The Conan Compendium

by Robert E. Howard

  Wishing to be away before the sun rose, .he set out for the garth. At least the wizard was greatly weakened now. He had lost his far-ranging eyes as well. Rerin said that lilma would have to journey to some accursed place and perform long rituals before he would be able to acquire new familiars. Best of all, he was now vulnerable to the swords and spears of other men.

  Fourteen

  When Kings IReef

  Cotila stretched in his saddle and looked back at the long file of his warriors winding along the forest road. They were in good spirits, for the gadfly horsemen had not struck at them since the day before. He did not think that he would see them again until he reached Alcuina's garth. That had been a weakening tactic, and they had given it up as soon as the Tormanna had come up with a good defensive tactic. Where had the Cambres learned to fight in such a fashion? He suspected that Alcuina's new black-haired champion was behind it. The more Totila learned of the man, the more he longed to come to grips with him.

  lilma rode up beside his king. "My birds tell me that the Cambres are huddled in Alcuina's garth like sheep in a pen."

  Totila turned upon him with a look of little favor. "Your damned birds have been of little use so far."

  lilma shrugged, hiding his feeling of inner doubt. "A fluke. Who would have expected a poor magician like

  Rerin to show such imagination? In any case, they have brought me further word, which you will find of great interest."

  "Speak on," said Totila patiently.

  "About a mile from here this road merges with another, which comes from the south. On that road are King Odoac and his Thungians. We shall reach the fork about the same time that they do."

  Totila stroked his chin and smiled. "Odoac, eh? It is high time that I had words with that Thungian pig."

  "At this point an alliance might be"

  "Stick to your wizardry," Totila broke in abruptly. "Leave statecraft to me." They rode on in silence.

  As the sun rose higher the king of the Tormanna scanned the cloudless sky. "Where are your magpies, wizard? I've not seen them all this day."

  "I havesent them upon a mission, my lord. It is a matter of importance, concerning a stratagem that will be of great help to you in taking Alcuina's fortress." He dared not admit to his new weakness. It was imperative that the king think him as powerful as ever. He thanked his dark gods that he had made his preparations for the phantom-spell before he lost his familiars.

  "Has it aught to do with the noises that came from your camp last night?" the king asked. "Men complained of it this morning. They said they were wakened by hellish sounds, as if giant serpents and boars and eagles were battling."

  "Your men," lilma said stiffly, "have no business concerning themselves with my arts, however clamor-ous they may be."

  The Tormanna reached the fork in the road first, and Totila ordered the men off the road for a rest, caution-ing them that they were soon to receive visitors. Every

  man must keep his weapons handy. Before an hour had passed, they saw the Thungians slogging up the southern road.

  Odoac's heart jumped into his throat when he saw the army seated upon the ground before him. An ambush by the Cambres? But these men were making no effort to hide themselves. Then he saw the towering man who wore the cloak of many-colored hair and the eagle-crested helm, and he felt even more trepidation. He had hoped to find the leaderless Cambres easy meat. Totila and all his warriors primed for battle made a daunting prospect. There was nothing he could do except put the best face on it if his men were to follow him.

  "It seems as if we are not the only ones minded to mount a winter hosting against the Cambres," Odoac said. He managed to get the words out steadily, although sweat came from beneath the rim of his helmet. His men's expressions grew grim, and their hands tightened on their weapons.

  As the Thungians neared, Totila came forward. His men remained seated upon the ground. This reassured Odoac somewhat. But he was aware of every bit of his advancing age and flagging powers as the huge king of the Tormanna came to him and clasped his hand in a bone-crunching grip.

  "Greeting, Odoac, my fellow king! It is too seldom that I see you!" He draped an arm around Odoac's shoulder and turned to wave and nod, giving both armies a good chance to judge how much taller, younger, and finer he was than the Thungian king.

  "I greet you, Totila," Odoac answered, carefully omitting the title of king. "Am I right in believing that we are on a similar mission?"

