Part 14 (1/2)
He could not doubt that Bethina was in er, or would be thethe with the sloits of her enemies and her oielded blade She was admirably free of quaint notions about fair play in a desperate fight; she took her firsthim in the back His screa as Bethina snatched her dagger free and faced new foes
One of these see a wo A swift kick sent the man doith a shattered knee, and Conan's other foot sta
Bethina's next opponent was er, but was supple and swift as a cat He locked blades with the Ekinari girl, then gripped her by the hair She gasped at the pain and tried to bring her knee up This threw her off balance, and both opponents fell, the bandit on top
Still Bethina fought without crying out or giving up, if not with great skill
Slowly the bandit's greater strength and weight threatened to prevail, as he forced her knife back against her breast and the point of his own closer to her flesh
The bandit had attriuripped his hair and yanked hiht, and the Ci his spine and nearly cutting through his rib cage fro to her feet, pale where she was not covered with her late foe's blood ”Your kill,” she said, nodding to Conan Her eyes were unnaturally wide and her lips parted, although her voice was reed a warrior To the Cim, not that he had found fault with them earlier- ”Look out!” Bethina screa him from behind, in three directions at once Then his sword caht the attacker across the throat The man's head lolled, nearly severed froh to block the passage of a coave Bethina time to prepare herself As Conan's victim fell and his comrade worked around the Ci forward fro her knife up under the uard, but instead of warding off or catching Bethina's blade, it deflected it upward
The dagger's point ripped into the man's throat It did not quite reach his brain, the blade not being long enough nor Bethina's arh to thrust it that far But it killed the man quite as effectively as ever Conan's own blade could have done
”That one is yours,” Conan said ”I will stand witness, before Gods andto kiss or even embrace him, either course a sad folly on a battlefield that would have lowered his opinion of her wits
She held herself back, however, and then the swirl of battle was around theain They had to stand back to back and defend the even if one had no other work at hand
Between thehulis put down or drove off most of the bandits The few survivors who did not flee kept their distance One had a bow and no fear of hitting friends; his arrows hissed randoirl”
”I airl, and that archer could not hit a camel that was inside his own tent”
”Maybe, but worse archers have killed good men” The Cimmerian lifted Bethina with his hands under each arm, and dropped her into a ditch
”Farad?”
”Here, my chief”
”Keep this lady company for a while Sit on her if you ive you pleasure”
”My heart breaks”
”I was not thinking of your heart, Farad”
Bidding the rehulis to remain where they were, Conan loped off into the darkness He was going against his oisdo perturbed hih he could still hear their mounts not far off
Nor was the third force of bandits either engaged or in sight They s and flown off to the stars, for all the Cihulis, but knew that nothan he was If anyone could unearth the answer to yet another mystery, it was the Cimmerian
The Cimmerian also nearly paid with his life twice over for the answers he found The first time hen he rounded the shoulder of a low sand dune and ca in wait They had been so silent that even his ears did not pick their breathing out of the desert night, he so cat-footed that their ears seeking other sounds gave no warning
Four arrows flew alle breath, and it was the favor of the Gods (not to -quick fall and roll) that kept any of the him serious hurt He rolled to within arm's reach of the nearest tribes a pear from a tree, and drew the man in front of him as a shi+eld
”Hold,” he whispered ”Who do you follow?”
”Bethina,” someone said, immediately hushed by several others Then a voice that was, incredibly, that of an aged woman, said: ”Stand up, that I estion about what the old woh-a laugh, not a cackle, which ht have come from a woman hardly older than Bethina
”No By Crom, Mitra, and all lawful Gods, I will curse any who harm you without my leave”
It struck Conan that if the old woive leave, he would be dead before he fell to the ground Those archers would notlike blood enemies If they were not, there was small cause to reveal the as a shi+eld It was too dark to make out colors, but the pattern of the headdress was the sa his prisoner
”Let Gorok go” The old woman spoke like someone accustomed to command
Bethina's ht be, Conan decided it was soer before he freed Gorok
”Yes-s-s-s-s” The old woman's one hissed word reminded Conan unpleasantly of sounds heard in the temples of Set the Great Serpent, when it was time to feed the sacred snakes
Conan vowed that if the woman turned into a snake now, it would be her last act in this world
Instead the old woain ”Fools! This is he who saved Bethina! I saw it, and do any of you deny that I have true vision?”
No one did The old woe crone of Cimmeria, women honored and ht senses
”I a his words carefully ”If you are kin or friends to her, then I can hardly be your ene-” ”Hsssst!” sonized, the universal call for silence and alertness, and went to a crouch As he did, he understood why the riders had not yet charged in They were either comrades to these men, and therefore friends, or they had seen these ainst them
Which was yet another mystery, in a journey that had already produced far more than an honest warrior could contemplate with any peace of mind Conan knew of no God who could truly and reliably be bribed with sacrifices If he had, he would gladly have proinable for no more than that this journey should hold no more mysteries
Perhaps some God did hear part of the Cimmerian's unvoiced wish Certainly this particular mystery died almost at the moment of its birth Perhaps the bandit riders had overheard Conan's naled for help Perhaps so
Regardless, the rattle of hooves on stones cut off the Ciround and saw the others also , and she alking briskly enough for one of the age her voice revealed