Conan The Indomitable (5 page)

The length of their fall was nearly five spans; fortunately, the bottom of
the descent was watery. Conan splashed into an icy pool and sank, quickly
touching the bottom. He pushed away and broke the surface, realizing that he
could easily stand as the depth was equal only to his chest. Elashi’s head
appeared briefly above the surface as she came up yelling; then she began to
sink again. Apparently her rearing in the desert had not included instruction
in the art of swimming. Conan grabbed one of Elashi’s wildly waving hands and
pulled her to him. She immediately clamped her legs around his waist and wound
her arms tightly around his neck, sputtering incoherently.

The Cimmerian took stock. The pool was no more than a small pond in size,
occupying a portion of what was obviously a tunnel in a cavern. The walls of this
rock tube appeared to be as smooth as a child’s face, and curved upward in
tight arcs that, combined with the lack of projections, offered no means by
which to climb. Cimmerians learned to climb almost as soon as they learned to
walk, and if one of them could see no way of ascending something, likely it
could not be done. Were the ceiling closer, he could perhaps toss Elashi up to
the hole there, and she might then dangle knotted clothing or a vine down to
Conan for him to climb up. Yes, and were lizards winged, why, then they would
be birds.

The thickening night above offered less light with every moment. Best they
leave this freezing water as soon as possible, Conan thought, and find another
exit before darkness enshrouded them totally. He began to wade from the pool to
the nearest shore, Elashi’s weight being small burden on his efforts.

“Crom!”

Elashi leaned back from her tight embrace to look at Conan’s face.
“What it is?”

Conan did not answer but nodded toward the shadows of the cave. Elashi
turned slightly to see what had drawn the oath from the Cimmerian.

Moving into the fast-dwindling light from out of the
hidden depths of the cave came a double handful of… things.
White they were, squat creatures more kin to ape than human.
They wore no clothing save their own shaggy fur, and while each face showed a
nose and mouth, where their eyes would be were only blank flesh and bone. They
bore very large ears, however.

“Mitra!”
Elashi said.

The water now stood below Conan’s knees. He increased his pace, to reach the
shore before the eyeless white creatures would arrive. Elashi relaxed her hold
upon Conan and reached for her sword. Conan drew his own weapon as the two of
them attained the drier, but still damp stone floor.

“Perhaps they are friendly,” Elashi said. She did not sound
particularly convinced.

“Perhaps,” Conan said. “But let us keep our blades ready in
case they are not.”

She did not argue with that.

The blind white creatures moved closer.

The Harskeel was enraged: six of its men dead, two more dying, and another
three wounded badly enough to require that they quit the chase. Only nine
remained uninjured after slaying the hellish beast that had attacked them. The
barbarian and the woman had escaped; night staked its claim to the day even as
the Harskeel had its troops lay a rough camp. Damnation! The quarry had been
within their grasp! Now they would have to wait until first light to
proceed—who knew if the slain monster had a mate or kin in the hills?—and the
Harskeel would bet gold against goat dung that Conan and the female with him
would not dally, awaiting their pursuers. By the Nameless and all of its furry
minions! Knowing there was nothing to be done for it decreased the Harskeel’s
rage
not one whit.

Wikkell was weakening the cave roof for yet another pitfall trap when one of
the Blind Whites ran into the chamber and skittered to a stop against the heavy
ladder upon which the cyclops stood precariously balanced.

“Idiot!”
Wikkell yelled as the ladder
swayed.

The Blind White chittered something in its own language, a tongue that
Wikkell had been required to learn in order to perform his duties for Katamay
Rey.

“What? What are you babbling about?”

The creature repeated its hastily blurted speech, and this time Wikkell was able
to make sense of it. The man, the one they sought, had fallen into the trap
below the pass’s summit!

Wikkell hastened to scramble down the ladder. Success, and so soon! The
wizard would be pleased. “Do you have him?”

The Blind White assured Wikkell that this was so. Ten of his brothers
surrounded the trapped man and would doubtless already be bearing him to one of
the lock chambers in the Whites’ main cave.

