Part 23 (1/2)

Chuntha could stand it no longer The wizard, That stupid bastard! had failed to kill Conan and stop the attack His enthralled demon lay flattened under solid rock, and Conan-that vile, wretched, beautiful barbarian-was still alive

It was too much The onlyand end of it

The witch leaped into the air and flapped doard in a flight she intended to end with her claws buried in Conan's heart

Screeching in prie, the reptile dived

Conan ran toward his three friends and the fallen wizard Ten paces, five, he would be upon them in an instant, and his sould claim the wizard's head, by Crom! He raised the blade to strike- The screech from above called Conan's attention He looked up to see the ensorceled witch coh the air at him He immediately saw that he would not be able to reach the wizard before the flying reptile would intercept hiht take a wing, he thought, though it was much more likely that the toothed snout would take hi He twisted to face the new threat

I have you now! Chuntha thought Prepare to die, Conan!

She was five ar the true form of the witch failed

Onefrom the early dawn of life on earth; the next moment the leathery form vanished Chuntha screamed, and the voice was that of a woe, as quick as an eyeblink What was a scaledback in the wind of her flight, now a fall heading straight at him The Cimmerian was startled; not so much that he failed to leap lithely out of the witch's path, but enough so that he did not swing the sword to slash at her

The sas not necessary in the end, however

Chuntha the witch hit the rock floor with less force than had Rey's deh to end her days on earth She bounced only once, stopped The naked form seemed almost unmarked on the back, but the face and front had become red jelly and splintered white bone in an instant

As Conan watched, the ss shriveled, as quick as a dry leaf cast into a hot fire In an instant, nothing but black ash re years past the day when it should have died

Chuntha the witch was no more

Conan turned back toward the wizard He was still alive, and did Conan not attend to that, the evil sorcerer ht do to him what Chuntha had just done to herself

Lalo and Tull were helping Elashi+ to craay froed to attain his feet He looked at the approaching Conan, shook his head, and turned toward me portal He leaped inside : Conan rushed after the wizard Best to stop hiical attack

”Conan, no!” Elashi+ screao in there!”

The Ci fast when he heard Elashi+'s yell

Soed to alter his path He skidded and slid, and dropped his sword He had to put both hands out to keep fro 'head-on into the wall next to the entrance As he did this, he heard the wizard cry out, a high-pitched and terrible sound

So lay within?

Apast Conan

The Cimmerian could not be certain itwas the wizard at first The creature who staggered past him rapped in black flame that seemed to consume him Flesh crackled like fat dropped into a heated skillet, and the man's screams were continuous

Conan retrieved his fallen sword and started toward the h that was not Conan's motivation

He raised the sword

Rey kneas dying There was no cure for the Black Rot; it would burn hiness in a spell he kneould delay it for a second

Through his pain and rage, Rey accepted his end He would die, there was no help for it But, by Set, he would take all those around hi wizard has power, and wizards do not die easily or fast, even under decay of Black Rot

He would have ti the cave down around their ears!

With his final conscious thoughts, Rey unleashed all the powers at his co for half a day's walk in all directions

Conan stopped in mid-stride, blade lifted to strike; as if he had hit wall of packed feathers, or encountered one of the fierce winter winds of his ho He could force himself forward a little but then it pushed back at hian to glow under the black fla the diht, albeit a day like none ever seen by mortal man

Rocks ruround around the tortured fors of a an

Conan felt a weakness enter his of lead He wanted nothing sobeam shot out from the wizard's face, or where Conan assumed the face had been, and the beam lanced into one of the cyclops halfway across the corridor The cyclops exploded, bursting into thousands of pieces, shattering like glass

Around Conan the air seemed suddenly filled with ice, so cold was it all of a moment, and yet a second later the air seemed as hot as if it were from an oven Then the heat faded and still Conan could not reat threat The wizard, whatever his condition, was still dangerous He had to strike hiainst the force of the invisible barrier, Conan strived to ed, only to be pushed back past his starting place And he felt wearier with each passing second If he could but rest, for only a moment, he could finish this

No! Conan told himself Any rest noould likely be his last

The hu the wizard into so blind; and the crackling beams shot forth and blasted at the cyclopes and the worms One of the bea The ceiling rumbled overhead, as did the walls and the floor Conan closed his eyes Even through their lids he could see the bright glow that the wizard had becoainst the unseen barrier, utilizing his great strength to its ut he could not swing it in a cut He pushed against the wall of feathers, leaned into the s bulging with the effort, the sinews creaking with the strain

Rocks fell fronored theht take His boots slid backward a hair on the stone, but he willed hi the ground through the leather of his shod feet as best he could

A section of wall collapsed behind Conan, followed byHe felt the floor shudder and shi+ft under him Another moment or two of this and an earthquake would likely bury theet no closer The point of his blade was only a handspan away froht as well have beenathousand miles

Then, over the unnatural noises produced by the dying wizard, there cah the cacophony, the voice of Lalo, the cursed one: ”I knew he could not do it! Such a weakling!”

Conan's rage could no longer be contained All of Lalo's previous insults added to his ire, and this one was the final straw Weakling? Weakling! I will show you who is a weakling!