The rat-faced one yelped in triumph and ran to stab the prostrate man, but a lean Corinthian thrust him back.
'What, Aratus, would you break the law of the Brotherhood, you dog?'
'No law is broken,' snarled the Brythunian.
'No law? Why, you dog, this man you have just struck down is by just rights our captain!'
'Nay!' shouted Aratus. 'He was not of our band, but an outsider. He had not been admitted to fellowship. Slaying Sergius does not make him captain, as would have been the case had one of us killed him.'
'But he wished to join us,' retorted the Corinthian. 'He said so.'
At that a great clamor arose, some siding with Aratus, some with the Corinthian, whom they called Ivanos. Oaths flew thick, challenges were passed, hands fumbled at sword-hilts.
At last a Shemite spoke up above the clamor: 'Why do you argue over a dead man?'
'He's not dead,' answered the Corinthian, rising from beside the prostrate Cimmerian. 'It was a glancing blow; he's only stunned.'
At that the clamor rose anew, Aratus trying to get at the senseless man and Ivanos finally bestriding him, sword in hand, and defying all and sundry. Olivia sensed that it was not so much in defense of Conan that the Corinthian took his stand, but in opposition to Aratus. Evidently these men had been Sergius's lieutenants, and there was no love lost between them. After more arguments, it was decided to bind Conan and take him along with them, his fate to be voted on later.