Chapter Two

A Cry For Help

The following day, Akira's counsel of elders has gathered in Kaylar's home. Kaylar sits in a high backed wooden chair next to the hearth. His son, Shad, kneels by the old soldier's side. Shad's left arm is bound with a splint, and is held across his chest in a sling. His ribs are heavily bandaged, and he winces with every movement. The elders are all shouting over each other, arguing about what must be done.

"We must do something!" exclaims one man, a skinny fellow named Nestor, "We cannot let this stand!"

"What do you suggest?" asks another, a strong yet aged farmer named Min.

"We fight them!" replies Nestor.

"Fight them?" cries an old woman named Mol, "Are you mad? Have you forgotten what happened the last time we tried to fight them? Every man who raised a weapon against them was put to the sword, and their wives and daughters were taken and haven't been seen since!"

"I've not forgotten," says Nestor soberly, "My own son was one of those slain. His wife and daughter taken."

"We are farmers," adds another man, a fellow named Gar, "not soldiers! Even if every man, woman, and child in the village were to take up arms against the Juns, we would surely be slaughtered!"

"My father was a soldier!" protests Shad, "And a good one too! He can train us!"

"No, my son," says Kaylar, "I'm afraid that is not the solution."

"But father. . . ."

"The Juns have the village under constant watch. Karak's scouts would get word back to him long before any of you would be ready for battle. Even if I could train you all to be competent fighters, The Juns are bred for battle. You would be out matched. You will never develop a warrior's instincts in time to be able to defend the village."

"So what then?" asks Nestor, "Ask King Tal to send us troops?" He snorts in disgust, "Remember what happened the last time?"

Kaylar lets out a sigh. He indeed remembers what happened the last time they had requested military aid from King Tal. Kaylar had traveled himself to the city of Aruk to make their request. King Tal was sympathetic to his plight, but could not provide a permanent garrison to such a small village located so far from the city. Seth, however, remembered Kaylar from their days together in the service of King Zed, and was able to at least grant him a company of soldiers to protect the village during the harvest and while bringing their crops to market. The Juns didn't attack that season, and the crops and livestock brought the village a tidy profit. However the soldiers did not return with the farmers after taking their wares to market, and that is when the Juns attacked. Many of the young men were killed as punishment for the Akira's defiance, and their women abducted. Kaylar realized then that Karak was far more cunning than he, Seth, or King Tal had given him credit for. The Juns did not attack while the soldiers were in the village because while they could wipe the entire village of Akir off the face of the Earth without King Tal or anyone in Aruk even taking notice, had they slaughtered a whole company of Aruk soldiers, then King Tal would have sought retribution. And the Juns numbers were not yet sufficient to defeat an army of trained, skilled, armed soldiers. That is why they were forcing the Akira to work as slaves. To provide them with food and women enough to replenish their numbers. Yet Kaylar knows too that this makes now the perfect time to strike back. Before they have outlived their usefulness and the Juns' numbers are too great for them to be easily stopped.

"I have not forgotten what happened the last time we sought help," says Kaylar, "But help we must have. Before the Juns have always used the threat of violence to keep us subjugated, only making good on their threats if or when we tried to defy them. Their violation of Nanelia," he pauses as the rage and sorrow over what happened to his daughter becomes overwhelming. Once he has composed himself, he continues, "Their violation of Nanelia was unprovoked. There was no defiance, only bad weather. This tells me that our usefulness to them may be nearing it's end. If we don't get help soon, the Juns will come down this valley and wipe us out! Maybe not this harvest. Maybe not next harvest. But soon!"

"So if we can't fight them ourselves," says Nestor, "and the Juns won't attack King Tal's men in fear of stirring up a hornets nest, then who do we get to help us?"

"We hire mercenaries," replies Kaylar.

"Mercenaries?!" exclaim several of those gathered at once.

"That's insane!" says Gar.

"Why?" asks Kaylar, "Why is it insane?"

"For one thing, how are we to pay them? Mercenaries don't work for free you know!"

