Part 3 (1/2)
He lifted his reins and rode out of the defile, his ed phantoht
V
THE BLACK STALLION
The sun ell up when Yas where she was She aith full knowledge of all that had occurred Her supple li ride, and her firm flesh still seemed to feel the contact of the muscular arms that had borne her so far
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She was lying on a sheepskin covering a pallet of leaves on a hard-beaten dirt floor A folded sheepskin coat was under her head, and she rapped in a ragged cloak She was in a large rooly built of uncut rocks, plastered with sun- baked mud Heavy beams supported a roof of the same kind, in which showed a trap-door up to which led a ladder There were no s in the thick walls, only loop-holes There was one door, a sturdy bronze affair that must have been looted from so in the wall, with no door, but several strong wooden bars in place Beyond the a pile of dried grass
The building was fort, dwelling-place and stable in one
At the other end of the rooy trousers of a hillwo strips of rid laid over blocks of stone There was a sooty cleft in the wall a few feet from the floor, and some of the smoke found its way out there
The rest floated in blue wisps about the roolanced at Yas a bold, handso Voices boomed outside, then the door was kicked open, and Conan strode in He looked ht behind hiht before His garirdle that supported his knife in its ornamented scabbard would have lint of fine Turanian mail under his shi+rt
”Your captive is awake, Conan,” said the Wazuli girl, and he grunted, strode up to the fire and swept the strips of hed up at hi a toe under her haunches, tu onto the floor She seeh horse-play, but Conan paid no reat hunk of bread fro of wine, he carried the lot to Yas hiirl, but our best,” he grunted ”It will fill your belly, at least”
He set the platter on the floor and she was suddenly aware of a ravenous hunger Making no co the dish in her lap, she began to eat, using her fingers, which were all she had in the way of table utensils After all, adaptability is one of the tests of true aristocracy Conan stood looking down at her, his thued, after the Eastern fashi+on
”Where am I?” she asked abruptly
”In the hut of Yar Afzal, the chief of the Khuruood many miles further on to the west We'll hide here awhile The Kshatriyas are beating up the hills for you several of their squads have been cut up by the tribes already”
”What are you going to do?” she asked
”Keep you until Chunder Shan is willing to trade back runted
”Wo ink out of shoki leaves, and after awhile you can write a letter to the governor”
A touch of her old ily her plans had gone awry, leaving her captive of the verydown the dish, with the reer
”I will not write a letter! If you do not takeyour seven hed ly, Conan scowled, and then the door opened and Yar Afzal ca in The Wazuli chief was as tall as Conan, and of greater girth, but he looked fat and slow beside the hard compactness of the Cily at the Wazuli girl, and that wench rose and skurried out without delay
Then Yar Afzal turned to his guest
”The damnable people murmur, Conan,” quoth he ”They wish irl to hold for ransoarments that she is a noble lady
They say why should the Afghuli dogs profit by her, when they take the risk of guarding her?”
”Lend o”
”Pish!+” boomed Yar Afzal ”Do you think I can't handlein their shi+rts if they cross me! They don't love you or any outlander but you saved h, Conan; a scout has returned”
Conan hitched at his girdle and followed the chief outside They closed the door after theh a loop-hole She looked out on a level space before the hut At the further end of that space there was a cluster ofthe boulders, and the sli about their tasks
Directly before the chief's hut a circle of hairy, raggedthe door Conan and Yar Afzal stood a few paces before the door, and between theed This one was addressing his chief in the harsh accents of the 33
Wazuli which Yash as part of her royal education she had been taught the languages of Iranistan and the kindred tongues of Ghulistan
”I talked with a Dagozai who saw the riders last night,” said the scout ”He was lurking near when they came to the spot where we ambushed the lord Conan He overheard their speech
Chunder Shan ith thenized it as Conan's Then they found the man Conan slew, and knew him for a Wazuli So it seeirl taken by the Wazuli, so they turned aside frohulistan But they did not know froe the dead man was come, and we had left no trail a Kshatriya could follow
”So they rode to the nearest Wazuli village, which was the village of Jugra, and burnt it and slew many of the people But the men of Khojur came upon theovernor So the survivors retired down the Zhaibar in the darkness before dawn But they returned with reinforce and fighting in the hills allraised to sweep the hills about the Zhaibar The tribes are whetting their knives and laying ambushes in every pass from here to Gurashah valley Moreover, Kerirunt went around the circle and Yasun to mistrust
”Where went he?” deozai did not knoith hies They rode into the hills and disappeared”
”These Irakzai are jackals that follow a lion for cru up the coins Keri the border tribes to buy men like horses I like him not, for all he is our kinsman from Iranistan”
”He's not even that,” said Conan ”I know hierd's If I catch hi his hide to a tamarisk”
”But the Kshatriyas!” clamored the men in the semi-circle ”Are we to squat on our haunches until they se the wench is held! We are not loved by the Zhaibari; they will help the Kshatriyas hunt us out”
”Let theainst a host”
One of the men leaped up and shook his fist at Conan
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