Part 11 (1/2)

'I sleep in the palace chamber of Akbatana,' the sibilances continued 'There my body lies in its frame of bones and flesh But it is but an empty shell froaze from that palace casement you would realize the futility of resistance The desert is a rose-garden beneath the moon, where blossom the fires of a hundred thousand warriors As an avalanche sweeps onward, gathering bulk and momentum, I will sweep into the lands of s shall furnish oblets, their women and children shall be slaves ofyears of drea

'But thou shalt be otten ways of pleasure We-' Before the stream of cosmic obscenity which poured froed and writhed as if from a whip that flayed her dainty bare flesh

'Remember!' whispered the horror 'The days will not beher face against the tiles and stopping her pink ears with her dainty fingers, yet see noise, like the beat of bat wings Then, looking fearfully up, she saw only the h the ith a beam that rested like a silver sword across the spot where the phantoered to a satin couch, where she threw herself doeeping hysterically The girls slept on, but one, who roused, yawned, stretched her slender figure and blinked about Instantly she was on her knees beside the couch, her arms about Yasmela's supple waist

'Was it - was it-?' Her dark eyes ith fright Yasrasp

'Oh, Vateesa It caain! I saw It - heard It speak! It spoke Its nahted ones What -oh, what shall I do?'

Vateesa twisted a golden bracelet about her rounded arm in meditation

'Oh, princess,' she said, 'it is evident that no mortal power can deal with It, and the charave you Therefore seek you the forgotten oracle of Mitra'

In spite of her recent fright, Yasmela shuddered The Gods of yesterday beco since abandoned the worshi+p of Mitra, forgetting the attributes of the universal Hyborian God Yas very ancient, it followed that the deity was very terrible Ishtar was much to be feared, and all the Gods of Koth Kothian culture and religion had suffered froian strains The sie extent by the sensual, luxurious, yet despotic habits of the East

'Will Mitra aid erness 'We have worshi+pped Ishtar so long-'

'To be sure he will!' Vateesa was the daughter of an Ophirean priest who had brought his customs with him when he fled froo with you'

'I will!' Yasmela rose, but objected when Vateesa prepared to dress her 'It is not fitting that I coo naked, on my knees, as befits a suppliant, lest Mitra deem I lack humility'

'Nonsense!' Vateesa had scant respect for the ways of what she deeht before hi blood of aniated, Yasht sleeveless silk shi+rt, over which was slipped a silken tunic, bound at the waist by a wide velvet girdle Satin slippers were put upon her slender feet, and a few deft touches of Vateesa's pink fingers arranged her dark wavy tresses Then the princess followed the girl, who drew aside a heavy gilt-worked tapestry and threw the golden bolt of the door it concealed This let into a narroinding corridor, and down this the two girls went swiftly, through another door and into a broad hallway Here stood a guardsold-chased greaves, with a long-shafted battle-ax in his hands

A , he took his stand again beside the doorway, irls traversed the hallhich see the lofty walls, and went down a stairhere Yas in the angles of the walls Three levels down they halted at last in a narrow corridor whose arched ceiling was crusted with jewels, whose floor was set with blocks of crystal, and whose walls were decorated with golden frieze-work Down this shi+ning way they stole, holding each other's hands, to a wide portal of gilt

Vateesa thrust open the door, revealing a shrine long forgotten except by a faithful few, and royal visitors to Khoraja's court, mainly for whose benefit the fane was h she was born in the palace Plain and unadorned in comparison to the lavish display of Ishtar's shrines, there was about it a sinity and beauty characteristic of the Mitran religion

The ceiling was lofty, but it was not domed, and was of plain white marble, as were the walls and floor, the for about thereen jade, unstained with sacrifice, stood the pedestal whereon sat the material manifestation of the deity Yasnificent shoulders, the clear-cut features - the wide straight eyes, the patriarchal beard, the thick curls of the hair, confined by a sih she did not know it, was art in its highest forhly esthetic race, unhampered by conventional syardless of Vateesa's admonition, and Vateesa, to be on the safe side, followed her exairl, and it was very awesome in Mitra's shrine But even so she could not refrain fro in Yasmela's ear

'This is but the emblem of the God None pretends to knohat Mitra looks like This but represents him in idealized human form, as near perfection as the human mind can conceive He does not inhabit this cold stone, as your priests tell you Ishtar does He is everywhere - above us, and about us, and he drea the stars But here his being focusses Therefore call upon hi terror

'Before you can speak, Mitra knows the contents of your irls started violently as a voice began in the air above them The deep, cale than froain Yas to her, but this time it was not frohter, for I know your need,' ca rhytholden beach 'In oneit, save all the world fros of the serpent which has crawled up out of the darkness of the ages Go forth upon the streets alone, and place your kingdom in the hands of the firsttones ceased, and the girls stared at each other Then, rising, they stole forth, nor did they speak until they stood once old-barred s The ht Sounds of revelry had died away in the gardens and on the roofs of the city Khoraja slumbered beneath the stars, which seeardens and along the streets and on the flat roofs of houses where folk slept

