josé miguel tecles verdú
Governor
Well, I once said that I would do the story about what was done to Isparana at the hands of the executioners of Zamboula until Conan came to rescue her! The time has come to do it!
A first reminder review of how Isparana is rescued by Conan from the novel "The sword of Skelos"
------
Conan, covered with the helmet and corselet, and the leather tunic of one of the Khan-Khilayim, walked down the back corridor of the palace of Zambula. He hung from his hip the sword of Zafra, even if it had ended up breaking the sheath, made of leather worked on thin wood and light. He was carrying half a loaf of bread that had skilfully sifted from a tray without his carrier will notice. It was leavened bread with excess yeast, typical of the decadent lord of a decaying city ... and Conan was glad for it, for he was able to swallow it quickly, and, having little weight, he had been able to steal it from a maid without her noticing. Or maybe she has noticed, but he has told me ignored, Conan thought. To be sure, the Khan Khilayim easily get everything they want. Well ... not for long anymore, scum, what you serve scum! Ah ... this must be the door. That was it, and there was no surveillance; gave way to a dungeon, where the single fire of a chandelier. Inside, below, was Isparana, just as he had expected. Or maybe it he will remember; without a doubt, Zafra must have tortured in that place. I could finally ... Unfortunately, Isparana was not alone. At moment when Conan, upon seeing her, suffered a momentary distraction in watching him, and he crossed the landing to the steps leading down to the pit, he heard a voice and, turning, saw two Thorns. Those bastards had been there, at the very left of the door, looking at the woman, while he, upon entering, had turned toward the right, and he had walked past him without seeing them. Crouching down, he used both hands to wielding sword and dagger, and he faced them. The two men were looking at him, confused. "What do you think ...?" One began to say of them, but Conan had forgotten that he was wearing his of himself uniform. He did something that was amazing and unexpected, and that it was typical and normal in the Cimmerian; he attacked the two men. The one who had spoken, the younger of the two, he almost lost his arm to the cruel sword of Zafra, and a dagger stabbed into the other's belly before that he could handle his gun. The first, that without had no doubt fallen into a panic, he reached for his own sword, though his face was pale, and his arm in the middle of him cut hung like torn scarlet flag. "You are a courageous watchdog, though serve an unworthy man, "said Conan," and this it almost saddens me. —Stopped with his sword, and the other man received a greatsword on his own weapon, while Conan's left hand acted too. The dagger broke against the chainmail. Conan cursed that khan who dressed his guards in such good armor, while he gave them weapons that would not have been used to carve a roasted chicken. Angrily, he kicked her in the crotch. The poor devil groaned, he bent the body, he lost his balance at the same time his shattered arm, and he fell over the edge of the landing. He hit the packed dirt floor, that he must be twenty feet below. Conan took his time to watch the fall figure. He was not moving. The Cimmerian turned, and went down in a hurry down the stairs. He descended twenty-five steps, up to that dark chamber of unspeakable horror and torment. Only when he approached the woman, bound and naked, Conan realized there was someone more in the pit. The lord of that gloomy inheritance, stained with blood and curdled with pain, there was been resting, he had been snoring about a pallet, hidden in the shadows. Conan saw him for the first time; Baltaj the torturer was a a man as sturdy as the barbarian himself, with the arm just as long, and perhaps with the same strength, and certainly more belly. Like the Cimmerian, he carried a sword and a dagger. There was the difference that his great dagger was intact. "You're big," he said, his voice guttural, strangely sharp though — right? Conan didn't think of giving the sword an order haunted of Zafra. He nor he waited for the teacher torturer attacked him. He threw the broken dagger into the air, and he drove his sword into the packed earth floor, time to pick up the dagger with your right hand again. He didn't mind the scratch; he gave impulse with arm, and the hilt of the dagger, plus three o four inches of grossly torn blade, they came out flying through the air while Conan's hand He was gripping the hilt of the sword again. All that strange maneuver had taken him only a few seconds. It had been a desperate action; Conan didn't want to waste time dealing with a man with the same strength and the same arm long, and that he was better armed than he. He had not thrown the dagger at the head of Baltaj, but to his chest, thinking that that man, with his well-fed belly, it wouldn't be fast enough to dodge it. He was right. Furthermore, Akter's torturer stepped into fake; he crouched down. Thus, he offered his face to the projectile that had been thrown at him.
