Part 13 (1/2)
”Then came a cry of triumph, for some of us had jumped down among the galley slaves, slain the overseers, and struck the chains from the rowers' ankles. The slaves surged up on the deck like a horde of lost souls. They s.n.a.t.c.hed whatever weapons they could find from the corpses.
Their hatred of their masters must have run deep. Heedless of their own lives, they drove into the Turanian ranks, shouldering us aside. Some flung themselves forward to be spitted upon Hyrkanian swords and spears, while others climbed over their corpses to strangle Turanians with their bare hands. I saw a giant galley slave use a Hyrkanian's body as a club, knocking his foes to the deck, before sinking down with a dozen arrows in his body.
”Confusion reigned. The glittering ranks wavered. Conan yelled a weird battle cry and flung himself into the press. We followed, determined to win or die.
”After that, red h.e.l.l reigned. In a b.l.o.o.d.y tidal wave we swept the s.h.i.+p from stem to stern with steel. We scattered the foe like chaff before the wind of our swords, and the scuppers were choked with blood.
”Conan was terrible as a tiger. His broadsword struck like a thunderbolt. Corpses were scattered about him like wheat stalks before the sickle. He plunged in where the fighting was thickest, and always his advent spelled doom for the Hyrkanians, With all his savage pa.s.sion, he moved toward the p.o.o.p where Yezdigerd himself stood bellowing orders, surrounded by his picked men.
”Conan smote their ranks like a charging elephant. Men went down beneath his sword like dolls. Then a cry of rage came from Yezdigerd, and the king himself rushed to meet him. I think Yezdigerd must have missed him before then, as his surprise was patent to all. Savage curses streamed from his lips as they engaged.
”'I saw your hand in this, Cimmerian cur!' he screamed. 'By Erlik, now you shall reap your deserts! Die, barbarian dog!'
”He aimed a terrific stroke at Conan's head. No ordinary man could have avoided or stopped that swift and powerful blow, but Conan is superior to a dozen ordinary men. With a jarring impact, he parried it in a flas.h.i.+ng movement too quick for the eye to follow.”
”'Die yourself, jackal of Turan!' he thundered. For an instant they struck and parried like lightning, while the rest of us stopped fighting to watch. Then a mighty blow shattered Yezdigerd's s.h.i.+eld and made him drop his s.h.i.+eld arm. In one lightning sweep, Conan smote the bearded head from the king's giant body, which crumpled to the deck.”
”After that, the Turanians surrendered meekly enough. We did not get many prisoners, for the swords had taken too heavy a toll. A bare half of our original two hundred were left standing, but we had captured or slain three hundred of the Hyrkanian dogs.”
He gulped down more wine and held out his cup for a refill. During the pause, a hearer asked: ”What about the Turanian yedka? What became of her?”
Amis' brows clouded and he gave a visible shudder. ”That was the strangest event of that memorable day. We were binding up wounds and herding prisoners, when the sun seemed to cloud over and a chill of doom fell upon us. The water swirled blackly about our s.h.i.+ps. Wind moaned in the rigging like the lament of a lost soul, though we were under the lee of a cliff.
”Someone cried and pointed up. In the sky appeared a black dot, growing swiftly larger. At first it looked like a bird or bat. Then it grew to a fantastic, horrible shape, manlike but winged. With a rush of vast leathery wings it swooped to the p.o.o.p deck, uttering a shrill cry that smote our hearts like death.
”At that cry, the woman of Maypur stepped from the p.o.o.p cabin, which none of us had yet entered. In the wink of an eye, the monster s.n.a.t.c.hed her up and bore her off, flapping heavily over the oily waters of the channel. In a few seconds both were out of sight, and the sun shone once again.
”We stared at one another, white-faced. Everybody asked his neighbor what had happened. Had the fiend stayed, I am sure we should have all leaped into the sea to escape it, though it was gone so quickly that we had no time for panic. Even Conan looked shaken and pale.
”I have seen that thing before,” he muttered, but he would not explain.
Some of us surmised that the devil had come to drag Thanara off to the h.e.l.l of Erlik's wors.h.i.+pers. But others, who had been standing close to her when the creature swooped upon us, said that she showed no fear of it, but rather eagerness, as if she had summoned it herself.
”At last Conan shook himself like one coming out of a daze and bellowed orders to strip the slain of valuables and pitch the corpses over the side, even the body of the king. All he would say of the abduction of Thanara was:
”'Let the d.a.m.ned hussy escape with her bogeyman. I do not war upon women, though I would have striped her hide for her treachery.'
”And that was the end of the matter. We burned the grounded galley and sailed the other one hither.”
”And where is Conan? ” cried another listener. ”Why is he not here to tell us tales of his adventures himself? Will he return as our leader to sweep the Turanians from the sea?”
”Alas, no! The Cimmerian ordered the s.h.i.+ps to make straight for the eastern sh.o.r.e. He said he was on a vital mission. He had paused here only to settle his old score with Yezdigerd. One of the slaves we freed was a Khitan. Conan remained with him for hours, squatting in conversation. They talked of far lands beyond the Himelias. If Khitai be his goal, he must seek some really fabulous treasure. Otherwise, who would be so mad as to try for those lands beyond the sunrise?”
”Why took he not a score of sea rovers with him?”
”That is another mystery. He swore he had taken an oath to journey alone, and that his goal would be unattainable otherwise.
”We landed him on the eastern sh.o.r.e, and the farewell between him and Rolf the northerner was short and manly. The crew in their sorrow began chanting a sea dirge, until he lifted his mighty voice to curse us to silence. We watched him disappear behind a sand dune on his way to unknown perils.
”Rolf is our captain now, and an abler one is not to be found barring Conan. For Conan will always remain the greatest captain of them all, even when Vilayet Sea has become a desert waste and the stars have fallen from the heavens. I drink his health, and may his quest be successful!”
The toast was drunk in a silence oddly out of place in a pirates'
tavern.