Latest / Jewels of Gwahlur / 01 - Jewels of Gwahlur by Robert E. Howard

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01 - Jewels of Gwahlur by Robert E. Howard · Jewels of Gwahlur

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  Speaker 1: Chapter one of Jewels of Gwaler. This is a LibriVox recording.
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  Speaker 1: All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more
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  Speaker 1: information nor to volunteer, please visit librevox dot org. Recording
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  Speaker 1: by Phil Chenevert. Jewels of Gualer by Robert Howard, Chapter one,
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  Speaker 1: Paths of Intrigue. The cliffs rose sheer from the jungle,
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  Speaker 1: towering ramparts of stone that glinted jade blue and dull
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  Speaker 1: crimson in the rising sun, and curved away and away
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  Speaker 1: to east and west, above the waving emerald ocean of
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  Speaker 1: fronds and leaves. It looked insurmountable, that giant palisade, with
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  Speaker 1: its sheer curtains of solid rock, in which bits of
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  Speaker 1: quartz winked dazzlingly in the sunlight. But the man who
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  Speaker 1: was working his tedious way upward was already half way
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  Speaker 1: to the top. He came of a race of hillmen
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  Speaker 1: accustomed to scaling forbidden crags, and he was a man
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  Speaker 1: of unusual strength and agility. His only garment was a
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  Speaker 1: pair of sharp red silk breeks, and his sandals were
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  Speaker 1: slung to his back out of the way, as were
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  Speaker 1: his sword and dagger. The man was powerfully built, supple
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  Speaker 1: as a panther. His skin was bronzed by the sun.
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  Speaker 1: His square cut black mane confined by a silver band
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  Speaker 1: about his temples. His iron muscles, quick eye, and sure
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  Speaker 1: feet served him well here, for it was a climb
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  Speaker 1: to test these qualities to the utmost. A hundred and
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  Speaker 1: fifty feet below him waved the jungle. An equal distance
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  Speaker 1: above him, the rim of the cliffs was etched against
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  Speaker 1: the morning sky. He labored like one driven by the
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  Speaker 1: necessity of haste. Yet he was forced to move at
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  Speaker 1: a snail's pace, clinging like a fly on a wall.
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  Speaker 1: His groping hands and feet found niches and knobs, precarious
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  Speaker 1: holes at best, and sometimes he virtually hung by his
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  Speaker 1: finger nails. Yet upward he went, clawing, squirming, fighting for
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  Speaker 1: every foot. At times he paused to rest his aching muscles, and,
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  Speaker 1: shaking the sweat out of his eyes, twisted his head
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  Speaker 1: to stare searchingly out over the jungle, combing the green
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  Speaker 1: expanse for any trace of human life or motion. Now
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  Speaker 1: the summit was not far above him, and he observed
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  Speaker 1: only a few feet above his head a break in
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  Speaker 1: the sheer stone of the cliff. An instant later he
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  Speaker 1: had reached it, a small cavern just below the edge
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  Speaker 1: of the rim. As his head rose above the lip
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  Speaker 1: of its floor, he grunted. He clung there, his elbow
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  Speaker 1: hooked over the lip. The cave was so tiny that
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  Speaker 1: it was little more than a niche cut in the stone.
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  Speaker 1: A heeled and occupant, a shriveled mummy, cross legged arms
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  Speaker 1: folded on the withered breast upon which the shrunken head
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  Speaker 1: was sunk, sat in the little cavern. The limbs were
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  Speaker 1: bound in place with raw hide thongs, which had become
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  Speaker 1: mere rotted wisps. If the farm had ever been clothed.
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  Speaker 1: The ravages of time had long ago reduced the garments
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  Speaker 1: to dust. But thrust between the crossed arms and the
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  Speaker 1: shrunken breast there was a roll of parchment, yellowed with
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  Speaker 1: age to the color of old ivory. The climber stretched
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  Speaker 1: forth a long arm and wrenched away the cylinder. Without investigation.
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  Speaker 1: He thrust it into his girdle and hauled himself up
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  Speaker 1: until he was standing in the opening of the niche.
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  Speaker 1: A spring upward, and he caught the rim of the
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  Speaker 1: cliffs and pulled himself up and over, almost with the
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  Speaker 1: same motion. There he halted, panting and stared downward. It
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  Speaker 1: was like looking into the interior of a vast bowl,
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  Speaker 1: rimmed by a circular stone wall. The floor of the
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  Speaker 1: bowl was covered with trees and denser vegetation, though nowhere
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  Speaker 1: did the growth duplicate the jungle denseness of the outer forest.