Conan didn't think of giving the sword an order
haunted of Zafra. He didn't even wait for the teacher
torturer attacked him. He threw the broken dagger into the air, and
he drove his sword into the packed earth floor,
time to pick up the dagger with your right hand again.
He didn't mind the scratch; he gave impulse with
arm, and the hilt of the dagger, plus three o
four inches of grossly torn blade, they came out
flying through the air while Conan's hand
He was gripping the hilt of the sword again. All that
strange maneuver had taken him only a few
seconds. It had been a desperate action;
Conan didn't want to waste time dealing with
a man with the same strength and the same arm
long, and that he was better armed than he.
He had not thrown the dagger at the head of
Baltaj, but to his chest, thinking that that
man, with his well-fed belly, it wouldn't be
fast enough to dodge it. He was right.
Furthermore, Akter's torturer stepped into
fake; he crouched down. Thus, he offered his face to the projectile
that had been thrown at him. The hilt of the broken dagger
it hit his lips, loud and hard. The
torturer grunted in pain and amazement; he had the lip
torn, and a broken tooth; tears, which were not from
crying, came from both eyes. He stopped seeing
if only for a moment. With that
coarse.
Conan's sword, which he had
unpinned from the ground turning the arm to one side,
slit the whole belly of Baltaj from the navel to
the sternum. The cut was not deep, although it was
painful, and long, and bloody. Leaving a trace
of blood, the sword did not stop, failed to hit
on the torturer's face, and rose above his
head of him. Conan stepped forward as
he was trying to land a blow with his weapon. The
Zafra's excellent weapon split the skull of the
Zambula's master torturer. "What a pity," the Cimmerian murmured.
I would have really enjoyed submitting to your
own artifacts, you chubby pig! "Stop ... talking to the dead," he said.
with some difficulty a tied woman, who was
struggling— and untie me. I been waiting for you
too long, hen-brain barbarian,
bastard of a Cimmerian camel thief. "I'm a Cimmerian, damnation !, Cimmerian -"
Conan said, and he released her, while he admired in
silence the value of him. They had done things to him, and none
it had been nice. You are messed up
Isparana, my love ... although, I swear, even
full of welts and filthy, and with that
burn, naked you are more beautiful than other ten
women.
She sat with her meager strength, doing
winces, rubbing her wrists
her rope had wounded him. "That chubby pig had wine and food
on the pallet, ”he said. How sweetly she
you speak, beloved, to a poor girl, sweet,
innocent, that you left in an inn with the
Akter Khan's pigs and dogs. Oh ... Conan ...
I'm sorry, but I think I'm going to pass out ...
"There is no time for that, Isparana." Must
causing your blood to come down from your head ...
How long has it been since you been on your feet?
He brought the wine, shaking the jug and smiling at the
hear her splash, and he first gave her a long
drink. He helped her to her feet, and suddenly the
The woman hugged him fiercely. "Ayy!" Isparana yelled, and she backed away. —I understand your gratitude, and your immortal love,
Isparana, but I that you would not embrace a body
covered by a chain mail.
Without lifting her face, Isparana turned her gaze
up to see you. "You really are a barbarian swine of
mean soul, Conan, did you know?
The Cimmerian's face hardened. Maybe
she did not intend anything with it, except to relieve herself of a
moment of tension, since time does not
stopped, and, in addition, the words of the woman
they were beginning to seem too sincere. "It may be, my sweet lady from Zambula, but
I just killed Zafra, three of the Espinas del
Khan, and several hundred pounds of torturer
to come looking for you and get you out of here.
"Oh… oh, Conan," she said, and squeezed his
her arms, which were slippery because the blood
others it covered, and she looked at the ground. You must not
take me seriously like that so suddenly; you know that
I am grateful, and that I love you.
