Part 34 (2/2)

Conan rested his hand on his sword hilt for the rea.s.surance that honest steel could give.

”It is also said that the beast itself labored on the dam,” Thyrin said. ”But that is a tale at best. None but the Star Brothers were close to the dam while it rose... or at least none who lived to tell of what they saw.”

”Sorcerers like their secrets to die with them,” Conan said. ”Even if that's not one of the laws of magic, they all act as if it were!”

The two men fell silent in their hiding place behind a pigsty. It smelled no sweeter than any other pigsty, but that would drive away the odd pa.s.serby. The pigs were awake, grunting and squealing in unease at the alarm. Their noise would hide any small sounds that Conan and Thyrin might make as they waited.

Conan hoped that the waiting would not be long. They were in a race with the warriors, the Star Brothers, the beast, and the princess and her rescuers, all of them striving for victory-which meant life itself.

The mist over the dam swirled thickly. Conan heard the surging of mighty waters against the dam and thought he saw something rise into the mist. It might have been a trick of the vapor. It might also have been a tentacle.

If it were a tentacle, it was as long as a small s.h.i.+p and as thick as a man's body. It also seemed to have gaping, sucking mouths scattered all along its length.

Darkness hid Aybas's party most of the way to the dam, and they hardly needed silence. The walls of the valley caught the sounds of the drums and the trumpets, to say nothing of the cries and screams of the Pougoi. They cast the noise back and forth, raising echoes that thundered among the rocks until it seemed that they were thundering in Aybas's very head.

Aybas ceased to worry about being heard. Two-score oxen could have marched across the valley unnoticed amid this uproar.

He began, rather, to worry about the valley itself. Behind the dam, he knew, was a lake large enough to drown the whole valley if the dam ever released it. He had heard of loud sounds shattering rock and unleas.h.i.+ng snowslides, unaided by any magic.

He hastened forward to speak to Marr, pa.s.sing Chienna on the way. The princess was striding along with grim determination, for all that sweat sheened her face and matted her hair. She might not be bred to the hill life, like Wylla, but she would be no burden tonight!

As Aybas overtook Marr, he saw the man lift the pipes to his lips.

Their music went unheard in the din filling the valley, but Aybas felt every hair of his head and beard p.r.i.c.kle like the quills of a hedgehog.

They were still p.r.i.c.kling when the piper led them up to the base of the dam. They rose even higher when two vast figures loomed out of the darkness, until Aybas recognized Conan and Thyrin.

Wylla gave a faint cry and hurled herself into her father's arms.

Raihna looked as if she wanted to do the same to Conan, but the Cimmerian appeared as grim as his cold northern G.o.d Crom.

”Best save the greetings and tales until we're safe away,” he said.

”We've seen no warriors on our trail. What of you?”

Aybas and Raihna shook their heads. Conan seemed to ease a trifle.

”Friend Marr, if you can tame the beast, now's the time to prove it.

Raihna, you stand with me and Thyrin.”

Aybas began to protest against having laid upon him the burden of taking Chienna to safety if the rear guard fell to the beast. He did not think himself equal to it.

Yet he had given his oath to the Cimmerian. The Cimmerian, in turn, was giving his trust to Aybas, trust in the Aquilonian's prowess as well as his honor. Aybas had betrayed much in his life, but he would not of his own will betray that trust. The Cimmerian, Aybas decided, could have given lessons to many of those whom Aybas had served on how to be a captain in war.

Marr nodded, then looked at the sprawled figure lying beneath a bush.

”Is Oyzhik fit to walk?”

”With a barrel of wine in him?” Thyrin growled. ”We have no time for jests.”

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