Part 13 (2/2)
Conan grunted, and shi+fted a third time, so that he could reply to Bethina as she had spoken to hiainst his lips
”You're no garden rose, to wilt at a few rough words Tell me the truth”
She was silent briefly, then replied: ”I see you knoo bones”
”Perhaps But-under law, I can be chief over the Ekinari, instead of Doiran
Under law, if I do as athe Ekinari?”
”They must-they must be whole men, not eunuchs Also, they must have taken a foe in battle”
The proer in the second silenced it at once
”This is no game, Bethina”
”The bandits are no friend to Ekinari or any other tribe The Khorajans still less so I did not coht back laughter ”There are sports and sports, lady But I agree, a dark ditch waiting for flea-ridden bandits is no place for most of them” He squeezed an admirably firm and rounded shoulder ”You'll find me as apt as-”
The Cis froht have been the wind rising again; itunder an incautious footfall
The wisest thing was to wait for the intruder's next mistake Bethina stiffened but made no sound, save the faintest rustle as she drew steel froain This time it was unmistakably a footfall Auntil Conan could judge the direction The intruder was close to the left Too close to be left alone
All very well, but he had no wish to spring the trap for a single man ”We want to draw them in, put an end to most of the the ain Conana bird He saw a darker patch against the sky, th away The ed robes and was as hairy and bearded as one, but he wore a sword and dagger with silver hilts
Too vain of his blades to blacken theht
The ranks of warriors would not miss this one
Thein the shape of a gigantic dark forround Then a fist like a iant snake locked around his neck The man's senses had left hiround
Conan crouched in turn, stripping off the man's robes A wide-eyed Bethina pulled the senselesshis hands and feet with strips of his own garments, as Conan took his victim's place He had to stoop a trifle to look the sarown He had also worn under his robes h to say ”Khoraja” to anyone who knew the handiwork of that city's artisans
The Cimmerian reached down and stroked Bethina's forehead, all he could reach without dropping his guard He thought he heard a light, nearly stifled giggle, and vowed to touch more than her forehead as soon as they found a tio with her looks!
In the Khorajan's place, Conan had a clear view all around him, to the horizon in three directions and the cliff in the fourth The fires in the ca to keep up the act The stars no longer glowed undi across the sky Another sandstorroping against a far deadlier foe than Bethina's ”guards”
The sound this ti so hard to be silent that they would have succeeded against almost any man but the Ciures with either bows or swords Then farther off he heard a horse whicker
The bandits themselves had divided their forces Some would no doubt rush in to surprise the camp and sow panic Then theiroff the Turanians' horses and carrying away loot and prisoners The surviving Greencloaks would have sh another encounter with the meanest foe
It did not take a warrior of Conan's experience to doubt that the bandits had devised this scheme by themselves A shrewder captain than the bandits of any land usually produced was behind tonight's work
The silence froues Before, he would have given e to the ca Noould have as gladly sent aand dance, so the bandits would not suspect that they had been detected
Another whicker, closer, and Conan turned only his head in the direction of the horse-sounds The h a dry wash that they thought concealed them completely But a low part of the bank let Conan's eyes pick them out of the darkness
Before darkness, the Cimmerian had ridden over much of the country for several bowshots around the caround in the enemy's path, there was a narrow end to the dry wash, where a handful ht blockwhere you were not expected in a night battle was the easiest way known to Gods or men to be killed by your friends
Conan now turned his head the other way, and this time the curses escaped his lips Another band of loosefeet had drifted into sight as silently as a ht for thethat to the horseheaded captain, the one who led the ene the chiefs he had slain and sing a death song for hiladly ask him what he did in this land, and who else aided hihulis at his post The plan had been for all three outposts to strike the enemy in the rear But the men in posts closer to the cliff now could not ht on open ground by bandit archers In that situation, they were to rally on the camp itself and swell the ranks of its defenders-or face the wrath of both Khezal and Conan together
The attack froh six Afghulis accustomed to bladework in the dark were no despicable foe either
Together, Conan expected that he and the Afghulis h the harder she tried to ”take her man,” the harder that task would be
Conan's chivalry tooht she entered of her own free will But the Ekinari would not be grateful if he led Bethina into battle and did not lead her out again safely Ungrateful Ekinari could be a menace to the quest or the peace of Turan, and either way a menace to Khezal's future
A ht, to learn that he could owe too hulis slipped along behind Conan as silently as the Cimmerian, more so than their enemies Bethina not only kept up, she made hardly more noise than her companions
So it was not any of those with Conan who alerted the prowling loosefeet to their danger
”Eeeeenaaaa-ha!”
The war cry split the night Conan saw shadoirl and dance as some bandits faced about, to repel attack fro to reach the ca out of their blankets
With battle joined, speed was nowhis pace only enough to not outdistance his co a o into battle alone when there was no need
So Conan struck the bandits only a few paces ahead of Farad, and Farad only a few paces ahead of the other Afghulis Bethina brought up the rear, but just before Conan drew his sword he heard her shriek
”Leave one for hed in the same breath He needed no advice, and Bethina had revealed her presence to the enelad to leave her a live foe or two, but he wondered if her enthusias her steel would survive her first battle Knowing that you held e of your sword sobered s, and the faster they were killed, the better for honorable round dropped from under Conan's feet He turned a sturavel in his hair, sand in his mouth, and his sword still in his hand He also came up so close to his first opponent that he barely had time to parry the first stroke of the man's tulwar
Conan's riposte disarmed the man, and as he drew back to o He was fighting against four or five, as far as he could tell He would not borrow trouble unless his foes knew no more of swordsmanshi+p than children The children, that is, of other lands than Ci theed from the way his slashes jarred his arm and the men he slashed screa in under the Cier Conan buffeted the ht his knee up under the man's ja and neck both sundered by the blow, the round about the Cimmerian was slippery with blood and cluttered with the dead or the dying Fortunately he could give way, because now the Afghulis were up on either flank, and he could hear their steelthe bandits' even as he kept his eyes firmly on his own part of the battle
So he did not see Bethina running up until she had run past hi skewered by mistake was a mystery that only the Gods of battlefields knew, and Conan doubted that they ever bothered to share their knowledge with honest warriors