“Good, good!” With that, Wikkell shuffled off after the Blind
White to fetch his quarry.

Deek heard the tale from a leathery-brown Bloodbat, who swooped down to
perch on a stalagmite nearby. Deek did not particularly trust the bats, since
they were always willing to switch allegiance to whomever offered the most
reward; still, at the moment the monkey-sized bats seemed prone to work for
Chuntha… after the generous offer of breeding space.

Deek dragged that portion of himself that passed for a vocal apparatus over
the rock.
“A-are y-y-you s-sure?”

Certain, the bat affirmed. A pair of blood-filled humans had fallen into One
Eye’s traps: a large and likely delicious meaty one, and a smaller tidbit.

Deek agitated his scraper back and forth rapidly. “
Wh-
what
h-h-happened to th-the m-m-men?”

As to that, the bat did not know for certain. The report from the overflier
was that the two succulent morsels had been surrounded by a large group of the
Blind Whites, intent on their capture.

“D-damn!”

Deek twisted his bulk and began undulating along the floor. If One Eye had
the men, Deek was a prime candidate for the lime pit. Not a pleasant fate. He
had to do something, and quickly! The Webspinner Plants were thick in this
portion of the cave system. Perhaps he could enlist their aid. He must do
something, in order to continue his existence. Without the one the witch
sought, Deek’s life was worth less than the guano beneath that wretched and
stupid bat!

The first of the eyeless white things sprang, less carefully than it should
have. They were definitely not friendly, Conan decided as he sidestepped and
swung his sword in a flat horizonal arc. The end of the blade tore through the
creature’s side, cutting it very nearly in twain. It continued its leap past
Conan and fell into the pool behind the man. The blood was red enough, even in
the dying light; ruby stained the cold ripples.

The rest of the attackers moved more cautiously.

When Conan edged forward, they gave ground, spreading out to try and
surround the Cimmerian and Elashi.

Then Conan noticed an odd thing. As the light from above faded, he saw an
eerie greenish glow coming from the walls and ceiling of the chamber; it was a
ghostly pale luminescence, but sufficient for the Cimmerian’s sharp eyes to see
clearly.

The surrounding creatures seemed in no hurry to move, and Conan decided that
‘twould be better if he and Elashi departed. He said so.

“And how are we to accomplish that? Fly over them?”

“Nay,” Conan said, taking a firmer grip on his sword’s haft.
“Not over, but through. There are only three of them blocking the way. You
take the one on the right and I shall clear the other two from the path.
On my signal.”

Elashi sighed, licked her lips, and nodded.

“Now!”

With that, the two of them leaped at the three startled creatures. Elashi’s
target simply turned and ran, while Conan’s both emitted startled growls and
crashed into each other in their efforts to get out of his way. There came the
sound of bone meeting bone as their skulls connected. They fell, and Conan
sprang over them and found himself running next to Elashi.

“That was not so difficult,” Elashi said.

Conan managed a grunt but saved the rest of his breath for running.

Into the depths of the glowing tunnel they fled, pursued by the rest of the
chittering creatures.

Wikkell stood over the floating corpse of the Blind White, staring at it. He
blinked his single pink eye,
then
turned to the two
Blind Whites who sat on the cold floor rubbing at lumps on their heads.

“What happened to the men?” Wikkell finally asked.

The two Whites babbled. The things were monsters, they said. They chopped down
one of the brothers with giant claws—you could hear the whistle as they swung
their weapons!—and sought to rend us likewise! We stood in their path and they
hurled us aside like you would brush a spider away! We fought valiantly but
were overcome by the power of the monsters…

“Enough,” Wikkell said. “You let them escape.”

But our brothers pursue, the two said.

“You had better pray they catch them,” Wikkell said. “If
those humans escape, it will be my life. Before I go, I will take you and as
many of your brothers as I can with me!”

