The Conan Chronicles: Volume 1: The People of the Black Circle by Robert E. Howard
Conan reached his destination without being seen, just as one he wished fervently to meet was leaving it. As the Cimmerian slunk into the courtyard below, the girl who had sold him to the police was taking leave of her new lover in a chamber one flight up. This young thug, her door closed behind him, groped his way down a creaking flight of stairs, intent on his own meditations, which, like those of most of the denizens of The Maze, had to do with the unlawful acquirement of property. Part-way down the stairs, he halted suddenly, his hair standing up. A vague bulk crouched in the darkness before him, a pair of eyes blazed like the eyes of a hunting beast. A beast-like snarl was the last thing he heard in life; as the monster lurched against him, a keen blade ripped through his belly. He gave one gasping cry, and slumped down limply on the stairway.
The barbarian loomed above him for an instant, ghoul-like, his eyes burning in the gloom. He knew the sound was heard, but the people in The Maze were careful to attend to their own business. A death-cry on darkened stairs was nothing unusual. Later, some one would venture to investigate, but only after a reasonable lapse of time.
Conan went up the stairs and halted at the door he knew well of old. It was fastened within, but his blade passed between the door and the jamb and lifted the bar. He stepped inside, closing the door after him, and faced the girl who had betrayed him to le police.
The wench was sitting cross-legged in her shift on her kempt bed. She turned white and stared at him as if at a ghost, she had heard the cry from the stairs, and she saw the red stain an the poniard in his hand. But she was too filled with terror on tier own account to waste any time lamenting the evident fate f her lover. She began to beg for her life, almost incoherent ith terror. Conan did not reply; he merely stood and glared at icr with his burning eyes, testing the edge of his poniard with a alloused thumb.
At last he crossed the chamber, while she cowered back against ic wall, sobbing frantic pleas for mercy. Grasping her yellow locks with no gentle hand, he dragged her off the bed. Thrusting lis blade back in its sheath, he tucked his squirming captive ider his left arm, and strode to the window. Like most houses jf that type, a ledge encircled each story, caused by the contin-lance of the window-ledges. Conan kicked the window open id stepped out on that narrow band. If any had been near or awake, they would have witnessed the bizarre sight of a man loving carefully along the ledge, carrying a kicking, half-naked rench under his arm. They would have been no more puzzled the girl.
Reaching the spot he sought, Conan halted, gripping the wall rith his free hand. Inside the building rose a sudden clamor, lowing that the body had at last been discovered. His captive whimpered and twisted, renewing her importunities. Conan glanced down into the muck and slime of the alleys below; he listened briefly to the clamor inside and the pleas of the wench; then he dropped her with great accuracy into a cesspool. He enjoyed her kickings and flounderings and the concentrated venom of her profanity for a few seconds, and even allowed himself a low rumble of laughter. Then he lifted his head, listened to the growing tumult within the building, and decided it was time for him to kill Nabonidus.
It was a reverberating clang of metal that roused Murilo. He groaned and struggled dazedly to a sitting posture. About him all was silence and darkness, and for an instant he was sickened with the fear that he was blind. Then he remembered what had gone before, and his flesh crawled. By the sense of touch he found that he was lying on a floor of evenly joined stone slabs. Further groping discovered a wall of the same material. He rose and leaned against it, trying in vain to orient himself. That he was in some sort of a prison seemed certain, but where and how long he was unable to guess. He remembered dimly a clashing noise, and wondered if it had been the iron door of his dungeon closing on him, or if it betokened the entrance of an executioner.
At this thought he shuddered profoundly and began to feel his way along the wall. Momentarily he expected to encounter the limits of his prison, but after a while he came to the conclusion that he was travelling down a corridor. He kept to the wall, fearful of pits or other traps, and was presently aware of something near him in the blackness. He could see nothing, but either his ears had caught a stealthy sound, or some subconscious sense warned him. He stopped short, his hair standing on end; as surely as he lived, he felt the presence of some living creature crouching in the darkness in front of him.
He thought his heart would stop when a voice hissed in a barbaric accent: ‘Murilo! Is it you?’