"We will pool our resources," says Kaylar, "Gather everything of value in the village, down to the last coin."

"Most of the coins in the village are copper!" says Gar, "And those few that aren't are silver! You're probably the only one of us who has even seen a gold coin! What mercenary will fight for so little pay?"

"A hungry one," replies Kaylar, "We will offer them food and shelter in addition to whatever financial rewards we can offer them."

"If a mercenary has to go hungry, than he can't be very good at his job!"

"Just because no one is hiring soldiers, doesn't mean that the soldiers who are available aren't for hire. Besides, we have more here to offer than just food, shelter, and a fist full of coppers."

"What else can you offer them?" asks Gar, "The Juns have already taken your daughter!"

Kaylar's eyes flare with anger. The old farmer shrinks back as he realizes he has crossed the line with that last remark. The look on his face clearly shows that he doesn't know whether or not the old soldier is going to throttle him. Kaylar might be old and his leg might be crippled, but there is nothing wrong with his arms. He could still swing a staff (or a sword for that matter) with enough force to split a man's skull. Kaylar quickly regains his composure, however, to Gar's great relief.

"I'm sorry," says Gar quietly, "I shouldn't have said that."

"It's quite all right," replies Kaylar, "You are right that there is very little of monetary value in the village. But there is this," and he pulls out his Golden Phoenix medallion.

"Father, no!" cries Shad.

Kaylar holds up his hand to silence his son. "This is solid gold, and is worth a great deal more than all of the coins in the village put together."

"But Father," says Shad, "That medallion is your legacy. It shows that you were a great and brave soldier."

"All this shows is that I got off a lucky shot with my crossbow during a skirmish with some Jun raiders," says Kaylar, "You are my legacy. You and your sister." Kaylar then pulls out a silver necklace with green gemstones set in it. "This necklace belonged to my mother, long ago," he says, "The stones are emeralds, set in platinum. It is worth far more gold than my Golden Phoenix. I gave this to my wife the day I married her. I was going to give it to Nanelia when she married. Now I doubt that she'll ever want a man to touch her ever again, even if we can get her back. These should be enough to buy the services of some mercenaries capable of defending us."

The other elders all look around at each other. Mol takes a thin chain from around her neck and lifts it up over her head. She holds it out to Kaylar. Dangling from the chain is a piece of amber set in silver. Inside the amber, preserved for all eternity, is a tiny spider. "My husband gave this to me when we were young," she says, "I don't know how much it is worth. But maybe it will buy the services of a strong warrior."

Nestor pulls a ring off of his finger and hands it to Kaylar. "That belonged to my father, and to his father before him. I had wanted to give it to my son. But maybe you can buy a mercenary with it."

Kaylar looks at the ring. It's made of plain steel, practically worthless. However the design is magnificent. It is made to look like a dragon coiled about the finger. The detail and craftsmanship are exquisite. That alone makes the ring worth at least a few coins. One by one, each of the village elders donates a personal item to fund the purchase of a mercenary. Ivory scrimshaw, bits of jewelry, family heirlooms. Anything and everything with any monetary value is handed over. Word spreads through the village, and others are soon bringing their treasures to Kayman's home. Those with no jewelry or items of worth bring whatever coins they have. Soon all of the wealth of the village is piled up on the dining table of Kaylar and Shad. Shad begins packing the coins and other wealth into two bags. Kaylar places a gentle hand upon his son's shoulder.

"I want you to leave at first light," he tells his son, "Take Gelt to the creek, and then follow it south towards Aruk."

"That mule hates me," complains Shad.

"That's because you used to tease him when you were little," says Kaylar, "But he'll get you to Aruk much quicker than by walking."

"Are you sure the Juns won't figure out what I'm doing?"

"You will be taking your trident with you," replies his father, "With any luck they will think you're going fishing. After all, how much work can you do in the fields with a broken arm?"

"But Aruk is many days ride from here. If I'm gone too long. . . ."

"You're trying to spear fish with only one arm," interrupts Kaylar, "Obviously you will be away from the village for longer. Don't worry. If the Juns return before you do, I'll figure something out."

