Conan The Barbarian Part 3 - The Scarlet Citadel

Today we cover Robert E. Howard’s “The Scarlet Citadel” and look once again at Conan as King which goes well with our previous episode on the "Phoenix in the Sword."

This story hits our classic Conan tropes: betrayal, unsettling sorcerers, daring escapes, and last minute rescues. 

Overall a rollicking good time!

Transcript

Choosing Conan Stories For Today

Betrayal On The Battlefield

Michael Kentris 0:06

Hello, everybody, and welcome back to Brothers Reading Books, your sci-fi fantasy bookslash other book podcast. So we are your hosts. I am, as always, Michael Kentris, and I am joined by my delightful brother. Will Kentris. And we are your Brothers Reading Books. So today we are continuing our uh adventures into the world of sword and sorcery with Conan the Barbarian. So for those who haven't listened already, we have a couple episodes already recorded about Conan. And today we are continuing into some action-packed stories. Uh we have in front of us the Scarlet Citadel and the Queen of the Black Coast. So what were your first just broad strokes impressions of these stories, Will? So honestly, the Scarlet Citadel put me in mind kind of uh there's a World of Warcraft dungeon called Scarlet Monastery. So perhaps inspired. Yes, yes. So it definitely put me in mind of that initially, but uh there wasn't much similarity as far as I could tell uh at first glance. But I I feel like for this one, I wasn't as big of a fan of it, mostly because you know, it's not displaying Conan and his primal barbarian strength for a good chunk of it. I I I liked the beginning and the ending. I wasn't a huge fan of the middle. Fair enough. Yeah. Yeah, it was uh it's definitely got like a lot of your classic tropes, right? There's uh there's all the things, right? There's there's betrayal, there's a dungeon, there's weird magic, there's a staged battle, there's like, you know, more strange magic. Um There's a lot of strange magic. That's right, right. There's a lot of the sorcery in the sword and sorcery uh in this story. And then uh and then the Queen of the Black Coast. Definitely a bit of a new theme uh that we we saw, but also it kind of relates. It it's very interesting to me how Howard is kind of interweaving like these little breadcrumbs of things that are mentioned, just like as a one or two sentence throwaway line, or at least so it seems at first blush. Uh building the world of Conan, there's there's a lot of like internal consistency in terms of the stories that he is telling. So we have uh Conan basically becomes a pirate, uh for you know for brevity. And uh yeah, right there is Luton and Pillagin, and uh again, strange magics and eldric beasts. So indeed. So I think yeah, these are these are some pretty solid stories here. But um but let's dive into it. So uh starting with the the Scarlet Citadel, we open as they are wont to do in Media Res, and uh we find basically the the end of a battle here. So uh Conan, this is where he is, King of Aquilonia again, he has been basically betrayed. So he has been led into a trap, and uh you know, I made a note to myself here that uh we kind of get these different stages of life, right? The last episode we were talking about like Conan as a thief, basically, so very much like he is an individual without responsibilities here, he is the king of a large nation. And we kind of get these different themes in in the Conan stories where it's like King Conan, where we got a lot of these politics, strategy, betrayal, uh a lot of moving parts. And then we have like Conan as like the the warrior thief, where it's much more like on a personal, individual level, a lot more immediate uh conflict, you know, a lot of issues of honor, um, and as you said, physical prowess. Although I would say it's more of a uh a gradient spectrum rather than a whether something's not present at all. Because there's certainly plenty of uh King Conan being a fierce fighter, also. Oh, absolutely. I mean, as as we learn here at the very beginning, like you said, he had led five thousand troops uh on this sort of expedition to help his what was it, kind of neighboring kingdom ally.

SPEAKER_01 4:40

Right.