‘Conan!’ Limp from the reaction, the young nobleman groped in the darkness and his hands encountered a pair of great naked shoulders.
‘A good thing I recognized you,’ grunted the barbarian. ‘I was about to stick you like a fattened pig.’
‘Where are we, in Mitra’s name?’
‘In the pits under the Red Priest’s house; but why--’
‘What is the time?’
‘Not long after midnight.’
Murilo shook his head, trying to assemble his scattered wits.
‘What are you doing here?’ demanded the Cimmerian.
‘I came to kill Nabonidus. I heard they had changed the guard at your prison--’
‘They did,’ growled Conan. ‘I broke the new jailer’s head and walked out. I would have been here hours agone, but I had some personal business to attend to. Well, shall we hunt for Nabonidus?’
Murilo shuddered. ‘Conan, we are in the house of the archfiend! I came seeking a human enemy; I found a hairy devil out of hell!’
Conan grunted uncertainly; fearless as a wounded tiger as far as human foes were concerned, he had all the superstitious dreads of the primitive.
‘I gained access to the house,’ whispered Murilo, as if the darkness were full of listening ears. ‘In the outer gardens I found Nabonidus’s dog mauled to death. Within the house I came upon Joka, the servant. His neck had been broken. Then I saw Nabonidus himself seated in his chair, clad in his accustomed garb. At first I thought he too was dead. I stole up to stab him. He rose and faced me. God!’ The memory of that horror struck the young nobleman momentarily speechless as he relived that awful instant.
‘Conan,’ he whispered, ‘it was no man that stood before me! In body and posture it was not unlike a man, but from the scarlet hood of the priest grinned a face of madness and nightmare! It was covered with black hair, from which small pig-like eyes glared redly; its nose was flat, with great flaring nostrils; its loose lips writhed back, disclosing huge yellow fangs, like the teeth of a dog. The hands that hung from the scarlet sleeves were misshapen and likewise covered with black hair. All this I saw in one glance, and then I was overcome with horror; my senses left me and I swooned.’
‘What then?’ muttered the Cimmerian uneasily. ‘I recovered consciousness only a short time ago; the monster must have thrown me into these pits. Conan, I have suspected that Nabonidus was not wholly human! He is a demon - a were-thing! By day he moves among humanity in the guise of men, and by night he takes on his true aspect.’
‘That’s evident,’ answered Conan. ‘Everyone knows there are men who take the form of wolves at will. But why did he kill his servants?’
‘Who can delve the mind of a devil?’ replied Murilo. ‘Our present interest is in getting out of this place. Human weapons can not harm a were-man. How did you get in here?’
‘Through the sewer. I reckoned on the gardens being guarded. The sewers connect with a tunnel that lets into these pits. I thought to find some door leading up into the house unbolted.’ ‘Then let us escape by the way you came!’ exclaimed Murilo. ‘To the devil with it! Once out of this snake-den, we’ll take our chance with the king’s guardsmen, and risk a flight from the city. Lead on!’
‘Useless,’ grunted the Cimmerian. ‘The way to the sewers is barred. As I entered the tunnel an iron grille crashed down from the roof. If I had not moved quicker than a flash of lightning, its spear-heads would have pinned me to the floor like a worm. When I tried to lift it, it wouldn’t move. An elephant couldn’t shake it. Nor c
Murilo cursed, an icy hand playing up and down his spine. He might have known Nabonidus would not leave any entrance into his house unguarded. Had Conan not possessed the steel-spring quickness of a wild thing, that falling portcullis would have skewered him. Doubtless his walking through the tunnel had sprung some hidden catch that released it from the roof. As it was, both were trapped living.
‘There’s but one thing to do,’ said Murilo, sweating profusely. ‘That’s to search for some other exit; doubtless they’re all set with traps, but we have no other choice.’
The barbarian grunted agreement, and the companions began groping their way at random down the corridor. Even at that moment, something occurred to Murilo.
‘How did you recognize me in this blackness?’ he demanded. ‘I smelled the perfume you put on your hair, when you came to my cell,’ answered Conan. ‘I smelled it again a while ago, when I was crouching in the dark and preparing to rip you open.’
