Part 18 (1/2)

The rolling country at the foot of the towering mountains was now a borderland, in a state of turmoil, where the barons reverted to feudal practises, and bands of outlaws roamed unhindered Poitain had not formally declared her separation from Aquilonia, but she was now, to all intents, a self-contained kingdo south country had submitted nominally to Valerius, but he had not atteholds where the cri and his fair co As theycountry spread out like a vast purple mantle far beneath thelint of broad fields, and the white gleali fortress doainst the clear blue sky

Before they reached it, a band of knights in burnished ar the trees, and their leader sternly ordered the travelers to halt

They were tall men, with the dark eyes and raven locks of the south

'Halt, sir, and state your business, and why you ride toward Poitain'

'Is Poitain in revolt then,' asked Conan, watching the other closely, 'that a man in Aquilonian harness is halted and questioned like a foreigner?'

'Many rogues ride out of Aquilonia these days,' answered the other coldly 'As for revolt, if you mean the repudiation of a usurper, then Poitain is in revolt We had rather serve the '

Conan swept off his hel back his black mane, stared full at the speaker The Poitanian stared violently and went livid

'Saints of heaven!' he gasped 'It is the king--alive!'

The others stared wildly, then a roar of wonder and joy burst fro their war-cries and brandishi+ng their swords in their extre to terrify a timid man

'Oh, but Trocero eep tears of joy to see you, sire!' cried one

'Aye, and Prospero!' shouted another 'The general has been like one wrapped in a ht and day that he did not reach the Valkia in ti!'

'Noill strike for ereat sword about his head 'Hail, Conan, king of Poitain!'

The clangor of bright steel about hihtened the birds that rose in gay-hued clouds fro trees The hot southern blood was afire, and they desired nothing but for their new-found sovereign to lead thee

'What is your command, sire?' they cried 'Let one of us ride ahead and bear the news of your co into Poitain! Banners ave from every tower, roses will carpet the road before your horse's feet, and all the beauty and chivalry of the south will give you the honor due you--'

Conan shook his head

'Who could doubt your loyalty? But winds blow over these mountains into the countries of my enemies, and I would rather these didn't know that I lived--yet Take me to Trocero, and keep hts would have made a triuht They traveled in haste, speaking to no one, except for a whisper to the captain on duty at each pass; and Conan rode a them with his vizor lowered

The arrisons of soldiers who guarded the passes The pleasure-loving Poitanians had no need nor desire to wrest a hard and scanty living froes the rich and beautiful plains of Poitain stretched to the river Aliara

Even nointer was crisping the leaves beyond the razed the horses and cattle for which Poitain was faorgeous purple and gold and criht It was a land of warmth and plenty, of beautiful men and ferocious warriors It is not only the hard lands that breed hard hbors and her sons learned hardihood in incessant wars To the north the land was guarded by the mountains, but to the south only the Aliara, and not once but a thousand tios and beyond that Ophir, proud kingdohts of Poitain held their lands by the weight and edge of their swords, and little of ease and idleness they knew

So Conan came presently to the castle of Count Trocero

Conan sat on a silken divan in a rich chamber whose filmy curtains the warm breeze billowed Trocero paced the floor like a panther, a lithe, restless man with the waist of a woman and the shoulders of a swordshtly

'Let us proclaied the count 'Let those northern pigs wear the yoke to which they have bent their necks The south is still yours Dwell here and rule us, amid the flowers and the palms'