Conan Refuses To Abdicate

Michael Kentris 4:41

But yeah, had been led into this gigantic trap, and all but he have been slaughtered at this point in the story. Uh like it literally it dies like the roar of battle had died away, the shout of victory mingled with the cries of the dying, and yeah, he's he is the only one left. All that a man might do he had done with his five thousand cavalrymen against the thirty thousand knights, archers, and spearmen of the conspirators. Right. And we learn these conspirators are King Amalus of Ophir and King Strabonus of Koth. So these two have teamed up against him and kind of led him into this trap. And we find out more about this and also the there's some some more here about like the composition of their troops, so we're learning more about the nations of uh Hyboria with like these uh Shemidish bowmen, the Kothian pikemen, and uh various other things. So but yes, as you said, Conan is basically the only one left alive after all of his troops have been basically killed to a man. And we get a little description here as we go through of these two people. So Strabonus with his broad, dark face and crafty eyes, amalrus slender, fastidious, treacherous, dangerous as a cobra, and then we get this third figure, the lean vulture Tsothalante, clad only in silken robes, his great black eyes glittering from a face that was like that of a bird of prey, of this Cothian wizard, dark tales were told. And this kind of put me in mind, you know, you referenced World of Warcraft, I'll reference uh Dungeons and Dragons. So it kind of made me think of the Red Wizards of Fae uh from the Forgotten Realms setting, right? Kind of these like you know, necromancer type nation. So he kind of has that vibe to him, uh as I'm reading this at least. I mean, definitely. Uh I mean literally there mentions that uh Men had said that he had a whole library of dark works bound in skin flayed from living human victims, and then nameless pits below the hill where on his palace sat he trafficked with the powers of darkness, trading screaming girls' slaves or unholy secrets. He was the real ruler of Koth. Yes. So so yeah, not a not a good dude. No, no, not at all. It it yeah, I I will say for the most part, it seems like uh most of the sorcerers or magic users in the Conan world tend to be of the dark variety. Right, right. That that has been the case. So I like this part. We get a description here, right? We have you know kind of Conan at bay against the warriors here. And as always, we get the savage blue eyes blazing murder murderously. And uh they talk about you know he's covered in blood, his armor's hacked and tattered. Uh in this stress, all the veneer of civilization had faded. It was a barbarian who faced his conquerors. Conan was a Sumerian by birth, one of those fierce, moody hillmen who dwelt in their gloomy, cloudy land in the north. His saga, which had led him to the throne of Aquilonia, was the basis of a whole cycle of hero tales, so already a legend. Which I mean, absolutely makes sense, like like we've already learned. He he did overthrow the then king of Aquilonia, what's his name? Themides or something like that, and strangled him on his throne, I believe. Yes. So yeah, we you know he's basically he's Conan, as he always is. And uh I love this line here. His captains had fallen like ripe grain before the Sumerians broadsword. So they're uh you know, he's calling up his archers, uh, Strabonuses, to basically, you know, pincushion him from a distance. And so uh is saying no, take him alive. And they're like easy to say, but uh, you know, he's uh obviously a savage fighter, and he's basically you know PO'd that all his knights are are getting knocked down here. It took seven years and stacks of gold to train each, and there they lie, so much kites meet. So so he's kind of upset. Like I'm losing all my investment on my trained soldiers here. Yeah. Yes. No, he was it definitely seems to be where he's just angry about the yeah, the waste of resources here then you know any loyalty to his mother. Do you know how much night costs me? So we get a little flavor of Sotha here. He laughed coldly. Have you not learned by this time that my brain is mightier than any sword? Uh sopha walks up to this figure and basically says, I offer you life, Conan, a cruel mirth bubbling at the back of his voice. I give you death, wizard, snarled the king. Um he goes to basically do what he does and cut him in half. And uh he moves in quickly, lays an open hand on Conan's left forearm, and all of a sudden the whistling blade veered from its arc and the male giant crashed heavily to earth to lie motionless. Sotho laughed silently. Take him up and