Free Kull: Exile of Atlantis by Robert E. Howard Page B

woodlands beckon me as of old. There is a strangeness upon me and a longing beyond life’s longings. Go!”
    Brule went forth in a doubtful mood, leaving the king brooding upon his throne. Then to Kull stole a girl of the court and whispered:
    “Great king, seek Tuzun Thune, the wizard. The secrets of life and death are his, and the stars in the sky and the lands beneath the seas.”
    Kull looked at the girl. Fine gold was her hair and her violet eyes were slanted strangely; she was beautiful, but her beauty meant little to Kull.
    “Tuzun Thune,” he repeated. “Who is he?”
    “A wizard of the Elder Race. He lives here, in Valusia, by the Lake of Visions in the House of a Thousand Mirrors. All things are known to him, lord king; he speaks with the dead and holds converse with the demons of the Lost Lands.”
    Kull arose.
    “I will seek out this mummer; but no word of my going, do you hear?”
    “I am your slave, my lord.” And she sank to her knees meekly, but the smile of her scarlet mouth was cunning behind Kull’s back and the gleam of her narrow eyes was crafty.

     
    KULL came to the house of Tuzun Thune, beside the Lake of Visions. Wide and blue stretched the waters of the lake and many a fine palace rose upon its banks; many swan-winged pleasure boats drifted lazily upon its hazy surface and evermore there came the sound of soft music.
    Tall and spacious, but unpretentious, rose the House of a Thousand Mirrors. The great doors stood open and Kull ascended the broad stair and entered, unannounced. There in a great chamber, whose walls were of mirrors, he came upon Tuzun Thune, the wizard. The man was ancient as the hills of Zalgara; like wrinkled leather was his skin, but his cold gray eyes were like sparks of sword steel.
    “Kull of Valusia, my house is yours,” said he, bowing with old-time courtliness and motioning Kull to a throne-like chair.
    “You are a wizard, I have heard,” said Kull bluntly, resting his chin upon his hand and fixing his somber eyes upon the man’s face. “Can you do wonders?”
    The wizard stretched forth his hand; his fingers opened and closed like a bird’s claws.
    “Is that not a wonder–that this blind flesh obeys the thoughts of my mind? I walk, I breathe, I speak–are they all not wonders?”
    Kull meditated awhile, then spoke. “Can you summon up demons?”
    “Aye. I can summon up a demon more savage than any in ghostland–by smiting you in the face.”
    Kull started, then nodded. “But the dead, can you talk to the dead?”
    “I talk with the dead always–as I am talking now. Death begins with birth and each man begins to die when he is born; even now you are dead, King Kull, because you were born.”
    “But you, you are older than men become; do wizards never die?”
    “Men die when their time comes. No later, no sooner. Mine has not come.”
    Kull turned these answers over in his mind.
    “Then it would seem that the greatest wizard of Valusia is no more than an ordinary man, and I have been duped in coming here.”
    Tuzun Thune shook his head. “Men are but men, and the greatest men are they who soonest learn the simpler things. Nay, look into my mirrors, Kull.”
    The ceiling was a great many mirrors, and the walls were mirrors, perfectly jointed, yet many mirrors of many sizes and shapes.
    “Mirrors are the world, Kull,” droned the wizard. “Gaze into my mirrors and be wise.”

     
    Kull chose one at random and looked into it intently. The mirrors upon the opposite wall were reflected there, reflecting others, so that he seemed to be gazing down a long, luminous corridor, formed by mirror behind mirror; and far down this corridor moved a tiny figure. Kull looked long ere he saw that the figure was the reflection of himself. He gazed and a queer feeling of pettiness came over him; it seemed that that tiny figure was the true Kull, representing the real proportions of himself. So he moved away and stood before another.
    “Look closely, Kull. That