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肩書を与える: 黒人／ボイコット Colossus
Author: Robert E. Howard
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黒人／ボイコット Colossus

by

Robert E. Howard

First published in Weird Tales, June 1933

This e-調書をとる／予約する 版: 事業／計画（する） Gutenberg Australia, 2020

Weird Tales, June 1933, with "黒人／ボイコット Colossus"

Conan sprang （疑いを）晴らす as the horse fell, and with a roar Kutamun was on him.

A mighty story of the wizard Natohk, and red 戦う／戦い, and
stupendous 行為s— a tale of a barbarian mercenary who
was called upon to save a nation from shuddery evil.

"The Night of 力／強力にする, when 運命／宿命 stalked through the 回廊（地帯）s of the world like a colossus just risen from an age-old 王位 of granite."

—E. Hoffman Price, The Girl From Samarkand

CHAPTER 1

ONLY the age-old silence brooded over the mysterious 廃虚s of Kuthchemes, but 恐れる was there; 恐れる quivered in the mind of Shevatas, the どろぼう, 運動ing his breath quick and sharp against his clenched teeth.

He stood, the one 原子 of life まっただ中に the colossal monuments of desolation and decay. Not even a vulture hung like a 黒人／ボイコット dot in the 広大な blue 丸天井 of the sky that the sun glazed with its heat. On every 手渡す rose the grim 遺物s of another, forgotten age: 抱擁する broken 中心存在s, thrusting up their jagged pinnacles into the sky; long wavering lines of 崩壊するing 塀で囲むs; fallen cyclopean 封鎖するs of 石／投石する; 粉々にするd images, whose horrific features the corroding 勝利，勝つd and dust-嵐／襲撃するs had half erased. From horizon to horizon no 調印する of life: only the sheer breathtaking sweep of the naked 砂漠, bisected by the wandering line of a long-乾燥した，日照りの river course; in the 中央 of that vastness the 微光ing fangs of the 廃虚s, the columns standing up like broken masts of sunken ships—all 支配するd by the 非常に高い ivory ドーム before which Shevatas stood trembling.

The base of this ドーム was a gigantic pedestal of marble rising from what had once been a terraced eminence on the banks of the 古代の river. 幅の広い steps led up to a 広大な／多数の／重要な bronze door in the ドーム, which 残り／休憩（する）d on its base like the half of some titanic egg. The ドーム itself was of pure ivory, which shone as if unknown 手渡すs kept it polished. Likewise shone the spired gold cap of the pinnacle, and the inscription which sprawled about the curve of the ドーム in golden hieroglyphics yards long. No man on earth could read those characters, but Shevatas shuddered at the 薄暗い conjectures they raised. For he （機の）カム of a very old race, whose myths ran 支援する to 形態／調整s undreamed of by 同時代の tribes.

Shevatas was wiry and lithe, as became a master-どろぼう of Zamora. His small 一連の会議、交渉／完成する 長，率いる was shaven, his only 衣料品 a loin-cloth of scarlet silk. Like all his race, he was very dark, his 狭くする vulture-like 直面する 始める，決める off by his keen 黒人／ボイコット 注目する，もくろむs. His long, slender and 次第に減少するing fingers were quick and nervous as the wings of a moth. From a gold-規模d girdle hung a short, 狭くする, jewel-hilted sword in a sheath of ornamented leather. Shevatas 扱うd the 武器 with 明らかに 誇張するd care. He even seemed to flinch away from the 接触する of the sheath with his naked thigh. Nor was his care without 推論する／理由.

This was Shevatas, a どろぼう の中で thieves, whose 指名する was spoken with awe in the dives of the Maul and the 薄暗い shadowy 休会s beneath the 寺s of Bel, and who lived in songs and myths for a thousand years. Yet 恐れる ate at the heart of Shevatas as he stood before the ivory ドーム of Kuthchemes. Any fool could see there was something unnatural about the structure; the 勝利，勝つd and suns of three thousand years had 攻撃するd it, yet its gold and ivory rose 有望な and glistening as the day it was 後部d by nameless 手渡すs on the bank of the nameless river.

This unnaturalness was in keeping with the general aura of these devil-haunted 廃虚s. This 砂漠 was the mysterious expanse lying southeast of the lands of Shem. A few days' ride on camel-支援する to the 南西, as Shevatas knew, would bring the traveller within sight of the 広大な／多数の／重要な river Styx at the point where it turned at 権利 angles with its former course, and flowed 西方の to empty at last into the distant sea. At the point of its bend began the land of Stygia, the dark-bosomed mistress of the south, whose domains, watered by the 広大な／多数の／重要な river, rose sheer out of the surrounding 砂漠.

Eastward, Shevatas knew, the 砂漠 shaded into steppes stretching to the Hyrkanian kingdom of Turan, rising in 野蛮な splendor on the shores of the 広大な／多数の／重要な inland sea. A week's ride northward the 砂漠 ran into a 絡まる of barren hills, beyond which lay the fertile uplands of Koth, the 最南端の realm of the Hyborian races. 西方の the 砂漠 合併するd into the meadowlands of Shem, which stretched away to the ocean.

All this Shevatas knew without 存在 特に conscious of the knowledge, as a man knows the streets of his town. He was a far traveller and had 略奪するd the treasures of many kingdoms. But now he hesitated and shuddered before the highest adventure and the mightiest treasure of all.

In that ivory ドーム lay the bones of Thugra Khotan, the dark sorcerer who had 統治するd in Kuthchemes three thousand years ago, when the kingdoms of Stygia stretched far northward of the 広大な／多数の／重要な river, over the meadows of Shem, and into the uplands. Then the 広大な／多数の／重要な drift of the Hyborians swept southward from the cradle-land of their race 近づく the northern 政治家. It was a titanic drift, 延長するing over centuries and ages. But in the 統治する of Thugra Khotan, the last magician of Kuthchemes, gray-注目する，もくろむd, tawny-haired barbarians in wolfskins and 規模-mail had ridden from the north into the rich uplands to carve out the kingdom of Koth with their アイロンをかける swords. They had 嵐／襲撃するd over Kuthchemes like a 高潮，津波, washing the marble towers in 血, and the northern Stygian kingdom had gone 負かす／撃墜する in 解雇する／砲火／射撃 and 廃虚.

But while they were 粉々にするing the streets of his city and cutting 負かす／撃墜する his archers like 熟した corn, Thugra Khotan had swallowed a strange terrible 毒（薬）, and his masked priests had locked him into the tomb he himself had 用意が出来ている. His 充てるs died about that tomb in a crimson 大破壊／大虐殺, but the barbarians could not burst the door, nor ever 損なう the structure by maul or 解雇する／砲火／射撃. So they 棒 away, leaving the 広大な／多数の／重要な city in 廃虚s, and in his ivory-ドームd sepulcher 広大な／多数の／重要な Thugra Khotan slept unmolested, while the lizards of desolation gnawed at the 崩壊するing 中心存在s, and the very river that watered his land in old times sank into the sands and ran 乾燥した，日照りの.

Many a どろぼう sought to 伸び（る） the treasure which fables said lay heaped about the moldering bones inside the ドーム. And many a どろぼう died at the door of the tomb, and many another was harried by monstrous dreams to die at last with the froth of madness on his lips.

So Shevatas shuddered as he 直面するd the tomb, nor was his shudder altogether occasioned by the legend of the serpent said to guard the sorcerer's bones. Over all myths of Thugra Khotan hung horror and death like a 棺／かげり. From where the どろぼう stood he could see the 廃虚s of the 広大な／多数の／重要な hall wherein chained 捕虜s had knelt by the hundreds during festivals to have their 長，率いるs 切り開く／タクシー／不正アクセスd off by the priest-king in 栄誉（を受ける） of 始める，決める, the Serpent-god of Stygia. Somewhere 近づく by had been the 炭坑，オーケストラ席, dark and awful, wherein 叫び声をあげるing 犠牲者s were fed to a nameless amorphic monstrosity which （機の）カム up out of a deeper, more hellish cavern. Legend made Thugra Khotan more than human; his worship yet ぐずぐず残るd in a mongrel degraded 教団, whose votaries stamped his likeness on coins to 支払う／賃金 the way of their dead over the 広大な／多数の／重要な river of 不明瞭 of which the Styx was but the 構成要素 影をつくる／尾行する. Shevatas had seen this likeness, on coins stolen from under the tongues of the dead, and its image was etched indelibly in his brain.

But he put aside his 恐れるs and 機動力のある to the bronze door, whose smooth surface 申し込む／申し出d no bolt or catch. Not for naught had he 伸び（る）d 接近 into darksome 教団s, had harkened to the grisly whispers of the votaries of Skelos under midnight trees, and read the forbidden アイロンをかける-bound 調書をとる／予約するs of Vathelos the Blind.

ひさまづくing before the portal, he searched the sill with nimble fingers; their 極度の慎重さを要する tips 設立する 発射／推定s too small for the 注目する，もくろむ to （悪事，秘密などを）発見する, or for いっそう少なく-技術d fingers to discover. These he 圧力（をかける）d carefully and によれば a peculiar system, muttering a long-forgotten incantation as he did so. As he 圧力（をかける）d the last 発射／推定, he sprang up with frantic haste and struck the exact 中心 of the door a quick sharp blow with his open 手渡す.

There was no rasp of spring or hinge, but the door 退却／保養地d inward, and the breath hissed explosively from Shevatas's clenched teeth. A short 狭くする 回廊（地帯） was 公表する／暴露するd. 負かす／撃墜する this the door had slid, and was now in place at the other end. The 床に打ち倒す, 天井 and 味方するs of the tunnel-like aperture were of ivory, and now from an 開始 on one 味方する （機の）カム a silent writhing horror that 後部d up and glared on the 侵入者 with awful luminous 注目する，もくろむs; a serpent twenty feet long, with shimmering, iridescent 規模s.

The どろぼう did not waste time in conjecturing what night-黒人／ボイコット 炭坑，オーケストラ席s lying below the ドーム had given sustenance to the monster. Gingerly he drew the sword, and from it dripped a greenish liquid 正確に／まさに like that which slavered from the scimitar-fangs of the reptile. The blade was 法外なd in the 毒（薬） of the snake's own 肉親，親類d, and the 得るing of that venom from the fiend-haunted 押し寄せる／沼地s of Zingara would have made a saga in itself.

Shevatas 前進するd warily on the balls of his feet, 膝s bent わずかに, ready to spring either way like a flash of light. And he needed all his co-ordinate 速度(を上げる） when the snake arched its neck and struck, 狙撃 out its 十分な length like a 一打／打撃 of 雷. For all his quickness of 神経 and 注目する，もくろむ, Shevatas had died then but for chance. His 井戸／弁護士席-laid 計画（する）s of leaping aside and striking 負かす／撃墜する on the outstretched neck were put at naught by the blinding 速度(を上げる） of the reptile's attack. The どろぼう had but time to 延長する the sword in 前線 of him, involuntarily の近くにing his 注目する，もくろむs and crying out. Then the sword was wrenched from his 手渡す and the 回廊（地帯） was filled with a horrible thrashing and 攻撃するing.

開始 his 注目する，もくろむs, amazed to find himself still alive, Shevatas saw the monster heaving and 新たな展開ing its slimy form in fantastic contortions, the sword transfixing its 巨大（な） jaws. Sheer chance had 投げつけるd it 十分な against the point he had held out blindly. A few moments later the serpent sank into 向こうずねing, scarcely quivering coils, as the 毒（薬） on the blade struck home.

