Part 13 (1/2)

203though it is true that we built up fires so we could see to ply our weapons What ht, when one cannot tell friend from foe, and no one can witness the deeds of the valiant?”

”Picts,” said Conan with a griild said ”Who are they?”

”They are a folk who love to fight at all hours,” said the Ciht-battle There are others who are good in the dark-- Afghuiis, Hiht theht,” said Siggeir haughtily

”Nonetheless,” Alcuina said quietly, ”someone must carry out this task, and it is Conan who has this skill And if it is to be done, my champion is the one who de-serves that honor”

”I wish you well, Conan,” Leovigild said ”If any can defeat lilma's familiars, itover the hills to the east when Conan betook hiathered atop the wall stared in wonder at the Cimmerian's bizarre ap-pearance He was dressed all in black wolfskins, and he had blackened his face and arms with a s on his swordbelt had been wrapped in dark cloth to hide theht th hair in place

”It is time,” he said

”Father Yrinned without mirth ”Crom is my God It is said that he and Yins, I trust to my sword arm”

”The huntsrasp of practicalities, ”butslowly, as you predicted Good fortune, Cimmerian, but use caution This is but a sally to weaken lilma The true battle is yet to come, and I shall have need of your services at that time”

”Fear not, Alcuina,” said Conan, ”I'll not deprive you ofto the top of the palisade, hesitated for athe rope that had been hung from a post There was always a possibility that Totila had sent a scout to watch the gate, so it had been decided that Conan should leave fro the shock on bent knees, with the assurance of perfect balance The faint ht transformed the snow-covered field into a mantle of cloth of silver In the distance, he could barely discern the standing stones

The huntsh the eastern uplands Conan set off in that direction, traveling at a ht Within minutes he was in the forest, and he moved amid the pines with as much assurance as he had upon the plain, his eyes as keen as an owl's in the dimness

At the end of four hours Conan was still not breath-ing heavily He slowed, knowing that Totila's force could not be far It was the smell of smoke on the still air that told him he was near his destination The slow of banked fires in the distance

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205A rough count of the fires gave hier than he had anticipated Totila must be a man of force and ability to have mobilized so many men in the depths of winter

Conan scouted the periphery of the ca for weak points and the location of the leaders As he had anticipated, there were no sentries posted A hardened robber-band such as Totila's would consider such pre-cautions to be weak and effeminate After a full circuit, he had seen no tent or bower set up within the caround, wrapped in his cloak the sa to reh, Conan's quarry was not Totila The wizard liler that the wizard was not sleeping in his cloak like a common warrior The air was nearly still, but there was the faintest of breezes apparent to the Cimmerian's sharp senses He crept a short distance doind and sat with his back to a tree, his eyes closed and, to any casual observer, asleep He was not asleep He was sorting through sense-impressions with the concentration and attention to detail of a Zamoran inquisitor

There were few sounds to study, but the smell of s e of coh, he sorted another smell It was smoke, but not that of pine alone This s-nize, possibly herbs and bark It was for this that he had been searching

Conan rose and began to follow the scent-trail It led him upwind of the camp, into a small fold between t hills Now he could hear sounds as well, strange rattlings and croakings He spied a large clu to his belly, he crawled the rest of the way beneath the overhanging bushes A few ht hie smoke

In the narrow fold between the hills was a tent of reindeer hides, and before it sat a man clad in identical skins, with the horns of that beast crowning his head-dress He was chanting softly, shaking a rattle in odd patterns over a tiny fire, which bumed in a multitude of unnatural colors Conan searched for the source of the clacking and croaking sounds and soon found it

A few paces fropies In the past he had spied thearth Then they had behaved like ordinary birds Now their actions sent a chill of fascinated horror through the Ci other, less nameable sounds in time with lilma's chant, and their heads bobbed rhythht or left, as if in some primitive dance Most uncannily they moved in perfect lockstep, as if both were controlled by a single will

What hellish wizard-craft was the Hyperborean brew-ing now? It would be sothen Totila's hand, or to undermine Alcuina's position Per-haps even an attempt upon his own life It was a te and cut the wizard down in ainst any such foolhardy act lilma, he had said, was a 206

cqnan the champion 207sorcerer who dealt with dark forces and would as-suredly have provided eleuards for his own security A wizard had trouble enough protecting hi to worry aboutthem down They were at their , a task that demanded all their concentration Like other men, they were vulnerable when asleep Vulnerable did not mean defenseless His speculations ceased as he saw a diht this be?

