Almuric, Robert E. Howard [love books to read .txt] 📗
- Author: Robert E. Howard
- Performer: -
Book online «Almuric, Robert E. Howard [love books to read .txt] 📗». Author Robert E. Howard
recognized—their own inhuman lust.
The thought of Altha being subjected to such a fate drove me into a
berserk frenzy, and steeled my resolution. There was but one chance—
to escape myself, and try to reach Koth and bring back enough men to
attempt a rescue. My heart sank as I contemplated the difficulties in
the way, but there was nothing else to be done.
Lifting Gotrah’s limp body I dragged it out of the chamber through a
door different from that through which Yasmeena had gone; and
traversing a corridor without meeting anyone, I concealed the corpse
behind some tapestries. I was certain that it would be found, but
perhaps not until I had a good start. Perhaps its presence in another
room than the chamber of the trap might divert suspicion from my
actual means of escape, and lead Yasmeena to think that I was merely
hiding somewhere in Yugga.
But I was crowding my luck. I could not long hope to avoid detection
if I lingered. Returning to the chamber, I entered the shaft, lowering
the trap above me. It was pitch-dark, then, but my groping fingers
found the catch that worked the trap, and I felt that I could return
if I found my way blocked below. Down those inky stairs I groped, with
an uneasy feeling that I might fall into some pit or meet with some
grisly denizen of the underworld. But nothing occurred, and at last
the steps ceased and I groped my way along a short corridor that ended
at a blank wall. My fingers encountered a metal catch, and I shot the
bolt, feeling a section of the wall revolving under my hands. I was
dazzled by a dim yet lurid light, and blinking, gazed out with some
trepidation.
I was looking into a lofty chamber that was undoubtedly a shrine. My
view was limited by a large screen of carved gold directly in front of
me, the edges of which flamed dully in the weird light.
Gliding from the secret door, I peered around the screen. I saw a
broad room, made with the same stern simplicity and awesome
massiveness that characterized Almuric architecture. The ceiling was
lost in the brooding shadows; the walls were black, dully gleaming,
and unadorned. The shrine was empty except for a block of ebon stone,
evidently an altar, on which blazed the lurid flame I had noted, and
which seemed to emanate from a great somber jewel set upon the altar.
I noticed darkly stained channels on the sides of that altar, and on
the dusky stone lay a roll of white parchment—Yasmeena’s word to her
worshippers. I had stumbled into the Akka holy of holies—uncovered
the very root and base on which the whole structure of Akka theology
was based: the supernatural appearances of revelations from the
goddess, and the appearance of the goddess herself in the temple.
Strange that a whole religion should be based on the ignorance of the
devotees concerning a subterranean stair! Stranger still, to an
Earthly mind, that only the lowest form of humanity on Almuric should
possess a systematic and ritualistic religion, which Earth people
regard as sure token of the highest races!
But the cult of the Akkas was dark and weird. The whole atmosphere
of the shrine was one of mystery and brooding horror. I could imagine
the awe of the blue worshippers to see the winged goddess emerging
from behind the golden screen, like a deity incarnated from cosmic
emptiness.
Closing the door behind me, I glided stealthily across the temple.
Just within the door a stocky blue man in a fantastic robe lay snoring
lustily on the naked stone. Presumably he had slept tranquilly through
Gotrah’s ghostly visit. I stepped over him as gingerly as a cat
treading wet earth, Gotrah’s dagger in my hand, but he did not awaken.
An instant later I stood outside, breathing deep of the river-laden
night air.
The temple lay in the shadow of the great cliffs. There was no moon,
only the myriad millions of stars that glimmer in the skies of
Almuric. I saw no lights anywhere in the village, no movement. The
sluggish Akkas slept soundly.
Stealthily as a phantom I stole through the narrow streets, hugging
close to the sides of the squat stone huts. I saw no human until I
reached the wall. The drawbridge that spanned the river was drawn up,
and just within the gate sat a blue man, nodding over his spear. The
senses of the Akkas were dull as those of any beasts of burden. I
could have knifed the drowsy watchman where he sat, but I saw no need
of useless murder. He did not hear me, though I passed within forty
feet of him. Silently I glided over the wall, and silently I slipped
into the water.
Striking out strongly, I forged across the easy current, and reached
the farther bank. There I paused only long enough to drink deep of the
cold river water; then I struck out across the shadowed desert at a
swinging trot that eats up miles—the gait with which the Apaches of
my native Southwest can wear out a horse.
In the darkness before dawn I came to the banks of the Purple River,
skirting wide to avoid the watchtower which jutted dimly against the
star-flecked sky. As I crouched on the steep bank and gazed down into
the rushing swirling current, my heart sank. I knew that, in my
fatigued condition, it was madness to plunge into the maelstrom. The
strongest swimmer that either Earth or Almuric ever bred had been
helpless among those eddies and whirlpools. There was but one thing to
be done—try to reach the Bridge of Rocks before dawn broke, and take
the desperate chance of slipping across under the eyes of the
watchers. That, too, was madness, but I had no choice.
