EXTRACTS: The Complete Conan of Cimmeria Volume 3 © The Book Palace (416 PAGES in Full edition)

II B Y THE B LAZE OF THE F IRE J EWELS VALERIA awoke with a start, to the realization that a gray dawn was stealing over the plain. She sat up, rubbing her eyes. Conan squatted beside the cactus, cutting off the thick pears and dexterously twitching out the spikes. “You didn’t awake me,” she accused. “You let me sleep all night!” “You were tired,” he answered. “Your posterior must have been sore, too, after that long ride. You pirates aren’t used to horseback.” “What about yourself ?” she retorted. “I was a kozak before I was a pirate,” he answered. “They live in the saddle. I snatch naps like a panther watching beside the trail for a deer to come by. My ears keep watch while my eyes sleep.” And indeed the giant barbarian seemed as much refreshed as if he had slept the whole night on a golden bed. Having removed the thorns, and peeled off the tough skin, he handed the girl a thick, juicy cactus leaf. “Skin your teeth in that pear. It’s food and drink to a desert man. I was a chief of the Zuagirs once – desert men who live by plundering the caravans.” “Is there anything you haven’t been?” inquired the girl, half in derision and half in fascination. “I’ve never been king of an Hyborian kingdom,” he grinned, taking an enormous 227