Part 22 (2/2)
”I-I aet here?”
”They stole ht as I walked in arden in Ayodhya By secret, devious ways they brought irls they steal out of Vendhya and Iranistan and other lands” She hurried on ”I have d-dwelt here for a month I have alirls die of torture Oh, what shahter should be made a slave of devil worshi+pers!”
Conan said nothing, but the red glint in his blue eyes was eloquent Though his own career had been red-spattered with slaying and rapine, towards woh, barbaric code of chivalry Up till now he had toyed with the idea of actually joining Virata's cult- in hope of working up andthose above him Now his intentions crystallized on the destruction of this den of snakes and the conversion of their lair to his own uses Parusati continued:
”Today the Master of the Girls cairl to you to learn if you had any hidden weapon She was to search you while you lay in drugged stupor Then, when you awoke, she was to beguile you to learn if you were a spy or a true man He chose me for the task I was terrified, and when I found you awake all runted He would not have hurt a hair of her head, but he did not choose to tell her so just yet Her terror could be useful
”Parusati, do you know anything of a woht in earlier by a band of Sabateans?”
”Yes, ht her here captive to irl like the rest of us But she is strong, and after they reached the city and delivered her into the hands of the Hyrkanian guards, she broke free, snatched a dagger, and slew the brother of Zahak Zahak demanded her life, and he is too powerful even for Virata to refuse in this us lied about Nanaia,” eon below the palace, and toiven to the Hyrkanian for torture and execution”
Conan's dark face beca quarters,” he de his deadly intention
”Nay, he sleeps a his warriors, all proven swordshter as you But I can lead you to Nanaia”
”What of the guard in the corridor?”
”He will not see us, and he will not admit anyone else here until he has seen me depart”
”Well, then?” Conan rose to his feet like a tiger setting out on its hunt
Parusati hesitated ”My lord-do I read your htly, that you mean, not to join these devils, but to destroy theht say accidents have a way of happening to those I like not”
”Then will you promise not to harm me, and if you can to free me?”
”If I can Now let's not waste more time in chatter Lead on”
Parusati drew aside a tapestry on the wall opposite the door and pressed on the arabesqued design A panel swung inward, revealing a narrow stair that slanted down into lightless depths
”The masters think their slaves do not know their secrets,” she muttered ”Co the panel after them Conan found hileah holes in the panel They descended until Conan guessed that they ell beneath the palace and then struck a narrow, level tunnel, which ran away from the foot of the stair
”A Kshatriya who planned to flee Yanaidar showed me this secret way,”
she said ”I planned to escape with hiht and tortured, but died without betraying me Here is the sword he hid” She fuave to Conan
A few esturing for caution, drew Conan to it arid showed hih He looked doide corridor, flanked on one side by a blank wall in which showed a single ebon door, curiously ornate and heavily bolted, and on the other by a row of cells with barred doors