Part 45 (2/2)

They were in the court from which he had watched the torture of the boy, and he led her hastily up the stair thatposition behind the balustrade of the balcony; it was poor concealment, but the best they could do

Scarcely had they settled themselves, when the blacks filed into the court There was a resounding clash at the foot of the stairs, and Conan stiffened, grasping his sword But the blacks passed through an archway on the southwestern side, and they heard a series of thuds and groans The giants were casting their victile rose to Sancha's lips, and Conan quickly clapped his hand over herthe sound before it could betray the of ned

Conan peered over the wall The court was eathered about the pool in the adjoining court, squatting on their haunches They seereat smears of blood on the sward and the jade ri unusual Nor were they looking into the pool They were engrossed in some inexplicable conclave of their own; the tall black was playing again on his golden pipes, and his co Sancha's hand, Conan glided down the stair, stooping so that his head would not be visible above the wall The cringing girl followed perforce, staring fearfully at the arch that let into the court of the pool, but through which, at that angle, neither the pool nor its gri was visible At the foot of the stair lay the swords of the Zingarans The clash they had heard

253had been the casting down of the captured weapons

Conan drew Sancha toward the southwestern arch, and they silently crossed the sward and entered the court beyond There the Freebooters lay in careless heaps,Here and there one stirred or groaned restlessly Conan bent down to the forith her hands on her thighs

”What is that sweet cloying smell?” she asked nervously ”It's on all their breaths”

”It's that da,” he answered softly ”I remember the smell of it It must have been like the black lotus, thatto awake but they're unarmed, and I have an idea that those black devils won't wait long before they begin their ic on them What chance will the lads have, unarmed and stupid with slu with the intentness of his thoughts; then he seized Sancha's olive shoulder in a grip that made her wince

”Listen! I'll draw those black swine into another part of the castle and keep them busy for awhile Meanwhile you shake these fools awake, and bring their swords to the chance Can you do it?”

”I I don't know!” she sta what she was saying

With a curse Conan caught her thick tresses near her head and shook her until the walls danced to her dizzy sight

”You must do it!” he hissed ”It's our only chance!”

”I'll do runt of co slap on the back that nearly knocked her down, he glided away

A fewat the arch that opened into the court of the pool, glaring upon his ene to show evidences of an evil i buccaneers he heard their groans growing louder, beginning to be led with incoherent curses He tensed hiseasily between his teeth

The jeweled giant rose, taking his pipes fro the startled blacks with a tigerish bound And as a tiger leaps and strikes a his prey,

254Conan leaped and struck: thrice his blade flickered before any could lift a hand in defense; then he bounded fro them and raced across the sward Behind hiures, their skulls split

But though the unexpected fury of his surprize had caught the giants off guard, the survivors recovered quickly enough They were at his heels as he ran through the western arch, their long legs sweeping the speed However, he felt confident of his ability to outfoot the theive Sancha tiarans

And as he raced into the court beyond the western arch, he swore This court differed froonal, and the arch by which he had entered was the only entrance or exit

Wheeling, he saw that the entire band had followed hiroup clustered in the arch, and the rest spread out in a wide line as they approached He faced the slowly toward the northern wall The line bent into a se out to hem him in He continued tothe spaces widening between the pursuers

They feared lest he should try to dart around a horn of the crescent, and lengthened their line to prevent it

He watched with the calm alertness of a wolf, and when he struck it ith the devastating suddenness of a thunderbolt full at the center of the crescent The giant who barred his ent down cloven to the middle of the breast-bone, and the pirate was outside their closing ring before the blacks to right and left could coate prepared to receive his onslaught, but Conan did not charge the his hunters without apparent emotion, and certainly without fear

This time they did not spread out in a thin line They had learned that it was fatal to divide their forces against such an incarnation of clawing, rending fury They bunched up in a compacttheir formation

Conan knew that if he fell foul of that mass of taloned muscle and bone, there could be but one cul thereater body-weight to advantage, even his prilanced around the wall and saw a ledge-like projection above a corner on the western side What it was he did not know, but it would serve his purpose He began backing toward that corner, and the giants advancedhim into the corner themselves, and Conan found time to reflect that they probably looked on him as a member of a lower order, mentally inferior to themselves So