fear not, the lion's fangs are drawn. Conan lay stiffly like a dead man, but his eyes glared up at them wide open and blazing with helpless fury. So we learn that uh Sotho's tricky tricksy, he's got a little poison ring in his hand steeped in the juice of the purple lotus. So I think we keep getting uh different lotus flowers introduced in these stories. Was it black lotus in the last one? I know we've mentioned black lotus at least once, and I think it does pop up in the other story as well. It does, it does. But yeah, my my note here was there are a lot of mystical lotuses in Hyboria. Lotuses, lot I'm probably right, it's lotuses. But um but we do hear, right, the ghost haunted swamps of southern stygia uh produces temporary paralysis. So chain him up, put him in a chariot, and we are heading for Korshemish, which is uh I believe one of their towns here. Right, capital or something, whatever. Yeah. Where they're based. So they they head on back here, and as Conan is lying paralyzed in the chariot, chained down, uh he is reflecting on his loss. As they say, the tang of defeat in his mouth, the blind fury of a trapped tiger in his soul. Something I've also noticed uh is that Howard uses big cats in his analogies quite a lot. Absolutely. Like like you said, like here is being described as a tiger, and just a second ago uh he was being likened to a lion. Lion tiger, and uh I believe we we hear a lot about panthers in the next story. Yes. So uh is it too much? Too much great cats? It's it's okay. It's a it's a sufficient amount. I'm sure if we were reading this as they were coming out serialized, we wouldn't have put two uh thoughts, or two seconds of our time about that. Yeah. So we learn that Amalrus had sent an emissary asking for aid against Strabonis, who he said was ravaging his western domain. And so he had asked only for a thousand horsemen, right? So Conan had brought five thousand. And so he had ridden into Ophir in good faith, and then basically had found this was betrayal, right? This was all set up just to ensnare him with a small amount, right? He brought five thousand, so they were hoping like just bring just bring a few troops, uh just like your presence will boost the morale of my men. That was that was kind of the pitch, right? And uh I like this part here. We get a little um kind of panorama, or they guess a panorama where I moved shadowy figures, which were himself in many guises and conditions. So we get like basically all of these little snapshots of the Conan from these different stories, right? So a skin clad barbarian, a mercenary swordsman in horned helmet and scale male corslet, a corsair in a dragon proud galley that trailed a crimson wake of blood and pillage along southern coasts, a captain of hosts in burnished steel on a rearing black charger, a king on a golden throne with a lion banner flowing above, and throngs of gay hued courtiers and ladies on their knees. So, yeah, it's it's interesting, right? We we just have like kind of these these stages of life of Conan in these very disparate settings, uh, which are very interesting. They allow us to display like kind of different attributes of the barbarian, if you will. And uh I'm curious if we'll ever yeah get kind of like our post-king snippet of Conan as well, just in terms of you know, the the old Conan. Yeah. Who knows? We we're only about halfway through these books, so maybe so the chariot goes on and they come to Korsramish, and as they do, they see the eponymous grim scarlet citadel that at a distance was like a splash of bright blood in the sky, the castle of Sotha. Is that how you're saying it? Sotha or Tsotha. Sotha, Tsotha. I feel like some variation of that. Yes. Probably the intended Yeah. Um so basically we get a little description of this. It's got some minarets, uh you know, it's on a steep hill, and uh they call it a uh overall brood of the citadel, like a condor stooping above its prey, intent on its own dark meditations. So an ominous building. Right. Which we obviously will learn a little more about here in the next chapter. Yes. Oh yeah, I like this part here too. So obviously, you know, they've come straight from the battle. Right. And as they come into town, Strabonus had raced ahead of the news of the battle, and the people just rousing to the occupations of the day gaped to see their king returning with a small retinue, and were in doubt as to whether pretended victory or defeat. I thought that was an interesting statement as to like, you know, even though they were so vastly outnumbered, kind of was able to put more than a mere dent into their forces. Right, right. And uh right, so they they're kind of like this um gosh, what'd you call