When he straightened, the thunder of drums and the cry of trumpets had overwhelmed the crackle of flames. Thyrin cursed.
"I prayed for silence, but the G.o.ds-"
"Leave the G.o.ds well enough alone," Conan snapped. "How fast we can run matters more now."
"I am no cripple, Cimmerian," Thyrin said. "But I warn you. The paths through the village or to the way you entered the valley will be guarded now. There is another way out, and indeed an easier one for women or those carrying burdens-"
"Then lead me to it," Conan growled. He thought of handing Oyzhik to Thyrin to silence the man, then thought better of it. Conan was younger, and also less likely to drop the prisoner into a well "by mischance."
"I will, but I will also pray to the G.o.ds that Marr the Piper knows of the way and is bound for it even now."
"One more riddle-" Conan said.
"No riddle," Thyrin said. "Simply the truth. The way is easy enough once one is on it. But to reach the foot of it, one must cross the dam that holds in the beast"s lake. The top of the dam is but a man"s height above the water, well within the reach of the beast."
Conan"s horror of sorcery made his heart leap for a moment. Then he shrugged, settling his burden into a more bearable position.
"I"ve been in reach of worse than your star-beast and cut my way out again," he said. "Lead where you must, my friend."
Chapter 15.
It was not long after the alarm was raised that Aybas knew their retreat was cut off. At least the princess would not have to struggle with the cliff while carrying the babe on her back.
When he learned of the other way out of the valley, Aybas nearly lost hope altogether. Now they faced an easy climb, but to reach it, they had to pa.s.s close to the worst of all possible foes. The beast of the Star Brothers would surely be awake and hungry before they could be out of its reach.
"Perhaps," Marr said. "But think on this. If we are beyond the beast before it wakes fully, it will be a good rear guard to us. Not even the Star Brothers can altogether master the beast when it is fully awake, hungry, or enraged."
"How do we keep it from awakening before we are safely past?" the princess asked."
"I have knowledge that may help us," the piper said, touching the pipes at his waist.
The look on Chienna"s face reminded Aybas of the Cimmerian"s countenance when magic was mentioned. It was dawning on her just how wholly at the mercy of sorcery they were on this night. Aybas did not doubt that his own face mirrored the princess"s.
For two moons he had dreamed of finding a place beyond the reach of the Star Brothers and their evil magic. Now he might be on his way to such a place. But the road to it would lead through still more magic-magic that might in the end be as unclean as the Star Brothers". So be it.
The alternative was to remain in the valley until the Pougoi killed him. Aybas believed that he had some punishment yet to come for serving Count Syzambry, but he would rather it did not come tonight.
"Very well," he told Marr. "You take the lead. Raihna, guard Marr.
Wylla, guide us as needed. Princess, see to your babe before all else.
I will guard the rear."
How easy it was to once again give orders instead of take them. Aybas knew that if he lived through the night, he would be fit for at least a captaincy in the hosts of the Border Kingdom.
The dam loomed against the stars, ten times Conan"s height. He studied the dam"s face, finding no stairs but sufficient hand and footholds for swift climbing.
"By Erlik"s beard, how did the Pougoi find the hands to build this?"
"The Star Brothers found their beast," Thyrin said. "It gave them knowledge. They used that knowledge to raise the stones of the dam, and more knowledge to bind the stones together."
The near presence of so much magic made the night seem even colder.
Conan rested his hand on his sword hilt for the rea.s.surance that honest steel could give.
"It is also said that the beast itself labored on the dam," Thyrin said. "But that is a tale at best. None but the Star Brothers were close to the dam while it rose... or at least none who lived to tell of what they saw."
"Sorcerers like their secrets to die with them," Conan said. "Even if that"s not one of the laws of magic, they all act as if it were!"
The two men fell silent in their hiding place behind a pigsty. It smelled no sweeter than any other pigsty, but that would drive away the odd pa.s.serby. The pigs were awake, grunting and squealing in unease at the alarm. Their noise would hide any small sounds that Conan and Thyrin might make as they waited.
Conan hoped that the waiting would not be long. They were in a race with the warriors, the Star Brothers, the beast, and the princess and her rescuers, all of them striving for victory-which meant life itself.
The mist over the dam swirled thickly. Conan heard the surging of mighty waters against the dam and thought he saw something rise into the mist. It might have been a trick of the vapor. It might also have been a tentacle.
If it were a tentacle, it was as long as a small ship and as thick as a man"s body. It also seemed to have gaping, sucking mouths scattered all along its length.
Darkness hid Aybas"s party most of the way to the dam, and they hardly needed silence. The walls of the valley caught the sounds of the drums and the trumpets, to say nothing of the cries and screams of the Pougoi. They cast the noise back and forth, raising echoes that thundered among the rocks until it seemed that they were thundering in Aybas"s very head.
Aybas ceased to worry about being heard. Two-score oxen could have marched across the valley unnoticed amid this uproar.
He began, rather, to worry about the valley itself. Behind the dam, he knew, was a lake large enough to drown the whole valley if the dam ever released it. He had heard of loud sounds shattering rock and unleashing snowslides, unaided by any magic.
He hastened forward to speak to Marr, pa.s.sing Chienna on the way. The princess was striding along with grim determination, for all that sweat sheened her face and matted her hair. She might not be bred to the hill life, like Wylla, but she would be no burden tonight!
As Aybas overtook Marr, he saw the man lift the pipes to his lips.
Their music went unheard in the din filling the valley, but Aybas felt every hair of his head and beard p.r.i.c.kle like the quills of a hedgehog.
They were still p.r.i.c.kling when the piper led them up to the base of the dam. They rose even higher when two vast figures loomed out of the darkness, until Aybas recognized Conan and Thyrin.
Wylla gave a faint cry and hurled herself into her father"s arms.
Raihna looked as if she wanted to do the same to Conan, but the Cimmerian appeared as grim as his cold northern G.o.d Crom.
"Best save the greetings and tales until we"re safe away," he said.
"We"ve seen no warriors on our trail. What of you?"
Aybas and Raihna shook their heads. Conan seemed to ease a trifle.
"Friend Marr, if you can tame the beast, now"s the time to prove it.
Raihna, you stand with me and Thyrin."
Aybas began to protest against having laid upon him the burden of taking Chienna to safety if the rear guard fell to the beast. He did not think himself equal to it.
Yet he had given his oath to the Cimmerian. The Cimmerian, in turn, was giving his trust to Aybas, trust in the Aquilonian"s prowess as well as his honor. Aybas had betrayed much in his life, but he would not of his own will betray that trust. The Cimmerian, Aybas decided, could have given lessons to many of those whom Aybas had served on how to be a captain in war.
Marr nodded, then looked at the sprawled figure lying beneath a bush.
"Is Oyzhik fit to walk?"
"With a barrel of wine in him?" Thyrin growled. "We have no time for jests."