Shad doesn't feel any better about leaving, but he cannot argue with his father. He takes to his bed and settles in for a restless sleep. The next morning he wakes up and prepares to leave. He breakfasts on bread and eggs, and then packs up his belongings. In addition to the bag of coins and the bag of trinkets, he also takes a leather sling and a pouch full of sling stones, a hunting knife, a hatchet, and of course his trident. Kaylar packs a couple of loafs of bread and a wheel of cheese into his pack, as well as some dried meat. Shad mounts Gelt, who brays in protest. While it takes a fair amount of coaxing, the mule finally begins trotting away from the village and towards the creek. High up in the hills, hidden in the trees, a trio of Juns are observing the village. Two of them can barely make out any details as to what's going on. The third is equipped with an Eagle's Eye*, an alchemist's device which allows the user to view people from far away as though they were very close. It is made of a conical tube of stiff leather with a large crystal set in the wide end. Turning the crystal to look through different facets changes the level of magnification.

"Well now," says Tembo, the Jun with the Eagle's Eye.

"What is it?" asks Dako, a monstrously tall Jun who stands at least a head taller than most of his companions.

"That boy whose arm you broke," he replies, "He just rode off on some mangy mule."

"Where's he going?" asks Kalo, the other Jun.

"Looks like he's going fishing," says Tembo, "He's heading towards the creek and he has his trident with him."

"Should we tell Karak?" asks Kalo.

"Tell him what?" asks Tembo, "That a one armed boy can't farm anymore so he's gone fishing instead?"

"But what if he isn't going fishing?" asks Kalo, "What if he's coming after us?"

"Then we'll bring his head back to Kaylar on a spike, then go home and rape his daughter!"

The three of them laugh at the pleasant thought, and then resume their duties watching the village. While any one of their horses could easily catch up to Shad's mule, not one of the Juns had the nerve to disobey an order from Karak. And Karak's orders were very clear. They were only to sit and watch the village, and report any unusual activity. And a boy going fishing hardly seemed unusual.

All Juns are fierce warriors, and have been since the before recorded history. The Jun nation had always been divided into factions, which warred with one another nearly as much as with their more civilized neighbors. As such, warfare had become a way of life for the Juns. It is said that Jun children begin to train as warriors as soon as they can walk. But the Juns are as superstitious as they are savage. Thus when Maax and his coven of witch-women came to them with the priests of Ar, they were cowed by the might of their magic. As such, Maax was able to unite the factions under his leadership. The mad priest then had the leaders of each faction battle each other to the death in order to determine who would lead the Jun Horde. The man who won the contest, a powerful warrior named Sador, was declared Horde Master by Maax. The night of his victory, one of the witch-women placed a spell on Sador to make him see her as the perfect, most desirable woman. She laid with him that night, then left him with the firm knowledge that she was with child. Nine months later she gave birth to a baby boy and named him Karak. While he was growing up, he was raised to be a warrior, just as all Jun males are. But the superstitious Juns, knowing of his mother's mystical powers, see him as something more. And thus they fear him on a far more primal level than just for his skill with sword or ax. And while his skill with both sword and ax are reason enough to fear him, his razor sharp mind and ruthlessness make him even more frightening. Thus none of the Juns would ever dare cross him.

So Shad rides off on his mule, suspecting but not fully aware that he is being watched. He rides to the creek, as his father had advised, and follows it to the south. He stops at midday and spears some fish with his trident. Cleaning them proves to be a challenge, as he only has the use of one hand, but he is able to have fresh fish for his supper that night. He camps out under the stars, and then continues on at dawn. It takes several days, but eventually Shad rides out of the valley. A few days later Shad arrives at the gates of the walled town of Haven. While not a major city by any means, it seems huge in comparison to the tiny village of Akir. Wooden palisades stand defensively along Haven's perimeter, protecting the near one thousand civilians and three score soldiers assigned to defend the town. This is where the Akira take their wares to trade. The town has an inn known as The Lazy Cock where travelers can spend the night, and a tavern where one can wash the trail dust from their throat with a pint of ale (in fact, they're the same place). Shad rides his mule through the gates and heads to the inn. Hanging above the door is a wooden sign with the picture of a sleeping rooster and the words The Lazy Cock written around it in bold letters. The young farmer ties his mule, Gelt, next to the animal trough and steps up onto the covered front porch. Just as Shad is about to step through the inn's front door, he hears a loud crash from above.