Gingerly stepping over it, the どろぼう thrust against the door, which this time slid aside, 明らかにする／漏らすing the 内部の of the ドーム. Shevatas cried out; instead of utter 不明瞭 he had come into a crimson light that throbbed and pulsed almost beyond the endurance of mortal 注目する，もくろむs. It （機の）カム from a gigantic red jewel high up in the 丸天井d arch of the ドーム. Shevatas gaped, 慣れさせるd though he was to the sight of riches. The treasure was there, heaped in staggering profusion—piles of diamonds, sapphires, rubies, turquoises, opals, emeralds; zikkurats of jade, jet and lapis lazuli; pyramids of gold wedges; teocallis of silver 鋳塊s; jewel-hilted swords in cloth-of-gold sheaths; golden helmets with colored horsehair crests, or 黒人／ボイコット and scarlet plumes; silver 規模d corselets; gem-crusted harness worn by 軍人-kings three thousand years in their tombs; goblets carven of 選び出す／独身 jewels; skulls plated with gold, with moonstones for 注目する，もくろむs; necklaces of human teeth 始める，決める with jewels. The ivory 床に打ち倒す was covered インチs 深い with gold dust that sparkled and shimmered under the crimson glow with a million scintillant lights. The どろぼう stood in a wonderland of 魔法 and splendor, treading 星／主役にするs under his sandalled feet.

But his 注目する，もくろむs were focussed on the 演壇 of 水晶 which rose in the 中央 of the shimmering array, 直接／まっすぐに under the red jewel, and on which should be lying the moldering bones, turning to dust with the はうing of the centuries. And as Shevatas looked, the 血 drained from his dark features; his 骨髄 turned to ice, and the 肌 of his 支援する はうd and wrinkled with horror, while his lips worked soundlessly. But suddenly he 設立する his 発言する／表明する in one awful 叫び声をあげる that rang hideously under the arching ドーム. Then again the silence of the ages lay の中で the 廃虚s of mysterious Kuthchemes.

CHAPTER 2

RUMORS drifted up through the meadowlands, into the cities of the Hyborians. The word ran along the caravans, the long camel-trains plodding through the sands, herded by lean, 強硬派-注目する，もくろむd men in white kaftans. It was passed on by the hook-nosed herdsmen of the 牧草地s, from the dwellers in テントs to the dwellers in the squat 石／投石する cities where kings with curled blue-黒人／ボイコット 耐えるd worshipped 一連の会議、交渉／完成する-bellied gods with curious 儀式s. The word passed up through the fringe of hills where gaunt tribesmen took （死傷者）数 of the caravans. The 噂するs （機の）カム into the fertile uplands where stately cities rose above blue lakes and rivers: the 噂するs marched along the 幅の広い white roads thronged with ox-wains, with lowing herds, with rich merchants, knights in steel, archers and priests.

They were 噂するs from the 砂漠 that lies east of Stygia, far south of the Kothian hills. A new prophet had risen の中で the nomads. Men spoke of 部族の war, of a 集会 of vultures in the southeast, and a terrible leader who led his 速く 増加するing hordes to victory. The Stygians, ever a menace to the northern nations, were 明らかに not connected with this movement; for they were 集まりing armies on their eastern 国境s and their priests were making 魔法 to fight that of the 砂漠 sorcerer, whom men called Natohk, the 隠すd One; for his features were always masked.

But the tide swept northwestward, and the blue-bearded kings died before the altars of their マリファナ-bellied gods, and their squat-塀で囲むd cities were drenched in 血. Men said that the uplands of the Hyborians were the goal of Natohk and his 詠唱するing votaries.

（警察の）手入れ，急襲s from the 砂漠 were not uncommon, but this 最新の movement seemed to 約束 more than a （警察の）手入れ，急襲. 噂する said Natohk had welded thirty nomadic tribes and fifteen cities into his に引き続いて, and that a 反抗的な Stygian prince had joined him. This latter lent the 事件／事情／状勢 an 面 of real war.

Characteristically, most of the Hyborian nations were 傾向がある to ignore the growing menace. But in Khoraja, carved out of Shemite lands by the swords of Kothic adventurers, 注意する was given. Lying southeast of Koth, it would 耐える the brunt of the 侵略. And its young king was 捕虜 to the 背信の king of Ophir, who hesitated between 回復するing him for a 抱擁する 身代金, or 手渡すing him over to his enemy, the penurious king of Koth, who 申し込む／申し出d no gold, but an advantageous 条約. 一方／合間, the 支配する of the struggling kingdom was in the white 手渡すs of young princess Yasmela, the king's sister.

Minstrels sang her beauty throughout the western world, and the pride of a kingly 王朝 was hers. But on that night her pride was dropped from her like a cloak. In her 議会 whose 天井 was a lapis lazuli ドーム, whose marble 床に打ち倒す was littered with rare furs, and whose 塀で囲むs were lavish with golden friezework, ten girls, daughters of nobles, their slender 四肢s 負わせるd with gem-crusted armlets and anklets, slumbered on velvet couches about the 王室の bed with its golden 演壇 and silken canopy. But princess Yasmela lolled not on that silken bed. She lay naked on her supple belly upon the 明らかにする marble like the most abased suppliant, her dark hair streaming over her white shoulders, her slender fingers intertwined. She lay and writhed in pure horror that froze the 血 in her lithe 四肢s and dilated her beautiful 注目する，もくろむs, that pricked the roots of her dark hair and made goose-flesh rise along her supple spine.

Above her, in the darkest corner of the marble 議会, lurked a 広大な shapeless 影をつくる／尾行する. It was no living thing of form or flesh and 血. It was a clot of 不明瞭, a blur in the sight, a monstrous night-born incubus that might have been みなすd a figment of a sleep-drugged brain, but for the points of 炎ing yellow 解雇する／砲火／射撃 that 微光d like two 注目する，もくろむs from the blackness.

Moreover, a 発言する／表明する 問題／発行するd from it—a low subtle 残忍な sibilance that was more like the soft abominable hissing of a serpent than anything else, and that 明らかに could not emanate from anything with human lips. Its sound 同様に as its 輸入する filled Yasmela with a shuddering horror so intolerable that she writhed and 新たな展開d her slender 団体／死体 as if beneath a 攻撃する, as though to rid her mind of its insinuating vileness by physical contortion.

"You are 示すd for 地雷, princess," （機の）カム the gloating whisper. "Before I wakened from the long sleep I had 示すd you, and yearned for you, but I was held 急速な／放蕩な by the 古代の （一定の）期間 by which I escaped 地雷 enemies. I am the soul of Natohk, the 隠すd One! Look 井戸／弁護士席 upon me, princess! Soon you shall behold me in my bodily guise, and shall love me!"

The ghostly hissing dwindled off in lustful titterings, and Yasmela moaned and （警官の）巡回区域，受持ち区域 the marble tiles with her small 握りこぶしs in her ecstasy of terror.

"I sleep in the palace 議会 of Akbatana," the sibilances continued. "There my 団体／死体 lies in its でっちあげる，人を罪に陥れる of bones and flesh. But it is but an empty 爆撃する from which the spirit has flown for a 簡潔な／要約する space. Could you gaze from that palace casement you would realize the futility of 抵抗. The 砂漠 is a rose garden beneath the moon, where blossom the 解雇する／砲火／射撃s of a hundred thousand 軍人s. As an 雪崩／（抗議などの）殺到 sweeps onward, 集会 本体，大部分／ばら積みの and 勢い, I will sweep into the lands of 地雷 古代の enemies. Their kings shall furnish me skulls for goblets, their women and children shall be slaves of my slaves' slaves. I have grown strong in the long years of dreaming...

"But thou shalt be my queen, oh princess! I will teach thee the 古代の forgotten ways of 楽しみ. We—" Before the stream of cosmic obscenity which 注ぐd from the shadowy colossus, Yasmela cringed and writhed as if from a whip that flayed her dainty 明らかにする flesh.

"Remember!" whispered the horror. "The days will not be many before I come to （人命などを）奪う，主張する 地雷 own!"

Yasmela, 圧力（をかける）ing her 直面する against the tiles and stopping her pink ears with her dainty fingers, yet seemed to hear a strange 広範囲にわたる noise, like the （警官の）巡回区域，受持ち区域 of bat wings. Then, looking fearfully up, she saw only the moon that shone through the window with a beam that 残り／休憩（する）d like a silver sword across the 位置／汚点／見つけ出す where the phantom had lurked. Trembling in every 四肢, she rose and staggered to a satin couch, where she threw herself 負かす／撃墜する, weeping hysterically. The girls slept on, but one, who roused, yawned, stretched her slender 人物／姿／数字 and blinked about. 即時に she was on her 膝s beside the couch, her 武器 about Yasmela's supple waist.

"Was it—was it—?" Her dark 注目する，もくろむs were wide with fright. Yasmela caught her in a convulsive しっかり掴む.

"Oh, Vateesa. It （機の）カム again! I saw It—heard It speak! It spoke Its 指名する—Natohk! It is Natohk! It is not a nightmare—it towered over me while the girls slept like drugged ones. What oh, what shall I do?"

Vateesa 新たな展開d a golden bracelet about her 一連の会議、交渉／完成するd arm in meditation.

"Oh, princess," she said, "it is evident that no mortal 力／強力にする can を取り引きする It, and the charm is useless that the priests of Ishtar gave you. Therefore 捜し出す you the forgotten oracle of Mitra."

In spite of her 最近の fright, Yasmela shuddered. The gods of yesterday become the devils of tomorrow. The Kothians had long since abandoned the worship of Mitra, forgetting the せいにするs of the 全世界の／万国共通の Hyborian god. Yasmela had a vague idea that, 存在 very 古代の, it followed that the deity was very terrible. Ishtar was much to be 恐れるd, and all the gods of Koth. Kothian culture and 宗教 had 苦しむd from a subtle admixture of Shemite and Stygian 緊張するs. The simple ways of the Hyborians had become 修正するd to a large extent by the sensual, luxurious, yet despotic habits of the East.

"Will Mitra 援助（する） me?" Yasmela caught Vateesa's wrist in her 切望. "We have worshipped Ishtar so long—"

"To be sure he will!" Vateesa was the daughter of an Ophirean priest who had brought his customs with him when he fled from political enemies to Khoraja. "捜し出す the 神社! I will go with you."

"I will!" Yasmela rose, but 反対するd when Vateesa 用意が出来ている to dress her. "It is not fitting that I come before the 神社 覆う？ in silk. I will go naked, on my 膝s, as に適するs a suppliant, lest Mitra みなす I 欠如（する） humility."

"Nonsense!" Vateesa had scant 尊敬（する）・点 for the ways of what she みなすd a 誤った 教団. "Mitra would have folks stand upright before him—not はうing on their bellies like worms, or 流出／こぼすing 血 of animals all over his altars."

Thus objurgated, Yasmela 許すd the girl to garb her in the light sleeveless silk shirt, over which was slipped a silken tunic, bound at the waist by a wide velvet girdle. Satin slippers were put upon her slender feet, and a few deft touches of Vateesa's pink fingers arranged her dark wavy tresses. Then the princess followed the girl, who drew aside a 激しい gilt-worked tapestry and threw the golden bolt of the door it 隠すd. This let into a 狭くする winding 回廊（地帯）, and 負かす／撃墜する this the two girls went 速く, through another door and into a 幅の広い hallway. Here stood a guardsman in crested gilt helmet, silvered cuirass and gold-chased greaves, with a long-軸d 戦う／戦い-ax in his 手渡すs.