After a moment, as he did not say
nothing, she looked at him with bright eyes: "Zafra?" -Yes. With his own sword, which is this. I already
I will tell another time. Are you ready to go back to
be a warrior woman, Isparana? "NUDE?" —The master torturer's pallet is
nice, and smooth, and it's flavored ... it seems
she that she has done it with the outfits of various
women, including you. I have recognized that pretty
red wool that you wore the night they went to
by you. "Aha!" I am not going to wear anything
Did that… ”She looked around. But
I seem to have nothing else to choose from. If at
unless that slug would not have had fleas ... -
She walked herself, naked, into the shadows where there was
Baltaj lay. I don't know how to tell you how happy I am
that you killed Zafra, Conan ... I'm not sorry
that you gave such a quick death to this pig
of Baltaj! They have not been content to force me,
and hard. The
torturer grunted in pain and amazement; he had the lip
torn, and a broken tooth; tears, which were not from
crying, came from both eyes. He stopped seeing
even if he was only for a moment. With that
coarse.
Conan's sword, which he had
unpinned from the ground turning the arm to one side,
slit the whole belly of Baltaj from the navel to
the sternum. The cut was not deep, although it was
painful, and long, and bloody. Leaving a trace
of blood, the sword did not stop, failed to hit
on the torturer's face, and rose above his
head of him. Conan stepped forward as
he was trying to land a blow with his weapon. The
Zafra's excellent weapon split the skull of the
Zambula's master torturer. "What a pity," the Cimmerian murmured.
I would have really enjoyed submitting to your
own artifacts, you chubby pig! "Stop ... talking to the dead," he said.
with some difficulty a tied woman, who was
struggling— and untie me. I been waiting for you
too long, hen-brain barbarian,
bastard of a Cimmerian camel thief. "I'm a Cimmerian, damnation !, Cimmerian -"
Conan said, and he released her, while he admired in
silence the value of it. They had done things to him, and none
it had been nice. You are messed up
Isparana, my love ... although, I swear, even
full of welts and filthy, and with that
burn, naked you are more beautiful than other ten
women.
She sat with her meager strength, doing
winces, rubbing her wrists
her rope had wounded him. "That chubby pig had wine and food
on the pallet, ”he said. How sweetly she
you speak, beloved, to a poor girl, sweet,
innocent, that you left in an inn with the
Akter Khan's pigs and dogs. Oh ... Conan ...
I'm sorry, but I think I'm going to pass out ...
"There is no time for that, Isparana." Must
causing your blood to come down from your head ...
How long has it been since you been on your feet?
He brought the wine, shaking the jug and smiling at the
hear her splash, and he first gave her a long
drink. He helped her to her feet, and suddenly the
The woman hugged him fiercely. "Ayy!" Isparana yelled, and she backed away. —I understand your gratitude, and your immortal love,
Isparana, but I that you would not embrace a body
covered by a chain mail.
Without lifting her face, Isparana turned her gaze
up to see you. "You really are a barbarian swine of
mean soul, Conan, did you know?
The Cimmerian's face hardened. Maybe
she did not intend anything with it, except to relieve herself of a
moment of tension, since time does not
stopped, and, in addition, the words of the woman
they were beginning to seem too sincere. "It may be, my sweet lady from Zambula, but
I just killed Zafra, three of the Espinas del
Khan, and several hundred pounds of torturer
to come looking for you and get you out of here.
"Oh… oh, Conan," she said, and squeezed his
her arms, which were slippery because the blood
others it covered, and she looked at the ground. You must not
take me seriously like that so suddenly; you know that
I am grateful, and that I love you.
After a moment, as he did not say
nothing, she looked at him with bright eyes: "Zafra?" -Yes. With his own sword, which is this. I already
I will tell another time. Are you ready to go back to
be a warrior woman, Isparana? "NUDE?" —The master torturer's pallet is
nice, and smooth, and it's flavored ... it seems
she that she has done it with the outfits of various
women, including you. I have recognized that pretty
red wool that you wore the night they went to
by you. "Aha!" I am not going to wear anything
Did that… ”She looked around. But
I seem to have nothing else to choose from. If at
unless that slug would not have had fleas ... -
She walked herself, naked, into the shadows where there was
Baltaj lay. I don't know how to tell you how happy I am
that you killed Zafra, Conan ... I'm not sorry
that you gave such a quick death to this pig
of Baltaj! They have not been content to force me,
You know, they've done a lot of other things to me.