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  Speaker 1: The cliffs marched around it without a break, and of
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  Speaker 1: uniform height. It was a freak of nature not to
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  Speaker 1: be paralleled, perhaps in the whole world. A vast natural amphitheater,
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  Speaker 1: a circular bit of forested plain, three or four miles
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  Speaker 1: in diameter, cut off from the rest of the world,
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  Speaker 1: and confined within the ring of those palisaded cliffs. But
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  Speaker 1: the man on the cliffs did not devote his thoughts
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  Speaker 1: to marveling at the topographical phenomenon. With tense eagerness, he
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  Speaker 1: searched the tree tops below him, and exhaled a gusty
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  Speaker 1: sigh when he caught the glint of marble domes amid
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  Speaker 1: the twinkling green. It was no myth. Then below him
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  Speaker 1: lay the fabulous and deserted palace of Alkmenon Conan, the
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  Speaker 1: Simerian late of the Baraka Isles of the Black coast,
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  Speaker 1: and of many other climes where life ran wild. Had
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  Speaker 1: come to the kingdom of Kishin following the lore of
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  Speaker 1: a fabled treasure that outshone the horde of the Turanian kings.
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  Speaker 1: Kishan was a barbaric kingdom lying in the eastern hinterlands
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  Speaker 1: of Cushe, where the broad grasslands merged with the forests
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  Speaker 1: that roll up from the south. The people were a
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  Speaker 1: mixed race, a dusky nobility ruling a population that was
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  Speaker 1: largely pure Negro. The rulers, princes, and high priests claimed
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  Speaker 1: descent from a white race which, in a mythical age
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  Speaker 1: had ruled a kingdom whose capital city was Alkmenon. Conflicting
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  Speaker 1: legends sought to explain the reason for that race's eventual
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  Speaker 1: downfall and the abandonment of the city by the survivors.
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  Speaker 1: Equally nebulous were the tales of the Teeth of gwalor
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  Speaker 1: the Treasure of Alkmenon. But these misty legends had been
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  Speaker 1: enough to bring Conan to Kishan. Over vast distances of plain,
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  Speaker 1: river laced jungle and mountains, he had found Kishon, which
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  Speaker 1: itself was considered mythical by many northern and western nations,
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  Speaker 1: and he had heard enough to confirm the rumors of
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  Speaker 1: the treasure that men called the teeth of Gwalor, But
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  Speaker 1: its hiding place he could not learn, and he was
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  Speaker 1: confronted with the necessity of explaining his presence in Kishan
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  Speaker 1: unattached strangers were not welcome there, But he was not
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  Speaker 1: none plussed. With cool assurance, he made his offer to
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  Speaker 1: the stately plumed, suspicious grandees of the barbarically magnificent court.
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  Speaker 1: He was a professional fighting man in search of employment.
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  Speaker 1: He said he had come to Kishan for a price.
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  Speaker 1: He would train the armies of Kishan and lead them
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  Speaker 1: against Punt, their hereditary enemy, whose recent successes in the
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  Speaker 1: field had aroused the fury of Kishan's irascible king. This
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  Speaker 1: proposition was not so audacious as it might seem. Koonan's
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  Speaker 1: fame had preceded him even into distant Kishan. His exploits
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  Speaker 1: as a chief of the Black Corsairs, those wolves of
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  Speaker 1: the southern coasts, had made his name known, admired, and
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  Speaker 1: feared throughout the Black kingdoms. He did not refuse tests
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  Speaker 1: devised by the Dusky lords. Skirmishes along the borders were incessant,
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  Speaker 1: affording the Samerian plenty of opportunities to demonstrate his ability
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  Speaker 1: at hand to hand fighting. His reckless ferocity impressed the
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  Speaker 1: lords of Kishan, already aware of his reputation as a
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  Speaker 1: leader of men, and the prospects seemed favorable. All Knan
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  Speaker 1: secretly desired was employment to give him legitimate excuse for
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  Speaker 1: remaining in Kishan long enough to locate the hiding place
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  Speaker 1: of the teeth of Gwalor. Then there came an interruption.
