Part 8 (1/2)
”But you would be safe ” she began bewilderedly
”And you'd be the Devi again,” he broke in ”No, girl; I prefer you as you are noo on my saddle bow”
73
”But you can't keep me!” she cried ”You can't ”
”Watch and see!” he advised her grimly
”But I will pay you a vast ransohly, his ardo I desire half as much as I desire you I took you at the risk of my neck; if your courtiers want you back, let theht for you”
”But you have no followers now!” she protested ”You are hunted! How can you preserve your own life, much less mine?”
”I still have friends in the hills,” he answered ”There is a chief of the Khurakzai ill keep you safely while I bicker with the Afghulis If they will have none of me, by Crom I will ride northith you to the steppes of the kozaki I was a het the Free Companions before I rode southward I'll make you a queen on the Zaporoska River!”
”But I can not!” she objected ”You must not hold me ”
”If the idea's so repulsive,” he dely?”
”Even a queen is hu ”But because I adon country Come back to Vendhya with ?” he asked sardonically
”Well, there are custoh
”Yes, civilized customs that won't let you do as you wish You'll o my ith only the memory of a few kisses snatched frodorily ”To chafe your ru, velvet-skirted fools? Where is the gain? Listen: I was born in the Cimmerian hills where the people are all barbarians I have been a mercenary soldier, a corsair, a kozak, and a hundred other things What king has roaht the battles, loved the women, 74
and won the plunder that I have?
”I cadohulis was only a start If I can conciliate the me within a year But if I can't I'll ride back to the steppes and loot the Turanian borders with the kozaki And you'll go with dom; they fended for themselves before you were born”
She lay in his ar at her spirit, a lawless, reckless urge thatBut a thousand generations of sovereignshi+p rode heavy upon her
”I can't! I can't!” she repeated helplessly
”You haven't any choice,” he assured her ”You what the devil!”
They had left Yie that separated two deep valleys They had just topped a steep crest where they could gaze down into the valley on their right hand And there a running fight was in progress A strong as blowing away fro the sound fro of steel and thunder of hoofs welled up frolint of the sun on lance-tip and spired hel before the and striking like fleeing wolves
”Turanians!” muttered Conan ”Squadrons fro here?”
”Who are the men they pursue?” asked Yasmina ”And why do they fall back so stubbornly?
They can not stand against such odds”
”Five hundred ofdown into the vale ”They're in a trap, and they know it”
The valley was indeed a cul-de-sac at that end It narrowed to a high walled gorge, opening out further into a round bowl, completely rimmed with lofty, unscalable walls
The turbaned riders were being forced into this gorge, because there was nowhere else for theo, and they went reluctantly, in a shower of arrows and a whirl of swords The helmeted riders harried them, but did not press in too rashly They knew the desperate fury of the hill 75
tribes, and they knew too that they had their prey in a trap fronized the hillhulis, and they wished to hees for the purpose they had in mind
Their emir was a man of decision and initiative When he reached Gurashah valley, and found neither guides nor e to his own knowledge of the country All the way fro, and tribese He knew there was a good chance that neither he nor any of his helates of Secunderaain, for the tribes would all be up behind him now, but he was determined to carry out his orders which were to take Yas her captive to Secunderam, or if confronted by impossibility, to strike off her head before he himself died
Of all this, of course, the watchers on the ridge were not aware But Conan fidgeted with nervousness
”Why the devil did they get thee ”I knohat they're doing in these parts they were huntinginto every valley and found themselves penned in before they knew it The dae, but they can't hold out for long When the Turanians have pushed thehter the up from below increased in voluhulis, fighting desperately, were for the tiainst the ainst the his hilt, and finally spoke bluntly: ”Devi, I o down to them I'll find a place for you to hide until I codom well, I don't pretend to look on those hairy devils as my children, but after all, such as they are, they're my henchmen A chief should never desert his followers, even if they desert hi me out hell, I won't be cast off! I'hulis, and I'll prove it! I can clie”
”But what of me?” she queried ”You carried me away forcibly from my people; noill you leave o down and sacrifice yourself uselessly?”
His veins swelled with the conflict of his eht,” he muttered helplessly ”Crohtly, a curious expression dawning on her beautiful face Then 76
”Listen!” she cried ”Listen!” A distant fanfare of trumpets was borne faintly to their ears They stared into the deep valley on the left, and caught a glint of steel on the further side A long line of lances and polished helht
”The riders of Vendhya!” she cried exultingly ”Even at this distance I can not mistake them!”
”There are thousands of the since a Kshatriya host has ridden this far into the hills”
”They are searching for me!” she exclaimed ”Give e is not so precipitous on the left, and I can reach the valley floor Go to your er I will lead my horsemen into the valley at the upper end and fall upon the Turanians! We will crush them in the vise! Quick, Conan! Will you sacrifice your er of the steppes and the wintry forests glared out of his eyes, but he shook his head and swung off the stallion, placing the reins in her hands