Striving to look as if he owned every inch, of the caves, Conan strolled away at a leisurely pace, never looking back.

When he was around the first turning in the corridor, Conan picked up his pace considerably. He had escaped from the carnal clutches of the witch, but he still had to find his friends. He began to run, planning to put a goodly distance between himself and the witch as soon as possible.

He had been at the sprint but for a few moments when he rounded a corner and ran smack into a tangled nest of sticky webbing. He tried to back away from the clinging threads, but he could neither escape nor break free of them. The more he struggled, the more enmeshed he became. Even his powerful muscles were no match for the strength of the fibers. He was still try fruitlessly to break free when he saw a cyclops standing next to a giant worm, watching him. What now? he thought.

"I-I-I a-am n-not s-sure a-ab-about th-this." Deek watched the man struggle against the grip of the magical webbing.

Next to Deek, Wikkell nodded as if in agreement but said, "I understand your reluctance. Still, somehow, this one is at the root of all this. Both my master and your mistress-"

"E-e-ex-m-m-master a-and m-m-mistess," Deek broke in and corrected.

"Yes, yes, to be sure. Our ex-master and mistress seemed to think this man was of some import. As we have seen, he certainly is resourceful. He has managed to escape from both wizard and witch on his own, no small task."

"B-b-but c-can w-we t-t-trust him?"

"I would rather have him on our side than against us. Certainly he has no more love for Rey and Chunthathan do we. And we do have something to offer, do we not?"

"Y-y-yes."

"Then let us go and speak with him."

In the wizard's chambers, Rey questioned Elashi. He had a pair of his Cyclopes holding her tightly as he stood sharpening a somewhat rusted knife with a stone. The sound of the blade being whetted made cold, sc.r.a.ping noises in the quiet room. Tull and Lalo stood against a nearby wall, manacled to the rock.

While the chains and wrist clamps were covered with thick scales of red-brown rust flakes, the iron had lost none of its core strength.

Rey finished working on the knife. He touched the edge with one thumb; apparently it was done to his satisfaction. He moved toward Elashi, grinning wickedly in the green light, and waved the knife gently back and forth as he drew nearer to the desert woman.

The two cyclopes had firm grips on both of Elashi's arms; unfortunately for Rey, both of the woman's slender but strong legs remained unenc.u.mbered. When the wizard was within her range, Elashi managed to launch a stiff kick.

"Ah!" The wizard grunted, expelling most of his air. He stumbled back to the accompaniment of congratulatory noises from Tull and Lalo for Elashi's action.

It was but a short diversion, however, and the effect of Elashi's resistance did nothing to improve Rey's mood.

"Hold her feet!" the wizard ordered when his breath had returned.

Though Elashi kicked and struggled, it was but a moment's work for the cyclopes to each capture one leg. Firmly gripped now at the upper arm and ankle, Elashi found herself held stretched horizonally between her two captors much like a blanket among players of the childhood game of "Toss the Man High and Catch Him."

Rey moved in and inserted the sharpened blade under Elashi's belt. A single jerk of his wrist sliced the leather strap, and the belt fell away. The wizard moved to the hem of her heavy fabric skirt and gripped it with one hand, cutting the material to her crotch. The skirt gaped, revealing the smooth skin of her legs all the way to her underclothes.

Two more pa.s.ses with the knife and Elashi lay stretched between the cyclopes naked save for her boots. The wizard stepped between her spread legs and laid the flat of the blade knife upon her belly.

"Ready to tell me where Conan is?"

"Rot in the deepest h.e.l.l!" Elashi said. Her voice quivered, but she tried to keep her face impa.s.sive.

Rey turned the knife so that it was edge down. He started to press the edge into her flesh...

"Wait!" Lalo yelled. "I shall tell you!"

"Lalo! Say nothing!" Elashi said. The wizard turned away from the woman. "Yes?"

Lalo's grin looked pained, and his insult when it came was weak: "Wicked fool, spare her and I shall tell you Conan's location."

