Hawks over Shem
Following the events of the story The Snout in the Dark, Conan, dissatisfied with his accomplishments in the black countries, wanders northward across the deserts of Stygia to the meadowlands of Shem.
During this trek, his reputation stands him in good stead. He presently finds himself in the army of King Sumuabi of Akkharia, one of the southerly Shemitish city-states. Through the treachery of one Othbaal, cousin of the mad King Akhirom of Pelishtia, the Akkharian forces are ambushed and wiped out-all but Conan, who survives to track the renegade to Asgalun, the Pelishti capital.
The tall figure in the white cloak wheeled, cursing softly, hand at scimitar hilt. Not lightly did men walk the nighted streets of Asgalun, capital of Shemitish Pelishtia. In this dark, winding alley of the unsavory river quarter, anything might happen.
"Why do you follow me, dog?" The voice was harsh, slurring the Shemitic gutturals with the accents of Hyrkania.
Another tall figure emerged from the shadows, clad, like the first, in a cloak of white silk but lacking the other"s spired helmet.
"Did you say, "dog"?" The accent differed from the Hyrkanian"s.
"Aye, dog. I have been followed-"
Before the Hyrkanian could get further, the other rushed with the sudden blinding speed of a pouncing tiger. The Hyrkanian s.n.a.t.c.hed at his sword. Before the blade cleared the scabbard, a huge fist smote the side of his head. But for the Hyrkanian"s powerful build and the protection of the camail of ring mail that hung down from his helmet, his neck might have been broken. As it was, he was hurled sprawling to the pavement, his sword clattering out of his grasp.
As the Hyrkanian shook his head and groped back to consciousness, he saw the other standing over him with drawn saber. The stranger rumbled: "I follow n.o.body, and I let n.o.body call me dog! Do you understand that; dog?"
The Hyrkanian glanced about for his sword and saw that the other had already kicked it out of reach. Thinking to gain time until he could spring for his weapon, he said: "Your pardon if I wronged you, but I have been followed since nightfall. I heard stealthy footsteps along the dark alleys. Then you came unexpectedly into view, in a place most suited for murder."
"Ishtar confound you! Why should I follow you? I have lost my way. I"ve never seen you before, and I hope never to-"
A stealthy pad of feet brought the stranger round, springing back and wheeling to keep both the Hyrkanian and the newcomers before him.
Four huge figures loomed menacingly in the shadows, the dim starlight glinting on curved blades. There was also a glimmer of white teeth and eyeb.a.l.l.s against dark skins.
For an instant there was tense stillness. Then one muttered in the liquid accepts of the black kingdoms: "Which is our dog? Here be two clad alike, and the darkness makes them twins."
"Cut down both," replied another, who towered half a head above his tall companions. "We shall then make no mistake and leave no witness."
So saying, the four Negroes came on in deadly silence.
The stranger took two long strides to where the Hyrkanian"s sword lay.
With a growl of "Here! he kicked the weapon at the Hyrkanian, who s.n.a.t.c.hed it up; then rushed upon the advancing blacks with a snarling oath.
The giant Kus.h.i.te and one other closed with the stranger while the other two ran at the Hyrkanian. The stranger, with that same feline speed he had shown earlier, leaped in without awaiting attack. A quick feint, a clang of steel, and a lightning slash sheared the head of the smaller black from his shoulders. As the stranger struck, so did the giant, with a long forehand sweep that should have cut the stranger in two at the waist.
But, despite his size, the stranger moved even faster than the blade as it hissed through the night air. He dropped to the ground in a crouch so that the scimitar pa.s.sed over him. As he squatted in front of his antagonist, he struck at the black"s legs. The blade bit into muscle and bone. As the black reeled on his wounded leg and swung his sword up for another slash, the stranger sprang up and in, under the lifted arm, and drove his blade to the hilt in the Negro"s chest. Blood spurted along the stranger"s wrist. The scimitar fell waveringly, to cut through the silken kaffia and glance from the steel cap beneath. The giant sank down dying.
The stranger tore out his blade and whirled. The Hyrkanian had met the attack of his two Negroes coolly, retreating slowly to keep them in front of him. He suddenly slashed one across the chest and shoulder so that he dropped his sword and fell to his knees with a moan. As he fell he gripped his foe"s knees and hung on like a leech. The Hyrkanian kicked and struggled in vain. Those black arms, bulging with iron muscles, held him fast, while the remaining Negro redoubled the fury of his strokes.
Even as the Kus.h.i.te swordsman drew breath for a stroke that the hampered Hyrkanian could not have parried, he heard the rush of feet behind him. Before he could turn, the stranger"s saber drove through him with such fury that the blade sprang half its length out of his chest, while the hilt smote him fiercely between the shoulders. Life went out of him with a cry.
