Part 16 (1/2)

Etched against the whitening sky they saw Conan the Ci in the boord in hand, his blackin the daind

'Stand!' he ordered 'Cos?'

'Let us co a bloody stuone from this devil's island'

'The first man who tries to climb over the side, I'll split his skull,' promised Conan

They were forty-four to one, but he held the whip-hand The fight had been haood Conan,' whined a red-sashed Za fearfully over his shoulder at the silent woods 'We have been so mauled, bitten, scratched and rended, and are so weary fro, that not one of us can lift a sword'

'Where is that dog Aratus?' demanded Conan

'Dead, with the others! It was devils fell upon us! They were rending us to pieces before we could awake - a dozen good rovers died in their sleep The ruins were full of flas and sharp talons'

'Aye! put in another corsair 'They were the dees, to befool us Ishtar! We lay down to sleep a as ainst the powers of darkness Then we broke away and left the at the corpses like jackals But surely they'll pursue us'

'Aye, let us come aboard!' clamored a lean Shemite 'Let us coh we be so weary you will doubtless slay ainst us many'

'Then I'll knock a hole in the planks and sink her,' answered Conan grimly A frantic chorus of expostulation rose, which Conan silenced with a lion-like roar

'Dogs! Must I aid my enemies? Shall I let you come aboard and cut out erly 'Friends - friends, ConanWe are thy co of Turan, not each other'

Their gaze hung on his brown, frowning face

'Then if I arunted, 'the laws of the Trade apply to ht, then I am your captain!'

There was no dissent The pirates were too cowed and battered to have any thought except a desire to get away froht out the blood-stained figure of the Corinthian

'How, Ivanos!' he challenged 'You took ain?'

'Aye, by Mitra!' The pirate, sensing the trend of feeling, was eager to ingratiate hiht, lads; he is our lawful captain!'

Aenthusiasm perhaps, but with sincerity accentuated by the feel of the silent woods behind the ebony devils with red eyes and dripping talons

'Swear by the hilt,' Conan demanded

Forty-four sword-hilts were lifted toward him, and forty-four voices blended in the corsair's oath of allegiance

Conan grinned and sheathed his sword 'Come aboard, my bold swashbucklers, and take the oars'

He turned and lifted Olivia to her feet, frounwales

'And what of me, sir?' she asked

'What would you?' he countered, watching her narrowly

'To go with you, wherever your pathher white ar over the rail, gasped in ahter?' he questioned 'This keel will stain the blue waves crimson wherever it plows'

'Aye, to sail with you on blue seas or red,' she answered passionately 'You are a barbarian, and I am an outcast, denied by my people We are both pariahs, wanderers of earth Oh, take h he lifted her to his fierce lips

'I'll s! We'll scorch King Yildiz's pantaloons yet, by Crom!'

A WITCH SHALL BE BORN

1 THE BLOOD-RED CRESCENT

Taramis, Queen of Khauran, awakened from a dream-haunted sluhted cataco into the darkness, wondering why the candles in their golden candelabra had gone out A flecking of stars old-barred casement that lent no illumination to the interior of the chamber But as Tara in the darkness before her She watched, puzzled It grew and its intensity deepened as it expanded, a widening disk of lurid light hovering against the dark velvet hangings of the opposite wall Tara position A dark object was visible in that circle of light - a human bead

In a sudden panic the queen opened her lips to cry out for her loas more lurid, the head more vividly limned It was a woman's head, sh-piled rew distinct as she stared - and it was the sight of this face which froze the cry in Taraht have been looking into a erish gleaasped Taraly, the apparition spoke, and its voice was like honeyed venom

'Bewitched? No, sweet sister! Here is no sorcery' 'Sister?' stairl 'I have no sister' 'You never had a sister?' ca voice 'Never a twin sister whose flesh was as soft as yours to caress or hurt?'

'Why, once I had a sister,' answered Tararip of sohtmare 'But she died'

The beautiful face in the disk was convulsed with the aspect of a fury; so hellish beca back, half expected to see snaky locks writhe hissing about the ivory brow

'You lie!' The accusation was spat fro red lips 'She did not die! Fool! Oh, enough of this ht ran suddenly along the hangings like flaolden sticks flared up again Taras flexed beneath her, staring wide-eyed at the pantherish figure which posed azed upon another Taramis, identical with herself in every contour of feature and limb, yet animated by an alien and evil personality The face of this stranger waif reflected the opposite of every characteristic the countenance of the queen denoted lust and mystery sparkled in her scintillant eyes, cruelty lurked in the curl of her full red lips Each estive Her coiffure iilded sandals such as Taramis wore in her boudoir The sleeveless, low-necked silk tunic, girdled at the waist with a cloth-of-gold cincture, was a duplicate of the queen's night-garasped Tara her spine 'Explain your presence before I call uard!'

'Screaer 'Your sluts will not wake till dawn, though the palace spring into flauardsmen will not hear your squeals; they have been sent out of this wing of the palace'

'What!' exclaiive uardsmen such a coirl 'A little while ago, before I entered They thought it was their darling adored queen Ha! How beautifully I acted the part! With what inity, softened by woreat louts who knelt in their ar net of bewilder drawn about her

'Who are you?' she cried desperately 'What madness is this? Why do you come here?'

'Who am I?' There was the spite of a she-cobra's hiss in the soft response The girl stepped to the edge of the couch, grasped the queen's white shoulders with fierce fingers, and bent to glare full into the startled eyes of Taralare, the queen forgot to resent the unprecedented outrage of violent hands laid on regal flesh

'Fool!' gritted the girl between her teeth 'Can you ask? Can you wonder? I am Salome!'