Conan and the Manhunters

by John Maddox Roberts

  guards raised his lantern and studied them while the two sentries kept their pole-axes levelled at the riders. 'I do not like the look of you. I'll warrant you are part of whatever is happening in the city. I arrest you. Dismount now or be slain!'

  'Not likely,' Conan growled. He drew his sword and cut the officer down. Auda thrust his lance through a sentry's throat, and Chamik swung toward the other with his axe, but the blow missed and the man ran off into the city screaming.

  Ubo and Chamik scrambled from their saddles and hastened to the gate. They tried to manhandle the bar from its brackets, but their strength was not great enough to move the massive door. Conan jumped down and put his shoulder against the heavy timber, and with his powerful legs driving, they were able to open it wide enough for their horses to pass through. They remounted and rode into the night.

  As they rode, Ubo and Chamik roared with laughter. 'Those townsmen should be sorry to see us gone for good!' Ubo cried, wiping tears from his face with the back of his hand. 'We always bring such excitement into their tedious lives! Shahpur will be but a dull place without us.'

  Sagobal and Berytus walked through the square, now as littered with bodies—some inert, others moving and groaning—as on the day of the disastrous festival. Gradually, townspeople were venturing back into the square, but timidly, for all was not quiet just yet. Though the temple of Ahriman was a heap of rubble, from it there still came unearthly groans and less-describable noises; flashes of strange-coloured light continued to stream from between the toppled stones.

  'Is there any idea what happened here?' the Aquilonian asked.

  'Everyone I have spoken with is a gibbering wreck,' Sagobal said. He had been deep in exhausted sleep when Tor-gut Khan raised his alarm, and then had taken his time about answering the summons. He decided it might be best to let someone else do the fighting for a change. By the time he and Berytus reached the scene of the night's uproar, all was long over.

  'Men speak of a hideous god,' Sagobal went on, 'and giant women of stone wrestling with this god, and wizards by the chanting score putting on a show, and a rain of stone and flaring, flaming stars fallen from the ceiling like pots of fiery naphtha thrown down from the walls of a besieged city. It is as if half the guard had chewed black lotus and suffered a collective hallucination.'

  'It would not be the first time odd things have come from that temple,' Berytus pointed out. Even as he spoke, a piece of red-glaring glass popped up from the wreckage and fell back to shatter into a thousand tiny, winking fragments. The crowd roundabout murmured at the show.

  Sagobal saw a man seated at the edge of the square, chin on fist, gazing at the ruined temple and pondering. For some reason, the spectators kept their distance from him. Then Sagobal understood why. It was Torgut Khan.

  'I must go and speak with our swine of a viceroy. Come with me. He will rail at me for tardiness and cowardice, and I will certainly lose my temper and draw my sword. Be so good as to restrain me, for I would far rather he die at the hands of the king's torturers.'

  'You will be fortunate to escape those hands yourself,' Berytus said.

  'My horses are swifter than his, and I am not as fat.' The two walked over to where Torgut Khan sat upon the lip of a fountain, his booted feet crossed in front of him, resting on the body of a dead woman. He looked up at their approach, and to Sagobal's surprise, he showed no anger or hostility.

  'Ah, Commander, it is good that you have arrived. We must talk together.' The viceroy heaved his bulk to his feet and placed a hand upon Sagobal's shoulder. 'An eventful night, eh?'

  'Most eventful, Excellency,' Sagobal concurred. 'And most uncanny, if I can credit a single word of what I have heard.'

  'It was strange beyond imagining,' Torgut Khan told him. 'and you shall hear all from me by and by. But we must keep one thing in the forefront of our thoughts. With the temple collapsed, and its crypt buried beneath tons of rubble, and the very ruins now a palpably evil and unholy place, ridden with blackest sorcery, it will be impossible to get at the king's treasure, eh?' His voice was low and conspiratorial, and it carried a throaty chuckle.

