Conan The Hero by Leonard Carpenter Read Free Book Online

afloat on a broad, marble-curbed pool of quicksilver. The shining metal lay smooth and unsullied, supporting Yildiz’s considerable weight evenly and without so much as a ripple. It bore with equal ease the pair of dark-haired, dark-eyed houris lying alongside and atop the emperor. These two carried on their leisurely caresses as if the high-turbaned, black-clad general had not entered the room at all. Plump they were, veiled by mere vestiges of their customarily scant harem garb. The emperor himself, mercifully, was mostly clad, and partly draped by a silken coverlet.
    “Do not worry, Abolhassan; I am not the least indisposed to your presence here.” Yildiz craned his neck slightly so as to address the general from his reclining posture. “The demands of leadership sometimes force me to entertain a number of projects at once—equally true of yourself, no doubt.” Yildiz reached across the ruffled edge of his mattress with one pudgy arm. “Just be seated and help yourself to wine, if you wish.” So saying, he shoved toward Abolhassan a metal-borne golden tray containing crystal cups and an ewer. It skated across the silver liquid, to bump lightly against the curb and float there, spinning slowly.
    “I thank you, Sire.” Abolhassan seated himself on the edge of a marble bench at the poolside, not deigning to reach for the wine-ewer. “To be brief, O Emperor: Fort Sikander confirms that our raiding party did not succeed in killing the Arch-Mage Mojurna. They interrupted some dark ritual he was performing in an ancient Venji temple, but the wretch escaped, whether by cunning or by means of his spells.” As he spoke, the general forced his eyes discreetly to trace the intricacies of the tiled floor. “Unfortunately, Sire, it is therefore to be expected that his mystic emanations will continue, and that the poison of mutiny against your Resplendency’s righteous rule will persist in Venjipur. A regrettable state of affairs, Sire! Many thanks for your attention.”
    Abolhassan arose to leave, only to be halted by his emperor’s voice. “The raiding party, then… was it the one we spied through Uluthan’s magic window?”
    Reluctantly the general turned back and nodded. “Indeed, Resplendency. Commanded by two petty field officers, Juma and Conan.” He found it awkward to speak, noting that one of the imperial houris was regarding him speculatively from kohl-darkened eyes while she nuzzled and nibbled at her emperor’s stout, hairy belly. “That was my error, Sire,” he added distractedly. “I should have specified that the command be given to someone of noble rank.”
    “Conan, yes—a Vanir name, that. Probably the oversized trooper we saw in the magic window.” Yildiz shifted beneath and between his servants like a sow rearranging itself among shoats in a crowded pen. “Truly, that glimpse of military valor was stirring! We need more of that kind of savagery here at court, to inspire new interest in the foreign war. As you may know, General, I often feel that the eunuchs, as a whole, do not faithfully support our southern enterprise. Do you not share that impression? And some of the sharife and their senior wives have spoken out forthrightly in opposition to the war! What can one say about such a lack of spirit?”
    “Might I suggest, Resplendency, that since your power is absolute, you simply compel them to change their views?” Detained unwillingly before his master, Abolhassan felt irritated at having to say the obvious. “A few high-placed exiles, floggings, lopped heads, or a dance or two with the strappado can work wonders for a country’s fighting spirit!”
    Although his harem girls did not visibly flinch at such violent talk, Yildiz stirred impatiently. “Yes, of course, that is so, Abolhassan. But I would rather have things continue running smoothly here at court. We do depend on the eunuchs as administrators, you know; any disruption in their ranks would sow dissatisfaction in diverse