Thongor and the Wizard of Lemuria by Lin Carter Read Free Book Online

of towering lotifer trees rose about them, their deep red boles the color of dried blood in the sunlight. But the trees were thinning out now that they were approaching the edges of the jungle. Soon the foothills of the mountains were about them and the thick jungle foliage fell away. Across the world in front of them strode a mighty range of mountains, a titanic wall of gray and purple. These were the Mountains of Mommur, Thongor knew. This towering range stretched from east to west across the full breadth of the continent of Lemuria like a mountainous spine. And Thongor realized with a grimace that he had indeed been traveling in exactly the wrong direction all those weary hours when he had fought through the thick jungles on foot. Aye, he had labored long—to cut a path in a direction exactly opposite to the one that would in time have led him to the gates of Kathool, the nearest of the cities of the Southland.
    Now they rode between hills and over parched, rocky earth. They followed no path—at least, Thongor’s keen eyes could discern no path. But a level way seemed to wander at random, weaving through the hills.
    The zamph followed this winding way without hesitation, and Thongor concluded that the road to the wizard’s subterranean abode was cleverly concealed from the eyes of men.
    At length they entered the narrow mouth of a great canyon. It was long and thickly shadowed. Steep cliff-like walls of gray stone soared aloft on either hand. The canyon was cut deep through the hills. It seemed little more than a narrow, winding alley or cleft, which would abruptly end beyond the next turn.
    Blank walls of rock lifted sheer about them as the sides of the canyon narrowed. For all that the barbarian’s sharp eyes could discern, no man or beast had ever come this way. The rocky earth underfoot showed no tracks. Yet this was the entrance to the house of Sharajsha.
    At length the canyon ended in a sheer cliff of stone. The zamph came to a halt and Sharajsha dismounted and strode forward while Thongor, still mounted, watched with curiosity. The light was dim, but he could see no slightest sign of a door cut in the rock.
    The old wizard stepped before the cliff and reached out. His hand crept across the surface of stone until his sensitive fingertips found a minute depression. Into this he set the seal of one of his talismanic rings.
    Thongor froze and the nape-hairs lifted along his neck. For without the slightest sound a huge slab of stone sank into the earth.
    A black cavern yawned open before them. Sharajsha gestured.
    “Enter!”
    He tossed the reins over the zamph’s neck, and the beast ambled on before them into the darkness. Obviously Sharajsha kept his steed penned in some part of this cavern, and the zamph was trained to find its own way.
    With a fatalistic half-grin, Thongor strode into the darkness with the wizard behind him. Sharajsha lifted one hand and from the depths of his capacious sleeve drew forth a short rod of translucent crystal. He lifted it and a flickering nimbus of pale blue light glowed forth about one end. It gradually strengthened to illuminate the cavern.
    Soundlessly the wall of rock closed behind them.
    Magic! Thongor snorted to himself with the warrior’s natural contempt for such sly trickery. It seemed foolhardy to enter the lair of the most powerful wizard of all Lemuria of his own free will; and yet…the old man had done him no harm, had, in fact, rescued him from the jaws of certain death. What will happen will happen when it will, if it will, he thought. And determinedly setting his fears aside with the careless philosophy of the Northlander, Thongor looked about him with interest.
    Illuminated by the weird blue glow, the cavern spread before him a fantastic and unearthly panorama. Gigantic dripping stalactites hung from the arched roof overhead—spears of living stone as huge as the fangs of Baroumphar, the Father of All Dragons, who devoured the moon in the ancient tale. And the