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  Speaker 1: Thot Merkui came to Kishan at the head of an
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  Speaker 1: embassy from Zimbabwe. Thought merki was a stygian An adventurer
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  Speaker 1: and a rogue whose wits had recommended him to the
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  Speaker 1: twin kings of the great Hybrid trading kingdom, which lay
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  Speaker 1: many days march to the east. He and the Simerian
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  Speaker 1: knew each other of old and without love. But Mercury
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  Speaker 1: likewise had a proposition to make to the King of Kishan,
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  Speaker 1: and it also concerned the conquest of punt, which kingdom,
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  Speaker 1: incidentally lying east of Kishan, had recently expelled the Zimbabwean
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  Speaker 1: traders and burned their fortresses. His offer outweighed even the
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  Speaker 1: prestige of Knan. He pledged himself to invade punt from
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  Speaker 1: the east with a host of black spearmen, Shemidish archers
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  Speaker 1: and mercenary swordsmen, and to aid the King of Kishan
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  Speaker 1: to annex the hostile kingdom. The benevolent Kings of Zimbabwe
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  Speaker 1: desired only a monopoly of the trade of Kishan and
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  Speaker 1: her tributaries, and as a pledge of good faith some
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  Speaker 1: of the teeth of Gwalore. These would be put to
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  Speaker 1: no base usage, but Merriki hastened to explain to the
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  Speaker 1: suspicious chieftains they would be placed in the Temple of Zimbabwe,
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  Speaker 1: beside the squat gold idols of Dagon and Derkito, sacred
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  Speaker 1: guests in the Holy Shrine of the Kingdom, to seal
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  Speaker 1: the covenant between Kishan and Zimbabwe. This statement brought a
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  Speaker 1: savage grin to Konan's hard lips. The Samerian made no
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  Speaker 1: attempt to match wits and intrigue with Tutmerkwi and his
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  Speaker 1: Smitish partner Zogiba. He knew that if Tutmrkri won his point,
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  Speaker 1: he would insist on the instant banishment of his rival.
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  Speaker 1: There was but one thing for Konan to do. Find
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  Speaker 1: the jewels before the king of Kishan made up his
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  Speaker 1: mind and flee with them, But by this time he
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  Speaker 1: was certain that they were not hidden in Kishia, the
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  Speaker 1: royal city, which was a swarm of thatched huts crowding
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  Speaker 1: about a mud wall that enclosed the palace of stone
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  Speaker 1: and mud and bamboo. While he fumed with nervous impatience,
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  Speaker 1: the high Priest Gorulga announced that before any decision could
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  Speaker 1: be reached, the will of the gods must be ascertained
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  Speaker 1: concerning the proposed alliance with Zimbabwe and the pledge of
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  Speaker 1: objects long held holy and inviolate. The oracle of Alkmnon
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  Speaker 1: must be consulted. This was an awesome thing, and it
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  Speaker 1: caused tongues to wag excitedly in palace and beehive hut.
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  Speaker 1: Not for a century had the priests visited the silent city.
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  Speaker 1: The oracle men said, was the Princess Yelayah, the last
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  Speaker 1: ruler of Alkmnon, who had died in the full bloom
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  Speaker 1: of her youth and beauty, and whose body had miraculously
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  Speaker 1: remained unblemished throughout the ages of old. Priests had made
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  Speaker 1: their way into the haunted city, and she had taught
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  Speaker 1: them wisdom. The last priest to seek the oracle had
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  Speaker 1: been a wicked man who had sought to steal for
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  Speaker 1: himself curiously cut jewels that men called the teeth of Gwalor.
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  Speaker 1: But some doom had come upon him in the deserted
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  Speaker 1: place from which his acolytes, fleeing had told tales of
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  Speaker 1: horror that had for a hundred years frightened the priests
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  Speaker 1: from the city and the oracle. But Gorulga, the present
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  Speaker 1: high Priest, as one confident in his knowledge of his
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  Speaker 1: own integrity, announced that he would go with a handful
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  Speaker 1: of followers to revive the ancient custom. And in the excitement,
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  Speaker 1: tongues buzzed indiscreetly, and Conan caught the clue for which
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  Speaker 1: he had sought for weeks, the overheard whisper of a
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  Speaker 1: lesser priest that sent the Sumerians stealing out of Cashia
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  Speaker 1: the night before the dawn, when the priests were to
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  Speaker 1: start writing, as hard as he dared for a night
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  Speaker 1: and a day and a night, he came in the
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  Speaker 1: early dawn to the cliffs of Alcmenon, which stood in
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  Speaker 1: the southwestern corner of the kingdom, amid uninhabited jungle, which
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  Speaker 1: was taboo to common men, None but the priests dared
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  Speaker 1: approach the haunted vale within a distance of many miles,
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  Speaker 1: and not even a priest had entered alc Minon. For
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  Speaker 1: a hundred years. No man had ever climbed these cliffs,
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  Speaker 1: legend said, and none but the priests knew the secret
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  Speaker 1: entrance into the valley. Conan did not waste time looking
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  Speaker 1: for it. Steeps that balked these people, horsemen and dwellers
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  Speaker 1: of plain and level forest were not impossible for a
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  Speaker 1: man born in the rugged hills up Samaria. Now on
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  Speaker 1: the summit of the cliffs, he looked down into the
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  Speaker 1: circular valley and wondered what plague, war, or superstition had
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  Speaker 1: driven the members of that ancient race forth from their
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  Speaker 1: stronghold to mingle with and be absorbed by the tribes
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  Speaker 1: that hemmed them in This valley had been their citadel. There,
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  Speaker 1: there the palace stood, and there only the royal family
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  Speaker 1: and their court dwelt. The real city stood outside the cliffs.