A 動議 from Yasmela checked his exclamation and, saluting, he took his stand again beside the doorway, motionless as a brazen image. The girls 横断するd the hallway, which seemed 巨大な and eery in the light of the cressets along the lofty 塀で囲むs, and went 負かす／撃墜する a stairway where Yasmela shivered at the blots of 影をつくる／尾行するs which hung in the angles of the 塀で囲むs. Three levels 負かす／撃墜する they 停止（させる）d at last in a 狭くする 回廊（地帯） whose arched 天井 was crusted with jewels, whose 床に打ち倒す was 始める，決める with 封鎖するs of 水晶, and whose 塀で囲むs were decorated with golden friezework. 負かす／撃墜する this 向こうずねing way they stole, 持つ／拘留するing each other's 手渡すs, to a wide portal of gilt.

Vateesa thrust open the door, 明らかにする／漏らすing a 神社 long forgotten except by a faithful few, and 王室の 訪問者s to Khoraja's 法廷，裁判所, おもに for whose 利益 the fane was 持続するd. Yasmela had never entered it before, though she was born in the palace. Plain and unadorned in comparison to the lavish 陳列する，発揮する of Ishtar's 神社s, there was about it a 簡単 of dignity and beauty characteristic of the Mitran 宗教.

The 天井 was lofty, but it was not ドームd, and was of plain white marble, as were the 塀で囲むs and 床に打ち倒す, the former with a 狭くする gold frieze running about them. Behind an altar of （疑いを）晴らす green jade, unstained with sacrifice, stood the pedestal whereon sat the 構成要素 manifestation of the deity. Yasmela looked in awe at the sweep of the magnificent shoulders, the （疑いを）晴らす-削減（する） features—the wide straight 注目する，もくろむs, the patriarchal 耐えるd, the 厚い curls of the hair, 限定するd by a simple 禁止（する）d about the 寺s. This, though she did not know it, was art in its highest form—the 解放する／自由な, uncramped artistic 表現 of a 高度に esthetic race, unhampered by 従来の symbolism.

She fell on her 膝s and thence prostrate, 関わりなく Vateesa's admonition, and Vateesa, to be on the 安全な 味方する, followed her example; for after all, she was only a girl, and it was very awesome in Mitra's 神社. But even so she could not 差し控える from whispering in Yasmela's ear.

"This is but the emblem of the god. 非，不，無 pretends to know what Mitra looks like. This but 代表するs him in idealized human form, as 近づく perfection as the human mind can conceive. He does not 住む this 冷淡な 石／投石する, as your priests tell you Ishtar does. He is everywhere—above us, and about us, and he dreams betimes in the high places の中で the 星／主役にするs. But here his 存在 focusses. Therefore call upon him."

"What shall I say?" whispered Yasmela in stammering terror.

"Before you can speak, Mitra knows the contents of your mind—" began Vateesa. Then both girls started violently as a 発言する／表明する began in the 空気／公表する above them. The 深い, 静める, bell-like トンs emanated no more from the image than from anywhere else in the 議会. Again Yasmela trembled before a bodiless 発言する／表明する speaking to her, but this time it was not from horror or repulsion.

"Speak not, my daughter, for I know your need," （機の）カム the intonations like 深い musical waves （警官の）巡回区域，受持ち区域ing rhythmically along a golden beach. "In one manner may you save your kingdom, and saving it, save all the world from the fangs of the serpent which has はうd up out of the 不明瞭 of the ages. Go 前へ／外へ upon the streets alone, and place your kingdom in the 手渡すs of the first man you 会合，会う there."

The unechoing トンs 中止するd, and the girls 星／主役にするd at each other. Then, rising, they stole 前へ／外へ, nor did they speak until they stood once more in Yasmela's 議会. The princess 星／主役にするd out of the gold-閉めだした windows. The moon had 始める，決める. It was long past midnight. Sounds of revelry had died away in the gardens and on the roofs of the city. Khoraja slumbered beneath the 星／主役にするs, which seemed to be 反映するd in the cressets that twinkled の中で the gardens and along the streets and on the flat roofs of houses where folk slept.

"What will you do?" whispered Vateesa, all a-tremble.

"Give me my cloak," answered Yasmela, setting her teeth.

"But alone, in the streets, at this hour!" expostulated Vateesa.

"Mitra has spoken," replied the princess. "It might have been the 発言する／表明する of the god, or a trick of a priest. No 事柄. I will go!"

Wrapping a voluminous silken cloak about her lithe 人物／姿／数字 and donning a velvet cap from which depended a filmy 隠す, she passed hurriedly through the 回廊（地帯）s and approached a bronze door where a dozen spearmen gaped at her as she passed through. This was in a wing of the palace which let 直接／まっすぐに の上に the street; on all other 味方するs it was surrounded by 幅の広い gardens, 国境d by a high 塀で囲む. She 現れるd into the street, lighted by cressets placed at 正規の／正選手 intervals.

She hesitated; then, before her 決意／決議 could 滞る, she の近くにd the door behind her. A slight shudder shook her as she ちらりと見ることd up and 負かす／撃墜する the street, which lay silent and 明らかにする. This daughter of aristocrats had never before 投機・賭けるd unattended outside her ancestral palace. Then, steeling herself, she went 速く up the street. Her satin-slippered feet fell lightly on the 覆う, but their soft sound brought her heart into her throat. She imagined their 落ちる echoing thunderously through the cavernous city, rousing ragged ネズミ-注目する，もくろむd 人物／姿／数字s in hidden lairs の中で the 下水管s. Every 影をつくる／尾行する seemed to hide a lurking 暗殺者, every blank doorway to mask the slinking hounds of 不明瞭.

Then she started violently. Ahead of her a 人物／姿／数字 appeared on the eery street. She drew quickly into a clump of 影をつくる／尾行するs, which now seemed like a 港／避難所 of 避難, her pulse 続けざまに猛撃するing. The approaching 人物／姿／数字 went not furtively, like a どろぼう, or timidly, like a fearful traveller. He strode 負かす／撃墜する the nighted street as one who has no need or 願望（する） to walk softly. An unconscious swagger was in his stride, and his footfalls resounded on the 覆う. As he passed 近づく a cresset she saw him plainly—a tall man, in the chain-mail hauberk of a mercenary. She を締めるd herself, then darted from the 影をつくる／尾行する, 持つ／拘留するing her cloak の近くに about her.

"Sa-ha!" his sword flashed half out of his sheath. It 停止（させる）d when he saw it was only a woman that stood before him, but his quick ちらりと見ること went over her 長，率いる, 捜し出すing the 影をつくる／尾行するs for possible confederates.

He stood 直面するing her, his 手渡す on the long hilt that jutted 今後 from beneath the scarlet cloak which flowed carelessly from his mailed shoulders. The torchlight glinted dully on the polished blue steel of his greaves and basinet. A more baleful 解雇する／砲火／射撃 glittered bluely in his 注目する，もくろむs. At first ちらりと見ること she saw he was no Kothian; when he spoke she knew he was no Hyborian. He was 覆う？ like a captain of the mercenaries, and in that desperate 命令（する） there were men of many lands, barbarians 同様に as civilized foreigners. There was a wolfishness about this 軍人 that 示すd the barbarian. The 注目する，もくろむs of no civilized man, however wild or 犯罪の, ever 炎d with such a 解雇する／砲火／射撃. ワイン scented his breath, but he neither staggered nor stammered.

"Have they shut you into the street?" he asked in barbarous Kothic, reaching for her. His fingers の近くにd lightly about her 一連の会議、交渉／完成するd wrist, but she felt that he could 後援 its bones without 成果／努力. "I've but come from the last ワイン-shop open. Ishtar's 悪口を言う／悪態 on these white-肝臓d 改革者s who の近くに the grog-houses! 'Let men sleep rather than guzzle,' they say—aye, so they can work and fight better for their masters! Soft-gutted eunuchs, I call them. When I served with the mercenaries of Corinthia, we swilled and wenched all night and fought all day; aye, 血 ran 負かす／撃墜する the channels of our swords. But what of you, my girl? Take off that 悪口を言う／悪態d mask—"

She 避けるd his clutch with a lithe 新たな展開 of her 団体／死体, trying not to appear to 撃退する him. She realized her danger, alone with a drunken barbarian. If she 明らかにする／漏らすd her 身元, he might laugh at her, or take himself off. She was not sure he would not 削減（する） her throat. 野蛮な men did strange inexplicable things. She fought a rising 恐れる.

"Not here," she laughed. "Come with me—"

"Where?" His wild 血 was up, but he was 用心深い as a wolf. "Are you taking me to some den of robbers?"

"No, no, I 断言する it!" She was hard put to 避ける the 手渡す which was again fumbling at her 隠す.

"Devil bite you, hussy!" he growled disgustedly. "You're as bad as a Hyrkanian woman, with your damnable 隠す. Here—let me look at your 人物／姿／数字, anyway."

Before she could 妨げる it, he wrenched the cloak from her, and she heard his breath hiss between his teeth. He stood 持つ／拘留するing the cloak, 注目する，もくろむing her as if the sight of her rich 衣料品s had somewhat sobered him. She saw 疑惑 flicker sullenly in his 注目する，もくろむs.

"Who the devil are you?" he muttered. "You're no street-waif — unless your leman robbed the king's seraglio for your 着せる／賦与するs."

"Never mind." She dared to lay her white 手渡す on his 大規模な アイロンをかける-覆う？ arm. "Come with me off the street."

He hesitated, then shrugged his mighty shoulders. She saw that he half believed her to be some noble lady, who, 疲れた／うんざりした of polite lovers, was taking this means of amusing herself. He 許すd her to don the cloak again, and followed her. From the corner of her 注目する，もくろむ she watched him as they went 負かす／撃墜する the street together. His mail could not 隠す his hard lines of tigerish strength. Everything about him was tigerish, elemental, untamed. He was 外国人 as the ジャングル to her in his difference from the debonair courtiers to whom she was accustomed. She 恐れるd him, told herself she loathed his raw brute strength and unashamed 野蛮／未開, yet something breathless and perilous inside her leaned toward him; the hidden 原始の chord that lurks in every woman's soul was sounded and 答える／応じるd. She had felt his 常習的な 手渡す on her arm, and something 深い in her tingled to the memory of that 接触する. Many men had knelt before Yasmela. Here was one she felt had never knelt before any one. Her sensations were those of one 主要な an unchained tiger; she was 脅すd, and fascinated by her fright.

She 停止（させる）d at the palace door and thrust lightly against it. Furtively watching her companion, she saw no 疑惑 in his 注目する，もくろむs.

"Palace, eh?" he rumbled. "So you're a maid-in-waiting?"

She 設立する herself wondering, with a strange jealousy, if any of her maids had ever led this war-eagle into her palace. The guards made no 調印する as she led him between them, but he 注目する，もくろむd them as a 猛烈な／残忍な dog might 注目する，もくろむ a strange pack. She led him through a curtained doorway into an inner 議会, where he stood, naively scanning the tapestries, until he saw a 水晶 jar of ワイン on an ebony （米）棚上げする／（英）提議する. This he took up with a gratified sigh, 攻撃するing it toward his lips. Vateesa ran from an inner room, crying breathlessly, "Oh my princess—"

"Princess!"

