Part 12 (2/2)

”Tales came of Count Syzambry's friends and allies gathering men. We did not know what strength the caravan might have. So King Eloikas decreed that the palace would bar its gates and send forth the Guard to be your s.h.i.+eld at the end of your journey.”

Conan hoped that King Eloikas had been speaking for the ears of the doubtful rather than out of any real belief that this Guard could defend an apple orchard from a band of small boys. Serving a master who had neither silver nor wisdom in war could end in filling a rocky grave in this G.o.dless land.

”We thank you, Oyzhik,” Decius said. ”Captain Conan, return to the camp and wake Raihna and my second. We break camp and march at once.”

”At... night?” Oyzhik's question came out more squeak than words, as high-pitched as if he had been gelded.

”We are now in good strength, Oyzhik,” Decius said. ”The trail is clear, or you would not be with us. And our foes will not be expecting us to march by night, so it is the wisest thing we could do.”

To Conan, struggling to choke back laughter, a night march seemed to have another virtue. It might cause the plump Guard captain to fall down in a fit, or at least to faint from weariness.

The Cimmerian held his peace, though, until Decius dismissed him. Then he hastened down the trail toward the camp. When he finally saw the campfires glowing ahead, he let out such a roar of laughter that half the men jerked awake at once.

Raihna thrust her head out of the tent they shared. ”Share the jest, Conan, if it is so fine.”

Conan merely shook his head and laughed harder. It would not do to insult the Palace Guard before the captain-general's men.

”An old tale, Raihna. But the new one tonight is that Count Syzambry's friends may be waiting for us. The Palace Guard has come out, and Decius wants us on the march before he can take a deep breath!”

Raihna's head bobbed and vanished, and all around him Conan saw and heard men garbing and arming themselves.

Conan's first sight of the palace of King Eloikas made him wonder if it was worth guarding.

He had seen mere n.o.blemen keep larger hunting lodges, and not only in wealthy lands such as Turan. He had known of Vendhyans who would not have housed their tiger-hunters in something so wretched.

The gates hung ajar. The outer wall crumbled so that in some places an agile man might have walked over it upright. Holes gaped in every roof that Conan could see, and he did not doubt that under each hole was a puddle of muddy water from every rain in the last ten years.

A beaten-down patch of earth set about with thorn hedges might have been a drill ground. A collection of huts that a swineherd would have disdained might have been a barracks. Otherwise, Conan had no idea of where the Palace Guard lived, or of where Raihna's men might find quarters.

Since Decius's men joined them, he had heard muttered tales of ”the secret h.o.a.rd” of the Border kings. Some folk, it appeared, believed that the palace was so wretched because Eloikas was saving his gold for a time of need.

Conan would believe in that h.o.a.rd, as he would believe in the will of the G.o.ds, when he saw it with his own eyes. For now, he suspected that the cache was so secret that even King Eloikas had forgotten where to lay hands on it.

Oyzhik hurried into the palace to report their arrival to the king.

Conan and Raihna busied themselves with their men and beasts. They were careful to avoid the boggy fields and wretched hovels stretching downhill from the palace. They were likewise careful to keep the caravan beyond bowshot of the brooding forest uphill. The forest held trees Conan had never seen before, in shapes he did not wish to see again, and no birds sang within it.

Conan let Raihna stand close to him, but he laid no hand on her. Both were aware of Decius's eyes upon them, more especially upon Raihna.

”This land pleases me less with each new turn of the trail,” Raihna said. ”Will you come with me and my men if we choose to leave at once?”

”Best wait for your pay if you want-forgive me, that's telling you your work again.”

It was also not noticing her unease, bordering on fear. Grat.i.tude for that shone in her smile. ”Unless that means waiting so long that it will buy nothing but a burial shroud, and a poor one at that!” she said.

Then, ”Conan,” Raihna went on, raising her hands as if to grip his shoulders, ”if we leave, would you come with us as far as the nearest civilized land? I think you have hopes to win something in this land-”

”An empty belly and an untimely grave? That's what this land seems to promise. Raihna, I said in plain words that I would be at your side wherever you went. Does a s.h.i.+eld jump off of a man's arm because it thinks he's overmatched?”

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