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肩書を与える: The Witch from Hell's Kitchen (The House Of Arabu)
Author: Robert E. Howard
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Date first 地位，任命するd:  Jun 2006
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The Witch from Hell's Kitchen (The House Of Arabu)

by

Robert E. Howard

Written in the 1930s
Published in Avon Fantasy Reader, 1952
Also published as "The House Of Arabu"

Avon Fantasy Reader, 1952

To the house whence no one 問題／発行するs,
To the road from whence there is no return,
To the house whose inhabitants are 奪うd of light,
The place where dust is their nourishment, their food clay,
They have no light, dwelling in dense 不明瞭,
And they are 着せる／賦与するd, like birds, in a 衣料品 of feathers,
Where, over gate and bolt, dust is scattered.
—Babylonian Legend of Ishtar

"HAS he seen a night-spirit, is he listening to the whispers of them who dwell in 不明瞭?"

Strange words to be murmured in the feast-hall of Naram-ninub, まっただ中に the 緊張する of lutes, the patter of fountains, and the tinkle of women's laughter. The 広大な／多数の／重要な hall attested the wealth of its owner, not only by its 広大な dimensions, but by the richness of its adornment. The glazed surface of the 塀で囲むs 申し込む／申し出d a bewildering variegation of colors—blue, red, and orange enamels 始める，決める off by squares of 大打撃を与えるd gold. The 空気／公表する was 激しい with incense, mingled with the fragrance of exotic blossoms from the gardens without. The feasters, silk-式服d nobles of Nippur, lounged on satin cushions, drinking ワイン 注ぐd from alabaster 大型船s, and caressing the painted and bejeweled playthings which Naram-ninub's wealth had brought from all parts of the East.

There were 得点する／非難する／２０s of these; their white 四肢s twinkled as they danced, or shone like ivory の中で the cushions where they sprawled. A jeweled tiara caught in a burnished 集まり of night-黒人／ボイコット hair, a gem-crusted armlet of 大規模な gold, earrings of carven jade—these were their only 衣料品s. Their fragrance was dizzying. Shameless in their dancing, feasting and lovemaking, their light laughter filled the hall in waves of silvery sound.

On a 幅の広い cushion-piled 演壇 reclined the giver of the feast, sensuously 一打／打撃ing the glossy locks of a lithe Arabian who had stretched herself on her supple belly beside him. His 外見 of sybaritic languor was belied by the 決定的な sparkling of his dark 注目する，もくろむs as he 調査するd his guests. He was 厚い-団体／死体d, with a short blue-黒人／ボイコット 耐えるd: a Semite—one of the many drifting 年一回の into Shumir.

With one exception his guests were Shumirians, shaven of chin and 長，率いる. Their 団体／死体s were padded with rich living, their features smooth and placid. The exception の中で them stood out in startling contrast. Taller than they, he had 非，不，無 of their soft sleekness. He was made with the economy of relentless Nature. His physique was of the 原始の, not of the civilized 競技者. He was an incarnation of 力／強力にする, raw, hard, wolfish—in the sinewy 四肢s, the corded neck, the 広大な／多数の／重要な arch of the breast, the 幅の広い hard shoulders. Beneath his tousled golden mane his 注目する，もくろむs were like blue ice. His 堅固に chiselled features 反映するd the wildness his でっちあげる，人を罪に陥れる 示唆するd. There was about him nothing of the 手段d leisure of the other guests, but a ruthless directness in his every 活動／戦闘. 反して they sipped, he drank in 広大な／多数の／重要な gulps. They nibbled at tid-bits, but he 掴むd whole 共同のs in his fingers and tore at the meat with his teeth. Yet his brow was 影をつくる／尾行するd, his 表現 moody. His 磁石の 注目する，もくろむs were introspective. Wherefore Prince lbi-Engur lisped again in Naram-ninub's ear: "Has the lord, Pyrrhas, heard the whispering of night-things?"

Naram-ninub 注目する，もくろむd his friend in some worriment. "Come, my lord," said he, "you are strangely distraught. Has any here done aught to 感情を害する／違反する you?"

Pyrrhas roused himself as from some 暗い／優うつな meditation and shook his 長，率いる. "Not so, friend; if I seem distracted it is because of a 影をつくる／尾行する that lies over my own mind." His accent was barbarous, but the timbre of his 発言する／表明する was strong and vibrant.

The others ちらりと見ることd at him in 利益／興味. He was Eannatum's general of mercenaries, an Argive whose saga was epic.

"Is it a woman, lord Pyrrhas?" asked Prince Enakalli with a laugh. Pyrrhas 直す／買収する，八百長をするd him with his 暗い／優うつな 星／主役にする and the prince felt a 冷淡な 勝利，勝つd blowing on his spine.

"Aye, a woman," muttered the Argive. "One who haunts my dreams and floats like a 影をつくる／尾行する between me and the moon. In my dreams I feel her teeth in my neck, and I wake to hear the ぱたぱたする of wings and the cry of an フクロウ."

A silence fell over the group on the 演壇. Only in the 広大な／多数の／重要な hall below rose the babble of mirth and conversation and the tinkling of lutes, and a girl laughed loudly, with a curious 公式文書，認める in her laughter.

"A 悪口を言う／悪態 is upon him," whispered the Arabian girl. Naram-ninub silenced her with a gesture, and was about to speak, when Ibi-Engur lisped: "My lord Pyrrhas, this has an uncanny touch, like the vengeance of a god. Have you done aught to 感情を害する／違反する a deity?"

Naram-ninub bit his lip in annoyance. It was 井戸／弁護士席 known that in his 最近の （選挙などの）運動をする against Erech, the Argive had 削減（する） 負かす／撃墜する a priest of Anu in his 神社. Pyrrhas' maned 長，率いる jerked up and he glared at Ibi-Engur as if 決めかねて whether to せいにする the 発言／述べる to malice or 欠如（する） of tact. The prince began to pale, but the わずかな／ほっそりした Arabian rose to her 膝s and caught at Naram-ninub's arm.

"Look at Belibna!" She pointed at the girl who had laughed so wildly an instant before.

Her companions were 製図／抽選 away from this girl apprehensively. She did not speak to them, or seem to see them. She 投げ上げる／ボディチェックするd her jeweled 長，率いる and her shrill laughter rang through the feast-hall. Her わずかな／ほっそりした 団体／死体 swayed 支援する and 前へ／外へ, her bracelets clanged and jangled together as she 投げ上げる／ボディチェックするd up her white 武器. Her dark 注目する，もくろむs gleamed with a wild light, her red lips curled with her unnatural mirth.

"The 手渡す of Arabu is on her," whispered the Arabian uneasily.

