Part 33 (2/2)

'It was horrible,' she faltered 'Like an awful dreaht have been worse,' he growled

She see inflection of his voice or mood Her free hand stole timidly to his arm

'I did not mean to offend you It was very brave for you to risk your life for a stranger You are noble as the knights about which I have read'

He cast a quick glance at her Her wide clear eyes ht she had spoken He started to speak, then changed hisin the desert?'

'I ca away I could not stand it any longer But it was hot and lonely and weary, and I saw only sand, sand - and the blazing blue sky The sands burned my feet, and my sandals orn out quickly I was so thirsty, my canteen was soon empty And then I wished to return to Gazal, but one direction looked like another I did not knohich way to go I was terribly afraid, and started running in the direction in which I thought Gazal to be I do not remember much after that I ran until I could run no further, and Isand for a while I reht I heard so toward me, and then I knew nowith ave -' She shuddered 'When it was all over, I crept to where you lay like a deadyou to-'

'Why?' he demanded

She seemed at a loss 'Why,' she floundered, 'why, you were hurt - and - why, it is what anyone would do Besides, I realized that you were fighting to protect me from these men The people of Gazal have always said that the desert people icked and would harm the helpless'

'That's no exclusive characteristic,' muttered Amalric 'Where is this Gazal?'

'It can not be far,' she answered 'I walked a whole day - and then I do not kno far the warrior carried me after he found me But he must have discovered me about sunset, so he could not have come far'

'In what direction?' he demanded

'I do not know I travelled easthen I left the city'

'City?' he ht there was only desert for a thousand miles'

'Gazal is in the desert,' she answered 'It is built aot to his feet, swearing softly as he fingered his throat, the skin of which was bruised and lacerated He exan of life in theed them a short distance out into the desert So to the water hole where the girl squatted patiently, he cursed to find only the black stallion of Tilutan with the camel The other horses had broken their tethers and bolted during the fight

Airl and proffered her a handful of dried dates She nibbled at theerly, while the other sat and watched her, his chin on his fists, an increasing i in his veins

'Why did you run away?' he asked abruptly 'Are you a slave?'

'We have no slaves in Gazal,' she answered 'Oh, I eary - so weary of the eternalof the outer world Tell me, from what land do you come?'

'I was born in the western hills of Aquilonia,' he answered

She clapped her hands like a delighted child

'I knohere it is! I have seen it on the maps It is the western- is Epeus the Sielder!'

Amalric experienced a distinct shock His head jerked up and he stared at his fair companion

'Epeus? Why, Epeus has been dead for nine hundred years The king's name is Vilerus'

'Oh, of course,' she said, rather e nine centuries ago, as you say But tellorder,' he answered nonplussed 'You have not travelled?'

'This is the very first tiht of the walls of Gazal,' she adaze was fixed on the curve of her white bosom He was not interested in her adventures at the ht have been hell for all he cared

He started to speak, then changing hisfor the struggle he expected But he encountered no resistance Her soft, yielding body lay across his knees, and she looked up at him somewhat in surprize, but without fear or e to a new kind of play Soaze confused hily, he would have kno to deal with her

'Who in Mitra's nahly 'You are neither touched with the sun, nor playing a ganorant country lass, innocent in ignorance Yet you see of the world and its ways'

'I ahter of Gazal,' she answered helplessly 'If you saw Gazal, perhaps you would understand'

He lifted her and placed her on the sand Rising, he brought a saddle blanket and set it out for her

'Sleep, Lissa,' he said, his voice harsh with conflicting emotions 'Tomorrow I mean to see Gazal'

At dawn they started ard A her how toto the seat with both hands, showing no knowledge whatever of cairl raised in the desert, she had never before been on a caht, had she ever ridden or been carried on a horse Amalric had manufactured a sort of cloak for her, and she wore it without question, not asking whence it caratefully but blindly, without asking the reason Amalric did not tell her that the silk that shi+elded her from the sun had once covered the skin of her abductor

As they rode she again begged hi for a story

'I know Aquilonia is far froia lies between, and the Lands of Shem, and other countries How is it that you are here, so far from your homeland?'

He rode for a space in silence, his hand on the caia were at war,' he said abruptly 'Koth becaed a sios raised an army of mercenaries, which went into shi+ps and sailed southward along the coast At the saia by land I was one of that ian fleet and defeated it, driving it back into Khe the course of the Styx - but our admiral was cautious Our leader was Prince Zapayo da Kova, a Zingaran We cruised southward until we reached the jungle-clad coasts of Kush There we landed, and the shi+ps anchored, while the ar and pillaging as ent It was our intention to turn northward at a certain point and strike into the heart of Stygia to form a juncture with the Kothic host which was supposed to be pushi+ng down from the north Then word came that ere betrayed Koth had concluded a separate peace with the Stygians A Stygian ar southward to intercept us, while another already had cut us off from the coast

'Prince Zapayo, in desperation, conceived the ian border and eventually reach the eastern lands of Sheht All day we fought, and finally they gave before us, their retreat turning into rout But the next day the pursuing army came up from the west, and crushed between the hosts, our army ceased to be We were broken, annihilated, destroyed There were few left to flee But when night fell, I broke aith my companion, a Cith of a bull

'We rode southward into the desert, because there was no other direction in which we o Conan had been in this part of the world before, and he believed we had a chance to survive Far to the south we found an oasis, but Stygian riders harried us, and we fled again, fro, until we found ourselves in a barren, unknown land of blazing and e, and ere half delirious Then one nightfires and rode up to theht e, a shower of arrows greeted us Conan's horse was hit and it reared, throwing its rider His neck ot away in the darkness, solance at the attackers They were tall, lean brown arh the desert, and fell in with those three vultures you saw yesterday They were jackals - Ghanatas - members of a robber tribe of mixed blood The only reason they didn'tthey wished For awith the else I could do'

'I did not knoas like that,' Lissa murmured faintly 'They said there ars and cruelty out in the world, but it see to you speak of treachery and battle seeainst Gazal?' he demanded She shook her head 'Men ride wide of Gazal So the horizon, and the oldto war But they never co of uneasiness This desert, seely empty of life, nevertheless contained soed far to the east; the masked Tibu, whom he believed dwelt further to the south; and somewhere off to the southwest lay the semi-mythical empire of Toe that a city in the e land should be left so completely alone that one of its inhabitants did not even know the aze elsewhere, strange thoughts assailed hiirl touched by the sun? Was she a demon in womanly forlance at her clinging childishly to the high peak of the caain doubt assailed him Was he bewitched? Had she cast a spell on hi only to nibble dates and drink water at midday Amalric fashi+oned a frail shelter out of his sword and sheath and the saddle blankets to shi+eld her froait of the caain the voluptuous sweetness of her soft body, he felt a hot throb of passion sear through him, and he stood momentarily motionless, intoxicated with the nearness of her, before he laid her down in the shade of the er at the clear gaze hich shebody to his hands It was as if she were unaware of things which ht harm her; her innocent trust shamed him and pent a helpless wrath within him

As they ate, he did not taste the dates hein every detail of her lithe young figure She seemed as unaware of his intentness as a child When he lifted her to place her again on the camel, and her arms went instinctively about his neck, he shuddered But he lifted her up on her mount, and they took up the journey once more