Part 32 (1/2)

”I expect no less”

The rescuers certainly had not expected the oath that Aybas swore He swore at length and by many Gods, partly to ease their minds, but more to ease his own This was the first time he had used some of the sacred nah the last oath he would swear as a living man, and the first in twenty years that he had no intention of breaking

Of course, if the tales of Syza dead, or at least crippled, were false, this change of allegiance held peril A fleet pair of heels could still take him to safety, however The count would have a with eneain the throne

Much to Conan's disgust, Oyzhik and the princess were held as far apart as the valley allowed The rescuers would have to divide their forces and meet at the foot of the cliff for the final scrao for Chienna Without Aybas, sheby the piper's music, as her babe surely would Without the piper, there would be no cal either of them

Oyzhik, however, was held so closely that a single man-even Conan-could fail Wylla swore to find her father and bring him to the wizards'

prison instead of to the princess's hut

Conan would have cursed Aybas, Oyzhik and the Star Brothers alike had he not feared delay or noise It ht have been simpler to refuse Aybas's oath and to silence him But they had chosen to take that oath, and now, to Conan's mind, they were bound as closely as their new friend A world where oaths could be cast out with the chamberpots onto the middens was a world doomed to the rule of the likes of Count Syza rose petal, at one with the shadows, the Cimmerian made his way down across the valley toward the Star Brother's lodge Mist curled over the edge of the daht the reek of the beast to Conan His face twisted at the foulness, and he would have known then, had he not been told before, that the creature was not of the world of men

”Hssst!”

”Five?” Conan asked If the reply ruff voice Then a shadow that Conan had taken for a bush began to e as the Cimmerian himself Grizzled hair and a short beard made him resemble a patriarch, but the Cimmerian's eye made out a warrior's muscles and sinews under the man's scarred skin

”Well met, Conan of Cimmeria,” the man said ”I am Thyrin, father to Wylla”

”I am Captain Conan of the Second Guards, father to none that I know of,” the Cihter with you?”

”She wished to join us, but I bid her join the others She can tend the babe if no more, and with them, she will be closer to safety

”I like not this care for Captain Oyzhik, Cihter not say that he will do our enemies more harm alive than dead, I would spear hi our way to safety with a man such as Oyzhik”

”I am of yourraised Lead on, Thyrin”

Aybas was prepared toto his standing with the guards Raihna counseled greater caution

”If I were the Star Brothers-”

”You could never render yourself so ugly of either body or spirit,”

Aybas said

Raihna see at the saallantries of the Aquilonian court, and this is not it

If I were the Star Brothers, I would have my most trustedrumored of Syzambry's troubles”

”It is the habit of the Star Brothers to have theirthe sacrifices,” Aybas said ”Conan and Thyrin are the ones most in need of caution”