Part 24 (2/2)

'Point of contact?' inquired the other 'Do you mean that lock of Bhunda Chand's hair?'

'Yes All discarded portions of the huible connections The priests of Asura have a dis, hair and other waste products of the persons of the royal family are carefully reduced to ashes and the ashes hidden But at the urgent entreaty of the princess of Khosala, who loved Bhunda Chand vainly, he gave her a lock of his long black hair as a token of remembrance When olden, jewel-encrusted case, was stolen from under her pillohile she slept, and another substituted, so like the first that she never knew the difference Then the genuine lock travelled by ca road to Peshkhauri, thence up the Zhaibar Pass, until it reached the hands of those for whom it was intended'

'Only a lock of hair,' murmured the nobleman

'By which a soul is drawn fro space,' returned the man on the mat

The nobleman studied him curiusly

'I do not know if you are a man or a demon, Khemsa,' he said at last 'Few of us are e seem I, whom the Kshatriyas know as Kerireater a masquerader than most men They are all traitors in one way or another, and half of them know not whom they serve There at least I have no doubts; for I serve King Yezdigerd of Turan'

'And I the Black Seers of Yireater than yours, for they have accoerd could not with a hundred thousand swords'

Outside, the moan of the tortured thousands shuddered up to the stars which crusted the sweating Vendhyan night, and the conchs bellowed like oxen in pain

In the gardens of the palace the torches glinted on polished helold-chased corselets All the noble-born fighting-reat palace or about it, and at each broad-arched gate and door fifty archers stood on guard, with bows in their hands But Death stalked through the royal palace and none could stay his ghostly tread

On the dais under the golden doain his voice caain the Devi bent to hi with a fear that was darker than the terror of death

'Yas cry, from realms immeasurable 'Aid me! I ah the wind-blown darkness They seek to snap the silver cord that bindsbody They cluster around me; their hands are taloned, their eyes are red like flaers sear me like fire! They would slaybefore me?-Aie!'

At the terror in his hopeless cry Yasmina screamed uncontrollably and threw herself bodily upon hiuish He was torn by a terrible convulsion; foaers left their lassy blankness passed from his eyes like smoke blown fronition

'Brother!' she sobbed 'Brother-'

'Swift!' he gasped, and his weakening voice was rational 'I knohat brings me to the pyre I have been on a far journey and I understand I have been ensorcelled by the wizards of the Himelians They drew my soul out of my body and far away, into a stone room There they strove to break the silver cord of life, and thrust ht-weird their sorcery summoned up from hell Ah! I feel their pull upon ht s to my body, but its hold weakens Quick - kill me, before they can trapher naked breasts

'Swiftly, I co whisper 'You have never disobeyed me - obey my last command! Send my soul clean to Asura! Haste, lest you daaunt of darkness Strike, I co wildly, Yased it to the hilt in his breast He stiffened and then went li his dead lips Yasmina hurled herself face-down on the rush-covered floor, beating the reeds with her clenched hands Outside, the gongs and conchs brayed and thundered and the priests gashed themselves with copper knives

2 A BARBARIAN FROM THE HILLS

Chunder Shan, governor of Peshkhauri, laid down his golden pen and carefully scanned that which he had written on parchment that bore his official seal He had ruled Peshkhauri so long only because he weighed his every word, spoken or written Danger breeds caution, and only a waryin that wild country where the hot Vendhyan plains s of the Himelians An hour's ride ard or northward and one crossed the border and was a the Hills where overnor was alone in his chamber, seated at his ornately carven table of inlaid ebony Through the , open for the coolness, he could see a square of the blue Hireat white stars An adjacent parapet was a shadowy line, and further crenelles and eovernor's fortress was strong, and situated outside the walls of the city it guarded The breeze that stirred the tapestries on the wall brought faint noises from the streets of Peshkhauri - occasional snatches of wailing song, or the thruovernor read what he had written, sloith his open hand shading his eyes fro Absently, as he read, he heard the drum of horses' hoofs outside the barbican, the sharp staccato of the guards' challenge He did not heed, intent upon his letter It was addressed to the wazam of Vendhya, at the royal court of Ayodhya, and it stated, after the customary salutations: 'Let it be known to your excellency that I have faithfully carried out your excellency's instructions The seven tribesuarded in their prison, and I have repeatedly sent word into the hills that their chief coain for their release But he has made no move, except to send word that unless they are freed he will burn Peshkhauri and cover his saddle with ence This he is quite capable of atteuards The man is not a native of Ghulistan I cannot with certainty predict his next move But since it is the wish of the Devi-'

