Part 12 (1/2)
Conan pa.s.sed through the hall quickly enough, traversed the outer chamber, and approached the door that let upon the gallery. Then he saw the floor sprinkled with tiny, glittering shards. The crystal sheet that had covered the doorway had been s.h.i.+vered to bits, and he remembered the crash that had accompanied the shattering of the crystal globe. He believed that every piece of crystal in the castle had broken at that instant, and some dim instinct or memory of esoteric lore vaguely suggested the truth of the monstrous connection between the Lords of the Black Circle and the golden pomegranates. He felt the short hair bristle chilly at the back of his neck and put the matter hastily out of his mind.
He breathed a deep sigh of relief as he stepped out upon the green jade gallery. There was still the gorge to cross, but at least he could see the white peaks glistening in the sun, and the long slopes falling away into the distant blue hazes.
The Irakzai lay where he had fallen, an ugly blotch on the gla.s.sy smoothness. As Conan strode down the winding path, he was surprised to note the position of the sun. It had not yet pa.s.sed its zenith; and yet it seemed to him that hours had pa.s.sed since he plunged into the castle of the Black Seers.
He felt an urge to hasten, not a mere blind panic, but an instinct of peril growing behind his back. He said nothing to Yasmina, and she seemed content to nestle her dark head against his arching breast and find security in the clasp of his iron arms. He paused an instant on the brink of the chasm, frowning down. The haze which danced in the gorge was no longer rose-hued and sparkling. It was smoky, dim, ghostly, like the life-tide that flickered thinly in a wounded man. The thought came vaguely to Conan that the spells of magicians were more closely bound to their personal beings than were the actions of common men to the actors.
But far below, the floor shone like tarnished silver, and the gold thread sparkled undimmed. Conan s.h.i.+fted Yasmina across his shoulder, where she lay docilely, and began the descent. Hurriedly he descended the ramp, and hurriedly he fled across the echoing floor. He had a conviction that they were racing with time, that their chances of survival depended upon crossing that gorge of horrors before the wounded Master of the castle should regain enough power to loose some other doom upon them.
When he toiled op the farther ramp and came oat upon the crest, he breathed a gusty sigh of relief and stood Yasmina upon her feet.
”You walk from here,” he told her, ”ifs downhill all the way.”
She stole a glance at the gleaming pyramid across the chasm; it reared up against the snowy slope like the citadel of silence and immemorial evil.
”Are you a magician, that you have conquered the Black Seers of Yimsha, Conan of Ghor?” she asked, as they went down the path, with his heavy arm about her supple waist.
”It was a girdle Khemsa gave me before he died,” Conan answered. ”Yes, I found him on the trail. It is a curious one, which I'll show you when I have time. Against some spells it was weak, but against others it was strong, and a good knife is always a hearty incantation.”
”But if the girdle aided you in conquering the Master,” she argued, ”why did it not aid Khemsa?”
He shook his head. ”Who knows? But Khemsa had been the Master's slave; perhaps that weakened its magic. He had no hold on me as he had on Khemsa. Yet I can't say that I conquered him. He retreated, but I have a feeling that we haven't seen the last of him. I want to put as many miles between us and his lair as we can.”
He was further relieved to find horses tethered among the tamarisks as he had left them. He loosed them swiftly and mounted the black stallion, swinging the girl up before him. The others followed, freshened by their rest.
And what now?” she asked. ”To Afghulistan?”
”Not just now!” He grinned hardly. ”Somebody- maybe the governor-killed my seven headmen. My idiotic followers think I had something to do with it, and unless I am able to convince them otherwise, they'll hunt me like a wounded jackal.”
Then what of me? If the headmen axe dead, I am useless to you as a hostage. Will you slay me to avenge them?”
He looked down at her, with eyes fiercely aglow, and laughed at the suggestion.
”Then let us ride to the border,” she said.. ”You'll be safe from the Afghulis there---”
”Yes, on a Vindhyan gibbet.”
”I am. queen of Vendhya,” she reminded him with a touch of her old imperiousness. ”You have saved my life. You shall be rewarded.”
She did not intend it as it sounded, but he growled in his throat, ill pleased.
”Keep your bounty for your city-bred dogs, princess! If you're a queen of the plains, I'm chief of the hills, and not one foot toward the border will I take you!”
”But you would be safe---” she began bewilderedly.
”And you'd be the Devi again,” he broke in. ”No, girl; I prefer you as you are now-a woman of flesh and blood, riding on my saddle bow.”
”But you can't keep me!” she cried. ”You can't---”
”Watch and see!” he advised grimly.