Part 12 (1/2)

The sound was half growl, half screa echoes back and forth until it seeiant drum beaten by a madman

She would almost rather have beeninto the cavern froh as afrouard its thick neck Crilared at the forward froer than a shi+p's boat, and froround, it was as heavy as an elephant

Another dragon, and no Apples of Derketa to slay it That was Valeria's first thought A brighter one followed on its heels I have good co-partners for years, Valeria and Conan spread apart so that the creature could not attack both of them at once Valeria studied the horns and headplates If neither were too sharp, they offered handholds Then a good thrust with sword or dagger ht serve this beast as it had the crocodile

Instead of attacking, the beast cried out again It seemed to wait for an answer, or perhaps for the echoes to die Then it still did not attack It lui, lowered its broad on,” Conan called ”It's the fungus-eater”

”Then what killed the other-” Valeria began

In the next ht have been the answer to her question Di was keen enough It turned toward the voices, and Conan signaled urgently for silence

Valeria needed no urging She opened the distance between her and her coht not be able to see two foes, let alone attack theht die, but the other would have a chance at the kill

If the creature saw then of it Valeria wondered if it was so scant of sight that it could spy only move

The creature was no dainty eater It sobred and crunched its way through a patch of fungus as large as an Aquilonian kitchen garden Its eating, it belches, and its footfalls raised ht have won its attention, but scarcely any lesser sound

Sated, it lifted its head and lumbered toward the body of the other creature-its victim, perhaps, in a battle to the death over this caveful of food It reached the body, snuffled noisily about it, then lifted its head again and gave its challenge louder than before

Valeria felt as if hot nails were driving into her ears, but she did not take her eyes off the creature It ht and unable to hear , but it seeer

Silently, Conan waved at her to co their visitor, she knelt, then crawled on hands and knees through the fungi

The Ci the beast make the rounds of the wall, until she reached him

”We'll have to face hier on his territory If we don't kill hiuard”

Valeria was ready to agree The beast's jaere flat, bony plates, with no h to s her whole, and strong enough to crack Conan's bones like twigs

They separated again They were forty paces apart when a puff of air wafted from the tunnel by which they had entered the cavern It blew past them, and Valeria willed limbs, and even breath to stillness as she waited for the beast's reply

It cae The echoes had not begun to die when it charged Like a heavily laden shi+p in heavy seas, it labored through the fungi, tra others It held its head low, horns thrusting forward like the raed between them

In the nextHis hands gripped the upper horn, and he vaulted clear over the beast's rip failed hi across the neck instead of landing safely astride He slid off and landed rolling, parting cos in a single desperate breath and let out the shriek of a soul in torht be thinking it was Conan's day to die and hers to kill, but Valeria of the Red Brotherhood let neither man nor God decide suchof two enemies was e again, and began to back away

”Together-now!” Conan roared

That drew the beast toward hiain Valeria had seen before that the Cimmerian could move forward and backith equal speed; now she saw hiround, he drew the beast after hiet that it had ever sensed a second opponent Against Valeria, that was a death sentence

She sprang forward, light-footed as a cat, leaping successfully where Conan had failed She ended straddling the neck She gripped the edge of the neckplates and lunged to her feet, ready to stab