"I spare no one. But I can make her death quick."

Lalo nodded. "Very well. Conan hides in a small grotto some distance away. Tull here has used it for his residence for some years."

Tull and Elashi managed to stare at Lalo with amazement and disbelief; the wizard undoubtedly thought this due to Lalo's treachery.

"Explain to me the location and you shall live until my cyclopes return with the barbarian."

Tull and Elashi caught on to Lalo's ploy.

Tull said, "Tell him nothing, you traitor!"

"I hate you!" Elashi said.

Ever-smiling, Lalo took a deep breath and began to tell the wizard how to get to Tull's grotto.

Seemingly satisfied, the wizard had Elashi chained next to the two men. She drew her tattered clothes about her as best she could and settled down upon the rocky floor, shaking from nervous reaction.

Rey swept out of the chamber to instruct his thralls in the retrieval of Conan. It was only when the wizard appeared to be well out of earshot that the three captives spoke to each other, and then in quiet whispers.

"Why did you tell him Conan was in my grotto?" Tull asked. "When last we saw him-"

"-some monster had captured the awkward oaf," Lalo finished. "Aye, and since the flying creature did not come from Rey, then we may be almost certain it was dispatched by the witch. We could have hardly told him that, now could we? 'Conan? Why, the witch has him.' That would have sealed our doom instantly, would it not?"

"Lalo is right," Elashi whispered. "At least this way we have purchased a bit more time."

"Besides," Lalo said, "I had to say something. I could not allow him to harm you."

Although Lalo's smile was perpetual with him, it seemed to soften somewhat when he said this, and Elashi grinned at him in return. "I thank you for that."

"Even as stupid and worthless as you are, you have more uses alive than dead," Lalo said. From him, this was practically a raging compliment, and Elashi shook her head from the wonder of it.

"All this is beginning to get on my nerves," Tull said. He got no argument from either of the others on that point. "What will we. do when Rey discovers that Conan is not where we said he would be?" Elashi asked.

"Try to deceive him further," Lalo whispered.

"'Gone? Well, yes, of course. He said that if we did not meet him there soon, he would go to the waterfall where first he met Tull.' And after that, mayhap we can send him yet elsewhere."

"He is certain to catch on after a time or two. It is a decidedly risky plan," Tull said.

"Better than no plan at all," Elashi observed. "Besides, what have we to lose now?"

Another point no one wished to speak to or think overly about... not while chained to a cold wall in the chambers of an evil wizard.

Twenty-three.

Conan saw the two figures approaching, but he was unable to offer a defense or to flee. When the unlikely pair arrived at a distance two spans from him, they stopped.

"We would speak with you," the one-eyed giant said.

The Cimmerian looked down at his trapped limbs. Bound as he was in the sticky webbing, he had no choice save to listen to the cyclops and the worm. "I am listening," he said, as if he had a choice.

"Things are not as we would have them in our realm," the cyclops said. "We intend a change."

"W-w-we n-need y-your h-h-help," the worm said.

They went on to explain what they had in mind.

While his intention was to find his friends and flee this accursed realm as soon as possible, the alternative offered by the pair certainly held merits the Cimmerian had to ponder, especially considering his current state.

"So," the cyclops said, "that is our intent. If you help us achieve it, you and your friends will be free to go on about your own business with our blessings."

"And if I do not agree?"

"W-we c-can l-leave y-y-you h-here t-to r-r-rot," the worm said in that grating speech of his.

It was, Conan had to admit, a most powerful argument.

"Well, then, I agree to aid you. Both witch and wizard have done nothing but cause me grief since I arrived here, I would see them in Gehanna at the earliest opportunity."

The cyclops, who had given his name as Wikkell, nodded and turned to the worm. "See? I told you he would be reasonable."

With that, the giant one-eyed being extended a small wooden device toward Conan and his nest ofsticky threads. After a moment the threads began to pull away from Conan's body and the small block of wood somehow sucked the strings into itself. A few seconds later all of the netting in which Conan had been trapped had vanished.