Conan nodded. He knew that, for another woman,
It would have been much, much more painful than it was
"Content" with "forcing" it, and also for the
a girl that Isparana was no longer. Maybe they
he would have managed to feel some pleasure with
that; he wished it were so. He was glad to be a
man, and that he never had to say
that they had been "content" to force it.
-------
And the moment Isparana is captured by Akter Khan's men of course. From here I begin the story of the misfortunes of Isparana.
ISPARANA CAPTURED
At an inn in Zamboula, Conan has a conversation with a Jelal conspirator against Akter Khan, governor and sorcerer of the city:
"Look, Conan, Akter Khan will eventually fall."
Balad will ascend the throne. Turan will accept him, as the
king-emperor just wants a strong man
occupy the throne of Zambula, and that we continue
sending those goods that we send to
Aghrapur as tributes. We have friends in
Aghrapur ...
"Agents?" "Let's call them friends." We have all
who oppose Akter Khan by friends of Balad.
Those who help him will be favored by him.
It will be necessary to have strong men and
right-handed. -To fight. Does your Balad intend to start
a bloodbath in Zambula? -Absolutely. There is no one in Zambula who
go fight for Akter Khan! We may have
have to fight to take over the palace, 'he replied.
Jelal without getting upset. I am thinking about their
guards, the Thorns of the Khan.
Conan nodded.
"I haven't said no yet, Jelal." Only he
Said you haven't convinced me that I should
risk my luck for Balad, just for a name.
I do not know him, nor do I know almost anything about him. "You don't need to know Balad,
Conan. To those who know him, and are not of his
part, we have them as enemies.
Conan's stomach hardened; too
his lips. He had heard for the second time
those words, and, in a sense, had
heard three times. They carried a threat. Join to
us, or we will understand that you are against
us, and you will have to pay the consequences
when we have succeeded. He got the impression
that those words must be common for
everyone, and that he would hear them again some other
time before death came.
While he pondered the answer - and he watched
Jelal's right hand, for that man was a
conjured, and a stout man even though that
brown to yellow tunic lo
concealed, and as a conspirator he must have been cunning,
and he was holding his wine glass in his hand
left - he heard another coming up the stairs
that started behind the door without the least
stealth. He heard two raging voices speaking
outside. Conan watched as he changed his face to
Jelal, how his hand sought, under his hip
right, the dagger he was hiding there, hidden from
casual looks. He took a few steps to the left
before turning; well, he stayed in one place since
where he could observe both Jelal and the
door. Despite the anguish that he felt, he undoubtedly
would have made his heart race, Jelal realized
the cunning maneuver of the fighter.
The door slammed inward;
Conan and Jelal readied their weapons; the man who
He had led the Cimmerian in alone. —No less than twenty palace guards
have just left the Real de Turan. They were looking for you
you, Conan, and also to Isparana. Right now I know
They carry.
Conan stared at Jelal, and saw on her face
real surprise and excitement. Brandishing the
sword still bare, he leaned out the window.
At the other end of the street, on the other side, the
Gate of the Royal Turan still shed light on
the street. On the step, a handful of customers
was looking. He could not distinguish what
they saw. «They are contemplating how it is
they carry, Conan thought, and his spirit darkened.
terribly. He couldn't have seen her since that time.
angle, not even if he had ripped the threadbare screen
of pig intestine that covered the narrow
window.
He turned away from it, and two men saw how
the face of a young man could change into haunting
and fierce, and his eyes, ancient patches of sky, in
ice crystals. "Treason," he muttered, and they all bristled.
hair; not the word, but the animal sound of his
northern voice. That traitorous pig ... will see what
that ... twenty. You said twenty men.
-Yes. Armed guards. The best of
Akter. The Thorns.
------
The guards had fallen on her completely by surprise. Isparana tried to defend herself against her, even pulling out a dagger, but there were too many for her. She was brutally grabbed, hit twice on the stomach of her to reduce and disarm her. And as she stirred like a beast, one of her guards struck her with a truncheon, and the girl fell into unconsciousness. After her, they tied her hands and feet and took her away. That was what Conan barely glimpsed.
to be continued.....
