65-Conan and the Amazon by John Maddox Roberts

Author:John Maddox Roberts [Roberts, John Maddox]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Tags: Fantasy, Fiction, General, Historical, Conan (Fictitious character)
ISBN: 9780812524932
Publisher: Macmillan
Published: 1995-04-15T05:00:00+00:00

“They wait for us,” said the dwarf. “Some of diem, anyway,” he amended. “Now, tell me what

happened after you left the camp.” So Conan whiled away the time describing the spy mission, the fight

and flight from the camp, the dust storm and his strange, blind combat with the desert demons.

Two hours after their rescue, Conan’s water skin was almost empty and he was feeling much

restored. His hunger was returning as well. Then they crested a dune and he saw the city.

It lay in a perfect, circular depression, just as Amram had described it. It was not huge, but it

seemed to consist almost entirely of elaborate buildings, with tittle open land inside the walls. Before the

sparkling gate he saw the great water-trough Amram had mentioned, and near it were tethered some

camels. Tents had been erected close by.

As they descended the dune, he noticed that the tall, white camels were missing. “Where are the

twins?”

“We think they’re inside,” the dwarf admitted. “You’ll hear about it anon.”

The Hyrkanians rushed up to them, grinning. “We rejoice to see you, Conan!” Kye-Dee said.

The Cimmerian dismounted stiffly, his sunburned hide screaming with pain. “I notice you didn’t come

looking for us,” he said sourly.

Kye-Dee grinned some more, shrugging. “It seemed that the gods of this place had stranded you. It

is very unwise to provoke the gods.”

“Crom preserve me from those with religious scruples,” Conan groused, walking to the great trough.

He saw that water poured into it continuously from one end and flowed over a spillway in the opposite

end. Much as he wanted to explore the place and find out what had occurred, the water drew him more

strongly. Throwing off his weapon-belt, he crouched beneath the spillway and let the water flow over

him, sluicing his hair, washing the remaining sand and grease from his body. The pain was excruciating,

but when he straightened, clean for the first time in days, he felt like a new man.

The women carried Achilea to the trough and gently lowered her into the water. Her eyes sprang

open wide and she screamed while they dipped water over her head.

“Careful there!” Conan barked. “She’s been badly burned.”

“We know that!” snarled Payna. Then her fierce scowl was replaced by a flush of shame. The

woman threw herself down and placed her forehead against his feet. “Forgive me, ray lord! You saved

our queen and we worship you!”

The dwarf grinned up at him cockily. “It’s not easy for them to be civil to a man.”

“They are creatures of extremes, that is for certain,” Conan said. He helped the women rig an

awning to shade Achilea while she soaked in the trough. Then he went to sit in the shade of a tent while

he ate from their store of provisions, washing down every mouthful with a generous draught of water. The

dwarf joined him and when Conan was done eating, the little man explained what had happened.

“After the two of you left upon your mission, we waited. The Hyrkanians slept, the twins were deep

in converse with Amram—”

“Speaking of him, where is Amram?” Conan asked.

“You shall hear.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.