  "That is possible. Let us step aside and discuss these matters privily, as two kings should."

  Odoac did not want to leave the protection of his housecarls, but he dared not show fear of Totila. "Rest you here, my men," he said, affecting unconcern. "This chieftain and I must take counsel upon weighty matters."

  The two men walked a short distance away to a small hillock.

  "My wizard tells me," began Totila, "that Alcuina is back after her mysterious disappearance."

  "I rejoice to hear it," Odoac said, surprised. "Now I may ask her why she has been so tardy in answering my suit."

  "I had similar questions in mind. Perhaps you also wished to discipline your wayward nephew?"

  Odoac fumed but strove not to show it. This man had the advice of the cursed lilma to make up for his lack of royal blood. Why had the Hyperborean not come to a true king like Odoac?

  "In truth, the boy has been a trial to me. I brought him up as if he were my own son, for the sake of my dear brother. The wretch had the temerity to plot after my throne." He managed to smile at Totila. "Be glad that you never married, and have no heir."

  "That is a situation I intend to rectify soon. After all, it were a shame to leave a royal lady like Alcuina imbedded when all three of our kingdoms are currently without heirs. Now, if you and I were to fall out here upon the road and come to swordstrokes, who would profit? Only the Cambres, for whichever of us prevailed would yet be too weakened to take the field against the Cambres this year."

  "An alliance against the Cambres makes sense,"

  Odoac said, nodding as if he had not been hoping that this was what Totila would suggest. "There remains the question of our similar aims. This alliance will do us no good if we should fall out over possession of Alcuina and her lands and people."

  "These things can be worked out," said Totila per-suasively. "And they should be before we proceed further. The lands and people are easy to settle. We simply divide them in twain, north and south, along the Gernach River, which runs nearly through the center of the kingdom. North to me, south to you."

  Odoac thought for a moment. "That is agreeable to me. Now, what about Alcuina herself? Each of us is in need of a wife, and I see no way to divide her as we have already divided her land."

  "As I see it," said Totila craftily, "you have two goals here: You want Alcuina, but you also want to rid yourself of Leovigild. It would not look good to your men if you were to slay him with your own hand, which you could easily do, I am sure."

  "Of course I could slay that puppy," Odoac grumbled. "But you are right, it would be impolitic for me to do so. There would be those who would name me kinslayer even though I but defended myself."

  "I, on the other hand, could slay him with impunity." Totila did not mention that he was fairly certain that he had already slain that young man. "Leovigild's life for Alcuina. Do you not think that is a fair trade, since I will after all be getting her with only half her dowry?"

  Odoac stroked his beard, pretending to be deep in thought. "I still need an heir, you know."

  Abruptly, Totila lost patience. "Use your head, man!

  There are plenty of noble ladies with marriageable daughr ters who would be happy to have a king for son-in-law. Or find some peasant brat and pronounce him the long-lost son of your brother. It is not as if you intended to let him grow to manhood. You could buy fifteen more soft years on the throne with such a move."

  "You speak wisely, my friend," said Odoac, deeply cowed. "Let us agree on this: We shall unite forces against the
Cambres. When the fighting is over, if you have slain Leovigild, you shall have Alcuina and the northern half of her kingdom. I shall have the southern half. We shall part friends and march our men home."

  Totila thrust forth a hand, and Odoac took it. Neither had the slightest intention of honoring the agreement except at his own convenience. Arms about one another's shoulders, they walked back to their men, smiling.

  "Is Odoac such a fool?" said lilma, incredulous.

  King and wizard sat in a small tent of oiled hides half a day's march from Alcuina's garth. Night had fallen, and the men rested against the exertions of the morrow, lilma had kindled a small, smokeless fire between them, and it cast sinister shadows upon their faces as they conferred.

  "Aye, he is a fool, but not so great a fool as that. He is merely a frightened old man with his best days behind him. He wants to hold on to his kingship for his few remaining years, and he knows not who to fear moreLeovigild or me. He does not like this alliance I have forced upon him, but he has no other choice."