The Hyrkanian caved in the skull of his other antagonist with his hilt and shook himself free of the corpse. He turned to the stranger, who was pulling his saber out of the body it transfixed.
"Why did you come to my aid after nearly knocking my head off?" he asked.
The other shrugged. "We were two men beset by rogues. Fate made us allies. Now, if you like, we"ll take up our quarrel again. You said I spied upon you."
"I see my mistake and crave your pardon," answered the Hyrkanian promptly. "I know now who has been skulking after me."
He wiped and sheathed his scimitar and bent over each corpse in turn.
When he came to the body of the giant, he paused and murmured:
"Soho! Keluka the Sworder! Of high rank the archer whose shaft is paneled with pearls!" He wrenched from the limp black finger a heavy, ornate ring, slipped the ring into his sash, and laid hold of the garments of the dead man. "Help me to dispose of this carrion, brother, so that no questions shall be asked."
Tlie stranger grasped a bloodstained jacket in each hand and dragged the bodies after the Hyrkanian down a reeking black alley, in which rose the broken curb of a ruined and forgotten well. The corpses plunged into the abyss and struck far below with sullen splashes. With a light laugh the Hyrkanian turned.
"The G.o.ds have made us allies," he said. "I owe you a debt."
"You owe me naught," answered the other in a surly tone.
"Words cannot level a mountain. I am Farouz, an archer of Mazdak"s Hyrkanian horse. Come with me to a more seemly spot, where we can converse in comfort. I hold no grudge for the buffet you dealt me, though, by Tarim! my head still rings from it"
The stranger grudgingly sheathed his saber and followed the Hyrkanian.
Their way led through the gloom of reeking alleys and along narrow, winding streets. Asgalun was a contrast of splendor and decay, where opulent palaces rose among the smoke-stained ruins of buildings of forgotten ages. A swarm of suburbs cl.u.s.tered about the walls of the forbidden inner city where dwelt King Akhirom and his n.o.bles.
The two men came to a newer and more respectable quarter, where the latticed windows of overhanging balconies almost touched one another across the street.
"All the shops are dark," grunted the stranger. "A few days ago the city was lighted like day, from dusk to sunrise."
"One of Akhirom"s whims. Now he has another, that no lights shall burn in Asgalun. What his mood will be tomorrow, Pteor only knows."
They halted before an iron-bound door in a heavy stone arch, and the Hyrkanian rapped cautiously. A voice challenged from within and was answered by a pa.s.sword. The door opened, and the Hyrkanian pushed into thick darkness, drawing his companion with him. The door closed behind them. A heavy leather curtain was pulled back, revealing a lamplit corridor and a scarred old Shemite.
"An old soldier turned to wine-selling," said the Hyrkanian. "Lead us to a chamber where we can be alone, Khannon."
"Most of the chambers are empty," grumbled Khannon, limping before them. "I"m a ruined man. Men fear to touch the cup, since the king banned wine. Pteor smite him with gout!"
The stranger glanced curiously into the larger chambers that they pa.s.sed, where men sat at food and drink. Most of Khannon"s customers were typical Pelishtim: stocky, swarthy men with hooked noses and curly blue-black beards. Occasionally one saw men of the more slender type that roamed the deserts of eastern Shem, or Hyrkanians or black Kus.h.i.tes from the mercenary army of Pelishtda.
Khannon bowed the two men into a small room, where he spread mats for them. He set before them a great dish of fruits and nuts, poured wine from a bulging skin, and limped away muttering.
"Pelishtia has come upon evil days, brother," drawled the Hyrkanian, quaffing the wine of Kyros. He was a tall man, leanly but strong built.
Keen black eyes, slightly aslant, danced restlessly in a face with a yellowish tinge. His hawk nose overhung a thin, black, drooping mustache. His plain cloak was of costly fabric, his spired helmet was chased with silver, and jewels glittered in the hilt of his scimitar.
He looked at a man as tall as himself, but who contrasted with him in many ways. The other had thicker limbs and greater depth of chest: the build of a mountaineer. Under his white kaffia his broad brown face, youthful but already seamed with the scars of brawls and battles, showed smooth-shaven. His natural complexion was lighter than that of the Hyrkanian, the darkness of his features being more of the sun than of nature. A hint of stormy fires smoldered in his cold blue eyes. He gulped his wine and smacked his lips.
Farouz grinned and refilled his goblet. "You fight well, brother. If Mazdak"s Hyrkanians were not so infernally jealous of outsiders, you"d make a good trooper."
The other merely grunted.
"Who arc you, anyway?" persisted Farouz. "I"ve told you who I am."
"I am Ishbak, a Zuagir from the eastern deserts."
The Hyrkanian threw back his head and laughed loudly, bringing a scowl to the face of the other, who said: "What"s so funny?"