Part 15 (1/2)

”Not the first one, at least It was Eun dart ai back into his limbs, but his wits seemed as slow as Aondo's ”Darts?”

”It was Wobeku,” Valeria said, then continued with an explanation that gradually penetrated Conan's understanding By the tith, but breath

”Where's my sword?”

”Conan-”

The Cimmerian picked Valeria up with a hand under each arround ”Woman, I asked for my sword I wish to use it to kill Aondo and Wobeku Is that so hard to understand, or have you taken so to addle your wits?” Valeria threw her head back and laughed until Conan had to join her, which broke his grip She landed lightly and turned

”Conan, here is your sword”

It was Seyganko holding out the Cimmerian's blades, belt, and sheathes Behind hi less than two spears and a trident, andsticks, or cords with stones knotted into the end

Conan's first thought was that he had forfeited his life in so his weapons back to hiht at the end Then he saw that the bleak looks of the warriors were not aianko's, at least

Conan prudently aranko, I hope Ithose dishonorable-”

”The Ichiribu will judge their dishonor even anko said Indeed, he swore several oaths that Conan kneell to be highly potent in the Black Kingdo true

His help in the pursuit would plainly be unwelcome What else was there to do?”

”How fares Ele for self-command Then: ”She is in the hands of her father and the Gods It would have been an easier matter to heal her had Wobeku not dropped the weapon that wounded her It would also have been child's play to destroy hi the Ciether understand But then, the whole thing reeked ofthereby He resolved not to treat Wobeku as helpless prey merely because the anko

”As it stands, Wobeku has fled,” Seyganko continued, ”and Eer in spite of her father's best skill If you think your Gods have power in this land, pray to theanko lifted a hand, and one of his warriors gave hier of death to the treacherous- that I will not harht, you and she may leave these lands unharmed But if Emwaya dies, do not think to find a friend in anko whirled then, as lightly as a dust devil of the Kozaki steppes The band strode off into the darkness, which seeone

Wobeku ran as though the Living Wind was howling at his heels He knew that there would be no hiding on the island; the woladly join the hunt for hi what the women would do to him if Emwaya died nearly made him stumble

He prayed, as much as he had the breath to do, that he would either reach his hidden canoe or that the warriors would catch hie above the north shore of the island before he realized that his prayer had been answered Noas all downhill to the canoe

The easier going made it possible to trade speed for silence It was hard to believe that any warriors could have crossed the island in ti him to the shore, but men often died from what they did not believe Wobeku kept away from the trails, and froht betray hie

It helped an in earnest The lightning flashed about hiolden spirit-fire Dobanpu had hurled

The God of Manhood deliver him! He had missed both victory and death so narrowly that he wanted to howl like a hyena at the thought Had Eht the dart, Valeria would now be dead Dobanpu would never have spoken to the spirits for her, and her death would have been the end of Conan Even had they not been spirit-bonded, clearly the tere vowed coAondo with an easy victory

Had Wobeku not then dropped the blowgun, however, Dobanpu would have turned the death tearing through E the death of the cobra's bite, knowing-if he knew anything-that when he breathed his last, the whole tribe would be cheering and drinking ale, Emwaya most of all!

He did stuth on the rain-slick ground The h

Fro up, spears held ready They were just old enough to guard the flocks and carry the lesser spears, the bidui boys, as the Ichiribu called them

It was taboo for a full warrior such as Wobeku to slay theht theht, as Valeria was clanless, if not a witch He also did not care to start iven to the women would come to him if he slew these boys, and most of them would come after he died

Wobeku crept forith his hunter's skill, using the bushes for cover, and also to protect hi down The thunder and rain drowned out any sound he made

Closer to his canoe, he saw that the craft was safe, even if half filled with rainwater A smaller canoe was drawn up on the shore next to it The boys ht in the downpour and paddled for shore, then seen the hidden canoe and thought itplace

Bold boys, to be out on the lake after dark, especially on a night like this, with a druhten easily Did he have anything with him-?

The brush crackled and crunched behind Wobeku, as if a great stone was rolling downhill He looked behind him, nearly fell out from beneath the bush, and cursed aloud

Aondo was stu from half a score of cuts He must have run blindly into a thorn thicket at soht, for he was not only bloody, but next to naked He held a spear in one bloody hand, and a club was thrust through the belt that was nearly his only garment

The bidui leaped up as Aondo burst into the open Both boys raised their spears, and one also unslung a stone-rope tied around his waist

”Give me that canoe,” Aondo said At least that hat Wobeku thought he said; it sounded rowl than a hu man as if he were indeed less than huht

It happened in the space between one breath and the next The bidui with the stone-rope began to whirl it about his head, while his coht spear aiive his friend tiood cast Perhaps he also hoped to penetrate Aondo's madness and remind him of the taboos

Aondo's fist smashed into the boy's face The youth flew backward as if tossed by an ox The sound of his skull striking a rock on the shore was even louder than the crashi+ng of the thunder, or so it seemed to Wobeku

The second boy ht Aondo's ar man's chest Aondo tossed his spear to his unha it The boy died, pinned to a tree like a ave Aondo no time to savor victory or to lament the doom he had earned

The sround toward the shore in strides that were almost leaps

Half-mad as he was, Aondo still sensed another's presence Both strength and speed had left hiin to raise it before Wobeku flung his own spear

It pierced Aondo's belly, and the warrior's breath hissed out of hiripped the spear-shaft and seemed to realize what it was, and where it was

Wobeku, meanwhile, reached his canoe and slashed at the vine rope It parted, he lifted the paddle and thrust at the water, and Aondo gave a cry such as the ears of h the ears of the Gods, either