The ワイン-jar 衝突，墜落d to the 床に打ち倒す. With a 動議 too quick for sight to follow, the mercenary snatched off Yasmela's 隠す, glaring. He recoiled with a 悪口を言う／悪態, his sword leaping into his 手渡す with a 幅の広い shimmer of blue steel. His 注目する，もくろむs 炎d like a 罠にかける tiger's. The 空気／公表する was supercharged with 緊張 that was like the pause before the bursting of a 嵐／襲撃する. Vateesa sank to the 床に打ち倒す, speechless with terror, but Yasmela 直面するd the infuriated barbarian without flinching. She realized her very life hung in the balance: maddened with 疑惑 and unreasoning panic, he was ready to 取引，協定 death at the slightest 誘発. But she experienced a 確かな breathless exhilaration in the 危機.

"Do not be afraid," she said. "I am Yasmela, but there is no 推論する／理由 to 恐れる me."

"Why did you lead me here?" he snarled, his 炎ing 注目する，もくろむs darting all about the 議会. "What manner of 罠（にかける） is this?"

"There is no trickery," she answered. "I brought you here because you can 援助（する） me. I called on the gods—on Mitra—and he bade me go into the streets and ask 援助（する） of the first man I met."

This was something he could understand. The barbarians had their oracles. He lowered his sword, though he did not sheathe it.

"井戸／弁護士席, if you're Yasmela, you need 援助（する）," he grunted. "Your kingdom's in a devil of a mess. But how can I 援助（する） you? If you want a throat 削減（する）, of course—"

"Sit 負かす／撃墜する," she requested. "Vateesa, bring him ワイン."

He 従うd, taking care, she noticed, to sit with his 支援する against a solid 塀で囲む, where he could watch the whole 議会. He laid his naked sword across his mail-sheathed 膝s. She ちらりと見ることd at it in fascination. Its dull blue 微光 seemed to 反映する tales of 流血／虐殺 and rapine; she 疑問d her ability to 解除する it, yet she knew that the mercenary could （権力などを）行使する it with one 手渡す as lightly as she could （権力などを）行使する a riding-whip. She 公式文書，認めるd the breadth and 力／強力にする of his 手渡すs; they were not the stubby 未開発の paws of a troglodyte. With a 有罪の start she 設立する herself imagining those strong fingers locked in her dark hair.

He seemed 安心させるd when she deposited herself on a satin divan opposite him. He 解除するd off his basinet and laid it on the （米）棚上げする／（英）提議する, and drew 支援する his coif, letting the mail 倍のs 落ちる upon his 大規模な shoulders. She saw more fully now his unlikeness to the Hyborian races. In his dark, scarred 直面する there was a suggestion of moodiness; and without 存在 示すd by depravity, or definitely evil, there was more than a suggestion of the 悪意のある about his features, 始める，決める off by his smoldering blue 注目する，もくろむs. A low 幅の広い forehead was topped by a square-削減（する） tousled mane as 黒人／ボイコット as a raven's wing.

"Who are you?" she asked 突然の.

"Conan, a captain of the mercenary spearmen," he answered, emptying the ワイン-cup at a gulp and 持つ／拘留するing it out for more. "I was born in Cimmeria."

The 指名する meant little to her. She only knew ばく然と that it was a wild grim hill-country which lay far to the north, beyond the last outposts of the Hyborian nations, and was peopled by a 猛烈な／残忍な moody race. She had never before seen one of them.

残り／休憩（する）ing her chin on her 手渡すs, she gazed at him with the 深い dark 注目する，もくろむs that had enslaved many a heart.

"Conan of Cimmeria," she said, "you said I needed 援助（する）. Why?"

"井戸／弁護士席," he answered, "any man can see that. Here is the king your brother in an Ophirean 刑務所，拘置所; here is Koth plotting to enslave you; here is this sorcerer 叫び声をあげるing hell-解雇する／砲火／射撃 and 破壊 負かす／撃墜する in Shem—and what's worse, here are your 兵士s 砂漠ing every day."

She did not at once reply; it was a new experience for a man to speak so forthrightly to her, his words not couched in courtier phrases.

"Why are my 兵士s 砂漠ing, Conan?" she asked.

"Some are 存在 雇うd away by Koth," he replied, pulling at the ワイン-jar with relish. "Many think Khoraja is doomed as an 独立した・無所属 明言する／公表する. Many are 脅すd by tales of this dog Natohk."

"Will the mercenaries stand?" she asked anxiously.

"As long as you 支払う／賃金 us 井戸／弁護士席," he answered 率直に. "Your politics are nothing to us. You can 信用 Amalric, our general, but the 残り／休憩（する） of us are only ありふれた men who love 略奪する. If you 支払う／賃金 the 身代金 Ophir asks, men say you'll be unable to 支払う／賃金 us. In that 事例／患者 we might go over to the king of Koth, though that 悪口を言う／悪態d miser is no friend of 地雷. Or we might 略奪する this city. In a civil war the plunder is always plentiful."

"Why would you not go over to Natohk?" she 問い合わせd.

"What could he 支払う／賃金 us?" he snorted. "With fat-bellied 厚かましさ／高級将校連 idols he 略奪するd from the Shemite cities? As long as you're fighting Natohk, you may 信用 us."

"Would your comrades follow you?" she asked 突然の.

"What do you mean?"

"I mean," she answered deliberately, "that I am going to make you 指揮官 of the armies of Khoraja!"

He stopped short, the goblet at his lips, which curved in a 幅の広い grin. His 注目する，もくろむs 炎d with a new light.

"指揮官? Crom! But what will your perfumed nobles say?"

"They will obey me!" She clapped her 手渡すs to 召喚する a slave, who entered, 屈服するing 深く，強烈に. "Have Count Thespides come to me at once, and the （ドイツなどの）首相／（大学の）学長 Taurus, lord Amalric, and the Agha Shupras.

"I place my 信用 in Mitra," she said, bending her gaze on Conan, who was now devouring the food placed before him by the trembling Vateesa. "You have seen much war?"

"I was born in the 中央 of a 戦う／戦い," he answered, 涙／ほころびing a chunk of meat from a 抱擁する 共同の with his strong teeth. "The first sound my ears heard was the clang of swords and the yells of the 殺すing. I have fought in 血-反目，不和s, 部族の wars, and 皇室の （選挙などの）運動をするs."

"But can you lead men and arrange 戦う／戦い-lines?"

"井戸／弁護士席, I can try," he returned imperturbably. "It's no more than sword-play on a larger 規模. You draw his guard, then を刺す, 削除する! And either his 長，率いる is off, or yours."

The slave entered again, 発表するing the arrival of the men sent for, and Yasmela went into the outer 議会, 製図／抽選 the velvet curtains behind her. The nobles bent the 膝, in evident surprize at her 召喚するs at such an hour.

"I have 召喚するd you to tell you of my 決定／判定勝ち（する）," said Yasmela. "The kingdom is in 危険，危なくする—"

"権利 enough, my princess." It was Count Thespides who spoke—a tall man, whose 黒人／ボイコット locks were curled and scented. With one white 手渡す he smoothed his pointed mustache, and with the other he held a velvet chaperon with a scarlet feather fastened by a golden clasp. His pointed shoes were satin, his cote-hardie of gold-broidered velvet. His manner was わずかに 影響する／感情d, but the thews under his silks were steely. "It were 井戸／弁護士席 to 申し込む／申し出 Ophir more gold for your 王室の brother's 解放（する）."

"I 堅固に 同意しない," broke in Taurus the （ドイツなどの）首相／（大学の）学長, an 年輩の man in an ermine-fringed 式服, whose features were lined with the cares of his long service. "We have already 申し込む／申し出d what will beggar the kingdom to 支払う／賃金. To 申し込む／申し出 more would その上の excite Ophir's cupidity. My princess, I say as I have said before: Ophir will not move until we have met this 侵略するing horde. If we lose, he will give king Khossus to Koth; if we 勝利，勝つ, he will doubtless 回復する his majesty to us on 支払い（額） of the 身代金."

"And in the 合間," broke in Amalric, "the 兵士s 砂漠 daily, and the mercenaries are restless to know why we dally." He was a Nemedian, a large man with a lion-like yellow mane. "We must move 速く, if at all—"

"Tomorrow we march southward," she answered. "And there is the man who shall lead you!"

Jerking aside the velvet curtains she 劇的な 示すd the Cimmerian. It was perhaps not an 完全に happy moment for the 公表，暴露. Conan was sprawled in his 議長，司会を務める, his feet propped on the ebony （米）棚上げする／（英）提議する, busily engaged in gnawing a beef-bone which he gripped 堅固に in both 手渡すs. He ちらりと見ることd casually at the astounded nobles, grinned faintly at Amalric, and went on munching with undisguised relish.

"Mitra 保護する us!" 爆発するd Amalric. "That's Conan the northron, the most 騒然とした of all my rogues! I'd have hanged him long ago, were he not the best swordsman that ever donned hauberk—"

"Your highness is pleased to jest!" cried Thespides, his aristocratic features darkening. "This man is a savage—a fellow of no culture or 産む／飼育するing! It is an 侮辱 to ask gentlemen to serve under him! I—"

"Count Thespides," said Yasmela, "you have my glove under your baldric. Please give it to me, and then go."

"Go?" he cried, starting. "Go where?"

"To Koth or to Hades!" she answered. "If you will not serve me as I wish, you shall not serve me at all."

"You wrong me, princess," he answered, 屈服するing low, 深く，強烈に 傷つける. "I would not forsake you. For your sake I will even put my sword at the 処分 of this savage."

"And you, my lord Amalric?"

Amalric swore beneath his breath, then grinned. True 兵士 of fortune, no 転換 of fortune, however outrageous, surprized him much.

"I'll serve under him. A short life and a merry one, say I—and with Conan the Throat-slitter in 命令（する）, life is likely to be both merry and short. Mitra! If the dog ever 命令（する）d more than a company of 削減（する）-throats before, I'll eat him, harness and all!"

"And you, my Agha?" she turned to Shupras.

He shrugged his shoulders resignedly. He was typical of the race 発展させるd along Koth's southern 国境s—tall and gaunt, with features leaner and more 強硬派-like than his purer-血d 砂漠 肉親，親類.

"Ishtar gives, princess." The fatalism of his ancestors spoke for him.

"Wait here," she 命令（する）d, and while Thespides ガス／煙d and gnawed his velvet cap, Taurus muttered wearily under his breath, and Amalric strode 支援する and 前へ／外へ, tugging at his yellow 耐えるd and grinning like a hungry lion, Yasmela disappeared again through the curtains and clapped her 手渡すs for her slaves.

At her 命令（する） they brought harness to 取って代わる Conan's chain-mail — gorget, sollerets, cuirass, pauldrons, jambes, cuisses and sallet. When Yasmela again drew the curtains, a Conan in burnished steel stood before his audience. 覆う？ in the plate-armor, vizor 解除するd and dark 直面する 影をつくる／尾行するd by the 黒人／ボイコット plumes that nodded above his helmet, there was a grim impressiveness about him that even Thespides grudgingly 公式文書，認めるd. A jest died suddenly on Amalric's lips.