  'Are you well, Excellency? Surely half the town and a thousand or more visitors saw—'

  'Saw what?' Torgut Khan barked, still keeping his voice down. 'Will they say that they saw a great Stygian obelisk of chests and bags come floating from the doorway of the temple and fly off into the air? An obvious illusion! No, the treasure was safe in the crypt of the temple until this night, when it became the focus of forces beyond our ken and collapsed, torn asunder by its own evil. When the king's treasury officials arrive, this is what they must hear from us. We shall show them the ruins, and deplore our inability to secure the king's revenues.'

  'I understand, Excellency,' Sagobal said.

  'Good, good,' Torgut Khan chuckled. 'Now we need not be so keen in our pursuit of those wretched bandits, eh? But you must trail them anyway. Take only your hired man-hunters. No need for the royal officials to wonder what has become of my personal guard.'

  'As you wish, Excellency,' Sagobal said, seeing an even finer opportunity for himself in this new turn of events.

  'You can start immediately,' Torgut Khan said. 'I saw the rogues here tonight.'

  'Is this possible. Excellency?' Sagobal said, astonished.

  'Of course it is possible. Anything is possible these days!' He gestured wildly toward the rubble, from which twin beams of yellow-green shot skyward in a gigantic V. 'Would you call me a liar?' Then, in a more normal voice, 'When I led my guardsmen in there, I saw the black-haired barbarian, your prize trophy. He was with some three or four others. I was not so unsettled by the terrors within that temple that I would not hazard my body to avenge my honour. I cast a spear at the rogue, but some sorcerer's spell caused it to miss. After that, I was too occupied with supernatural matters to take further note of him. But I think he and his companions may have escaped.'

  'How so, Excellency?' Sagobal asked.

  'They were near the door when I espied them, and I think they would not have tarried long in so deadly a place.'

  And neither did you, Sagobal thought. I'll wager you were out the door well ahead of them. He bowed. 'All shall be as you wish, Excellency. I shall go to every gate of the city and find out if any such persons have sought exit. If they are still within the walls, they shall not escape. If they took advantage of the confusion to make their getaway, I shall track them down. They shall not elude me again, Excellency.'

  Torgut Khan smiled and clapped his guard commander's shoulder heartily. He was a reprieved man. 'Good! Good! And, Sagobal...' his voice went low and conspiratorial again '... when you find them, bring them to me, eh? Only to me. To none other. We shall interrogate them personally. No need to bother the king's officials with this little matter, eh?'

  'None at all, Excellency,' Sagobal concurred.

  'Then go, my friend, go. Catch these outlaws and bring them to me. I have some questions to ask them. Nothing concerning treasure, of course, since it never left the city.'

  'As you say, Excellency.' Sagobal bowed and took his leave. Berytus, who had been standing at a discreet distance, rejoined him.

  'There is nothing more wretched than a stupid fool who thinks himself subtle,' the guard commander said.

  'I'll not argue with that,' answered the Aquilonian.

  'The swine thinks he is playing a deep game. He would

  have the treasure for himself, sharing nothing with the king, and he hopes to keep his titles and honours while doing so.'

  'That is an ambitious plan,' said Berytus.

  'Aye, and he is not the man to carry it off. Come, Aquilonian, rouse your men and mount fresh horses. We shall have the curs' trail again, and this time we will not let then go until they are dead and the treasure is in my hands!'

  XV

  When Ubo and Chamik awoke, they found Conan already up, a brace of hares at his feet, for he had been hunting in the early light of dawn. The two bandits yawned and scratched
as their chief built up their small fire, feeding it with well-dried wood and old camel-dung that burned almost without smoke. He tossed the hares to each of his companions.

  'Here is breakfast,' the Cimmerian said, 'if you've the inclination to prepare it.'

  Chamik raised a beast by its long hind leg. 'I think it will hold me until afternoon. We ride to the old hideout?'

  'Aye, but we go the long way, taking a winding route.'

  'And why do we do that?' Ubo asked, making a slit with his knife in his hare's leg. He began efficiently peeling the hide away.

  'Sagobal and the man-hunters were not in the temple last night, nor did I see them in the throng out in the square.'

  'That pack of rabbit-livered townsmen were so panicked that I would scarce have noticed the king of Turan, had he

  been there with all his entourage,' Chamik said, quartering the small carcass and spitting it on sticks of green wood.

