Part 16 (1/2)

Can you do nothing but wag your idiotic heads when I speak of ousting these dogs?'

Hadrathus sighed and answered slowly: 'My lord, it is ill to say, and I fain would say otherwise But the freedom of Aquilonia is at an end

Nay, the freedoe in the history of the world, and noe enter an age of horror and slavery, as it was long ago'

'What do youuneasily

Hadrathus dropped into a chair and rested his elbows on his thighs, staring at the floor

'It is not alone the rebellious lords of Aquilonia and the arainst you,' answered Hadrathus 'It is sorcery--grisly black rim youth of the world An awful shape has risen out of the shades of the Past, and none can stand before it'

'What do you mean?' Conan repeated

'I speak of Xaltotun of Acheron, who died three thousand years ago, yet walks the earth today'

Conan was silent, while in his e of a bearded face of calain he was haunted by a sense of uneasy familiarity Acheron--the sound of the word roused instinctive vibrations of memory and associations in his mind

'Acheron,' he repeated 'Xaltotun of Acheron--man, are you mad? Acheron has been a myth for more centuries than I can remember I've often wondered if it ever existed at all'

'It was a black reality,' answered Hadrathus, 'an eotten It was finally overthrown by the Hyborian tribes of the west The wizards of Acheron practised foul necroht thedoreat as Xaltotun of Python'

'Then hoas he ever overthrown?' asked Conan skeptically

'By souarded was stolen and turned against him That source has been returned to hi the headsman's black cloak about her, stared fro the conversation Conan shook his head angrily

'You are rowled 'If Xaltotun has been dead three thousand years, how can this ue who's taken the old one's name'

Hadrathus leaned to an ivory table and opened a s which glinted dully in the

'You have seen Xaltotun unveiled? Then look upon this It is a coin which was stamped in ancient Acheron, before its fall So pervaded with sorcery was that black eic'

Conan took it and scowled down at it There was no reat antiquity Conan had handled ood practical knowledge of thees orn and the inscription almost obliterated But the countenance stamped on one side was still clear-cut and distinct And Conan's breath sucked in between his clenched teeth It was not cool in the cha of his scalp, an icy contraction of his flesh The countenance was that of a bearded man, inscrutable, with a calm inhuman beauty

'By Crom! It's he!' muttered Conan He understood, now, the sense of faht of the bearded man had roused in him froo in a far land

With a shake of his shoulders he growled: 'The likeness is only a coincidence--or if he's shrewd enough to assuh to assuht of that coin had shaken the foundations of his universe He felt that reality and stability were cru into an abyss of illusion and sorcery A wizard was understandable; but this was diabolism beyond sanity

'We cannot doubt that it is indeed Xaltotun of Python,' said Hadrathus

'He it ho shook down the cliffs at Valkia, by his spells that enthrall the elementals of the earth--he it ho sent the creature of darkness into your tent before dawn'

Conan scowled at him 'How did you know that?'

'The followers of Asura have secret channels of knowledge That does notyour subjects in a vain atteain your crown?'