And more attacks there would be, the Cimmerian was sure. Whatever Antimides" reason for wanting to seize Synelle, he could only be seeking Conan"s death to still his tongue. The attacks would continue until Conan was dead, or Antimides was.
"I didn"t say we should not kill him," Narus sighed. "I simply said we must flee afterwards."
"If we must flee in any case," Tauria.n.u.s demanded, "why should we then take this risk? Let the lord live, and let us be gone from Ianthe with all our blood in us." The lanky man looked more glum even than Warus, and the dark hair that straggled from under his helm was damp with anxious sweat.
"You"ll never make a captain, Ophirean," the gaunt-faced mercenary replied. "A Free-Company lives by its name, and dies by it, as well.
Can we be attacked with impunity, then the company is as dead as if we have all had our weazands slit, and we are no better than vagabonds and beggars."
Tauria.n.u.s muttered under his breath, but spoke no more complaints aloud.
"There is Antimides" palace," Machaon said abruptly. He frowned suspiciously at the sprawling, golden-domed edifice of marble and alabaster. "I see no guards. I do not like this, Cimmerian."
Antimides" palace was second in size within Ianthe only to the royal palace itself, a ma.s.sive structure of columns and terraces and spired towers, with broad, deep steps leading up from the street. There were no guards in sight on those steps, and one of the great bronze doors stood ajar.
A trap perhaps, Conan thought. Had Antimides learned of his failure already? Was he inside with his guards gathered close about him for protection? Such would be a foolish move, sure to have been protested by any competent captain. Yet a lord with Antimides" arrogance might well have bludgeoned his guard commander into complacent compliance long since.
He turned in his saddle, studying the men behind. The seven besides Machaon and Narus who had crossed the border from Nemedia with him were there. They had followed him far, and loyally.
Long and hard had he labored to build this company, and to keep it, yet fairness made him say, "What numbers we face inside I do not know. Does any man wish to leave, now is the time."
"Speak not foolishness," Machaon said. Tauria.n.u.s opened his mouth, then closed it again without speaking.
Conan nodded. "Four men to hold the horses," he ordered as he dismounted.
With steady, purposeful tread they climbed the white marble steps, drawing swords as they did. Conan stepped through the open door, its broad bronze face scribed hugely with the arms of Antimides" house, and found himself in a long, dome-ceilinged hall, with grand, alabaster stairs sweeping up to a columned balcony that encircled the hall.
A buxom serving girl in plain green robes that left her pretty legs bare to the tops of her thighs dashed out of a door to one side of the hall, a large, weighty bag over her shoulders. A scream bubbled out of her when she saw the armed and armored men invading the palace.
Dropping the bag, she sped wailing back the way she had come.
Narus thoughtfully eyed the array of golden goblets and silver plate that had spilled out of the bag. "A guess as to what happens here?"
"Antimides fleeing our righteous wrath?" Machaon hazarded hopefully.
"We cannot afford let him escape us," Conan said. He did not believe the count would flee, but there was strangeness here that worried him.
"Spread out. Find him."
They scattered in all directions, but warily, swords at the ready. Too many battles had they faced, too many traps had been sprung around them, for complacency. The continued survival of a mercenary lay in his readiness to give battle on an instant. Any instant.
A lord"s chambers would be above, the Cimmerian thought. He took the curving stairs upward.
Room by room he searched, finding no one, living or dead. Everywhere there were signs of hasty flight, and of a desire to carry away everything of value. Marks where tapestries had been pulled from the walls and carpets taken up. Tables overturned, whatever they had borne gone. Golden lamps wrenched halfway from brackets that had resisted being pried from the walls. Oddly, every mirror he saw was starred with long cracks.
Then he pushed open a door with his sword, and looked into a room that seemed untouched. Furniture stood upright, golden bowls and silver vases in place, and tapestries depicting heroic scenes of Ophir"s past hung from the walls. The one mirror in the room was cracked, however, as the others were. An intricately carved chair was set before it, the high back to the door, but the voluminous, gold-embroidered green silk sleeve of a man"s robe hung over one gilded wooden arm.
With the strides of a great hunting cat the giant Cimmerian crossed the room, presented his sword to the throat of the man seated there. "Now, Antimides-" Conan"s words died abruptly, and the hairs on the back of his neck stirred.
Count Antimides sat with eyes bulging from an empurpled face and blackened tongue protruding between teeth clenched and bared in a rictus of agony. The links of a golden chain were buried in the swollen flesh of his neck, and his own hands clutched the ends of that chain, seeming even in the iron grip of death to strain at drawing it tighter.