  'I would have seen them,' Conan assured them. 'So we may be certain that they are on our trail even now. We shall lead them a fine chase, and in these hills we know so much better than they, we shall lose them. Then we go get our treasure.'

  'That makes sense,' Ubo said. 'We can carry off plenty of gold in our bags and fare away to some place where we are not known and lie low for a while, perhaps for as much as a year. Then we can return with a whole caravan and fetch the rest. It will be easy to do, now that there are only three of us...' His words trailed away as he realized that something was wrong. 'Three of us?' He looked all around. 'Where is that woman? Where is Auda?'

  Chamik sprang to his feet. 'They have taken their horses and gone! The wench and that desert rascal have deserted! They go to take the treasure for themselves! Chief, how did you allow this to happen?'

  'Sit down and get breakfast ready,' Conan told them. 'I hunger and we must ride soon. Layla is on an errand and it is by my orders. If you will examine her tracks, you will see that she did not ride off in the direction of our hideout. Auda has ridden back along our trail, not to erase all our signs but to ride off far to the west. With his wound, he cannot ride as swiftly as we, so he will take a shorter route and reach the hideout at about the same time.'

  Slowly the tension left the suspicious bandits. 'Are you laying a false trail for the man-hunters to follow?' Chamik asked, grinning. 'That is wise, Chief. And if they catch her, that is no loss. Neither is Auda, although he has been a faithful companion. His wound has slowed our escape.'

  When the hares were roasted, they ate them with flat bread, hard cheese and dried dates. Thus fortified, they remounted and continued their flight, riding deeper into the maze of arid hills, unseen by any but wild ibex and other beasts of the hot land.

  Torgut Khan mopped the sweat from his brow. He did not yet feel truly safe, but the examiners seemed to be satisfied for now. They had arrived in the afternoon, while the city still buzzed with the tale of the previous night's spectacular catastrophe. Contrary winds on the Vilayet had indeed delayed their voyage from the capital to Khawarism, and only this had preserved him. They inquired of the king's revenues, and he showed them the destroyed temple and told them the harrowing tale of the uncanny events that had begun with the great festival and culminated with the unholy struggle of the previous night.

  He wept and tore at his hair as he related his tale, for not only was the royal revenue buried beneath accursed rubble, but he had suffered a catastrophic personal loss, having sunk so much of his own fortune into rebuilding the ancient temple to be a stronghold to guard the wealth of His Majesty whom he, Torgut Khan, had served with such splendid loyalty for his entire life.

  The treasury officials might have proven suspicious, but the ruined temple was a most impressive argument in his favour. Like a great volcano that erupts mightily, then for months afterward belches occasional smoke and lava, the wreckage of the temple continued to manifest the echoes of its sorcerous demise. Hideous sounds came from within at intervals. Uncanny lights, visible even in daylight, shone out from time to time. Bits of masonry flew upward as high as the surrounding rooftops, to fall back and shatter.

  Clearly, Torgut Khan explained, it would be many years before anyone could be induced to excavate for the treasure that, he assured them, still lay beneath the rubble. They seemed to be satisfied for the moment.

  Torgut Khan snapped his fingers and a slave girl poured wine into a jewelled cup. He sipped at it and pondered. Now that his immediate danger was past, he could think clearly again. He realized that his conviction of the night before had been a delusion of his overwrought mind. The treasure had indeed been spirited away on the day of the festival. So where was it? Sagobal was undoubtedly upon the trail of the outlaws, but should he track them to the treasure, would he report back to Torgut Khan?

  Ere now, the viceroy had depended desperately upon his guard commander. Should he do so now? But what else could he do? He had no trackers to match the ones employed by Sagobal. It was most frustrating.

  He was startled when something flew through his window and landed clinking on the floor. His first sensation was rage. Was some townsman expressing contempt in this crude fashion? He was about to call for the guards when he saw what it was: a flat, roughly circular pellet of lead about three fingers in width, stamped with his personal seal. Each of the chests and bags stored within the crypt had borne such a seal.

  'Leave me,' he said to the slave woman. She bowed and left quickly. Torgut Khan rose and walked to the centre of the room, where he bent and picked up the seal. It was still fastened to bits of leather thong. Obviously, it had been used to secure one of the leather sacks of silver.