He was out of his ivory chair and on his feet facing the arched door, all in one instant He snatched at the curved sword lying in its ornate scabbard on the table, and then checked the movement

It was a woossaarments beneath them any more than they concealed the suppleness and beauty of her tall, slender figure A fil head-dress bound about with a triple gold braid and adorned with a golden crescent Her dark eyes regarded the astonished governor over the veil, and then with an iesture of her white hand, she uncovered her face

'Devil' The governor dropped to his knees before her, surorize and confusion soesture she motioned him to rise, and he hastened to lead her to the ivory chair, all the while bowing level with his girdle But his first words were of reproof

'Your Majesty! This was most unwise! The border is unsettled Raids froe attendance?'

'An aed my people there and caroaned in horror

'Devi! You do not understand the peril An hour's ride from this spot the hills sith barbarians who make a profession of murder and rapine Women have been stolen and men stabbed between the fort and the city Peshkhauri is not like your southern provinces-'

'But I am here, and unharmed,' she interrupted with a trace of iate, and to the one outside your door, and they ad me to be a secret courier from Ayodhya Let us not noaste time

'You have received no word from the chief of the barbarians?' 'None save threats and curses, Devi He is wary and suspicious He deems it a trap, and perhaps he is not to be blamed The Kshatriyas have not always kept their proht to terms!' broke in Yas white

'I do not understand' The governor shook his head 'When I chanced to capture these seven hillmen, I reported their capture to the waza them, there came an order to hold them and communicate with their chief This I did, but the man holds aloof, as I have said These ner fro them tomorrow at dawn, if he does not come'

'Good!' exclaimed the Devi 'You have done well And I will tell you why I have given these orders My brother-' she faltered, choking, and the governor bowed his head, with the custon

'The king of Vendhya was destroyed by ic,' she said at last 'I have devoted ave me a clue, and I have followed it I have read the Book ofSkelos, and talked with nameless hermits in the caves below Jhelai I learned how, and by whom, he was destroyed His enemies were the Black Seers of Mount Yi

Her/eyes knifed hih 'Do you fear them?'

'Who does not, Your Majesty?' he replied 'They are black devils, haunting the uninhabited hills beyond the Zhaibar But the sages say that they seldom interfere in the lives of mortal men'

'Why they slew my brother I do not know,' she answered 'But I have sworn on the altar of Asura to destroy them! And I need the aid of a man beyond the border A Kshatriya army, unaided, would never reach Yimsha'

'Aye,' muttered Chunder Shan 'You speak the truth there It would be fight every step of the ith hairy hill us with their long knives in every valley The Turanians fought their way through the Himelians once, but how many returned to Khurusun? Few of those who escaped the swords of the Kshatriyas, after the king, your brother, defeated their host on the Jhuain'

'And so I must control men across the border,' she said, 'men who know the way to Mount Yimsha-'

'But the tribes fear the Black Seers and shun the unholy overnor

'Does the chief, Conan, fear theovernor, 'I doubt if there is anything that devil fears'

'So I have been told Therefore he is the man I must deal with He wishes the release of his seven men Very well; their ransom shall be the heads of the Black Seers!' Her voice thrummed with hate as she uttered the last words, and her hands clenched at her sides She looked an ie of incarnate passion as she stood there with her head thrown high and her bosoovernor knelt, for part of his wisdoe that a woman in such an emotional tempest is as perilous as a blind cobra to any about her

'It shall be as you wish, Your Majesty' Then as she presented a cal 'I can not predict what the chief Conan's action will be The tribesmen are always turbulent, and I have reason to believe that e them up to raid our borders As your majesty knows, the Turanians have established theh the hill tribes re looked southith greedy lust and perhaps is seeking to gain by treachery what he could not win by force of arht well be one of his spies'