Part 20 (1/2)
Eered back into his aresture ”Quickly,” she whispered ”Have another man throw a spear”
”You!” Conan called The iron self-command in his voice steadied the warriors
The man addressed drew back and put all the force of his best throw behind the spear It struck not far from the wound made by the first warrior
A scale cracked across; this time the blood only oozed out As Conan watched, the wound from the first spear closed Only a smear of blood on the serpent's neck showed that it had ever taken any hurt Another s on the floor, not far from the corpse of the man who had lost his foot to the serpent That h his flesh, and through the green foulness that played over and around it
E at us, and wound it each time it comes We must keep our distance, too It heals itself soether It will lose strength; I will see to that”
”How long will it take to die?”
The Golden Serpent hissed in challenge, pain, and defiance The hiss again raised such echoes that Emwaya could not have made herself heard had she shouted into Conan's ear
As the serpent withdrew soently ”It will die swiftly ifto mine We can take from it the power to steal life-force, which is how it heals as it does”
Conan thought uncharitable words about sorcerers It seemed that the breed was alith you when you did not want them and so his sword ”We've need to fight this beast by retreating before it Baggage men, take the rear rank The best spearmen, take the foremost Guard Emwaya at all costs, and for the love of every God, don't close with the monster!”
Faces showed that the bravest warrior needed no urging on that last point Conan snatched up a spear froe and joined the rear rank as Valeria ran to stand beside Ele ed, the serpent lowered its head and cae so boldly this time A spear and a trident flew The spear sank deep, the trident glanced off the horn on the nose The trident-throould have dashed forward to retrieve his weapon but for Conan's wordless roar that halted hie a battle as Conan had ever fought Overgrown snakes were not uncommon-too co theht a serpent that had its own ht one as leader of a band of warriors
A good band, too, he thought as he saw one of the slingers wind up and hurl his stone It flew true, striking one of the blazing green eyes Conan expected the eye to shatter rather than burst, but it did neither Instead, it merely quivered like jelly, turned reen once more
The creature hissed, and this time, anyone could tell that it was in pain
Emwaya bit her lip until blood ca
”Be ready, everyone He'll lunge again!”
The warning was life to at least three reat head crashed dohere they would have been standing had they not joined the retreat Twenty paces to the rear, the band stood again, save for two ain Conan's roar saved one from folly as the man struck at the beast's nose with his club The warrior rejoined his comrades without his club or spear, but with a whole skin
Then the band put another thirty paces between itself and the Golden Serpent, while Eh to drown out the sound of the creature's hissing The two spears reush of blood that pushed theer
Victory could be theirs, Conan realized, for all that this was a battle that only a ht be the lastbeside the dead serpent, but they would have it!
Then the hissing raised echoes again, Ean once htest or the swiftest ah their canoe-builders were honored a all the tribes around the Lake of Death for their skill Nor were the paddlers the strongest and anko had simply ordered the first score of paddlers into the first three canoes, and all of theanko thought he ht have done better to have waited, picked the best paddlers and canoes, and thentheir destination, Eht die-Dobanpu had anko saw that the canoes were flying across the water as if the paddlers were tireless Gods who neverin the stern of their canoe, and saw a faint sanko felt shanized, but also pride that Dobanpu considered hi it Or was it entirely Emwaya's safety that moved her father?
The paddles indeed flew back and forth so swiftly that as ell-thrown spears, the eye could hardly follow therow short of breath Seyganko reth could also weaken hiht as well as paddle before another day's sun had set
Meanwhile, they were crossing the Lake of Death at a speed never before known, save to birds At a shout froanko raised his paddle, and the men of his canoe ceased their efforts The other two canoes drew up alongside and also drifted to a stop
Then, before Seyganko could speak or even ripped the a himself overboard He cut the water without a sound, not even the faint clooop of a diving fisherbird For ahim down into the depths; then those depths sed him
A clamor arose from those warriors who had breath left hich to speak
”Why, the old fool!”
”Where is he going?”
”He'll drown!”
”No, the lionfish will have hianko shouted for silence ”My woman's father can swiry fish in this part of the lake, because of the very thing he has gone to fight As for the rest-I would not call any Spirit-Speaker a fool
Not when I thought he ht come back and remember what I said
”And if you still think otherwise, keep your tongue between your teeth Or have you forgotten who anko pointed at the Kwanyi shore Those who had not already fallen silent did so now
The Golden Serpent had taken the lives of twoit Thatuneasy Facing a foe who could not be gravely hurt, and-it seemed-not be killed, for all that E to hearten a warrior
Yet the warriors lost none of their speed or cunning They darted about the serpent like flies about a horse's head, stinging with the sas between lunges at the serpent, until Conan commanded thee pleased Conan, although it did not altogether surprise hidoms raised warriors fit to stand in battle anywhere in the world He had not expected to find so many this far inland, but he rejoiced that he had Perhaps there would bewhen the Golden Serpent breathed its last
A cry rose as E over her, sword in one hand, a borrowed spear poised to throw in the other Five more warriors were in front of E woman herself shook her head and clenched her teeth, but her hair had saved her skull, and her hands continued theirthe Golden Serpent's unnatural life
She was on her feet in the next ed for her or her defenders Was it learning the dangers of ielded iron, or was its strength finally ebbing?
Conan knew the perils of believing that a foe eak or foolish Yet he found it hard to believe that anything short of Thunder Mountain itself could resist the battering his band had given the Golden Serpent
Suddenly thunder crashed once h the tunnel Conan swore that he saw the Golden Serpent rise a handbreadth from the floor He knew that he saw shi+elds snatched froments of stone rattled down everywhere about the-wet Dobanpu stood before theht have been shaken The warriors certainly were Yet the beast ift to coil and lunge at Dobanpu The Spirit-Speaker stood tohis amulet Valeria and a half-score of warriors cried out in horror, and Conan hie fell short of Dobanpu An ared to a stop, as if a noose had tightened about it or the air had turned solid Dobanpu raised a hand, and coruscating golden light arched fro no trace except for perhaps an odd glow in his eyes, and Conan could not be sure that was not a trick of the light
Then Dobanpu turned, and with a speed startling for a e, ran down a side tunnel that no one had noticed before Again asped in horror, but Eone mad?” Valeria snapped Conan shook his head If Emas not afraid, Dobanpu must have some scheme in mind To make it succeed was another irl
”He will lead the creature to a place he has sensed, I think He usedhere, so he will not be able to kill it unaided But in that place he seeks, he will find a way of ending its life”