Part 19 (1/2)
Deek and Wikkell looked at each other, and each knew the jubilation the other must feel Success!
Well, to be sure, it was only half successful; still, with the worms' promise in hand, they had a potent weapon to sway the cyclopes to their argu the worms' chambers, Deek and Wikkell went to visit the cyclopes
As his captor flew through the caves on its huge, leathery wings, Conan wondered which of the two ht That either the witch or the wizard had sent this beast was apparent And it also seemed that he anted alive, else he would surely be dead by now The flying rip and allow the fall to do the deed
The answer to the Ci That tickle of words inside Conan's head caain:We shall be home soon, my beautiful barbarDefinitely female, that voice, and since it seeured that the witch was somehoithin the form of the creature
Indeed As the cave's walls see hi at last the entrance to Chuntha's chauard over the portal Conan could not be certain that those tere the same he had seen before, since all of the worms looked alike to him, but he suspected it was so
The creature settled to the floor-, loosing its grip on the Ci within the reach of the worht be repaid with a slap of one of those massive tails, and Conan did not desire to discover hoerful such a stroke hts of quick escape fled when the scaled reptile suddenly altered its shape After a shi+mmer in the air, Conan beheld the form of the witch for the first ties of evil, speaking in a cracked and raspy cackle, but that was not what he beheld, not at all
Crom, she was beautiful! And naked! Her face, her breasts, her long and well-for about her was altogether lovely
The witch's smile was sensual and full of invitation
”I have been searching for you for too long a time,” she said ”We have much to discuss”
Conan stared at the naked woman Surely a woman who looked like this could not be as bad as he had been led to believe?
”Come,” she said ”Into ht with the bats You can lie down on h upon Conan's list of desired activities at the moment Hardly A man could not stand next to such a woman and think of rest, save in the most abstract of futures Rest? Later Much later Added to his thoughts caun to hear recently: We shall lie together onone, and I shall show you pleasure beyond any you have ever known
Chuntha turned, and the view from behind was as lovely as that from the front Conan watched her walk away Actually, it was more of sway than a walk, and the muscles, Conan followed He sees about the witch, but the memory was dim and distant compared to the reality of the woman he beheld
The escape tunnel that Tull, Elashi+, and Lalo had chosen was instead a dead end It stopped abruptly at a flat wall, and there was no option save to turn around and retrace their steps
The three had not gone a dozen paces, however, when they halted again A pair of cyclopes stood there, blocking the exit After ajust behind them the form of Katamay Rey ”Ah, my friends,” the wizard said ”You left so abruptly earlier that we did not have time to finish our discussion And look, another has joined you” Rey nodded at Lalo ”Have I not seen you somewhere before?”
”I have only just dropped in,” Lalo said, ever s
”Mm Of course, I recall Sent by Chuntha, were you?”
”Not at all, you pea-brained fool”
Startled, the wizard raised one hand, then stopped ”There's so about you ah, I have it! You are enspelled My brother Mambaya Rey used to have such a curse at his disposal Perhaps you know him?”
For once Lalo was struck with silence
”Well, no e companion has left you Where is he?”
None of the three spoke
The wizard grinned ”Ah, well, we can discuss this more at our leisure back at my chambers You will co him, and they lanced at each other, and Tull shook his head A knife and a sould be of little use against these, and Lalo's wrestling less so They were captured Conan was gone Things did not look good
Wikkell's people seemed at first a bit iant worm added to their interest
”Talk is cheap, brother,” one of the Cyclopes said
”Indeed,” Wikkell replied He lifted the web device and pointed it at the doubting cyclops The thin spray shot forth
”Hey!”
In a led he could not move, save to squirm
”Help me!”
When half a dozen others moved to do so, Wikkell turned the floor into perfect smoothness, and the six slipped and fell and slid hither and yon
”W-e s-seeotten their a-attention”
”Yes, we have, haven't we?” Several hours later the discussions came to their conclusion Yes, the cyclopes would join the wor the witch and the wizard What exactly was the plan? Hoas it to be instigated?
Wikkell drew hied First you are to choose a war council, with leaders The worms shall do the same, and the two of us will then present our plan to the leaders of both sides at once, to save repetition Naturally, Deek and I intend to be commanders of our respective troops”
With that, WikkellThe an to vie for position trailed the tn the corridor
At a distance at which they would not be overheard, Deek found a patch of speech rock ”Wh what p-p-plan? Th-this i-is th-the f-f-first I-I have h-heard o-of s-s-such a p-p-plan!”
”I had to say so that our chances of ever getting this far were remote at best I never really believed that we should actually have to ainst the witch and the wizard”
”W-ell, e h-h-have c-come t-to i-it N-n-nohat a-are e t-to d-d-do?”
”Devise a plan of attack, it would seeret I as e-ever h-h-hatched,” Deek said If it is possible for the body of a worret, the voice thus produced indeed sounded regretful
”Cheer up, Deek old slug We are no worse off than ere before Who knows? We er m-my n-n-nest o-on th-that p-p-possibility”
The witch proceeded to a large bed that lay in the center of the room She climbed onto the bed, crawled to the middle on her hands and knees, then turned and lay upon her back She smiled at Conan