Part 17 (1/2)

Suddenly Conan's long left ar the pallid features

”Dog!” grated the king ”I thought I knew you Traitor! daade! Even this base steel is too honorable for your foul head Nay, die as thieves die!”

The ax fell in a devastating arc, and the Aquilonian cried out and went to his knees, grasping the severed stuht arm from which blood spouted It had been shorn away at the elbow, and the ax, unchecked in its descent, had gashed deeply into his side, so that his entrails bulged out

”Lie there and bleed to death,” grunted Conan, casting the ax away disgustedly ”Co, he slashed the cords that bound her wrists and lifting her as if she had been a child, strode fro hysterically, with her arms thrown about his corded neck in a frenzied embrace

147

”Easy all,” he eon where the secret door opens on stairs that lead to the tunnel devil take it, they've heard that noise, even through these walls”

Down the corridor ar ofswiftly along, lantern held high, and its light shone full on Conan and the girl With a curse the Ci both lantern and pike, scuttled away down the corridor, screeching for help at the top of his cracked voice Deeper shouts answered him

Conan turned swiftly and ran the other way He was cut off froh which he had entered the Tower, and by which he had hoped to leave, but he knew this gri he had been ie and quickly eed into another, broader corridor, which ran parallel to the one dohich he had come, and which was at the ain turned back, down another side passage This brought hiic point A few feet farther up the corridor there was a heavy bolted door, and before it stood a bearded Nemedian in corselet and helmet, his back to Conan as he peered up the corridor in the direction of the growing tu lanterns

Conan did not hesitate Slipping the girl to the ground, he ran at the guard swiftly and silently, sword in hand Thereached hiht and lifted his pike; but before he could bring the cluht down his sword on the fellow's helmet with a force that would have felled an ox Heluard crumpled to the floor

In an instant Conan had drawn the massive bolt that barred the door too heavy for one ordinary man to haveto hi her up uncereh the door and into the outer darkness

They had come into a narrow alley, black as pitch, walled by the side of the Tower on one hand, and the sheer stone back of a row of buildings on the other Conan, hurrying through the darkness as swiftly as he dared, felt the latter wall for doors or s, but found none

The great door clanged open behind the on breastplates and naked swords They glared about, bellowing, unable to penetrate the darkness which their torches served to illuminate for only a few feet in any direction, and then rushed down the alley at rando in the direction opposite to that taken by Conan and 148

Albiona

”They'll learn theirhis pace ”If we ever find a crack in this infernal wall dalow became apparent, where the alley opened into a narrow street, and he saw dili the noise they had heard echoing down the alley

”Who goes there?” they shouted, and Conan grit his teeth at the hated Neirl ”We've got to cut our way through before the prison guards co his sword, he ran straight at the oncoe of surprize was his He could see thelow, and they could not see hi at the the with the silent fury of a wounded lion

His one chance lay in hacking through before they could gather their wits But there were half a score of them, in full mail, hard-bitten veterans of the border wars, in whom the instinct for battle could take the place of bemused wits Three of them were down before they realized that it was only onetheor of steel rose deafeningly, and sparks flew as Conan's sword crashed on basinet and hauberk He could see better than they, and in the diure was an uncertain lanced from his blade, and when he struck, it ith the fury and certainty of a hurricane

But behind hi up the alley at a run, and still thewall of steel In an instant the guards would be on his back in desperation he redoubled his strokes, flailing like a smith on an anvil, and then was suddenly aware of a diversion Out of nowhere behind the watchures and there was a sound of blows, loom, and men cried out, struck mortally fro for toward Conan, who heaved up his sword, catching a gleaht hand But the other was extended to hiently: ”This way, your Majesty! Quickly!”

With a ht up Albiona in one massive arm, and followed his unknown befriender He was not inclined to hesitate, with thirty prison guards in behind hiures he hurried down the alley, carrying the countess as if she had been a child He could tell nothing of his rescuers except that they wore dark cloaks and hoods

Doubt and suspicion crossed his mind, but at least they had struck down his enemies, and he saw no better course than to follow the his doubt, the leader touched his ar Conan; we are your loyal subjects” The voice was not familiar, but the accent was Aquilonian of the central provinces

Behind the as they stuefully down the alley, seeing the vague dark ht of the distant street But the hooded ly blank wall, and Conan saw a door gape there He muttered a curse He had traversed that alley by day, in tih it they went, and the door closed behind the, but his guides were hurrying hi Conan with a hand at either elbow It was like traversing a tunnel, and Conan felt Albiona's lithe li in his ar was faintly visible, h this they filed

After that there was a bewildering succession of di corridors, all traversed in utter silence, until at last they ehted chauess, for their devious route had confused even his primitive sense of direction

X

A COIN FROM ACHERON

Not all his guides entered the cha before hiure, masked in a black cloak with a hood This thea pale oval of a face, with cal set Albiona on her feet, but she still clung to him and stared apprehensively about her

The chae one, with s and thick rich carpets on the low of bronze lamps

Conan instinctively laid a hand on his hilt There was blood on his hand, blood clotted about the mouth of his scabbard, for he had sheathed his blade without cleansing it

”Where are we?” he deer answered with a low, profound bohich the suspicious king could detect no trace of irony

”In the temple of Asura, your Majesty”

Albiona cried out faintly and clung closer to Conan, staring fearfully at the black, arched doors, as if expecting the entry of sorisly shape of darkness

”Fear not,here to harar superstition to the contrary If your monarch was sufficiently convinced of the innocence of our religion to protect us fronorant, then certainly one of his subjects need have no apprehensions”

”Who are you?” demanded Conan

”I anized you when you entered the city, and brought the word to runted profanely

”Do not fear that others discovered your identity,” Hadrathus assured hiuise would have deceived any but a follower of Asura, whose cult it is to seek below the aspect of illusion You were followed to the watch tower, and some of my people went into the tunnel to aid you if you returned by that route Others,Conan, it is yours to co”

”Why should you risk your lives for

”You were our friend when you sat upon your throne,” answered Hadrathus ”You protected us when the priests of Mitra sought to scourge us out of the land”

Conan looked about him curiously He had never before visited the temple of Asura, had not certainly known that there was such a teion had a habit of hiding their temples in a remarkable fashi+on The worshi+p of Mitra was overwhelly predominant in the Hyborian nations, but the cult of Asura persisted, in spite of official ban and popular antagonism Conan had been told dark tales of hidden temples where incense smoke drifted up incessantly from black altars where kidnaped hureat coiled serpent, whose fearsome head swayed for ever in the haunted shadows

Persecution caused the followers of Asura to hide their te art, and to veil 151

their rituals in obscurity; and this secrecy, in turn, evoked more monstrous suspicions and tales of evil

But Conan's was the broad tolerance of the barbarian, and he had refused to persecute the followers of Asura or to allow the people to do so on no better evidence than was presented against them, rumors and accusations that could not be proven ”If they are black icians,”

he had said, ”hoill they suffer you to harry them? If they are not, there is no evil in them

Crom's devils! Let men worshi+p what Gods they will”

At a respectful invitation from Hadrathus he seated himself on an ivory chair, and olden stool at his feet, pressing close against his thigh, as if seeking security in the contact Like most orthodox followers of Mitra, she had an intuitive horror of the followers and cult of Asura, instilled in her infancy and childhood by wild tales of huh shadowy temples