“Not now, goat.”
“Good that you can joke at a time like this,” he said.
At that point Tull blundered into Elashi’s backside; Conan could feel the
impact as the desert woman was pushed against him.
“Hey!”
“Sorry, lass.”
“Hold hands,” Conan commanded. “Elashi, grab my hand.”
They linked themselves together, and Conan began to edge away from the
Webspinners. His sense of direction guided him, that innate knowledge he had,
and even though he bumped into things in the darkness—rocks, dead bats, a
semiconscious pikeman—he led his party into the tunnel and away from the chaos.
Behind them, Conan heard the Harskeel screaming for its men and the bats to
block the passage, but it was already too late.
Deek and Wikkell neared the entrace to the cul-de-sac they had taken. Before
they reached their intended exit, however, Wikkell pulled the worm to a halt.
“Wait,” he said. “I hear something.”
Carefully the two of them inched closer to the opening. At this stage of
their quest, a strange noise might well be worth much trouble, and they agreed
without speaking to exercise extreme caution. Wise that the cyclops and worm did
so; the phrase “much trouble” was more than a bit euphemistic,
considering what awaited them.
On the edge of the rocky shoreline was a wooden dock, doubtless magically
created for it had not been there before. Upon the dock stood Katamay Rey,
surrounded by several of Wikkell’s brothers; more of the
cyclopes
stood upon rocky ledges.
Wikkell uttered a whispered epithet, the common and impolite word for
excrement, and backed hastily into a deep shadow. Deek agreed with the curse
and slid back as quickly as did Wikkell.
“We are doomed,” Wikkell whispered.
Deek’s scraping on the rock was muted, but it seemed abnormally loud to
Wikkell.
“P-p-perhaps n-not.
L-l-look.”
It took the cyclops a moment to understand. The focus of the folk gathered
below did not seem to be upon the tunnel entrance in which Wikkell and Deek
were huddled. No, the assemblage below appeared to be focused upon the center
orifice. Wikkell and Deek’s feeling of relief was tempered by the knowledge
that this was both good and bad. Good because perhaps Rey did not know they
were here; bad because it must mean he did know that the humans everyone had
been chasing around the caves for what seemed like forever must be in the next
tunnel over. That Rey had to come and fetch them himself boded ill for Wikkell;
that Rey might capture the men offered Deek no hope for pleasing Chuntha.
A bad scenario whichever way it was constructed.
The thoughts of worm and cyclops were interrupted then as several of the
cyclopes
gave voice to rumbles, acknowledging the arrival of
newcomers upon the scene. Neither Deek nor Wikkell could see who these folk
might be, but they could certainly guess. It appeared that the game was over.
“I think, Deek my
friend, that
we are in
trouble.”
“Y-y-you h-have s-s-said it, f-f-friend.”
Katamay Rey smiled at the surprise on the faces of the three who appeared in
the mouth of the tunnel. They had apparently not been expecting a reception,
two men and a woman, but their shock did not last. The larger of the men drew a
dark-bladed sword, while the woman and the second man also produced weapons
nearly as fast. Doubtless they could cause some damage to his minions with
those, Rey thought, and the
cyclopes
, in their
enthusiasm to capture the trio, might also injure one or more of them. After
all the efforts expended upon this quest, the wizard had no intention of seeing
his prey damaged until he had a chance to attend to that personally. He saw the
big man gather himself as if to leap down upon the first of the approaching
cyclopes
.
No, that
would not do,
not at all.
Katamay Rey waved his hands and uttered several words in a language whose
last native speaker had died a thousand years earlier. A net flickered out of
the air, a coarse-meshed affair stronger than tempered steel and impervious to
edged weapons. The net fell upon the three people above, entangling them as
they tried to move.
Like much of his magic, the use of this spell exhausted certain supernatural
elements of the air in the vicinity. Beneath Rey’s feet, the dock quivered
slightly but held firm after a moment. Too much magic in any given place
depleted that area’s store of etheric energies for a time, as a wine bottle is
emptied of liquid. One had to be careful lest one create a spell that rendered
further magic impossible for a time.