Murilo put a lock of his black hair to his nostrils; even so the scent was barely apparent to his civilized senses, and he realized how keen must be the organs of the barbarian.
Instinctively his hand went to his scabbard as they groped onward, and he cursed to find it empty. At that moment a faint glow became apparent ahead of them, and presently they came to a sharp bend in the corridor, about which the light filtered grayly. Together they peered around the corner, and Murilo, leaning against his companion, felt his huge frame stiffen. The young nobleman had also seen it - the body of a man, half naked, lying limply in the corridor beyond the bend, vaguely illumined by a radiance which seemed to emanate from a broad silver disk on the farther wall. A strange familiarity about the recumbent figure, which lay face down, stirred Murilo with inexplicable and monstrous conjectures. Motioning the Cimmerian to follow him, he stole forward and bent above the body. Overcoming a certain repugnance, he grasped it and turned it on its back. An incredulous oath escaped him; the Cimmerian grunted explosively.
‘Nabonidus! The Red Priest!’ ejaculated Murilo, his brain a dizzy vortex of whirling amazement. ‘Then who - what--?’
The priest groaned and stirred. With cat-like quickness Conan bent over him, poniard poised above his heart. Murilo caught his wrist.
‘Wait! Don’t kill him yet--’
‘Why not?’ demanded the Cimmerian. ‘He has cast off his were-guise, and sleeps. Will you awaken him to tear us to pieces?’
‘No, wait!’ urged Murilo, trying to collect his jumbled wits. ‘Look! He is not sleeping - see that great blue welt on his shaven temple? He has been knocked senseless. He may have been lying here for hours.’
‘I thought you swore you saw him in beastly shape in the house above,’ said Conan.
‘I did! Or else - he’s coming to! Keep back your blade, Conan; there is a mystery here even darker than I thought. I must have words with this priest, before we kill him.’
Nabonidus lifted a hand vaguely to his bruised temple, mumbled, and opened his eyes. For an instant they were blank and empty of intelligence; then life came back to them with a jerk, and he sat up, staring at the companions. Whatever terrific jolt had temporarily addled his razor-keen brain, it was functioning with its accustomed vigor again. His eyes shot swiftly about him, then came back to rest on Murilo’s face.
‘You honor my poor house, young sir,’ he laughed coolly, glancing at the great figure that loomed behind the young nobleman’s shoulder. ‘You have brought a bravo, I see. Was your sword not sufficient to sever the life of my humble self?’
‘Enough of this,’ impatiently returned Murilo. ‘How long have you lain here?’
‘A peculiar question to put to a man recovering consciousness,’ answered the priest. ‘I do not know what time it now is. But it lacked an hour or so of midnight when I was set upon.’
‘Then who is it that masquerades in your own gown in the house above?’ demanded Murilo.
‘That will be Thak,’ answered Nabonidus, ruefully fingering his bruises. ‘Yes, that will be Thak. And in my gown? The dog!’
Conan, who comprehended none of this, stirred restlessly, and growled something in his own tongue. Nabonidus glanced at him whimsically.
‘Your bully’s knife yearns for my heart, Murilo,’ he said. ‘I thought you might be wise enough to take my warning and leave the city.’
‘How was I to know that was to be granted me?’ returned Murilo. ‘At any rate, my interests are here.’
‘You are in good company with that cutthroat,’ murmured Nabonidus. ‘I had suspected you for some time. That was why I caused that pallid court secretary to disappear. Before he died he told me many things, among others the name of the young nobleman who bribed him to filch state secrets, which the nobleman in turn sold to rival powers. Are you not ashamed of yourself, Murilo, you white-handed thief?’
‘I have no more cause for shame than you, you vulture-hearted plunderer,’ answered Murilo promptly. ‘You exploit a whole kingdom for your personal greed, and under the guise of disinterested statesmanship, you swindle the king, beggar the rich, oppress the poor, and sacrifice the whole future of the nation for your ruthless ambition. You are no more than a fat hog with his snout in the trough. You are a greater thief than I am. This Cimmerian is the most honest man of the three of us, because he steals and murders openly.’
