Part 31 (1/2)

A cat-footed priest, with features like yellowed parchment stretched over a skull, entered noiselessly

Salolobes, and taking fro sphere to the priest

”Ride with Constantius,” she said ”Give me the news of the battle Go!”

The skull-faced lobe under his dark mantle, hurried from the chamber

Outside in the city there was no sound, except the clank of hoofs and after awhile the clang of a closing gate Salome mounted a wide marble stair that led to the flat, canopied, s of the city The streets were deserted, the great square in front of the palace was erim temple which rose on the opposite side of that square, but now the town looked like a dead city Only on the southern wall and the roofs that overlooked it was there any sign of life There the people massed thickly They made no demonstration, did not knohether to hope for the victory or defeat of Constantius Victory meant further misery under his intolerable rule; defeat probably meant the sack of the city and red massacre No word had come from Conan They did not knohat to expect at his hands They remembered that he was a barbarian The silence of those clustered masses was oppressive, almost uncanny

The squadrons of theout into the plain In the distance, just this side of the river, other dark nizable as men on horses Objects dotted the further bank; Conan had not brought his siege engines across the river, apparently fearing an attack in theBut he had crossed with his full force of horselints of fire from the dark allop; a deep roar reached the ears of the people on the wall

The rolling led confusion in which no details stood out Charge and counter-charge were not to be identified Clouds of dust rose fro the action Through these swirling clouds , and spears flashed

Saloed her shoulders and descended the stair The palace lay silent All the slaves were on the wall, gazing vainly southith the citizens

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She entered the chamber where she had talked with Constantius, and approached the pedestal, noting that the crystal globe was clouded, shot with bloody streaks of cri under her breath

”Zang!” she called ”Zang!”

Mists swirled in the sphere, resolving theures rushed unrecognizably; steel glinted like lightning in thedistinctness; it was as if the wide eyes gazed up at Saloash in the skull-like head, the skin was grey with sweat-runnelled dust The lips parted, writhing; to other ears than Salome's it would have seemed that the face in the crystal contorted silently But to her sound came as plainly from those ashen lips as if the priest had been in the sa into the smaller crystal

Only the Gods of darkness knehat unseen,spheres

”Salome!” shrieked the bloody head ”Salooes the battle?”

”Doom is upon us!” screamed the skull-like apparition ”Khauran is lost! Aie,aroundlike flies, in their silveredand tell me what happened!” she cried harshly

”We rode at the desert-dogs and they came on to meet us!” yowled the priest ”Arrows flew in clouds between the hosts and the noe In even ranks we thundered upon theht and left, and through the cleft rushed three thousand Hyborian horsemen whose presence we had not even suspected Men of Khauran,e of steel they smote us like a thunderbolt They split our ranks asunder before we kneas upon us, and then the desert-men swarmed on us from either flank

”They have ripped our ranks apart, broken and scattered us! It is a trick of that devil Conan!

The siege engines are false mere frames of palm trunks and painted silk, that fooled our scouts who saw them from afar A trick to draw us out to our dooash is down Conan slew hih ourmasses like blood-mad lions, and the desert-men feather us with arrows I 271

ahhh!”

There was a flicker as of lightning, or trenchant steel, a burst of bright blood then abruptly the i into an empty crystal ball that mirrored only her own furious features

She stood perfectly still for a fewinto space Then she clapped her hands and another skull-like priest entered, as silent and immobile as the first

”Constantius is beaten,” she said swiftly ”We are dooates within the hour If he catches me, I have no illusions as to what I can expect But first I a to ain Followa feast”

As she descended the stairs and galleries of the palace, she heard a faint rising echo froun to realize that the battle was going against Constantius Through the dust cloudstoward the city

Palace and prison were connected by a long closed gallery, whose vaulted roof rose on gloo this, the false queen and her slave passed through a heavy door at the other end that let theed into a wide, arched corridor at a point near where a stone stair descended into the darkness Salolooaoler, his short beard tilted toward the roof as his head hung on a half-severed neck As panting voices froirl's ears, she shrank back into the black shadow of an arch, pushi+ng the priest behind her, her hand groping in her girdle

VI

THE VULTURE'S WINGS

It was the sht of a torch which roused Taraht forgetfulness Lifting herself on her hand she raked back her tangled hair and blinked up, expecting to n with new torments

Instead a cry of pity and horror reached her ears

”Tarae to her ears that she thought she was still drealint of steel, then five countenances bent toward her, not swarthy and hook-nosed, but lean, aquiline faces, browned by the sun She crouched in her 272

tatters, staring wildly

One of the figures sprang forward and fell on one knee before her, arly toward her

”Oh, Taramis! Thank Ishtar we have found you! Do you not remember me, Valerius? Once with your own lips you praised me, after the battle of Korveka!”

”Valerius!” she stammered Suddenly tears welled into her eyes ”Oh, I dreaic of Salo with exultation ”It is your own true vassals cohts in the plain against Conan, who has brought the Zuagirs across the river, but three hundred Sheaoler and took his keys, and have seen no other guards But we ave way, not from weakness but from the reaction Valerius lifted her like a child, and with the torch-bearer hurrying before theeon and went up a slimy stone stair It seeed into a wide corridor and started down it

They were passing a dark arch when the torch was suddenly struck out, and the bearer cried out in fierce, brief agony A burst of blue fire glared in the dark corridor, in which the furious face of Salo beside her then the eyes of the watchers were blinded by that blaze

Valerius tried to stagger along the corridor with the queen; dazedly he heard the sound of asps of death and a bestial grunting

Then the queen was torn brutally froe blow on his helmet dashed hi his head in an effort to rid himself of the blue flame which seeht cleared, he found himself alone in the corridor alone except for the dead His four coashed Blinded and dazed in that hell-born glare, they had died without an opportunity of defending thenant curse Valerius caught up his sword, tearing his cleft hels; blood ran down his cheek fro, frantic with indecision, he heard a voice calling his naency: 273

”Valerius! Valerius!”