"By Mitra," said he slowly, "I never 推定する／予想するd to see you 事例／患者d in coat-armor, but you do not put it to shame. By my fingerbones, Conan, I have seen kings who wore their harness いっそう少なく regally than you!"

Conan was silent. A vague 影をつくる／尾行する crossed his mind like a prophecy. In years to come he was to remember Amalric's words, when the dream became the reality.

CHAPTER 3

IN THE EARLY 煙霧 of 夜明け the streets of Khoraja were thronged by （人が）群がるs of people who watched the hosts riding from the southern gate. The army was on the move at last. There were the knights, gleaming in richly wrought plate-armor, colored plumes waving above their burnished sallets. Their steeds, caparisoned with silk, lacquered leather and gold buckles, caracoled and curvetted as their riders put them through their paces. The 早期に light struck glints from lancepoints that rose like a forest above the array, their pennons flowing in the 微風. Each knight wore a lady's 記念品, a glove, scarf or rose, bound to his helmet or fastened to his sword-belt. They were the chivalry of Khoraja, five hundred strong, led by Count Thespides, who, men said, aspired to the 手渡す of Yasmela herself.

They were followed by the light cavalry on rangy steeds. The riders were typical hillmen, lean and 強硬派-直面するd; 頂点（に達する）d steel caps were on their 長，率いるs and chain-mail glinted under their flowing kaftans. Their main 武器 was the terrible Shemitish 屈服する, which could send a 軸 five hundred paces. There were five thousand of these, and Shupras 棒 at their 長，率いる, his lean 直面する moody beneath his spired helmet.

の近くに on their heels marched the Khoraja spearmen, always comparatively few in any Hyborian 明言する／公表する, where men thought cavalry the only honorable 支店 of service. These, like the knights, were of 古代の Kothic 血—sons of 廃虚d families, broken men, penniless 青年s, who could not afford horses and plate-armor, five hundred of them.

The mercenaries brought up the 後部, a thousand horsemen, two thousand spearmen. The tall horses of the cavalry seemed hard and savage as their riders; they made no curvets or gambades. There was a grimly 商売／仕事-like 面 to these professional 殺し屋s, 退役軍人s of 血まみれの （選挙などの）運動をするs. 覆う？ from 長，率いる to foot in chain-mail, they wore their vizorless 長，率いる-pieces over linked coifs. Their 保護物，者s were unadorned, their long lances without guidons. At their saddle-屈服するs hung 戦う／戦い-axes or steel maces, and each man wore at his hip a long broadsword. The spearmen were 武装した in much the same manner, though they bore pikes instead of cavalry lances.

They were men of many races and many 罪，犯罪s. There were tall Hyperboreans, gaunt, big-boned, of slow speech and violent natures; tawny-haired Gundermen from the hills of the northwest; swaggering Corinthian renegades; swarthy Zingarians, with bristling 黒人／ボイコット mustaches and fiery tempers; Aquilonians from the distant west. But all, except the Zingarians, were Hyborians.

Behind all （機の）カム a camel in rich 住宅s, led by a knight on a 広大な／多数の／重要な war-horse, and surrounded by a clump of 選ぶd 闘士，戦闘機s from the 王室の house-軍隊／機動隊s. Its rider, under the silken canopy of the seat, was a わずかな／ほっそりした, silk-覆う？ 人物／姿／数字, at the sight of which the populace, always mindful of 王族, threw up its leather caps and 元気づけるd wildly.

Conan the Cimmerian, restless in his plate-armor, 星／主役にするd at the bedecked camel with no 広大な／多数の／重要な 是認, and spoke to Amalric, who 棒 beside him, resplendent in chain-mail threaded with gold, golden breastplate and helmet with flowing horsehair crest.

"The princess would go with us. She's supple, but too soft for this work. Anyway, she'll have to get out of these 式服s."

Amalric 新たな展開d his yellow mustache to hide a grin. Evidently Conan supposed Yasmela ーするつもりであるd to ひもで縛る on a sword and take part in the actual fighting, as the barbarian women often fought.

"The women of the Hyborians do not fight like your Cimmerian women, Conan," he said. "Yasmela rides with us to watch the 戦う／戦い. Anyway," he 転換d in his saddle and lowered his 発言する／表明する, "between you and me, I have an idea that the princess dares not remain behind. She 恐れるs something—"

"An 反乱? Maybe we'd better hang a few 国民s before we start—"

"No. One of her maids talked—babbled about Something that （機の）カム into the palace by night and 脅すd Yasmela half out of her wits. It's some of Natohk's deviltry, I 疑問 not. Conan, it's more than flesh and 血 we fight!"

"井戸／弁護士席," grunted the Cimmerian, "it's better to go 会合，会う an enemy than to wait for him."

He ちらりと見ることd at the long line of wagons and （軍の）野営地，陣営-信奉者s, gathered the reins in his mailed 手渡す, and spoke from habit the phrase of the marching mercenaries, "Hell or plunder, comrades—march!"

Behind the long train the ponderous gates of Khoraja の近くにd. Eager 長，率いるs lined the battlements. The 国民s 井戸／弁護士席 knew they were watching life or death go 前へ／外へ. If the host was overthrown, the 未来 of Khoraja would be written in 血. In the hordes 群れているing up from the savage south, mercy was a 質 unknown.

* * *

All day the columns marched, through grassy rolling meadowlands, 削減（する） by small rivers, the 地形 徐々に beginning to slope 上向き. Ahead of them lay a 範囲 of low hills, 広範囲にわたる in an 無傷の rampart from east to west. They （軍の）野営地，陣営d that night on the northern slopes of those hills, and hook-nosed, fiery-注目する，もくろむd men of the hill tribes （機の）カム in 得点する／非難する／２０s to squat about the 解雇する／砲火／射撃s and repeat news that had come up out of the mysterious 砂漠. Through their tales ran the 指名する of Natohk like a はうing serpent. At his bidding the demons of the 空気／公表する brought 雷鳴 and 勝利，勝つd and 霧, the fiends of the 暗黒街 shook the earth with awful roaring. He brought 解雇する／砲火／射撃 out of the 空気／公表する and 消費するd the gates of 塀で囲むd cities, and burnt 装甲の men to bits of charred bone. His 軍人s covered the 砂漠 with their numbers, and he had five thousand Stygian 軍隊／機動隊s in war-chariots under the 反逆者／反逆する prince Kutamun.

Conan listened unperturbed. War was his 貿易（する）. Life was a continual 戦う／戦い, or 一連の 戦う／戦いs, since his birth. Death had been a constant companion. It stalked horrifically at his 味方する; stood at his shoulder beside the gaming-（米）棚上げする／（英）提議するs; its bony fingers 動揺させるd the ワイン-cups. It ぼんやり現れるd above him, a hooded and monstrous 影をつくる／尾行する, when he lay 負かす／撃墜する to sleep. He minded its presence no more than a king minds the presence of his cupbearer. Some day its bony しっかり掴む would の近くに; that was all. It was enough that he lived through the 現在の.

However, others were いっそう少なく careless of 恐れる than he. Striding 支援する from the 歩哨 lines, Conan 停止（させる）d as a slender cloaked 人物／姿／数字 stayed him with an outstretched 手渡す.

"Princess! You should be in your テント."

"I could not sleep." Her dark 注目する，もくろむs were haunted in the 影をつくる／尾行する. "Conan, I am afraid!"

"Are there men in the host you 恐れる?" His 手渡す locked on his hilt.

"No man," she shuddered. "Conan, is there anything you 恐れる?"

He considered, tugging at his chin. "Aye," he 認める at last, "the 悪口を言う／悪態 of the gods."

Again she shuddered. "I am 悪口を言う／悪態d. A fiend from the abysses has 始める，決める his 示す upon me. Night after night he lurks in the 影をつくる／尾行するs, whispering awful secrets to me. He will drag me 負かす／撃墜する to be his queen in hell. I dare not sleep—he will come to me in my pavilion as he （機の）カム in the palace. Conan, you are strong; keep me with you! I am afraid!"

She was no longer a princess, but only a terrified girl. Her pride had fallen from her, leaving her unashamed in her nakedness. In her frantic 恐れる she had come to him who seemed strongest. The ruthless 力／強力にする that had repelled her, drew her now.

For answer he drew off his scarlet cloak and wrapped it about her, 概略で, as if tenderness of any 肉親，親類d were impossible to him. His アイロンをかける 手渡す 残り／休憩（する）d for an instant on her slender shoulder, and she shivered again, but not with 恐れる. Like an electric shock a 殺到する of animal vitality swept over her at his mere touch, as if some of his superabundant strength had been imparted to her.

"嘘（をつく） here." He 示すd a clean-swept space の近くに to a small flickering 解雇する／砲火／射撃. He saw no incongruity in a princess lying 負かす／撃墜する on the naked ground beside a campfire, wrapped in a 軍人's cloak. But she obeyed without question.

He seated himself 近づく her on a 玉石, his broadsword across his 膝s. With the firelight glinting from his blue steel armor, he seemed like an image of steel—dynamic 力／強力にする for the moment quiescent; not 残り／休憩（する）ing, but motionless for the instant, を待つing the signal to 急落（する），激減（する） again into terrific 活動／戦闘. The firelight played on his features, making them seem as if carved out of 実体 shadowy yet hard as steel. They were immobile, but his 注目する，もくろむs smoldered with 猛烈な／残忍な life. He was not 単に a wild man; he was part of the wild, one with the untameable elements of life; in his veins ran the 血 of the wolf-pack; in his brain lurked the brooding depths of the northern night; his heart throbbed with the 解雇する／砲火／射撃 of 炎ing forests.

So, half meditating, half dreaming, Yasmela dropped off to sleep, wrapped in a sense of delicious 安全. Somehow she knew that no 炎上-注目する，もくろむd 影をつくる／尾行する would bend over her in the 不明瞭, with this grim 人物／姿／数字 from the outlands standing guard above her. Yet once again she wakened, to shudder in cosmic 恐れる, though not because of anything she saw.

It was a low mutter of 発言する／表明するs that roused her. 開始 her 注目する，もくろむs, she saw that the 解雇する／砲火／射撃 was 燃やすing low. A feeling of 夜明け was in the 空気／公表する. She could dimly see that Conan still sat on the 玉石; she glimpsed the long blue 微光 of his blade. の近くに beside him crouched another 人物／姿／数字, on which the dying 解雇する／砲火／射撃 cast a faint glow. Yasmela drowsily made out a 麻薬中毒の beak of a nose, a glittering bead of an 注目する，もくろむ, under a white turban. The man was speaking 速く in a Shemite dialect she 設立する hard to understand.

"Let Bel wither my arm! I speak truth! By Derketo, Conan, I am a prince of liars, but I do not 嘘（をつく） to an old comrade. I 断言する by the days when we were thieves together in the land of Zamora, before you donned hauberk!

"I saw Natohk; with the others I knelt before him when he made incantations to 始める，決める. But I did not thrust my nose in the sand as the 残り／休憩（する） did. I am a どろぼう of Shumir, and my sight is keener than a weasel's. I squinted up and saw his 隠す blowing in the 勝利，勝つd. It blew aside, and I saw—I saw—Bel 援助（する） me, Conan, I say I saw! My 血 froze in my veins and my hair stood up. What I had seen 燃やすd my soul like a red-hot アイロンをかける. I could not 残り／休憩（する） until I had made sure.