"Belibna?" Naram-ninub called はっきりと. His only answer was another burst of wild laughter, and the girl cried stridently: "To the home of 不明瞭, the dwelling of Irhalla; to the road whence there is no return; oh, Apsu, bitter is thy ワイン!" Her 発言する／表明する snapped in a terrible 叫び声をあげる, and bounding from の中で her cushions, she leaped up on the 演壇, a dagger in her 手渡す. Courtesans and guests shrieked and 緊急発進するd madly out of her way. But it was at Pyrrhas the girl 急ぐd, her beautiful 直面する a mask of fury. The Argive caught her wrist, and the 異常な strength of madness was futile against the barbarian's アイロンをかける thews. He 投げ上げる／ボディチェックするd her from him, and 負かす／撃墜する the cushion-strewn steps, where she lay in a crumpled heap, her own dagger driven into her heart as she fell.

The hum of conversation which had 中止するd suddenly, rose again as the guards dragged away the 団体／死体, and the painted ダンサーs （機の）カム 支援する to their cushions. But Pyrrhas turned and taking his wide crimson cloak from a slave, threw it about his shoulders.

"Stay, my friend," 勧めるd Naram-ninub. "Let us not 許す this small 事柄 to 干渉する with our revels. Madness is ありふれた enough."

Pyrrhas shook his 長，率いる irritably. "Nay, I'm 疲れた／うんざりした of swilling and gorging. I'll go to my own house."

"Then the feasting is at an end," 宣言するd the Semite, rising and clapping his 手渡すs. "My own litter shall 耐える you to the house the king has given you—nay, I forgot you 軽蔑（する） the ride on other men's 支援するs. Then I shall myself 護衛する you home. My lords, will you—…を伴って us?"

"Walk, like ありふれた men?" stuttered Prince Ur-ilishu. "By Enlil, I will come. It will be a rare novelty. But I must have a slave to 耐える the train of my 式服, lest it 追跡する in the dust of the street. Come, friends, let us see the lord Pyrrhas home, by Ishtar!"

"A strange man," Ibi-Engur lisped to Libit-ishbi, as the party 現れるd from the spacious palace, and descended the 幅の広い tiled stair, guarded by bronze lions. "He walks the streets, unattended, like a very tradesman."

"Be careful," murmured the other. "He is quick to 怒り／怒る, and he stands high in the 好意 of Eannatum."

"Yet even the 好意d of the king had best beware of 感情を害する／違反するing the god Anu," replied Ibi-Engur in an 平等に guarded 発言する／表明する.

The party were 訴訟／進行 leisurely 負かす／撃墜する the 幅の広い white street, gaped at by the ありふれた folk who bobbed their shaven 長，率いるs as they passed. The sun was not long up, but the people of Nippur were 井戸／弁護士席 astir. There was much coming and going between the booths where the merchants spread their wares: a 転換ing panorama, woven of craftsmen, tradesmen, slaves, harlots, and 兵士s in 巡査 helmets. There went a merchant from his 倉庫／問屋, a staid 人物／姿／数字 in sober woolen 式服 and white mantle; there hurried a slave in a linen tunic; there minced a painted hoyden whose short slit skirt 陳列する，発揮するd her sleek 側面に位置する at every step. Above them the blue of the sky whitened with the heat of the 開始するing sun. The glazed surfaces of the buildings shimmered. They were flatroofed, some of them three or four stories high. Nippur was a city of sun-乾燥した，日照りのd brick, but its facings of enamel made it a 暴動 of 有望な color.

Somewhere a priest was 詠唱するing: "Oh, Babbat, righteousness lifteth up to thee its 長，率いる—"

Pyrrhas swore under his breath. They were passing the 広大な／多数の／重要な 寺 of Enlil, 非常に高い up three hundred feet in the changeless blue sky.

"The towers stand against the sky like part of it," he swore, raking 支援する a damp lock from his forehead. "The sky is enameled, and this is a world made by man."

"Nay, friend," demurred Naram-ninub. "Ea built the world from the 団体／死体 of Tiamat."

"I say men built Shumir!" exclaimed Pyrrhas, the ワイン he had drunk 影をつくる／尾行するing his 注目する，もくろむs. "A flat land—a very 祝宴-board of a land—with rivers and cities painted upon it, and a sky of blue enamel over it. By Ymir, I was born in a land the gods built! There are 広大な／多数の／重要な blue mountains, with valleys lying like long 影をつくる／尾行するs between, and snow 頂点（に達する）s glittering in the sun. Rivers 急ぐ 泡，激怒することing 負かす／撃墜する the cliffs in everlasting tumult, and the 幅の広い leaves of the trees shake in the strong 勝利，勝つd."

"I, too, was born in a 幅の広い land, Pyrrhas," answered the Semite. "By night the 砂漠 lies white and awful beneath the moon, and by day it stretches in brown infinity beneath the sun. But it is in the 群れているing cities of men, these 蜂の巣s of bronze and gold and enamel and humanity, that wealth and glory 嘘（をつく）."

Pyrrhas was about to speak, when a loud wailing attracted his attention. 負かす／撃墜する the street （機の）カム a 行列, 耐えるing a carven and painted litter on which lay a 人物／姿／数字 hidden by flowers. Behind （機の）カム a train of young women, their scanty 衣料品s rent, their 黒人／ボイコット hair flowing wildly. They （警官の）巡回区域，受持ち区域 their naked bosoms and cried: "Ailanu! Thammuz is dead!" The throngs in the street took up the shout. The litter passed, swaying on the shoulders of the 持参人払いのs; の中で the high-piled flowers shone the painted 注目する，もくろむs of a carven image. The cry of the worshippers echoed 負かす／撃墜する the street, dwindling in the distance.

Pyrrhas shrugged his mighty shoulders. "Soon they will be leaping and dancing and shouting, 'Adonis is living!' and the wenches who howl so 激しく now will give themselves to men in the streets for exultation. How many gods are there, in the devil's 指名する?"

Naram-ninub pointed to the 広大な／多数の／重要な zikkurat of Enlil, brooding over all like the brutish dream of a mad god.

"See ye the seven tiers: the lower 黒人／ボイコット, the next of red enamel, the third blue, the fourth orange, the fifth yellow, while the sixth is 直面するd with silver, and the seventh with pure gold which 炎上s in the sunlight? Each 行う／開催する／段階 in the 寺 symbolizes a deity: the sun, the moon, and the five 惑星s Enlil and his tribe have 始める，決める in the skies for their emblems. But Enlil is greater than all, and Nippur is his 好意d city."

"Greater than Anu?" muttered Pyrrhas, remembering a 炎上ing 神社 and a dying priest that gasped an awful 脅し.

"Which is the greatest 脚 of a tripod?" parried Naram-ninub.

Pyrrhas opened his mouth to reply, then recoiled with a 悪口を言う／悪態, his sword flashing out. Under his very feet a serpent 後部d up, its forked tongue flickering like a jet of red 雷.

"What is it, friend?" Naram-ninub and the princes 星／主役にするd at him in surprise.

"What is it?" He swore. "Don't you see that snake under your very feet? Stand aside—and give me a clean swing at it."

His 発言する／表明する broke off and his 注目する，もくろむs clouded with 疑問.

"It's gone," he muttered.