  'Whoever you are out there on the terrace,' he said, 'come in here. I wish to talk to you.'

  A man walked in through the long window. He placed spread fingers against his breast and bowed. 'Greetings, most mighty Viceroy Torgut Khan. The one you see before you is your obedient servant, Osman of Shangara.'

  'Speak very quickly, Osman of Shangara, for I am a man of little patience.' He held up the seal. 'How came you by this? Are you a member of the outlaw band who stole my treasure?'

  'More accurately, Master, I was the agent of Sagobal. He placed me within the prison to aid in the barbarian's escape and lead him and all the others back to Shahpur so, he explained, he might bag the lot. I assure you, I believed him to be serving you faithfully.'

  'I am sure. And so you took part in the raid?'

  'I did.'

  'And you know where the treasure is concealed?'

  'I do.'

  'Then tell me.'

  'That would be useless. It is deep within the warren of hills to the south of the city. Words describing the location and route would mean nothing. But I can lead you there.'

  'Splendid!' Torgut Khan said, his elation rising. 'You will do so immediately.'

  'Ah, well, my lord, there are certain matters we must discuss first. Sagobal promised to reward me richly for my faithful and most hazardous service. However, I no longer deem him to be a man of honour and I deeply suspect him to be plotting against you, seeking to seize the whole treasure for himself.'

  'Never mind that,' Torgut Khan said. 'It is not for one such as you to judge your betters. But I am not ungenerous. Lead me to the treasure and I will reward you with the fiftieth part of it.'

  'My lord is kind,' Osman said. 'But even as a bandit, I would have had the twentieth part of it.'

  'The tenth part of the treasure then, damn you!' Torgut Khan said, sorely vexed. 'That is more than you would ever be able to steal in your entire villainous life!'

  Osman smiled and bowed deeply. 'I am my lord's obedient servant.'

  'They have split up,' Berytus reported. 'They have made some attempt to cover their tracks, but not sufficient to fool my trackers.'

  'Does that not itself make you suspicious?' Sagobal asked. 'Perhaps they lead us to ambush.'

  'Perhaps, but they have lost all but one of their desert men, and that one is wounded. Several times we have found bloodstains
near tracks of the horse shod desert-fashion. It is not the horse's blood. Ambula can tell the difference by the taste. The desert men were the ones sweeping their tracks before,

  and they made our task difficult. There are no more than five of them left, one of them a woman.'

  'So,' Sagobal said. 'Four men left, one of them wounded.'

  'Aye. We are six, all of us fighting-men of the first order. Let them try an ambush. Of the lot, only the Cimmerian could give us an amusing fight.'

  'Very well. Will you split your men and follow all of them?'

  'No. The woman went south. The wounded desert man went west. The barbarian and the other two rode on together. We follow the barbarian.'

  'Then let us ride,' Sagobal said, setting his spurs to his horse's flanks.

  Conan and his two companions spent three days riding among the hills, taking a dizzying path that crossed and re- crossed itself many times. In some places, they were at pains to cover their tracks. At others, they made no such attempt. There were places where the Cimmerian led them over broad stretches of stone, leaving no marks discernible to the eye of an ordinary man. In others, they rode heedlessly over sandy ground, leaving behind them deep, plain hoof-prints. By the morning of the fourth day, his comrades had had enough.

  'By Set!' Chamik said over their breakfast fire. 'We have laid a trail a desert tracker aided by hounds could not follow! Let us go to our hideout, Chief!'

  'Aye,' Ubo agreed, rubbing his sore backside. 'I did not become a bandit in order to toil like this.'

  'As you will,' Conan said. 'We go. Mount up.' Grinning and rubbing their palms in greedy glee, the bandits did as they were bidden.

  They rode for the rest of the day and as evening descended, they came to the small canyon with its cool, spring-fed pool. As they approached, they saw a robed figure seated by the pool, his horse cropping grass behind him.

  'There is Auda!' Chamik said. He kicked his horse into a trot.

  'Hold!' Conan called. 'I do not like—'