A first reminder review of how Isparana is rescued by Conan from the novel "The sword of Skelos"
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Conan, covered with the helmet and corselet, and the leather tunic of one of the Khan-Khilayim, walked down the back corridor of the palace of Zambula. He hung from his hip the sword of Zafra, even if it had ended up breaking the sheath, made of leather worked on thin wood and light. He was carrying half a loaf of bread that had skilfully sifted from a tray without his carrier will notice. It was leavened bread with excess yeast, typical of the decadent lord of a decaying city ... and Conan was glad for it, for he was able to swallow it quickly, and, having little weight, he had been able to steal it from a maid without her noticing. Or maybe she has noticed, but he has told me ignored, Conan thought. To be sure, the Khan Khilayim easily get everything they want. Well ... not for long anymore, scum, what you serve scum! Ah ... this must be the door. That was it, and there was no surveillance; gave way to a dungeon, where the single fire of a chandelier. Inside, below, was Isparana, just as he had expected. Or maybe it he will remember; without a doubt, Zafra must have tortured in that place. I could finally ... Unfortunately, Isparana was not alone. At moment when Conan, upon seeing her, suffered a momentary distraction in watching him, and he crossed the landing to the steps leading down to the pit, he heard a voice and, turning, saw two Thorns. Those bastards had been there, at the very left of the door, looking at the woman, while he, upon entering, had turned toward the right, and he had walked past him without seeing them. Crouching down, he used both hands to wielding sword and dagger, and he faced them. The two men were looking at him, confused. "What do you think ...?" One began to say of them, but Conan had forgotten that he was wearing his of himself uniform. He did something that was amazing and unexpected, and that it was typical and normal in the Cimmerian; he attacked the two men. The one who had spoken, the younger of the two, he almost lost his arm to the cruel sword of Zafra, and a dagger stabbed into the other's belly before that he could handle his gun. The first, that without had no doubt fallen into a panic, he reached for his own sword, though his face was pale, and his arm in the middle of him cut hung like torn scarlet flag. "You are a courageous watchdog, though serve an unworthy man, "said Conan," and this it almost saddens me. —Stopped with his sword, and the other man received a greatsword on his own weapon, while Conan's left hand acted too. The dagger broke against the chainmail. Conan cursed that khan who dressed his guards in such good armor, while he gave them weapons that would not have been used to carve a roasted chicken. Angrily, he kicked her in the crotch. The poor devil groaned, he bent the body, he lost his balance at the same time his shattered arm, and he fell over the edge of the landing. He hit the packed dirt floor, that he must be twenty feet below. Conan took his time to watch the fall figure. He was not moving. The Cimmerian turned, and went down in a hurry down the stairs. He descended twenty-five steps, up to that dark chamber of unspeakable horror and torment. Only when he approached the woman, bound and naked, Conan realized there was someone more in the pit. The lord of that gloomy inheritance, stained with blood and curdled with pain, there was been resting, he had been snoring about a pallet, hidden in the shadows. Conan saw him for the first time; Baltaj the torturer was a a man as sturdy as the barbarian himself, with the arm just as long, and perhaps with the same strength, and certainly more belly. Like the Cimmerian, he carried a sword and a dagger. There was the difference that his great dagger was intact. "You're big," he said, his voice guttural, strangely sharp though — right? Conan didn't think of giving the sword an order haunted of Zafra. He nor he waited for the teacher torturer attacked him. He threw the broken dagger into the air, and he drove his sword into the packed earth floor, time to pick up the dagger with your right hand again. He didn't mind the scratch; he gave impulse with arm, and the hilt of the dagger, plus three o four inches of grossly torn blade, they came out flying through the air while Conan's hand He was gripping the hilt of the sword again. All that strange maneuver had taken him only a few seconds. It had been a desperate action; Conan didn't want to waste time dealing with a man with the same strength and the same arm long, and that he was better armed than he. He had not thrown the dagger at the head of Baltaj, but to his chest, thinking that that man, with his well-fed belly, it wouldn't be fast enough to dodge it. He was right. Furthermore, Akter's torturer stepped into fake; he crouched down. Thus, he offered his face to the projectile that had been thrown at him.