Upon them the curses of ten thousand demons! Wikkell moved down the tunnel
into which the men had fled. He already knew that the witch had sent one of her
fat worms wiggling this way to fetch his quarry. If she got it, he would spend
the rest of his life waiting for the wizard’s curse that would convert him to
melting ooze. Not that the wait would be all that long. He had to capture the
man Rey desired, no two ways about it.

Deek emerged into the wide section of the tunnel and observed with his
hidden eyes the form of a dead Blind White bobbing in the pool beneath the
opening to the sky.

The bat who had spoken to him earlier spiraled down and landed upon the
corpse, which promptly sank. The bat squawked and lifted, to alight once again
on the edge of the pond.

“D-d-don’t b-b-bother,” Deek said. “Th-that o-one’s b-blood
is m-m-mostly g-gone.”

Well, something was better than nothing, the bat said. If the mighty Deek
would help fetch the tidbit in the water, why, then the bat would tell him
something interesting.

The mighty Deek’s anger flared, and for a moment he considered dropping a
coil onto the bat and reducing it to a mashed blood spot upon the floor. The
image of the lime pit intruded, and he thought better of it. Raising his tail
and snapping it down sharply, Deek slapped the water behind the dead Blind
White. The splash hurled the body and half of the pond’s water into the air.
When the dead creature landed, the Bloodbat was on it in an instant, stabbing
the pointed tube through which it fed into the cooling corpse.

“Y-y-you h-had s-s-something t-to t-tell m-me?” Deek scraped from
the rock as he loomed over the bat.

The creature jerked its feeding tube from the body; blood dripped from the
angled tip. Oh, yes, it said. Those two humans Deek wanted? Well, they had
escaped from the Blind Whites and One Eye. They went that way.

Deek could not believe his good fortune. Escaped? That meant there was still
a chance that he could capture them! Filled with sudden hope, Deek slid away at
full crawl. Mayhap he could escape the lime pit after all!

In his chamber, Katamay Rey waited for word of the man’s capture. He had
thought to have Wikkell dispatch the man immediately, but on rethinking it,
decided that perhaps it would be wiser to question the captive.
Likely as not, a single person could not cause all the grief the
wizard had foreseen in his crystal.
More likely the man represented
another magician, or perhaps some army; better to keep him alive long enough to
ascertain the truth. Then he could kill him. And there were some spells that
called for human blood and body parts, of course; so he would not be wasted.
The wizard smiled at his cleverness. Soon this little incident would be
finished and he could get back to the business of grinding That Bitch into
well-deserved oblivion.

Chuntha touched the dreaming jewel, a fire-filled ruby, to various parts of
her body, groaning with the pleasure it gave. The gem did not tell her when
Deek would return with the captives, but it did say that there would be more
than one involved in this matter. Chuntha beheld blurry images of another;
perhaps two or three more. That boded ill. One was bad enough. She must take
care to be certain that the wizard did not come by this knowledge.

She smiled into the putrid phosphor enveloping her. The one central to this
business was a man of great physical power, the jewel told her. Young and
strong and vibrant, alive with raw male energy, he would be a welcome treat
after the recent months of drought. To lie with one such as the jewel bespoke
would add greatly to her power. The Sensha would wrap them in its embrace, and
the man’s being would flow into hers, physically and spiritually. It promised
to be the most exciting encounter in quite some time. Chuntha could hardly
wait!

Meanwhile, along corridors lined with rocky teeth above and below, Conan and
Elashi sprinted, trying to lose their pursuers. As they ran, they descended
deeper into the earth; around them, the air grew colder.

High above, night draped its ebon cloak over the land, but it
mattered
not the least in the fungus-lined depths of the
cave that seemed to have no end.

The morning sun cast its light over the mountain trail, the beams bright but
offering little heat in the clear wintry air. The Harskeel watched from
horseback as one of its men leaned over the hole in the ground. Two other men
held the first’s feet as he dangled into the pit. After a moment the two
supporters pulled the man up. He stood and faced the Harskeel.

“There
be
a cave under the trail, m’lord.
Big ‘un.
The tracks end at the edge, so it looks like the
two of ‘em fell in. Pretty long drop down there. There
be
water at the bottom.”