  "Will you let him march home peacefully after the battle is done?" lilma asked.

  "That depends upon how things look at the time. If

  his men have taken many losses and we have taken few, I might well settle with him at that time. If we are seriously weakened, perhaps we must wait another year or two. Undoubtedly we should beat them, but why drain all my power in a second battle if things can be arranged more advantageously? After all, I have great plans, and eliminating my little northern rivals are a small part of them. I do not wish to be weakened for my southern conquests."

  "As my lord says," lilma soothed. "Might not matters be simplified if Odoac were to be slain in the coming battle?"

  Totila thought. "Perhaps. If he were to be slain by the Cambres. If I slew him, his men would not follow me."

  "Suppose Leovigild was to slay him?"

  "Eh?" Totila was mystified. "Leovigild? I've already done for the boy. He is dead by now, from the wounds I dealt him."

  "The Thungians do not know that. I can raise a phantom, fashioned in the guise of young Leovigild. The Thungians will see Leovigild strike him down, then you may deal with the phantom, which will die most realistically."

  Totila smiled widely. "Can you truly do that? Then the Thungians would be bound in honor to follow me, as the avenger of their slain lord."

  "Just so," said lilma, nodding.

  Totila slapped his knee in delight. "Then that is what we shall do! I have never killed the same man twice, but I am willing to do it."

  Odoac and his chief warriors sat around their fire, glumly staring into the flames. They had eagerly anticipated the coming fight with the Cambres. The appearance of the Tormanna had stolen much of the zest from the enterprise. A senior warrior with much gray in his brown beard addressed his king.

  "We came hither to get Alcuina's lands, and we'll not do that with Totila here. I say we go home and wait for a better time."

  There was a slight grumble of agreement, but another warrior objected. "No! Will we let it be said that the Thungians took the warrior's road only to turn back like whipped dogs without a blow being struck? I'll not live with such shame!" Many roared agreement.

  "And so should say all true men!" yelled "Odoac, who wanted above all else not to go back and let his men spend the rest of the winter brooding about the fiasco their king had led them into.

  "If we get only half her lands this year, what of it? There is always next year. It is just that now the Cambres and the Tormanna are too much for us to take on at one time. By next year, things may be different. We can first take the rest of the land of the Cambres, then turn west to take Totila. But for now we must have this alliance. It binds us to nothing after this fight is won." This time most of the men signified approval. For all its faults, this plan would at least allow them to fight and then return home with honor. None of them cared to contemplate going home to face the women and the old ones should they return with spears unbloodied.

  Odoac smiled at his men, hiding his relief. All he asked now was a little land, his reputation as a war-chief restored, and the corpse of Leovigild at his feet. All these things he might have upon the morrow.

  "There they are," Conan said.

  He stood beside Alcuina upon the walk that backed the palisade. All of the Cambres of fighting age who could elbow a place at the wall were there as well. At intervals along the wall stood bundles of crude, hastily-made javelins and piles of rocks, from fist-sized up to small boulders a foot in diameter. This kind of defensive warfare was alien to the Cambres, but Conan had insisted that it was their only chance in the face of superior numbers. They had learned that his word in these matters was to be trusted.

  "There are a great many of them," Alcuina said, trying not to let worry creep into her voice.

  The tree line beyond the plain of Giants' Stones was growing black with warriors, the sun casting bronzen gleams from helm and cuirass, the men nearly indistin-guishable except for the broad, round shapes of their shields. There were two distinct groups, nearly equal in size but several yards apart.

  "They may be allies," said Siggeir with a grin, "but the Thungians and the Tormanna have little love for one another."

  A sound of axes cutting trees came to them across the plain.

  "They are preparing," Conan said. "Now they make ladders to scale the wall."

  "Will they succeed?" asked Alcuina.