"I saw nothing," said Naram-ninub, and the others shook their 長，率いるs, 交流ing wondering ちらりと見ることs.

The Argive passed his 手渡す across his 注目する，もくろむs, shaking his 長，率いる.

"Perhaps it's the ワイン," he muttered. "Yet there was an adder, I 断言する by the heart of Ymir. I am accursed."

The others drew away from him, ちらりと見ることing at him strangely.

There had always been a restlessness in the soul of Pyrrhas the Argive, to haunt his dreams and 運動 him out on his long wanderings. It had brought him from the blue mountains of his race, southward into the fertile valleys and sea-fringing plains where rose the huts of the Mycenaeans; thence into the 小島 of Crete, where, in a rude town of rough 石／投石する and 支持を得ようと努めるd, a swart fishing people 物々交換するd with the ships of Egypt; by those ships he had gone into Egypt, where men toiled beneath the 攻撃する to 後部 the first pyramids, and where, in the 階級s of the white-skinned mercenaries, the Shardana, he learned the arts of war. But his wanderlust drove him again across the sea, to a mud-塀で囲むd 貿易（する）ing village on the coast of Asia, called Troy, whence he drifted southward into the 略奪する and 大虐殺 of パレスチナ where the 初めの dwell—in the land were trampled under by the 野蛮な Canaanites out of the East. So by devious ways he （機の）カム at last to the plains of Shumir, where city fought city, and the priests of a myriad 競争相手 gods intrigued and plotted, as they had done since the 夜明け of Time, and as they did for centuries after, until the rise of an obscure frontier town called Babylon exalted its city-god Merodach above all others as Bel-Marduk, the 征服者／勝利者 of Tiamat.

The 明らかにする 輪郭（を描く） of the saga of Pyrrhas the Argive is weak and paltry; it can not catch the echoes of the 雷鳴ing pageantry that 暴動d through that saga: the feasts, revels, wars, the 衝突，墜落 and 後援ing of ships and the onset of chariots. Let it 十分である to say that the 栄誉（を受ける） of kings was given to the Argive, and that in all Mesopotamia here was no man so 恐れるd as this golden-haired barbarian whose war-技術 and fury broke the hosts of Erech on the field, and the yoke of Erech from the neck of Nippur.

From a mountain but to a palace of jade and ivory Pyrrhas' saga had led him. Yet the 薄暗い half-animal dreams that had filled his slumber when he lay as a 青年 on a heap of wolfskins in his shaggy-長，率いるd father's hut were nothing so strange and monstrous as the dreams that haunted him on the silken couch in the palace of turquoise-towered Nippur.

It was from these dreams that Pyrrhas woke suddenly. No lamp 燃やすd in his 議会 and the moon was not yet up, but the starlight filtered dimly through the casement. And in this radiance something moved and took form. There was the vague 輪郭（を描く） of a lithe form, the gleam of an 注目する，もくろむ. Suddenly the night （警官の）巡回区域，受持ち区域 負かす／撃墜する oppressively hot and still. Pyrrhas heard the 続けざまに猛撃する of his own 血 through his veins. Why 恐れる a woman lurking in his 議会? But no woman's form was ever so pantherishly supple; no woman's 注目する，もくろむs ever 燃やすd so in the 不明瞭. With a gasping snarl he leaped from his couch and his sword hissed as it 削減（する） the 空気／公表する—but only the 空気／公表する. Something like a mocking laugh reached his ears, but the 人物／姿／数字 was gone.

A girl entered あわてて with a lamp.

"Amytis! I saw her! It was no dream, this time! She laughed at me from the window!"

Amytis trembled as she 始める，決める the lamp on an ebony （米）棚上げする／（英）提議する. She was a sleek 感覚的な creature, with long-攻撃するd, 激しい-lidded 注目する，もくろむs, 熱烈な lips, and a wealth of lustrous 黒人／ボイコット curly locks. As she stood there naked the voluptuousness of her 人物／姿／数字 would have stirred the most jaded debauchee. A gift from Eannatum, she hated Pyrrhas, and he knew it, but 設立する an angry gratification in 所有するing her. But now, her 憎悪 was 溺死するd in her terror.

"It was Lilitu!" she stammered. "She has 示すd you for her own! She is the night-spirit, the mate of Ardat Lili. They dwell in the House of Arabu. You are accursed!"

His 手渡すs were bathed with sweat; molten ice seemed to be flowing sluggishly through his veins instead of 血.

"Where shall I turn? The priests hate and 恐れる me since I 燃やすd Anu's 寺."

"There is a man who is not bound by the priest-（手先の）技術, and could 援助（する） you." She blurted out.

"Then tell me!" He was galvanized, trembling with eager impatience. "His 指名する, girl! His 指名する!"

But at this 調印する of 証拠不十分, her malice returned; she had blurted out what was in her mind, in her 恐れる of the supernatural. Now all the vindictiveness in her was awake again.

"I have forgotten," she answered insolently, her 注目する，もくろむs glowing with spite.

"Slut!" Gasping with the 暴力／激しさ of his 激怒（する）, he dragged her across a couch by her 厚い locks. 掴むing his sword belt he （権力などを）行使するd it with savage 軍隊, 持つ／拘留するing 負かす／撃墜する the writhing naked 団体／死体 with his 解放する／自由な 手渡す. Each 一打／打撃 was like the 衝撃 of a drover's whip. So mazed with fury was he, and she so incoherent with 苦痛, that he did not at first realize that she was shrieking a 指名する at the 最高の，を越す of her 発言する／表明する. 認めるing this at last, he cast her from him, to 落ちる in a whimpering heap on the mat-covered 床に打ち倒す. Trembling and panting from the 超過 of his passion, he threw aside the belt and glared 負かす／撃墜する at her.

"Gimil-ishbi, eh?"

"Yes!" she sobbed, grovelling on the 床に打ち倒す in her excruciating anguish. "He was a priest of Enlil, until he turned diabolist and was banished. Ahhh, I faint! I swoon! Mercy! Mercy!"

"And where shall I find him?" he 需要・要求するd.

"In the 塚 of Enzu, to the west of the city. Oh, Enlil, I am flayed alive! I 死なせる／死ぬ!"

Turning from her, Pyrrhas あわてて donned his 衣料品s and armor, without calling for a slave to 援助（する） him. He went 前へ／外へ, passed の中で his sleeping servitors without waking them, and 安全な・保証するd the best of his horses. There were perhaps a 得点する／非難する／２０ in all in Nippur, the 所有物／資産／財産 of the king and his wealthier nobles; they had been bought from the wild tribes far to the north, beyond the Caspian, whom in a later age men called Scythians. Each steed 代表するd an actual fortune. Pyrrhas bridled the 広大な／多数の／重要な beast and strapped on the saddle—単に a cloth pad, ornamented and richly worked.

The 兵士s at the gate gaped at him as he drew rein and ordered them to open the 広大な／多数の／重要な bronze portals, but they 屈服するd and obeyed without question. His crimson cloak flowed behind him as he galloped through the gate.

