Part 4 (1/2)
”Here,” ca into the left-hand corridor, Conan was startled to see a e from the near side of the waterfall The hand beckoned ”Hurry!” the voice said
Conan and Elashi+ glanced at each other They had little to lose Even so, the big Ci that the deep pool in the center of the corridor was bounded by a shallow ledge Once he attained the spot where he had seen the hand, Conan leaped through, his blade held ready to strike
Behind the waterfall, which ide but shallower than it had appeared, a short, thick-set low of the ubiquitous wall fungus Old he was, perhaps fifty, with a gray beard and long, y cloth breeches and shi+rt, and crude sandals, and he held a long dagger at the ready Behind thedistance
Elashi+ splashed through behind Conan, water spray ing froestured with his head down the corridor Conan needed no proer away from the waterfall Around two turns of the corridor, the h the noise of the waterfall, and they can't smell nothin' past the water, neither They won't come this way”
”We thank you for your aid,” Conan said
”Tull, I'm called,” the old man said
”Well met, and timely, Tull I'm Conan, of Cimmeria, and this is Elashi+, of Khauran” The Cimmerian paused, then asked, ”What is this place, friend?”
”That'll take some time for the tellin'”
Conan looked around ”It see place not far froo there and I'll explain what I know”
Conan and Elashi+ nodded Tull moved off, and they followed
Wikkell ducked to avoid a crusty stalagtite dangling frouide stopped, cocked his head to one side, then turned to the cyclops The guide chattered His felloere returning, it seemed They approached from down the corridor and would be upon the thick, wide-set teeth This venture was proving to be easier than he had anticipated In a moment the Blind Whites would appear-there they were now-and they would be bearing with them- No one!
Where were the men?
The leader of the Whites shuffled his feet on the floor There had been two of the from her odor But they had escaped
”Escaped!” Wikkell roared the word as if it were a virulent curse
That was so Vanished into solid rock
”Men do not vanish into solid rock,” the cyclops said
Either that or they walked on water, the leader of the group said Perhaps they izards
”Show me I will see this with my own eye”
A waste of time, the leader said
”It is ht to himself, if the quarry has truly escaped, there will be considerably less ti to me than heretofore The cyclops followed the Blind Whites down the corridor
The bat alighted upon a rocky fold just ahead of Deek and used its teeth to scratch at so strut
”W-hat i-is t-t-the n-n-news-s-s?
Bad, the bat told the wor to that barbaric speech of the Whites-had escaped, vanished, disappeared
Deek considered that It was bad that he did not have the ood that One Eye did not have theed yet
”I-i-is t-t-there a-a-another ay t-to here t-thespeech for Deek to scratch out on the rock
The bat indicated that this was so
”S-sh-show rew ied through his collection of crystals, searching for the small blue stone that he used for communication He would call his cyclops and ask about the delay Where was that cursed stone?
In her cha the report fro hiive him another hour; then she would try a dreareat white worh in her, and she was not one to suffer delay easily
Tull's hiding place proved to be a fungoid grotto reached by clie cave
The narrow entrance to the grotto was covered by a flap of hide that had been covered with crushed stone so that it blended into the wall, rendering it almost invisible from the floor of the cave below
Inside, the walls were caked thick with the glowing fungus; here the light was concentrated and alht The rooths of bone bound with gut strings, upon it rested a cup made from an animal's skull There was also a pile of furs in one corner, likely used for sleeping Conan noted that these furs seemed very similar in shape and color to the Blind Whites, as Tull had called them Also, there were smaller skins, birdlike but rat-colored, in the collection
”This place is called the Grotteriurotus,” Tull said ”The Black Caves I have been here for nearly five years, best as I can figure”
”How did you coh a hole In the ground above”
”Sounds familiar,” she said
”Who were those creatures that attacked us?” Conan asked
”Them's the Blind Whites Mostly they side with Rey”
”Rey?”
”Aye There's two rulers down here One's Kataic The other's Chuntha the witch Her lanced at Elashi+-”uh, it's more of apersonal nature”
”Personal nature?” Elashi+ asked