Part 42 (1/2)

A spear thrust past Conan's ribs, nearly gouging his side, and he whirled again to chop the spear-shaft in tith his sword Then he charged the ainst his opponent's chest until the ht was of Conan's broadsword descending to split his headdress, hair, and skull

Valeria cut down another opponent, and the last of the Kwanyi warriors took only a brief look at the odds they faced after the death of their friends before fleeing into the night Conan swung his shi+eld hard into the back of oneEmwaya and heard the spine crack Valeria leaped on the other, jerked his head back with fingers twined in his hair, and slashed his throat

E her arround for a ht from her shoulders

”Father?”

Dobanpu strode up and put out a hand to touch his daughter as if not quite believing she was real She gripped the hand and smiled

”I am well, I think”

”Tiripped his amulet with one hand and his belt pouch with the other ”The God-Men may not be what they were I have sensed quarrels that perhaps have weakened the Wind-”

Kwanyi war cries interrupted him Conan thren the shi+eld, wiped his sword on it, and drew his dagger

”The Living Wind can wait Someone close at hand still commands warriors!” He pushed Emwaya into her father's arms, then called to Valeria

”Find a path to the shore and see if we can draw back toward it This place is worthless now We want our backs to the water!”

Fleet-footed as ever, Valeria vanished into the night Froh the undergrowth

Wobeku led the warriors attacking the ene from the earth Not only his honor drove hiained the victory with hi the the Ichiribu before they could order their ranks He would then have died but would have ith his life sufficient time for his comrades to strike the scattered enemy Then not even the Ciht have saved theht his ht He put them into their proper line before he ordered the advance, and only darted out ahead of it at the last moment

Behind him, the Kwanyi line came out of the trees somewhat disordered by encounters with the underbrush The first volley of light spears wentHe howled out his fury at that fool in a war cry and let the Kwanyi coainst his shi+eld Wobeku stepped forward and ducked his head This tier looped the line around the top of Wobeku's shi+eld and jerked Wobeku did not let go of the shi+eld Instead, he let hied The stone-swinger died with Wobeku's spear in his belly

”Yaygo!” Wobeku cried, the ritual proclamation of a man's first kill of a battle

The next ht to cry that over hiht suddenly vanished, fallen into the crack in the earth An Ichiribu warrior darted forward in his place, locking shi+elds with Wobeku and thrusting desperately over, under, and around

Wobeku took two minor flesh wounds before he was able to riposte with his own spear It gashed the Ichiribu's belly, but not mortally The , less skillfully with each passing e

This was the kind of battle that to Wobeku showed Chabano to be a wise chief When engaged in an each-ht, Wobeku had often been unable to press home for the kill He had feared, with reason, for his flanks and rear In the Kwanyi shi+eld-line, his flanks were safe, even in such a small battle as this Had there been the usual second line behind hiuarded

Wobeku thrust again-and nearly stumbled as his thrust encountered empty air He stared at the space where his opponent had been, then saw other Kwanyi doing the saic, the Ichiribu had vanished

Before the Kwanyi sprawled only a few bodies and fallen weapons, barely half of theht Wobeku waved his great spear, ordering a few ht lie within They found nothing, save footprints that ic? And if coic, had they vanished by the saround with a hunter's skills In the dark it was not easy, but he knew that torches would only give any lurking Ichiribu a ht at last pierced the darkness, showing footprints leading off toward the shore There were many of them, and some showed the heel scarifications of Ichiribu clans