Chapter 5
The Voice from the CrystalIn a chamber in a tower near the city wall a group of men
listened attentively to the words of one of their number. They were
young men, but hard and sinewy, with a bearing that comes only to
men rendered desperate by adversity. They were clad in mail shirts
and worn leather; swords hung at their girdles.
"I knew that Conan spoke the truth when he said it was not
Taramis!" the speaker exclaimed. "For months I have haunted the
outskirts of the palace, playing the part of a deaf beggar. At last
I learned what I had believed—that our queen was a prisoner in the
dungeons that adjoin the palace. I watched my opportunity and
captured a Shemitish jailer—knocked him senseless as he left the
courtyard late one night—dragged him into a cellar near by a
