"Robert E. Howard - Conan - Shadows in the Moonlight" - читать интересную книгу автора (Howard Robert E)

"Yes, I fear you," she replied, too distracted to dissemble. "My flesh crawls at the horror
of your aspect. But I fear the Hyrkanians more. Oh, let me go with you! They will put me to the
torture if they find me beside their dead lord."
"Come, then." He drew aside, and she stepped quickly into the boat, shrinking from contact
with him. She seated herself in the bow, and he stepped into the boat, pushed off with an oar, and
using it as a paddle, worked his way tortuously among the tall stalks until they glided out into
open water. Then he set to work with both oars, rowing with great, smooth, even strokes, the heavy
muscles of arms and shoulders and back rippling in rhythm to his exertions.
There was silence for some time, the girl crouching in the bows, the man tugging at the oars.
She watched him with timorous fascination. It was evident that he was not an Hyrkanian, and he did
not resemble the Hyborian races. There was a wolfish hardness about him that marked the barbarian.
His features, allowing for the strains and stains of battle and his hiding in the marshes,
reflected that same untamed wildness, but they were neither evil nor degenerate.
"Who are you?" she asked. "Shah Amurath called you a kozak; were you of that band?"
"I am Conan, of Cimmeria," he grunted. "I was with the kozaki, as the Hyrkanian dogs called
us."
She knew vaguely that the land he named lay far to the northwest, beyond the farthest
boundaries of the different kingdoms of her race.
"I am a daughter of the King of Ophir," she said. "My father sold me to a Shemite chief,
because I would not marry a prince ofKoth."
The Cimmerian grunted in surprize.
Her lips twisted in a bitter smile. "Aye, civilized men sell their children as slaves to
savages, sometimes. They call your race barbaric, Conan of Cimmeria."
"We do not sell our children," he growled, his chin jutting truculently.
"Well - I was sold. But the desert man did not misuse me. He wished to buy the good will of
Shah Amurath, and I was among the gifts he brought to Akif of the purple gardens. Then--" She
shuddered and hid her face in her hands.
"I should be lost to all shame," she said presently. "Yet each memory stings me like a
slaver's whip. I abode in Shah Amurath's palace, until some weeks agone he rode out with his hosts


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to do battle with a band of invaders who were ravaging the borders of Turan. Yesterday he returned
in triumph, and a great fete was made to honor him. In the drunkenness and rejoicing, I found an
opportunity to steal out of the city on a stolen horse. I had thought to escape - but he followed,
and about midday came up with me. I outran his vassals, but him I could not escape. Then you
came."
"I was lying hid in the reeds," grunted the barbarian. "I was one of those dissolute rogues,
the Free Companions, who burned and looted along the borders. There were five thousand of us, from
a score of races and tribes. We had been serving as mercenaries for a rebel prince in eastern
Koth, most of us, and when he made peace with his cursed sovereign, we were out of employment; so
we took to plundering the outlying dominions of Koth, Zamora and Turan impartially. A week ago
Shah Amurath trapped us near the banks of Ilbars with fifteen thousand men. Mitra! The skies were
black with vultures. When the lines broke, after a whole day of fighting, some tried to break
through to the north, some to the west. I doubt if any escaped. The steppes were covered with
horsemen riding down the fugitives. I broke for the east, and finally reached the edge of the
marshes that border this part of Vilayet.
"I've been hiding in the morasses ever since. Only the day before yesterday the riders ceased