Part 5 (1/2)

FOUR

Conan's fall began with ill fortune, which swiftly changed for the better Had it been otherwise, the stories of many men and not a few realms would have been vastly altered

He was no spell-sround at the ain, perhaps not It was old earth-ic, and the names of those who discovered it had been lost to hu before Atlantis was even built, let alone before the oceans sed it

The art had not been lost, however The sorcery known to the builders of Xuchotl partook of it Nor was the dooical arts Deep within the jungle they also built and wrought do tribess that Conan had en-countered The earth gaped beneath his feet, he plunged down into darkness briefly lit froe in darkness deeper yet as the pit closed above him

Thrice he struck earthen walls that yet seeether natural These blows slowed his fall sos He had just regained it when he struck for a final time, where the wall of the pit had crumbled under the inexorable thrust of the roots of soiant The blow took him across the chest and would have cracked, or even crushed the ribs of any lesser ained breath and tossed hi the other side of the pit He struck, half slid and half bounced ten paces, then lay there while earth quivered, ruladly have lain until his breath returned, but instinct told him that the mouth of the tunnel was only precariously bound by whateverthus in momentary coers seemed to clutch his chest as he crawled, but the sound of still-falling earth drove hi with ain, broken only by his harsh breathing

Probing his ribs with his fingers, he found nothing broken, although he would wager the price of a good inn that he would have thehad slowed, and cautiously he sat up

Then a rumble and a series of thuds sounded from the mouth of the tunnel They rose to a crescendo, but faded as swiftly as they cae had followed him into the pit and plummeted all the way to its distant bottom, as he had not

He told himself that the sound was too heavy to be Valeria That kept the ill-luck thought from his mind that she would surely follow him down if she bested the crocodile She had that loyalty to a battle comrade that defies common sense, and that Conan himself also lived by

The mouth of the tunnel was noo-thirds blocked by fallen earth-and Conan was thunderstruck to realize that he could see this He was no longer in utter darkness worthy of the deepest slave-pits of Stygia

He turned and looked down the tunnel It sloped away into shadow but was clearly visible for soe of the Cimmerian's vision, the walls seemed to turn from earth into stone, and carved stone at that

Over all played a subtle light that at one moment seemed sapphire-hued, at the next, as cries of color ht was ic But he would be a cursed deal uneasier in total darkness, and that lighther neck to climb down to him!

Now, if he had some way to tell her that

Valeria knew that the air had to be cooler this deep in the earth It only see down the throat of a volcano toward thefar below, ready to turn her to ashes should her grip fail for a et what you've learned about not letting your fancies run wild, you silly wench, and you will fall”

It was not a fancy that sweat covered every bit of exposed skin, turning into slimy mud where earth had fallen on her fro to her, as sodden as a jellyfish, and even her boots seemed to have become heavier with the dampness of the air in this pit

Truth was, she had never cli and with such precarious holds for hands and feet Compared to this climb, the time she had raced a shi+per was a child's game It did not-help, either, that her life had not been at stake in that race

Groping feet touched a flatter surface A ledge? So besides the wall of the pit, anyway but test it first before putting full weight on it, let alone undoing the rope fros above ”Hooaaa!” The voice seemed more a specter's than a roped for purchase on the ledge, until at last she found a spot whereupon to stand She left the vine rope in place, though, as she stared doard

The ht barely let her count the fingers of a hand held in front of her face Beneath, all was blackness Or was it? Frolow seemed to battle the darkness, like distant fireflies on a ht

Except that no firefly ever blinked in those hues of blue and red-no natural firefly, at least But the laws of nature ht not bind whatever lived down here

Valeria shuddered She had no ic than the Cimmerian did, if the truth were known, and for ic made honest war skills useless, and made its users more often than not as twisted as the street of her native village in Aquilonia! Tascela was the worst sorceress she had seen, which made her thank the Gods that she had not seen soht

There would be ti tales when she knew that the voice beloas his and when she had rejoined him

”The sea frees us,” she called It was a password of the Red Brotherhood Only Conan in this jungle was likely to know the reply

”The land binds us,” came the reply Valeria's knees quivered with relief, but she did not move otherwise

”Conan! Where are you?”

”In a tunnel, beyond where you see the light I-” A clod of earth bounced off Valeria's head and spun away into the abyss She looked up Was it her fancy, or was the hole above sht was surely fading; her hand was now only a blurred, fingerless shape

The glow fro steady, but it could not take the place of the trickle of daylight froht I'll try to climb down until I'm opposite you, then throw my rope across Hoide is the pit where you are?”

”Wide enough that your pet crocodile didn't stick in its gullet when you sent it down to join h, if the light's going”

She heard hints of ry at his hiding the truth froht not know all the truth hi, or God!

The rope was near its end when Valeria found a foothold on a huge curving root opposite the mouth of the tunnel At least she felt the bark under her feet; the light froone Then Conan's head and ht from the tunnel below She sa that the mouth of the tunnel was heaped with freshly fallen earth, and understood what Conan feared

She had not been so desperate for silence since her brief days as a cutpurse

Even the faint hiss as the slipknot loosened and the rope came free seemed to batter her ears like thunder The end of the rope flew past her, down into the pit; then she gripped her end and began hauling it in

She was hauling vigorously when the rope suddenly went taut in her hands Caught on another root, she thought Then it began jerking up and down Caught it was, but by soer, not by anything as innocent as a crocodile

Valeria would gladly have faced a score of crocodiles rather than whatfroers or voice shake, however, to give any hint of her fear She flung her end of the rope across the pit, saw Conan grip it firht of the vines

For the longest moment of Valeria's life, it was an even contest which would break first-the vine or the grip of whatever lay below Then, suddenly, the rope shot up like a flying fish Valeria seized the free end and hastily bound it about her waist

The rope was covered with a foul ichor that ht have oozed froulping noises fro down to cross the pit The root offered no foothold fit for a leap

”Conan!” she called

”I hear it, too Jump, Valeria!”

She would drop no farther if shedown, then cli in the rope until it stretched taut across the gap

Valeria braced herself, flexed her legs, pressed her hands hard against the wall, and thereby dislodged several more clods of earth They fell into darkness, and it seerew louder yet