Conan didn't think of giving the sword an order
haunted of Zafra. He didn't even wait for the teacher
torturer attacked him. He threw the broken dagger into the air, and
he drove his sword into the packed earth floor,
time to pick up the dagger with your right hand again.
He didn't mind the scratch; he gave impulse with
arm, and the hilt of the dagger, plus three o
four inches of grossly torn blade, they came out
flying through the air while Conan's hand
He was gripping the hilt of the sword again. All that
strange maneuver had taken him only a few
seconds. It had been a desperate action;
Conan didn't want to waste time dealing with
a man with the same strength and the same arm
long, and that he was better armed than he.
He had not thrown the dagger at the head of
Baltaj, but to his chest, thinking that that
man, with his well-fed belly, it wouldn't be
fast enough to dodge it. He was right.
Furthermore, Akter's torturer stepped into
fake; he crouched down. Thus, he offered his face to the projectile
that had been thrown at him. The hilt of the broken dagger
it hit his lips, loud and hard. The
torturer grunted in pain and amazement; he had the lip
torn, and a broken tooth; tears, which were not from
crying, came from both eyes. He stopped seeing
if only for a moment. With that
coarse.
Conan's sword, which he had
unpinned from the ground turning the arm to one side,
slit the whole belly of Baltaj from the navel to
the sternum. The cut was not deep, although it was
painful, and long, and bloody. Leaving a trace
of blood, the sword did not stop, failed to hit
on the torturer's face, and rose above his
head of him. Conan stepped forward as
he was trying to land a blow with his weapon. The
Zafra's excellent weapon split the skull of the
Zambula's master torturer. "What a pity," the Cimmerian murmured.
I would have really enjoyed submitting to your
own artifacts, you chubby pig! "Stop ... talking to the dead," he said.
with some difficulty a tied woman, who was
struggling— and untie me. I been waiting for you
too long, hen-brain barbarian,
bastard of a Cimmerian camel thief. "I'm a Cimmerian, damnation !, Cimmerian -"
Conan said, and he released her, while he admired in
silence the value of him. They had done things to him, and none
it had been nice. You are messed up
Isparana, my love ... although, I swear, even
full of welts and filthy, and with that
burn, naked you are more beautiful than other ten
women.
She sat with her meager strength, doing
winces, rubbing her wrists
her rope had wounded him. "That chubby pig had wine and food
on the pallet, ”he said. How sweetly she
you speak, beloved, to a poor girl, sweet,
innocent, that you left in an inn with the
Akter Khan's pigs and dogs. Oh ... Conan ...
I'm sorry, but I think I'm going to pass out ...
"There is no time for that, Isparana." Must
causing your blood to come down from your head ...
How long has it been since you been on your feet?
He brought the wine, shaking the jug and smiling at the
hear her splash, and he first gave her a long
drink. He helped her to her feet, and suddenly the
The woman hugged him fiercely. "Ayy!" Isparana yelled, and she backed away. —I understand your gratitude, and your immortal love,
Isparana, but I that you would not embrace a body
covered by a chain mail.
Without lifting her face, Isparana turned her gaze
up to see you. "You really are a barbarian swine of
mean soul, Conan, did you know?
The Cimmerian's face hardened. Maybe
she did not intend anything with it, except to relieve herself of a
moment of tension, since time does not
stopped, and, in addition, the words of the woman
they were beginning to seem too sincere. "It may be, my sweet lady from Zambula, but
I just killed Zafra, three of the Espinas del
Khan, and several hundred pounds of torturer
to come looking for you and get you out of here.
"Oh… oh, Conan," she said, and squeezed his
her arms, which were slippery because the blood
others it covered, and she looked at the ground. You must not
take me seriously like that so suddenly; you know that
I am grateful, and that I love you.
