Part 29 (1/2)
Valeria whirled, trying to look in all directions at once and slash to pieces anything that looked remotely like a serpent As she did so, she saw a red, swollen patch on Emwaya's hand-the hand, she recalled, that E from the air
Instantly, Valeria altered the object of her search She was not looking for afor a certain cast of countenance assassins had a look that was hard toelse assassins who had just struck down the wrong person had an even more distinctive look, unless they were adepts of a kind she did not expect to find a the Ichiribu
She found a face that bore that look, a face she recognized, although she could not put a na to hide an object he held in his hands behind the women in front of him
Valeria knehat fate awaited her and Conan if she slew an innocent froer and threw it hilt-first The hilt was of the best Nehted pommel intended to do just such work as she had put it to
The er in tilancing blow and flew off into the crowd, and a cry warned Valeria of trouble to coer, she raised her sword and screaue she could coht not understand, but they knew a madwoman when they heard one They ed forward just as Wobeku raised what had to be a blowgun
Neither steel nor blowgun dart found itsfrom the sky like water Her blade see sparks flew froolden fire wrapped itself around so small, which had to be the dart hurled at Valeria It had no ood Aquilonian steel; it eolden fire arched high, forun held by Wobeku It was Wobeku's turn to show the whites of his eyes, and also to drop the blowgun and take to his heels
The golden fire brightened until Valeria had to first squint, then close her eyes It brightened still more until she wanted to drop her sword and clap her hands over her face She heard screams all around her, and hoped none of theht poured over the hilltop, Conan was sure of two things: Aondo had known of the treachery; Dobanpu was at work fighting it
The warrior danced all around Conan,the Ciht or turn his back on his opponent That would havecould all but pick out the fall of a single leaf
Now the footfalls of his enemy were lost in a din that see, the crowd screae, and thunder that seemed to rise from the earth as well as roll from the sky Conan closed his eyes, drew in a deep breath, and judged Aondo's position froh Aondo brushed the Ciripped and thrown Conan with none to see it Aondo's ere unequal to such a stratagem He had been led to expect a helpless opponent, but had found Conan nothing of the kind, and his own vision diolden fire diminished until the hu high and to one side, and deliberately dropped to his knees
Aondo gave a bull roar,fury and triuasp of horror at the broken taboo rose from all around the drum
Conan did not meet Aondo body to body Instead, he dropped even farther, sla the drumhead with his massive chest Aondo's balance vanished He tried to recapture it by flinging himself forward, on top of Conan, who turned a complete somersault that took hi tribese This time his roar was pure fury In turn, he somersaulted as he flew over the rim of the drum He landed al forward to restrain hiht as well have tried to restrain a le blow, another stretched the other warrior senseless on the ground Aondo kicked the fallen ood h the crowd
Even the warriors gave way for hiain to bar Conan's path as the Cimmerian leaped down from the drum in pursuit He raised a fist, ready to add to the nuh the crowd from the other side, with some help from the hilt of her sword and a deftly wielded elbow Then she yelped in surprise as Conan threw his arms around her
”Gods above, Conan! You're worse than the rack or Mokossa with the oil!”
He held her at ar into her eyes to be sure that reason and life still burned there Then he laughed raggedly
”That scream wasn't yours?”
”Not the first one, at least It was Eun dart ai back into his limbs, but his wits seemed as slow as Aondo's ”Darts?”
”It was Wobeku,” Valeria said, then continued with an explanation that gradually penetrated Conan's understanding By the tith, but breath
”Where's my sword?”