Part 22 (2/2)

'How air 'If I follow the cut off and destroyed, or having them elude me entirely and burn the city inthan ever'

'That is because of the new chief who has risen a them,' answered Ghaznavi 'You knoholy 'It is that devil Conan; he is even wilder than the kozaks, yet he is crafty as a h wild anience,' answered Ghaznavi 'The other kozaks are at least descendants of civilized men He is a barbarian But to dispose of hi blow'

'But how?' deir 'He has repeatedly cut his way out of spots that see, he has avoided or escaped every trap set for him'

'For every beast and for every man there is a trap he will not escape,' quoth Ghaznavi 'When we have parleyed with the kozaks for the ransom of captives, I have observed thisdrink Have your captive Octavia fetched here'

Jehungir clapped his hands, and an i ebony in silken pantaloons, bowed before hi by the wrist a tall handsoirl, whose yellow hair, clear eyes and fair skin identified her as a pure-blooded irded at the waist, displayed the ure Her fine eyes flashed with resentht her during her captivity She stood with hanging head before her master until her motioned her to a seat on the divan beside hily at Ghaznavi

'We must lure Conan away from the kozaks,' said the counsellor abruptly 'Their war camp is at present pitched somewhere on the lower reaches of the Zaporoska River - which, as you well know, is a wilderness of reeds, a swale in which our last expedition was cut to pieces by those et that,' said Jehungir wryly

'There is an uninhabited island near the mainland,' said Ghaznavi, 'known as Xapur, the Fortified, because of some ancient ruins upon it There is a peculiarity about it which makes it perfect for our purpose It has no shore-line, but rises sheer out of the sea in cliffs a hundred and fifty feet tall Not even an ape could negotiate theo up or down is a narrow path on the western side that has the appearance of a worn stair, carved into the solid rock of the cliffs

'If we could trap Conan on that island, alone, we could hunt him down at our leisure, with bows, as men hunt a lion'

'As ish for the er, bidding hi?'

'In effect, yes!' Seeing Jehungir's look of amazement, Ghaznavi continued: 'We will ask for a parley with the kozaks in regard to prisoners, at the edge of the steppes by Fort Ghori As usual, ill go with a force and encamp outside the castle They will coo forith the usual distrust and suspicion But this time ill take with us, as if by casual chance, your beautiful captive' Octavia changed color and listened with intensified interest as the counsellor nodded toward her 'She will use all her wiles to attract Conan's attention That should not be difficult To that wild reaver she should appear a dazzling vision of loveliness Her vitality and substantial figure should appeal to him more vividly than would one of the doll-like beauties of your seraglio'

Octavia sprang up, her white fists clenched, her eyes blazing and her figure quivering with outraged anger

'You would force me to play the trollop with this barbarian?' she exclaile at a steppes-robber I ahter of a Nemedian lord-'

'You were of the Nemedian nobility before ir cynically 'Now you are merely a slave ill do as she is bid'

'I will not!' she raged

'On the contrary,' rejoined Jehungir with studied cruelty, 'you will I like Ghaznavi's plan Continue, prince a counsellors'

'Conan will probably wish to buy her You will refuse to sell her, of course, or to exchange her for Hyrkanian prisoners He h I do not think even he would break the parley-truce Anye ht attempt

'Then, shortly after the parley, before he has tier to hiirl, and deer, but at least he will think that she has escaped

'Then ill send a spy - a Yuetshi+ fisherman will do - to the kozak ca on Xapur If I know ht to that place'

'But we do not know that he will go alone,' Jehungir argued

'Does ato a rendezvous with a woman he desires?' retorted Ghaznavi 'The chances are all that he will go alone But ill take care of the other alternative We will not await hiht be trapped ourselves, but a the reeds of a marshy point which juts out to within a thousand yards of Xapur If he brings a large force, we'll beat a retreat and think up another plot If he comes alone or with a small party, ill have hi slave's slances'

'I will never descend to such shame!' Octavia ith fury and humiliation 'I will die first!'

