Part 5 (2/2)
The man stared at the brazen hawk's head that formed the pommel of Conan's scimitar
”Wait!” he cried ”This is he who saved me from torture in Arenjun! I know this blade!”
”Be silent!” snarled the chief ”The thief dies!”
”Nay! He saved my life! What have I ever had froiance, you dog!”
Rustu Conan's sword, but then Keraspa turned and released his arrow The missile thudded into Rustuered back under the ie of the chasm His screaer be heard
Quick as a striking snake, before the unar upon him, Keraspa whipped another arrow froerish rush that would have thrown hi, the ruby-crusted God stepped down fro stride towards Keraspa
With a frightful scream, the chief released his arrow at the animated statue The arrow struck the God's shoulder and bounced high, turning over and over, and the idol's long ar
Screa lips of Keraspa as the God turned and ht had frozen Conan with horror, and now the idol blocked his way to the exit; either to the right or the left his path would take hi arms And the God, for all its mass, moved as quickly as a man
The red God neared the chash over its head to hurl him into the depths Conan saw Keraspa'smadly When Keraspa had been disposed of, no doubt the statue would take care of him The ancient priests did not have to throw the God's victie took care of that detail hiolden heels to throw the chief, Conan, groping behind him, felt the wood of one of the thrones These had no doubt been occupied by the high priests or other functionaries of the cult in the ancient days Conan turned, grasped the massive chair by its back, and lifted it Withunder the strain, he whirled the throne over his head and struck the God's golden back between the shoulders, just as Keraspa's body, still screa, was cast into the abyss
The wood of the throne splintered under the i forith the iiven Keraspa and overbalanced it For the fraction of a second the olden arulf
Conan dropped the ree of the abyss Keraspa's screams had ceased Conan fancied that he heard a distant sound such as the idoloff, far below, but he could not be sure There was no final crash or thump; only silence
Conan drew his rinned wryly
The curse of the bloodstained God was ended, and the God with it For all the wealth that had gone into the chasht his life at that price And there were other treasures
He gathered up his sword and Rustu sunshi+ne to pick a horse
The Frost Giant's Daughter --------------------------
Fed up with civilization and its ic, Conan rides back to his native Ci, however, he grows restless enough to join his old friends, the AEsir, in a raid into Vanaheior of sword and ax had died away; the shouting of the slaughter was hushed; silence lay on the red-stained snow The bleak, pale sun that glittered so blindingly from the ice fields and the snow-covered plains struck sheens of silver from rent corselet and broken blade where the dead lay as they had fallen The nerveless hand yet gripped the broken hilt; helmeted heads, drawn back in their death throes, tilted red beards and golden beards griiant, God of a warrior race
Across the reddened drifts and the lared at each other In all that utter desolation, they alone moved The frosty sky was over them, the white illimitable plain around theh the corpses they cah the sha silence, they stood face to face
Both were tall one, their corselets battered and dented Blood dried on their mail; their swords were stained red Their horned helmets showed the marks of fierce strokes
One was beardless and black-maned; the locks and beard of the other were as red as the blood on the sunlit snow
”Man,” said the latter, ”tell me your name, so that my brothers in Vanaheim may knoas the last of Wulfhere's band to fall before the sword of Heirowled the black-haired warrior, ”but in Valhalla shall you tell your brothers that you met Conan of Cimmeria!”
Hei in a deadly arc As the singing blade crashed on his helered, and his vision was filled with red sparks But, as he reeled, he thrust with all the power of his broad shoulders behind the blade The sharp point tore through brass scales and bones and heart, and the red-haired warrior died at Conan's feet
The Ci his sword, a sudden sick weariness assailing hilare of the sun on the snow cut his eyes like a knife, and the sky seeely apart He turned away from the trampled expanse, where yellow-bearded warriors lay locked with red-haired slayers in the elare of the snow fields was suddenly diulfed hi hi to shake the blindness out of his eyes as a lion ht shake his mane