"Robert E. Howard - Conan - Vale of Lost Women" - читать интересную книгу автора (Howard Robert E)

"My name is Livia," she answered. "I am Bajujh's captive. Oh, listen, please listen to me! I
cannot stay here long. I must return before they miss me from my hut.
"My brother..." a sob choked her, then she continued: "My brother was Theteles, and we were
of the house of Chelkus, scientists and noblemen of Ophir. By special permission of the king of
Stygia, my brother was allowed to go to Kheshatta, the city of magicians, to study their arts, and
I accompanied him. He was only a boy - younger than myself..." her voice faltered and broke. The
stranger said nothing, but stood watching her with burning eyes, his face frowning and unreadable.
There was something wild and untamable about him that frightened her and made her nervous and
uncertain.
"The black Kushites raided Kheshatta," she continued hurriedly. "We were approaching the city
in a camel caravan. Our guards fled and the raiders carried us away with them. But they did us no
harm, and let us know that they would parley with the Stygians and accept a ransom for our return.
But one of the chiefs desired all the ransom for himself, and he and his followers stole us out of
the camp one night, and fled far to the southeast with us, to the very borders of Kush. There they
were attacked and cut down by a band of Bakalah raiders. Theteles and I were dragged into this den
of beasts ..." she sobbed convulsively.'... This morning my brother was mutilated and butchered
before me ..." She gagged and went momentarily blind at the memory. "They fed his body to the
jackals. How long I lay in a faint I do not know ..."
Words failing her, she lifted her eyes to the scowling face of the stranger. A mad fury swept
over her; she lifted her fists and beat futilely on his mighty breast, which he heeded no more
than the buzzing of a fly.
"How can you stand there like a dumb brute?" she screamed in a ghastly whisper. "Are you but
a beast like these others? Ah, Mitra, once I thought there was honor in men. Now I know each has
his price. You - what do you know of honor - or of mercy or decency? You are a barbarian like
these others - only your skin is white; your soul is black as theirs. You care naught that a man
of your own colour has been foully done to death by these black dogs - that a white woman is their
slave! Very well."
She fell back from him, panting, transfigured by her passion.
"I will give you a price," she raved, tearing away her tunic from her ivory breasts. "Am I
not fair? Am I not more desirable than these soot-coloured wenches? Am I not a worthy reward for
blood-letting? Is not a fair-skinned virgin a price worth slaying for?
"Kill that black dog Bajujh! Let me see his cursed head roll in the bloody dust! Kill him!
Kill him? She beat her clenched fists together in the agony of her intensity. "Then take me and do
as you wish with me. I will be your slave!"
He did not speak for an instant, but stood like a giant brooding figure of slaughter and
destruction, fingering his hilt.
"You speak as if you were free to give yourself at your pleasure," he said, "as if the gift
of your body had power to swing kingdoms. Why should I kill Bajujh to obtain you? Women are cheap
as plantains in this land, and their willingness or unwillingness matters as little. You value
yourself too highly. If I wanted you, I wouldn't have to fight Bajujh to take you. He would rather
give you to me than to fight me."
Livia gasped. All the fire went out of her, the hut reeled dizzily before her eyes. She
staggered and sank in a crumpled heap on an angareb. Dazed bitterness crushed her soul as the
realization of her utter helplessness was thrust brutally upon her. The human mind clings



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