"I 旅行d to the 廃虚s of Kuthchemes. The door of the ivory ドーム stood open; in the doorway lay a 広大な／多数の／重要な serpent, transfixed by a sword. Within the ドーム lay the 団体／死体 of a man, so shrivelled and distorted I could 不十分な make it out at first—it was Shevatas, the Zamorian, the only どろぼう in the world I 定評のある as my superior. The treasure was untouched; it lay in shimmering heaps about the 死体. That was all."

"There were no bones—" began Conan.

"There was nothing!" broke in the Shemite passionately. "Nothing! Only the one 死体!"

Silence 統治するd an instant, and Yasmela shrank with a はうing nameless horror.

"Whence （機の）カム Natohk?" rose the Shemite's vibrant whisper. "Out of the 砂漠 on a night when the world was blind and wild with mad clouds driven in frenzied flight across the shuddering 星／主役にするs, and the howling of the 勝利，勝つd was mingled with the shrieking of the spirits of the wastes. Vampires were abroad that night, witches 棒 naked on the 勝利，勝つd, and werewolves howled across the wilderness. On a 黒人／ボイコット camel he （機の）カム, riding like the 勝利，勝つd, and an unholy 解雇する／砲火／射撃 played about him; the cloven 跡をつけるs of the camel glowed in the 不明瞭. When Natohk dismounted before 始める，決める's 神社 by the oasis of Aphaka, the beast swept into the night and 消えるd. And I have talked with tribesmen who swore that it suddenly spread gigantic wings and 急ぐd 上向きs into the clouds, leaving a 追跡する of 解雇する／砲火／射撃 behind it. No man has seen that camel since that night, but a 黒人／ボイコット brutish manlike 形態／調整 shambles to Natohk's テント and gibbers to him in the blackness before 夜明け. I will tell you, Conan, Natohk is—look, I will show you an image of what I saw that day by Shushan when the 勝利，勝つd blew aside his 隠す!"

Yasmela saw the glint of gold in the Shemite's 手渡す, as the men bent closely over something. She heard Conan grunt; and suddenly blackness rolled over her. For the first time in her life, princess Yasmela had fainted.

CHAPTER 4

DAWN was still a hint of whiteness in the east when the army was again on the march. Tribesmen had raced into （軍の）野営地，陣営, their steeds reeling from the long ride, to 報告（する）／憶測 the 砂漠 horde 野営するd at the 井戸／弁護士席 of Altaku. So through the hills the 兵士s 押し進めるd あわてて, leaving the wagon trains to follow. Yasmela 棒 with them; her 注目する，もくろむs were haunted. The nameless horror had been taking even more awful 形態／調整, since she had 認めるd the coin in the Shemite's 手渡す the night before—one of those 内密に molded by the degraded Zugite 教団, 耐えるing the features of a man dead three thousand years.

The way 負傷させる between ragged cliffs and gaunt crags 非常に高い over 狭くする valleys. Here and there villages perched, 密談する／（身体を）寄せ集めるs of 石／投石する huts, plastered with mud. The tribesmen 群れているd out to join their 肉親，親類, so that before they had 横断するd the hills, the host had been swelled by some three thousand wild archers.

突然の they （機の）カム out of the hills and caught their breath at the 広大な expanse that swept away to the south. On the southern 味方する the hills fell away sheerly, 場内取引員／株価 a 際立った geographical 分割 between the Kothian uplands and the southern 砂漠. The hills were the 縁 of the uplands, stretching in an almost 無傷の 塀で囲む. Here they were 明らかにする and desolate, 住むd only by the Zaheemi 一族／派閥, whose 義務 it was to guard the caravan road. Beyond the hills the 砂漠 stretched 明らかにする, dusty, lifeless. Yet beyond its horizon lay the 井戸／弁護士席 of Altaku, and the horde of Natohk.

The army looked 負かす／撃墜する on the Pass of Shamla, through which flowed the wealth of the north and the south, and through which had marched the armies of Koth, Khoraja, Shem, Turan and Stygia. Here the sheer 塀で囲む of the rampart was broken. Promontories ran out into the 砂漠, forming barren valleys, all but one of which were の近くにd on the northern extremity by rugged cliffs. This one was the Pass. It was much like a 広大な／多数の／重要な 手渡す 延長するd from the hills; two fingers, parted, formed a fan-形態／調整d valley. The fingers were 代表するd by a 幅の広い 山の尾根 on either 手渡す, the outer 味方するs sheer, the inner, 法外な slopes. The vale pitched 上向き as it 狭くするd, to come out on a 高原, 側面に位置するd by gully-torn slopes. A 井戸／弁護士席 was there, and a cluster of 石／投石する towers, 占領するd by the Zaheemis.

There Conan 停止（させる）d, swinging off his horse. He had discarded the plate-armor for the more familiar chain-mail. Thespides reined in and 需要・要求するd, "Why do you 停止（させる）?"

"We'll を待つ them here," answered Conan.

"T'were more knightly to ride out and 会合，会う them," snapped the count.

"They'd smother us with numbers," answered the Cimmerian. "Besides, there's no water out there. We'll （軍の）野営地，陣営 on the 高原—"

"My knights and I （軍の）野営地，陣営 in the valley," retorted Thespides 怒って. "We are the 先導, and we, at least, do not 恐れる a ragged 砂漠 群れている."

Conan shrugged his shoulders and the angry nobleman 棒 away. Amalric 停止（させる）d in his bellowing order, to watch the glittering company riding 負かす／撃墜する the slope into the valley.

"The fools! Their canteens will soon be empty, and they'll have to ride 支援する up to the 井戸／弁護士席 to water their horses."

"Let them be," replied Conan. "It goes hard for them to take orders from me. Tell the dog-brothers to 緩和する their harness and 残り／休憩（する）. We've marched hard and 急速な／放蕩な. Water the horses and let the men munch."

No need to send out scouts. The 砂漠 lay 明らかにする to the gaze, though just now this 見解（をとる） was 限られた／立憲的な by low-lying clouds which 残り／休憩（する）d in whitish 集まりs on the southern horizon. The monotony was broken only by a jutting 絡まる of 石／投石する 廃虚s, some miles out on the 砂漠, reputedly the 残余s of an 古代の Stygian 寺. Conan dismounted the archers and 範囲d them along the 山の尾根s, with the wild tribesmen. He 駅／配置するd the mercenaries and the Khoraji spearmen on the 高原 about the 井戸／弁護士席. さらに先に 支援する, in the angle where the hill road debouched on the 高原, was pitched Yasmela's pavilion.

With no enemy in sight, the 軍人s relaxed. Basinets were doffed, coifs thrown 支援する on mailed shoulders, belts let out. Rude jests flew 支援する and 前へ／外へ as the fighting-men gnawed beef and thrust their muzzles 深い into ale-jugs. Along the slopes the hillmen made themselves at 緩和する, nibbling dates and olives. Amalric strode up to where Conan sat bareheaded on a 玉石.

"Conan, have you heard what the tribesmen say about Natohk? They say—Mitra, it's too mad even to repeat. What do you think?"

"Seeds 残り／休憩（する） in the ground for centuries without rotting, いつかs," answered Conan. "But surely Natohk is a man."

"I am not sure," grunted Amalric. "At any 率, you've arranged your lines 同様に as a seasoned general could have done. It's 確かな Natohk's devils can't 落ちる on us unawares. Mitra, what a 霧!"

"I thought it was clouds at first," answered Conan. "See how it rolls!"

What had seemed clouds was a 厚い もや moving northward like a 広大な／多数の／重要な 安定性のない ocean, 速く hiding the 砂漠 from 見解（をとる）. Soon it （海，煙などが）飲み込むd the Stygian 廃虚s, and still it rolled onward. The army watched in amazement. It was a thing 前例のない—unnatural and inexplicable.

"No use sending out scouts," said Amalric disgustedly. "They couldn't see anything. Its 辛勝する／優位s are 近づく the outer flanges of the 山の尾根s. Soon the whole Pass and these hills will be masked—"

Conan, who had been watching the rolling もや with growing nervousness, bent suddenly and laid his ear to the earth. He sprang up with frantic haste, 断言するing.

"Horses and chariots, thousands of them! The ground vibrates to their tread! 売春婦, there!" His 発言する／表明する 雷鳴d out across the valley to electrify the lounging men. "Burganets and pikes, you dogs! Stand to your 階級s!"

At that, as the 軍人s 緊急発進するd into their lines, あわてて donning 長，率いる-pieces and thrusting 武器 through 保護物，者-ひもで縛るs, the もや rolled away, as something no longer useful. It did not slowly 解除する and fade like a natural 霧; it 簡単に 消えるd, like a blown-out 炎上. One moment the whole 砂漠 was hidden with the rolling fleecy 大波s, piled mountainously, stratum above stratum; the next, the sun shone from a cloudless sky on a naked 砂漠 —no longer empty, but thronged with the living pageantry of war. A 広大な／多数の／重要な shout shook the hills.

At first ちらりと見ること the amazed 選挙立会人s seemed to be looking 負かす／撃墜する upon a glittering sparkling sea of bronze and gold, where steel points twinkled like a myriad 星／主役にするs. With the 解除するing of the 霧 the invaders had 停止（させる）d as if frozen, in long serried lines, 炎上ing in the sun.

First was a long line of chariots, drawn by the 広大な／多数の／重要な 猛烈な／残忍な horses of Stygia, with plumes on their 長，率いるs—snorting and 後部ing as each naked driver leaned 支援する, を締めるing his powerful 脚s, his dusky 武器 knotted with muscles. The fighting-men in the chariots were tall 人物／姿／数字s, their 強硬派-like 直面するs 始める，決める off by bronze helmets crested with a 三日月 supporting a golden ball. 激しい 屈服するs were in their 手渡すs. No ありふれた archers these, but nobles of the South, bred to war and the 追跡（する）, who were accustomed to bringing 負かす／撃墜する lions with their arrows.

Behind these （機の）カム a motley array of wild men on half-wild horses — the 軍人s of Kush, the first of the 広大な／多数の／重要な 黒人／ボイコット kingdoms of the 牧草地s south of Stygia. They were 向こうずねing ebony, supple and lithe, riding stark naked and without saddle or bridle.

After these rolled a horde that seemed to encompass all the 砂漠. Thousands on thousands of the war-like Sons of Shem: 階級s of horsemen in 規模-mail corselets and cylindrical helmets—the asshuri of Nippr, Shumir and Eruk and their sister cities; wild white-式服d hordes—the nomad 一族／派閥s.

Now the 階級s began to mill and eddy. The chariots drew off to one 味方する while the main host （機の）カム uncertainly onward.

負かす／撃墜する in the valley the knights had 機動力のある, and now Count Thespides galloped up the slope to where Conan stood. He did not deign to dismount but spoke 突然の from the saddle.

"The 解除するing of the もや has 混乱させるd them! Now is the time to 告発（する），告訴（する）／料金! The Kushites have no 屈服するs and they mask the whole 前進する. A 告発（する），告訴（する）／料金 of my knights will 鎮圧する them 支援する into the 階級s of the Shemites, 混乱に陥れる／中断させるing their 形式. Follow me! We will 勝利，勝つ this 戦う／戦い with one 一打／打撃!"

Conan shook his 長，率いる. "Were we fighting a natural 敵, I would agree. But this 混乱 is more feigned than real, as if to draw us into a 告発（する），告訴（する）／料金. I 恐れる a 罠（にかける）."