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  Speaker 1: Those waving masses of green jungle vegetation hid its ruins.
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  Speaker 1: But the domes that glistened in the leaves below him
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  Speaker 1: were the unbroken pinnacles of the royal palace of alk Minon,
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  Speaker 1: which had defied the corroding ages. Swinging a leg over
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  Speaker 1: the rim, he went down swiftly. The inner side of
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  Speaker 1: the cliffs was more broken, not quite so sheer. In
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  Speaker 1: less than half the time it had taken him to
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  Speaker 1: ascend the outer side, he dropped to the swarded valley floor.
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  Speaker 1: With one hand on his sword, he looked alertly about him.
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  Speaker 1: There was no reason to suppose men lied when they
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  Speaker 1: said that alk Minon was empty and deserted, haunted only
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  Speaker 1: by the ghosts of the dead past. But it was
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  Speaker 1: Conan's nature to be suspicious and wary. The silence was primordial,
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  Speaker 1: not even, and a leaf quivered on a branch. When
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  Speaker 1: he bent to peer under the trees, he saw nothing
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  Speaker 1: but the marching rows of trunks, receding and receding into
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  Speaker 1: the blue gloom of the deep woods. Nevertheless, he went
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  Speaker 1: warily sward in hand, his restless eyes combing the shadows
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  Speaker 1: from side to side, his springy tread making no sound
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  Speaker 1: on the sward. All about him he saw signs of
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  Speaker 1: an ancient civilization. Marble fountains, voiceless and crumbling, stood in
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  Speaker 1: circles of slender trees whose patterns were too symmetrical to
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  Speaker 1: have been a chance of nature. Forest growth and underbrush
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  Speaker 1: had invaded the evenly planned groves, but their outlines were
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  Speaker 1: still visible. Broad pavements ran away under the trees, broken
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  Speaker 1: and with grass growing through the wide cracks. He glimpsed
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  Speaker 1: walls with ornamented copings lattices of carven stone that might
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  Speaker 1: once have served as the walls of pleasure pavilions. Ahead
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  Speaker 1: of him, through the trees, the domes gleamed, and the
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  Speaker 1: bulk of the structure supporting them became more apparent. As
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  Speaker 1: he advanced, presently pushing through a screen of vine tangled branches,
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  Speaker 1: he came into a comparatively open space where the trees straggled,
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  Speaker 1: unencumbered by undergrowth, and saw before him the wide, pillared
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  Speaker 1: portico of the palace. As he mounted the broad marble steps,
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  Speaker 1: he noted that the building was in far better state
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  Speaker 1: of preservation than the lesser structures he had glimpsed. The
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  Speaker 1: thick walls and massive pillars seemed too powerful to crumble
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  Speaker 1: before the assault of time and the elements. The same
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  Speaker 1: enchanted quiet brooded over all. The catlike pad of his
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  Speaker 1: sandaled feet seemed startlingly loud in the stillness. Somewhere in
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  Speaker 1: this palace lay the effigy image which had in times
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  Speaker 1: passed served as oracle for the priests of Kishan, and
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  Speaker 1: somewhere in the palace, unless that indiscreet priest had babbled
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  Speaker 1: a lie, was hidden the treasure of the forgotten kings
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  Speaker 1: of Alkmenon. Knan passed into a broad, lofty hall, lined
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  Speaker 1: with tall columns between which arches gaped, their door long
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  Speaker 1: rotted away. He traversed this in a twilight dimness, and
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  Speaker 1: at the other end passed through great double valved bronze
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  Speaker 1: doors which stood partly open, as they might have stood
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  Speaker 1: for centuries. He emerged into a vast domed chamber which
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  Speaker 1: must have served as audience hall for the kings of Alcmenon.