After a moment, as he did not say
nothing, she looked at him with bright eyes: "Zafra?" -Yes. With his own sword, which is this. I already
I will tell another time. Are you ready to go back to
be a warrior woman, Isparana? "NUDE?" —The master torturer's pallet is
nice, and smooth, and it's flavored ... it seems
she that she has done it with the outfits of various
women, including you. I have recognized that pretty
red wool that you wore the night they went to
by you. "Aha!" I am not going to wear anything
Did that… ”She looked around. But
I seem to have nothing else to choose from. If at
unless that slug would not have had fleas ... -
She walked herself, naked, into the shadows where there was
Baltaj lay. I don't know how to tell you how happy I am
that you killed Zafra, Conan ... I'm not sorry
that you gave such a quick death to this pig
of Baltaj! They have not been content to force me,
and hard. The
torturer grunted in pain and amazement; he had the lip
torn, and a broken tooth; tears, which were not from
crying, came from both eyes. He stopped seeing
even if he was only for a moment. With that
coarse.
Conan's sword, which he had
unpinned from the ground turning the arm to one side,
slit the whole belly of Baltaj from the navel to
the sternum. The cut was not deep, although it was
painful, and long, and bloody. Leaving a trace
of blood, the sword did not stop, failed to hit
on the torturer's face, and rose above his
head of him. Conan stepped forward as
he was trying to land a blow with his weapon. The
Zafra's excellent weapon split the skull of the
Zambula's master torturer. "What a pity," the Cimmerian murmured.
I would have really enjoyed submitting to your
own artifacts, you chubby pig! "Stop ... talking to the dead," he said.
with some difficulty a tied woman, who was
struggling— and untie me. I been waiting for you
too long, hen-brain barbarian,
bastard of a Cimmerian camel thief. "I'm a Cimmerian, damnation !, Cimmerian -"
Conan said, and he released her, while he admired in
silence the value of it. They had done things to him, and none
it had been nice. You are messed up
Isparana, my love ... although, I swear, even
full of welts and filthy, and with that
burn, naked you are more beautiful than other ten
women.
She sat with her meager strength, doing
winces, rubbing her wrists
her rope had wounded him. "That chubby pig had wine and food
on the pallet, ”he said. How sweetly she
you speak, beloved, to a poor girl, sweet,
innocent, that you left in an inn with the
Akter Khan's pigs and dogs. Oh ... Conan ...
I'm sorry, but I think I'm going to pass out ...
"There is no time for that, Isparana." Must
causing your blood to come down from your head ...
How long has it been since you been on your feet?
He brought the wine, shaking the jug and smiling at the
hear her splash, and he first gave her a long
drink. He helped her to her feet, and suddenly the
The woman hugged him fiercely. "Ayy!" Isparana yelled, and she backed away. —I understand your gratitude, and your immortal love,
Isparana, but I that you would not embrace a body
covered by a chain mail.
Without lifting her face, Isparana turned her gaze
up to see you. "You really are a barbarian swine of
mean soul, Conan, did you know?
The Cimmerian's face hardened. Maybe
she did not intend anything with it, except to relieve herself of a
moment of tension, since time does not
stopped, and, in addition, the words of the woman
they were beginning to seem too sincere. "It may be, my sweet lady from Zambula, but
I just killed Zafra, three of the Espinas del
Khan, and several hundred pounds of torturer
to come looking for you and get you out of here.
"Oh… oh, Conan," she said, and squeezed his
her arms, which were slippery because the blood
others it covered, and she looked at the ground. You must not
take me seriously like that so suddenly; you know that
I am grateful, and that I love you.
After a moment, as he did not say
nothing, she looked at him with bright eyes: "Zafra?" -Yes. With his own sword, which is this. I already
I will tell another time. Are you ready to go back to
be a warrior woman, Isparana? "NUDE?" —The master torturer's pallet is
nice, and smooth, and it's flavored ... it seems
she that she has done it with the outfits of various
women, including you. I have recognized that pretty
red wool that you wore the night they went to
by you. "Aha!" I am not going to wear anything
Did that… ”She looked around. But
I seem to have nothing else to choose from. If at
unless that slug would not have had fleas ... -
She walked herself, naked, into the shadows where there was
Baltaj lay. I don't know how to tell you how happy I am
that you killed Zafra, Conan ... I'm not sorry
that you gave such a quick death to this pig
of Baltaj! They have not been content to force me,
You know, they've done a lot of other things to me.
