"So Oyzhik has fled," Raihna said grimly. "Do we have much to fear from those he may have left behind?"
"Oyzhik was a fool and likely to choose other fools to do his work. We have more to fear if Count Syzambry chose them," Conan said. He drained half his cup of wine at a gulp, as if this could wash the words from his mouth.
At least it was wine good enough for a man"s tongue and belly instead of for scrubbing the jakes! The wine was one of the fruits of Conan"s work the day before, along with the furs on Raihna"s bed and the embroidered Khitan-silk chamber robe she wore.
"We"ll learn more in the next day or two," Conan added. "My company has the work of studying all those traps Oyzhik promised to set. We know that he planned to either make them harmless to Syzambry"s men or to turn them against us. Beyond that, we"ve yet to learn."
Conan poured more wine into Raihna"s offered cup. "Decius simply wanted to ruin all the traps. He said they were no honorable way of fighting.
I told him that Syzambry had already p.i.s.sed into the wind what honor he had. Didn"t we owe the king and the princess at least the knowledge that we gave the son of a hundred fathers a decent fight?"
"Decius seems to know what-"
"In Turan, Decius would be called a child! Pitied or ignored until he offended someone who"d squash him like a c.o.c.kroach!"
"Conan, I think the wine speaks now, not your heart. I was going to say that Decius seems to know what will let him sleep of nights. So do you.
Or was it another Cimmerian named Conan whom Decius s.n.a.t.c.hed from death today?"
Conan confessed his guilt and begged for mercy. Raihna laughed. "I will grant it if you pour yourself more wine and join me in a toast." He obeyed and she raised her cup.
"To Captain Conan and the Second Company of the Palace Guard of the Border Kingdom! May they both continue to rise!"
Conan drank, but not without some doubts. Giving him the Second Company was just and wise, if the men would obey him. Making the company"s old captain chief over the Guard in Oyzhik"s place was not so wise, unless one believed that the honor would sober the man.
Decius would surely end having to be captain over the Guard as well as his own men. As good a captain as he was, he still lacked the art of being in three places at once, or of doing without sleep, food, and visits to the jakes! The best captain could not defy nature without someone paying a price, most commonly in blood.
It was also somewhat in Conan"s mind that Decius was following in an ancient tradition. If you wished to court a woman, and had it in your power, you advanced, honored, or enriched her kin.
Well, Decius would learn that he could not follow that path very far before he ran afoul of worse dangers than any of Oyzhik"s traps.
Raihna"s tongue would be the first, but hardly the last.
Raihna had stood beside Conan while they drank. Now she rested one hand on his right arm and leaned gently against him. Not much to Conan"s surprise, it seemed that she wore nothing beneath the chamber robe. He slipped a hand under the garment and found that he"d judged rightly.
The hand wandered up across a firm flank, then climbed a supple back.
Raihna turned, opened the robe, and slipped out of it. It made a blue and gold pool as she climbed onto Conan"s lap. Then she let out a yelp of mock fear as the Cimmerians" ma.s.sive arms caught her up and flung her across the room onto the bed.
"I think it"s lying down that was on your mind, woman!" Conan said.
Raihna laughed, and she was still laughing when her arms and lips welcomed him to her bed.
Chapter 8.
Good wine and long loving meant late sleep for both Conan and Raihna.
It was as well that the summons to an audience with King Eloikas came well into the morning and that the audience itself was not before noon.
The Cimmerian and the Bossonian alike were able to break their fast and garb themselves in their best without haste.
King Eloikas greeted them with something very like a smile. Decius, standing beside the throne, had his face set in a blank mask, but Conan judged that he was not displeased either. The captain-general"s eyes followed Raihna, however, from the moment she entered to the moment that Eloikas bid her step back while Conan knelt before the throne.
Decius handed the king a linen rag. Swift movements told of strength in the royal hands as they opened the bag and drew forth an elaborate necklace. It was made of links of heavy gold, with a medallion in the center in the form of a comet. The head of the comet was a great polished blue stone, set about with fresh-water pearls.
"This is the ceremonial necklace of a captain in Our Guards," Eloikas said. "Oyzhik fled with his, and I would not shame you by giving it to you even had he left it behind."
For a moment Conan would have sworn that the king"s eyes glistened.