"Crom!" Conan muttered. He would not believe that fear of his vengeance had been enough to make Antimides sit before a mirror and watch as he strangled himself. The Cimmerian had met sorcery often enough before to know the smell of it.
"Conan! Where are you?"
"In here!" he replied to the shout from the hall.
Machaon and Narus entered with a slender, frightened youth in filthy rags that had been fine satin robes not long past. His wrists bore the b.l.o.o.d.y marks of manacles; the palor of his skin and the thinness of his face spoke of long days in darkness and missed meals.
"Look what we found chained below," the tattooed man said.
Not so much of a youth, Conan saw at second glance; there was that in the man"s manner-a petulant thrust of a too-full lower lip; a sulkiness of eye and stance-that gave an air of boyishness.
"Well, who is he?" the Cimmerian asked. "You speak as if I should know him."
The youthful appearing man lifted his chin with almost feminine hauteur. "I am Valentius," he said in a high voice that strained for steadiness, "count now, but King to be. I give you my thanks for this rescue." His dark eyes flickered uncertainly to Narus and Machaon. "If rescue it indeed is."
Narus shrugged. "We told him why we are here," he said to Conan, "but he does not believe. Or not fully."
"There are two guards below with their gullets slit," Machaon said, "but we"ve seen no one living. There is madness in this place, Cimmerian. Has Antimides truly fled?"
For an answer Conan jerked his head toward the high-backed chair. The other three hesitated, then moved quickly to look.
Shockingly, Valentius giggled. "However did you make him do this? No matter. "Tis fitting for his betrayal of my trust." His fine-featured face darkened quickly. "I came to him for aid and shelter, and he laughed at me. At me! Then he clapped me in irons and left me to rot and fight rats for my daily bowl of swill. So pious, he was. So unctuous. He would not have my blood on his hands, he said, and laughed. He would leave that to the rats."
"I"ve seen death on many fields, Conan," Machaon said, "but this is an ugly way to slay a man, for all he deserved killing." His knuckles were white on his sword hilt as he gazed on the corpse. Narus formed his fingers into a sign to ward off evil.
"I did not kill him," Conan told them. "Look at his hands on the chain.
Antimides slew himself."
Valentius laughed again, shrilly. "However "twas done, it was done well." Moods shifting like quicksilver, his face screwed up viciously, and he spat in the corpse"s bloated face. "I but regret I could not see the doing."
Conan exchanged glances with his two friends. This was the man with the best blood claim to succeed Valdric on the throne of Ophir. The young Cimmerian shook his head in disgust. The urge to be rid of the youth quickly was strong, but did he simply leave him the fool would have his throat cut in short order. Perhaps that would be the better for Ophir, but such was not his decision to make.
To Valentius he said, "We will take you to the royal palace. Valdric will give you protection."
The slender young man stared at him, wild-eyed and trembling. "No! No, you cannot! Valdric will kill me. I am next in line for the throne. He will kill me!"
"You speak foolishness," Conan growled. "Valdric has no care for aught but saving his own life. "Tis likely in a day he"ll not even remember you are in the palace."
"You do not understand," Valentius whined, wringing his hands. "Valdric will look at me, knowing that he is dying, knowing that I will be King after. He will think of the long years I have before me, and he will hate me. He will have me slain!" He looked desperately from one face to the next, and finished with a sullenly muttered, ""Tis what I would do, and so will he."
Machaon spat on the costly Turanian carpet. "What of blood kin?" he asked gruffly "What of friends, or allies?"
The cringing man shook his head. "How can I know who among them to trust? My own guards turned on me, men who have served my house faithfully for years." Suddenly his voice quickened, and his dark eyes took on a sly light. "You protect me! When I am King, I will give you wealth, t.i.tles. You shall have Antimides" palace, and be count in his stead. You and your men shall be the King"s personal bodyguard. Riches beyond imagining I shall grant you, and power. Choose a woman, n.o.ble or common, and she will be yours. Two, do you wish them, or three! Name the honor you desire! Give it name, and I shall grant it!"
Conan grimaced. It was true that there could be no better service for a Free-Company than what Valentius offered, but he would sooner serve a viper. "What of Iskandrian?" he said. "The general takes no part in these struggles, follows no faction."
Valentius nodded reluctantly. "If you will not serve me," he said sulkily.
"Then let us leave this place," Conan said, "and quickly. It would be ill to be found standing over Antimides" corpse." As the others hurried from the room, though, he paused for one last look at the dead man.