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  Speaker 1: It was octagonal in shape, and the great dome, up
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  Speaker 1: to which the lofty ceiling curved obviously was cunningly pierced,
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  Speaker 1: for the chamber was much better lighted than the hall
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  Speaker 1: which led to it. At the further side of the
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  Speaker 1: great room there rose a dais with broad lapiece lazuli
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  Speaker 1: steps leading up to it, and on that dais there
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  Speaker 1: stood a massive chair with ornate arms and a high
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  Speaker 1: back which once doubtless supported a cloth of gold canopy.
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  Speaker 1: Koanan grunted explosively in his eyes lit the golden throne
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  Speaker 1: of Alkmenon, named an immemorial legendry. He waged with a
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  Speaker 1: practiced eye. It represented a fortune in itself if he
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  Speaker 1: were but able to bear it away. Its richness fired
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  Speaker 1: his imagination concerning the treasure itself, and made him burn
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  Speaker 1: with eagerness. His fingers itched to plunge among the gems
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  Speaker 1: he had heard described by story tellers in the market
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  Speaker 1: squares of Kashia, who repeated the tales handed down from
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  Speaker 1: mouth to mouth through the sentries. Jewels not to be
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  Speaker 1: duplicated in the world, rubies, emeralds, diamonds, bloodstones, opals, sapphires,
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  Speaker 1: the lute of the ancient world. He had expected to
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  Speaker 1: find the oracle effigy seated on the throne, but since
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  Speaker 1: it was not, it was probably placed in some other
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  Speaker 1: part of the palace, if findy such a thing really existed.
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  Speaker 1: But since he had turned his face toward Kishan, so
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  Speaker 1: many myths had proved to be realities that he did
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  Speaker 1: not doubt that he would find some kind of image
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  Speaker 1: or God. Behind the throne there was a narrow arched doorway,
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  Speaker 1: which doubtless had been masked by hangings in the days
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  Speaker 1: of Agmenon's life. He glanced through it and saw that
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  Speaker 1: it led into an alcove, empty and with a narrow
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  Speaker 1: corridor leading off from it at right angles. Turning away
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  Speaker 1: from it, he spied another arched to the left of
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  Speaker 1: the dais, and it, unlike the others, was furnished with
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  Speaker 1: a door, nor was it any common door. The portal
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  Speaker 1: was of the same rich metal as the throne, and
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  Speaker 1: carved with many curious arabesques. At his touch, it swung
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  Speaker 1: open so readily that its hinges might recently have been oiled. Inside,
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  Speaker 1: he halted, staring. He was in a square chamber of
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  Speaker 1: no great dimensions, whose marble walls rose to an ornate
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  Speaker 1: ceiling inlaid with gold. Gold friezes ran about the base
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  Speaker 1: in the top of the walls, and there was no
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  Speaker 1: door other than the one through which he had entered.
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  Speaker 1: But he noted these details mechanically. His whole attention was
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  Speaker 1: centered on the shape which lay on an ivory dais
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  Speaker 1: before him. He had expected an image, probably carved with
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  Speaker 1: the skill a forgotten art. But no art could mimic
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  Speaker 1: the perfection of the figure that lay before him. It
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  Speaker 1: was no effigy of stone or metal or ivory. It
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  Speaker 1: was the actual body of a woman. And by what
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  Speaker 1: dark art the ancients had preserved that form unlemished for
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  Speaker 1: so many ages. Conan could not even guess the very
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  Speaker 1: garments she wore were intact, and Conan scowled at that,
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  Speaker 1: a vague and easiness stirring at the back of his mind.
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  Speaker 1: The arts that preserved the body should not have affected
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  Speaker 1: the garments, yet there they were. Gold breastplate set with
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  Speaker 1: concentric circles of small gems, gilded sandals, and a short
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  Speaker 1: silken skirt upheld by a jeweled girdle. Neither cloth nor
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  Speaker 1: metal showed any sign of decay. Yeliah was coldly beautiful
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  Speaker 1: even in death. Her body was like alabaster, slender yet voluptuous.