  "In time they would," said Conan. "This fort stands upon flat ground without motte or moat, no more than a stockade. An experienced army would take this place in little more time than if there were no wall at all. Since those men have probably never assaulted a wall except to steal their neighbors' chickens, they may be stymied for a day or so."

  "Will that be enough?" she asked. . "If al! goes well. You see a great host out there on the plain, but there are only two dangerous men: lilma and Totila. I must deal with Totila. Rerin says he can settle with lilma."

  "I pray to Ymir that it be so." She drew her fur cloak more closely about her, but not against the cold.

  Within an hour the enemy host was moving upon the garth; Conan ordered all except warriors off the wall. Since the enemy had no siege engines, there was little immediate danger to them except from an occasional javelin skimming over the wall. In Conan's opinion, anyone who could not dodge a javelin deserved to be skewered.

  "Get ready," Conan called. "Don't begin throwing things until you can't miss them. There is no hurry. They'll make easy targets when they get to the base of the wall."

  All around him were men wearing nervous grins of anticipation. They were eager to fight. In southern ar-mies, half of Conan's work as an officer had been in driving reluctant men to fight. Here he would have to keep a sharp lookout lest they rush to the courtyard, throw open the gate, and run out to fight hand-to-hand, the way they liked best.

  The allies came on shouting. Some carried long ladders. Conan could tell from the way the ladders were held that these men had never stormed a wall. They would learn soon enough, however, just as they had learned to deal with horsemen. He scanned the un-ranked mob of enemies. He saw few of the long pikes

  such as he had used against the hunter. He was relieved. With a wall as low as this, such pikes could be used to force defenders back from the palisade, allow-ing a few intrepid warriors to make their way up the ladders and onto the wall walk. Once the enemy had a secure foothold on the wall, more could scramble up the ladders with relative impunity, and the defense of the wall, and therefore the siege, would be over. Except for the slaughter of the remaining defenders.

  The attackers reached the base of the wall and missiles began to fall on them. They raised their shields high and shouted at the defenders to come down and fight like men. The reply was yet more missiles. Clumsily, the ladders began to go up. At first they were easily shoved aside, but the efforts of the attackers became more determined, and soon the braver men were essaying an assault on the palisade.

  Conan saw a shie
ld lurch over the wall with a bird-crested helmet behind it. His first blow lowered the shield and his second clove the helm. In falling, the man swept the man behind him off the ladder. Conan reached out to push the ladder aside, but by accident or design the ladder-bearers had done the correct thing and positioned the top of the ladder well below the top of the wall. Thus, in order to shove it aside, the defenders would have to lean far out over the wall in order tp reach the ladder. A rain of javelins drove Conan back.

  Another man reached the top of the ladder without a shield, but swinging an ax in both hands. He maneu-vered the bulky weapon with such speed that Conan was hard-pressed to keep his shield between himself and the whistling blade. He waited until the ax was going back for a swing, then stepped in, smashing the shield's central boss into the man's face and following the blow with a cut at the man's right side. Ribs crunched below the edge of the bronze cuirass, and the man fell screaming. Conan grabbed a spear and wedged its shaft under the ladder, using the top of the palisade as a fulcrum to lever the ladder away. His great strength allowed him to push the ladder back in spite of the three men clinging to it.

  The ladder men along the wall were being similarly repulsed. Below, men were throwing back the rocks and javelins, but throwing upward they were severely handicapped. Some of the defenders derisively caught the stones in flight and cast them back to good effect. After a few minutes of that a trumpet sounded.

  Conan looked toward the sound and saw three men standing atop a low mound. One was short, fat, and graybearded. Another wore the skins and antlers of reindeers. It was the third who drew Conan's attention. The lowering sun glanced from his magnificent helmet in multicolored shards. A long, piebald cloak hung from his broad shoulders. Odoac, lilma, and Totila. And now Conan realized that Odoac only appeared to be short when standing next to the giant king of the Tormanna. So this was the man he must face.