"Enlil!" swore a 兵士. "The Argive has drunk overmuch of Naram-ninub's Egyptian ワイン."

"Nay," 答える／応じるd another; "did you see his 直面する that it was pale, and his 手渡す that it shook on the rein? The gods have touched him, and perchance he rides to the House of Arabu." Shaking their helmeted 長，率いるs dubiously, they listened to the hoof-（警官の）巡回区域，受持ち区域s dwindling away in the west.

North, south and east from Nippur, farm-houses, villages and palm groves clustered the plain, threaded by the 網状組織s of canals that connected the rivers. But 西方の the land lay 明らかにする and silent to the Euphrates, only charred expanses telling of former villages. A few moons ago raiders had swept out of the 砂漠 in a wave that （海，煙などが）飲み込むd the vineyards and huts and burst against the staggering 塀で囲むs of Nippur. Pyrrhas remembered the fighting along the 塀で囲むs, and the fighting on the plain, when his sally at the 長，率いる of his phalanxes had broken the besiegers and driven them in headlong flight 支援する across the 広大な／多数の／重要な River. Then the plain had been red with 血 and 黒人／ボイコット with smoke. Now it was already 隠すd in green again as the 穀物 put 前へ／外へ its shoots, uncared for by man. But the toilers who had 工場／植物d that 穀物 had gone into the land of dusk and 不明瞭.

Already the 洪水 from more populous 地区s was seeping; 支援する into the man-made waste. A few months, a year at most, and the land would again 現在の the typical 面 of the Mesopotamian plain, 群れているing with villages, checked with tiny fields that were more like gardens than farms. Man would cover the scars man had made, and there would be forgetfulness, till the raiders swept again out of the 砂漠. But now the plain lay 明らかにする and silent, the canals choked, broken and empty.

Here and there rose the 残余s of palm groves, the 崩壊するing 廃虚s of 郊外住宅s and country palaces. その上の out, barely 明白な under the 星／主役にするs, rose the mysterious hillock known as the 塚 of Enzu—the moon. It was not a natural hill, but whose 手渡すs had 後部d it and for what 推論する／理由 非，不，無 knew. Before Nippur was built it had risen above the plain, and the nameless fingers that 形態／調整d it had 消えるd in the dust of time. To it Pyrrhas turned his horse's 長，率いる.

And in the city he had left, Amytis furtively left his palace and took a devious course to a 確かな secret 目的地. She walked rather stiffly, limped, and frequently paused to tenderly caress her person and lament over her 傷害s. But limping, 悪口を言う／悪態ing, and weeping, she 結局 reached her 目的地, and stood before a man whose wealth and 力／強力にする was 広大な／多数の／重要な in Nippur. His ちらりと見ること was an 尋問.

"He has gone to the 塚 of the Moon, to speak with Gimil-ishbi," she said.

"Lilitu （機の）カム to him again tonight," she shuddered, momentarily forgetting her 苦痛 and 怒り／怒る. "Truly he is accursed."

"By the priests of Anu?" His 注目する，もくろむs 狭くするd to slits.

"So he 嫌疑者，容疑者／疑うs."

"And you?"

"What of me? I neither know nor care."

"Have you ever wondered why I 支払う／賃金 you to 秘かに調査する upon him?" he 需要・要求するd.

She shrugged her shoulders. "You 支払う／賃金 me 井戸／弁護士席; that is enough for me."

"Why does he go to Gimil-ishbi?"

"I told him the renegade might 援助（する） him against Lilitu."

Sudden 怒り／怒る made the man's 直面する darkly 悪意のある.

"I thought you hated him."

She shrank from the menace in the 発言する／表明する. "I spoke of the diabolist before I thought, and then he 軍隊d me to speak his 指名する, 悪口を言う／悪態 him, I will not sit with 緩和する for weeks!" Her 憤慨 （判決などを）下すd her momentarily speechless.

The man ignored her, 意図 on his own somber meditations. At last he rose with sudden 決意.

"I have waited too long," he muttered, like one speaking his thoughts aloud. "The fiends play with him while I bite my nails, and those who conspire with me grow restless and 怪しげな. Enlil alone knows what counsel Gimil-ishbi will give. When the moon rises I will ride 前へ／外へ and 捜し出す the Argive on the plain. A を刺す unaware—he will not 嫌疑者，容疑者／疑う until my sword is through him. A bronze blade is surer than the 力／強力にするs of 不明瞭. I was a fool to 信用 even a devil."

Amytis gasped with horror and caught at the velvet hangings for support.

"You? You?" Her lips でっちあげる，人を罪に陥れるd a question too terrible to 発言する／表明する.

"Aye!" He （許可，名誉などを）与えるd her a ちらりと見ること of grim amusement. With a gasp of terror she darted through the curtained door, her smarts forgotten in her fright.

Whether the cavern was hollowed by man or by Nature, 非，不，無 ever knew. At least its 塀で囲むs, 床に打ち倒す, and 天井 were symmetrical and composed of 封鎖するs of greenish 石／投石する, 設立する nowhere else in that level land. Whatever its 原因（となる） and origin, man 占領するd it now. A lamp hung from the 激しく揺する roof, casting a weird light over the 議会 and the bald pate of the man who sat crouching over a parchment scroll on a 石／投石する （米）棚上げする／（英）提議する before him. He looked up as a quick sure footfall sounded on the 石／投石する steps that led 負かす／撃墜する into his abode. The next instant a tall 人物／姿／数字 stood でっちあげる，人を罪に陥れるd in the doorway.

The man at the 石／投石する （米）棚上げする／（英）提議する scanned this 人物／姿／数字 with 熱心な 利益／興味. Pyrrhas wore a hauberk of 黒人／ボイコット leather and 巡査 規模s; his brazen greaves glinted in the lamplight. The wide crimson cloak, flung loosely about him, did not enmesh the long hilt that jutted from its 倍のs. 影をつくる／尾行するd by his horned bronze helmet, the Argive's 注目する，もくろむs gleamed icily. So the 軍人 直面するd the 下落する.

Gimil-ishbi was very old. There was no leaven of Semitic 血 in his withered veins. His bald 長，率いる was 一連の会議、交渉／完成する as a vulture's skull, and from it his 広大な／多数の／重要な nose jutted like the beak of a vulture. His 注目する，もくろむs were oblique, a rarity even in a pure-血d Shumirian, and they were 有望な and 黒人／ボイコット as beads. 反して Pyrrhas' 注目する，もくろむs were all depth, blue 深いs and changing clouds and 影をつくる／尾行するs, Gimil-ishbi's 注目する，もくろむs were opaque as jet, and they never changed. His mouth was a gash whose smile was more terrible than its snarl.

He was 覆う？ in a simple 黒人／ボイコット tunic, and his feet, in their cloth sandals, seemed strangely deformed. Pyrrhas felt a curious twitching between his shoulder-blades as he ちらりと見ることd at those feet, and he drew his 注目する，もくろむs away, and 支援する to the 悪意のある 直面する.

