Part 7 (1/2)
THE CHILDREN OF JHEBBAL SAG
”Which way is the river?” Balthus was confused
”We don't dare try for the river now,” grunted Conan ”The woods between the village and the river are swar arriors Coo west!”
Looking back as they entered the thick growth, Balthus beheld the wall dotted with black heads as the savages peered over The Picts were bewildered They had not gained the wall in tiitives take cover They had rushed to the wall expecting to repel an attack in force
They had seen the body of the dead warrior But no eneht
Balthus realized that they did not yet know their prisoner had escaped From other sounds he believed that the warriors, directed by the shrill voice of Zogar Sag, were destroying the wounded serpent with arrows The monster was out of the shaman's control A moment later the quality of the yells was altered Screeches of rage rose in the night
Conan laughed gri a narrow trail that ran west under the black branches, stepping as swiftly and surely as if he trod a well-lighted thoroughfare Balthus stu the dense wall on either hand
”They'll be after us now Zogar's discovered you're gone, and he knows ! If I'd had another spear I'd have thrown it through him before I struck the snake Keep to the trail They can't track us by torchlight, and there are a score of paths leading fro to the river first throw a cordon of warriors for h We won't take to the woods until we have to We can make better time on this trail Now buckle down to 70
it and run as you never ran before”
”They got over their panic cursed quick!” panted Balthus, co with a fresh burst of speed
”They're not afraid of anything, very long,” grunted Conan
For a space nothing was said between the distance They were plunging deeper and deeper into the wilderness and getting further away from civilization at every step, but Balthus did not question Conan's wisdorunt: ”When we're far enough away fro circle No other village within athered in that vicinity We'll circle wide around theht
They'll pick up our path then, but before dae'll leave the trail and take to the woods”
They plunged on The yells died out behind theh his teeth He felt a pain in his side Running becaainst the bushes on each side of the trail Conan pulled up suddenly, turned and stared back down the dilow ale of branches
”Shall we take to the woods?” panted Balthus
”Giveis close behind us”
”Then we'd better leave the trail!” exclaimed Balthus
Conan shook his head and drew his co a diht the whole tribe!” whispered Balthus
”No hu could have found our trail so quickly, or followed us so swiftly,” muttered Conan ”Keep silent”
There followed a tense silence in which Balthus felt that his heart could be heard pounding for miles away Then abruptly, without a sound to announce its coe head appeared in the dilance he feared to look upon the awful head of the saber-tooth But this head was smaller,silently and glaring down the trail What wind there as blowing toward the hidingtheir scent The beast lowered his head and snuffed the trail, 71
then moved forward uncertainly A chill played down Balthus' spine The brute was undoubtedly trailing thelowing like balls of fire, and growled low in its throat And at that instant Conan hurled the axe
All the weight of arm and shoulder was behind the throw, and the axe was a streak of silver in the dim moon Almost before he realized what had happened, Balthus saw the leopard rolling on the ground in its death-throes, the handle of the axe standing up from its head The head of the weapon had split its narrow skull
Conan bounded froed the lilance
”Now let's go and go fast!” he grunted, leading the way southward, away fro after that cat As soon as he got his wits back Zogar sent him after us The Picts would follow hie until he hit our trail and then come after us like a streak They couldn't keep up with hieneral direction They'd follow, listening for his cry Well, they won't hear that, but they'll find the blood on the trail, and look around and find the body in the brush They'll pick up our spoor there, if they can Walk with care”
He avoided clinging briars and low hanging branches effortlessly, gliding between trees without touching the ste his feet in the places calculated to show less evidence of his passing; but with Balthus it was slower, more laborious work
No sound came from behind them They had coveredcatch leopard-cubs and train them for blood-hounds?”
Conan shook his head ”That was a leopard he called out of the woods”
”But,” Balthus persisted, ”if he can order the beasts to do his bidding, why doesn't he rouse them all and have them after us? The forest is full of leopards; why send only one after us?”
Conan did not reply for a space, and when he did it ith a curious reticence
”He can't co”
”Jhebbal Sag?” Balthus repeated the ancient name hesitantly He had never heard it spoken more than three or four tis worshi+pped hie Men have forgotten hiet Only a few re and the beasts who reue”
Balthus did not reply; he had strained at a Pictish stake and seen the nighted jungle give up its fanged horrors at a shah,” said Conan ”But not one can tell ers and leopards out of the wilderness andThey would say it is a lie, if they dared That's the ith civilizedby their half-baked science, they refuse to believe it”
The people on the Tauran were closer to the primitive than most Aquilonians; superstitions persisted, whose sources were lost in antiquity And Balthus had seen that which still prickled his flesh He could not refute thewhich Conan's words irove sacred to Jhebbal Sag somewhere in this forest,” said Conan ”I don't know I've never seen it But more beasts remember in this country than any I've ever seen”
”Then others will be on our trail?”
”They are noas Conan's disquieting answer ”Zogar would never leave our tracking to one beast alone”