Lords of Destruction by James Silke, Frank Frazetta

to his feet, hauling her up by the neck, and she
shrieked.
    “It’s Robin, Gath!” Both Cobra and Brown John shouted it.
    Gath did not hear them. His head was lowered, and his eyes were on fire above
his charred cheeks. He looked about the stage, grabbed up his helmet, shoved it
in Robin’s hands, then plucked her off her feet. Holding her under one arm, he
jumped on his stallion and galloped off.
    Cobra staggered after him, wanting to cry out and stop him, but did not. She
knew it was too late for words. But Brown John, standing beside her, shouted,
“Wait, Gath! Come back! I’ve got to talk to you. Robin’s in grave danger!”
    Gath did not look back, and rode off with Robin clinging helplessly to his
chest, vanished amid the apple trees.
    “What’s wrong with him?” asked Brown John. “It’s not him,” Cobra replied,
“it’s the helmet.” He looked at her with sudden fear as the handsome young man
galloped off on the dappled grey stallion in pursuit.
    Brown John shouted after him, “Don’t, Jakar! Come back! You don’t know him.
He could kill you!”
    The rider did not stop or look back.
    Cobra and Brown John watched the forest until they could no longer hear
hoofbeats. Then Cobra looked off into the darkness as if it were her only
friend. After a moment, she composed herself and smiled at the bukko, speaking in a low, ironic purr.
    “I think, old man,” she said, “the last time we met, you put me in a bottle.”
    “I remember it well,” he said uneasily, then added, “I think I’ll use a rope
this time.”
    “There is no need,” she said. “But if your manliness requires a rope to arouse
it, I will not fight you. On the contrary, I intend to cooperate with you in
every way I am able.” Her voice was solemn. “Whether we like it or not, we are
allies now.”
    “Just how, may I ask, did you come by that plot?”
    “You are obviously aware that the girl is in grave danger?”
    “I am.”
    “And you presume Gath can deal with it?”
    “Exactly.”
    “Are you aware of just how grave the danger is?” He nodded. “A Lord of
Destruction, Baskt, tried to kill her.”
    Cobra gasped with shock. “He was here?”
    “Yes, at Clear Pond. The filth killed five of my girls thinking one of them
was Robin.”
    All color left her face. “Then the danger is far worse than I thought. She
knows… someone has told her everything.” His eyes questioned her, and she
answered them. “Tiyy, the Nymph Queen of Pyram. Baskt belongs to her.” She took
a breath. “Where is he now?”
    “I had him followed, and he took Amber Road north, then headed west toward
the Barrier Mountains.”
    “Did he,” she hesitated, lowering her voice respectfully, “did he take the
remains of your girls with him?” He nodded, and she relaxed slightly. “Then he’s
headed back to Pyram. That gives us some time. But as soon as Tiyy examines
them, she’ll know the Lakehair girl is not among them. She’ll send him back. But
it will take him better than two weeks.”
    “That won’t do Robin any good. The
bloody demon left his soldiers behind, to keep track of my Grillards, it seems.
We could be being watched right now.”
    She looked off at the threatening darkness of the forest, listening to the
whistle of the wind in the tree canopy, and said quietly, “Then the girl is our
only hope.”
    “As I recall,” Brown John said, getting her attention with the tip of his
sword, “it wasn’t so long ago that you wanted her dead yourself. In fact, wanted
all of us dead.”
    Her pale cheeks lifted in an agreeing smile. “I know. But I am nothing but a
woman now and, as such, I believe I am entitled to change my mind.”
    “A woman,”
he scoffed. “That you will have to prove.”
    “In time, I am certain it will be all too apparent. In the meantime, I
suggest we work together. I know Tiyy, and the nature of her powers. Perhaps
you, being a man of plots, can use the information I have and fashion one to