"Then you 辞退する to move?" cried Thespides, his 直面する dark with passion.

"Be reasonable," expostulated Conan. "We have the advantage of position—"

With a furious 誓い Thespides wheeled and galloped 支援する 負かす／撃墜する the valley where his knights waited impatiently.

Amalric shook his 長，率いる. "You should not have let him return, Conan. I—look there!"

Conan sprang up with a 悪口を言う／悪態. Thespides had swept in beside his men. They could hear his 情熱的な 発言する／表明する faintly, but his gesture toward the approaching horde was 重要な enough. In another instant five hundred lances dipped and the steel-覆う？ company was 雷鳴ing 負かす／撃墜する the valley.

A young page （機の）カム running from Yasmela's pavilion, crying to Conan in a shrill, eager 発言する／表明する. "My Lord, the princess asks why you do not follow and support Count Thespides?"

"Because I am not so 広大な／多数の／重要な a fool as he," grunted Conan, reseating himself on the 玉石 and beginning to gnaw a 抱擁する beef-bone.

"You grow sober with 当局," quoth Amalric. "Such madness as that was always your particular joy."

"Aye, when I had only my own life to consider," answered Conan. "Now—what in hell—"

The horde had 停止（させる）d. From the extreme wing 急ぐd a chariot, the naked charioteer 攻撃するing the steeds like a madman; the other occupant was a tall 人物／姿／数字 whose 式服 floated spectrally on the 勝利，勝つd. He held in his 武器 a 広大な／多数の／重要な 大型船 of gold and from it 注ぐd a thin stream that sparkled in the sunlight. Across the whole 前線 of the 砂漠 horde the chariot swept, and behind its 雷鳴ing wheels was left, like the wake behind a ship, a long thin powdery line that glittered in the sands like the phosphorescent 跡をつける of a serpent.

"That's Natohk!" swore Amalric. "What hellish seed is he （種を）蒔くing?"

The 非難する knights had not checked their headlong pace. Another fifty paces and they would 衝突，墜落 into the uneven Kushite 階級s, which stood motionless, spears 解除するd. Now the 真っ先の knights had reached the thin line that glittered across the sands. They did not 注意する that はうing menace. But as the steel-shod hoofs of the horses struck it, it was as when steel strikes flint—but with more terrible result. A terrific 爆発 激しく揺するd the 砂漠, which seemed to 分裂（する） apart along the strewn line with an awful burst of white 炎上.

In that instant the whole 真っ先の line of the knights was seen enveloped in that 炎上, horses and steel-覆う？ riders withering in the glare like insects in an open 炎. The next instant the 後部 階級s were piling up on their charred 団体／死体s. Unable to check their headlong velocity, 階級 after 階級 衝突，墜落d into the 廃虚s. With appalling suddenness the 告発（する），告訴（する）／料金 had turned into a shambles where 装甲の 人物／姿／数字s died まっただ中に 叫び声をあげるing, mangled horses.

Now the illusion of 混乱 消えるd as the horde settled into 整然とした lines. The wild Kushites 急ぐd into the shambles, spearing the 負傷させるd, bursting the helmets of the knights with 石／投石するs and アイロンをかける 大打撃を与えるs. It was all over so quickly that the 選挙立会人s on the slopes stood dazed; and again the horde moved 今後, splitting to 避ける the charred waste of 死体s. From the hills went up a cry: "We fight not men but devils!"

On either 山の尾根 the hillmen wavered. One 急ぐd toward the 高原, froth dripping from his 耐えるd.

"逃げる, 逃げる!" he slobbered. "Who can fight Natohk's 魔法?"

With a snarl Conan bounded from his 玉石 and smote him with the beef-bone; he dropped, 血 starting from nose and mouth. Conan drew his sword, his 注目する，もくろむs slits of blue bale-解雇する／砲火／射撃.

"支援する to your 地位，任命するs!" he yelled. "Let another take a backward step and I'll shear off his 長，率いる! Fight, damn you!"

The 大勝する 停止（させる）d as quickly as it had begun. Conan's 猛烈な／残忍な personality was like a dash of ice-water in their whirling 炎 of terror.

"Take your places," he directed quickly. "And stand to it! Neither man nor devil comes up Shamla Pass this day!"

Where the 高原 縁 broke to the valley slope the mercenaries を締めるd their belts and gripped their spears. Behind them the lancers sat their steeds, and to one 味方する were 駅／配置するd the Khoraja spearmen as reserves. To Yasmela, standing white and speechless at the door of her テント, the host seemed a pitiful handful in comparison to the thronging 砂漠 horde.

Conan stood の中で the spearmen. He knew the invaders would not try to 運動 a chariot 告発（する），告訴（する）／料金 up the Pass in the teeth of the archers, but he grunted with surprize to see the riders dismounting. These wild men had no 供給（する） trains. Canteens and pouches hung at their saddle-頂点（に達する）s. Now they drank the last of their water and threw the canteens away.

"This is the death-支配する," he muttered as the lines formed on foot. "I'd rather have had a cavalry 告発（する），告訴（する）／料金; 負傷させるd horses bolt and 廃虚 形式s."

The horde had formed into a 抱擁する wedge, of which the tip was the Stygians and the 団体／死体, the mailed asshuri, 側面に位置するd by the nomads. In の近くに 形式, 保護物，者s 解除するd, they rolled onward, while behind them a tall 人物／姿／数字 in a motionless chariot 解除するd wide-式服d 武器 in grisly invocation.

As the horde entered the wide valley mouth the hillmen loosed their 軸s. In spite of the 保護の 形式, men dropped by dozens. The Stygians had discarded their 屈服するs; helmeted 長，率いるs bent to the 爆破, dark 注目する，もくろむs glaring over the 縁s of their 保護物，者s, they （機の）カム on in an inexorable 殺到する, striding over their fallen comrades. But the Shemites gave 支援する the 解雇する／砲火／射撃, and the clouds of arrows darkened the skies. Conan gazed over the 大波ing waves of spears and wondered what new horror the sorcerer would invoke. Somehow he felt that Natohk, like all his 肉親，親類d, was more terrible in 弁護 than in attack; to take the 不快な／攻撃 against him 招待するd 災害.

But surely it was 魔法 that drove the horde on in the teeth of death. Conan caught his breath at the havoc wrought in the onsweeping 階級s. The 辛勝する／優位s of the wedge seemed to be melting away, and already the valley was strewn with dead men. Yet the 生存者s （機の）カム on like madmen unaware of death. By the very numbers of their 屈服するs, they began to 押し寄せる／沼地 the archers on the cliffs. Clouds of 軸s sped 上向き, 運動ing the hillmen to cover. Panic struck at their hearts at that unwavering 前進する, and they plied their 屈服するs madly, 注目する，もくろむs glaring like 罠にかける wolves.

As the horde 近づくd the narrower neck of the Pass, 玉石s 雷鳴d 負かす／撃墜する, 鎮圧するing men by the 得点する／非難する／２０s, but the 告発（する），告訴（する）／料金 did not waver. Conan's wolves を締めるd themselves for the 必然的な concussion. In their の近くに 形式 and superior armor, they took little 傷つける from the arrows. It was the 衝撃 of the 告発（する），告訴（する）／料金 Conan 恐れるd, when the 抱擁する wedge should 衝突，墜落 against his thin 階級s. And he realized now there was no breaking of that 猛攻撃. He gripped the shoulder of a Zaheemi who stood 近づく.

"Is there any way by which 機動力のある men can get 負かす／撃墜する into the blind valley beyond that western 山の尾根?"

"Aye, a 法外な, perilous path, secret and eternally guarded. But—"

Conan was dragging him along to where Amalric sat his 広大な／多数の／重要な war-horse.

"Amalric!" he snapped. "Follow this man! He'll lead you into あそこの outer valley. Ride 負かす／撃墜する it, circle the end of the 山の尾根, and strike the horde from the 後部. Speak not, but go! I know it's madness, but we're doomed anyway; we'll do all the 損失 we can before we die! Haste!"

Amalric's mustache bristled in a 猛烈な／残忍な grin, and a few moments later his lancers were に引き続いて the guide into a 絡まる of gorges 主要な off from the 高原. Conan ran 支援する to the pikemen, sword in 手渡す.

He was not too soon. On either 山の尾根 Shupras's hillmen, mad with 予期 of 敗北・負かす, rained 負かす／撃墜する their 軸s 猛烈に. Men died like 飛行機で行くs in the valley and along the slopes—and with a roar and an irresistible 上向き 殺到する the Stygians 衝突，墜落d against the mercenaries.

In a ハリケーン of 雷鳴ing steel, the lines 新たな展開d and swayed. It was war-bred noble against professional 兵士.

保護物，者s 衝突，墜落d against 保護物，者s, and between them spears drove in and 血 spurted.

Conan saw the mighty form of prince Kutamun across the sea of swords, but the 圧力（をかける） held him hard, breast to breast with dark 形態／調整s that gasped and 削除するd. Behind the Stygians the asshuri were 殺到するing and yelling.

On either 手渡す the nomads climbed the cliffs and （機の）カム to 手渡す-支配するs with their mountain 肉親，親類. All along the crests of the 山の尾根s the 戦闘 激怒（する）d in blind, gasping ferocity. Tooth and nail, frothing mad with fanaticism and 古代の 反目，不和s, the tribesmen rent and slew and died. Wild hair 飛行機で行くing, the naked Kushites ran howling into the fray.

It seemed to Conan that his sweat-blinded 注目する，もくろむs looked 負かす／撃墜する into a rising ocean of steel that seethed and eddied, filling the valley from 山の尾根 to 山の尾根. The fight was at a 血まみれの 行き詰まる. The hillmen held the 山の尾根s, and the mercenaries, gripping their dipping pikes, を締めるing their feet in the 血まみれの earth, held the Pass. Superior position and armor for a space balanced the advantage of 圧倒的な numbers. But it could not 耐える. Wave after wave of glaring 直面するs and flashing spears 殺到するd up the slope, the asshuri filling the gaps in the Stygian 階級s.

Conan looked to see Amalric's lancers 一連の会議、交渉／完成するing the western 山の尾根, but they did not come, and the pikemen began to reel 支援する under the shocks. And Conan abandoned all hope of victory and of life. Yelling a 命令（する） to his gasping captains, he broke away and raced across the 高原 to the Khoraja reserves who stood trembling with 切望. He did not ちらりと見ること toward Yasmela's pavilion. He had forgotten the princess; his one thought was the wild beast instinct to 殺す before he died.

"This day you become knights!" he laughed ひどく, pointing with his dripping sword toward the hillmen's horses, herded nearby. "開始する and follow me to hell!"

The hill steeds 後部d wildly under the unfamiliar 衝突／不一致 of the Kothic armor, and Conan's gusty laugh rose above the din as he led them to where the eastern 山の尾根 支店d away from the 高原. Five hundred footmen — pauper patricians, younger sons, 黒人／ボイコット sheep—on half-wild Shemite horses, 非難する an army, 負かす／撃墜する a slope where no cavalry had ever dared 告発（する），告訴（する）／料金 before!

