Part 30 (1/2)
176horrid shape in half And there at his feet lay only the two pieces of a severed ebon staff
Thugra Khotan laughed awfully, and wheeling, caught up so that crawled loathsomely in the dust of the floor
In his extended hand so alive writhed and slavered No tricks of shadows this tiripped a black scorpion, th, the deadliest creature of the desert, the stroke of whose spiked tail was instant death Thugra Khotan's skull-like countenance split in ahe threw his sword
Caught off guard, Thugra Khotan had no time to avoid the cast The point struck beneath his heart and stood out a foot behind his shoulders He went down, crushi+ng the poisonous rasp as he fell
Conan strode to the altar, lifting Yasmela in his blood-stained arms She threw her white ar hysterically, and would not let hirunted ”Loose me! Fifty thousand men have perished today, and there is work forwith convulsive strength, as barbaric for the instant as he in her fear and passion ”I will not let you go! I am yours, by fire and steel and blood! You areto others here I ao!”
He hesitated, his own brain reeling with the fierce upsurging of his violent passions The lurid unearthly glow still hovered in the shadowy chara Khotan, which seerin mirthlessly and cavernously at the the oceans of dead,ounds and thirst andThen all ept away by the crimson tide that rode madly in Conan's soul, as he crushed fiercely in his iron arms the slim white body that shi+mmered like a witch-fire of madness before him
177
Iron Shadows in the Moon
Iron Shadows in the Moon
A swift crashi+ng of horses through the tall reeds; a heavy fall, a despairing cry Froirl in sandals and girdled tunic Her dark hair fell over her white shoulders, her eyes were those of a trapped anile of reeds that he, nor at the blue waters that lapped the low shore behind her Her wide-eyed gaze was fixed in agonized intensity on the horseh the reedy screen and dismounted before her
He was a tall man, slender, but hard as steel Froht silvered love Froarded her ly
”Stand back!” her voice shrilled with terror ”Touch me not, Shah Amurath, or I will throw hed, and his laughter was like the purr of a sword sliding frohter of confusion, for the e is too shallow, and I can catch you before you can reach the deeps You gave me a merry chase, by the Gods, and all my men are far behind us But there is no horse west of Vilayet that can distance Ireed desert stallion behind hiirl, tears of despair staining her face ”Have I not suffered enough? Is there any huradation you have not heaped onas I find pleasure in your whis,” he answered with a ser ”You are strangely virile, Olivia I wonder if I shall ever weary of you, as I have alearied of women before You are ever fresh and unsullied, in spite of ht
”But co the conqueror of the ed in recapturing a wretched fugitive, a foolish, lovely, idiotic runaway!”
178
”No!” She recoiled, turning toward the waters lapping bluely aer was like a spark struck from flint With a quickness her tender li it in pure wanton cruelty until she screa you back to Akif at my horse's tail, but I will be merciful and carry you on my saddle-bow, for which favor you shall humbly thank me, while ”
He released her with a startled oath and sprang back, his saber flashi+ng out, as a terrible apparition burst fro an inarticulate cry of hate
Olivia, staring up froe or aon Shah Amurath in an attitude of deadly irdled loin-cloth, which was stained with blood and crusted with dried mire His black mane was matted with mud and clotted blood; there were streaks of dried blood on his chest and liripped in his right hand Frolared like coals of blue fire
”You Hyrkanian dog!” mouthed this apparition in a barbarous accent ”The devils of vengeance have brought you here!”
”Kozak!” ejaculated Shah A of you escaped! I thought you all lay stiff on the steppe, by Ilbars River”
”All but me, da as this, while I crawled on h the branawed my flesh, or crouched in the mire up to my mouth I dreamed, but never hoped it would come to pass
Oh, Gods of hell, how I have yearned for this!”
The stranger's bloodthirsty joy was terrible to behold His jaws champed spasmodically, froth appeared on his blackened lips