Part 1 (1/2)
CONAN THE CHAMPION
By John Maddox Roberts
One
The Sea of Storhts the terrible stor iants and the Gods in the days when the world was young Not for nothing was the Vilayet named the Sea of Storms, the Mother of the Tempest, and other titles that expressed the awe of men at the way the usually-placid inland sea could turn without notice into a savage, primeval chaos, the Grave of Sailors
The man who tossed helplessly upon the waves, lashed to the stus Since the midst of the second day of the storm, when his shi+p had broken up under the relentless pounding of the sea, he had been afloat By noas nearly senseless fro cold of the water He was able to keep only a single thought in hishim north, and the Vilayet narrowed to the north Soon he must be tossed ashore, and that was his only chance for life When he neared the land, hecrushed as the heavy tiainst beach or rock Still in his belt was his long, curved Kothian dagger in its hide sheath Frequently the rasp its hilt when the tihts as the wind howled like de of the wind
Dawaz rose early on theafter the stors were yielded by the sea on such occasions, and sos that could be turned to profit Profit was never to be taken lightly Thus, he wrapped hi and left his little trading post, the northernhrapur
The post was situated in a tiny cove on the western shore of the Vilayet, where the sea was noThe Vilayet was a shallow sea, thus a wind that would cause no more than a heavy swell on the Western Ocean could stir titanic waves on the surface of the Vilayet For the same reason, the cessation of the winds left the tideless sea calreat deal of storetation, much of this blown up from the south There were dead fish and an occasionalthe sea's finest gifts Finest of all would be a coo Dawaz deter the coast to search for such It must be conan the chas thereabout claimed all such sea bounty as their personal property He was about to go back to the post for his breakfast when he saw the corpse
Corpses were as, and had no value whatever Sailors rarely had ure plainly had not been a wealthy passenger It had been a big man, and Daould need his servants' aid to push the body back into the sea He did not want this fellow's spirit haunting his post The ghosts of drowned seaed at sea, which was their element
He was about to turn his steps to the post when the corpse roaned Dawaz stared, fascinated This hued by the ele-ments, and blue with cold, yet it lived The an to vomit copious amounts of seawater, and Daent to fetch his servants
Conan awoke in the di, its walls constructed of flat stones piled with-outas a swinging, top-hinged shutter, de-signed to be propped outward in better weather so that the whole building ht be used as a shop of sorts Just now the shutter was tied down and draped with rough cloth against drafts Bales and bundles filled oods, so upon them A driftwood fee burned on a low hearth, the salt in the wood , multicolored sparks
He lay on a pallet of skins, and over hi as if in a slow earthquake, but Conan knew that this was caused by his long sojourn a waves It see as ht have He had survived more mortal threats than he could readily remember
There were at least two other men in the room They could not be too unfriendly, since they had not cut his throat when they had the chance As the lettering he could see was Turanian, he decided to try that tongue first
”What is this place?” His voice sounded more like the croak of a crow than the speech of a ht a heavily-bundled man to his side The man's features were Turanian, as was his speech
”Welco, friend I am happy to tell you that it is a dry land, albeit cold”
”Any solid ground is better than the Vilayet in a storm,” said Conan ”You are a coastal trader?”
”For Kyros Brothers” The trader placed his finger-tips against his breast and bowed very slightly ”I am Dawaz”
”I am Conan of--” He was about to say ”of the Red Brotherhood,” but thought better of it ”--of Ci on a shi+p soht by the stornaled a servant The servant, a Turanian of low caste, brought a carved wooden cup of stea spiced wine
”This should settle your stomach a bit,” said Dawaz ”Then we may try some solid food Doubtless you've not eaten in days, and your belly was quite full of salt water, which I witnessed ,” Conan said with a littlea conan the cha drink of the spiced wine, which onderfully bracing to a half-drowned man ”What land is this? Our shi+p had just paid a visit to a settlement near the northern border of Turan ere struck by the storht it best not tothe settlement
”You are far north of there,” Dawaz told hiues from the northern'tip of the Vilayet, and beyond that is the land of snow-giants and dragons Here there are no true kingdolets Each of them claims wide lands, but none truly rules beyond the reach of his sword”
Conan nodded This was true of most of the North, which was still priht a bowl of thick, fragrant stew aid a stack of flat loaves, tough and leathery
”You are here late in the year,” Conan observed as be ate ”Do you plan to winter here?”
”We may have to,” Dawaz admitted He filled a cup for himself and poured more wine into Conan's ”The last shi+p of the season was supposed to cooods back to Agnrapur So must have befallen it Perhaps the storht have been ooe that he and the Brethren had looted ”Much can happen to a shi+p on the Vilayet Will one of the local bogs protect you through the winter?”
'Perhaps,” Dawaz said moodily ”After all, they depend upon the southern trade for reedy, and are many bands of outlaws as well It shall be a 6hard winter, and we shall be fortunate to get through it with our lives and goods intact” ”Who rules here?” Conan asked ”The king who claims this stretch of coast is called Odoac His nation, or ians They are a crude people, who lust after gold and the silks and other luxuries of the South For these they trade the furs they trap and the slaves they capture from other peoples”
”Do you trade slaves?” Conan asked suspiciously It was always possible that the enerous reasons
”No We have an agree goods and they have the slave trade You really must have special shi+ps to transport slaves, so it is not practical to deal in both The slave coo”
Conan was relieved There were many other ques-tions he wanted to ask, but sleep overcame him before he could finish one of them
For the next two days the Cimmerian recovered fro as ever and fretting to be away Daondered at the ht that Conan would have to be nursed along for at least a month, but except for a little shakiness in the first two days Conan had showed little effect froe barbarian The , tree-clad hills Had Dawaz been a slaver, he e about thirty, very powerful, black hair, blue eyes, skin fair but darkened by sun and 7 weather, tall and sturdy, all teeth present and sound, northern in origin, priht of early winter, Dawaz sat bun-died in his woolens, writing with a brush upon a scroll set on a low table before hi The Ciiven his of wolfskin above his heavy sandals This left his arhs bare, and that seemed to suit his north-on blood ”What do you write?” he asked
”I flatter myself that I am a bit of a scholar Since I sees about h Mitra knows there is little to write about these northern lands”
”Are there any wars going on?” Conan asked
”Why do you ask?”
”Because Ito do There shall be no shi+ps this way until spring When I a as there is a war brewing, I can earn my bread”
”Stay here with me,” Dawaz said ”I enjoy your company You have traveled far, and I should like to hear more of the places you have visited We have plenty of provisions for the winter, and the local fisher-Ben and hunters cory”
”It is good of you to ask,” Conan said, ”and I thank you But it is not my way to while (Jie months away in fleness If you can lend s”
”Very well,” sighed Dawaz On the table before hian to draw a crude map ”Here we are north of the steppe The land is hilly and covered with dense forest, reat rivers, but are many streams, most of them soon to freeze
each ed and the cavalry riding by in rows as if all were on but a single horse The people here get together on a field and swing their weapons until only the men of one side are left on their feet I understand that it is not rare for nobody at all to be standing after one of these battles”