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  Speaker 1: A great crimson jewel gleamed against the darkly piled foam
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  Speaker 1: of her hair. Konan stood frowning down at her, and
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  Speaker 1: then tapped the dais with his sword. Possibilities of a
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  Speaker 1: hollow containing the treasure occurred to him, but the dais
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  Speaker 1: rang solid. He turned and paced the chamber in some
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  Speaker 1: indecision where should he search first? In the limited time
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  Speaker 1: at his disposal. The priest he had overheard babbling to
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  Speaker 1: a courtesan, had said the treasure was hidden in the palace,
• 22:37
  Speaker 1: but that included a space of considerable fastness. He wondered
• 22:42
  Speaker 1: if he should hide himself until the priests had come
• 22:44
  Speaker 1: and gone, and then renew the search. But there was
• 22:49
  Speaker 1: a strong chance that they might take the jewels with
• 22:52
  Speaker 1: them when they returned to Keshia, For he was convinced
• 22:56
  Speaker 1: that Thought Mercury had corrupted. Gorulga Knan could predict that
• 23:01
  Speaker 1: Merkri's plans from his knowledge of the man. He knew
• 23:05
  Speaker 1: that it had been thought Merkri who would propose the
• 23:08
  Speaker 1: conquest of Punt to the Kings of Zimbabwe, which conquest
• 23:12
  Speaker 1: was but one move toward their real goal, the capture
• 23:16
  Speaker 1: of the teeth of agualor. Those wary kings would demand
• 23:20
  Speaker 1: proof that the treasure really existed before they made any move.
• 23:25
  Speaker 1: The jewels that Merkri asked as a pledge would furnish
• 23:29
  Speaker 1: that proof. With positive evidence of the treasure's reality, the
• 23:34
  Speaker 1: Kings of Zimbabwe would move. Punt would be invaded simultaneously
• 23:39
  Speaker 1: from the east and the west, but the Zimbabwans would
• 23:43
  Speaker 1: see to it that the Kishani did most of the fighting,
• 23:46
  Speaker 1: and then when both Punt and Kishan were exhausted from
• 23:50
  Speaker 1: the struggle, these Zimbabwans would crush both races, loot Kishan
• 23:55
  Speaker 1: and take the treasure by force if they had to
• 23:58
  Speaker 1: destroy every building and torture every living human in the kingdom.
• 24:03
  Speaker 1: But there was always another possibility. If thut Merkri could
• 24:08
  Speaker 1: get his hands on the hoard, it would be characteristic
• 24:12
  Speaker 1: of the man to cheat his employers, steal the jewels
• 24:15
  Speaker 1: for himself, and DeCamp, leaving the Zimbabwean emissaries holding the sack.
• 24:21
  Speaker 1: Conan believed that this consulting of the oracle was but
• 24:25
  Speaker 1: a ruse to persuade the King of Kishan to accede
• 24:29
  Speaker 1: to thut Merkri's wishes, for he never for a moment
• 24:33
  Speaker 1: doubted that Gorulga was as subtle and devious as all
• 24:37
  Speaker 1: the rest mixed up in this grand swindle. Conan had
• 24:41
  Speaker 1: not approached the high priest himself because in the game
• 24:44
  Speaker 1: of bribery he would have no chance against thut Merkri,
• 24:48
  Speaker 1: and to attempt it would be to play directly into
• 24:51
  Speaker 1: the Stychian's hands. Gorulga could denounce the Samerian to the people,
• 24:56
  Speaker 1: establish a reputation for integrity, and rid that Mercree of
• 25:01
  Speaker 1: his rival. At one stroke. He wondered how that Mercri
• 25:06
  Speaker 1: had corrupted the high priest, and just what could be
• 25:09
  Speaker 1: offered as a bribe to a man who had the
• 25:11
  Speaker 1: greatest treasure in the world under his fingers. At any rate,
• 25:17
  Speaker 1: he was sure that the oracle would be made to
• 25:20
  Speaker 1: say that the gods willed it that Kishan should follow
• 25:23
  Speaker 1: that Mercre's wishes, and he was sure too that it
• 25:27
  Speaker 1: would drop a few pointed remarks concerning himself. After that
• 25:32
  Speaker 1: Kashia would be too hot for the Samerian. Nor had
• 25:35
  Speaker 1: Koonan had any intention of returning when he rode away
• 25:38
  Speaker 1: in the night, The oracle chamber held no clue for him.
• 25:43
  Speaker 1: He went forth into the Great Throne room and laid
• 25:46
  Speaker 1: his hands on the throne. It was heavy, but he
• 25:50
  Speaker 1: could tilt it up the floor beneath a thick marble,
• 25:54
  Speaker 1: Dais was solid again. He sought the alcove. His mind
• 25:59
  Speaker 1: clung to a secret crypt near the oracle. Pains. Takingly,
• 26:03
  Speaker 1: he began to tap along the walls, and presently his
• 26:07
  Speaker 1: taps rang hollow at a spot opposite the mouth of
• 26:10
  Speaker 1: the narrow corridor. Looking more closely, he saw that the
• 26:14
  Speaker 1: crack between the marble panel at that point and the
• 26:17
  Speaker 1: next was wider than usual. He inserted a dagger point
• 26:22
  Speaker 1: and pride silently. The panel swung open, revealing a niche
• 26:28
  Speaker 1: in the wall, but nothing else. He swore feelingly the
• 26:33
  Speaker 1: aperture was empty, and it did not look as if
• 26:36
  Speaker 1: it had ever served as a crypt for the treasure.
