He bit his lip, and the scream died unborn. The swordcut he had suffered from that young fool Mikus"s blade was not the first battle wound he had taken. It would not be the last, even though victory was dawning before him. No usurped throne was ever held without fighting.
But G.o.ds, the pain! No wound had ever hurt so much. The count would have prayed that no wound would ever hurt so much again, but he doubted that his prayers would be answered. He could not even shape his lips to the proper names of the lawful G.o.ds.
Chills gripped his heart and belly, almost making him forget the pain.
Had magic entered into him so much that he was unclean in the sight of the G.o.ds? Had he done what was forbidden and now was cursed with this dreadful pain from a simple sword-cut, and might he be cursed with worse-?
Count Syzambry still did not scream, but he groaned.
From what seemed a vast distance away, a voice that might have been a ghost"s uttered sounds without words. Count Syzambry thought he heard what might have been "sleeping draught." and even "Pougoi magic."
Pougoi magic. Yes. That was it. The magic of the tribe"s wizards was making him hurt so much. The same magic would take away the pain.
It would take away the pain or he would not be the friend the Pougoi expected. It had been his intention to arm the Pougoi and use them to uphold his throne. He would still do that if their wizards would heal him. If they did not, he would say nothing.
But he would heal himself, or seek the aid of the leeches and surgeons.
The healing would take longer that way, but vengeance lost no sweetness with the pa.s.sing of time.
Yes, the time would pa.s.s, his wound would be gone, and he would use the power of the throne to arm all the enemies of the Pougoi. Then those enemies would fall upon them and cast them down, even their beast.
It would not do, after all, to leave the beast alive and a prey to someone who might think he was meant to rule in the Border Kingdom.
A voice spoke again, with nothing remotely like sensible words. A rim of cold metal pressed against the count"s battered lips. He smelled herbs and strong wine, then tasted them as the cup was tilted to trickle the potion into his mouth.
For a moment he thought he would choke. He did not, and the cup was empty almost before he became used to the harsh taste. He was already sliding down into sleep as the cup left him, although even after he slept, it was a while before the pain no longer troubled his dreams.
The last sounds from the battle of the palace were long since left behind. Nothing but the sounds of the night disturbed the march of Conan"s band of survivors. The night breeze whispered across the bare hillsides, and in the forests below, the night birds called to one another.
Once a wolf howled, long and harsh. The reply came not from another wolf but from something that seemed as vast as a mountain and growled like the heaving earth during the battle. Conan saw the fear-stricken looks on his men"s faces and growled curses under his breath.
As they skirted a field of straggling grain, Raihna dropped back to walk beside the Cimmerian.
"The G.o.ds seem far away tonight," she said. Her face was such a mask that it seemed the movement of her lips would crack it.
Conan lifted a hand to wipe blood-caked dust from her cheek. "They"re never as close as the priests seem to think. We"re alive without their help, so I"m wagering on our-"
"Hsstt!"
Raihna did not grip Conan"s arm this time. There was no need for it.
Both had seen alike: a line of shadowy figures straggling out of the forest. The faintest of moonlight was enough to reveal swords and spears, as well as ragged clothes, scanty armor, and no banner or device that Conan recognized.
Raihna ran like a doe up to the head of the line, waving the men to a halt as she went. They halted, not without a clattering of weapons and thumping of boots that would have alerted trained men below.
The men below, Conan judged, were even less battleworthy than the recruits of the Second Company had been. He saw them staggering with weariness, sometimes falling out of line to drink from leather jacks.
He saw them alternately gathered into ragged clumps like bunches of grapes or strung out like a serpent. He saw all of this as he walked along the line of his band, warning the men to be silent, but ready.
"I"m going down when they"re all in sight," he told Raihna at last.
"When you see me draw my sword or hear me shout Count Syzambry"s war cry, come at a run!"
"Count Syzambry"s-?" Raihna began, but she was talking to the Cimmerian"s broad back as he strode downhill.
Conan was not so foolhardy as to walk up to the newcomers without marking each rock and stump that might hide him as he went. There were enough of those, so that with the favor of the G.o.ds-
"How goes the fight at the palace?" someone called, sounding as if he had already emptied more than one leather jack of something stronger than water.