"Deign to enter my humble abode, 軍人," the 発言する／表明する was soft and silky, sounding strange from those 厳しい thin lips. "I would I could 申し込む／申し出 you food and drink, but I 恐れる the food I eat and the ワイン I drink would find little 好意 in your sight." He laughed softly as at an obscure jest.

"I come not to eat or to drink," answered Pyrrhas 突然の, striding up to the （米）棚上げする／（英）提議する. "I come to buy a charm against devils."

"To buy?"

The Argive emptied a pouch of gold coins on the 石／投石する surface; they glistened dully in the lamplight. Gimil-ishbi's laugh was like the rustle of a serpent through dead grass.

"What is this yellow dirt to me? You speak of devils, and you bring me dust the 勝利，勝つd blows away."

"Dust?" Pyrrhas scowled. Gimil-ishbi laid his 手渡す on the 向こうずねing heap and laughed; somewhere in the night an フクロウ moaned. The priest 解除するd his 手渡す. Beneath it lay a pile of yellow dust that gleamed dully in the lamplight. A sudden 勝利，勝つd 急ぐd 負かす／撃墜する the steps, making the lamp flicker, whirling up the golden heap; for an instant the 空気／公表する was dazzled and spangled with the 向こうずねing 粒子s. Pyrrhas swore; his armor was ぱらぱら雨d with yellow dust; it sparkled の中で the 規模s of his hauberk.

"Dust that the 勝利，勝つd blows away," mumbled the priest. "Sit 負かす／撃墜する, Pyrrhas of Nippur, and let us converse with each other."

Pyrrhas ちらりと見ることd about the 狭くする 議会; at the even stacks of clay tablets along the 塀で囲むs, and the rolls of papyrus above them. Then he seated himself on the 石／投石する （法廷の）裁判 opposite the priest, hitching his sword belt so that his hilt was 井戸／弁護士席 to the 前線.

"You are far from the cradle of your race," said Gimil-ishbi. "You are the first golden-haired rover to tread the plains of Shumir."

"I have wandered in many lands," muttered the Argive, "but may the vultures pluck my bones if I ever saw a race so devil-ridden as this, or a land 支配するd and harried by so many gods and demons."

His gaze was 直す／買収する，八百長をするd in fascination on Gimil-ishbi's 手渡すs; they were long, 狭くする, white and strong, the 手渡すs of 青年. Their contrast to the priest's 外見 of 広大な／多数の／重要な age さもなければ, was ばく然と disquieting.

"To each city its gods and their priests," answered Gimil-ishbi; "and all fools. Of what account are gods whom the fortunes of men 解除する or lower? Behind all gods of men, behind the primal trinity of Ea, Anu and Enlil, lurk the 年上の gods, 不変の by the wars or ambitions of men. Men 否定する what they do not see. The priests of Eridu, which is sacred to Ea and light, are no blinder than them of Nippur, which is consecrated to Enlil, whom they みなす the lord of 不明瞭. But he is only the god of the 不明瞭 of which men dream, not the real 不明瞭 that lurks behind all dreams, and 隠すs the real and awful deities. I glimpsed this truth when I was a priest of Enlil, wherefore they cast me 前へ／外へ. Ha! They would 星／主役にする if they knew how many of their worshippers creep 前へ／外へ to me by night, as you have crept."

"I creep to no man!" the Argive bristled 即時に. "I （機の）カム to buy a charm. 指名する your price, and be damned to you."

"Be not wroth," smiled the priest. "Tell me why you have come."

"If you are so 悪口を言う／悪態d wise you should know already," growled the Argive, unmollified. Then his gaze clouded as he cast 支援する over his 絡まるd 追跡する. "Some magician has 悪口を言う／悪態d me." he muttered. "As I 棒 支援する from my 勝利 over Erech, my war-horse 叫び声をあげるd and shied at Something 非，不，無 saw but he. Then my dreams grew strange and monstrous. In the 不明瞭 of my 議会, wings rustled and feet padded stealthily. Yesterday a woman at a feast went mad and tried to knife me. Later an adder sprang out of empty 空気／公表する and struck at me. Then, this night, she whom men call Lilitu （機の）カム to my 議会 and mocked me with awful laughter—"

"Lilitu?" the priest's 注目する，もくろむs lit with a brooding 解雇する／砲火／射撃; his skull-直面する worked in a 恐ろしい smile. "Verily, 軍人, they 陰謀（を企てる） thy 廃虚 in the House of Arabu. Your sword can not 勝つ／広く一帯に広がる against her, or against her mate Ardat Lili. In the gloom of midnight her teeth will find your throat. Her laugh will 爆破 your ears, and her 燃やすing kisses will wither you like a dead leaf blowing in the hot 勝利，勝つd of the 砂漠. Madness and 解散 will be your lot, and you will descend to the House of Arabu whence 非，不，無 returns."

Pyrrhas moved restlessly, 悪口を言う／悪態ing incoherently beneath his breath.

"What can I 申し込む／申し出 you besides gold?" he growled.

"Much!" the 黒人／ボイコット 注目する，もくろむs shone; the mouth-gash 新たな展開d in inexplicable glee. "But I must 指名する my own price, after I have given you 援助（する）."

Pyrrhas acquiesced with an impatient gesture.

"Who are the wisest men in the world?" asked the 下落する 突然の.

"The priests of Egypt, who scrawled on yonder parchments," answered the Argive.

Gimil-ishbi shook his 長，率いる; his 影をつくる／尾行する fell on the 塀で囲む like that of a 広大な／多数の／重要な vulture, crouching over a dying 犠牲者.

"非，不，無 so wise as the priests of Tiamat, who—fools believe—died long ago under the sword of Ea. Tiamat is deathless; she 統治するs in the 影をつくる／尾行するs; she spreads her dark wings over her worshippers."

"I know them not," muttered Pyrrhas uneasily.

"The cities of men know them not; but the waste-places know them, the reedy 沼s, the stony 砂漠s, the hills, and the caverns. To them steal the winged ones from the House of Arabu."

"I thought 非，不，無 （機の）カム from that House," said the Argive.

"No human returns thence. But the servants of Tiamat come and go at their 楽しみ."

Pyrrhas was silent, 反映するing on the place of the dead, as believed in by the Shumirians; a 広大な cavern, dusty, dark and silent, through which wandered the souls of the dead forever, shorn of all human せいにするs, cheerless and loveless, remembering their former lives only to hate all living men, their 行為s and dreams.

"I will 援助（する） you," murmured the priest. Pyrrhas 解除するd his helmeted 長，率いる and 星／主役にするd at him. Gimil-ishbi's 注目する，もくろむs were no more human than the reflection of firelight on subterranean pools of inky blackness. His lips sucked in as if he gloated over all woes and 悲惨s of mankind: Pyrrhas hated him as a man hates the unseen serpent in the 不明瞭.

"援助（する） me and 指名する your price," said the Argive.

