Part 10 (1/2)
”Not quite,” said Conan ”See you that ros? Here is my plan”
He whispered a few quick words to his co forward, their blades flickering with the speed of striking snakes Two guardsmen sank to the floor in their blood, and the others shrank back ht
”Follow s yet!” barked the Ciht and left
The swords of the barbarians cleared a bloody avenue The big northerner wheeled, thrusting and cutting, his sword cutting down the Turanians like wheat stalks before the scythe as he guarded Conan's back As Conan rushed forward, Rolf followed in his wake, his sidening the bloody path opened by the Ci tones of old northern battle songs, and the gleaaze
None could stand before their terrible attack Turanian swords and spears sought their blood, but glanced harmlessly from the shi+elds as the pantherish speed of the barbarians blurred the eyes of their adversaries Conan bled froarb was in tatters, but the bodies heaped upon the floor bespoke the violence of their attack
They put their backs to one of the large s For a few seconds both barbarians exploded intoabout the a space of several feet around them
The massed soldiers shrank back for a moment It seemed to their superstitious res, hard as steel, risen froeance
Conan utilized this lass of theshattered into thousands of glea, many-colored shards under blows froap in the leaded pane
Hurling their swords and shi+elds into the faces of their foes, the Ci dives toward the sea two hundred feet below A taunting laugh lingered behind theuardsmen closed in
”Archers! An archer, quickly, to have at the officer's voice was shrill with desperation Five men stood forward, each armed with the powerful, double-curved Hyrkanian war bow Theniche was cleared, and soon the twang of cords was heard Then one of the bowed his shoulders and turned to the officer,
”The range is too great in this treacherous ht We cannot even discern their heads, and probably they are swi under water eneral swung about and hurried to the king's chaerd had recovered froe round his forehead, partly covered by his turban The terse account of the incidents elapsed was interrupted by the crash of the king's fist on a table, spilling vases and wine jugs to the floor
”You have dared to fail! The red-handed barbarians have escaped and s, that they cannot lay two uards shall die in the e of the rest!”
He continued in a lower voice: ”See that tar galleys are outfitted at once The barbarians will surely try to steal a boat and make their way across the sea We shall overtake them See that the shi+ps are well-provisioned and manned by my best seamen and soldiers Take the sturdiest slaves for rowers When I have caught these dogs, they shall suffer the agonies of a thousand deaths in the torture charisly prospect, and gestured i his way through the throng in the courtroom to carry out his lord's counwale of his sloop,of a giant sturgeon that afternoon He cursed his misfortune, for this was a fine net It had cost hiold and the promise of fifty pounds of fish to the Sheht it But what could a poor, starving fisher fros necessary for him and his family!
But he must also strain and work to
He looked up in venoainst the old and atherers had supple whips and no co thes suffered when the shoals were empty of fish
Suddenly the sloop heaved, al froe, al aboard, his black, square-cut hair disordered and dripping He seemed to Khosru like some demon of the sea, an evil merman, come up from unknown deeps to blast his soul and devour his body
For ain deep gasps Then it spoke in Hyrkanian, though with a barbarous accent
Khosra took heart a little, for the tales depicted the demons as devoid of speech Still he quavered before the siant His terror increased as another figure, a huge, black-clad, golden-haired er at his belt, followed the first over the gunwale
”Fear not, sailor!” booiant ”We don't want your blood, only your shi+p” He drew a glittering diadem from die waistband of his loincloth and held it out ”Here is payh and reed-or-?”
He flexed his thick fingers suggestively Khosru, his head whirling, nodded and snatched the diadehtened hy moored to the stern of the sloop and roay at desperate speed
His strange customers lost no ti breeze The triathered speed as it steered out toward the east
Khosru shrugged his shoulders, e white fire