Magic, and no doubt of that. He liked it not at all. Still, it was not as if he had been given much in the way of choice. Whatever the reason, he was a man of his word; once his pledge was given, he would not break it.

"Our sources tell us that your friends have been collected by the wizard," Wikkell said.

"Are they well?"

"I have it as likely... for as long as the wizard thinks they might lead him to you."

"Why is it that I am so important to both witch and wizard?"

"Wh-who k-knows?" This from the worm, who called himself Deek.

"I think it perhaps has something to do with some kind of prophesy," Wikkell said. "In some way, the wizard fears you, and likewise, so does the witch."

"I cannot understand why. I have no magic; I am no more than an ordinary man."

"A man, perhaps. Hardly ordinary. To have escaped from the wizard, and then from the witch after sharing her bed, these are things no man has ever done before."

"W-w-were i-it n-n-not f-for y-you, n-n-none o-of th-this w-w-would h-have h-happened."

Conan shrugged. "I think this is all due to being in the wrong place at the wrong time."

"Whatever the original reason," Wikkell said, "it does not matter so much now."

The three started down the corridor. Conan pondered what they had told him. They would aid him in freeing his friends. There was to be an attack, and during it he might be able to take advantage of the confusion. If he should happen to slay the wizard in pa.s.sing? Well, so much the better.

Deek and Wikkell spoke of their actions over the last days, and Conan filled them in on his own adventures. They seemed impressed, although he told his story in an offhand manner devoid of bragging.

A few moments later several of the Blind Whites came down the rocky hallway toward Conan and the others. Conan tensed, but Wikkell quickly rea.s.sured him there was no need to worry. The Whites were now in league with the cyclopes and the worms. The witch and the wizard were about to have a full-scale revolution on their hands.

One of the Whites approached and spoke to Wikkell in a language Conan did not recognize. After a moment another of the Whites was motioned to come closer by the cyclops.

The second White carried an object over one shoulder, something Conan had not noticed earlier: his sword!

The White tendered the blade to Wikkell, who held it as a man would hold a long knife. The cyclopsturned to Conan. "Here. You might like this. The Whites found it laying between two puddles upon the floor of the cavern where you must have been captured by Chuntha." At this statement a shudder seemed to ripple through Wikkell.

"Something wrong?"

Wikkell shook his head. "I suspect I know what those puddles represent. They stir a rather unpleasant memory."

Conan took the sword and did not ask after the source of the cyclops' recollection. The Cimmerian had noted, however, that his ability to hear the mindspeech had left him. He suspected that the cause of that particular talent had somehow been the responsibility of one of the jewels they had stolen from Chuntha, one of those spilled in his hasty escape from her chambers. A pity in one way to have lost it; on the other side of that coin, however, it was magic and apt to cause more trouble in the long run than it was worth.

His limited experience with magic had shown Conan that even those who knew how to perform such conjurs often found themselves in difficulties from them, and there were indeed things with which men were not made to tamper.

Conan hefted the solid weight of the sword and smiled at the weapon. Here was something a man could trust and depend upon. A strong arm, cold iron, and skill... aye, he would take those over spells any day.

Chuntha awoke from a languorous sleep. She grinned to herself as she stretched...

She sat up abruptly, startled. Where was the barbarian? Why did he not lie next to her, dead from his exertions as surely he should be?

Now that she was more awake, Chuntha noted that she did not feel the usual sensation of greatly increased energy that came from having drained a man of his essence. Sated, yes, but empowered, no.

What had happened?

She leaped to her feet and strode naked to the chamber's exit. Outside, her guards lay flaccidly in repose upon the cold stone.

"Where is the man? Chuntha's voice, full of anger, cut at the two.

"G-g-gone to f-fetch wh-whatever it w-was you w-wished," the worms replied. "By y-your orders, m-m-mistress, he t-told us-"