As lilained apparent solidity, although it reht It had the appearance of aht, al upon the youth? That could not be, for this phantoed and was dressed in the type of clothes worn for hunting or fighting

Abruptly lilesture of dismissal The wraith faded out, and the fire ceased to burn in unnatural colors As the fla to the birds Conan did not recognize the language, but he heard the note of triuuessed that the wizard was testing some spell mat he would use at a later tipies bobbed their heads as if in agreement

Conan's blood chilled as one of the birds turned, its eyes burning brighter than the eht toward hi toward hi brush and gloom

”Who dares to spy upon my rites?” hissed out the wizard

Without hesitation Conan sprang to his feet and strode into the clearing before the hut His sword slid froan arcane gesture

But Conan's blade was not aiht as a blur before striking one of the pies The Cimmerian had ex-pected the bird to turn instantly to a mass of blood and feathers, but he was shocked at the solid impact that shook his arm from palm to shoulder It was as if he had squarely struck soer creature

He wrenched the sword back and whirled a cut at the other bird, but the creature had darted back and was beginning to transfor The Cian a rapid chant and the feathered wings grew Feathers becathened as well, beco birdlike feet with bronze talons tipping the hooked toes

Conan knew that he was seeing the creature's true form now; a hideous co a head taller than hied beak froue lolled and writhed and see, hate-filled eyes were the sa Conan with a basilisk stare as it reached for his

208

209The action shook Conan fro between the outstretched claws, he hewed at the shoulder-joint of the left wing Rerin had said that these creatures, if they were to live in the world of men, must obey certain basic laws of that world This meant mat they could be injured and killed The sword struck with afluid splattered Conan He wrenched the blade free and struck like lightning at the opposite shoulder Unexpectedly he was struck a vicious blow across the face just as his sword sliced into the unnaturally tough flesh He staggered back, dazed and unaware froue lashi+ng back and forth, stained with his own blood

The de shriek, its wings sagging on their injured shoulders while lil toward Conan, its taloned feet outstretched like those of a falcon stooping upon a victi's belly and felt the blade sink in as claws struck his chest and bore hiht-ened, and he felt talons begin to sink into his shoulders and back as he pushed and twisted his sword, now buried deep in the beast's entrails

The deue lashed forth A nu sound accoue drew back and poised over Conan's face It was tipped with a circulara foul fluid He knew that only his heavy furs had saved him For that mouth to touch his flesh would be death

Desperately Conan wrenched his sword fro's belly His shoulders Were too constricted to swing the weapon effectively As the gaping beak came forward, he jammed the blade between those jaws, turned so that the double edges were against upper and lower beak Instinctively the deh the deadly tongue and the obscene round

The deony The Cimmerian wrenched hi as it writhed on the ground, its ”blood” puan to lose its shape as its strength faded,slime that liquified and was drunk by the earth

Then Conan was struck a heavy blow froround, springing up to face the direction from which the blow had coer

The other deotten the other It was severely injured, its transfor- right wing still bore the glossy plue of the earthly bird It hissed and lurched to the attack

Conan felt weakened fro's powerful talons and deadly serpent-tongue As he backed away he heard the continuing chant of the Hyperborean Holding the crea-ture at a distance with the point of his sword, he risked a glance at the wizard, who stood a few paces behind 210

211him, his eyes shut in concentration as he wove his spell

Conan continued to back away, his steps taking hiht, he whirled and struck out at thethethe de to take advantage of his momentarily turned back