Gimil-ishbi の近くにd his 手渡すs and opened them, and in the palms lay a gold 樽, the lid of which fastened with a jeweled catch. He sprung the lid, and Pyrrhas saw the 樽 was filled with grey dust. He shuddered without knowing why.

"This ground dust was once the skull of the first king of Ur," said Gimil-ishbi. "When he died, as even a necromancer must, he 隠すd his 団体／死体 with all his art. But I 設立する his 崩壊するing bones, and in the 不明瞭 above them, I fought with his soul as a man fights with a python in the night. My spoil was his skull, that held darker secrets than those that 嘘（をつく） in the 炭坑，オーケストラ席s of Egypt."

"With this dead dust shall you 罠（にかける） Lilitu. Go quickly to an enclosed place—a cavern or a 議会—nay, that 廃虚d 郊外住宅 which lies between this 位置／汚点／見つけ出す and the city will serve. まき散らす the dust in thin lines across threshold and window; leave not a 位置／汚点／見つけ出す as large as a man's 手渡す unguarded. Then 嘘（をつく） 負かす／撃墜する as if in slumber. When Lilitu enters, as she will, speak the words I shall teach you. Then you are her master, until you 解放する／自由な her again by repeating the conjure backwards. You can not 殺す her, but you can make her 断言する to leave you in peace. Make her 断言する by the dugs of Tiamat. Now lean の近くに and I will whisper the words of the （一定の）期間."

Somewhere in the night a nameless bird cried out 厳しく; the sound was more human than the whispering of the priest, which was no louder than the gliding of an adder through slimy ooze. He drew 支援する, his gash-mouth 新たな展開d in a grisly smile. The Argive sat for an instant like a statue of bronze. Their 影をつくる／尾行するs fell together on the 塀で囲む with the 外見 of a crouching vulture 直面するing a strange horned monster.

Pyrrhas took the 樽 and rose, wrapping his crimson cloak about his somber 人物／姿／数字, his horned helmet lending an illusion of 異常な 高さ.

"And the price?"

Gimil-ishbi's 手渡すs became claws, quivering with lust.

"血! A life!"

"Whose life?"

"Any life! So 血 flows, and there is 恐れる and agony, a spirit 決裂d from its quivering flesh! I have one price for all—a human life! Death is my rapture; I would glut my soul on death! Man, maid, or 幼児. You have sworn. Make good your 誓い! A life! A human life!"

"Aye, a life!" Pyrrhas' sword 削減（する） the 空気／公表する in a 炎上ing arc and Gimil-ishbi's vulture 長，率いる fell on the 石／投石する （米）棚上げする／（英）提議する. The 団体／死体 後部d upright, spouting 黒人／ボイコット 血, then 低迷d across the 石／投石する. The 長，率いる rolled across the surface and thudded dully on the 床に打ち倒す. The features 星／主役にするd up, frozen in a mask of awful surprise.

Outside there sounded a frightful 叫び声をあげる as Pyrrhas' stallion broke its halter and raced madly away across the plain.

From the 薄暗い 議会 with its tablets of cryptic cuneiforms and papyri of dark hieroglyphics, and from the 残余s of the mysterious priest, Pyrrhas fled. As he climbed the carven stair and 現れるd into the starlight he 疑問d his own 推論する／理由.

Far across the level plain the moon was rising, dull red; darkly lurid. 緊張した heat and silence held the land. Pyrrhas felt 冷淡な sweat thickly beading his flesh; his 血 was a 不振の 現在の of ice in his veins; his tongue clove to his palate. His armor 負わせるd him and his cloak was like a 粘着するing snare. 悪口を言う／悪態ing incoherently he tore it from him; sweating and shaking he ripped off his armor, piece by piece, and cast it away. In the 支配する of his abysmal 恐れるs he had 逆戻りするd to the 原始の. The veneer of civilization 消えるd. Naked but for loin-cloth and girded sword he strode across the plain, carrying the golden 樽 under his arm.

No sound 乱すd the waiting silence as he （機の）カム to the 廃虚d 郊外住宅 whose 塀で囲むs 後部d drunkenly の中で heaps of がれき. One 議会 stood above the general 廃虚, left 事実上 untouched by some whim of chance. Only the door had been wrenched from its bronze hinges. Pyrrhas entered. Moonlight followed him in and made a 薄暗い radiance inside the portal. There were three windows, gold-閉めだした. Sparingly he crossed the threshold with a thin grey line. Each casement he served in like manner. Then 投げ上げる／ボディチェックするing aside the empty 樽, he stretched himself on a 明らかにする 演壇 that stood in 深い 影をつくる／尾行する. His unreasoning horror was under 支配（する）／統制する. He who had been the 追跡（する）d was now the hunter. The 罠（にかける） was 始める，決める, and he waited for his prey with the patience of the 原始の.

He had not long to wait. Something threshed the 空気／公表する outside and the 影をつくる／尾行する of 広大な／多数の／重要な wings crossed the moonlit portal. There was an instant of 緊張した silence in which Pyrrhas heard the thunderous 衝撃 of his own heart against his ribs. Then a shadowy form でっちあげる，人を罪に陥れるd itself in the open door. A (n)艦隊／(a)素早いing instant it was 明白な, then it 消えるd from 見解（をとる）. The thing had entered; the night-fiend was in the 議会.

Pyrrhas' 手渡す clenched on his sword as he heaved up suddenly from the 演壇. His 発言する／表明する 衝突，墜落d in the stillness as he 雷鳴d the dark enigmatic conjurement whispered to him by the dead priest. He was answered by a frightful 叫び声をあげる; there was a quick stamp of 明らかにする feet, then a 激しい 落ちる, and something was threshing and writhing in the 影をつくる／尾行するs on the 床に打ち倒す. As Pyrrhas 悪口を言う／悪態d the masking 不明瞭, the moon thrust a crimson 縁 above a casement, like a goblin peering into a window, and a molten flood of light crossed the 床に打ち倒す. In the pale glow the Argive saw his 犠牲者.

But it was no were-woman that writhed there. It was a thing like a man, lithe, naked, dusky-skinned. It 異なるd not in the せいにするs of humanity except for the disquieting suppleness of its 四肢s, the changeless glitter of its 注目する，もくろむs. It grovelled as in mortal agony, 泡，激怒することing at the mouth and contorting its 団体／死体 into impossible positions.

With a 血-mad yell Pyrrhas ran at the 人物／姿／数字 and 急落（する），激減（する）d his sword through the squirming 団体／死体. The point rang on the tiled 床に打ち倒す beneath it, and an awful howl burst from the frothing lips, but that was the only 明らかな 影響 of the thrust. The Argive wrenched 前へ／外へ his sword and glared astoundedly to see no stain on the steel, no 負傷させる on the dusky 団体／死体. He wheeled as the cry of the 捕虜 was re-echoed from without.

Just outside the enchanted threshold stood a woman, naked, supple, dusky, with wide 注目する，もくろむs 炎ing in a soulless 直面する. The 存在 on the 床に打ち倒す 中止するd to writhe, and Pyrrhas' 血 turned to ice.

