Conan nodded, feigning more understanding than he actually felt. Still, it began to seem that the piper"s magic might be of a kind he had never heretofore met, or even heard of. It was magic to prevent what might otherwise happen rather than to cause unnatural events such as rivers flowing backward, mountains splitting, or dead G.o.ds waking up to ravage the world of men.
No doubt such magic could in time corrupt its wielder, as with any sorcerer. But the corruption might come more slowly. Slowly enough, perhaps, for Conan and Raihna to use Marr"s aid in rescuing the princess and making a safe escape.
"We had best move to a safer place, as you suggested," the piper continued. "Then, before we move on, we must consider fresh ways of rescuing the princess. Wylla has brought news that I did not expect."
"I thought that our old scheme was good enough," Conan said. "Unless your ankle will keep you from climbing the valley walls," he added, turning to Raihna.
"Climbing down, no. Climbing up-" She shrugged. "That monster on my trail may count for more than a sore ankle."
"We may need to do much less climbing than we expected," the piper said. "Wylla thinks that we have a friend among the Pougoi." The woman whispered to the piper, and he nodded. "Or at least a man who is no enemy to the princess, even if he serves Count Syzambry."
"What?" Conan would have bellowed louder than the bear had Raihna not put a hand over his mouth. More quietly, he said, "This demands even more explaining than your climbing trees to make music while we fought the bear!"
"I shall explain when we are a safe distance from here," Marr said.
"The thoughts of the bear may not have reached the Star Brothers.
Indeed, I believe they did not. I am less sure about the bear"s kin. Do you fancy a fight against them?"
By the time Wylla and Marr finished telling of "Lord Aybas" and his curious conduct, it was too late to reach the valley before daylight.
The four travelers covered some two thirds of the distance, then found a sleeping place in a stand of fir trees so dense that an army might not have discovered them.
The tale would have been longer still and much less convincing had Wylla not decided that Conan and Raihna could be trusted. So she revealed her knowledge of the lowland speech and told most of the tale herself. This, in turn, left Conan and Raihna more willing to believe it.
Not that the tale was easy to believe at best, as Raihna made plain when she and Conan were clearing a place for their blankets. "Aybas may be playing some game too deep for Wylla to understand, it seems to me,"
she said.
"Then it would be too deep for our musical magician, and if he"s not a master of intrigue, I"m a Stygian," Conan said.
"He may know only what Wylla has told him," Raihna suggested.
"True enough," Conan replied. "But we can"t turn about and run for home with our tails between our legs after coming this far. We"ll go on down. If it"s a trap, we can at least cut Aybas"s throat in due time."
"Yes, and Wylla"s." Raihna embraced him. "It does you honor that you"ll not harm a woman. But I"ve sworn no such oath, and if Wylla betrays, us, she"ll go with us. I"ve always fancied having a serving maid, in this world or some other."
Conan returned the embrace, but he could not entirely avoid the thought that any man who made an enemy of Raihna would be lucky to live long.
Did Decius know this small truth about the lady he was courting?
Chapter 14.
Aybas awoke, at first certain that a new nightmare afflicted him. A giant loomed over him, so black that he seemed to devour light except for his eyes, which gleamed an icy blue. Others were present in the nightmare, but Aybas could make out only little of them.
Then he sensed cold steel against his skin and a sharp point at his throat. Either the demons who rode by night had new powers over the minds of men, or he was no longer asleep.
Aybas chose to think himself awake, and he asked a question that could at least do no harm: "What do you want of me, friends?"
"Hah!" the giant said. "Leave the last word off your tongue or give over pandering for a usurper."
That made it evident who the visitors were: folk loyal to King Eloikas.
And that told him that they were no friends of his, and most likely why they were here.
In spite of the steel at his throat, Aybas smiled. The night had brought one surprise to him. Now it was about to bring one to his visitors.
"If you seek the freedom of Princess Chienna, I am yours to command."
The giant grunted something wordless that might have indicated surprise. Aybas could barely make out his face in the dark hut, and in any case, he was no longer looking at the giant.
Behind the giant stood a fair-haired woman of mature but still great beauty, for all her warrior"s garb and appearance. Beside her-and here Aybas had to swallow-stood a man who seemed small beside the giant but who exuded a power that had little to do with his stature.
A set of silver-adorned pipes dangled at his waist. Aybas did not need a second look at those pipes for them to tell him more than he wanted to know about the man.
Marr the Piper, who had toyed with the spells of the Star Brothers like a playful cat with a mouse, had come in the service of King Eloikas.
"Then we command you to rise and guide us to the house of the princess," the giant said.
"I will do as much or more on one condition," Aybas said.
The sword point p.r.i.c.ked harder. Another twitch of the giant"s wrist and Aybas"s life blood would stream over his pallet. "Wait! Hear the condition first! It may be worth the hearing."
"It may," Marr said. Aybas almost smiled. He had heard the legend that the piper of the mountains was mute save for his music. So much for the legend.
"We must rescue Captain Oyzhik," Aybas said.
The giant"s sword point drew back, but the look on his face was more frightening than the sharp steel. With his eyes now fully waking, Aybas saw that the giant had the look of Cimmeria about him. Perhaps he was the new captain of the Guards of which rumor had spoken? If so, he would have no reason to love Oyzhik.
"You are here out of loyalty to King Eloikas, to save Chienna from the Star Brothers and from Count Syzambry alike. Save Oyzhik and you may do the king another service."
"How?" The Cimmerian, it seemed, was not one to waste words.
"Oyzhik is a traitor to the king, to be sure. He also knows a good many of Syzambry"s secrets. He has not been rewarded for his treason, either. The Star Brothers hold him close captive, ready to sacrifice him to the beast at a whim. If saved, might he not reveal much of what he knows, out of grat.i.tude?"
"Oyzhik has as much grat.i.tude in him as a turnip," the woman said. "But if the king pardoned him as well-"
"Raihna!" the giant growled. "Have your wits flown after this one"s?"
"No," the woman called Raihna replied. "Merely thinking that if we can win a second victory without losing our first-"
She seemed to have decided. From the look on his face, the piper was of the same mind. The Cimmerian was not, and he seemed ready to argue.
The hut door swung open, and Wylla entered as silently as smoke. "I have warned my father. He trusts no one else enough to bring them, but he will meet us at the house of the princess."
"Is anyone suspicious?" Conan asked.
"I saw none of the Star Brothers or their faction," Wylla said. "I think that if they suspected aught, they would be abroad."
"Likely enough," Conan agreed. He looked upward, apparently calling on the G.o.ds for patience with fools, and wisdom to tell fools from wise men. Then he looked at Aybas with a face that made the Aquilonian wish that this were a nightmare.
"We"ll take your oath to aid us. Break it, or even bend it, and you"ll die ten times over before the Pougoi take you."