Page:Weird Tales volume 28 number 03.djvu/68



By ROBERT E. HOWARD

One of the strangest stories ever written—the tale of a barbarian adventurer, a woman pirate, and a weird roofed city inhabited by the most peculiar race of men ever spawned

The Story Thus Far

ONAN the Cimmerian, and Valeria, a woman pirate, having deserted from a mercenary army on the Stygian-Darfar border, came, after many days' flight, to a vast forest far to the south. There their horses were slain and devoured by a dragon, which Conan managed to kill with a poisoned spear. In a plain surrounded by the forest, they came upon a fantastic city called Xuchotl, a series of halls and chambers built all under one roof, floored with a lambent red stone and illuminated by means of skylights and green fire-jewels. At first it appeared to be deserted, but later they discovered it to be inhabited by a tribe of mongrel Stygians called Tlazitlans, who were divided into rival clans known as Tecuhltli and Xotalancas.

Valeria saved the life of a Tecuhltli named Techotl, and with him they fled to the castle of Tecuhltli near the western gate of the city, pursued by the Xotalancas, who dwelt by the eastern gate. Tecuhltli was ruled over by Prince Olmec and Princess Tascela, who displayed a sinister interest in Valeria. Olmec told the adventurers that half a century ago a tribe of Tlazitlans had fled southward from the Stygians, and fought their way through the dragon—haunted forest and found the city, then occupied by a degenerate race which had once been powerful magicians. The Tlazitlans had destroyed them and settled in the city, ruled by the brothers Tecuhltli and Xotalanc, and by; an evil ancient named Tolkemec.

A quarrel over a woman had split the tribe into three clans, of which that of Tolkemec had been utterly destroyed twelve years before, Tolkemec escaping, supposedly dying, from the dungeon where he was thrown. Fear of the dragons in the forest kept the people imprisoned in the city, while the feud reduced the tribe to a handful on each side.

Red nails driven in an ebon column denoted the number of Xotalancas slain in the feud. Olmec persuaded Conan and Valeria to remain and fight for his clan as mercenaries. They were shown to separate chambers, and Valeria awoke during the night to find Yasala, Tascela's maid, trying to drug her with the black lotus. She tried to make the girl explain her actions, but Yasala, fleeing from her, ran down a stair leading to the catacombs beneath the city, into which old Tolkemec had dragged his broken body twelve years before. Valeria heard her scream down in the darkness, and heard an inhuman, high-pitched tittering. Returning to her chamber she secured her garments and weapons, meaning to urge Conan to join her in flight from the city she had begun to fear. But just as she started for his chamber she heard a sudden clamor of yells and the clash of swords.

The story continues:

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