Part 21 (2/2)
”Enemy! If I catch him, I'll make a pair of boots of his hide.”
”Artaban of Shahpur is but three hours' ride from here.”
”Ha!” Conan started up, feeling for his sword, his blue eyes ablaze.
”Lead me to him!”
”Take care!” cried Vinashko. ”He has forty armored Turanians and has been joined by Dayuki and a hundred and fifty Hyrkanians. How many warriors have you, lord?”
Conan munched silently, scowling. With such a disparity of numbers, he could not afford to give Artaban any advantages. In the months since he had become a pirate captain, he had beaten and bullied his crew into an effective force, but it was still an instrument that had to be used with care. By themselves they were reckless and improvident; well led, they could do much, but without wise leaders.h.i.+p they would throw away their lives on a whim.
Vinashko said: ”If you will come with me, kozak, I will show you what no man save a Yuets.h.i.+ has seen for a thousand years!”
”Whaf's that?”
”A road of death for our enemies!”
Conan took a step, then halted. ”Wait; here come the red brothers. Hear the dogs swear!”
”Send them back with the food,” whispered Vinashko as half a dozen pirates swaggered out of the cleft to gape at the cavern. Conan faced them with a grand gesture.
”Lug this stuff back to the spring,” he said. ”I told you I should find food.”
”And what of you?” demanded Ivanos.
”Don't fret about me! I have words with Vinashko. Go back to camp and gorge yourselves, may the fiends bite you!”
As the pirates' footsteps faded away down the cleft, Conan gave Vinashko a clap on the back that staggered him. ”Let's go,” he said.
The Yuets.h.i.+ led the way up the circular stairway carved in the rock wall. Above the last tier of tombs, it ended at the tunnel's mouth.
Conan found that he could stand upright in the tunnel.
”If you follow this tunnel,” said Vinashko, ”you will come out behind the castle of the Zaporoskan, Gleg, that overlooks Akrim.”
”What good will that do?” grunted Conan, feeling his way behind the Yuets.h.i.+.
”Testerday when the slaying began, I strove for a while against the Hyrkanian dogs. When my comrades had all been cut down I fled the valley, running up to the Gorge of Diva. I had run into the gorge when I found myself among strange warriors, who knocked me down and bound me, wis.h.i.+ng to ask me what went on in the valley. They were sailors of the king's Vilayet squadron and called their leader Artaban.
”While they questioned me, a girl came riding like mad with the Hyrkanians after her. When she sprang from her horse and begged aid of Artaban, I recognized her as the Zamorian dancing girl who dwells in Gleg's castle. A volley of arrows scattered the Hyrkanians, and then Artaban talked with the girl, forgetting about me. For three years Gleg has held a captive. I know, because I have taken grain and sheep to the castle, to be paid in the Zaporoskan fas.h.i.+on, with curses and blows.
Kozak, the prisoner is Teyaspa, brother of King Yildiz!”
Conan grunted in surprise.
”The girl, Roxana, disclosed this to Artaban, and he swore to aid her in freeing the prince. As they talked, the Hyrkanians returned and halted at a distance, vengeful but cautious. Artaban hailed them and had speech with Dayuki, the new chief since k.u.msh Khan was slain. At last the Hyrkanian came over the wall of rocks and shared bread and salt with Artaban. And the three plotted to rescue Prince Teyaspa and put him on the throne.
”Roxana had discovered the secret way to the castle. Today, just before sunset, the Hyrkanians are to attack the castle from the front. While they thus attract the attention of the Zaporoskans, Artaban and his men are to come to the castle by a secret way. Roxana will open the door for them, and they will take the prince and flee into the hills to recruit warriors. As they talked, night fell, and I gnawed through my cords and slipped away.
”You wish vengeance. I'll show you how to trap Artaban. Slay the lot-all but Teyaspa. You can either extort a mighty price from Khus.h.i.+a for her son, or from Yildiz for killing him, or if you prefer you can try to be kingmaker yourself.”
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