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."In the night, Tamira?" he said softly."Or while I sit waiting for darkness to come?" The picture of therubies lying on the cushions of Jondra's tent was suddenly bright in his mind.With a calm he did not feel, Conan strode through the camp, his eyes seeking Tamira.Once more theencampment was an anthill, hunters scurrying at Jondra's commands.For an instant the noblewomanpaused, gazing at Conan as if she wished to speak, but when he did not slow she turned angrily back tosupervising the preparations for the next morning.Nowhere did Conan see Tamira.But that, he thoughtgrimly, might mean he was not too late.Conan knew how he would have entered the scarlet tent, had he chosen to steal the rubies with the camparoused.A glance told him no one was watching, and he quickly slipped behind Jondra's pavilion Downthe back of the tent a long slit had been made.Parting it a fingerwidth, he peered in.Tamira knelt within,rooting among the cushions.With a muffled laugh she drew out the sparkling length of the necklace.Thetiara was gripped in her other hand.Soundlessly Conan slipped through the slit.The first announcement of his presence Tamira received washis hand closing over her mouth.His free arm encircled her, pinning her arms and lifting her before shehad time to do more than gasp into his palm.She had dropped the gems, he saw; but that was the end ofhis moment of peace.Tamira exploded into a wriggling, kicking, biting bundle.And footsteps wereapproaching the front of the tent.With a muttered oath the Cimmerian ducked back through the slit with his struggling burden.Behind thetent was no place to stop, however, not if someone was going to enter the tent, not with Tamira as likelyas not to scream that he had been thieving.Cursing under his breath, he scrambled down the stony slopeuntil he found a clump of scrub brush that hid them from the camp.There he tried to set her down, butshe kicked him fiercely on the ankle, rocks slid beneath his foot, and he found himself on the ground withTamira beneath him, her eyes starting from her head from the force of the fall."You great oaf?" she wheezed after a moment."Do you try to break my ribs?""I did not kick myself," he growled."I thought we agreed to leave in the night.What were you doing inJondra's tent?""Nothing was said about the rubies," she retorted."I haven't changed my plans for them, even if youhave.Perhaps," she finished angrily, "you find what Jondra gives you more valuable than rubies, but as Iam not a man I have a different view of the matter.""Leave Jondra out of this," he snapped."And do not try to change the subject.You have a horse waitingthis very instant."Tamira shifted uneasily beneath him, and her eyes slid away from his."I wanted to be ready," shemuttered."For the night.""Do you think I'm a fool," he said, "that I take you for a fool? The saddle cannot escape discovery tillnightfall.But if someone planned to steal the rubies and leave the camp within the turn of a glass.Youcould not have been planning such a thing, could you?""They would not have held you to blame." Her tone was sullenly excusatory."Jondra would not blameyou if she found you with the rubies in your pouch.And if she did, it would be less than you deserve.""Jondra," he breathed."Always Jondra.What is it to you whose bed I share? You and I are not lovers."Tamira's large brown eyes grew even wider.Scarlet suffused her cheeks, and her mouth worked for along moment before sound finally came out."We most certainly are not!" she gasped."How dare yousuggest such a thing? Let me up! Get off me, you great ox! Let me up, I say!" Her small fists punctuatedher words, pounding at his shoulders, but suddenly her fingers had tangled in his hair, and she waspressing her lips to his.Conan blinked once in surprise, then returned her kiss with as much fervor as she was putting into it."Don't think this will convince me to stay," he said when they broke apart for air."I'm not such a fool.""If you stop," she moaned, "then you are a fool."With one last silent reminder that he would not be a fool, Conan gave up talk and thought alike forpleasures at once simpler and more complex.Chapter XIIIHe was not a fool, Conan told himself once more as he guided his horse along a trail halfway up anameless peak on the fringe of the Kezankians.If he kept saying it, he thought he might convince himselfin time.Before and behind him stretched the hunting party, all mounted and many leading pack animals,wending their way deeper into the hillman domains.The sun stood barely above the horizon.They hadleft the camp in the hills before the first glimmer of dawn.The ox-carts with the wounded would be ontheir way back to Shadizar.Lost in his own thoughts, Conan was surprised to find that Jondra had reined aside to await him.He hadnot spoken to her since she turned her back on him, but he noted that at least she was smiling now.She drew her horse in beside his.The trail was wide enough for the animals to walk abreast."The day isfine, is it not?" she said brightly.Conan merely looked at her."I hoped you would come to me in the night.No, I promised myself I would not say that." Shyly shepeered at him through lowered lashes."I knew you could not leave me.That is.I thought.you didstay because of me, did you not?""I did," he said glumly, but she appeared not to notice his tone."I knew it," she said, her smile even more radiant than before."Tonight we will put the past behind usonce and for all." With that she galloped up the line of mounted men to resume her place at their head.Conan growled deep in his throat."What did she want?" Tamira demanded, guiding her mount up beside his.It was the same bay snare shehad chosen cut for her flight.She glared jealously after the noblewoman."Nothing of consequence," Conan replied.The young woman thief grunted contemptuously."'Tis likely she thinks you are still here because of the over-generous charms she displays so freely.Butyou came because of me.Didn't you?""I came for you," Conan told her."But unless you want to see how strongly Jondra wields a switch, youhad best not let her see us talking too often.""Let her but try.""Then you intend to explain to her that you are not Lyana the handmaiden, but Tamira the thief?""If she faced me in a fair fight," the slender woman began with a toss of her head, then broke off in alaugh."But it is not talk I want from you.She can have that.Till tonight, Conan."The big Cimmerian sighed heavily as she let her horse fall behind his [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]