'You will not die, ir, 'but you will be subjected to a very painful and hu experience'

He clapped his hands, and Octavia paled This time it was not the Kushi+te who entered, but a Sheht with a short, curled, blue-black beard

'Here is work for you, Gilzan,' said Jehungir 'Take this fool, and play with her awhile Yet be careful not to spoil her beauty'

With an inarticulate grunt the Sheers, all the defiance went out of her With a piteous cry she tore away and threw herself on her knees before her iir disesture, and said to Ghaznavi: 'If your plan succeeds, I will fill your lap with gold'

In the darkness before dawn an unaccustomed sound disturbed the solitude that slumbered over the reedy marshes and the misty waters of the coast It was not a droater-fowl nor a waking beast It was a huh the thick reeds, which were taller dian a man's head

It was a woman, had there been anyone to see, tall and yellow-haired, her splendid liood earnest, every outraged fiber of her still tingling from her experience in a captivity that had becoir's h; but with deliberate fiendishness Jehungir had given her to a nobleeneracy even in Khawarizm

Octavia's resilient flesh crawled and quivered at her memories Desperation had nerved her climb from Jelal Khan's castle on a rope made of strips from torn tapestries, and chance had led her to a picketed horse She had ridden all night, and dawn found her with a foundered steed on the swa with the abhorrence of being dragged back to the revolting destiny planned for her by Jelal Khan, she plunged into the -place frorew thinner around her and the water rose about her thighs, she saw the dim loom of an island ahead of her A broad span of water lay between, but she did not hesitate She waded out until the loaves were lapping about her waist; then she struck out strongly, swior that promised unusual endurance

As she neared the island, she saw that it rose sheer from the water in castle-like cliffs She reached thee to stand on below the water, not to cling to above She swa the curve of the cliffs, the strain of her long flight beginning to weight her li the sheer stone, and suddenly they found a depression With a sobbing gasp of relief, she pulled herself out of the water and clung there, a dripping white Goddess in the diht

She had come upon what seemed to be steps carved in the cliff Up theht the faint clack of ht shetoward the reedy point she had just quitted But it was too far away for her to be sure, in the darkness, and presently the faint sound ceased, and she continued her climb If it were her pursuers, she knew of no better course than to hide on the island She knew that most of the islands off that ht be a pirate's lair, but even pirates would be preferable to the beast she had escaped

A vagrant thought crossed her mind as she climbed, in which she mentally compared her former master with the kozak chief hom - by compulsion - she had shamelessly flirted in the pavilions of the camp by Fort Ghori, where the Hyrkanian lords had parleyed with the warriors of the steppes His burning gaze had frightened and humiliated her, but his cleanly elemental fierceness set him above Jelal Khan, a monster such as only an overly opulent civilization can produce

She scrae and looked tirew close to the cliffs, presenting a solidwhirred above her head and she cowered, even though realizing it was only a bat

She did not like the look of those ebony shadows, but she set her teeth and went toward the not to think of snakes Her bare feetthely about her She had not taken a dozen steps when she was no longer able to look back and see the cliffs and the sea beyond A few steps more and she becah the tangled branches not even a star peered She groped and floundered on, blindly, and then caan the rhyth of a drum It was not such a sound as she would have expected to hear in that tiot it as she are of a presence near her She could not see, but she knew that so beside her in the darkness

With a stifled cry she shrank back, and as she did so, sonized as a human arm curved about her waist She screae for freedo her frantic resistance with ease The silence hich her frenzied pleas and protests were received added to her terror as she felt herself being carried through the darkness toward the distant drue of dawn reddened the sea, a small boat with a solitary occupant approached the cliffs The ure A crimson scarf was knotted about his head; his wide silk breeches, of fla hue, were upheld by a broad sash which likewise supported a sciilt-worked leather boots suggested the horseman rather than the seah his widely open white silk shi+rt showed his broad muscular breast, burned brown by the sun

The muscles of his heavy bronzed arms rippled as he pulled the oars with an almost feline ease of motion A fierce vitality that was evident in each feature and motion set hie nor so blue eyes hinted at ferocity easily wakened This was Conan, who had wandered into the armed camps of the kozaks with no other possession than his wits and his sword, and who had carved his way to leadershi+p a them

He paddled to the carven stair as one familiar with his environs, and moored the boat to a projection of the rock Then he went up the worn steps without hesitation He was keenly alert, not because he consciously suspected hidden danger, but because alertness was a part of him, whetted by the wild existence he followed

What Ghaznavi had considered anie faculties and savage wit of the barbarian Conan had no instinct to tell hi the reeds of the mainland

As he climbed the cliff, one of these ht his wrist and hissed an oath into his ear 'Fool! Will you betray us? Don't you realize he is out of range? Let hiirl We will stay here awhile He uessed our plot He may have warriors hidden so suspicious occurs, we'll row up to the foot of the stair and await him there If he does not return in a reasonable tio upon the island and hunt him down But I do not wish to do that if it can be helped Soo into the bush after hi the stair, where we can feather him with arrows from a safe distance'