Part 46 (1/2)
From first to last, he had not made a sound.
Conan stormed up the slope, to where Illyana stood before the cave mouth. Raihna was already piling stones to narrow it
”Conan!” the hill boy cried. ”There will be room inside for me to use my sling. If you will stand to either-”
”Did you kill Ma.s.souf?” Conan roared.
Illyana had been drawing off her boots. Now she flinched and stood barefoot, a boot in either hand.
”Did you? Answer me, woman!”
”Conan, I did not command him. I heard no command from the Jewels. I can only say that under the spell cast, the Transformed might be more easily frightened.”
”Ma.s.souf couldn't have known that!”
”I may have told him without remembering it. Or-”
”Or the Jewels might have told him,” Conan finished for her.
Illyana shook her head, as if beset by stinging insects. Suddenly she flung herself into Conan's arms.
”I beg you, Conan. Believe me, that I meant Ma.s.souf no harm. He came here seeking death and found it.”
That at least was the truth, and for the moment Conan was ready to be content with it. Not that he had any choice, either. The Transformed were halfway up the hill, some still gnawing fragments of Ma.s.souf.
Illyana contemplated them, all her unease of a moment before gone.
”Good. We have them closing swiftly. If we can hold until they have closed just a trifle more-”
”And how long will that be?” Conan asked.
Illyana stripped off her tunic and waved it like a flag. ”Look, Eremius. Look and dream, but know that you will die before you touch!”
”Haw long?”
”I do not know,” Illyana said. Then she ran toward the cave, with Conan at her heels.
Twenty-one.
CONAN LOWERED A rock the size of a newborn calf onto the pile in the cave mouth. Then he stepped back, dusting off his hands and looking into the cave for any more loose stones.
He had all the light he could wish, pouring from Illyana's Jewel.
Unclothed save for the Jewel, the sorceress stood forty paces inside the cave, chanting in an unknown tongue. The world beyond her duel with Eremius might have ceased to exist.
Conan saw no more stones worth adding to their barricade. He was about to tell Raihna when a stone went wheeet between them. Conan whirled, glaring at Bora.
The boy was reloading his sling and grinning. ”As I said, there is room to send a stone between you.”
”Warn us the next time, you young-”