"Robert E. Howard - Conan - Drums of Tobalku" - читать интересную книгу автора (Howard Robert E)

have lain in the burning sand for a while. I remember rising and staggering on, and toward the
last I thought I heard someone shouting, and saw a huge man on a black horse riding toward me, and
then I knew no more until I awoke and found myself lying with my head in that man's lap, while he
gave me wine to drink. Then there was shouting and fighting--" She shuddered. "When it was all
over, I crept to where you lay like a dead man, and I tried to bring you to--"
"Why?" he demanded.
She seemed at a loss. "Why," she floundered, "why, you were hurt - and - why, it is what
anyone would do. Besides, I realized that you were fighting to protect me from these men. The
people of Gazal have always said that the desert people were wicked and would harm the helpless."
"That's no exclusive characteristic," muttered Amalric. "Where is this Gazal?"
"It can not be far," she answered. "I walked a whole day - and then I do not know how far the
warrior carried me after he found me. But he must have discovered me about sunset, so he could not
have come far."
"In what direction?" he demanded.
"I do not know. I travelled eastward when I left the city."
"City?" he muttered. "A day's travel from this spot? I had thought there was only desert for
a thousand miles."
"Gazal is in the desert," she answered. "It is built amidst the palms of an oasis."
Putting her aside, he got to his feet, swearing softly as he fingered his throat, the skin of
which was bruised and lacerated. He examined the three Ghanatas in turn, finding no sign of life
in them. Then, one by one, he dragged them a short distance out into the desert. Somewhere the
jackals were yelping. Returning to the water hole where the girl squatted patiently, he cursed to
find only the black stallion of Tilutan with the camel. The other horses had broken their tethers
and bolted during the fight.
Amalric went to the girl and proffered her a handful of dried dates. She nibbled at them
eagerly, while the other sat and watched her, his chin on his fists, an increasing impatience
throbbing in his veins.
"Why did you run away?" he asked abruptly. "Are you a slave?"
"We have no slaves in Gazal," she answered. "Oh, I was weary - so weary of the eternal
monotony. I wished to see something of the outer world. Tell me, from what land do you come?"
"I was born in the western hills of Aquilonia," he answered.
She clapped her hands like a delighted child.
"I know where it is! I have seen it on the maps. It is the western-most country of the
Hyborians, and its king is Epeus the Sword-wielder!"
Amalric experienced a distinct shock. His head jerked up and he stared at his fair companion.
"Epeus? Why, Epeus has been dead for nine hundred years. The king's name is Vilerus."
"Oh, of course," she said, rather embarrassedly. "I am foolish. Of course, Epeus was king
nine centuries ago, as you say. But tell me - tell me all about the world!"
"Why, that is a big order," he answered nonplussed. "You have not travelled?"
"This is the very first time that I have ever been out of sight of the walls of Gazal," she
admitted to him.
His gaze was fixed on the curve of her white bosom. He was not interested in her adventures
at the moment, and Gazal might have been Hell for all he cared.
He started to speak, then changing his mind caught her roughly in his arms, his muscles
tensing for the struggle he expected. But he encountered no resistance. Her soft, yielding body


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