• 26:40
  Speaker 1: Leaning into the niche, he saw a system of tiny
• 26:43
  Speaker 1: holes in the wall, about on a level with a
• 26:46
  Speaker 1: man's mouth. He peered through and grunted, understandingly that was
• 26:53
  Speaker 1: the wall that formed the partition between the alcove and
• 26:56
  Speaker 1: the oracle chamber. Those holes had not been visible in
• 27:01
  Speaker 1: the chamber. Conan grinned this explained the mystery of the oracle,
• 27:06
  Speaker 1: but it was a bit cruder than he had expected.
• 27:10
  Speaker 1: Gorulga would plant either himself or some trusted minion in
• 27:14
  Speaker 1: that niche to talk through the holes, and the credulous
• 27:18
  Speaker 1: acolytes would accept it as the veritable voice of Yelaiah.
• 27:22
  Speaker 1: Remembering something, the Samarian drew forth the roll of parchment
• 27:27
  Speaker 1: he had taken from the mummy and unrolled it carefully,
• 27:31
  Speaker 1: as it seemed ready to fall to pieces with age.
• 27:34
  Speaker 1: He scowled over the dim characters with which it was covered.
• 27:38
  Speaker 1: In his roaming about the world, the giant adventurer had
• 27:41
  Speaker 1: picked up a wide smattering of knowledge, particularly including the
• 27:45
  Speaker 1: speaking and reading of many alien tongues. Many a sheltered
• 27:50
  Speaker 1: scholar would have been astonished at the Samearian's linguistic abilities,
• 27:55
  Speaker 1: for he had experienced many adventures where knowledge of a
• 27:59
  Speaker 1: strange language had met the difference between life and death.
• 28:04
  Speaker 1: These characters were puzzling, at once familiar and unintelligible, and
• 28:10
  Speaker 1: presently he discovered the reason. They were the characters of
• 28:14
  Speaker 1: archaic pilishtim which possessed many points of difference from the
• 28:18
  Speaker 1: modern script with which he was familiar, and which three
• 28:22
  Speaker 1: centuries ago had been modified by conquest by a nomad tribe.
• 28:27
  Speaker 1: This older, purer script baffled him. He made out a
• 28:31
  Speaker 1: recurrent phrase, however, which he recognized as a proper name,
• 28:35
  Speaker 1: bit Yakin. He gathered that it was the name of
• 28:39
  Speaker 1: the writer. Scowling, his lips unconsciously moving as he struggled
• 28:44
  Speaker 1: with the task. He blundered through the manuscript, finding much
• 28:48
  Speaker 1: of it untranslatable and most of the rest of it obscure.
• 28:53
  Speaker 1: He gathered that the writer, the mysterious bit Yakin, had
• 28:57
  Speaker 1: come from Afar with his servants and entered the valley
• 29:01
  Speaker 1: of Alkmnon. Much that followed was meaningless, interspersed as it
• 29:06
  Speaker 1: was with unfamiliar phrases and characters, such as he could translate,
• 29:10
  Speaker 1: seemed to indicate the passing of a very long period
• 29:14
  Speaker 1: of time. The name of Ilayak was repeated frequently, and
• 29:19
  Speaker 1: toward the last part of the manuscript it became apparent
• 29:23
  Speaker 1: that beat Yakin knew that death was upon him. With
• 29:27
  Speaker 1: a slight start, Knan realized that the mummy in the
• 29:30
  Speaker 1: cavern must be the remains of the writer of the manuscript,
• 29:34
  Speaker 1: the mysterious pilishtim bit Yakin. The man had died as
• 29:39
  Speaker 1: he had prophesied, and his servants obviously had placed him
• 29:43
  Speaker 1: in that open crypt high up on the cliffs, according
• 29:47
  Speaker 1: to his instructions before his death. It was strange that
• 29:50
  Speaker 1: beat Yakin was not mentioned in any of the legends
• 29:54
  Speaker 1: of Alkmnon. Obviously, he had come to the valley after
• 29:57
  Speaker 1: it had been deserted by the original in inhabitants. The
• 30:01
  Speaker 1: manuscript indicated as much, but it seemed peculiar that the
• 30:05
  Speaker 1: priests who came in the old days to consult the
• 30:08
  Speaker 1: oracle had not seen the man or his servants. Konan
• 30:12
  Speaker 1: felt sure that the mummy and this parchment were more
• 30:16
  Speaker 1: than a hundred years old. Beat Yakin had dwelt in
• 30:19
  Speaker 1: the valley when the priests came of old to bow
• 30:22
  Speaker 1: before dead Ylayah. Yet concerning him, the legends were silent,
• 30:28
  Speaker 1: telling only of a deserted city haunted only by the dead.
