Part 3 (2/2)
”Yes, but you may not have her! You must deliver her to me at this place, alive and unharo”
The thing glared at him with hideous amusement, tben said, ”I abide by the pact Now, show me”
Lima's flames flattened and spread into a broad whorl, tike his forest pool Pictures began to take forh a bird's eye upon - wall in the midst of the plain dotted with its aiht foolishly in her choice of a dwelling ec” said the deyre we have felt strange vibrations ema- froain, and then the form of Alcuina The queen of the Ca the perfection of her upper body, a handold tresses fanned over her shapely, white shoulders The queen pensive, but what thoughts lay behind her level a e such things,” lile of Rerin The old man stood upon the walk that ran ”This is my enemy He is a wiz- ”This is where they live,” lil the stones of the 6061
ard, but his skill is small compared to mine, and he has no pact with you”
”A trivial business,” the demon said in boredom Then another man joined the wizard, a tall, powerfully-builtblack hair ”Who is this?”
”That is Alcuina's new champion,” lilma said ”A mere adventurer, and of no consequence”
The demon looked upon lilma with a shtened for a er ”This one has the aura of destiny about hied ”Many are born to destiny, yet die before they have any chance to fulfill it”
In the i to stare straight at theer toward theesture The warrior snatched a spear froainst the palisade and cast it upward The weapon seee-point shi+fted and they lost sight of the two
lilma smiled frostily ”The foolish Rerin has learned to keep watch for my familiars”
”We shall take them,” the demon said ”The queen, the wizard, and the warrior”
”The wizard you esture with his hand-- ”you may do with as you like But the queen you htly da is interested priree, and her ability to produce strong heirs”
”None of those things shall be dae I shall contact you in the spirit-trance when I have her for you At that time you must come to the place whence you came here and perform as you have this day Then shall I deliver her to you, in accordance with the pact be-tween us”
”Be it so,” said liluished, and he found himself once more within the beehive-shaped hut of stone Before him lay the cold ashes of his fire, and outside he could hear the cawing of twoover the Bony plain He did not like this place He liked his coh, and he could not fault Alcuina is an employer, but the ancient stone lines and circles depressed his spirits The massive posts with their stone feels could never have been the work of reat to lift by any ine They squatted in brutish silence, and he as sure they were haunted by the spirits of the build-as The old reed with him in this, but Me in inn insisted that they needed the hile they ere in so weakened a condition, with so ently, but Conan, perched above the ik had had a small shelter built to protect the man on f k had no sides to restrict his vision, but a thatched ' bqx off the worst of the snow or rain
iiiiLd at the sound of so the r He wondered which of his friends, sleepless this co up to while away an hour in tale-Great was his surprise to see Alcuina herself
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”Good evening,his sword
”You are a nervous arth,” she said
”I have not arrived ata man was my friend merely from the direction of his approach What's ing hih I knew him as my own commander It was a lesson I was slow to learn, but it may be the only sensible one the southern armies use”
”It is rare that I even find one of my sentries ahen I come upon the sentries?”
”It depends So I would not recommend that you employ such means Northern warriors are not like southern soldiers”
”I could not sleep tonight,” Alcuina said She stood by Conan and leaned upon the palisade, looking out over the vista that so disturbed the Cimmerian ”I went to Rerin's hut, but he is abed You are the only other one wakeful in the garth”
”What disturbs your sleep?” Conan asked, not with-out a gentle ood one, I saw that you put away your share of the ale, the snores within are no louder than usual, the livestock are back in their sheds, and no dead --”
”Do not ht” She looked back out over the plain ”I feel that soood place for us to live I should have trusted to a timber wall such as ays used”
”Too late to be worrying about that,” Conan said uneasily He did not like this talk of things stirring in the outer darkness The fight with the dead had been bad enough Now that it was past, he hoped there would be no s An open sally by Totila hat he wanted He had no unease about an honest fight with real men and real weapons, no matter how bad the odds ”WeLet ood defensive position in the upland”
”Spring may be too late” Alcuina shi+vered, but not from the cold ”Perhaps I'll be forced into alliance with Odoac after all”
It occurred to Conan that her sleeplessness ht be occasioned by lack of suitable male companionshi+p Surely she would not be out in the eir or any of the other men who, Cooan complacently realized, did not share in his abun-dmce of the qualities woht when he was inter-aped by the arrival of Rerin The oldup the ladder just as Conan had stepped closer ( tie queen
”I had thought you abed,” said Alcuina as she hast- ' aepped away from Conan
~As did I,” said Conan sourly
~An evil dream woke me,” Rerin said ”I doubt not i is up to soht I did not expect to find you has beco place,” Conan we've not seen those accursed pies in so why think you that lil,” Rerin said i man Does that not make you suspicious?”
Conan shook his head ”The less I see of wizards,” he said pointedly, ”the happier I aoes for their fa about h”
”I felt it too, Rerin,” said Alcuina, ignoring Conan ”Strange shapesof which,” Conan broke in, ”I wonder wherehours, with or without strange shapes”
”Coustedly, ”let us retire to reat warrior” The two descended the ladder and left Conan, arht, brooding, there were plenty of other women hereabout Because of the recent increase ins, many who had let him know in no uncertain ter He had yielded to soued hidoood of her people inin Conan's experience Her warriors were in-tensely loyal to her, even though she was not a war-chieftain, and that was even rarer More to the point, he found her beautiful, and he was frustrated by her see indifference to him Certainly a queen could have no intention of permanent attachment to a penniless adventurer, but surely she owed herself a little pleasur- able dalliance And who better to dally with than Conan? It was hard on a warrior's pride
He saw a s his way froht be-caot borne by Ataulf, his relief TheBeneath the little roof, he tossed his brand into the sn of foes without?” he asked sleepily
”You would know if there had been,” Conan said shortly ”What took you so long to get here? I've been freezing my--”
”Peace, Conan I aht sentry Go find your bed”
Conan grumbled as he descended to the yard He would show that stuck-up, queenly wench He won-dered which of the woazes his way to try first No, they would all be asleep now, and in no ht No, what he really needed was so heaps on the floor He found his place and was beginning to unbuckle his cuirass when the screaan from behind the arras at the end of the hall
”Croht's sleep in this place?” He ripped out his sword and dashed for the arras The glowing coals in the hearth illumined that end of the hall With no patience for such niceties as formal entrance, he slashed the arras froh
Brilliant, unnatural light filled the chamber Dazzled, 6667
Conan couldcarowls
”Alcuina!” he shouted, sword held out before hiht ”Where are you?” A loud chanting rose a the other sounds Behind Conan the hall stirred, but nobody joined hiht faded The screa continued At last Conan could see The queen's chas splintered and claw-slashed The logs that forh Beyond the gaping hole footprints led away through the falling snow