Red Nails, Page 3

  _3. The People of the Feud_

  Techotl smote on the bronze door with his clenched hand, and then turnedsidewise, so that he could watch back along the hall.

  "Men have been smitten down before this door, when they thought theywere safe," he said.

  "Why don't they open the door?" asked Conan.

  "They are looking at us through the Eye," answered Techotl. "They arepuzzled at the sight of you." He lifted his voice and called: "Open thedoor, Xecelan! It is I, Techotl, with friends from the great worldbeyond the forest!--They will open," he assured his allies.

  "They'd better do it in a hurry, then," said Conan grimly. "I hearsomething crawling along the floor beyond the hall."

  Techotl went ashy again and attacked the door with his fists, screaming:"Open, you fools, open! The Crawler is at our heels!"

  Even as he beat and shouted, the great bronze door swung noiselesslyback, revealing a heavy chain across the entrance, over whichspear-heads bristled and fierce countenances regarded them intently foran instant. Then the chain was dropped and Techotl grasped the arms ofhis friends in a nervous frenzy and fairly dragged them over thethreshold. A glance over his shoulder just as the door was closingshowed Conan the long dim vista of the hall, and dimly framed at theother end an ophidian shape that writhed slowly and painfully into view,flowing in a dull-hued length from a chamber door, its hideousblood-stained head wagging drunkenly. Then the closing door shut off theview.

  Inside the square chamber into which they had come heavy bolts weredrawn across the door, and the chain locked into place. The door wasmade to stand the battering of a siege. Four men stood on guard, of thesame lank-haired, dark-skinned breed as Techotl, with spears in theirhands and swords at their hips. In the wall near the door there was acomplicated contrivance of mirrors which Conan guessed was the EyeTechotl had mentioned, so arranged that a narrow, crystal-paned slot inthe wall could be looked through from within without being discerniblefrom without. The four guardsmen stared at the strangers with wonder,but asked no question, nor did Techotl vouchsafe any information. Hemoved with easy confidence now, as if he had shed his cloak ofindecision and fear the instant he crossed the threshold.

  "Come!" he urged his new-found friends, but Conan glanced toward thedoor.

  "What about those fellows who were following us? Won't they try to stormthat door?"

  Techotl shook his head.

  "They know they cannot break down the Door of the Eagle. They will fleeback to Xotalanc, with their crawling fiend. Come! I will take you tothe rulers of Tecuhltli."

  * * * * *

  One of the four guards opened the door opposite the one by which theyhad entered, and they passed through into a hallway which, like most ofthe rooms on that level, was lighted by both the slot-like skylights andthe clusters of winking fire-gems. But unlike the other rooms they hadtraversed, this hall showed evidences of occupation. Velvet tapestriesadorned the glossy jade walls, rich rugs were on the crimson floors, andthe ivory seats, benches and divans were littered with satin cushions.

  The hall ended in an ornate door, before which stood no guard. Withoutceremony Techotl thrust the door open and ushered his friends into abroad chamber, where some thirty dark-skinned men and women lounging onsatin-covered couches sprang up with exclamations of amazement.

  The men, all except one, were of the same type as Techotl, and the womenwere equally dark and strange-eyed, though not unbeautiful in a weirddark way. They wore sandals, golden breast-plates, and scanty silkskirts supported by gem-crusted girdles, and their black manes, cutsquare at their naked shoulders, were bound with silver circlets.

  On a wide ivory seat on a jade dais sat a man and a woman who differedsubtly from the others. He was a giant, with an enormous sweep of breastand the shoulders of a bull. Unlike the others, he was bearded, with athick, blue-black beard which fell almost to his broad girdle. He wore arobe of purple silk which reflected changing sheens of color with hisevery movement, and one wide sleeve, drawn back to his elbow, revealed aforearm massive with corded muscles. The band which confined hisblue-black locks was set with glittering jewels.

  The woman beside him sprang to her feet with a startled exclamation asthe strangers entered, and her eyes, passing over Conan, fixedthemselves with burning intensity on Valeria. She was tall and lithe, byfar the most beautiful woman in the room. She was clad more scantilyeven than the others; for instead of a skirt she wore merely a broadstrip of gilt-worked purple cloth fastened to the middle of her girdlewhich fell below her knees. Another strip at the back of her girdlecompleted that part of her costume, which she wore with a cynicalindifference. Her breast-plates and the circlet about her temples wereadorned with gems. In her eyes alone of all the dark-skinned peoplethere lurked no brooding gleam of madness. She spoke no word after herfirst exclamation; she stood tensely, her hands clenched, staring atValeria.

  The man on the ivory seat had not risen.

  "Prince Olmec," spoke Techotl, bowing low, with arms outspread and thepalms of his hands turned upward, "I bring allies from the world beyondthe forest. In the Chamber of Tezcoti the Burning Skull slew Chicmec, mycompanion----"

  "The Burning Skull!" It was a shuddering whisper of fear from the peopleof Tecuhltli.

  "Aye! Then came I, and found Chicmec lying with his throat cut. Before Icould flee, the Burning Skull came upon me, and when I looked upon it myblood became as ice and the marrow of my bones melted. I could neitherfight nor run. I could only await the stroke. Then came thiswhite-skinned woman and struck him down with her sword; and lo, it wasonly a dog of Xotalanc with white paint upon his skin and the livingskull of an ancient wizard upon his head! Now that skull lies in manypieces, and the dog who wore it is a dead man!"

  An indescribably fierce exultation edged the last sentence, and wasechoed in the low, savage exclamations from the crowding listeners.

  "But wait!" exclaimed Techotl. "There is more! While I talked with thewoman, four Xotalancas came upon us! One I slew--there is the stab in mythigh to prove how desperate was the fight. Two the woman killed. But wewere hard pressed when this man came into the fray and split the skullof the fourth! Aye! Five crimson nails there are to be driven into thepillar of vengeance!"

  He pointed at a black column of ebony which stood behind the dais.Hundreds of red dots scarred its polished surface--the bright scarletheads of heavy copper nails driven into the black wood.

  "Five red nails for five Xotalanca lives!" exulted Techotl, and thehorrible exultation in the faces of the listeners made them inhuman.

  "Who are these people?" asked Olmec, and his voice was like the low,deep rumble of a distant bull. None of the people of Xuchotl spokeloudly. It was as if they had absorbed into their souls the silence ofthe empty halls and deserted chambers.

  "I am Conan, a Cimmerian," answered the barbarian briefly. "This womanis Valeria of the Red Brotherhood, an Aquilonian pirate. We aredeserters from an army on the Darfar border, far to the north, and aretrying to reach the coast."

  The woman on the dais spoke loudly, her words tripping in her haste.

  "You can never reach the coast! There is no escape from Xuchotl! Youwill spend the rest of your lives in this city!"

  "What do you mean?" growled Conan, clapping his hand to his hilt andstepping about so as to face both the dais and the rest of the room."Are you telling us we're prisoners?"

  "She did not mean that," interposed Olmec. "We are your friends. Wewould not restrain you against your will. But I fear other circumstanceswill make it impossible for you to leave Xuchotl."

  His eyes flickered to Valeria, and he lowered them quickly.

  "This woman is Tascela," he said. "She is a princess of Tecuhltli. Butlet food and drink be brought our guests. Doubtless they are hungry, andweary from their long travels."

  He indicated an ivory table, and after an exchange of glances, theadventurers seated themselves. The Cimmerian was suspicious. His fierceblue eyes roved about the chamber, and he kept his
sword close to hishand. But an invitation to eat and drink never found him backward. Hiseyes kept wandering to Tascela, but the princess had eyes only for hiswhite-skinned companion.

  * * * * *

  Techotl, who had bound a strip of silk about his wounded thigh, placedhimself at the table to attend to the wants of his friends, seeming toconsider it a privilege and honor to see after their needs. He inspectedthe food and drink the others brought in gold vessels and dishes, andtasted each before he placed it before his guests. While they ate, Olmecsat in silence on his ivory seat, watching them from under his broadblack brows. Tascela sat beside him, chin cupped in her hands and herelbows resting on her knees. Her dark, enigmatic eyes, burning with amysterious light, never left Valeria's supple figure. Behind her seat asullen handsome girl waved an ostrich-plume fan with a slow rhythm.

  The food was fruit of an exotic kind unfamiliar to the wanderers, butvery palatable, and the drink was a light crimson wine that carried aheady tang.

  "You have come from afar," said Olmec at last. "I have read the books ofour fathers. Aquilonia lies beyond the lands of the Stygians and theShemites, beyond Argos and Zingara; and Cimmeria lies beyond Aquilonia."

  "We have each a roving foot," answered Conan carelessly.

  "How you won through the forest is a wonder to me," quoth Olmec. "Inbygone days a thousand fighting-men scarcely were able to carve a roadthrough its perils."

  "We encountered a bench-legged monstrosity about the size of amastodon," said Conan casually, holding out his wine goblet whichTechotl filled with evident pleasure. "But when we'd killed it we had nofurther trouble."

  The wine vessel slipped from Techotl's hand to crash on the floor. Hisdusky skin went ashy. Olmec started to his feet, an image of stunnedamazement, and a low gasp of awe or terror breathed up from the others.Some slipped to their knees as if their legs would not support them.Only Tascela seemed not to have heard. Conan glared about himbewilderedly.

  "What's the matter? What are you gaping about?"

  "You--you slew the dragon-god?"

  "God? I killed a dragon. Why not? It was trying to gobble us up."

  "But dragons are immortal!" exclaimed Olmec. "They slay each other, butno man ever killed a dragon! The thousand fighting-men of our ancestorswho fought their way to Xuchotl could not prevail against them! Theirswords broke like twigs against their scales!"

  "If your ancestors had thought to dip their spears in the poisonousjuice of Derketa's Apples," quoth Conan, with his mouth full, "and jabthem in the eyes or mouth or somewhere like that, they'd have seen thatdragons are not more immortal than any other chunk of beef. The carcasslies at the edge of the trees, just within the forest. If you don'tbelieve me, go and look for yourself."

  Olmec shook his head, not in disbelief but in wonder.

  "It was because of the dragons that our ancestors took refuge inXuchotl," said he. "They dared not pass through the plain and plungeinto the forest beyond. Scores of them were seized and devoured by themonsters before they could reach the city."

  "Then your ancestors didn't build Xuchotl?" asked Valeria.

  "It was ancient when they first came into the land. How long it hadstood here, not even its degenerate inhabitants knew."

  "Your people came from Lake Zuad?" questioned Conan.

  "Aye. More than half a century ago a tribe of the Tlazitlans rebelledagainst the Stygian king, and, being defeated in battle, fled southward.For many weeks they wandered over grasslands, desert and hills, and atlast they came into the great forest, a thousand fighting-men with theirwomen and children.

  "It was in the forest that the dragons fell upon them, and tore many topieces; so the people fled in a frenzy of fear before them, and at lastcame into the plain and saw the city of Xuchotl in the midst of it.

  "They camped before the city, not daring to leave the plain, for thenight was made hideous with the noise of the battling monstersthroughout the forest. They made war incessantly upon one another. Yetthey came not into the plain.

  "The people of the city shut their gates and shot arrows at our peoplefrom the walls. The Tlazitlans were imprisoned on the plain, as if thering of the forest had been a great wall; for to venture into the woodswould have been madness.

  "That night there came secretly to their camp a slave from the city, oneof their own blood, who with a band of exploring soldiers had wanderedinto the forest long before, when he was a young man. The dragons haddevoured all his companions, but he had been taken into the city todwell in servitude. His name was Tolkemec." A flame lighted the darkeyes at mention of the name, and some of the people muttered obscenelyand spat. "He promised to open the gates to the warriors. He asked onlythat all captives taken be delivered into his hands.

  "At dawn he opened the gates. The warriors swarmed in and the halls ofXuchotl ran red. Only a few hundred folk dwelt there, decaying remnantsof a once great race. Tolkemec said they came from the east, long ago,from Old Kosala, when the ancestors of those who now dwell in Kosalacame up from the south and drove forth the original inhabitants of theland. They wandered far westward and finally found this forest-girdledplain, inhabited then by a tribe of black people.

  "These they enslaved and set to building a city. From the hills to theeast they brought jade and marble and lapis lazuli, and gold, silver andcopper. Herds of elephants provided them with ivory. When their city wascompleted, they slew all the black slaves. And their magicians made aterrible magic to guard the city; for by their necromantic arts theyre-created the dragons which had once dwelt in this lost land, and whosemonstrous bones they found in the forest. Those bones they clothed inflesh and life, and the living beasts walked the earth as they walked itwhen Time was young. But the wizards wove a spell that kept them in theforest and they came not into the plain.

  * * * * *

  "So for many centuries the people of Xuchotl dwelt in their city,cultivating the fertile plain, until their wise men learned how to growfruit within the city--fruit which is not planted in soil, but obtainsits nourishment out of the air--and then they let the irrigation ditchesrun dry, and dwelt more and more in luxurious sloth, until decay seizedthem. They were a dying race when our ancestors broke through the forestand came into the plain. Their wizards had died, and the people hadforgot their ancient necromancy. They could fight neither by sorcery northe sword.

  "Well, our fathers slew the people of Xuchotl, all except a hundredwhich were given living into the hands of Tolkemec, who had been theirslave; and for many days and nights the halls re-echoed to their screamsunder the agony of his tortures.

  "So the Tlazitlans dwelt here, for a while in peace, ruled by thebrothers Tecuhltli and Xotalanc, and by Tolkemec. Tolkemec took a girlof the tribe to wife, and because he had opened the gates, and becausehe knew many of the arts of the Xuchotlans, he shared the rule of thetribe with the brothers who had led the rebellion and the flight.

  "For a few years, then, they dwelt at peace within the city, doinglittle but eating, drinking and making love, and raising children. Therewas no necessity to till the plain, for Tolkemec taught them how tocultivate the air-devouring fruits. Besides, the slaying of theXuchotlans broke the spell that held the dragons in the forest, and theycame nightly and bellowed about the gates of the city. The plain ran redwith the blood of their eternal warfare, and it was then that----" Hebit his tongue in the midst of the sentence, then presently continued,but Valeria and Conan felt that he had checked an admission he hadconsidered unwise.

  "Five years they dwelt in peace. Then"--Olmec's eyes rested briefly onthe silent woman at his side--"Xotalanc took a woman to wife, a womanwhom both Tecuhltli and old Tolkemec desired. In his madness, Tecuhltlistole her from her husband. Aye, she went willingly enough. Tolkemec, tospite Xotalanc, aided Tecuhltli. Xotalanc demanded that she be givenback to him, and the council of the tribe decided that the matter shouldbe left to the woman. She chose to remain with Tecuhltli. In wrathXotalanc sought to take her back by
force, and the retainers of thebrothers came to blows in the Great Hall.

  "There was much bitterness. Blood was shed on both sides. The quarrelbecame a feud, the feud an open war. From the welter three factionsemerged--Tecuhltli, Xotalanc, and Tolkemec. Already, in the days ofpeace, they had divided the city between them. Tecuhltli dwelt in thewestern quarter of the city, Xotalanc in the eastern, and Tolkemec withhis family by the southern gate.

  "Anger and resentment and jealousy blossomed into bloodshed and rape andmurder. Once the sword was drawn there was no turning back; for bloodcalled for blood, and vengeance followed swift on the heels of atrocity.Tecuhltli fought with Xotalanc, and Tolkemec aided first one and thenthe other, betraying each faction as it fitted his purposes. Tecuhltliand his people withdrew into the quarter of the western gate, where wenow sit. Xuchotl is built in the shape of an oval. Tecuhltli, which tookits name from its prince, occupies the western end of the oval. Thepeople blocked up all doors connecting the quarter with the rest of thecity, except one on each floor, which could be defended easily. Theywent into the pits below the city and built a wall cutting off thewestern end of the catacombs, where lie the bodies of the ancientXuchotlans, and of those Tlazitlans slain in the feud. They dwelt as ina besieged castle, making sorties and forays on their enemies.

  "The people of Xotalanc likewise fortified the eastern quarter of thecity, and Tolkemec did likewise with the quarter by the southern gate.The central part of the city was left bare and uninhabited. Those emptyhalls and chambers became a battleground, and a region of broodingterror.

  "Tolkemec warred on both clans. He was a fiend in the form of a human,worse than Xotalanc. He knew many secrets of the city he never told theothers. From the crypts of the catacombs he plundered the dead of theirgrisly secrets--secrets of ancient kings and wizards, long forgotten bythe degenerate Xuchotlans our ancestors slew. But all his magic did notaid him the night we of Tecuhltli stormed his castle and butchered allhis people. Tolkemec we tortured for many days."

  His voice sank to a caressing slur, and a far-away look grew in hiseyes, as if he looked back over the years to a scene which caused himintense pleasure.

  "Aye, we kept the life in him until he screamed for death as for abride. At last we took him living from the torture chamber and cast himinto a dungeon for the rats to gnaw as he died. From that dungeon,somehow, he managed to escape, and dragged himself into the catacombs.There without doubt he died, for the only way out of the catacombsbeneath Tecuhltli is through Tecuhltli, and he never emerged by thatway. His bones were never found, and the superstitious among our peopleswear that his ghost haunts the crypts to this day, wailing among thebones of the dead. Twelve years ago we butchered the people of Tolkemec,but the feud raged on between Tecuhltli and Xotalanc, as it will rageuntil the last man, the last woman is dead.

  "It was fifty years ago that Tecuhltli stole the wife of Xotalanc. Halfa century the feud has endured. I was born in it. All in this chamber,except Tascela, were born in it. We expect to die in it.

  "We are a dying race, even as those Xuchotlans our ancestors slew. Whenthe feud began there were hundreds in each faction. Now we of Tecuhltlinumber only these you see before you, and the men who guard the fourdoors: forty in all. How many Xotalancas there are we do not know, but Idoubt if they are much more numerous than we. For fifteen years nochildren have been born to us, and we have seen none among theXotalancas.

  "We are dying, but before we die we will slay as many of the men ofXotalanc as the gods permit."

  And with his weird eyes blazing, Olmec spoke long of that grisly feud,fought out in silent chambers and dim halls under the blaze of thegreen fire-jewels, on floors smoldering with the flames of hell andsplashed with deeper crimson from severed veins. In that long butchery awhole generation had perished. Xotalanc was dead, long ago, slain in agrim battle on an ivory stair. Tecuhltli was dead, flayed alive by themaddened Xotalancas who had captured him.

  Without emotion Olmec told of hideous battles fought in black corridors,of ambushes on twisting stairs, and red butcheries. With a redder, moreabysmal gleam in his deep dark eyes he told of men and women flayedalive, mutilated and dismembered, of captives howling under tortures soghastly that even the barbarous Cimmerian grunted. No wonder Techotl hadtrembled with the terror of capture. Yet he had gone forth to slay if hecould, driven by hate that was stronger than his fear. Olmec spokefurther, of dark and mysterious matters, of black magic and wizardryconjured out of the black night of the catacombs, of weird creaturesinvoked out of darkness for horrible allies. In these things theXotalancas had the advantage, for it was in the eastern catacombs wherelay the bones of the greatest wizards of the ancient Xuchotlans, withtheir immemorial secrets.

  * * * * *

  Valeria listened with morbid fascination. The feud had become a terribleelemental power driving the people of Xuchotl inexorably on to doom andextinction. It filled their whole lives. They were born in it, and theyexpected to die in it. They never left their barricaded castle except tosteal forth into the Halls of Silence that lay between the opposingfortresses, to slay and be slain. Sometimes the raiders returned withfrantic captives, or with grim tokens of victory in fight. Sometimesthey did not return at all, or returned only as severed limbs cast downbefore the bolted bronze doors. It was a ghastly, unreal nightmareexistence these people lived, shut off from the rest of the world,caught together like rabid rats in the same trap, butchering one anotherthrough the years, crouching and creeping through the sunless corridorsto maim and torture and murder.

  While Olmec talked, Valeria felt the blazing eyes of Tascela fixed uponher. The princess seemed not to hear what Olmec was saying. Herexpression, as he narrated victories or defeats, did not mirror the wildrage or fiendish exultation that alternated on the faces of the otherTecuhltli. The feud that was an obsession to her clansmen seemedmeaningless to her. Valeria found her indifferent callousness morerepugnant than Olmec's naked ferocity.

  "And we can never leave the city," said Olmec. "For fifty years no onehas left it except those----" Again he checked himself.

  "Even without the peril of the dragons," he continued, "we who were bornand raised in the city would not dare leave it. We have never set footoutside the walls. We are not accustomed to the open sky and the nakedsun. No; we were born in Xuchotl, and in Xuchotl we shall die."

  "Well," said Conan, "with your leave we'll take our chances with thedragons. This feud is none of our business. If you'll show us to thewest gate, we'll be on our way."