it? A mockery of a traditional Roman triumph coming into the city. Uh inasmuch as like, you know, nobody's celebrating, there's not really anything going on, but we have this, you know, retinue going through. And so Conan uh you know, he had thought I like this. He had thought to ride someday through these golden chased gates at the head of his steel clad co squadrons with the great lion banner flowing over his helmeted head. Instead he entered in chains stripped of his armor and thrown like a captive slave on the bronze floor of his conqueror's chariot. A wayward, devilish mirth of mockery rose above his fury, but to the nervous soldiers who drove the chariot, his laughter sounded like the muttering of a rousing lion. Continued our great cats. Right. He's got that lie of strength. Right. So we kind of have at the beginning of these section breaks we're moving to part two here, some little poems from the Road of Kings, which uh had also shown up in some of our past readings as well. And you know, not all of these are uh hits, I'm gonna say. But this one's okay. Gleaming shell of an outworn lie, fable of right divine, you gained your crowns by heritage, but blunt was the price of mine. The throne that I won by blood and sweat, by crumb I will not sell, for promise of valleys filled with gold or threat of the halls of hell. I kind of like that one. Conveys, I think, very well that you know Conan's not going to give away his throne so easily. Exactly the conversation we move into in this stage, right? So we've got Conan uh basically in front of his captors in this room in the castle. So he's obviously you know restrained. Uh we've got Strabonis, Almarus, and Sotha kind of on these demons, silk, gold, jewels, naked slave boys pouring wine into cups carved of a single sapphire. That's a big sapphire. Honestly, I had the same thought as well. Like way more valuable than any existing known. Thimble thimble, thimble of wine. Right. Less impressive. But uh so that we got all that, you know, wealth and ostentation, and then we've got Conan, grim, bloodstained, naked, but for a loincloth, which seems to be kind of his uh one of his typical outfits that we come across in the stories. Blue eyes blazing beneath the tangled black mane. Uh I don't feel like we can't go through a story without that. You have to highlight his appearance at least once in each of these stories. That's right. They're episodic. So right. If this was a magazine, you only had the one story, then yeah. So basically they are saying, like, it is our wish to extend our empire, uh and but they're kind of just uh, you know, giving him a hard time here. It's like, what are you but an adventurer seizing a crown to which you had no more claim than any other wandering barbarian parried amorous? We are prepared to offer you suitable compensation. And uh basically, as as the poem at the beginning of this section would imply, Conan is not impressed, and he uh is not gonna do it. How did you come to your crown? You and that black-faced pig beside you. Your fathers did the fighting and the suffering and handed their crowns to you on golden platters. What you inherited without lifting a finger, except to poison a few brothers I fought for. Right. Which uh two two thoughts came to mind with that one. The first one being, uh Did you ever see the movie Stardust? I did not. So it's it's a fun little silly, you know, uh fantasy film, but in that one, one of the storylines is that there are these brothers trying to determine who's going to be king of the kingdom, and you know, it can only be decided once there's only one brother remaining, and they all kill each other in silly ways. But so that but also just the fact that Connor doesn't approve of uh Nepo babies, apparently. Yes. Uh yeah, you sit on satin and guzzle wine that uh the people sweat for and talk of divine rights of sovereignty. Bah! I climbed out of the abyss of naked barbarism to the throne, and in that climb I spilled my blood as freely as I spilt that of others. And just to jump through this, you know, Kona goes on for a while. He he's uh he's pretty scathing here, and basically says, Today no Aquilonian noble dares maltreat the hum humblest of my subjects, and the taxes of the people are lighter than anywhere else in the world. And basically, what if you? Your brother, Amoris, holds the eastern half of your kingdom and defies you, and you, Sturbonas, your soldiers are even now bit dot dot free. So basically, uh the kings are uh a little enraged by this. And so yeah, they've uh they kind of say that they're gonna set up, you know, our pello of Pelia here as a kind of a satrap is the term they use, or a puppet, a puppet governor.