"Crom's blood!" cries a loud and powerful voice.

Suddenly there is a second crash, followed by the sound of something hitting the roof of the front porch and rolling down its slope. Shad's jaw drops open as he sees a stunningly beautiful black haired woman fall from the roof and land in the animal trough with a splash. Gelt the mule brays in protest, but cannot flee as his reins are tethered to the support post. The woman scrambles out of the water, wearing not a stitch of clothing and clutching a most peculiar looking dagger. It is designed to look like twin snakes coiling about one another, the tips of their tails forming a double pointed blade while their heads turn away from each other forming the weapon's cross guard. The woman turns towards Shad and hisses at him like a viper.

As the woman was scrambling out of the water trough, Shad heard another sound from above. This time it sounded like footsteps, as if someone had leapt from the window and was running down the slope of the roof (which is precisely what was happening). A large and heavily muscled naked man, with long raven black hair and bronzed skin, leaps from the roof and lands in front of the woman just as she hisses at Shad. In the man's hand he wields a large and heavily used bastard sword, with an ornate bronze hilt. The woman immediately turns her attention to the man with the sword. Shad now sees that the man is wounded. There are two puncture wounds, side by side, in the bronzed warrior's shoulder, as though he had been bitten by a large serpent. Even to one with no real combat experience such as Shad, it is obvious what kind of weapon made those wounds. "By Crom you will regret stabbing me like that, woman!" he snarls.

"Nay, Cimmerian!" calls another voice from across the street. They turn and see a man in black robes ride a white horse out from the alley between two buildings across the street. The man's robes are trimmed with white cloth, which is embroidered with images of serpents in red. He wears a jade pendant around his neck of two snakes coming together, facing each other over a sun and a moon, yet their bodies are one. "It is you who will regret murdering the great Thulsa Doom!" as he says this, six men in armor, all carrying shields and either swords or axes. Their shields all bear the same symbol worn around the neck of the priest of Set.

"Thulsa Doom can rot in Hell!" replies the Cimmerian, "Him and his evil snake god!"

"Set will devour your soul for your blasphemy!" shouts the man in robes.

"You will be cursing Thulsa Doom and Set to their faces for this meeting, Priest!"

The priest points his finger at the Cimmerian. "Kill him!" he shouts.

A soldier armed with a battle ax charges at the Cimmerian with his weapon held high, in an overhead strike. The naked warrior sidesteps the attack and swings his bronze hilted sword at the incoming weapon. But rather than parrying the attack by striking the ax, the raven haired warrior lops off the attacker's weapon hand at the wrist. The warrior looks at the stump of his wrist where his hand once was, too shocked to scream in pain. His blood pumps out of his wrist like a macabre fountain. The naked Cimmerian quickly steps in behimd the man and slashes him across the back, putting him out of his misery.

The next warrior attacks the Cimmerian with sword and shield. The Cimmerian parries the sword attack, sweeping the man's sword arm out wide. Then he grips his bastard sword's hilt with both hands and strikes the edge of the warrior's shield. The warrior's shield arm goes wide, as he was not expecting such inhuman strength from a blow such as that. The Cimmerian quickly changes his sword's direction and slashes the Set worshiper across the belly. The injured man drops his sword and grabs his belly in a desperate attempt to keep his guts from spilling out onto the dusty ground. The Cimmerian reverses the direction of his sword once more and decapitates the soldier of Set.

Another Set worshiper lets out a battle cry and charges the Cimmerian. The naked swordsman sidesteps the attack, moves behind the soldier, and slashes him across the back from left shoulder to right hip, practically cutting the man in two.