Best to always have a
reserve for emergencies.
Well, no matter. He had the three now, finally…
“Bring them down,” Rey ordered. Half a dozen of the
cyclopes
hurried to comply.
The three within the net struggled to escape, but it was a wasted effort.
Until he dissolved the magical device, they were not going anywhere.
Katamay Rey smiled. Whatever threat these three had posed to his control of
the
Black
Caves
was certainly past.
Chuntha observed Rey’s capture of the three she sought with more than a
small amount of irritation. Sensha blast him! He had beaten her to the quarry!
The naked witch slid behind a convenient boulder and considered her options.
Because he was first did not mean he was the winner; the issue would not be
resolved until he achieved his own stronghold, with its magical wards. Until
then, Rey was dangerous but not unbeatable. She had surprise with her; at the
proper moment an attack could be mounted against the wizard that would disrupt
whatever plans he had.
Timing was, of course, critical; a mistake could be costly. Still, Chuntha
did not despair. She had a few tricks of her own packed away, and the thought
of destroying That Bastard once and for all caused a warm glow in her belly.
She would have her quarry—two men and a woman, each useful—and with proper
planning, Rey would have an unplanned and permanent trip straight to Gehanna.
A most pleasant thought.
The Harskeel’s anger filled it to capacity. When the shroud powder’s effect
faded, it found itself looking upon a scene of carnage. None of its men
remained alive. Of the four, one had been cut down by the barbarian, the plants
had apparently taken another, the bats in their confusion had fastened to a
third, and the fourth lay trampled upon the rocky floor. More than a few bats
lay dead as well. Red was not one of them.
The bat with whom the Harskeel had bargained hopped toward the man,
surveying the dead as he came. “Bad business,” Red said.
The Harskeel could not trust itself to speak.
“Well, what say we just take our spell and call it quits, eh?”
Now the Harskeel’s voice came out, but it came coldly and precisely, the
antithesis of its enraged feelings. “I have another spell. This one is
somewhat different in effect. It turns bats into insects.”
“You jest.”
“Would you perhaps like a demonstration?
Upon
yourself, for instance?”
Red spent little time considering this.
“Uh, no.
I shall take your word for it.”
“Good. Then let us go and capture this barbarian before I decide that
all of the bats in this blasted cave would serve me better as butterflies!”
Wikkell and Deek watched as the three captives were carried to the magical
dock. Their weapons were removed and the net dissolved by the wizard, but only
after each human was safely in the grip of a pair of
cyclopes
.
Even the largest one’s struggles availed it little against the strength of
Wikkell’s brothers, and the man seemed to realize this, and was still.
As the worm and the cyclops watched, Rey and the group walked to the end of
the dock, which was magically lengthened, the rear section vanishing like so
much smoke in a vent breeze. In a few moments the procession was nearly out of
sight.
“N-n-now
wh-
what?”
Wikkell sighed. “We are in deep trouble, I would say. You cannot go
home, for your mistress will doubtless be unhappy with you.”
“Th-that p-p-puts it m-mildly.”
“Nor can I return to my own caves, since the wizard himself had to come
and fetch those I was sent after. He has no use for failure.”
“Wh-what a-are w-we to d-do, th-then?
Live as
o-o-outcasts?”
“Well, better outcasts than not at all, but I confess that scrounging a
living on our own has little appeal for me.”
“I-I a-agree.”
Wikkell nodded, and the idea that had been nebulously floating about in his
head took on more solidity. “Ever wonder how much better off we would all
be had not the witch and the wizard ever come to reside here in the
caves?”
“M-m-more th-than o-once.”
“Or, since that is wishful thinking, were they to leave, or perhaps
destroy each other?”
“M-more w-w-wishful th-th-thinking.”
“Perhaps not.