"Lilitu!"

She quivered at the threshold, as if held by an invisible 境界. Her 注目する，もくろむs were eloquent with hate; they yearned awfully for his 血 and his life. She spoke, and the 影響 of a human 発言する／表明する 問題／発行するing from that beautiful unhuman mouth was more terrifying than if a wild beast had spoken in human tongue.

"You have 罠にかける my mate! You dare to 拷問 Ardat Lili, before whom the gods tremble! Oh, you shall howl for this! You shall be torn bone from bone, and muscle from muscle, and vein from vein! Loose him! Speak the words and 始める，決める him 解放する／自由な, lest even this doom be 否定するd you!"

"Words!" he answered with bitter savagery. "You have 追跡（する）d me like a hound. Now you can not cross that line without 落ちるing into my 手渡すs as your mate has fallen. Come into the 議会, bitch of 不明瞭, and let me caress you as I caress your lover—thus! and thus! and thus!"

Ardat Lili 泡，激怒することd and howled at the bite of the keen steel, and Lilitu 叫び声をあげるd madly in 抗議する, （警官の）巡回区域，受持ち区域ing with her 手渡すs as at an invisible 障壁.

"中止する! 中止する! Oh, could I but come at you! How I would leave you a blind, mangled 手足を不自由にする／（物事を）損なう! Have done! Ask what you will, and I will 成し遂げる it!"

"That is 井戸／弁護士席," grunted the Argive grimly. "I can not take this creature's life, but it seems I can 傷つける him, and unless you give me satisfaction, I will give him more 苦痛 than ever he guesses 存在するs in the world."

"Ask! Ask!" 勧めるd the were-woman, 新たな展開ing with impatience.

"Why have you haunted me? What have I done to earn your hate?"

"Hate?" she 投げ上げる／ボディチェックするd her 長，率いる. "What are the sons of men that we of Shuala should hate or love? When the doom is loosed, it strikes blindly."

"Then who, or what, loosed the doom of Lilitu upon me?"

"One who dwells in the House of Arabu."

"Why, in Ymir's 指名する?" swore Pyrrhas. "Why should the dead hate me?" He 停止（させる）d, remembering a priest who died gurgling 悪口を言う／悪態s.

"The dead strike at the bidding of the living. Someone who moves in the sunlight spoke in the night to one who dwells in Shuala."

"Who?"

"I do not know."

"You 嘘（をつく）, you slut! It is the priests of Anu, and you would 保護物，者 them. For that 嘘（をつく） your lover shall howl to the kiss of the steel—"

"Butcher!" shrieked Lilitu. "持つ／拘留する your 手渡す! I 断言する by the dugs of Tiamat my mistress, I do not know what you ask. What are the priests of Anu that I should 保護物，者 them? I would 引き裂く up all their bellies—as I would yours, could I come at you! 解放する／自由な my mate, and I will lead you to the House of 不明瞭 itself, and you may ひったくる the truth from the awful mouth of the dweller himself, if you dare!"

"I will go," said Pyrrhas, "but I leave Ardat Lili here as 人質. If you 取引，協定 誤って with me, he will writhe on this enchanted 床に打ち倒す throughout all eternity."

Lilitu wept with fury, crying: "No devil in Shuala is crueller than you. Haste, in the 指名する of Apsu!"

Sheathing his sword, Pyrrhas stepped across the threshold. She caught his wrist with fingers like velvet-padded steel, crying something in a strange 残忍な tongue. 即時に the moonlit sky and plain were blotted out in a 急ぐ of icy blackness. There was a sensation of hurtling through a 無効の of intolerable coldness, a roaring in the Argive's ears as of 巨人 勝利，勝つd. Then his feet struck solid ground; 安定 followed that 大混乱／混沌とした instant, that had been like the instant of 解散 that joins or separates two 明言する／公表するs of 存在, alike in 安定, but in 肉親，親類d more 外国人 than day and night. Pyrrhas knew that in that instant he had crossed an unimaginable 湾, and that he stood on shores never before touched by living human feet.

Lilitu's fingers しっかり掴むd his wrist, but he could not see her. He stood in 不明瞭 of a 質 which he had never 遭遇（する）d. It was almost tangibly soft, all-pervading and all-（海，煙などが）飲み込むing. Standing まっただ中に it, it was not 平易な even to imagine sunlight and 有望な rivers and grass singing in the 勝利，勝つd. They belonged to that other world—a world lost and forgotten in the dust of a million centuries. The world of life and light was a whim of chance—a 有望な 誘発する glowing momentarily in a universe of dust and 影をつくる／尾行するs. 不明瞭 and silence were the natural 明言する／公表する of the cosmos, not light and the noises of Life. No wonder the dead hated the living, who 乱すd the grey stillness of Infinity with their tinkling laughter.

Lilitu's fingers drew him through abysmal blackness. He had a vague sensation as of 存在 in a titanic cavern, too 抱擁する for conception. He sensed 塀で囲むs and roof, though he did not see them and never reached them; they seemed to recede as he 前進するd, yet there was always the sensation of their presence. いつかs his feet stirred what he hoped was only dust. There was a dusty scent throughout the 不明瞭; he smelled the odors of decay and mould.

He saw lights moving like glow-worms through the dark. Yet they were not lights, as he knew radiance. They were most like 位置／汚点／見つけ出すs of lesser gloom, that seemed to glow only by contrast with the （海，煙などが）飲み込むing blackness which they 強調するd without illuminating. Slowly, laboriously they はうd through the eternal night. One approached the companions closely and Pyrrhas' hair stood up and he しっかり掴むd his sword. But Lilitu took no 注意する as she hurried him on. The 薄暗い 位置／汚点／見つけ出す glowed の近くに to him for an instant; it ばく然と illumined a shadowy countenance, faintly human, yet strangely birdlike.

存在 became a 薄暗い and 絡まるd thing to Pyrrhas, wherein he seemed to 旅行 for a thousand years through the blackness of dust and decay, drawn and guided by the 手渡す of the were-woman. Then he heard her breath hiss through her teeth, and she （機の）カム to a 停止（させる）.

Before them shimmered another of those strange globes of light. Pyrrhas could not tell whether it illumined a man or a bird. The creature stood upright like a man, but it was 覆う？ in grey feathers—at least they were more like feathers than anything else. The features were no more human than they were birdlike.

"This is the dweller in Shuala which put upon you the 悪口を言う／悪態 of the dead," whispered Lilitu. "Ask him the 指名する of him who hates you on earth."

"Tell me the 指名する of 地雷 enemy!" 需要・要求するd Pyrrhas, shuddering at the sound of his own 発言する／表明する, which whispered drearily and uncannily through the unechoing 不明瞭.

