gation ditches
run dry, and dwelt more and more in luxurious sloth, until decay seized
them. They were a dying race when our ancestors broke through the forest
and came into the plain. Their wizards had died, and the people had
forgot their ancient necromancy. They could fight neither by sorcery nor
the sword.

"Well, our fathers slew the people of Xuchotl, all except a hundred
which were given living into the hands of Tolkemec, who had been their
slave; and for many days and nights the halls re-echoed to their screams
under the agony of his tortures.

"So the Tlazitlans dwelt here, for a while in peace, ruled by the
brothers Tecuhltli and Xotalanc, and by Tolkemec. Tolkemec took a girl
of the tribe to wife, and because he had opened the gates, and because
he knew many of the arts of the Xuchotlans, he shared the rule of the
tribe with the brothers who had led the rebellion and the flight.

"For a few years, then, they dwelt at peace within the city, doing
little but eating, drinking and making love, and raising children. There
was no necessity to till the plain, for Tolkemec taught them how to
cultivate the air-devouring fruits. Besides, the slaying of the
Xuchotlans broke the spell that held the dragons in the forest, and they
came nightly and bellowed about the gates of the city. The plain ran red
with the blood of their eternal warfare, and it was then that----" He
bit his tongue in the midst of the sentence, then presently continued,
but Valeria and Conan felt that he had checked an admission he had
considered unwise.

"Five years they dwelt in peace. Then"--Olmec's eyes rested briefly on
the silent woman at his side--"Xotalanc took a woman to wife, a woman
whom both Tecuhltli and old Tolkemec desired. In his madness, Tecuhltli
stole her from her husband. Aye, she went willingly enough. Tolkemec, to
spite Xotalanc, aided Tecuhltli. Xotalanc demanded that she be given
back to him, and the council of the tribe decided that the matter should
be left to the woman. She chose to remain with Tecuhltli. In wrath
Xotalanc sought to take her back by force, and the retainers of the
brothers came to blows in the Great Hall.

"There was much bitterness. Blood was shed on both sides. The quarrel
became a feud, the feud an open war. From the welter three factions
emerged--Tecuhltli, Xotalanc, and Tolkemec. Already, in the days of
peace, they had divided the city between them. Tecuhltli dwelt in the
western quarter of the ci