The Conan Compendium

by Robert E. Howard

  "I have shared your doubts about Oyzhik, Conan, if you were wondering.

  As for your doubts about me Decius shrugged.

  "I'm done with those," Conan growled. He thrust his sword back into its scabbard with a thump. "What of your doubts about me?"

  "I have none," Decius said. "Not anymore. But¦ I do have a favor to ask of you."

  The words came out strangely, and Decius's look was stranger still. He was sweating even more than the sun could explain and seemed unsure of what to do with his hands.

  Conan knew a moment's unease at not knowing what the favor might be.

  Then he decided that the gods forbid he should be ungrateful to the man who had saved him from joining Sergeant Kalk on the rocks below.

  "You can ask, although I don't promise to grant," the Cimmerian replied.

  "What lies between you and Raihna?" The words came out in a rush as if Decius feared his voice would betray him otherwise.

  Conan wanted to laugh. Decius was not much younger than the Cimmerian's father would have been were he alive. He was also a widower who had buried three sons as well as his wife. Yet the captain-general was asking as if he were a love-stricken youth.

  He would also be as easily hurt as any such youth, and he would not forget such an injury. That thought made it easier for Conan to find words.

  "By all the lawful gods of this realm and my homeland, I swear that Raihna and I are not bonded, hand-fasted, betrothed, dedicated, wed, married¦ have I left anything out?"

  Deeius smiled uncertainly. "Not to my knowledge. But¦ you are bedmates?"

  Conan swallowed a peevish reply to the question. Decius had not only saved him from Kalk's fate, he had done so at the risk of meeting it himself. Decius might not have come to the hill alone, but he had surely hidden himself far beyond help by any companions. That courage called for at least a civil reply to the man's uncivil question.

  "We have been, and may be again. It was the choice of both of us."

  "Well, then," Decius said. Relief seemed to leave him speechless and unsteady on his feet for a moment. "Then”it is much to ask you, Conan”-but will you press my suit with Mistress Raihna?"

  Conan silently invoked the names of a number of gods of love and desire. All of them seemed to have led Decius's wits astray. He hoped they would shortly lead them home again. Meanwhile, he could at least answer this question from sure and certain knowledge.

  "I will not, and for two good reasons. One is that the lady would not think the better of you for lacking the¦ for not speaking for yourself.

  The second is that I doubt you saved my head today so that Raihna could break it tonight!"

  "I suppose that is the best I can hope for," Decius said. He cupped his hands and gave a war cry that had either no words or none that Conan understood.

  Three heads popped up from the scrub and three hands rose beside them.

  Conan judged distances and saw that Decius had not in fact put himself beyond help. His men had stayed hidden while their captain-general inquired if Raihna was a free woman!

  So Decius was not altogether foolhardy. Conan still muttered another prayer that the love gods would undo their work on Decius's wits. The Cimmerian had never heard of good coming of mixing love and war, least of all for captains with other men's lives in their hands!

  "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 pissed 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 cockroach!"

  "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 snatched 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' massive 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

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  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 fle
d 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 gods 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 hoard of the Border kings might not be altogether wine-flown babbling. Good service might bring more of that hoard 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 noble, 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 title 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 gods 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.

  "But what other path is there for me, oh gods?"

  Neither the skies, the wind, nor the rocks beneath, answered Aybas's cry.

  Conan had hopes of taking the Second Company out into the field to put a final polish on its new skills. Decius had other plans.

  "If Syzambry has half the men we think he does," the captain-general said, "we have no hope against him in the open. The more we guard the palace, the less harm he can do."

  "The more we guard the palace, the more we leave the count a free hand everywhere else," Conan replied. "I'm a stranger here. I don't know how many friends Eloikas has outside the palace

  "That's King Eloikas to you, Cimmerian," Decius snapped. "And you say truly, you are a stranger here."

  "A stranger who's seen his share of battles and intrigues," Conan reminded the older man. "Such a share that His Majesty made me captain over a company of his own Palace Guard. Did you argue against that, or are you regretting it now?"

  That was pushing a man of higher rank rather hard, but not harder than necessary, or so it seemed to Conan. If Decius was letting a boy's passion for Raihna addle the man's and the captain's wits”

  Decius shook his head. "I spoke for you then, and I will speak for you now whatever you say to me. Just think before you speak, if you have it in you to do so."

  Conan gave Decius a tiger's grin. "Well enough, my lord. I think that His Majesty must have some friends in this realm. Otherwise, Syzambry would have plumped his arse down on the throne years ago."

  "Not unlikely."

  "Cursed near certain, I'd say. Now, what will these friends say if they see us hiding in the palace like a mole in its burrow? I know the king's no coward. You know the king's no coward. What about our friends? Even if they think that the king's worth helping, what will they do if Syzambry's men are free to roam the land? If any of our friends so much as give the count a sour look, they'll be dead, or running for their lives. Running to us for help, when we've enough to do for ourselves."

  Decius looked the Cimmerian over with great care, as if the younger man had just grown bright-blue scales or a long, spiked tail. Then he shook his head again.

  "Conan," he said, "if you ever 'plump your arse' down upon a throne, I would not like to be the man called on to move you from it."

  Conan shrugged. "I've seen a few men win thrones or lose them. I'd be a fool not to learn from that. One thing I've learned is that a throne makes a man a big target, and a sitting one. The day my arse and a throne do make friends, you can call me a fool!"

  "Small chance that either of us will ever have the chance," Decius said. "But it is more than likely that Count Syzambry will be visiting us soon. Your company's work for now is to make sure that our hospitality is worthy of him. We will speak later of taking the field again."

  "Later," it seemed, might be in the next age of the world for all Conan heard of the matter in the next few days. He had little time to concern himself with it, however, for the work given to the Second Company kept captain and men alike as busy as galley slaves.

  Oyzhik's traps were many, but for th
e most part they were poorly made, and too often poorly concealed. Conan wondered if Oyzhik had planned this to be sure that his master's men would not spring the traps even if he could not wreck them on the night of the attack.

  Be that as it may, one cunning and well-concealed trap was worth a dozen that any child could avoid. Conan made sure that no child would find any of the ones he set. Some were Oyzhik's deadfalls”pits, hidden crossbows and the like”done over with greater skill and bloody intent.

  Others were altogether new. Conan had to be cautious there. The palace was vast, built in days when the Border Kingdom bore another name and its main defense lay with armies that marched where other realms now held sway. It was also ancient, and it had been several generations since the Border kings had had the gold to pay masons to repair sagging arches and cracking walls.

  There were parts of the palace unvisited by any living man. Conan judged that the count would seek entry by these long-unused paths, and he gave most of his attention to them. Care was needed to avoid leaving suspicious traces. Still more care was needed to avoid bringing entire corridors or chambers down on the heads of the workers instead of on the count's men.

  Raihna visited Conan one day during the noon meal. She found him stripped to a loinguard, sword, and a liberal coating of dust and plaster, sitting with a company of Guards similarly clad. The fruits of their morning's labor yawned before her, a pit with a spiked log in the bottom.

  "When we've closed the pit, we'll lay on another surprise," Conan said, pointing toward a side hall. "An old catapult cord with a trip release and a barrel of tar. We'll have a lighted candle in a clay pot set into the barrel. When the barrel breaks and spills the tar, the candle falls into the tar and the whole chamber's ankle-deep in flames."

  Several of the Guards cheered at the picture. Others called greetings to Raihna, inviting her to join them at their work”

  "”'specially if you get into our workin' garb," one added.