Part 13 (1/2)

'Aye, in the coronation hall, with the blood of slaughter scarcely dried on his hands'

'And do the people thrive under his benevolent rule?' asked Conan with angry irony

'He lives like a foreign prince in the midst of a conquered land,'

answered Servius bitterly 'His court is filled with Nee garrison of theon has coh the streets Woed and merchants plundered daily, and Valerius either can, or will, make no atteurehead Men of sense kneould be, and the people are beginning to find it out

'A ar provinces where so theer than their fear of Amalric He will crush the that, have sent in their sublutting their long hatred And their ranks are swelled by Aquilonians who into their armies It is a natural consequence'

Conan nodded soht on the richly carved oaken panels

'Aquilonia has a king instead of the anarchy they feared,' said Servius at last 'Valerius does not protect his subjects against his allies

Hundreds who could not pay the ransom imposed upon them have been sold to the Kothic slave-traders'

Conan's head jerked up and a lethal flahty hands knotting into iron hammers

'Aye, white men sell white men and white women, as it was in the feudal days In the palaces of Shem and of Turan they will live out the lives of slaves Valerius is king, but the unity for which the people looked, even though of the sword, is not complete

'Gunderland in the north and Poitain in the south are yet unconquered, and there are unsubdued provinces in the west, where the border barons have the backing of the Bossonian bow provinces are no real menace to Valerius They must remain on the defensive, and will be lucky if they are able to keep their independence Here Valerius and his foreign knights are suprerimly 'His time is short The people will rise when they learn that I'm alive We'll take Tarantia back before As frodom'

Servius was silent The crackle of the fire was loud in the stillness

'Well,' exclaimed Conan i at the hearth? Do you doubt what I have said?'

Servius avoided the king's eye

'What mortal man can do, you will do, your Majesty,' he answered 'I have ridden behind you in battle, and I know that nocan stand before your sword'

'What, then?'

Servius drew his fur-trimmed jupon closer about him, and shi+vered in spite of the flame

'Men say your fall was occasioned by sorcery,' he said presently

'What then?'

'What ainst sorcery? Who is this veiled ht with Valerius and his allies, as men say, who appears and disappears so ician who died thousands of years ago, but has returned fro of Aquilonia and restore the dynasty of which Valerius is heir'

'What rily 'I escaped from the devil-haunted pits of Belverus, and from diabolism in the mountains If the people rise----'

Servius shook his head

'Your staunchest supporters in the eastern and central provinces are dead, fled or imprisoned Gunderland is far to the north, Poitain far to the south The Bossonians have retired to their ather and concentrate these forces, and before that could be done, each levy would be attacked separately by A in the central provinces would tip the scales for us!'