‘Well, then, we are all rogues together,’ agreed Nabonidus equably. ‘And what now? My life?’
‘When I saw the ear of the secretary that had disappeared, I knew I was doomed,’ said Murilo abruptly, ‘and I believed you would invoke the authority of the king. Was I right?’
‘Quite so,’ answered the priest. ‘A court secretary is easy to do away with, but you are a bit too prominent. I had intended telling the king a jest about you in the morning.’
‘A jest that would have cost me my head,’ muttered Murilo. ‘Then the king is unaware of my foreign enterprises?’
‘As yet,’ sighed Nabonidus. ‘And now, since I see your companion has his knife, I fear that jest will never be told.’
‘You should know how to get out of these rat-dens,’ said Murilo. ‘Suppose I agree to spare your life. Will you help us to escape, and swear to keep silent about my thievery?’
‘When did a priest keep an oath?’ complained Conan, comprehending the trend of the conversation. ‘Let me cut his throat; I want to see what color his blood is. They say in The Maze that his heart is black, so his blood must be black too--’
‘Be quiet,’ whispered Murilo. ‘If he does not show us the way out of these pits, we may rot here. Well, Nabonidus, what do you say?’
‘What does a wolf with his leg in the trap say?’ laughed the priest. ‘I am in your power and if we are to escape, we must aid one another. I swear, if we survive this adventure, to forget all your shifty dealings. I swear by the soul of Mitra!’
‘I am satisfied,’ muttered Murilo. ‘Even the Red Priest would not break that oath. Now to get out of here. My friend here entered by way of the tunnel, but a grille fell behind him and blocked the way. Can you cause it to be lifted?’
‘Not from these pits,’ answered the priest. ‘The control lever is in the chamber above the tunnel. There is only one other way out of these pits, which I will show you. But tell me, how did you come here?’
Murilo told him in a few words, and Nabonidus nodded, rising stiffly. He limped down the corridor, which here widened into a sort of vast chamber, and approached the distant silver disk. As they advanced the light increased, though it never became anything but a dim shadowy radiance. Near the disk they saw a narrow stair leading upward.
‘That is the other exit,’ said Nabonidus. ‘And I strongly doubt if the door at the head is bolted. But I have an idea that he who would go through that door had better cut his own throat first. Look into the disk.’
What had seemed a silver plate was in reality a great mirror set in the wall. A confusing system of copper-like tubes jutted
They seemed to be looking through a broad window into a well-lighted chamber. There were broad mirrors on the walls, with velvet hangings between; there were silken couches, chairs of ebony and ivory, and curtained doorways leading off from the chamber. And before one doorway which was not curtained, sat a bulky black object that contrasted grotesquely with the richness of the chamber.
Murilo felt his blood freeze again as he looked at the horror which seemed to be staring directly into his eyes. Involuntarily he recoiled from the mirror, while Conan thrust his head truculently forward, till his jaws almost touched the surface, growling some threat or defiance in his own barbaric tongue.
‘In Mitra’s name, Nabonidus,’ gasped Murilo, shaken, ‘what is it?’
‘That is Thak,’ answered the priest, caressing his temple. ‘Some would call him an ape, but he is almost as different from a real ape as he is different from a real man. His people dwell far to the east, in the mountains that fringe the eastern frontiers of Zamora. There are not many of them, but if they are not exterminated, I believe they will become human beings, in perhaps a hundred thousand years. They are in the formative stage; they are neither apes, as their remote ancestors were, nor men, as their remote descendants may be. They dwell in the high crags of well-nigh inaccessible mountains, knowing nothing of fire or the making of shelter or garments, or the use of weapons. Yet they have a language of a sort, consisting mainly of grunts and clicks.
‘I took Thak when he was a cub, and he learned what I taught him much more swiftly and thoroughly than any true animal could have done. He was at once bodyguard and servant. But I forgot that being partly a man, he could not be submerged into a mere shadow of myself, like a true animal. Apparently his semi-brain retained impressions of hate, resentment, and some sort of bestial ambition of its own.