SPEAKER_01 20:34

Yeah.

The Dungeon And Its Horrors

Michael Kentris 20:36

And um what does he think of this plan? I like this. It sums it all up. I'll see you in hell first. So Yeah, it's interesting. They're trying to like more or less convince him to sign this parch meant to officially abdicate, and I I thought it was interesting they had to or didn't have to, but that was the first route that they were trying to go with here. Right. Trying to give it that you know veneer of authenticity. Absolutely. And uh you know, Amrose calls him a fool, and Conan's reply was neither kingly nor dignified, but characteristically instinctive in the man whose barbaric nature had never been submerged in his adopted culture. He's spatful in Amorous's eyes. Didn't like that. He did not. He he draws his sword with a scream of outraged fury, groping for his thunder sword. And obviously Soth is like, now hold up. This man's my prisoner. It's like wizard. And then Soth is like, back I say, and basically throws some pocket sand into his right. Yeah. Exactly what it is. Yes, but it is very reminiscent of pocket sand from uh King of the Hill. I mean, if nothing else, you gotta say Sothha does have quite the abundance. Of tools at his disposal. Like you said, he is a he is a tricksie wizard. He is. And uh as he does this, Strabonus hurriedly gulps another goblet of wine, holding it in hands that trembled. And uh if we remember back to one of our earlier stories, they mention that the King of Koth stays drunk constantly due to fear of of the wizard in his town. So so this seems to be a theme that they're continuing here. So uh the the king goes blind temporarily, temporarily like you mess with me again, it's gonna be permanent. That's right. I'll blind you real good. I'll blind you for real with good better mummy dust. Oh gosh. So we we basically uh end that conversation and Sotha takes him to the dungeon, for lack of a better word. Over whose arch a human skull grinned horrifically. At this door stood a fat, repellent figure dangling a bunch of keys. Sotha's chief eunuch, Shukeli, of whom grisly tales were whispered, a man with whom a bistil bestial bestial bestial. Bestial, thank you. Lust for torture took the place of normal human passions. Gross. So basically they they open this, uh we see this like a really firm door as built as if to withstand the battering of manganelles and rams. And so they they take him in there, they strap him to a wall cut from solid stone, and he's made fast to a ring in the stone wall. Yeah, we get some very intense descriptions about the chains that bind him, like being as thick of his thumb, there's an iron band about his waist as broad as his hand. So yeah, I know it mentions here basically that even in his, you know, barbarian strength that he would be hard pressed to make any sort of break in those chains and bindings. Yes. And so basically we get uh we get some villain monologuing here uh from from Sotha, where he's basically so farewell, barbarian. So uh another typical you know, super villain leaves their protagonist uh chained for his inevitable demise, uh which, you know, uh spoilers, is not here. So uh so he says, I must ride to Shemar and the siege, in ten days I will be in your palace in Tamar with my warriors. What word from you shall I say to your women before I flay their dainty skins for scrolls, whereon to chronicle the triumphs of Tsotholanti? Basically, curses him, and he laughs, and then he is clanged shut and left in darkness. So um so yeah, we are now in the belly of the beast. So he is shackled to the wall. The like the sheer weight of his shackles would have slain a lesser man with the exhaust gen. That's such a wild assertion. Right. Which, yeah, it's uh it's one of these things here where you know Conan is uh he's a Sumerian, and not just any Sumerian, like a very powerful one. So But he's kind of again, right, he's we get some more reflection from Conan as far as like, oh, I should have accepted their offer offer, but uh no, I would not have accepted that offer. So he's kind of going back and forth in his mind here, but he you know remains relatively firm. Right. I I like that part right after he mentions, yeah, even if given another chance, his reply would be the same. Thus suddenly does the instinct of sovereign responsibility enter even a red-handed plunderer sometimes. Yes. So he's you know, and we get uh some some purple prose here. You know, Conan is thinking of Sopha's last abominable threat, groaning in sick fury. Men and women were to the wizard no more than the writing, writhing insect is to the scientist. Soft white hands that had caressed him, red lips that had been pressed to his, dainty white bosoms that had quivered to his hot, fierce kisses, to be stripped of their delicate skin, white as ivory and pink as young petals. So you know, uh I hear later in the story that the Conan has a pleasure palace in in Aquilonia. So I guess uh good for him. It's it's like what Mel Brooks says. It's good to be the king. Right, right. Ugh, yes. Uh and we get uh, you know, as he's listening, uh he realizes where he must be. The Halls of Horror. That's capital H, capital H. And uh where he, you know, so there's rumen to have performed horrible experiments with beings, human bestial, and it was whispered demoniac. Yeah, I've never heard that term before. I'm assuming it's just like a variation of demonic. So it's funny you should say that. Yes, you're correct, but will it is actually in the Bible. Ah, they they talk about a demoniac, a an individual who is demonically possessed. Okay. So it's kind of like the the noun form of that. Yes. Although it could be just an archaic usage here as well. But uh but yeah, it's in the it's in the King James. Um yeah, uh it's um I want to say it's in the story of Legion, if I remember correctly. Let me see here. Yes, I believe so. Um but anyway, it's used a few times in the Bible when they're casting out Jesus casting out demons and devils and whatnot. So anyway. And we also get a little flashback here to the uh sword on the or the Phoenix on the sword, rather. Yes. With Ronaldo, uh, which we now learn he was a mad poet, which would make more sense why he thought that he could attack the barbarian king. Uh for sure. His little you know, pig sticker of a sword. Done with the tyranny, he claimed. As his brains were smashed out. But uh it was said he had visited these pits and been shown horrors by the wizard, and the nameless monstrosities of which he hinted in his awful poem, The Song of the Pit, were no mere fantasies of a disordered brain. That brain had crashed to dust beneath Conan's battle axe. Like this, the mad rhymer.

