the clue to the enigma?' he demanded

'The dom,' she answered And then she spread a sheepskin upon the floor before the hearth 'Sleep,' she said briefly

Without a word he stretched hih which phantoms moved silently and ainst a purple sunless horizon, he saw the reat city such as rose nowhere on the waking earth he knew Its colossal pylons and purplelike a giant e, hovered the bearded countenance of the man Xaltotun

Conan woke in the chill whiteness of early dawn, to see Zelata crouched beside the tiny fire He had not awakened once in the night, and the sound of the great wolf leaving or entering should have roused higy coat ith dew, and with listened wetly amid the thick fell, and there was a cut upon his shoulder

Zelata nodded, without looking around, as if reading the thoughts of her royal guest

'He has hunted before dawn, and red was the hunting I think thewill hunt no reat beast with strange fascination as he moved to take the food Zelata offered hiet,' he said briefly

'You've befriended me--by Crom, I can't remember when I've lain down and slept at the ht But what of the riddle you would readsilence ensued, in which the crackle of the tamarisks was loud on the hearth

'Find the heart of your kingdom,' she said at last 'There lies your defeat and your power You fight ain unless you find the heart of your kingdom'

'Do you mean the city of Tarantia?'

She shook her head 'I ah whose lips the Gods speak My lips are sealed by thedom I can say no more My lips are opened and sealed by the Gods'