• 30:33
  Speaker 1: Why had the man dwelt in this desolate spot? And
• 30:37
  Speaker 1: to what unknown destination had his servants departed After disposing
• 30:41
  Speaker 1: of their master's corpse. Knan shrugged his shoulders and thrust
• 30:45
  Speaker 1: the parchment back into his girdle. He started violently, the
• 30:49
  Speaker 1: skin on the backs of his hands tingling startlingly, shockingly.
• 30:55
  Speaker 1: In the slumbery stillness, there had boomed the deep, strident
• 31:00
  Speaker 1: clangor of a great gong. He wheeled, crouching like a
• 31:04
  Speaker 1: great cat's sword in hand, glaring down the narrow corridor
• 31:08
  Speaker 1: from which the sound seemed to come. Had the priests
• 31:11
  Speaker 1: of Kashia arrived. This was improbable. He knew they would
• 31:15
  Speaker 1: not have had time to reach the valley, but that
• 31:19
  Speaker 1: gong was indisputable evidence of human presence. Konan was basically
• 31:25
  Speaker 1: a direct actionist. Such subtlety as he possessed had been
• 31:30
  Speaker 1: acquired through contact with the more devious races. When taken
• 31:34
  Speaker 1: off guard by some unexpected occurrence, he reverted instinctively to type.
• 31:40
  Speaker 1: So now, instead of hiding or slipping away in the
• 31:43
  Speaker 1: opposite direction, as the average man might have done, he
• 31:47
  Speaker 1: ran straight down the corridor in the direction of the sound.
• 31:52
  Speaker 1: His sandals made no more noise than the paths of
• 31:55
  Speaker 1: a panther would have made. His eyes were slits, his
• 31:59
  Speaker 1: lips uncintly a snarl. Panic had momentarily touched his soul
• 32:04
  Speaker 1: at the shock of that unexpected reverberation, and the red
• 32:09
  Speaker 1: rage of the primitive that is awakened by the thread
• 32:12
  Speaker 1: of peril always lurked close to the surface of the Samaran.
• 32:17
  Speaker 1: He emerged presently from the winding corridor into a small
• 32:21
  Speaker 1: open court. Something glinting in the sun caught his eye.
• 32:25
  Speaker 1: It was the gong, a great gold disk hanging from
• 32:29
  Speaker 1: a gold arm extending from the crumbling wall a brass
• 32:33
  Speaker 1: smellet lay near, but there was no sound or sight
• 32:36
  Speaker 1: of humanity. The surrounding arches gaped emptily. Conan crouched inside
• 32:42
  Speaker 1: the doorway. For what seemed a long time, there was
• 32:46
  Speaker 1: no sound or movement throughout the great palace. His patience exhausted.
• 32:51
  Speaker 1: At last, he glided around the curve of the court,
• 32:55
  Speaker 1: peered into the arches, ready to leap either way like
• 32:58
  Speaker 1: a flash of light, or to strike right or left
• 33:02
  Speaker 1: as a cobra strikes. He reached the gong, stared into
• 33:06
  Speaker 1: the arch. Nearest it, he saw only a dim chamber
• 33:10
  Speaker 1: littered with the debris of decay. Beneath the gong. The
• 33:14
  Speaker 1: polished marble flags showed no footprints, but there was a
• 33:19
  Speaker 1: scent in the air, a faintly fetid odor he could
• 33:22
  Speaker 1: not classify. His nostrils dilated like those of a wild beast,
• 33:28
  Speaker 1: as he sought in vain to identify it. He turned
• 33:31
  Speaker 1: toward the arch with appalling suddenness. The seemingly solid flags
• 33:36
  Speaker 1: splintered and gave way under his feet. Even as he fell.
• 33:40
  Speaker 1: He spread wide his arms and caught the edges of
• 33:43
  Speaker 1: the aperture that gaped beneath him. The edges crumbled off
• 33:47
  Speaker 1: under his clutching fingers. Down into utter darkness, he shot
• 33:52
  Speaker 1: into black, icy water that gripped him and whirled him
• 33:57
  Speaker 1: away with breathless speed. In chapter one,