But dawn began to whiten the desert before I was within a thousand
yards of the Bridge. And looking at the tower, which seemed to swim
slowly into clearer outline, etched against the dim sky, I saw a shape
soar up from the turrets and wing its way toward me. I had been
discovered. Instantly, a desperate plan occurred to me. I began to
stagger erratically, ran a few paces, and sank down in the sand near
the river bank. I heard the beat of wings above me as the suspicious
harpy circled; then I knew he was dropping earthward. He must have
been on solitary sentry duty, and had come to investigate the matter
of a lone wanderer, without waking his mates.
Watching through slitted lids, I saw him strike the earth near by,
and walk about me suspiciously, scimitar in hand. At last he pushed me
with his foot, as if to find if I lived. Instantly my arm hooked about
his legs, bringing him down on top of me. A single cry burst from his
lips, half-stifled as my fingers found his throat; then in a great
heaving and fluttering of wings and lashing of limbs, I heaved him
over and under me. His scimitar was useless at such close quarters. I
twisted his arm until his numbed fingers slipped from the hilt; then I
choked him into submission. Before he regained his full faculties, I
bound his wrists in front of him with his girdle, dragged him to his
feet, and perched myself astride his back, my legs locked about his
torso. My left arm was hooked about his neck, my right hand pricked
his hide with Gotrah’s dagger.
In a few low words I told him what he must do, if he wished to live.
It was not the nature of a Yaga to sacrifice himself, even for the
welfare of his race. Through the rose-pink glow of dawn we soared into
the sky, swept over the rushing Purple River, and vanished from the
sight of the land of Yagg, into the blue mazes of the northwest.
I drove that winged devil unmercifully. Not until sunset did I allow
him to drop earthward. Then I bound his feet and wings so he could not
escape, and gathered fruit and nuts for our meal. I fed him as well as
I fed myself. He needed strength for the flight. That night the beasts
of prey roared perilously close to us, and my captive turned ashy with
fright, for we had no way of making a protecting fire, but none
attacked us. We had left the forest of the Purple River far, far
behind, and were among the grasslands. I was taking the most direct
route to Koth, led by the unerring instinct of the wild. I continually
scanned the skies behind me for some sign of pursuit, but no winged
shapes darkened the southern horizon.
It was on the fourth day that I spied a dark moving mass in the
plains below, which I believed was an army of men marching. I ordered
the Yaga to fly over them. I knew that I had reached the vicinity of
the wide territory dominated by the city of Koth, and there was a
chance that these might be men of Koth. If so, they were in force, for
as we approached I saw there were several thousand men, marching in
some order.
So intense was my interest that it almost proved my undoing. During
the day I left the Yaga’s legs unbound, as he swore that he could not
fly otherwise, but I kept his wrists bound. In my engrossment I did
not notice him furtively gnawing at the thong. My dagger was in its
sheath, since he had shown no recent sign of rebellion. My first
intimation of revolt was when he wheeled suddenly sidewise, so that I
lurched and almost lost my grip on him. His long arm curled about my
torso and tore at my girdle, and the next instant my own dagger
gleamed in his hand.
There ensued one of the most desperate struggles in which I have
ever participated. My near fall had swung me around, so that instead
of being on his back, I was in front of him, maintaining my position
only by one hand clutching his hair, and one knee crooked about his
leg. My other hand was locked on his dagger wrist, and there we tore
and twisted, a thousand feet in the air, he to break away and let me
fall to my death, or to drive home the dagger in my breast, I to
maintain my grip and fend off the gleaming blade.
On the ground my superior weight and strength would quickly have
settled the issue, but in the air he had the advantage. His free hand
beat and tore at my face, while his unimprisoned knee drove viciously
again and again for my groin. I hung grimly on, taking the punishment
without flinching, seeing that our struggles were dragging us lower
and lower toward the earth.
Realizing this, he made a final desperate effort. Shifting the
dagger to his free hand, he stabbed furiously at my throat. At the
same instant I gave his head a terrific downward wrench. The impetus
of both our exertions whirled us down and over, and his stroke, thrown
out of line by our erratic convulsion, missed its mark and sheathed
the dagger in his own thigh. A terrible cry burst from his lips, his
grasp went limp as he half fainted from the pain and shock, and we
rushed plummetlike earthward. I strove to turn him beneath me, and
even as I did, we struck the earth with a terrific concussion.
From that impact I reeled up dizzily. The Yaga did not move; his
body had cushioned mine, and half the bones
Comments (0)