Worms Of the Earth by Robert E. Howard

Author:Robert E. Howard
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Tags: Science Fiction, Fiction, General
ISBN: 9781406572780
Publisher: Dodo Press
Published: 2008-02-08T17:06:32+00:00

shook him at the feel of her sleek skin. He nodded slowly and drawing her close to him, forced his headdown to meet her lifted lips.

Chapter Four

The cold gray mists of dawn wrapped King Bran like a clammy cloak. He turned to the woman whoseslanted eyes gleamed in the gray gloom.

"Make good your part of the contract," he said roughly. "I sought a link between worlds, and in you Ifound it. I seek the one thing sacred to Them. It shall be the Key opening the Door that lies unseenbetween me and Them. Tell me how I can reach it."

"I will," the red lips smiled terribly. "Go to the mound men call Dagon's Barrow. Draw aside the stonethat blocks the entrance and go under the dome of the mound. The floor of the chamber is made of sevengreat stones, six grouped about the seventh. Lift out the center stone--and you will see!"

"Will I find the Black Stone?" he asked.

"Dagon's Barrow is the Door to the Black Stone," she answered, "if you dare follow the Road."

"Will the symbol be well guarded?" He unconsciously loosened his blade in its sheath. The red lips curledmockingly.

"If you meet any on the Road you will die as no mortal man has died for long centuries. The Stone is notguarded, as men guard their treasures. Why should They guard what man has never sought? PerhapsThey will be near, perhaps not. It is a chance you must take, if you wish the Stone. Beware, king ofPictdom! Remember it was your folk who, so long ago, cut the thread that bound Them to human life.They were almost human then--they overspread the land and knew the sunlight. Now they have drawnapart. They know not the sunlight and they shun the light of the moon. Even the starlight they hate. Far,far apart have they drawn, who might have been men in time, but for the spears of your ancestors."

The sky was overcast with misty gray, through which the sun shone coldly yellow when Bran came toDagon's Barrow, a round hillock overgrown with rank grass of a curious fungoid appearance. On theeastern side of the mound showed the entrance of a crudely built stone tunnel which evidently penetratedthe barrow. One great stone blocked the entrance to the tomb. Bran laid hold of the sharp edges andexerted all his strength. It held fast. He drew his sword and worked the blade between the blocking stoneand the sill. Using the sword as a lever, he worked carefully, and managed to loosen the great stone andwrench it out. A foul charnel house scent flowed out of the aperture and the dim sunlight seemed less toilluminate the cavern-like opening than to be fouled by the rank darkness which clung there.

Sword in hand, ready for he knew not what, Bran groped his way into the tunnel, which was long andnarrow, built up of heavy joined stones, and was too low for him to stand erect. Either his eyes becamesomewhat accustomed to the gloom, or the darkness was, after all, somewhat lightened by the sunlightfiltering in through the entrance.

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