Robert E. Howard - Kull by By This Axe I Rule!

Author:By This Axe I Rule! [Rule!, By This Axe I]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Published: 2011-12-12T08:45:22+00:00

“I am glad,” said the man heavily. “After all, little one, the king is only a slave like yourself, locked with heavier chains.”

“Poor man,” she said, pityingly, though not exactly understanding; then she flamed into wrath. “But I do hate the cruel laws which the people follow! Why should laws not change? Time never stands still! Why should people today be shackled by laws which were made for our barbarian ancestors thousands of years ago—” She stopped suddenly and looked fearfully about.

“Don’t tell,” she whispered, laying her head in an appealing manner on her companion’s shoulder. “It is not fit that a woman, and a slave girl at that, should so unashamedly express herself on such public matters. I will be spanked if my mistress or my master hears of it.”

The big man smiled. “Be at ease, child. The king himself would not be offended by your sentiments; indeed, I believe that he agrees with you.”

“Have you seen the king?” she asked, her childish curiosity overcoming her misery for the moment “Often.”

“And is he eight feet tall,” she asked eagerly, “and has he horns under his crown, as the common people say?”

“Scarcely,” he laughed. “He lacks nearly two feet of answering your description as regards height; as for size, he might be my twin brother. There is not an inch difference in us.”

“Is he as kind as you?”

“At times, when he is not goaded to frenzy by a statecraft which he cannot understand and by the vagaries of a people which can never understand him.”

“Is he in truth a barbarian?”

“In very truth; he was born and spent his early boyhood among the heathen barbarians who inhabit the land of Atlantis. He dreamed a dream and fulfilled it. Because he was a great fighter and a savage swordsman, because he was crafty in actual battle, because the barbarian mercenaries in the Valusian army loved him, he became king. Because he is a warrior and not a politician, because his swordsmanship helps him now not at all, his throne is rocking beneath him.”

“And he is very unhappy?”

“Not all the time,” smiled the big man. “Sometimes when he slips away alone and takes a few hours holiday by himself among the woods, he is almost happy. Especially when he meets a pretty little girl like-“

The girl cried out in sudden terror, slipping to her knees before him. “Oh, sire, have mercy! I did not know; you are the king!”

“Don’t be afraid.” Kull knelt beside her again and put an arm about her, feeling her tremble from head to foot. “You said I was kind—”

“And so you are, sire,” she whispered weakly. “I—

I thought you were a human tiger, from what men said, but you are kind and tender—b-but—you are kking, and I—”

Suddenly, in a very agony of confusion and embarrassment, she sprang up and fled, vanishing instantly. The realization that the king whom she had only dreamed of seeing at a distance some day, was actually the man to whom she had told her pitiful woes, overcame her with an abasement and embarrassment which was almost physical terror.

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