SPEAKER_02 28:50

Sounds like a Batman villain.

Escape By Keys And Steel

Michael Kentris 28:52

It kind of does, you know, the Mad Hatter, yeah. Right. So while Conan's thinking on all of this, he's kind of sitting there and he starts hearing a soft rustling sound, blood freezing and its implication. And like in many of these dark magic stories, we kind of get the introduction of this gigantic otherworldly snake. So yeah, it was the unmistakable sound of pliant scales slithering softly over stone. Say that five times fast. So we get this, yeah, this huge, hideous, wedge-shaped head took form before his dilated eyes, and from the darkness oozed in flowing scaly coils the ultimate horror of reptilian development. So it was a real big snake. Right eighty feet it stretched from its pointed head tail to its triangular head, which was bigger than that of a horse. I assume it means a horse's head and not a horse's body. I would agree on that point, yes. Um we get a description, it's white as hoar frost, and right surely surely it was born in darkness, yet its eyes were full of evil and sure sight. So its fork tongued almost brushed his lips as it darted in and out, and its fetid odor made his senses reel with nausea. Right. Have that dry smell that reptiles have. So we get some more description here, you know, yellow burning eyes, giant fangs dripping uh with uh poison. He knew it was death. Uh he's thinking like he'd broken the neck of a python in a fiendish battle in his corsair days, and he knew that if he the moment he went to grasp for it, it would strike him and he would be dead from its poison. So he held rigid as a statue, blasted out of iron, even though a drop of the venom fell on his leg and started burning. Right. I did appreciate that. Not by the twitching of a muscle or the flicker of an eyelash did he betray the pain of the hurt that left a scar he bore to the day of his death. Pretty bad. Pretty bad, yeah. But all of a sudden, the grill was withdrawn, the door swung open and remained open. A huge dark figure was framed in the glow of torches outside. And so we get a new character. And uh as this happens, the the snake basically like whips around and kind of vanishes up the corridor.

unknown 31:28

Yes.

