Part 36 (2/2)

He turned and lifted Olivia to her feet, frounwales

”And what ofher narrowly

”To go with you, wherever your pathher white ar over the rail, gasped in ahter?” he questioned ”This keel will stain the blue waves crimson wherever it plows

”Aye, to sail with you on blue seas or red,” she answered passionately ”You are a barbarian,and I am an outcast, denied by my people We are both pariahs, wanderers of the earth Oh, take h he lifted her to his fierce lips

”I'll s! We'll scorch King Yildiz's pantaloons yet, by Crom!”

207

Xuthal of the Dusk

Xuthal of the Dusk

The desert shi+mmered in the heat waves Conan the Ci desolation and involuntarily drew the back of his powerful hand over his blackened lips He stood like a bronze ie in the sand, apparently iarold-buckled belt fro a saber and a broad-bladed poniard On his clean-cut limbs were evidences of scarcely healed wounds

At his feet rested a girl, one white arainst which her blond head drooped Her white skin contrasted with his hard bronzed liirdled at the waist, eure

Conan shook his head, blinking The sun's glare half blinded him He lifted a s at the faint splashi+ng within

The girl

”Oh, Conan, we shall die here! I a truculently at the surrounding waste, with outthrust jaw, and blue eyes sely froible eneirl's lips

”Drink till I tell you to stop, Natala,” he coasps, and he did not check her Only when the canteen was empty did she realize that he had deliberately allowed her to drink all their water supply, little enough that it was

Tears sprang to her eyes ”Oh, Conan,” she wailed, wringing her hands, ”why did you let me drink it all? I did not kno there is none for you!”

”Hush,” he growled ”Don't waste your strength in weeping”

208

Straightening, he threw the canteen from him

”Why did you do that?” she whispered

He did not reply, standingslowly about the hilt of his saber He was not looking at the girl; his fierce eyes seemed to plumb the mysterious purple hazes of the distance

Endoith all the barbarian's ferocious love of life and instinct to live, Conan the Cimmerian yet knew that he had reached the end of his trail He had not come to the limits of his endurance, but he knew another day under thehih Better a quick painless sword- stroke than the lingering agony that faced him Her thirst was temporarily quenched; it was a false ht relief Slowly he slid the saber fro Far out on the desert to the south, soh the heat waves