Conan was silent for another moment as he studied the hundred-odd men before him. Most of them were the rabble they had seemed, but here and there, he noted, was a man who carried himself like a seasoned free lance.
King Eloikas had hired no free lances. Count Syzambry, however-
Conan"s sword rasped free and leaped high, opening the throat of the nearest free lance. At the same time, he roared, "Steel Hand! Steel Hand! Steel Hand!"
From uphill, Raihna replied, her voice as shrill as any she-demon hovering over a battlefield to s.n.a.t.c.h the spirits of the dead and dying. After a moment other voices took up the cry, and with their enemy"s war cry on their lips, Conan"s men thundered downhill to join him.
They arrived just as the foe realized that they were in a battle, even if they were a good way from the palace and the attackers had feigned friendship! Whoever was in command began shouting orders, and some of his men seemed to obey him.
The real peril to Conan was the free lances. They were rallying around the body of his first victim, half a dozen or more. Conan had a busy time of it, working hard with both sword and dagger to keep the free lances from creeping around his flank.
Then Conan"s men struck the ranks of their foes, which in a moment ceased to deserve the name. Eloikas"s men had speed, the slope, and an ordered line on their side. They also had a king slain, or driven into the wilderness, to avenge, and their own reputation to restore.
Syzambry"s rabble vanished like a dancer"s silken veil flung into a blacksmith"s forge. Flight did not save a good many of them. A score or more died in the first shock, and as many more died with wounds in their backs. The Guards" blood was up, and they were a pack that no hunter could easily call off from their prey.
Conan did not try to. He held the free lances in play until Raihna joined him, turning their flank as they had sought to turn Conan"s. Two men died with Raihna"s steel in their back before the rest knew of the fresh danger. Then the four survivors divided, two against each opponent.
Two skilled free lances was no light matter even for the Cimmerian.
When one of them was almost as big as he, it was a serious affair.
Conan had the edge in speed, though, and he used it to hold both men at a distance while he sought an opening.
It came when the larger free lance crowded his comrade away from Conan, jealous of the right to deal the Cimmerian what he thought would be the final stroke. This left a gap between the two men. Conan hurled himself into it, feinting with his dagger to draw the smaller man still farther out of position.
The feint succeeded. Facing only one dangerous opponent now, Conan beat down the larger man"s guard, hammered his sword from his hand, then chopped the hand nearly from the wrist. The man reeled back, gaping at his spouting arm and dangling hand. He was still gaping as Conan slashed him across the face, and he fell back screaming and spitting blood and teeth.
Conan whirled, certain that the smaller men would have returned to the fight. Instead, he saw a tangle of arms and legs as four of his Guards swarmed over the free lance.
"Don"t-" the Cimmerian began.
"Conan!" It was Raihna, putting into his name the cry for help she was too proud to utter.
Conan wasted no time in joining Raihna and her opponents. Nor did he waste the opportunity one foe"s back gave him. He leaped, jerked the man"s head back, and heaved him off his feet. The man went down with a thud and a clatter of armor, and Conan finished the hapless fellow"s fighting by hammering his head on the ground.
By the time Conan knew that they had a prisoner, Raihna had opened a safe distance from her surviving foe. The man had a longer blade than she, though, and seemed to have no purpose left in life but to sink it into Raihna"s flesh.
He signally failed in that purpose. At the sound of Conan"s footsteps, he left an opening for Raihna. Her sword opened his neck, and his head wobbled as strength left him. Then he toppled, and Raihna"s dagger ended his last writhings.
The mask was gone from Raihna"s face as she rose to face the Cimmerian, her expression like a she-wolf that had just brought down the finest stag in the forest. Rents in her clothing showed more blood-smeared skin than before, and her b.r.e.a.s.t.s rose and fell with her panting.
She stepped forward and for a moment stood in the circle of Conan"s arms, sword still in hand. Then she threw her head back and brushed sweat-matted hair out of her eyes.
"Time enough when we make camp, my friend. Now tell me, why did you shout Syzambry"s war cry?"