Part 13 (2/2)

'Quarter?' There was a quiver of frenzy in the stranger's voice 'Quarter such as you gave us, you swine!'

Olivia closed her eyes This was no longer battle, but butchery, frantic, bloody, impelled by an hysteria of fury and hate, in which culs of battle, er-haunted flight Though Olivia knew that Shah A creature, yet she closed her eyes and pressed her hands over her ears, to shut out the sight of that dripping sword that rose and fell with the sound of a butcher's cleaver, and the gurgling cries that dwindled away and ceased

She opened her eyes, to see the stranger turning away fro The man's breast heaved with exhaustion or passion; his broas beaded with sweat; his right hand was splashed with blood

He did not speak to her, or even glance toward her She saw hie, stoop, and tug at so the stalks Then she divined his intention, and was galvanized into action

'Oh, wait!' she wailed, staggering up and running toward him 'Do not leave me! Take me with you!'

He wheeled and stared at her There was a difference in his bearing His bloodshot eyes were sane It was as if the blood he had just shed had quenched the fire of his frenzy

'Who are you?' he demanded

'I am called Olivia I was bis captive I ran away He followed me That's why he came here Oh, do not leave me here! His warriors are not far behind him They will find his corpse - they will findher white hands

He stared at her in perplexity

'Would you be better off with me?' he demanded 'I am a barbarian, and I know from your looks that you fear me'

'Yes, I fear you,' she replied, too distracted to dissemble 'My flesh crawls at the horror of your aspect But I fear the Hyrkanians o with you! They will put me to the torture if they find me beside their dead lord'

'Come, then' He drew aside, and she stepped quickly into the boat, shrinking from contact with him She seated herself in the bow, and he stepped into the boat, pushed off with an oar, and using it as a paddle, worked his way tortuously alided out into open water Then he set to ith both oars, roith great, smooth, even strokes, the heavyin rhythm to his exertions

There was silence for so at the oars She watched him with timorous fascination It was evident that he was not an Hyrkanian, and he did not resemble the Hyborian races There was a wolfish hardness about hi for the strains and stains of battle and his hiding in the marshes, reflected that saenerate

'Who are you?' she asked 'Shah Amurath called you a kozak; were you of that band?”

'I arunted 'I ith the kozaki, as the Hyrkanian dogs called us'

She knew vaguely that the land he named lay far to the northwest, beyond the farthest boundaries of the different kingdo of Ophir,' she said 'My father sold me to a Shemite chief, because I would not runted in surprize

Her lips twisted in a bitter smile 'Aye, civilized es, sometimes They call your race barbaric, Conan of Cirowled, his chin jutting truculently

'Well - I was sold But the desert ood will of Shah Aht to Akif of the purple gardens Then-' She shuddered and hid her face in her hands

'I should be lost to all shas me like a slaver's whip I abode in Shah Aone he rode out with his hosts to do battle with a band of invaders ere ravaging the borders of Turan Yesterday he returned in triureat fete was , I found an opportunity to steal out of the city on a stolen horse I had thought to escape - but he followed, and about midday came up with me I outran his vassals, but hi hid in the reeds,' grunted the barbarian 'I was one of those dissolute rogues, the Free Co the borders There were five thousand of us, fro as mercenaries for a rebel prince in eastern Koth, n, ere out of e doo Shah Amurath trapped us near the banks of Ilbars with fifteen thousand men Mitra! The skies were black with vultures When the lines broke, after a whole day of fighting, soh to the north, some to the west I doubt if any escaped The steppes were covered with horseitives I broke for the east, and finally reached the edge of the marshes that border this part of Vilayet

'I've been hiding in the morasses ever since Only the day before yesterday the riders ceased beating up the reed-brakes, searching for just such fugitives as I I've squir on ht and ate raw, for lack of fire to cook the the reeds I hadn't intended going out on the sea until night, but after I killed Shah As would be close at hand'

'And what now?'

'We shall doubtless be pursued If they fail to see the marks left by the boat, which I covered as well as I could, they'll guess anyway that we took to sea, after they fail to find us a to haul at these oars until we reach a safe place'

'Where shall we find that?' she asked hopelessly 'Vilayet is an Hyrkanian pond'

'Sorialleys and become pirates'

'But what are your plans?'

'The southwestern shore is held by the Hyrkanians for hundreds of o before we pass beyond their northern boundaries I intend to go northward until I think we have passed them Then we'll turn ard, and try to land on the shore bordered by the uninhabited steppes'

'Suppose we meet pirates, or a storm?' she asked 'And we shall starve on the steppes'

'Well,' he reminded her, 'I didn't ask you to come with me'

'I am sorry' She bowed her shapely dark head 'Pirates, storms, starvation - they are all kinder than the people of Turan'

'Aye' His dark face grew soirl Storms are rare on Vilayet at this rime of year If we make the steppes, we shall not starve I was reared in a naked land It was those cursed h unh lands As for pirates-' He grinned enigmatically, and bent to the oars

The sun sank like a dull-glowing copper ball into a lake of fire The blue of the sea ed with the blue of the sky, and both turned to soft dark velvet, clustered with stars and the ently rocking boat, in a state dreamy and unreal She experienced an illusion that she was floating in midair, stars beneath her as well as above Her silent coainst the softer darkness There was no break or falter in the rhyth her across the dark lake of Death But the edge of her fear was dulled, and, lulled by the monotony of motion, she passed into a quiet slumber

Daas in her eyes when she awakened, aware of a ravenous hunger It was a change in theon his oars, gazing beyond her She realized that he had rowed all night without pause, and marvelled at his iron endurance She twisted about to follow his stare, and saw a green wall of trees and shrubbery rising fro away in a wide curve, enclosing a slass

'This is one of the many islands that dot this inland sea,' said Conan 'They are supposed to be uninhabited I've heard tbe Hyrkanians seldo the shores in their galleys, and we have coht of the ht the boat in to shore androot of a tree which rose fro ashore, he reached out a hand to help Olivia She took it, wincing slightly at the bloodstains upon it, feeling a hint of the dynath that lurked in the barbarian's thews

A dreamy quiet lay over the woods that bordered the blue bay Then so song A breeze whispered through the leaves, and set the intendy for so amid diose nameless woodlands?

As she peered ti swept into the sunlight with a shirl of wings: a great parrot which dropped on to a leafy branch and swayed there, a gleae of jade and criarded the invaders with glittering eyes of jet

'Crorandfather of all parrots He must be a thousand years old! Look at the evil wisdouard, Wise Devil?' Abrupdy the bird spread its fla frokoolan yok tha, xuthallar and with a wild screech of horribly huh the trees to vanish in the opalescent shadows

Olivia stared after it, feeling the cold hand of na touch her supple spine 'What did it say?' she whispered