Part 44 (1/2)
Sancha's curiosity was piqued She waited for them to reappear, but they did not The seamen still moved aimlessly up and down the beach, and some had wandered inland Many had lain down in the shade to sleep Tian to beat down hotly, in spite of the canopy above the poop-deck Here it arly monotonous; a few yards away across a band of blue shalloater, the cool shady ed beach and woodland-dottedZaporavo and Conan te herwith indecision At last she decided that it orth even one of Zaporavo's whippings to play truant, and with no more ado she kicked off her soft leather sandals, slipped out of her kirtle and stood up on the deck naked as Eve Cla over the rail and down the chains, she slid into the water and swa as the sands tickled her small toes, while she looked for the crew She saw only a few, at some distance up or down the beach Many were fast asleep under the trees, bits of golden fruit still clutched in their fingers She wondered why they should sleep so soundly, so early in the day
None hailed her as she crossed the white girdle of sand and entered the shade of the woodland
The trees, she found, grew in irregular clusters, and between these groves stretched rolling expanses of ressed inland, in the direction taken by Zaporavo, she was entranced by the green vistas that unfolded gently before her, soft slope beyond slope,
244carpeted with green sward and dotted with groves Between the slopes lay gentle declivities, likewise swarded The scenery seemed to melt into itself, or each scene into the other; the vieas singular, at once broad and restricted Over all a dreamy silence lay like an enchantment
Then she came suddenly onto the level summit of a slope, circled with tall trees, and the dreaht of what lay on the reddened and trarass Sancha involuntarily cried out and recoiled, then stole forward, wide-eyed, tre in every li sightlessly upward, a gaping wound in his breast His sword lay near his nerveless hand The Hawk had azed on the corpse of her lord without emotion She had no cause to love hiht feel when looking on the body of the man as first to possess her She did not weep or feel any need of weeping, but she was seized by a strong treeal briefly, and she resisted a wave of hysteria
She looked about her for theof tall, thickly-leafed forest giants, and the blue slopes beyond theed himself away, mortally wounded? No bloody tracks led away fro trees, stiffening as she caught a rustle in the emerald leaves that see into the leafy depths
”Conan?” Her call was inquiring; her voice sounded strange and srown suddenly tense
Her knees began to tremble as a nameless panic swept over her
”Conan!” she cried desperately ”It is I Sancha! Where are you? Please, Conan ” Her voice faltered away Unbelieving horror dilated her brown eyes Her red lips parted to an inarticulate screaripped her liht, she could not move She could only shriek wordlessly
When Conan saw Zaporavo stalk alone into the woodland, he felt that the chance he had watched for had come He had eaten no fruit, nor joined in the horse-play of histhe buccaneer chief Accustomed to Zaporavo's moods, his men were not particularly surprized that their captain should choose to explore an unknown
245and probably hostile isle alone They turned to their own alided like a stalking panther after the chieftain
Conan did not underrate his doh battle and foray, to challenge the captain to a duel to the death In these empty seas there had been no opportunity for hi to Freebooter law The creould stand solidly against him if he attacked the chieftain openly But he knew that if he killed Zaporavo without their knowledge, the leaderless creould not be likely to be swayed by loyalty to a deadcounted
So he followed Zaporavo with sword in hand and eagerness in his heart, until he came out onto a level summit, circled with tall trees, bethose trunks he saw the green vistas of the slopes lade Zaporavo, sensing pursuit, turned, hand on hilt
The buccaneer swore
”Dog, why do you followswiftly toward his erstwhile chief His lips sleam
Zaporavo ripped out his sith a black curse, and steel clashed against steel as the Barachan ca a wheel of blue flame about his head
Zaporavo was the veteran of a thousand fights by sea and by land There was no hly versed than he in the lore of swordcraft But he had never been pitted against a blade wielded by thews bred in the wild lands beyond the borders of civilization Against his fighting-craft was th i was unorthodox, but instinctive and natural as that of a tiainst his prihts of a panther
Fighting as he had never fought before, straining every last ounce of effort to parry the blade that flickered like lightning about his head, Zaporavo in desperation caught a full stroke near his hilt, and felt his whole aro numb beneath the terrific impact That stroke was instantly followed by a thrust with such terrible drive behind it that the sharp point ripped through chain- mail and ribs like paper, to transfix the heart beneath Zaporavo's lips writhed in brief agony, but, grim to the last, he made no sound He was dead before his body relaxed on the tralittered like spilt rubies in the sun
246
Conan shook the red drops frorinned with unaffected pleasure, stretched like a huge cat and abruptly stiffened, the expression of satisfaction on his face being replaced by a stare of bewilder in his hand