Jewels of Gwahlur Page 5

pose as the ancientprincess, but not surprising. The fear that had nerved her then was nowher undoing.

  'Where is Zargheba?' he demanded. 'Stop yammering, damn it, and answerme.'

  'Outside the palace,' she whimpered, 'watching for the priests.'

  'How many men with him?'

  'None. We came alone.'

  'Ha!' It was much like the satisfied grunt of a hunting lion. 'You musthave left Keshia a few hours after I did. Did you climb the cliffs?'

  She shook her head, too choked with tears to speak coherently. With animpatient imprecation he seized her slim shoulders and shook her untilshe gasped for breath.

  'Will you quit that blubbering and answer me? How did you get into thevalley?'

  'Zargheba knew the secret way,' she gasped. 'The priest Gwarunga toldhim, and Thutmekri. On the south side of the valley there is a broadpool lying at the foot of the cliffs. There is a cave-mouth under thesurface of the water that is not visible to the casual glance. We duckedunder the water and entered it. The cave slopes up out of the waterswiftly and leads through the cliffs. The opening on the side of thevalley is masked by heavy thickets.'

  'I climbed the cliffs on the east side,' he muttered. 'Well, what then?'

  'We came to the palace and Zargheba hid me among the trees while he wentto look for the chamber of the oracle. I do not think he fully trustedGwarunga. While he was gone I thought I heard a gong sound, but I wasnot sure. Presently Zargheba came and took me into the palace andbrought me to this chamber, where the goddess Yelaya lay upon the dais.He stripped the body and clothed me in the garments and ornaments. Thenhe went forth to hide the body and watch for the priests. I have beenafraid. When you entered I wanted to leap up and beg you to take me awayfrom this place, but I feared Zargheba. When you discovered I was alive,I thought I could frighten you away.'

  'What were you to say as the oracle?' he asked.

  'I was to bid the priests to take the Teeth of Gwahlur and give some ofthem to Thutmekri as a pledge, as he desired, and place the rest in thepalace at Keshia. I was to tell them that an awful doom threatenedKeshan if they did not agree to Thutmekri's proposals. And, oh, yes, Iwas to tell them that you were to be skinned alive immediately.'

  'Thutmekri wanted the treasure where he--or the Zembabwans--could layhand on it easily,' muttered Conan, disregarding the remark concerninghimself. 'I'll carve his liver yet--Gorulga is a party to this swindle,of course?'

  'No. He believes in his gods, and is incorruptible. He knows nothingabout this. He will obey the oracle. It was all Thutmekri's plan.Knowing the Keshani would consult the oracle, he had Zargheba bring mewith the embassy from Zembabwei, closely veiled and secluded.'

  'Well, I'm damned!' muttered Conan. 'A priest who honestly believes inhis oracle, and can not be bribed. Crom! I wonder if it was Zargheba whobanged that gong. Did he know I was here? Could he have known aboutthat rotten flagging? Where is he now, girl?'

  'Hiding in a thicket of lotus trees, near the ancient avenue that leadsfrom the south wall of the cliffs to the palace,' she answered. Then sherenewed her importunities. 'Oh, Conan, have pity on me! I am afraid ofthis evil, ancient place. I know I have heard stealthy footfalls paddingabout me--oh, Conan, take me away with you! Zargheba will kill me when Ihave served his purpose here--I know it! The priests, too, will kill meif they discover my deceit.

  'He is a devil--he bought me from a slave-trader who stole me out of acaravan bound through southern Koth, and has made me the tool of hisintrigues ever since. Take me away from him! You can not be as cruel ashe. Don't leave me to be slain here! Please! Please!'

  She was on her knees, clutching at Conan hysterically, her beautifultear-stained face upturned to him, her dark silken hair flowing indisorder over her white shoulders. Conan picked her up and set her onhis knee.

  'Listen to me. I'll protect you from Zargheba. The priests shall notknow of your perfidy. But you've got to do as I tell you.'

  She faltered promises of explicit obedience, clasping his corded neck asif seeking security from the contact.