Another soldier of Set tries charging the Cimmerian with weapon raised and a battle cry on his lips. The naked warrior drops to a knee and takes his opponent's legs out from under him, literally. Both of the Set worshiper's legs are severed below the knee. He lies on his belly, screaming in anguish as his life's blood pours from the stumps of his legs.

The last two soldiers of Set try attacking the Cimmerian together, one from either side. One soldier charges the naked Cimmerian from behind, his ax held high to strike, while the other attacks from the front thrusting with his sword. The Cimmerian sidesteps the swordsman's attack, causing him to run his own companion through. Before the Set worshiper can even pull his blade free from his friend's belly, the Cimmerian takes both of their heads with a single two handed swing of his bastard sword.

All of this takes place in a manner of seconds. The priest of Set, seeing that his best men had been defeated with ease, turns his horse about and spurs it into a gallop and flees. Seeing this, the Cimmerian tosses his sword up into the air, catches it by the blunt of the blade just above the bronze cross guard, and then hurls the weapon at the departing priest as though it were a javelin. The sword flies through the air and pierces the priest's back with amazing accuracy, driving the blade through his spine with enough force to burst forth out of his chest. The priest of Set topples from his mount and crashes into the heaps of refuse laying piled up in the alley.

With the Cimmerian now standing not only naked but also unarmed, the naked woman creeps up behind him with her dagger poised to strike. "Watch out!" cries Shad. The woman of Set tries to stab the Cimmerian in an over head downward strike. The Cimmerian spins around, catches her weapon hand by the wrist, redirects the attack, and drives the twin pointed blade into the woman's belly.

"I'll see you in Hell," she gasps.

"Tell them Conan sent you," replies the Cimmerian. Then he grabs her by the head, his right hand on her chin and his left hand, reaching around her head from behind, grasping her forehead. And then with a sudden flex of his corded muscles, he snaps her neck. There's a loud, sickening crunch as her vertebrae become a collection of splinters and her body goes limp. She falls to the dirt, her breasts pointing up at the cloudless spring sky, the hilt of her dagger sticking up from her belly. Her eyes stare sightlessly at the ground as her nose is pressed firmly against the earth, her head turned completely around from front to back.

The giant black haired Cimmerian, Conan he had said his name was, casually walks over to the fallen priest and retrieves his sword. He then walks just as casually back to The Lazy Cock, as though cutting down eight people in the street was just another day to him. He doesn't even seem to care about the fact that he's naked. Conan strides past Shad and walks back into the inn. Shad quickly follows the Cimmerian into the common room.

"Hey! You! Wait!" he calls, "Cimmerian! Conan!" Conan finally stops and turns to regard him. "I want to hire you."

Conan looks Shad over. "No," he says.

"No?" asks Shad, "Why not?"

"I don't bed boys," replies the Cimmerian.

"What? No! I didn't mean anything like that! I'm looking to hire mercenaries to defend my village from an invasion. You just single killed eight people, single handed, while naked no less. Surely you could defend a village!"

"Do you have any money?"

"Some."

"Buy us a couple of ales. We'll talk." Then Conan turns and walks towards the stairs.

"Where are you going?" asks Shad.

Conan turns and looks at Shad as though the young farmer were crazy. "To get dressed of course," he replies, "Don't worry, I'll be back."

Shad sits down at an empty table and orders two tankards of ale. Almost as soon as the ales are delivered to the table, Shad sees Conan coming down the stairs. The Cimmerian is clad in a wolf skin loin cloth, matching fur boots, and a pair of studded leather bracers on his wrist. His bastard sword is sheathed and worn slung across his back. He carries a bronze war helmet with fur lining the inside and a pair of bull's horns set in its sides. Belted to his right hip is a dagger which is almost large enough to be classified as a sword, and on his left hip is a money pouch. Hanging on a leather thong around his neck is a great red jewel, The Eye Of The Serpent. And strung on that same leather thong, evenly spaced at about two finger widths apart each, are a set of cruel looking fangs. These were the teeth of the avatar of Dagoth, The Dreaming God, Lord of Nightmares, which Conan had slain in Shadizar. Conan came over to the table and took the ale which was waiting for him.