  Tascela's hands clenched, and she started to speak, but Olmecinterrupted her: "It is nearly nightfall. If you wander forth into theplain by night, you will certainly fall prey to the dragons."

  "We crossed it last night, and slept in the open without seeing any,"returned Conan.

  Tascela smiled mirthlessly. "You dare not leave Xuchotl!"

  Conan glared at her with instinctive antagonism; she was not looking athim, but at the woman opposite him.

  "I think they dare," retorted Olmec. "But look you, Conan and Valeria,the gods must have sent you to us, to cast victory into the laps of theTecuhltli! You are professional fighters--why not fight for us? We havewealth in abundance--precious jewels are as common in Xuchotl ascobblestones are in the cities of the world. Some the Xuchotlans broughtwith them from Kosala. Some, like the fire-stones, they found in thehills to the east. Aid us to wipe out the Xotalancas, and we will giveyou all the jewels you can carry."

  "And will you help us destroy the dragons?" asked Valeria. "With bowsand poisoned arrows thirty men could slay all the dragons in theforest."

  "Aye!" replied Olmec promptly. "We have forgotten the use of the bow, inyears of hand-to-hand fighting, but we can learn again."

  "What do you say?" Valeria inquired of Conan.

  "We're both penniless vagabonds," he grinned hardily. "I'd as soon killXotalancas as anybody."

  "Then you agree?" exclaimed Olmec, while Techotl fairly hugged himselfwith delight.

&n
bsp; "Aye. And now suppose you show us chambers where we can sleep, so we canbe fresh tomorrow for the beginning of the slaying."

  Olmec nodded, and waved a hand, and Techotl and a woman led theadventurers into a corridor which led through a door off to the left ofthe jade dais. A glance back showed Valeria Olmec sitting on his throne,chin on knotted fist, staring after them. His eyes burned with a weirdflame. Tascela leaned back in her seat, whispering to the sullen-facedmaid, Yasala, who leaned over her shoulder, her ear to the princess'moving lips.

  * * * * *

  The hallway was not so broad as most they had traversed, but it waslong. Presently the woman halted, opened a door, and drew aside forValeria to enter.

  "Wait a minute," growled Conan. "Where do I sleep?"

  Techotl pointed to a chamber across the hallway, but one door fartherdown. Conan hesitated, and seemed inclined to raise an objection, butValeria smiled spitefully at him and shut the door in his face. Hemuttered something uncomplimentary about women in general, and strodeoff down the corridor after Techotl.

  In the ornate chamber where he was to sleep, he glanced up at theslot-like skylights. Some were wide enough to admit the body of aslender man, supposing the glass were broken.

  "Why don't the Xotalancas come over the roofs and shatter thoseskylights?" he asked.

  "They cannot be broken," answered Techotl. "Besides, the roofs would behard to clamber over. They are mostly spires and domes and steepridges."

  He volunteered more information about the "castle" of Tecuhltli. Likethe rest of the city it contained four stories, or tiers of chambers,with towers jutting up from the roof. Each tier was named; indeed, thepeople of Xuchotl had a name for each chamber, hall and stair in thecity, as people of more normal cities designate streets and quarters. InTecuhltli the floors were named The Eagle's Tier, The Ape's Tier, TheTiger's Tier and The Serpent's Tier, in the order as enumerated, TheEagle's Tier being the highest, or fourth, floor.

  "Who is Tascela?" asked Conan. "Olmec's wife?"

  Techotl shuddered and glanced furtively about him before answering.

  "No. She is--Tascela! She was the wife of Xotalanc--the woman Tecuhltlistole, to start the feud."

  "What are you talking about?" demanded Conan. "That woman is beautifuland young. Are you trying to tell me that she was a wife fifty yearsago?"

  "Aye! I swear it! She was a full-grown woman when the Tlazitlansjourneyed from Lake Zuad. It was because the king of Stygia desired herfor a concubine that Xotalanc and his brother rebelled and fled into thewilderness. She is a witch, who possesses the secret of perpetualyouth."

  "What's that?" asked Conan.

  Techotl shuddered again.

  "Ask me not! I dare not speak. It is too grisly, even for Xuchotl!"

  And touching his finger to his lips, he glided from the chamber.