Part 29 (1/2)

”You fight like a regiment of devils,” conceded Olgerd. ”But don't get to thinking that you've had anything to do with the recruits who've swarmed in to join us. It was our success at raiding, guided by my wit, that brought them in. These nomads are always looking for a successful leader to follow, and they have more faith in a foreigner than in one of their own race.

”There's no limit to what we may accomplis.h.!.+ We have eleven thousand men now. In another year we may have three times that number. We've contented ourselves, so far, with raids on the Turanian outposts and the city-states to the west. With thirty or forty thousand men we'll raid no longer. We'll invade and conquer and establish ourselves as rulers. I'll be emporor of all Shem yet, and you'll be my vizier, so long as you carry out my orders unquestioningly. In the meantime, I think we'll ride eastward and storm that Turanian outpost at Vezek, where the caravans pay toll.”

Conan shook his head. ”I think not.”

Olgerd glared, his quick temper irritated.

”What do you mean, you think not? I do the thinking for this army!”

”There are enough men in this band now for my purpose,” answered the Cimmerian. ”I'm sick of waiting. I have a score to settle.”

”Oh!” Olgerd scowled, and gulped wine, then grinned. ”Still thinking of that cross, eh? Well, I like a good hater. But that can wait.”

”You told me once you'd aid me in taking Khauran,” said Conan.

”Yes, but that was before I began to see the full possibilities of our power,” answered Olgerd. ”I was only thinking of the loot in the city.

I don't want to waste our strength unprofitably. Khauran is too strong a nut for us to crack now. Maybe in a year---”

”Within the week,”' answered Conan, and the kozak stared at the certainty in his voice.

”Listen,” said Olgerd, ”even if I were willing to throw away men on such a harebrained attempt-what could you expect, Do you think these wolves could besiege and take a city like Khauran?”

”There'll be no siege,” answered the Cimmerian. ”I know how to draw Constantius out into the plain.”

”And what then?” cried Olgerd with an oath. ”In the arrow play our hors.e.m.e.n would have the worst of it, for the armor of the a.s.shuri is the better, and when it came to sword strokes their close-marshaled ranks of trained swordsmen would cleave through our loose lines and scatter our men like chaff before the wind.”

”Not if there were three thousand desperate Hyborian hors.e.m.e.n fighting in a solid wedge such as I could teach them,” answered Conan.

”And where would you secure three thousand Hyborians?” asked Olgerd with vast sarcasm. ”Will you conjure them out of the air?”

”I have them,” answered the Cimmerian imperturbably. ”Three thousand men of Khauran camp at the oasis of Akrel, awaiting my orders.”

”What?” Olgerd glared like a startled wolf.

”Aye. Men who had fled from the tyranny of Constantius. Most of them have been living the lives of outlaws in the deserts east of Khauran and are gaunt and hard and desperate as man-eating tigers. One of them will be a match for any three squat mercenaries. It takes oppression and hards.h.i.+p to stiffen men's guts and put the fire of h.e.l.l into their thews. They were broken up into small bands; all they needed was a leader. They believed the word I sent them by my riders, and a.s.sembled at the oasis and put themselves at my disposal.”

”All this without my knowledge?” A feral light began to gleam in Olgerd's eyes. He hitched at his weapon-girdle.

”It was I they wished to follow, not you.”

”And what did you tell these outcasts to gain their allegiance?” There was a dangerous ring in Olgerd's voice.

”I told them that I'd use this horde of desert wolves to help them destroy Constantius and give Khauran back into the hands of its citizens.”

”You fool!” whispered Olgerd. ”Do you deem yourself chief already?”

The men were on their feet, facing each other across the ebony board, devil-lights dancing in Olgerd's cold gray eyes, a grim smile on the Cimmerian's hard lips.

”I'll have you torn between four palm trees,” said the kozak calmly.

”Call the men and bid them do it!” challenged Conan. ”See if they obey you!”