Part 13 (2/2)

exclaiainst Aet here'

Servius hesitated, and his voice sank to a whisper

'Men say you died accursed Men say this veiled stranger cast a spell upon you to slay you and break your are Men believe you to be dead And the central provinces would not rise, even if they knew you lived They would not dare Sorcery defeated you at Valkia Sorcery brought the news to Tarantia, for that very nightof it in the streets

'A Neain in the streets of Tarantia to slay men who still were loyal to your memory I myself saw it Armed men dropped like flies and died in the streets in a hed and said: 'I am only Altaro, only an acolyte of Orastes, who is but an acolyte of him ears the veil; not h me'

'Well,' said Conan harshly, 'is it not better to die honorably than to live in infamy? Is death worse than oppression, slavery and ultimate destruction?'

'When the fear of sorcery is in, reason is out,' replied Servius 'The fear of the central provinces is too great to allow theht for you--but the saain The Nemedians hold the broadest, richest and most thickly populated sections of Aquilonia, and they cannot be defeated by the forces whichyour loyal subjects uselessly In sorrow I say it, but it is true: King Conan, you are a king without a kingdo A s shower of sparks It ain Conan felt the presence of a griain the inexorable drive of a ruthless fate A feeling of furious panic tugged at his soul, a sense of being trapped, and a red rage that burned to destroy and kill

'Where are the officials of my court?' he demanded at last

'Pallantides was sorely wounded at Valkia, was ransomed by his family, and now lies in his castle in Attalus He will be fortunate if he ever rides again Publius, the chancellor, has fled the kingdouise, no man knohither The council has been disbanded Some were imprisoned, some banished Many of your loyal subjects have been put to death Tonight, for instance, the Countess Albiona dies under the headsman's ax'

Conan started and stared at Servius with such anger s in his blue eyes that the patrician shrank back

'Why?'

'Because she would not become the mistress of Valerius Her lands are forfeit, her henchht, in the Iron Tower, her head --and flee before you are discovered In these days none is safe

Spies and inforhtest deed or word of discontent as treason and rebellion If you make yourself known to your subjects it will only end in your capture and death

'My horses and all the men that I can trust are at your disposal Before dae can be far from Tarantia, and well on our way toward the border

If I cannot aid you to recover your kingdom, I can at least follow you into exile'

Conan shook his head Servius glanced uneasily at hihty fist The firelight gleamed redly on his steel ht like the eyes of a wolf Servius was again aware, as in the past, and nowThat great frame under the mail mesh was too hard and supple for a civilized man; the ele eyes Now the barbaric suggestion about the king was more pronounced, as if in his extremity the outward aspects of civilization were stripped away, to reveal the pri to his pristine type He did not act as a civilized hts run in the same channels He was unpredictable It was only a stride fro of Aquilonia to the skin-clad slayer of the Cimmerian hills

'I'll ride to Poitain, if it may be,' Conan said at last 'But I'll ride alone And I have one last duty to perfor of Aquilonia'

'What do you mean, your Majesty?' asked Servius, shaken by a preht,' answered the king

'I've failed all my other loyal subjects, it seems--if they take her head, they can haveup and clutching his throat, as if he already felt the noose closing about it

'There are secrets to the Tohich fe,' said Conan 'Anyway, I'd be a dog to leave Albiona to die because of her loyalty to dom, but I'm not a man without honor'

'It will ruin us all!' whispered Servius

'It will ruin no one but ht This is all I want you to do: procure arments such as travelers wear'

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