Prisoner of the Horned Helmet by James Silke, Frank Frazetta Read Free Book Online

walls, filled the cone with a blinding illumination until she was only a tiny vague shadow. She gasped and dropped to one knee, humbled by the power and majesty of her deity, thrilled and empassioned by his invincible strength.
    “I understand and will obey.” She spoke with reverence and obedience. “I am to have the totems delivered, by my most trusted servant, to the high priest of the Kitzakks, Dang-Ling, who dwells in their desert city of Bahaara.”
    Thunder rumbled quietly and steadily from the bowels of the earth. Cobra nodded repeatedly as she listened to it, then replied, “I will not forget. The secret of the high priest’s service and devotion to you will not be betrayed. It will be his task, not mine, to use the totems to humble and educate Gath of Baal, and convince him that he must align himself with you, my most holy Lord of Death, in order to satisfy his honor and pride.”
    A slap of thunder echoed through the cone with a peculiar ring of approval.
    She rose obediently, and said respectfully, “Thank you, Master, I understand now. If Gath of Baal is killed by the high priest’s efforts, then he is not the man I have claimed him to be. But if he is that man, then only the threat of death can now instruct him.”
    The altar rumbled like a thousand well-fed stomachs, and Cobra, bowing low, backed slowly out of the room.
    Returning to her chamber, she sent for Schraak, a small, devious, grey-skinned alchemist with perpetually blinking eyes who sidled into the room like a favored pet. She reluctantly handed him the turquoise jar and told him to deliver it promptly and secretly to the high priest Dang-Ling in the distant desert city of Bahaara.
    When he had left, Cobra paced her chambers frantically without relief. She threw herself on the bed and writhed in an agony of rage and frustration, then surrendered and moaned hungrily as a craving to feel Gath’s human power again possessed her. It would be days, perhaps, weeks, before Schraak could deliver the jar, and Dang-Ling could prepare his magic and act. And all she could do was wait.

Nine
    BAUBLES & BONES
     
    A new sound came from Rag Camp. The daily jangle of tambourines, thumping drums, singing flutes and children’s laughter now mixed with the music of tinkling silver. The Grillards, whose specialty was low farce, had been thrust into the high drama of good fortune.
    The camp was situated at the northeastern edge of the valley where the river called Whitewater formed the natural border between the territories of the lawfully established Barbarian tribes and the Valley of Miracles. Outlaw territory. A massive grey rock, Stone Crossing, straddled the river which passed through a natural tunnel at its base. The trail called the Way of the Outlaw passed over Stone Crossing then came to an end in a spread of bald dusty ground which formed the center of Rag Camp, a name derived from the Grillard dependence on and preference for rag patches.
    A scatter of women, children, big young country louts, itinerant peddlers, traveling merchants and charlatans were coming down the trail. Their pace was anxious. Their manner was both excited and furtive. They were doing something that was at least suspect, if not downright punishable, and were having a fine time doing it.
    Wagons and horses, belonging to strangers as well as recognized members of various nearby tribes, were already parked at the edge of the clearing. The occupants were moving about the camp excitedly. No lords or nobles were among them. They were common folk with tight pockets and tight minds. But their normally country-sharp and forest-wise faces reflected no suspicion. Instead they were giddy and gullible. Eager to be amazed.
    With
oohs
and
aahs,
they shopped along a row of homespun blankets spread in front of eleven house-wagons which formed the body of a camp. Displayed on the blankets were the carefully butchered and brightly painted bones of the dead Kitzakk scouts: totems which were assured to