Neither of us can go home again
while those cursed two inhabit the caves. Our lives are practically worthless.
As such, might not we try and spend them in a manner that might benefit both
our peoples?”
“A-a-are y-you s-suggesting r-r-revolution?”
“I am indeed. What have we to lose?”
Deek considered this. Wikkell’s idea, which would have seemed hopelessly
absurd only a few days past, did not now sound quite so insane. Not when the
only other choice was to spend the remainder of one’s allotted time slithering
from shadow to shadow against the day when either Chuntha or Katamay Rey would
discover and thus put a quick end to them.
“Not to put too fine an edge on it, Deek, but… it is either them or us,
and given my current thoughts on the matter, I would rather it be them.”
“I-I a-agree,” Deek said.
And why not?
“Well, then, let us see what we can do to gather help.”
Every so often Conan tensed his muscles and tried to break free of the two
cyclopes
holding him, but he might
as
well be
trying to fly by flapping his arms for all the good it did. They had a grip
like iron, and he was in no position to kick them where it would hurt the most.
Elashi and Tull fared no better, and Conan’s smiles did not seem to
particularly reassure them. The future did not shine brightly at the moment.
Then again, the Cimmerian had been in difficulties at least this bad before and
had survived to live another day. Who could say? There was little point in
worry since it would not help, and he would better spend his energies preparing
to seize any opportunity to better their situation. Even free and with his
blade, defeating these giant one-eyed beings, not to mention the wizard, might
not be the easiest thing he had ever done, but one had to assume that anything
was possible.
Chuntha watched from concealment as the wizard and his troop went past. The
time was not yet ripe, but it would happen before Rey reached the safety of his
own caves. She would make it happen.
The Harskeel and its entourage of Bloodbats reached the mouth of the tunnel
that led to the
Sunless
Sea
in time to observe Katamay Rey and his prisoners departing the scene. Red
identified the wizard and indicated that irritating the same would be paid with
dire consequences.
The Harskeel thought it would explode from the anger within it. Fortunately,
it managed to keep its temper. Why did the gods thwart it so? Was that a part
of the curse, somehow kept secret from it?
“Very well, we shall follow them and seek an opportunity.”
“An opportunity to do
what
?”
Red
asked.
“Never mind.
Just get the boat into the
water.”
As the Harskeel and the bats entered the water and started after the wizard,
Deek and Wikkell watched from within their small cave.
“I wonder how this strange-looking man figures into all this. Doubtless
you recall him or her or it, whatever it is, from the encounter in the bat
cave?”
“I-I-I r-recall.
A-a
p-p-puzzle.”
For his part, Katamay Rey was feeling very pleased with himself. He had
captured the three with more ease than he had anticipated, given Wikkell’s
failure to do so. He looked forward to inspecting and questioning them at his
leisure once in his own chambers, and doubtless that would provide him with
many hours of amusement. The big one, especially, should last quite a while
before he gave up the spirit.
Then the ceiling of the cave just ahead rumbled and dropped several large
rocks into the water, splashing the dock-walkers. Almost immediately, a
screaming apparition fell from the hole opened high above, coming right at
them!
Rey’s surprise was such that even the most basic defensive spells escaped
him. He barely had time to make a warding-off motion with his hands. It was
sufficient to change the path of the shrieking monster slightly, so that it
missed the dock and hit the adjacent water. Still, the attack was enough to
startle all those who beheld it. These included the
cyclopes
attending to the prisoners.
Rey’s attention to the attack from above slowed his gaze at the prisoners
for a single beat too long.
Conan’s guards had relaxed their hold enough for him to free one arm. The
second guard had a firmer grip, but unfortunately for him, Conan was able to
twist about and bring his booted foot into contact with the most sensitive part
of males of virtually all upright species. The cyclops, for all his size and
power, gave voice to an almost girlish screech at the strike and suddenly found
better uses for his hands than holding on to Conan. The cyclops clutched at
himself, doubled over, and moaned.