Part 8 (2/2)
Valeria blinked-and realized that her eyes were not quite dry She turned away, and Conan did her the courtesy of letting her stand thus until she had coain
”How should I take it?” she said at last ”We are, I think, at that tih I'll laugh, if it's all the same to you”
Conan's roar raised echoes and made stones fall from the pile He kissed her roundly on both cheeks, then on the lips, and finished with a smart slap to her rear
”I'll have to buy that pox-ridden captain a drink the next time I see him How else would I have won such a coht?”
”The Gods only know I'd rather voyage with a bog-troll, as often as not” She knelt and set her boots on the floor
”What do you mean by that?”
”Conan, this otten that I a the Barachans, and that good pirates do not leave fine loot to gather dust?”
Conan laughed shortly and joined her at her work The fire-stones were light for their size, and enough to fill the toes of their boots was no great burden
Magic ic as evil as any in Xuchotl They e the theft of their dead ic here would slay her and the Cier put her in fear
As for the Golden Serpents, let them come A day or two more and she would be ready not only to spit one on her sword, but to eat it raw afterward!
SIX
”Conan,” Valeria whispered, ”I s fat Or elselines” Conan sniffed the air, more daed, half a league through scum-coated water that seemed to both ooze from below and drip from above He wondered if they were under a river, or more likely, a lake
At ti of sli treacherous even for two nimble warriors like the Cimmerian and his companion At other times, it rose to their ankles, or even to their knees
After the first such place, Valeria slung her jewel-laden boots about her neck
The Cireater stature allowed hi at his waist Neither needed the boots to guard leather-tough feet, and indeed, preferred bare toes by which to feel out lurking menaces
When knee-deep, the water seemed sometimes alic of these tunnels had been unable to keep alive In those places, it exhaled a noisome stench thatto bind over his mouth and nose
He wished even more to knohat sort of creature had risen to attack Valeria on the day they had entered this maze Was it a water-dweller, and were they perhaps approaching the lair of more of the breed? Well-wielded steel was an answer to rewof what this muck could hardly fail to do to their blades- Conan finished his sniffing ”Your wits are as sound as ever I ser”
”What do you have to wager with, Cimmerian?”
”Not as much as you, I'll be bound, but-”
It was Valeria who held up one hand and pointed with the dagger in the other ”Stairs?”
Conan's eyes followed the gesture ”If they're not, rie was not proof against the thought of the light abandoning theical as it was, they owed their lives to it
”All thethe stairs, then”
Between them and the entry to the stairs, the water deepened alh the filth, greasy whorls of floatingto either side as they advanced Conan had both sword and dagger dra, and held the weapons clear of the water, ready to strike down at the slightest hint of alien presence
Nothing except h they were black and dripping frohs to feet when they reached dry stone Conan climbed the first few steps, reached a spot where the wall had cracked and now sagged across his path, and went to his hands and knees
He could barely creep under the stone Ten paces farther along, he could barely ht ahead made his heart leap with hope
The stairs wound up into natural darkness that reeked of fish oil, anirain In places, the steps had cru, even without the darkness In one place, the stairs seemed to rise up a vertical chiainst one wall and feet against the other
Far above, like a single star shi+ning on a rainy night, a diic about it Rather, it told of huer's breadth too large to pass through the gap and begin the ascent Even his strengththe fallen slab, and could well bring the mass down on top of them if he succeeded
Thank Mitra, there was another way, or at least another hope Groping into the open, Conan's hand touched a puddle of congealed grease Clearly, it had dripped down from above, where what must be a cook fire burned cheerfully
Conan started retracing his steps For a ed; then he felt Valeria tugging at his ankles Her lithe strength hed dust froo first Slip through the gap, then pass all the grease you'll find-”
”Grease?”
”Sorease -”
”Grease?”
”If I want an echo, woman, I'll shout! Go up and see for yourself if you doubt rinned ”In truth, why should I be surprised? This is the maddest quest I've ever been on It would disappoint me if it did not stay so to the end”
Conan kept to hiht be far frole yet, or even into the borderlands of the Black Kingdoht The people above reet him and Valeria with spears, or even with that cook fire that now seemed so end had it, but there were enough ”Well, then Let's not stand about scratching each other's fleas like a pair of apes Up!”
Valeria scrambled up the stairs and vanished ahead Conan followed, to see Valeria's boots and sole gar on the stone She herself was nowhere to be seen, but froap ca not to spew
”You ap?”
”Do you see any perfumed oil about?”
”Ask a foolish question” Valeria muttered Then Conan saw her, nude and pale in the darkness, kneeling to se
Only when she had finished that work did she begin tossing handfuls of the grease through the passage to the Cimmerian
The stuff reeked like a kitchen-midden, and its touch orously, srease on his skin as fast as Valeria passed it through to him
”What happens if you still can't make your way past?” Valeria asked
”Then you climb up yourself and ask the folk above to coe for e It will be no great matter”