Conan the Freelance Part 21

The young male stared at her. "I need no reward, milady."

Thayla shrugged out of her heavy travel robe, then quickly removed her undergarments. After

a moment, she stood naked before him. "But you shall have one anyway. If you hurry."

As she redressed, Thayla smiled and thought to herself that never had she seen a Pili move with such alacrity.

Where was the talisman?

That was the question that filled Kleg's mind to bursting. How could it have been lost? When? Where?

As he made his way back toward the inn, he went over in his mind for the hundredth time all the events and places of the last day. He had still had the talisman in the room he had taken for sleeping. He had opened the pouch to check. Somehow, he had failed to secure the leather strings properly, and somehow, the magic Seed had fallen from its container.

Had it been during the run downstairs? Or when he had seen that beast? Or when . . . ?

Wait. He had b.u.mped into somebody on the street, some fool gawking at the inn, he had shoved the man aside-

Yes! That was it! He must have flung the talisman loose during that encounter.

In the dark, perhaps no one had noticed it. It was not remarkable to look upon, a brownish gray, mostly round, and pointed-on-both-ends seed, looking like nothing so much as a giant fruit pit.

With the coming of daylight, however, someone might notice the Seed.

Kleg moved quickly, but he kept to alleyways and next to buildings as much as possible. Dawn brought an end to the shadows in which he had hidden from the Pili, and there were at least a few who had not met their end at the jaws of the beast. Of course, they should not be inside the village, so they would also have to be less than obvious in their movements. A single Pili here and there would likely raise a few eyebrows but no real alarm. Half a dozen spear-bearing lizard men marching abreast would have the local guard out in a hurry, and they had to know that.

The Prime selkie crossed a narrow side road, moving quickly past an old man throwing grain into a penful of swine. The old man stared, but Kleg did not speak or slow his pace.

And what of that monster? What had happened to it? He had not seen it again during his dodgings, but he doubted that the creature had been slain by the Pili, or by anybody else.

Ah, this was all becoming too complicated. He had to find that talisman, and he had to find it quickly!

Seihman looked up from his strewing of near-fermented grain to the pigs to see the selkie march past. The old man shook his head. Strange goings-on about here of late. There was that demon thing in the street, this selkie, and early this morning, when the c.o.c.k still crowed, he had seen one of them lizard men skulking about, too. It added up to a bad omen, he reckoned, and best he step lightly so as not to get stuck in the middle of whatever was going on.

He tossed the final bucket of slops to the pigs, dropped the wooden container next to the rail fence, and figured it was time to go and get something to drink for breakfast. The goat-herder ought to be coming round about now, and maybe he could get a bit of free wine out of him with the story about the monster.

Oh, and that pit he had found, maybe he could take that by Old Talow's and get a copper or two for it.

Seihman reached inside his s.h.i.+rt for the seed.

Whups. Not there. Hmm. Musta dropped it somewheres. Ah, well, no help for it. Probably not worth anything, anyways.

Chapter FIFTEEN.

Keg could not recall a worse day in his life. The time He Who Creates caught him with the kitchen maid had been bad, as had the occasion when he accidentally ripped a thousand-year-old tapestry down from one of the castle walls. This, however, made those as nothing.

He had returned to the street outside the destroyed tavern. The monster was gone, fortunately. Unfortunately, the magic talisman was also absent. If he had in fact dropped the item in the street and he could not think otherwise then somebody or something had picked it up.

The sun's light slanted down from on high, and Kleg could not tarry for fear of being spotted by the Pili. He had seen a pair of them lurking behind a shed earlier, but luckily they had not been aware of him.

The selkie leaned against the back wall of the

Wooden Fish, hidden in a patch of thick shade: What was he going to do? To return to face He Who Creates without the talisman meant a painful, messy death, and no doubt of that. To fail to return would hardly be better. Kleg knew that no matter how fast or how far he ran, he could not escape the vengeance of his master. He could put off the inevitable for a time, but as sure as the sun went down each night so would Kleg go down, and if his death for failure would be bad, his end for trying to get away would be thrice as horrible, were such a thing possible. He Who Creates had raised the selkies from the slime of the lake bottom and made them stronger and faster than the men who ruled most of the earth. One who could turn bottom fish into selkies with a wave of His hand could certainly find one of His creations and squash him as easily as a child could squash a bothersome gnat.

No, neither of those options offered the Prime selkie the slightest joy.

The only road to redemption was the road that led to the talisman. But how? He could hardly walk around asking every pa.s.serby if he had happened to find a magic Seed stolen from the Tree Folk, now, could he? And mayhaps the Pili had already found it.

Kleg shook his head. Why had he been put in this position? All he asked from life was to be allowed access to females and game fis.h.!.+ It was hardly fair. He had done what he was supposed to do. Surely He Who Creates, Who Knew All, could see that?

Aye. And perhaps this was part of the test. To see how hard His servant would strive to accomplish his given task.

Kleg shook his head again. Why me?

Evening began drawing her black cloak about the land when Conan and his party finally caught up with Tair and the second group of Tree Folk. There was some rejoicing to see those still living, and also sorrow for those who had perished along the way.

As the two small units of Tree Folk mingled, Conan stood apart. Not far from them, a huge black rock lay embedded in the earth, as if dropped by the hand of a careless G.o.d.

The greetings and commiserations done, Tair and Cheen came to stand next to Conan.

"The village of Karatas lies just beyond the black rock," Tair said. "The last of the selkies have attained sanctuary there. There was a battle at a river a ways back, between the selkies and a large group of Pili."

"Aye," Conan said, "we saw signs of it."

"Apparently the Pili also chased the selkies. Somehow, they, too, have managed to get inside the walls surrounding the village."

"Then that is where we must go."

Tair nodded. "Aye, but there is a problem. Due to some trouble, the normal gate guard has been trebled, and they are allowing no strangers to enter. Even one who is as brave and strong as I cannot hope to break through the entrance."

Conan shrugged. "So we find another way to get inside."

"I am given to understand that the walls of Karatas have not been breached since they were built," Cheen said. "Some have tried."

"I did not offer to breach them," Conan said. "Do you not think that you can climb them?"

Tair grinned widely and slapped Conan on one hard shoulder. "By the Green G.o.ddess, surely you jest? There is nothing I cannot climb!"

"And the others?"

"Well, they are not so adept as I, certainly, but a wall of wood can hardly offer much challenge. The palisade is, after all, nothing more than a bunch of trees without limbs."

"Then we should find an unwatched spot and climb," Conan said. "When darkness is the deepest."

"Aye, a clever idea. We can drop a line for you once we are atop the wall."

"I think I can manage the climb on my own.