The 注目する，もくろむs of the dead 燃やすd redly and it （機の）カム at him with a rustle of pinions, a long gleam of light springing into its 解除するd 手渡す. Pyrrhas recoiled, clutching at his sword, but Lilitu hissed: "Nay, use this!" and he felt a hilt thrust into his fingers. He was しっかり掴むing a scimitar with a blade curved in the 形態／調整 of the 三日月 moon, that shone like an arc of white 解雇する／砲火／射撃.

He parried the bird-thing's 一打／打撃, and 誘発するs にわか雨d in the gloom, 燃やすing him like bits of 炎上. The 不明瞭 clung to him like a 黒人／ボイコット cloak; the glow of the feathered monster bewildered and baffled him. It was like fighting a 影をつくる／尾行する in the maze of a nightmare. Only by the fiery gleam of his enemy's blade did he keep the touch of it. Thrice it sang death in his ears as he deflected it by the merest fraction, then his own 三日月-辛勝する／優位 削減（する） the 不明瞭 and grated on the other's shoulder-共同の. With a strident screech the thing dropped its 武器 and 低迷d 負かす／撃墜する, a 乳の liquid spurting from the gaping 負傷させる. Pyrrhas 解除するd his scimitar again, when the creature gasped in a 発言する／表明する that was no more human than the grating of 勝利，勝つd-blown boughs against one another: "Naram-ninub, the 広大な／多数の／重要な-grandson of my 広大な／多数の／重要な-grandson! By 黒人／ボイコット arts he spoke and 命令（する）d me across the 湾s!"

"Naram-ninub!" Pyrrhas stood frozen in amazement; the scimitar was torn from his 手渡す. Again Lilitu's fingers locked on his wrist. Again the dark was 溺死するd in 深い blackness and howling 勝利，勝つd blowing between the spheres.

He staggered in the moonlight without the 廃虚d 郊外住宅, reeling with the dizziness of his transmutation. Beside him Lilitu's teeth shone between her curling red lips. Catching the 厚い locks clustered on her neck, he shook her savagely, as he would have shaken a mortal woman.

"Harlot of Hell! What madness has your sorcery instilled in my brain?"

"No madness!" she laughed, striking his 手渡す aside. "You have 旅行d to the House of Arabu, and you have returned. You have spoken with and 打ち勝つ with the sword of Apsu, the shade of a man dead for long centuries."

"Then it was no dream of madness! But Naram-ninub—" he 停止（させる）d in 混乱させるd thought. "Why, of all the men of Nippur, he has been my staunchest friend!"

"Friend?" she mocked. "What is friendship but a pleasant pretense to while away an idle hour?"

"But why in Ymir's 指名する?"

"What are the petty intrigues of men to me?" she exclaimed 怒って. "Yet now I remember that men from Erech, wrapped in cloaks, steal by night to Naram-ninub's palace."

"Ymir!" like a sudden 炎 of light Pyrrhas saw 推論する／理由 in merciless clarity. "He would sell Nippur to Erech, and first he must put me out of the way, because the hosts of Erech can not stand before me! Oh, dog, let my knife find your heart!"

"Keep 約束 with me!" Lilitu's importunities 溺死するd his fury. "I have kept 約束 with you. I have led you where never living man has trod, and brought you 前へ／外へ 無事の. I have betrayed the dwellers in 不明瞭 and done that for which Tiamat will 貯蔵所d me naked on a white-hot grid for seven times seven days. Speak the words and 解放する／自由な Ardat Lili!"

Still engrossed in Naram-ninub's treachery, Pyrrhas spoke the incantation. With a loud sigh of 救済, the were-man rose from the tiled 床に打ち倒す and （機の）カム into the moonlight. The Argive stood with his 手渡す on his sword and his 長，率いる bent, lost in moody thought. Lilitu's 注目する，もくろむs flashed a quick meaning to her mate. Lithely they began to steal toward the abstracted man. Some 原始の instinct brought his 長，率いる up with a jerk. They were の近くにing in on him, their 注目する，もくろむs 燃やすing in the moonlight, their fingers reaching for him. 即時に he realized his mistake; he had forgotten to make them 断言する 一時休戦 with him; no 誓い bound them from his flesh.

With feline screeches they struck, but quicker yet he bounded aside and raced toward the distant city. Too hotly eager for his 血 to 訴える手段／行楽地 to sorcery, they gave chase. 恐れる winged his feet, but の近くに behind him he heard the swift patter of their feet, their eager panting. A sudden 派手に宣伝する of hoofs sounded in 前線 of him, and bursting through a tattered grove of 骸骨／概要 palms, he almost caromed against a rider, who 棒 like the 勝利，勝つd, a long silvery glitter in his 手渡す. With a startled 誓い the horseman wrenched his steed 支援する on its haunches. Pyrrhas saw ぼんやり現れるing over him a powerful 団体／死体 in 規模 mail, a pair of 炎ing 注目する，もくろむs that glared at him from under a ドームd helmet, a short 黒人／ボイコット 耐えるd.

"You dog!" he yelled furiously. "Damn you, have you come to 完全にする with your sword what your 黒人／ボイコット 魔法 began?"

The steed 後部d wildly as he leaped at its 長，率いる and caught its bridle. 悪口を言う／悪態ing madly and fighting for balance, Naram-ninub 削除するd at his 攻撃者's 長，率いる, but Pyrrhas parried the 一打／打撃 and thrust 上向き murderously. The sword-point ちらりと見ることd from the corselet and 骨折って進むd along the Semite's jaw-bone. Naram-ninub 叫び声をあげるd and fell from the 急落（する），激減（する）ing steed, spouting 血. His 脚-bone snapped as he pitched ひどく to earth, and his cry was echoed by a gloating howl from the 影をつくる／尾行するd grove.

Without dragging the 後部ing horse to earth, Pyrrhas sprang to its 支援する and wrenched it about. Naram-ninub was groaning and writhing on the ground, and as Pyrrhas looked, two 影をつくる／尾行するs darted from the darkened grove and fastened themselves on his prostrate form. A terrible 叫び声をあげる burst from his lips, echoed by more awful laugher. 血 on the night 空気／公表する; on it the night-things would 料金d, wild as mad dogs, making no difference between men.

The Argive wheeled away, toward the city, then hesitated, shaken by a 猛烈な／残忍な revulsion. The level land lay quiescent beneath the moon, and the brutish pyramid of Enlil stood up in the 星／主役にするs. Behind him lay his enemy, glutting the fangs of the horrors he himself had called up from the 炭坑，オーケストラ席s. The road was open to Nippur, for his return.

His return?—to a devil-ridden people はうing beneath the heels of priest and king; to a city rotten with intrigue and obscene mysteries; to an 外国人 race that 不信d him, and a mistress that hated him.

Wheeling his horse again, he 棒 西方の toward the open lands, flinging his 武器 wide in a gesture of renunciation and the exultation of freedom. The weariness of life dropped from him like a cloak. His mane floated in the 勝利，勝つd, and over the plains of Shumir shouted a sound they had never heard before—the gusty, elemental, reasonless laughter of a 解放する／自由な barbarian.

THE END

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