Part 6 (2/2)
He was about to split its skull when Rerin stepped forward holding his staff horizontally at shoulder height He was casting a spell as well, and the de to a blinding light
”Had you killed it in the ,” Rerin said calmly, ”the full force of its spell would have fallen upon you You would have rotted where you stand”
The leader growled out an order, and the demons turned and fled into the brush
Before it disappeared, the speaker turned and said, 106
107”We shall have you and the woone
”That does not sound good,” said Conan as he 'sheathed his sword ”Who is their reat powers of the demon world, I doubt not,” said Rerin pessimistically ”If such a one takes too close an interest in us, I fear that ics ic and h so far,” Conan contended ”We h and find our way back to the real world I have always trusted in th and skill; you should do the sahed the old ht of the castle It hulked upon its e battle out the weaknesses of such places ”We'll have to get closer,” he said at last ”This air is too thick to see ss that let you into a place like that Are you sure she is in there?”
”I am certain You may not sense it, but that place sends forth an aura of evil and sorcery that I can feel in my bones”
”What kind of people dwell there?” Conan asked ”It looks like a place built by giants”
”It may well have been Many peoples live in the demon land, and iants, and that place has the look of the hoh, that those ell there now are somewhat like us, in external appearance, at least Within they are as inhuman as those demons ”
”Are they mortal?” Conan asked ”Can they be cut with steel?”
”I believe so No inhabitants of this world are truly i you slew”
Conan looked about restlessly ”What do the folk up there eat? I see no cultivated fields, no sign of villages or coholds of robber-chieftains row food”
”Life here does not follow the same rhythms as in the world of men,” said old Rerin ”Whatever con-cerns occupy the people of that great hall, getting their daily bread is not likely to be a them Their bodily needs may be satisfied by their co upon the blood of human victims”
”Nonetheless,” Conan said, ”if they huddle behind stone walls theyIf they fear, then they can be hurt But, we'll know nothing until we get closer Co stride, and the old htfall when they reached the base of the cyclopean walls Strange, reen h the thick, waterlike air Conan ran his fingers along the stone in search of the joints and cracks between the blocks that ht afford a climber a secure handhold
”Crom,” he muttered ”It's all of a piece! There are no joints”
108
109”This pile was raised by ic, not by human hands,” said Rerin ”I know a spell that would raise us to the top of the wall, but surely those inside would feel the working of an alien ic to clih and pitted like lava If it is like this all the way up, 1 can climb it”
Rerin felt the wall and shook his head doubtfully ”Perhaps one who is half ape and half oat can climb this, but I fear that I cannot Had we a rope, you could climb and haul me up after you As it is, I must abide here until you find one”
”You had best stay down here at any rate Hide yourself somewhere beyond the tree line until I return with the queen In that place, full as you say it is izardly people, you would be of little help, and there is no sense in both of us dying in there should I fail If I coht, you may see if your wiles can prevail where my sword could not”
”May Ymir aid you in your task, Ciain, the queen wrought well in accepting your service”
Conan scratched his chin ”I am not sure that Ymir looks into this place I as outside Cih there” He clapped Rerin upon the shoulder ”Now, get you gone, old man Find a safe place, and be ready to help us e come down, for I've no doubt there will be those ill pursue us”
Conan turned back to the wall and reached up to the full extent of his ared into minute depressions, and slowly, painfully, he drew hi with his feet, he found a precarious lodgment for his toes and reached up another foot with one hand Thus, a foot or less at a tiress was slow, but it was steady Few reat exhaustion and liue, but Conan reached the top of the ith no outward sign of wear He found hi atop a battle-ment that was fully equipped for battle, but which was utterly devoid of inhabitants He saw no passages into the interior in his ian exploring
There was no courtyard within the wall, but instead the whole castle seee towers and other architectural features protrud-ing from it here and there At intervals he saw sculp-tured creatures with strange and repellent aspects, so to rise up through the alk itself It all appeared to be the work of an utterly deely silent, and from time to time he paused to listen, but no sound came to him His nostrils flared, but the air carried no hint of woods and heating without fires His wandering brought hi toith a squat, conical roof A door flanked by a pair of cadaverous, sculpted guards stood open, yawning into the black interior of the tower
Slowly and suspiciously Conan entered with sword bared His free hand touched the hile his feet slid slowly forward, testing his path into the gloom Two paces within the doorway his feet found an abrupt 110
111drop-off in the floor He tested it cautiously and found it to be the beginning of a descending stairway A warm breeze came up from below, and upon it he could faintly discern the strains of wild, bizarre music, thick with the sounds of drum and cymbal Now he also smelled s fire
He descended at least one hundred steps before he first caught a glihost, Conan ht shone He was gazing into a lavishly furnished chamber that was streith cushi+ons and carpets of what see in niches, casting an eerie radiance froaze Conan saoolden coverlets and exotic furs She wore only elaborate jewelry, and his breath caught at the voluptuous, pale-fleshed beauty thus displayed; full, round breasts and generously curved buttocks Her face was turned away fron of awareness, as if she was asleep or drugged His feet made no sound as he stepped into the room Alert for attack, he crossed to the woman and tapped her beneath the jaith the flat of his sword
”Wake up, woily the woman's head turned and her eyes opened Conan's own eyes widened in amaze-ment ”Alcuina!”
It took a few moments for Alcuina's eyes to focus, and in that time Conan saw that she wore a wide collar of iron about her neck and that it was connected to a ring in the floor by a short length of chain”Conan,” she breathed at last ”Have you truly come for me, or is this another of the dreas and spells? If so, it is a more effective torture than any they have tried thus far”
”I arasped the chain in both hands and tried to pull it froet you free from this place, then we can think of some way to prove that I am real”
He pulled on the chain until the veins swelled upon his brow, but even his great strength could not break chain or ring Hefrom her head, becaeher embarrassment She made no futile effort to cover herself; there was too
Conan shrugged ”In the South they are not so fussy about clothes Even queens so now” He looked her up and doith frank ad that other women do not have Perhaps a closer look is in order, just to s to concern us,” she said impatiently ”Can you not free me of this chain?”
”We shall see I had hoped to do this quietly, but--” With a full-arht his sword down upon the chain There was aand a few sparks, but the only other result was a nick in his blade ”Cursed hard steel they e in annoyance
Alcuina's sharply indrawn breath was the only warn- 114
115sht, and there was a single, circular door made of heavy timbers He had never seen a round door before, and he wondered how it opened, since he could see no hinges
He lay on his belly and chose a link of one of the chains to work on He was able to get enough slack to rub the link back and forth along the floor for at least a foot It seeht wear a few links down enough to weaken the but tied to be an hour of this monoto-nous activity, he examined the link The side he had rubbed was a bit shi+nier, but that was the extent of it This could be a lengthy task His as abruptly interrupted when the round door rose into the lintel above it At least thatfootsteps, and a wo a tray entered the cell He had expected a neck-ringed slave, but this was one of the spectators of his fight Unless he was much mistaken, it was the same one who had rendered him unconscious He could not be sure, as the ones he had seen looked much alike
”Come over here, you silver-eyed trull,” Conan said affably ”I'd like to wring your pretty neck”
To his surprise she answered in a tongue he under-stood ”Ah, but then you would not be able to eat this splendid dinner I have brought you”
Conan smelled the proffered viands and his ree Give me the food, and I'll not kill you”
”First, a s sound and Conan looked down in stupefied puzzlerew from the floor of the cell and fastened securely about his ankles Then so writhed about his arly pinioned He was trussed like an ox in a slaughterhouse