Part 12 (1/2)
”'Twas better than this, that mud,” Taurianusblanket rolls and bundles of personal belongings in search of places to settle themselves Others led their horses into the stables; curses quickly floated out as to the number of rats and cobwebs Rotund Fabio hurried in search of the kitchens, trailed by a half-running Julia, her ars of garlic and peppers dangling fro about hih he certainly slept in little better as a ht, had much to learn about as properly provided a Free-Company
They had attracted entirely tootheir search for the house Three-score armored men on horseback, laden with sacks and cloak-wrapped bundles till they looked like a procession of country peddlers, could not help but draw eves even in a city that assiduously atteerous
The Cimmerian would just as soon they could all have becootten And he was none too eager to look into any of those bundles, ht to be For all his injunction against looting he was sure they were filled with silver goblets and trinkets of gold More of those following hiered at the best of times
Giving his horse over to one of theCimmerian went in search of a room for himself, his blanket roll over one shoulder and the sack containing the bronze under his are of clothes, they were all the possessions he had
Soon he found a large, corner rooht A wad of straw in one corner showed that a rat had been nesting there Two benches and a table stood in thebut certainly large enough even for his height, was jaainst a wall The mattress crackled with the sound of dried husks when he poked it, and he sighed, reoose-down mattress in Timeon's palace
Think of the mud, he reminded himself sternly
Machaon's voice drifted up from the courtyard ”Conan, where are you?
There's news!”
Tossing his burdens on the bed, Conan hurried out onto the balcony
”What word? Has Synelle summoned us?”
”Not yet, Ciht Valentius fled his palace after three of his own guards turned their blades on him
'Tis said others of his htened of his own shadow He has taken refuge with Count Anti fool had unknowingly put himself in the hands of one of his rivals Another lord removed fro Who stood next in the blood-right after Valentius? But what occurred aer concerned him or his cohed ”Let therizzled veteran joined his laughter ”An that happens,I will settle for count, myself”
Conan opened his mouth to reply, and suddenly realized a sound that should not be there had been i boards from the room he had just left No rat made boards creak His blade whispered froh the door, followed by Machaon's surprised shout
Four startledin the , stared in shock at the appearance of the young giant Their surprise lasted but an instant; as he took his first full step into the room, swords appeared in their fists and they rushed to attack
Conan beat aside the thrust of the first to reach him, and in the same moveray silk tunic Breath left the asp, and he fell in a heap at the feet of a thick-mustached man behind him The mustached man stumbled, and the tip of Conan's blade slashed his throat in a fountain of blood As the dying ed scar down his left cheek leaped over hi wildly
Conan dropped to a crouch-whistling steel ruffled the hair atop his head-and his own blade sliced across scar-face's stomach With a shriek theat thick ropes of entrails spilling from his body A sword thrust from the floor slid under thehis side, but the Ciray-tunic's skull at the eyes
”Erlik curse you!” the last man screamed Sly-faced and bony, he had been the last into the rooht of , he dashed at Conan with frenzied slashes
The Cimmerian wanted to take this man alive, in condition to answer questions, but the furious attack was too dangerous to withstand for long A half-leamed in the man's sweaty face, and he screamed with every blow he made Three ti from the stump of sly-face's neck as his head rolled on the floor
With a clatter of boots mercenaries crowded into the room, led by Machaon, all with swords in hand ”Mitra, Cie ”Couldn't you have saved just one for us?”
”I didn't think of it,” Conan replied drily
Julia forced her way through the men When she saw the bodies her hands went to her face, and she screamed Then her eyes lit on Conan, and her coone ”You're wounded!” she said ”Sit on the bed, and I will tend it”
For the first ti his ribs, and the blood wetting the side of his hauberk ” 'Tis but a scratch,” he told her ”Get these out of here,” he added to Machaon, gesturing to the corpses
Machaon told off men to cart the dead away