Part 22 (2/2)

'He sleeps in the house of Servio'

'I know that dive of old,' grunted Conan 'I'd better hasten before some of these waterfront thieves cut his throat for the jewel'

He took up his cloak and flung it over his shoulders, then donned a helmet Publio had procured for him

'Have my steed saddled and ready in the court,' said he 'I ht's work, Publio'

A fewat a s down the shadowy street

'Farewell to you, corsair,' muttered the ht by a dom I wish I had told my knaves to let hi et As with him be lost in the dust of the past In the alley behind the house of Servio--that is where Conan will cease to be a peril to y, ill-fa the waterfront It was a sha narrow alley wandered up alongside it

Conanthe alley, and as he approached the house he had an uneasy feeling that he was being spied upon He stared hard into the shadows of the squalid buildings, but saw nothing, though once he caught the faint rasp of cloth or leather against flesh But that was nothing unusual Thieves and beggars prowled these alleys all night, and they were not likely to attack him, after one look at his size and harness

But suddenly a door opened in the wall ahead of hied fro the alley, not furtively, but with a natural noiselessness, like that of a jungle beast Enough starlight filtered into the alley to silhouette the man's profile dier was a Stygian There was no ht, nor the mantle over the broad shoulders He passed on down the alley in the direction of the beach, and once Conan thought he ht a flash of laht, just as the er as he noticed that the door through which he had e by theServio to show hiet into the house without attracting anyone's attention, so ht him to the door, and as his hand fell on the lock he stifled an involuntary grunt His practised fingers, skilled ao, told him that the lock had been forced, apparently by some terrific pressure from the outside that had twisted and bent the heavy iron bolts, tearing the very sockets loose froht so violently without awakening everyone in the neighborhood Conan could not iht A broken lock, if discovered, would not go unhborhood of thieves and cutthroats

Conan entered stealthily, poniard in hand, wondering hoas to find the cha in total darkness he halted suddenly He sensed death in that roo hi freshly slain In the darkness his foot hit and recoiled froroped along the wall until he found the shelf that supported the brass lamp, with its flint, steel and tinder beside it A few seconds later a flickering, uncertain light sprang up, and he stared narrowly about hih stone wall, a bare table and a bench cos of the squalid chamber An inner door stood closed and bolted And on the hard-beaten dirt floor lay Beloso On his back he lay, with his head drawn back between his shoulders so that he seelassy eyes at the sooty bea His lips were drawn back froony His sword lay near him, still in its scabbard His shi+rt was torn open, and on his brown, muscular breast was the print of a black hand, thulared in silence, feeling the short hairs bristle at the back of his neck

'Crom!' he muttered 'The black hand of Set!'

He had seen that riia And suddenly he re froed from this chamber

'The Heart, by Cro it under his ic, and slew Beloso He was a priest of Set'

A quick investigation confirmed at least part of his suspicions The jeas not on the Zingaran's body An uneasy feeling rose in Conan that this had not happened by chance, or without design; a conviction that the alley had come into the harbor of Messantia on a definite mission How could the priests of Set know that the Heart had coht was no more fantastic than the necromancy that could slay an armed man by the touch of an open, eht hiuished the lamp and drew his sword His ears told hi in on the doorway As his eyes became accustoing the entrance He could not guess their identity, but as always he took the initiative--leaping suddenly forth fro the attack

His unexpected movement took the skulkers by surprise He sensed and heard ht before hi away down the alley before the slower-thinking and slower-acting attackers could intercept him

As he ran he heard, soot theout into the bay!

Gritting his teeth he increased his speed, but before he reached the beach he heard the rasp and creak of ropes, and the grind of the great sweep in its socket

Thick clouds, rolling up from the sea, obscured the stars In thick darkness Conan ca his eyes out across the black restless water So, low, black shape that receded in the darkness, gathering momentu oars He ground his teeth in helpless fury It was the Stygian galley and she was racing out to sea, bearing with her the jewel that e curse he took a step toward the waves that lapped against the sands, catching at his hauberk and intending to rip it off and swi shi+p Then the crunch of a heel in the sand brought hiures closed in on hih the sands The first went down beneath the Ci sword, but the others did not falter Blades whickered dimly about him in the darkness or rasped on his mail Blood and entrails spilled over his hand and someone screamed as he ripped murderously upward A muttered voice spurred on the attack, and that voice sounded vaguely fa shapes toward the voice A faint light glea clouds showed hireat livid scar on his teh a ripeblindly in the dark, crashed on the king's basinet, filling his eyes with sparks of fire He lurched and lunged, felt his sword sink deep and heard a shriek of agony Then he stueon knocked the dented helmet from his head; the next instant the club fell full on his unprotected skull