"So," says the Cimmerian, "What's your offer?"

"My name is Shad," begins the farm boy, "I'm from the village of Akir. We need you to help defend us from the barbarian Juns. They have been taking most of our crops and livestock for the past five or six years."

"How much are you offering?"

"We've taken up a collection," says Shad, and he places his bag of coins on the table in front of Conan, "Most of our wealth is in our land and our culture. But whatever material wealth we have is yours if you'll help us."

Conan looks into the bag and is disappointed, although not surprised, to find mostly coppers and a handful of silver inside. Although he was pleasantly surprised to find a few gold coins as well, minted with the symbol of Aruk on one side and the holy symbol of Ar on the other. "You plan to hire mercenaries with just this?" he asks. "You can't be serious."

"We also have this," replies Shad, and he hands Conan the other bag full of jewelry and family heirlooms, "I hesitated to show it to you because I don't know if a should trust you."

"You shouldn't," says Conan, "At least not until we've agreed on a contract." Conan opens the second bag and looks inside. Most of the stuff in there is nearly worthless, with a value of a few silver pieces each, or maybe a gold piece each at the very most. There are a few exceptions, like the amber necklace for one, and the Golden Phoenix medallion for another. He smiles at the young farmer. "You probably should have started with this one."

Conan sips his ale thoughtfully. "How many people are in your village?" he asks.

"Including women and children, just over a hundred," replies Shad.

"How many of these Juns are there?"

"My father estimates that they have a fighting force of about two hundred armed warriors. Perhaps even as many as three hundred."

"You want me to stand alone against three hundred barbarians?"

"You will not be alone! The Akira will be by your side! We might be farmers and not soldiers, but we're not cowards either! We will fight with sticks and stones, and our bare fists if we have to! We just need someone to lead us! Teach us how to fight!"

"You ask a lot for so little pay."

"It's everything we have! The Juns come every harvest and steal most of our crops and livestock! Any fish we manage to take from the stream, they take that too! They leave us with so little we can barely make it through the winter! We can't eat the animals that they do leave us, because we have to breed them for the following season! And just last week, because the weather forced us to begin planting later in the season than usual, they broke my arm and my ribs, and then forced me to watch as their leader raped my sister! They raped her! She's only fifteen years old, and they raped her! And then they took her with them to their Hidden Fortress* where they're probably continuing to rape her! So I will pay anything, everything I have, to see them die!"

Conan takes another drink of his ale. His knuckles turn white as he grips the handle of his tankard. The Cimmerian has been many things over the years since the Vaniir had sold him into slavery as a boy. A gladiator. A thief. A mercenary. A pirate. As such he has done many things that some might have a moral objection to. But through it all, one thing he has never done, and one thing he has no tolerance for, is rape.

"I'll help you," says Conan, "But I cannot do it alone. I will need some help."

"Who else can we get?"

"I have some friends that will probably come if I ask. A few of them are serving the Queen Jhenna, ruler of Shadizar. The other, last I heard, is somewhere around the city of Zamora."

"Shadizar is too far from Akir," says Shad, "By the time you return with your friends, the Juns would have already taken all of our food."

"Then I will go to Zamora. Subotai is an expert archer and a fine swordsman. He will help if I ask. Especially if there's pay."

"Where should I go then?"

"These Juns sound like they've made a lot of enemies. I suggest you try to find some of them."

"I can try the city of Aruk," suggests Shad, "The Juns were defeated at their gates when I was little more than a boy."

"A fine choice," says Conan, and he offers Shad his hand, "We have a contract."

Shad clasps the Cimmerian's thick wrist and they shake on their agreement. Then they pick up their ales and toast to the destruction of the Juns.

Author's Note

I based the Eagle's Eye device on the telescope/spyglass used by The Rock in The Scorpion King.

For those of you who don't know, The Hidden Fortress is the name of another Akira Kurasawa film, which was adapted into a Space Opera by George Lucas, which is now known as Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope.