The Harp and the Blade by John Myers Myers Read Free Book Online Page B

clearing. I only know we eventually did, and that I looked hopefully for a fortress. Instead there were only the ruins of a great stone building and that air of desolation peculiar to abandoned manholdings. As we passed the old house to go down the slope beyond I saw that the dogs had us in sight again.
    I was about to tell my companion that we might as well turn, find a corner of the ruin, and die as best we could when he halted our mount in front of an arched stone vault in the hillside. The front wall had fallen, but it was otherwise sound, with a narrow front two men might defend—for a while, at least.
    He slid from my saddle and lunged toward the vault, motioning for me to go on; but once having thrown in with him I could not leave him to it. Unloading my belongings I hit the bay so that, lightened of us both, it hastened out of the way of the imminent dogs to disappear in the nearby fringe of woods.
    I watched him vanish, then reached the vault in time to be ready for the first hound. In his excitement he leaped right on the point of my sword, and I threw him off to watch him kick out his life. I was then tired of being chased by dogs and killed two more with savage pleasure. After that the rest decided to wait for the men and stood around barking and snarling.
    Seeing the situation was temporarily in hand, my companion had disappeared in the gloomy rear of the vault and so was not apparent when the first rider arrived. He looked at me and at the dead hounds; but the bay was not in sight, the swath in the weeds showed he had gone on, and I was no one he knew.
    I jumped him before he could come to any conclusions. “Are those dogs yours?” I roared.
    He was a bulky, hard-faced, red-haired man who didn’t like to be roared at, but he was still uncertain. “Yes,” he said surlily.
    “Well, if you want any of ‘em left,” I snarled, “teach ‘em to tree what they’re after.”
    A group of three more joined him as I said that. “He’s probably the fellow who picked Conan up,” one suggested.
    “If he is we can run him down later,” the red man said, “but Conan’s the one we’re after, and if he’s riding the horse alone now he has a chance of getting away. Get the dogs going.”
    More horsemen had joined them during their brief counsel and still more appeared as the hunt streamed away. “We may be back for you,” one of the first called tome.
    I knew they’d be back. It wouldn’t take them long to find that the bay was riderless, but I could use the short reprieve. Unbuckling my sword, I commenced stacking the loose blocks of stone to form a rampart.
    A loud splashing told me that there was water in our refuge; which was good news. In another minute my ally reappeared with dripping hair. He started to help me, but I waved him aside. “Rest up,” I ordered. “You’ll get plenty of exercise pretty soon.”
    He sat down and for the first time since I had met him he spoke. “I’ve had some exercise already.”
    He was a fine-looking chap now that he wasn’t gasping like a fish on a sun-hot rock. He had a long, powerful body topped by a long, exceedingly keen face, weathered but clear-skinned under his mop of light brown hair. His age, I judged, was about the same as mine, and he looked no more like a Frank than I did, either. Both from his name and appearance I picked him for a Breton.
    Putting another block in place, I straightened and pointed to my scrip. “There’s food in there. You’d better eat something if your stomach’s stopped jumping.”
    “Thanks—and for the other thing, too. I’m sorry you didn’t go on.”
    “There wasn’t much sense in going on,” I answered truthfully. “The horse was spent, and they would have had to follow me to make sure I didn’t go for help.”
    “Yes.” He moved his sword out of the way and reached into my scrip. “I shouldn’t have got you into this, but I wanted something to put my back against.”
    I knew how he must have felt with those