Part 11 (2/2)

'There is no trickery,' she answered 'I brought you here because you can aid o into the streets and ask aid of the firsthe could understand The barbarians had their oracles He lowered his sword, though he did not sheathe it

'Well, if you're Yasdom's in a devil of a mess But how can I aid you? If you want a throat cut, of course-'

'Sit down,' she requested 'Vateesa, bring hi care, she noticed, to sit with his back against a solid wall, where he could watch the whole chamber He laid his naked sword across his lanced at it in fascination Its dull blue glimmer seemed to reflect tales of bloodshed and rapine; she doubted her ability to lift it, yet she knew that the htly as she could wield a riding-whip She noted the breadth and power of his hands; they were not the stubby undeveloped paws of a troglodyte With a guilty start she found herself iers locked in her dark hair

He seemed reassured when she deposited herself on a satin divan opposite him He lifted off his basinet and laid it on the table, and drew back his coif, letting the mail folds fall upon his massive shoulders She saw more fully now his unlikeness to the Hyborian races In his dark, scarred face there was a suggestion ofmarked by depravity, or definitely evil, there was estion of the sinister about his features, set off by his s blue eyes A low broad forehead was topped by a square-cut tousled

'Who are you?' she asked abruptly

'Conan, a captain of the ulp and holding it out for more 'I was born in Ciuely that it was a wild grim hill-country which lay far to the north, beyond the last outposts of the Hyborian nations, and was peopled by a fierce moody race She had never before seen one of theazed at him with the deep dark eyes that had enslaved many a heart

'Conan of Cimmeria,' she said, 'you said I needed aid Why?'

'Well,' he answered, 'anyyour brother in an Ophirean prison; here is Koth plotting to enslave you; here is this sorcerer screa hell-fire and destruction down in She every day'

She did not at once reply; it was a new experience for a htly to her, his words not couched in courtier phrases

'Why are , Conan?' she asked

'So at the wine-jar with relish 'Many think Khoraja is doohtened by tales of this dog Natohk'

'Will theas you pay us well,' he answered frankly 'Your politics are nothing to us You can trust Aeneral, but the rest of us are only common men who love loot If you pay the ransom Ophir asks, o over to the king of Koth, though that cursed ht loot this city In a civil war the plunder is always plentiful'

'Why would you not go over to Natohk?' she inquired

'What could he pay us?' he snorted 'With fat-bellied brass idols he looted fro Natohk, you may trust us'

'Would your comrades follow you?' she asked abruptly

'What do you oing to make you commander of the aroblet at his lips, which curved in a broad grin His eyes blazed with a new light

'Commander? Crom! But ill your perfumed nobles say?'

'They will obey me!' She clasped her hands to su deeply 'Have Count Thespides come to me at once, and the chancellor Taurus, lord Aha Shupras

'I place aze on Conan, as now devouring the food placed before hi Vateesa 'You have seen much war?'

'I was born in thea chunk ofteeth 'The first soundof swords and the yells of the slaying I have fought in blood-feuds, tribal wars, and ie battle-lines?'

'Well, I can try,' he returned ier scale You draw his guard, then -stab, slash!+ And either his head is off, or yours'

The slave entered again, announcing the arrival of thethe velvet curtains behind her The nobles bent the knee, in evident surprize at her summons at such an hour

'I have sumdoh, my princess' It was Count Thespides who spoke - a tall man, whose black locks were curled and scented With one white hand he smoothed his pointed mustache, and with the other he held a velvet chaperon with a scarlet feather fastened by a golden clasp His pointed shoes were satin, his cote-hardie of gold-broidered velvet His htly affected, but the thews under his silks were steely 'It ell to offer Ophir ly disagree,' broke in Taurus the chancellor, an elderly ed robe, whose features were lined with the cares of his long service 'We have already offered ill beggar the kingdom to pay To offer more would further excite Ophir's cupidity My princess, I say as I have said before: Ophir will nothorde If we lose, he will give king Khossus to Koth; if in, he will doubtless restore his majesty to us on payment of the ransom'

'And in the meantime,' broke in Amalric, 'the soldiers desert daily, and the mercenaries are restless to knoe dally' He was a Nee man with a lion-like yellow mane 'We must move swiftly, if at all-'

'Tomorroe march southward,' she answered 'And there is theaside the velvet curtains she dramatically indicated the Cimmerian It was perhaps not an entirely happy moment for the disclosure Conan was sprawled in his chair, his feet propped on the ebony table, busily engaged in gnawing a beef-bone which he gripped firlanced casually at the astounded nobles, grinned faintly at Auised relish

'Mitra protect us!' exploded Amalric 'That's Conan the northron, the o, were he not the best swordshness is pleased to jest!' cried Thespides, his aristocratic features darkening 'This ! It is an insult to ask gentlemen to serve under hilove under your baldric Please give it to'Go where?'

'To Koth or to Hades!' she answered 'If you will not servelow, deeply hurt 'I would not forsake you For your sake I will even put e'

'And you, my lord Arinned True soldier of fortune, no shi+ft of fortune, however outrageous, surprized him much

'I'll serve under him A short life and a merry one, say I - and with Conan the Throat-slitter in command, life is likely to be bothever commanded more than a company of cut-throats before, I'll eat hiha?' she turned to Shupras

He shrugged his shoulders resignedly He was typical of the race evolved along Koth's southern borders - tall and gaunt, with features leaner and more hawk-like than his purer-blooded desert kin

'Ishtar gives, princess' The fatalism of his ancestors spoke for him

'Wait here,' she conawed his velvet cap, Taurus muttered wearily under his breath, and A at his yellow beard and grinning like a hungry lion, Yash the curtains and clapped her hands for her slaves

At her coorget, sollerets, cuirass, pauldrons, jaain drew the curtains, a Conan in burnished steel stood before his audience Clad in the plate-armor, vizor lifted and dark face shadowed by the black plurily noted A jest died suddenly on Amalric's lips

'By Mitra,' said he slowly, 'I never expected to see you cased in coat-arer-bones, Conan, I have seen kings ore their harness less regally than you!'

Conan was silent A vague shadow crossed his mind like a prophecy In years to come he was to remember Amalric's words, when the dream became the reality

In the early haze of dawn the streets of Khoraja were thronged by crowds of people atched the hosts riding froate The ar in richly wrought plate-ar above their burnished sallets Their steeds, caparisoned with silk, lacquered leather and gold buckles, caracoled and curvetted as their riders put thelints from lance-points that rose like a forest above the array, their pennons flowing in the breeze Each knight wore a lady's token, a glove, scarf or rose, bound to his helmet or fastened to his sword-belt They were the chivalry of Khoraja, five hundred strong, led by Count Thespides, who, men said, aspired to the hand of Yasmela herself