"This was the necklace of my son, Prince Gulain, when he had a company of the Guards. It was not buried with him, because the G.o.ds sent me a vision that it might be needed for a worthy man."
The royal eyes were definitely moist now, and Conan noted that Eloikas had dropped the royal "we." The Cimmerian had heard more than a few tales of the valor and wisdom of Prince Gulain, Chienna"s brother, who had met his death in a riding accident. So Conan replied with an easy mind and a clear voice.
"Your Majesty, I pray that I may be worthy of this honor. I know that I walk in the footsteps of a better man. But I think I can give your enemies some sleepless nights and busy days, with the help of some other good men-and women." He nodded at Decius and Raihna.
This speech went over well, although Raihna had to stifle giggles when they were alone. "Anyone would think you had been raised at some court and were a royal page in your childhood," she said at last.
Conan snorted like a mired ox. "Say rather that I know what will help keep daggers out of my back. The fewer tongues that wag about my new rank, the fewer daggers behind me. We"ll have all we can handle with the ones in front!"
It would not do to tell Raihna some of his other thoughts. Such a necklace told its own tale. The h.o.a.rd of the Border kings might not be altogether wine-flown babbling. Good service might bring more of that h.o.a.rd into the Cimmerian"s hands.
Nor might that be the only gold to be won in these mountains. Conan would not steal a rusty horseshoe nail from Eloikas or anyone sworn to him, but Count Syzambry and his friends were another matter. Their coffers were fair game and might repay a visit, if the chance came.
What might happen if the little count had all that the sorcerous allies" rumor gave him was another matter, of course. But Conan would think of that when he had to. Sorcerers appeared more often in tales than in truth, and quick wits and a well-wielded sword lost little power even when a sorcerer did appear.
Aybas did not bow before Princess Chienna. That was against the custom of the Star Brothers for their prisoners. In vain Aybas had railed at them, pointing out that the princess was more Count Syzambry"s prisoner than theirs.
Worse than in vain, Aybas realized. He had made the wizards yet more suspicious of him. They would be less charitable toward him now in other matters-such as that of Wylla.
If Aybas wanted the wench, he would have to hunt her down himself. The Star Brothers would now most likely send her straight to the beast and be done with her. If he offended them further, Aybas would be lucky not to follow her!
Meanwhile, Aybas"s not bowing clearly offended the princess. "I hear Aquilonia in your voice, Aybas," she said. "I was taught that Aquilonia was a land of civilized manners. Before a princess, a common man, or even a n.o.ble, showed more courtesy than seems to be in you."
Drawn up to her full height, she was as tall as he and hardly less broad across the shoulders. That she was fair to look at did not make Aybas less reluctant to step too close to her. Her ankles were still hobbled, but he did not care to test the strength of those arms, for all that scant rations had thinned them and dirt caked their skin.
"Your Highness," Aybas said. The t.i.tle at least had not been forbidden, or if it had been, then for once he would say curse the Star Brothers!
"I fear that those who rule here in the Vale of the Pougoi recognize no rank save their own."
"Not even that of Count Syzambry?"
"Why do you name the count, Your Highness?"
"Because I am not such a fool as to think that you and the wizards contrived to bring me here without his help. You both serve him. The wizards because they think he will enrich the Pougoi, you... the G.o.ds only know your reasons."
That was too close to the truth for Aybas to keep his countenance. The princess pressed her advantage, "I think you can trust neither the Pougoi wizards nor the count to keep any promises they have made to you. My father and I, however, are more honorable. What-"
"Enough!" Aybas"s hand came up as if it had a will of its own. Had the princess spoken another word, he might have actually struck her.
"There will be no punishment for this rebellion," Aybas said, praying that this was a promise he could keep. "But I will not come here alone again." That was a promise he would have to keep, or he would be closer to the chains on the rock and the sucking mouths of the beast"s tentacles than he cared to think about.
The princess tossed her head like a fly-beset horse and looked meaningfully at the door. Aybas was through it and bolting it behind in between two heartbeats.
Outside, he found himself sweating, even in the chill of the mountain evening. At least he would have proved his loyalty to any unseen eyes or ears. Beyond that, no good would come of making an enemy of Princess Chienna.