Part 7 (1/2)
Dobanpu rose, stretching li ”Very surely, I want to know your thoughts as to e ainst all custo-queen in the tale of Myosta!”
”You asked, I answer,” Emwaya said ”We must watch Aondo Or better yet, find a way to take his weapons”
”Aondo is needed aanko said
”Even at your back?”
”Properly watched, even at ainst him without dishonor and insult”
”If he feels insult, he can challenge you That will be the end of hihter, you have more faith in your betrothed's prowess than is wise Aondo is so strong that it ht not matter if he is as slow as a reat-jawed one reaches its victianko said ”Also, any man's foot may slip if his luck is out and the spirits not with hiht well deserthiht do?” E, youof lared at each other for aand see the spirits for a brief ht not hear tho fools of themselves At last it was Eanko kneas as y as he was likely to receive But Emas now of a mind to listen, and he could speak more freely
”Also, I do not think that Aondo is the first of our enerant you But first? No, I think er comes frouess”
”A spy for Chabano?” Emwaya asked
”For him, for the God-Men, or perhaps for both”
”A bold one, if he thinks to serve both,” Dobanpu said almost meditatively ”One hears tales, and more than a few of them, that the friendshi+p of Para”
”All the anko said ”A man who tells tales can be made to bear false ones, to set his masters at each other's throats”
”You play stickball with lives,” Ehter?” Dobanpu asked ”Learn a little more of my art and you will understand why thisSpirit-Speaking, wed Seyganko, bear his sons, govern his house and lesser wives-”
”And die when the Kwanyi and the God-Men strike, plowing our ashes into the fields before they sail south to carry all before theht her about to weep
Her storms were violent but swift, like those of the Lake of Death She blinked hard, then contrived a sanko I know the price of any choice other than the one I have made It may be the price even if I walk the way you bade me But I do not have to rejoice in what the Gods have sent to the Ichiribu”
”No one but a fool would ask you to,” Seyganko said gently He wished to take her in his arht the moment unfit ”Do you see any fools here about you?”
Eo on as we have begun,” Dobanpu said ”Indeed, I think this spy gives us yet more cause to leave Aondo alive He can hardly be the spy, but I would wager a hutful of mealies and a new canoe that he knoho thatthe leopard's cub has been known to lead a hunter to the leopard's lair”
Valeria had lost all notion of how long they had been traes It was not round city they had entered, it was near to an underground kingdom Already they had traversed thrice the distance from one side of Xuchotl to the other
At least they had done so had they traveled in anything like a straight line
Valeria had barely e of ti in circles
No, that could not be altogether true Except where they found blind tunnels or stairs leading up to impassable barriers, they had yet to retrace their steps
They wereonward, but tohat destination, only the Gods knew
This place of cunningly wrought rock, and both beasts and spells of incredible antiquity, seeht of the Gods as it was froht of the sun If any ansere to be found, she and Conan would have to find thehts thrashi+ng about thus, like a cat in a sack, she eased herself by taking the lead The need to be keenly alert to hidden dangers cudgeled her wits into some sort of order The Cimmerian doubtless knew her reasons, but courtesy to a battle-coue
Another cave opened before theht have been a cave once, carved froushi+ng water Now the underground streah a channel carved in a floor of pale, rose-hued stone, polished until it was silken-s even in the palewere of the natural rock, but squared off, every corner a right angle as neat as any mason could have made But then, masons had ic instead of mallets and chisels
Conan knelt beside the channel and reached down to dip a finger in the water
”Fresh, as cold as a Hyperborean's arse, and flowing swiftly Anyone for a bath before we drink our fill?”
Valeria had doffed her garer feared Co-nan's eyes upon her, but found the Since they had left Xuchotl, she had grown somewhat thin-flanked, yet Conan see not to notice such matters was another courtesy between battle-comrades ?
They both splashed h to sit in up to their necks had it not been too cold for sitting at all Then they drank, until Valeria could feel her empty stomach filled at least ater
Valeria knelt by the channel, clad only in goose-flesh and drops of water, to rinse out her garh to wear, she stretched and began retying her boot bindings
”How long have we been down here?” she asked as she finished the left foot
”If our sleeping's any guide, for three days, four at the outside”
”By Set's fangs, it feels longer!”
”That itthe time That way lies madness”
”Tell me what I do not know, Conan! Have you ever been out of the sun so long?”
”Yes”
His tone did not encourage her to ask further She let it pass She knew by now that some of his adventures he would boast of in taverns, and others he would carry as secrets to his grave She only prayed that neither his grave nor hers ht be in this Godless wilderness beneath the earth
He stood up and for a th, hisher shoulders ”We can take heart froone in circles, and we've coh to be well beyond the river Also, there are es every day”
”We're closer to the heart of this city?”
”If city it be, I'd wager we are And where the heart of any city lies, there will be the treasures and pleasures Perhaps, in this city, even ways to the surface!”