Part 4 (1/2)
”The sorcerer's defenses are strong, Conan I cannot pierce therih I have had naught to do with Gods for many years I leave them alone and they leave me alone”
”Well, pray to your Crom for help We need it”
Conan closed his eyes and, for the first time in decades, prayed: ”O Father Crom, who breathes power to strive and slay into a ainst the demon that has stolen his ht he heard the cold words co have you forsaken me, O Conan But you areand conquering Look!”
Conan opened his eyes The sun to thin The Ciht expect, show the reflection of Pelias; indeed, it showed no reflection at all Its surface was a deep gray, as if this were ato forbidden dimensions In a low ue that Conan recognized as the secret language used by the priests of Stygia in their clandestine rituals in dark-walled Khemi
Slowly, so slowly that it was not immediately noticeable, a picture took form in the mirror At first it was blurred and uncertain; then swiftly it cleared and sharpened In a bare, stone-walled rooure sat at a low table, a scroll in his hands
The picture grew as if the point of vantage of the watchers ure in the mirror threw up its head and looked full into their faces The hood fell back froazed coldly into theirs The thin, colorless lips parted in a ghastly grin The yellow one's right hand plunged into the folds of his robe and ca ball The man made a htning action
A whistling slash of his heavy sword, held in readiness against the unknown perils of thesurface into thousands of tinkling splinters
Pelias gave a start and shook hi He said:
”By Ishtar, Conan, you saved us both! That shi+ning thing was as deadly as a nest of cobras Had he ed to throw it into this rooht have destroyed half the city I was spellbound by the necessary concentration and could do nothing”
”The devil with that,” grunted Conan, who had never learned to accept praise graciously ”Nohat did all this mean? I saw the man was a Khittan What has he to do with e Cimmerian as his answer came from stiff lips ”My friend, these ht
The fate of the worlda draught of wine Leaning back on his cushi+ons, he continued Outside, the night was black and still
”Thebeen aware that the effects of certain spells have been weakened or nullified This condition has been growingthe past fewfor the cause of this pheno a new era Enlighten the peoples of the West Aquilonia stands as a bulwark a its imperial powers by the naked, elemental force of the healthy barbarian mind You have rejuvenated the nation, and similar forces are at work in other realic are strained and broken by new factors brought in by the changed conditions The far-flung web of intrigue and evil spun by the black forces is fraying
”Some of the most evil spells would now hardly succeed at all in the Western realic of darkness is concentrated in the barbarian king of Aquilonia You have long' been the center of s, and the Gods look favorably upon you And so things will continue to change until, with another turn of the cosain to power in a new cycle
”I grow old, I who am already older than e only to furnish a life of ease and comfort and to pursue ed robes, su claws to wreak havoc as
”But there is one who has long thirsted for absolute power over the world and all that dwell therein He has becoroundwork for the gigantic, cataclysmal acts of dark necromancy that should rock the earth to its core and enslave its inhabitants
”This I learned throughheart of a ht and et the results he sought He was dumbfounded; this was his first attempt upon the western countries
”His failure roused hihts without end he labored to find who opposed him, and at last he succeeded You are his rasp, is worthy of his twisted genius By stealing your spouse, he forces you to go after her He is sure you will be slain by foes along the way or slaughtered by the orange and unknown peoples that dwell east of the Himelian Mountains
Should you by some feat of prowess or stroke of luck reach his haunts, he counts on slaying you himself by his diabolical powers
”After that, the road to conquest will be open to hi yet to stand without its backbone-Conan, the king of Aquilonia!”
Dryness rasped Pelias' throat; he sipped the wine
”As you know, I aicians of the West, even though I nowadays seldoainst him of whom I speak, I should riot have the chance of a ewe in a pool of crocodiles The sorcerers of the East are htiest of all He is Yah Chieng of Paikang, in Khitai”