Part 12 (2/2)
”Not now, goat”
”Good that you can joke at a time like this,” he said
At that point Tull blundered into Elashi+'s backside; Conan could feel the iainst him
”Hey!”
”Sorry, lass”
”Hold hands,” Conan corab an to edge away frouided hih he bus in the darkness-rocks, dead bats, a semiconscious pikeman-he led his party into the tunnel and away from the chaos
Behind the for its e, but it was already too late
Deek and Wikkell neared the entrace to the cul-de-sac they had taken Before they reached their intended exit, however, Wikkell pulled the wor”
Carefully the two of thee of their quest, a strange noise reed without speaking to exercise extreme, caution Wise that the cyclops and worm did so; the phrase ” what awaited thee of the rocky shoreline was a wooden dock, doubtless ically created for it had not been there before Upon the dock stood Katamay Rey, surrounded by several of Wikkell's brothers; es
Wikkell uttered a whispered epithet, the common and impolite word for excrereed with the curse and slid back as quickly as did Wikkell
”We are doo on the rock was muted, but it seemed abnormally loud to Wikkell ”P-p-perhaps n-not
L-l-look”
It took the cyclops a athered below did not seem to be upon the tunnel entrance in which Wikkell and Deek were huddled No, the assee below appeared to be focused upon the center orifice Wikkell and Deek's feeling of relief was teood and bad Good because perhaps Rey did not know they were here; bad because it mustaround the caves for what seemed like forever must be in the next tunnel over That Rey had to coht capture theChuntha A bad scenario whichever way it was constructed
The thoughts of worm and cyclops were interrupted then as several of the cyclopes gave voice to ru the arrival of newcomers upon the scene Neither Deek nor Wikkell could see who these folk uess It appeared that the game was over ”I think, Deek my friend, that we are in trouble”
”Y-y-you h-have s-s-said it, f-f-friend”
Katamay Rey smiled at the surprise on the faces of the three who appeared in the mouth of the tunnel
They had apparently not been expecting a reception, two er of the men drew a dark-bladed sword, while the woman and the second man also produced weapons nearly as fast Doubtless they could cause soht, and the cyclopes, in their enthusiasht also injure one or more of them After all the efforts expended upon this quest, the wizard had no intention of seeing his prey daed until he had a chance to attend to that personally He saw the big ather hi cyclopes No, that would not do, not at all
Katae whose last native speaker had died a thousand years earlier A net flickered out of the air, a coarse-er than teed weapons The net fell upon the three people above, entangling theic, the use of this spell exhausted certain supernatural elements of the air in the vicinity Beneath Rey's feet, the dock quivered slightly but held firiven place depleted that area's store of etheric energies for a time, as a wine bottle is emptied of liquid One had to be careful lest one create a spell that rendered further ic impossible for a tiencies Well, nothem down,” Rey ordered Half a dozen of the cyclopes hurried to coled to escape, but it was a wasted effort Until he dissolved theanywhere
Katamay Rey smiled Whatever threat these three had posed to his control of the Black Caves was certainly past
Chuntha observed Rey's capture of the three she sought with more than a small amount of irritation
Sensha blast him! He had beaten her to the quarry!
The naked witch slid behind a convenient boulder and considered her options Because he was first did not mean he was the winner; the issue would not be resolved until he achieved his own stronghold, with its erous but not unbeatable She had surprise with her; at the proper ainst the wizard that would disrupt whatever plans he had
Ti was, of course, critical; a mistake could be costly Still, Chuntha did not despair She had a few tricks of her own packed away, and the thought of destroying That bastard once and for all caused a warlow in her belly She would have her quarry-two , Rey would have an unplanned and perht
Fourteen
The Harskeel's anger filled it to capacity When the shroud powder's effect faded, it found itself looking upon a scene of carnage None of its men remained alive Of the four, one had been cut down by the barbarian, the plants had apparently taken another, the bats in their confusion had fastened to a third, and the fourth lay trampled upon the rocky floor More than a few bats lay dead as well Red was not one of theained hopped toward thethe dead as he came ”Bad business,” Red said
The Harskeel could not trust itself to speak
”Well, what say we just take our spell and call it quits, eh?”
Now the Harskeel's voice came out, but it caed feelings ”I have another spell This one is somewhat different in effect It turns bats into insects” ”You jest”
”Would you perhaps like a demonstration? Upon yourself, for instance?”
Red spent little ti this ”Uh, no I shall take your word for it”
”Good Then let us go and capture this barbarian before I decide that all of the bats in this blasted cave would serve me better as butterflies!”
Wikkell and Deek watched as the three captives were carried to the ical dock Their weapons were removed and the net dissolved by the wizard, but only after each hurip of a pair of cyclopes Even the largest one's struggles availed it little against the strength of Wikkell's brothers, and the man seemed to realize this, and was still
As the worroup walked to the end of the dock, which waslike so much smoke in a vent breeze In a few ht
”N-n-nohat?”
Wikkell sighed ”We are in deep trouble, I would say You cannot go home, for your mistress will doubtless be unhappy with you”