Part 5 (2/2)

”The beasts here can be worse,” Rerin said ”I am surprised that we have encountered so few”

Conan's storowled ”I ould en-counter one soon I have neither spear nor bow, but I a but my sword”

In the mild clis The rest of his clothing and armor was bundled in his cloak and tied across his back Sword and dagger were belted at his waist

They were headed toward sunset, whatever thata deep cleft in a mountainside with a stream at its bottom This stream flowed uphill, as did some others they had seen Others flowed downhill, and they had even encountered one that had an uphill current on one side and a downhill current on the other Conan had been in e places in his life, but this was the oddest of them all

”Be still!” Rerin hissed

Conan did as he was bidden He listened hard, and soon heard a ruht a hint of ht he couldjust above the crest of land The bulk of the thing was below the crest, but fro was going by

”Croht ”What was that? It looked like the grandfather of all serpents”

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Rerin shook his head ”I know not, but I do not think it is native to the shi+fting Land What called it hither I dread even to conteot into this valley e did,” Conan said ”If we had been slower crossing the ridge, it ht have seen us If it has eyes, at any rate If there are more like that hereabout, we may be in for trouble”

”May be?” said Rerin ”We have been in mortal peril since we crossed fro noise, an anilike, with a snout for rooting, and small, hoofed feet For a htedly, its nostrils quiver-ing at their strange sed rock and threw it, all in one motion, almost too swift to see The stone struck the beast between the eyes with a loud crunch, and it fell over on its side, stone dead

Conan grinned ”There's our dinner!” He drew his knife and advanced on the dead creature

”You are as handy with a rock as with a sword,” Rerin observed

Conan began butchering the carcass ”Cimmerian lads are expected to find much of their own food after they have learned to walk I've spentover the clan's cattle on short rations Woe to the rabbit orthose lean days I a, but a simple stone will do”

”So I see I shall build us a fire, though I fear to attract attention”

”I would rather die fighting than starve,” Conan said ”In any case, I would like to speak with the inhabitants of this land, so let the and shtly cooked Conan carved away chunks and stuffed the the joints back over the flames to cook soed to put away a goodly portion of the meat as well From time to time Conan took up his sword and hacked at a hairy root that kept creeping toward them from the nearest tree line

”Ita rib, ”but it tastes as good as any wild boar I have eaten in the world of reeable,” Rerin said gloomily

”Cheer up, wizard We are alive, we are free, and we are on the track of the lady to e both owe allegiance There are worse things than that” He picked np a large rock, one of a pile he had gathered by them, and threw it It crushed a small bush he did nqt like the took of ”We could be dead,” he went on, ”or in chains”

”I envy your ability to be caled ”I have never found any advantage in worrying about things before they happen If danger teeatens, I can fight it or run from it, but until it is before me there is little I can do about it Does that not hed ”Of a sort” He stared into the flames, and his expression went blank Conan knew that this meant the old man was in one of his trances, so the 9293

Ci until Rerin should come out of it

After several minutes Rerin blinked and was once erly, ”did you learn aught of Alcuina?”

”She is in soer, but it is notwere about to slay her”

”Eh? What do you er or she is not”

”It was not clear to me From what 1 could learn, she has escaped from her captors, and they search for her She has fallen in with others, and these mean her no less harm”

”That does not surprise me,” Conan said, ”in this place Do you know yet where she is?”

”There was a veil between me and her whereabouts, and 1 fear that she has fallen in with ic-practitioners of no reat building, like a castle I think she is in that place”

”A castle,” Conan mused ”I have dealt with castles before, and border forts, strong-houses, te place made by men may be broken into, and its treasures despoiled”

”You speak as if from much experience,” Rerin said ”However, I fear that this place may not have been ic-practitioners But, we can only do our best” He tossed a bone over his shoulder into the dark beyond They could hear so pounce upon it Conan lay doith his head pillowed on his cuirass and drew his wolfskin cloak over him ”You take first watch Keep the plants at a distance” He placed his hand upon his sword hilt and was soon snoring peacefully

Rerin closed his eyes and raised his palesture of prayer ”Father Yrateful that you did not make many like him, but on behalf of Alcuina andhireat castle, in a chae instruer beasts, Hasta stood over a brazier, inhaling the fumes from blossoms that blackened and crisped upon the coals His silver eyes revealed nothing, but his body twitched spasmodically, and thenest of ed fro stream

Behind him a door opened quietly, and Sarissa en-tered Now she wore a caped robe of sheerest material, which hs, concealing nothing and enhancing everything She waited quietly, not daring to disturb her brother in the midst of his trance There were li ways he could express his displeasure

Below in her cha and exhausted, and had beco cast within the castle As earthly beings know instantly the sound of a loved one's voice, so Sarissa recognized the vibrations of her brother's spell-casting and decided to go investigate Her people's abiding burden was bore-dom, and they spent much of their time in search of new diversion She knew that this spell her brother was 97

Rerin and Conan were in an open field, tra toward farsense of disorientation It was like a co in an earthquake Yet, when it passed, they were standing as they had been and the nearby trees did not sway It was not the first time they had experienced this sensation, which was coed now?” Conan asked irritably ”Any-thing in our path?”

”I fear so” Rerin pointed to a deep cleft that had appeared in a hillside before thereat cavern It looked like a feature of the landscape that had been there forever, yet it had not been there a few minutes before

”I do not like this,” Conan said He opened his bundle and buckled on his cuirass Clapping on his helood distance,” he advised ”It has the aspect of a deree,” Rerin said ”It has appeared too conve-niently before us, and I fear soed away fro a wary eye on it They were just past it and beginning to relax when the attack carasped Conan's shoulder and pointed Fro

”Crom!” Conan said in a choked voice

The creature was the size of an elephant, and it stood upon innus It was covered with a horny carapace and bore before it a pair of huge pincers on massive arms From its rear protruded what ap-peared to be a cluster of snakes, arching high over its back Between the pincer-tipped ”ar two antennae, which waved about as if under their own volition

The two htest ive away their position Whatever unearthly senses the ht possess, ordinary vision did not see them For several heartbeats the situation remained static, then the antennae ceased their randoan to creep in their direction

”I think,” Rerin said in a led voice, ”that it is time to run” He proceeded to do exactly that, and any watcher would have been as kept hi Cimmerian

Conan ran for his life, but he heard hideous sounds growing closer behind hi could not run as fast as a Cimmerian mountaineer? He looked back over his shoulder and saw to his horror that the s, faster than any man could run

With the instantaneous decision that so characterized him, Conan halted in midstride, whirled about, and drew his sword It was not that he thought he stood a chance against so forht have would not be iht He could just hear the oldinto the distance, then he had no attention to spare for anything but his immediate concern