Part 28 (1/2)

Daas still a hint of whiteness in the east when the arain on the march

Tribes ride, to report the desert horde encah the hills the soldiers pushed hastily, leaving the wagon trains to follow Yasmela rode with the even nized the coin in the Sheht before one of those secretlythe features of a ged cliffs and gaunt crags towering over narrow valleys Here and

166there villages perched, huddles of stone huts, plastered with mud The tribesmen swarmed out to join their kin, so that before they had traversed the hills, the host had been swelled by some three thousand wild archers

Abruptly they caht their breath at the vast expanse that swept away to the south On the southern side the hills fell away sheerly, raphical division between the Kothian uplands and the southern desert The hills were the ri in an almost unbroken wall Here they were bare and desolate, inhabited only by the Zaheeuard the caravan road Beyond the hills the desert stretched bare, dusty, lifeless Yet beyond its horizon lay the Well of Altaku, and the horde of Natohk

The arh which flowed the wealth of the north and the south, and through which had ia Here the sheer wall of the rampart was broken Pro barren valleys, all but one of which were closed on the northern extreed cliffs This one was the Pass It was ers, parted, forers were represented by a broad ridge on either hand, the outer sides sheer, the inner, steep slopes The vale pitched upward as it narrowed, to coully-torn slopes A as there, and a cluster of stone towers, occupied by the Zahee off his horse He had discarded the plate-armor for the more familiar chain-mail Thespides reined in and demanded, ”Why do you halt?”

”We'll await thehtly to ride out and meet them,” snapped the count

”They'd smother us with numbers,” answered the Cimmerian ”Besides, there's no water out there We'll cahts and I carily ”We are the vanguard, and we, at least, do not fear a ragged desert swarry noble order, to watch the glittering co down the slope into the valley

”The fools! Their canteens will soon be empty, and they'll have to ride back up to the well to water their horses”

167

”Let theoes hard for the- brothers to ease their harness and rest We've marched hard and fast Water the horses and let the men munch”

No need to send out scouts The desert lay bare to the gaze, though just now this vieas li clouds which rested in whitish masses on the southern horizon The le of stone ruins, some miles out on the desert, reputedly the reian te the ridges, with the wild tribesmen He stationed the mercenaries and the Khoraji spearle where the hill road debouched on the plateau, was pitched Yasht, the warriors relaxed Basinets were doffed, coifs thrown back on mailed shoulders, belts let out Rude jests flew back and forth as the fighting-s Along the slopes the hill dates and olives Amalric strode up to where Conan sat bareheaded on a boulder

”Conan, have you heard what the tribesmen say about Natohk? They say Mitra, it's too mad even to repeat What do you think?”

”Seeds rest in the ground for centuries without rotting, sometimes,” answered Conan ”But surely Natohk is a runted Aed your lines as well as a seasoned general could have done It's certain Natohk's devils can't fall on us unawares Mitra, what a fog!”

”I thought it was clouds at first,” answered Conan ”See how it rolls!”

What had seereat unstable ocean, rapidly hiding the desert froian ruins, and still it rolled onward The ar unprecedented unnatural and inexplicable

”No use sending out scouts,” said Aes are near the outer flanges of the ridges Soon the whole Pass and these hills will benervousness, bent suddenly and laid his ear to the earth He sprang up with frantic haste, swearing

”Horses and chariots, thousands of theround vibrates to their tread! Ho, there!” his

168voice thundered out across the valley to electrify the lounging s! Stand to your ranks!”

At that, as the warriors scra head-pieces and thrusting arh shi+eld-straps, the er useful It did not slowly lift and fade like a natural fog; it simply vanished, like a blown-out fla fleecy billows, piled mountainously, stratum above stratum; the next, the sun shone froer ereat shout shook the hills