  'Good. When the priests come, you'll act the part of Yelaya, as Zarghebaplanned--it'll be dark, and in the torchlight they'll never know thedifference. But you'll say this to them: "It is the will of the godsthat the Stygian and his Shemitish dogs be driven from Keshan. They arethieves and traitors who plot to rob the gods. Let the Teeth of Gwahlurbe placed in the care of the general Conan. Let him lead the armies ofKeshan. He is beloved of the gods."'

  She shivered, with an expression of desperation, but acquiesced.

  'But Zargheba?' she cried. 'He'll kill me!'

  'Don't worry about Zargheba,' he grunted. 'I'll take care of that dog.You do as I say. Here, put up your hair again. It's fallen all over yourshoulders. And the gem's fallen out of it.'

  He replaced the great glowing gem himself, nodding approval.

  'It's worth a room full of slaves, itself alone. Here, put your skirtback on. It's torn down the side, but the priests will never notice it.Wipe your face. A goddess doesn't cry like a whipped schoolgirl. ByCrom, you do look like Yelaya, face, hair, figure and all! If you actthe goddess with the priests as well as you did with me, you'll foolthem easily.'

  'I'll try,' she shivered.

  'Good; I'm going to find Zargheba.'

  At that she became panicky again.

  'No! Don't leave me alone! This place is haunted!'

  'There's nothing here to harm you,' he assured her impatiently. 'Nothingbut Zargheba, and I'm going to look after him. I'll be back shortly.I'll be watching from close by in case anything goes wrong during theceremony; but if you play your part properly, nothing will go wrong.'

  And turning, he hastened out of the oracle chamber; behind him Murielasqueaked wretchedly at his going.

  Twilight had fallen. The great rooms and halls were shadowy andindistinct; copper friezes glinted dully through the dusk. Conan strodelike a silent phantom through the great halls, with a sensation of beingstared at from the shadowed recesses by invisible ghosts of the past. Nowonder the girl was nervous amid such surroundings.

  He glided down the marble steps like a slinking panther, sword in hand.Silence reigned over the valley, and above the rim of the cliffs starswere blinking out. If the priests of Keshia had entered the valley therewas not a sound, not a movement in the greenery to betray them. He madeout the ancient broken-paved avenue, wandering away to the south, lostamid clustering masses of fronds and thick-leaved bushes. He followed itwarily, hugging the edge of the paving where the shrubs massed theirshadows thickly, until he saw ahead of him, dimly in the dusk, the clumpof lotus-trees, the strange growth peculiar to the black lands of Kush.There, according to the girl, Zargheba should be lurking. Conan becamestealth personified. A velvet-footed shadow, he melted into thethickets.

  He approached the lotus grove by a circuitous movement, and scarcely therustle of a leaf proclaimed his passing. At the edge of the trees hehalted suddenly, crouched like a suspicious panther among the deepshrubs. Ahead of him, among the dense leaves, showed a pallid oval, dimin the uncertain light. It might have been one of the great whiteblossoms which shone thickly among the branches. But Conan knew that itwas a man's face. And it was turned toward him. He shrank quickly deeperinto the shadows. Had Zargheba seen him? The man was looking directlytoward him. Seconds passed. That dim face had not moved. Conan couldmake out the dark tuft below that was the short black beard.

  And suddenly Conan was aware of something unnatural. Zargheba, he knew,was not a tall man. Standing erect, his head would scarcely top theCimmerian's shoulder; yet that face was on a level with Conan's own. Wasthe man standing on something? Conan bent and peered toward the groundbelow the spot where the face showed, but his vision was blocked byundergrowth and the thick boles of the trees. But he saw something else,and he stiffened. Through a slot in the underbrush he glimpsed the stemof the tree under which, apparently, Zargheba was standing. The facewas directly in line with that tree. He should have seen below thatface, not the tree-trunk, but
Zargheba's body--but there was no bodythere.

  Suddenly tenser than a tiger who stalks his prey, Conan glided deeperinto the thicket, and a moment later drew aside a leafy branch andglared at the face that had not moved. Nor would it ever move again, ofits own volition. He looked on Zargheba's severed head, suspended fromthe branch of the tree by its own long black hair.