'What will you do?' whispered Vateesa, all a-tre her teeth

'But alone, in the streets, at this hour!' expostulated Vateesa

'Mitra has spoken,' replied the princess 'It ht have been the voice of the God, or a trick of a priest Noa volu a velvet cap froh the corridors and approached a bronze door where a dozen spear of the palace which let directly onto the street; on all other sides it was surrounded by broad gardens, bordered by a high wall She eular intervals

She hesitated; then, before her resolution could falter, she closed the door behind her A slight shudder shook her as she glanced up and down the street, which lay silent and bare This daughter of aristocrats had never before ventured unattended outside her ancestral palace Then, steeling herself, she went swiftly up the street Her satin-slippered feet fell lightly on the pave, but their soft sound brought her heart into her throat She ih the cavernous city, rousing ragged rat-eyed figures in hidden lairs a assassin, every blank doorway tohounds of darkness

Then she started violently Ahead of her a figure appeared on the eery street She drew quickly into a clue, her pulse pounding The approaching figure went not furtively, like a thief, or tihted street as one who has no need or desire to walk softly An unconscious swagger was in his stride, and his footfalls resounded on the pave As he passed near a cresset she saw him plainly - a tall man, in the chain-mail hauberk of a mercenary She braced herself, then darted fro her cloak close about her

'Sa-ha!' his sword flashed half out of his sheath It halted when he saas only a wolance went over her head, seeking the shadows for possible confederates

He stood facing her, his hand on the long hilt that jutted forward from beneath the scarlet cloak which flowed carelessly frolinted dully on the polished blue steel of his greaves and basinet A lance she saas no Kothian; when he spoke she kneas no Hyborian He was clad like a captain of the mercenaries, and in that desperate command there were ners There was a wolfishness about this warrior that marked the barbarian The eyes of no civilized man, however wild or criminal, ever blazed with such a fire Wine scented his breath, but he neither staggered nor stammered

'Have they shut you into the street?' he asked in barbarous Kothic, reaching for her His fingers closed lightly about her rounded wrist, but she felt that he could splinter its bones without effort Tve but come from the last wine-shop open -Ishtar's curse on these white-livered reforuzzle,” they say - aye, so they can work and fight better for their utted eunuchs, I call them When I served with the ht and fought all day - aye, blood ran down the channels of our swords But what of you, irl? Take off that cursed mask-'

She avoided his clutch with a lithe twist of her body, trying not to appear to repulse hier, alone with a drunken barbarian If she revealed her identity, he h at her, or take himself off She was not sure he would not cut her throat Barbaricfear

'Not here,' she laughed 'Come with me-'

'Where?' His wild blood was up, but he ary as a wolf 'Are you taking me to some den of robbers?'

'No, no, I swear it!' She was hard put to avoid the hand which was again furowled disgustedly 'You're as bad as a Hyrkanian woman, with your daure, anyway'

Before she could prevent it, he wrenched the cloak from her, and she heard his breath hiss between his teeth He stood holding the cloak, eyeing her as if the sight of her rich garments had somewhat sobered him She saw suspicion flicker sullenly in his eyes

'Who the devil are you?' he muttered 'You're no street-waif - unless your lelio for your clothes'

'Never mind' She dared to lay her white hand on his massive iron-clad arm 'Coed his hty shoulders She saw that he half believed her to be so this ain, and followed her From the corner of her eye she watched hiether His th Everything about hile to her in his difference from the debonair courtiers to whom she was accustomed She feared hith and unasha breathless and perilous inside her leaned toward him; the hidden primitive chord that lurks in every woman's soul was sounded and responded She had felt his hardened hand on her arled to the memory of that contact Many men had knelt before Yasmela Here was one she felt had never knelt before any one Her sensations were those of one leading an unchained tiger; she was frightened, and fascinated by her fright

She halted at the palace door and thrust lightly against it Furtively watching her companion, she saw no suspicion in his eyes

'Palace, eh?' he ru?' She found herself wondering, with a strange jealousy, if any of her uards n as she led hiht eye a strange pack She led hih a curtained doorway into an inner cha the tapestries, until he saw a crystal jar of wine on an ebony table This he took up with a gratified sigh, tilting it toward his lips Vateesa ran fro breathlessly, 'Oh my princess-' 'Princess?

The wine-jar crashed to the floor With a ht to follow, theHe recoiled with a curse, his sword leaping into his hand with a broad shi+er's The air was supercharged with tension that was like the pause before the bursting of a storm Vateesa sank to the floor, speechless with terror, but Yas She realized her very life hung in the balance:panic, he was ready to deal death at the slightest provocation But she experienced a certain breathless exhilaration in the crisis

'Do not be afraid,' she said 'I am Yasmela, but there is no reason to feareyes darting all about the chamber 'What manner of trap is this?'