Part 16 (1/2)
”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 139
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!” exclaiainst Aet here”
140
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 141
patrician shrank back
”Why?”
”Because she would not become the mistress of Valerius Her lands are forfeit, her henchht, in the Iron Tower, her headand 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”