"Robert E. Howard - Conan - A Witch Shall be Born" - читать интересную книгу автора (Howard Robert E)

Ishtar! They'll never swagger through Khauran's streets, by the gods! The fiends are tearing their
hearts in hell!"
The trembling girl crooned soothingly to him, as to a wounded child, and closed his panting
lips with her own cool sweet mouth. But the fire that raged in his soul would not allow him to lie
silent.
"I was not on the wall when the Shemites entered," he burst out. "I was asleep in the
barracks, with the others not on duty. It was just before dawn when our captain entered, and his
face was pale under his helmet. "The Shemites are in the city," he said. "The queen came to the
southern gate and gave orders that they should be admitted. She made the men come down from the
walls, where they've been on guard since Constantius entered the kingdom. I don't understand it,
and neither does anyone else, but I heard her give the order, and we obeyed as we always do. We


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are ordered to assemble in the square before the palace. Form ranks outside the barracks and march
- leave your arms and armor here. Ishtar knows what this means, but it is the queen's order."
"Well, when we came to the square the Shemites were drawn up on foot opposite the palace, ten
thousand of the blue-bearded devils, fully armed, and people's heads were thrust out of every
window and door on the square. The streets leading into the square were thronged by bewildered
folk. Taramis was standing on the steps of the palace, alone except for Constantius, who stood
stroking his mustache like a great lean cat who has just devoured a sparrow. But fifty Shemites
with bows in their hands were ranged below them.
"That's where the queen's guard should have been, but they were drawn up at the foot of the
palace stair, as puzzled as we, though they had come fully armed, in spite of the queen's order.
"Taramis spoke to us then, and told us that she had reconsidered the proposal made her by
Constantius - why, only yesterday she threw it in his teeth in open court - and that she had
decided to make him her royal consort. She did not explain why she had brought the Shemites into
the city so treacherously. But she said that, as Constantius had control of a body of professional
fighting-men, the army of Khauran would no longer be needed, and therefore she disbanded it, and
ordered us to go quietly to our homes.
"Why, obedience to our queen is second nature to us, but we were struck dumb and found no
word to answer. We broke ranks almost before we knew what we were doing, like men in a daze.
"But when the palace guard was ordered to disarm likewise and disband, the captain of the
guard, Conan, interrupted. Men said he was off duty the night before, and drunk. But he was wide
awake now. He shouted to the guardsmen to stand as they were until they received an order from him
- and such is his dominance of his men, that they obeyed in spite of the queen. He strode up to
the palace steps and glared at Taramis - and then he roared: ""This is not the queen! This isn't
Taramis! It's some devil in masquerade!"
"Then hell was to pay! I don't know just what happened. I think a Shemite struck Conan, and
Conan killed him. The next instant the square was a battleground. The Shemites fell on the
guardsmen, and their spears and arrows struck down many soldiers who had already disbanded.
"Some of us grabbed up such weapons as werould and fought back. We hardly knew what we were
fighting for, but it was against Constantius and his devils - not against Taramis, I swear it!
Constantius shouted to cut the traitors down. We were not traitors!" Despair and bewilderment
shook his voice. The girl murmured pityingly, not understanding it all, but aching in sympathy
with her lover's suffering.
"The people did not know which side to take. It was a madhouse of confusion and bewilderment.
We who fought didn't have a chance, in no formation, without armor and only half armed. The guards