Past the 戦う／戦い-choked mouth of the Pass they 雷鳴d, out の上に the 死体-littered 山の尾根. 負かす／撃墜する the 法外な slope they 急ぐd, and a 得点する／非難する／２０ lost their 地盤 and rolled under the hoofs of their comrades. Below them men 叫び声をあげるd and threw up their 武器—and the 雷鳴ing 告発（する），告訴（する）／料金 ripped through them as an 雪崩／（抗議などの）殺到 削減（する）s through a forest of saplings. On through the の近くに-packed throngs the Khorajis hurtled, leaving a 鎮圧するd-負かす／撃墜する carpet of dead.

And then, as the horde writhed and coiled upon itself, Amalric's lancers, having 削減（する） through a 非常線，警戒線 of horsemen 遭遇（する）d in the outer valley, swept around the extremity of the western 山の尾根 and smote the host in a steel-tipped wedge, splitting it asunder. His attack carried all the dazing demoralization of a surprize on the 後部. Thinking themselves 側面に位置するd by a superior 軍隊 and frenzied at the 恐れる of 存在 削減（する） off from the 砂漠, 群れているs of nomads broke and 殺到d, working havoc in the 階級s of their more 確固たる comrades. These staggered and the horsemen 棒 through them. Up on the 山の尾根s the 砂漠 闘士，戦闘機s wavered, and the hillmen fell on them with 新たにするd fury, 運動ing them 負かす／撃墜する the slopes.

Stunned by surprize, the horde broke before they had time to see it was but a handful which 攻撃する，非難するd them. And once broken, not even a magician could weld such a horde again. Across the sea of 長，率いるs and spears Conan's madmen saw Amalric's riders (1)偽造する／(2)徐々に進むing 刻々と through the 大勝する, to the rise and 落ちる of axes and maces, and a mad joy of victory exalted each man's heart and made his arm steel.

を締めるing their feet in the wallowing sea of 血 whose crimson waves lapped about their ankles, the pikemen in the Pass mouth drove 今後, 鎮圧するing 堅固に against the milling 階級s before them. The Stygians held, but behind them the 圧力（をかける） of the asshuri melted; and over the 団体／死体s of the nobles of the South who died in their 跡をつけるs to a man, the mercenaries rolled, to 分裂（する） and crumple the wavering 集まり behind.

Up on the cliffs old Shupras lay with an arrow through his heart; Amalric was 負かす／撃墜する, 断言するing like a 著作権侵害者, a spear through his mailed thigh. Of Conan's 機動力のある infantry, 不十分な a hundred and fifty remained in the saddle. But the horde was 粉々にするd. Nomads and mailed spearmen broke away, 逃げるing to their （軍の）野営地，陣営 where their horses were, and the hillmen 群れているd 負かす／撃墜する the slopes, stabbing the 逃亡者／はかないものs in the 支援する, cutting the throats of the 負傷させるd.

In the 渦巻くing red 大混乱 a terrible apparition suddenly appeared before Conan's 後部ing steed. It was prince Kutamun, naked but for a loin-cloth, his harness 切り開く／タクシー／不正アクセスd away, his crested helmet dented, his 四肢s splashed with 血. With a terrible shout he 投げつけるd his broken hilt 十分な into Conan's 直面する, and leaping, 掴むd the stallion's bridle. The Cimmerian reeled in his saddle, half stunned, and with awful strength the dark-skinned 巨大（な） 軍隊d the 叫び声をあげるing steed 上向き and backward, until it lost its 地盤 and 衝突，墜落d into the muck of 血まみれの sand and writhing 団体／死体s.

Conan sprang （疑いを）晴らす as the horse fell, and with a roar Kutamun was on him. In that mad nightmare of 戦う／戦い, the barbarian never 正確に／まさに knew how he killed his man. He only knew that a 石／投石する in the Stygian's 手渡す 衝突，墜落d again and again on his basinet, filling his sight with flashing 誘発するs, as Conan drove his dagger again and again into his 敵's 団体／死体, without 明らかな 影響 on the prince's terrible vitality. The world was swimming to Conan's sight, when with a convulsive shudder the でっちあげる，人を罪に陥れる that 緊張するd against his 強化するd and then went limp.

Reeling up, 血 streaming 負かす／撃墜する his 直面する from under his dented helmet, Conan glared dizzily at the profusion of 破壊 which spread before him. From crest to crest the dead lay strewn, a red carpet that choked the valley. It was like a red sea, with each wave a straggling line of 死体s. They choked the neck of the Pass, they littered the slopes. And 負かす／撃墜する in the 砂漠 the 虐殺（する） continued, where the 生存者s of the horde had reached their horses and streamed out across the waste, 追求するd by the 疲れた／うんざりした 勝利者s—and Conan stood appalled as he 公式文書，認めるd how few of these were left to 追求する.

Then an awful 叫び声をあげる rent the clamor. Up the valley a chariot （機の）カム 飛行機で行くing, making nothing of the heaped 死体s. No horses drew it, but a 広大な／多数の／重要な 黒人／ボイコット creature that was like a camel. In the chariot stood Natohk, his 式服s 飛行機で行くing; and gripping the reins and 攻撃するing like mad, crouched a 黒人／ボイコット anthropomorphic 存在 that might have been a monster ape.

With a 急ぐ of 燃やすing 勝利，勝つd the chariot swept up the 死体-littered slope, straight toward the pavilion where Yasmela stood alone, 砂漠d by her guards in the frenzy of 追跡. Conan, standing frozen, heard her frenzied 叫び声をあげる as Natohk's long arm swept her up into the chariot. Then the grisly steed wheeled and （機の）カム racing 支援する 負かす／撃墜する the valley, and no man dared 速度(を上げる） arrow or spear lest he strike Yasmela, who writhed in Natohk's 武器.

With an 残忍な cry Conan caught up his fallen sword and leaped into the path of the hurtling horror. But even as his sword went up, the forefeet of the 黒人／ボイコット beast smote him like a thunderbolt and sent him hurtling a 得点する／非難する／２０ feet away, dazed and bruised. Yasmela's cry （機の）カム hauntingly to his stunned ears as the chariot roared by.

A yell that had nothing of the human in its timbre rang from his lips as Conan 回復するd from the 血まみれの earth and 掴むd the rein of a riderless horse that raced past him, throwing himself into the saddle without bringing the charger to a 停止（させる）. With mad abandon he raced after the 速く receding chariot. He struck the levels 飛行機で行くing, and passed like a whirlwind through the Shemite （軍の）野営地，陣営. Into the 砂漠 he fled, passing clumps of his own riders, and hard-spurring 砂漠 horsemen.

On flew the chariot, and on raced Conan, though his horse began to reel beneath him. Now the open 砂漠 lay all about them, bathed in the lurid desolate splendor of sunset. Before him rose up the 古代の 廃虚s, and with a shriek that froze the 血 in Conan's veins, the unhuman charioteer cast Natohk and the girl from him. They rolled on the sand, and to Conan's dazed gaze, the chariot and its steed altered awfully. 広大な／多数の／重要な wings spread from a 黒人／ボイコット horror that in no way 似ているd a camel, and it 急ぐd 上向き into the sky, 耐えるing in its wake a 形態／調整 of blinding 炎上, in which a 黒人／ボイコット man-like 形態／調整 gibbered in 恐ろしい 勝利. So quickly it passed, that it was like the 急ぐ of a nightmare through a horror-haunted dream.

Natohk sprang up, cast a swift look at his grim pursuer, who had not 停止（させる）d but （機の）カム riding hard, with sword swinging low and spattering red 減少（する）s; and the sorcerer caught up the fainting girl and ran with her into the 廃虚s.

Conan leaped from his horse and 急落（する），激減（する）d after them. He （機の）カム into a room that glowed with unholy radiance, though outside the dusk was 落ちるing 速く. On a 黒人／ボイコット jade altar lay Yasmela, her naked 団体／死体 gleaming like ivory in the weird light. Her 衣料品s lay strewn on the 床に打ち倒す, as if ripped from her in 残虐な haste. Natohk 直面するd the Cimmerian—inhumanly tall and lean, 覆う？ in shimmering green silk. He 投げ上げる／ボディチェックするd 支援する his 隠す, and Conan looked into the features he had seen 描写するd on the Zugite coin.

"Aye, blench, dog!" The 発言する／表明する was like the hiss of a 巨大（な） serpent. "I am Thugra Khotan! Long I lay in my tomb, を待つing the day of awakening and 解放（する）. The arts which saved me from the barbarians long ago likewise 拘留するd me, but I knew one would come in time—and he （機の）カム, to 実行する his 運命, and to die as no man has died in three thousand years!

"Fool, do you think you have 征服する／打ち勝つd because my people are scattered? Because I have been betrayed and 砂漠d by the demon I enslaved? I am Thugra Khotan, who shall 支配する the world にもかかわらず your paltry gods! The 砂漠 is filled with my people; the demons of the earth shall do my bidding, as the reptiles of the earth obey me. Lust for a woman 弱めるd my sorcery. Now the woman is 地雷, and feasting on her soul, I shall be unconquerable! 支援する, fool! You have not 征服する／打ち勝つd Thugra Khotan!"

He cast his staff and it fell at the feet of Conan, who recoiled with an involuntary cry. For as it fell it altered horribly; its 輪郭（を描く） melted and writhed, and a hooded cobra 後部d up hissing before the horrified Cimmerian. With a furious 誓い Conan struck, and his sword sheared the horrid 形態／調整 in half. And there at his feet lay only the two pieces of a 厳しいd ebon staff. Thugra Khotan laughed awfully, and wheeling, caught up something that はうd loathsomely in the dust of the 床に打ち倒す.

In his 延長するd 手渡す something alive writhed and slavered. No tricks of 影をつくる／尾行するs this time. In his naked 手渡す Thugra Khotan gripped a 黒人／ボイコット scorpion, more than a foot in length, the deadliest creature of the 砂漠, the 一打／打撃 of whose spiked tail was instant death. Thugra Khotan's skull-like countenance 分裂（する） in a mummy-like grin. Conan hesitated; then without 警告 he threw his sword.

Caught off guard, Thugra Khotan had no time to 避ける the cast. The point struck beneath his heart and stood out a foot behind his shoulders. He went 負かす／撃墜する, 鎮圧するing the poisonous monster in his しっかり掴む as he fell.

Conan strode to the altar, 解除するing Yasmela in his 血-stained 武器. She threw her white 武器 convulsively about his mailed neck, sobbing hysterically, and would not let him go.

"Crom's devils, girl!" he grunted. "Loose me! Fifty thousand men have 死なせる／死ぬd today, and there is work for me to do—"

"No!" she gasped, 粘着するing with convulsive strength, as 野蛮な for the instant as he in her 恐れる and passion. "I will not let you go! I am yours, by 解雇する／砲火／射撃 and steel and 血! You are 地雷! 支援する there, I belong to others—here I am 地雷—and yours! You shall not go!"

He hesitated, his own brain reeling with the 猛烈な／残忍な 沸き立つing of his violent passions. The lurid unearthly glow still hovered in the shadowy 議会, lighting ghostlily the dead 直面する of Thugra Khotan, which seemed to grin mirthlessly and cavernously at them. Out on the 砂漠, in the hills の中で the oceans of dead, men were dying, were howling with 負傷させるs and かわき and madness, and kingdoms were staggering. Then all was swept away by the crimson tide that rose madly in Conan's soul, as he 鎮圧するd ひどく in his アイロンをかける 武器 the わずかな／ほっそりした white 団体／死体 that shimmered like a witch-解雇する／砲火／射撃 of madness before him.

THE END

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