Conan nodded. He knew that, for another woman,
It would have been much, much more painful than it was
"Content" with "forcing" it, and also for the
a girl that Isparana was no longer. Maybe they
he would have managed to feel some pleasure with
that; he wished it were so. He was glad to be a
man, and that he never had to say
that they had been "content" to force it.
-------
And the moment Isparana is captured by Akter Khan's men of course. From here I begin the story of the misfortunes of Isparana.
ISPARANA CAPTURED
At an inn in Zamboula, Conan has a conversation with a Jelal conspirator against Akter Khan, governor and sorcerer of the city:
"Look, Conan, Akter Khan will eventually fall."
Balad will ascend the throne. Turan will accept him, as the
king-emperor just wants a strong man
occupy the throne of Zambula, and that we continue
sending those goods that we send to
Aghrapur as tributes. We have friends in
Aghrapur ...
"Agents?" "Let's call them friends." We have all
who oppose Akter Khan by friends of Balad.
Those who help him will be favored by him.
It will be necessary to have strong men and
right-handed. -To fight. Does your Balad intend to start
a bloodbath in Zambula? -Absolutely. There is no one in Zambula who
go fight for Akter Khan! We may have
have to fight to take over the palace, 'he replied.
Jelal without getting upset. I am thinking about their
guards, the Thorns of the Khan.
Conan nodded.
"I haven't said no yet, Jelal." Only he
Said you haven't convinced me that I should
risk my luck for Balad, just for a name.
I do not know him, nor do I know almost anything about him. "You don't need to know Balad,
Conan. To those who know him, and are not of his
part, we have them as enemies.
Conan's stomach hardened; too
his lips. He had heard for the second time
those words, and, in a sense, had
heard three times. They carried a threat. Join to
us, or we will understand that you are against
us, and you will have to pay the consequences
when we have succeeded. He got the impression
that those words must be common for
everyone, and that he would hear them again some other
time before death came.
While he pondered the answer - and he watched
Jelal's right hand, for that man was a
conjured, and a stout man even though that
brown to yellow tunic lo
concealed, and as a conspirator he must have been cunning,
and he was holding his wine glass in his hand
left - he heard another coming up the stairs
that started behind the door without the least
stealth. He heard two raging voices speaking
outside. Conan watched as he changed his face to
Jelal, how his hand sought, under his hip
right, the dagger he was hiding there, hidden from
casual looks. He took a few steps to the left
before turning; well, he stayed in one place since
where he could observe both Jelal and the
door. Despite the anguish that he felt, he undoubtedly
would have made his heart race, Jelal realized
the cunning maneuver of the fighter.
The door slammed inward;
Conan and Jelal readied their weapons; the man who
He had led the Cimmerian in alone. —No less than twenty palace guards
have just left the Real de Turan. They were looking for you
you, Conan, and also to Isparana. Right now I know
They carry.
Conan stared at Jelal, and saw on her face
real surprise and excitement. Brandishing the
sword still bare, he leaned out the window.
At the other end of the street, on the other side, the
Gate of the Royal Turan still shed light on
the street. On the step, a handful of customers
was looking. He could not distinguish what
they saw. «They are contemplating how it is
they carry, Conan thought, and his spirit darkened.
terribly. He couldn't have seen her since that time.
angle, not even if he had ripped the threadbare screen
of pig intestine that covered the narrow
window.
He turned away from it, and two men saw how
the face of a young man could change into haunting
and fierce, and his eyes, ancient patches of sky, in
ice crystals. "Treason," he muttered, and they all bristled.
hair; not the word, but the animal sound of his
northern voice. That traitorous pig ... will see what
that ... twenty. You said twenty men.
-Yes. Armed guards. The best of
Akter. The Thorns.
------
The guards had fallen on her completely by surprise. Isparana tried to defend herself against her, even pulling out a dagger, but there were too many for her. She was brutally grabbed, hit twice on the stomach of her to reduce and disarm her. And as she stirred like a beast, one of her guards struck her with a truncheon, and the girl fell into unconsciousness. After her, they tied her hands and feet and took her away. That was what Conan barely glimpsed.
to be continued.....