Part 24 (1/2)
”Take ed his hauberk off over his head Such work as he had now to do was not best done in arround to pull off his boots ”I will meet you at the crossroads at the foot of the mountain”
”Do you knohere this staff the old man speaks of is to be found?”
Machaon asked
”In the throne roo the scepter and crown hts Valentius has usurped custo the crown so quickly, but he will not dare flout it altogether”
”The royal palace!” Machaon exclaimed ”Cimmerian, you are mad to think you can enter there Come! We will do the best we can with honest steel”
”I was a thief once,” Conan replied ”Twill not be the first palace I've entered by ways other than the door” Stripped now to his breech-cloth, he slung his swordbelt across his er and pouch beneath his left arm
Claran and Me on the thick slates of the court ”I will be at the crossroads, with the staff,” the Ciround-eating pantherish strides, Conan loped into the night
Behind him Machaon and the others clattered out of the courtyard and turned their mounts in the other direction, toward the North Gate, but he was already one with the darkness, a deadly ghost racing through unlit streets that were empty of other human forms Every door was barred, everyshuttered, as the inhabitants of the city cowered in fear of what aunt-ribbed and half-wild, prowled the e shape that shared the ith the stones felt like the rocks of his native Cis to his stride as when he raced up s pu, for this ti, but for Karela, and for even, woain an owl cried, and Conan's mind went to Narus' words Perhaps the cry did mean death, his or someone else's Crom, the fierce God of the harsh and icy land where he was born, gave a ri, nor that ould always prevail Aas breath or life remained
The Cimmerian did not slow until the massive walls of the royal palace looainst the ebon sky The thick, iron-sheathed gates were closed and barred, the portcullis down, but he spared not a glance in that direction Such was not his ers felt across the surface of the wall, featureless in the blackness Long centuries past had the great wall been built, of stones each weighing est trebuchet could hurl boulders weighty enough to trouble its solidity, but Conan did not h Those years had leeched at the aps that ile sureness Conan clirooves where wind and rain and ti to pull hirip Beloas only the long, bone-shattering drop to paveht, yet he did not slow in his swift ascent of that sheer wall Tireatly to allow room for caution
At the top of the wall he paused between two tallfor the scuff of boots on the rauards would surely dooun There was no sound Conan drew hiuards were atop the wall The palace was silent as a toates; the White Eagle would strike hard, as was his wont
Fro ramp led doard the outer bailey
There, however, he would surely be seen, no uards had been left behind or how many servants hid in fear that too-ardent service to hiht be punished if he lost it
Rooftopsof the palace, lay but an easy ju run could be round rather than down a steep ra of the bailey were ignored
Conan les, then took a deep breath and sprinted down the ra hie of the roof One tile broke free, spiraling into the dark to shatter on the stones below; for an instant the Ci to hook a leg over the edge The tile he held to shi+fted under his hand Then he was flat on the roof, carefully setting aside the loose tile and quieting his breath as he waited to see if the noise of the first tile's fall drew attention Still nothing stirred
Like a jungle beast Conan was up and running, feet sure on the slanting tiles, cli froh peaked gable, edging with chest pressed flat against sh only for the balls of his feet, then cliain, past mullioned s and trefoils, until at last he scrareat height on the vast throne roo on thick chains of the sahting well the floor far below, a floor les that were the royal symbols of Ophir In the middle of that floor was a black-shrouded bier on which Valdric's body lay in state, clothed in ornate robes of gold e
Conan's eyes sought the throne Like unto the great chair in which Antier still and of solid gold The beasts' eyes were rubies, and claws and talons clutched ee as the joint of a n Ancient law or no, the Ciht, Valentius had not found it in himself to part with the royal diadeht was there
Across the arlittering with an encrustation of all ems
Carefully Conan let hi the scrolls and arabesques carved in the marble walls to climb down until he reached their end, so He ripped loose a corner of one-a scene of a crowned King hunting deer fro on it as at the end of a rope His feet brushed the floor, and he released the tapestry to run to the throne
Al scepter So much had he risked on the word of a drunk, and so an prying away soft gold and sparkling jewels, letting them fall to the purple velvet cushi+on of the throne At the sight of wood beneath he grunted in satisfaction, but continued until he had stripped away all the outer sheath He was left with a plain wooden staff as long as his outstretched arether
Yet could it be in truth the Staff of Avanrakash, he wondered He felt no ns of its supposed great age In fact, had it been a walking staff he would have thought it cut no more than a few days previous
”But it ithin the scepter,” he breathed, ”and it is all I have”
For luck he scooped a handful of ge to see what they were, and stuffed them into his pouch
”A common thief,” Taramenon said from the door to the throne room