Peleus Returns And Magic Intervenes

Michael Kentris 31:30

So Yeah, it sounds like it's one of Santha's slaves or servants or some sort of capacity like that, who comes in and says, Long if I wish to meet you, Amra. Uh he gave Conan the name, and apparently Amra means lion, I would infer here. And more or less it sounds like he has stolen the keys from Shukele, and he's like, Well, you give me for them. And Conan keeps trying to like give him numerical amounts. 10,000 golden lunas, answered the king quickly, new hopes surging fiercely in his breast. Not enough. Not enough for the risks I take. Soth his pets might come out of the dark and eat me. And if Shukeli finds out I stole his keys, he'll hang me up by well, what will you give me? It's like fifteen thousand lunas in a palace in Poitain. And it's like more, offer me more, what will you give me? Yes. Our favorite, our favorite derogative. Right. Now, uh, we should mention uh that this character is black. Uh he's from Kush, which is you know in the south in High Borea here, and the story was witten written in the twenties or thirties, so there is some, let's just say, insensitive language at times. Uh but that being said, so but yes, uh Conan is getting furious with him, and he is uh basically saying that uh he doesn't want us, he demands a blood price because he killed his brother. Yeah, back in his pirating days. Yes or no, was it? Yes, never knock. So he wants his head. That that is the short the long and short of it here. And so as he's like, you know, rearing back with the sword to kill Conan, at that instant, the Titanic shadow behind him darted down and out, and the wedge-shaped head smote with an impact that re-echoed it down the tunnels. So, you know, Conan keeps getting rescued by his his two people who want him dead, or two entities, if we all. You know, I don't know if the snake can be called a person properly. But um yeah, first uh first the the man from Cush comes in, scares off a snake, then the snake comes back and basically devours him and drags off his body uh as he's about to kill Conan. And so as this happens, the keys drop to his feet, and so he's chained there, and he does I think we've all done this where you try and grasp something with your foot off the ground and then pass it up to your hand, you know, when you're feeling particularly lazy. Oh, for sure. So he he's able to basically slip them up and uh free himself from these chains. And it's also worth mentioning that the uh the Cushman had also dropped a sword, which now has as well. That's right. So you know, he he goes up towards the the locked door, and then through the bars we see a face like a fiendishly mocking Carvin Gargoyle of Shukelli the eunuch, who had followed his stolen keys. Uh um surely he did not, in his gloating, see the sword in the prisoner's hand. With a terrible curse, Conan struck as a cobra strikes. The great blade hissed between the bars, and Shukelli's laughter broke in a death scream. The fat eunuch bent at the middle as if bowing to his killer and crumpled like tallow, his pudgy hands clenching vainly at his spilling entrails. Conan snarled in savage satisfaction, but he was still a prisoner. So I don't know. There's something I don't know, it's it's goofy, right? Um like tallow. Yes. I also thought that was an interesting description. Which I mean, I I can I can see it, I suppose, you know, tallow like rendered, you know, beef fat, essentially. Back when McDonald's fries were good. That's what they cooked them in. But uh but it's you know, it's kind of like the consistency of you know, butter, like warm butter kind of stuff. So I I could see it like flopping over, perhaps. Just like shrub. Yeah, I I don't know. It's probably something that that meant more to people who had tallow in their house often as opposed to us modern folk. Although cook. You know, if you cook some vegetables in beef tallow, let me just tell you, tasty. Anyway, so you know, he uh he refrains from banging the bars with his sword because he knows that he would just destroy his only weapon. So he turns around and ventures into the darkness, um, seeing no sign of the serpent or its victim, only a great smear of blood on the stone floor. I'll be honest. I was thinking of um in Final Fantasy VII, where you have that giant trail of blood through the Shinra headquarters. But um that might be a little bit too niche of a reference for some of our listeners. But uh maybe. I don't know. I know these I know these nerds are out there. Absolutely. We'll keep making those illusions and references. That's right. We will. That's what people come here for, Will. So uh so he's walking through the darkness, you know, very slowly, cautiously, to avoid a pit. And suddenly he hears hears the sound of a woman weeping piteously. And we get our first uh Eldritch horror here, I believe. Yes. So yeah, as is written here, stepping closer, he halted in sudden horror at the amorphic bulk which sprawled before him. Its unstable outlines somewhat suggested an octopus, but its mouth formed tentacles were too short for its size, and its substance was a quaking jelly-like stuff which made him physically sick to look at. Also had a frog head, obscene blubbery lips. Yes. Um and it does, right? It has a very Lovecraftian flavor to it. Um Gosh, what's the one with the flutes? You remember? Uh Nir La Nyer Lathotep, I believe, right? I'm not sure. I don't know offhand. Anyway, one of them one of them Lovecraftian elder gods uh that make people go insane by looking at them. So as it said here, it shook his very soul to look upon it. So sanity check. But um and uh it was weird because like the unus unmistakably human note in its mirth almost staggered his reason. It was exactly such laughter as he had heard bubble obscenely from the fat lips of the salacious woman of Shadazar, city of wickedness when captive girls were stripped naked on the public auction block. By what hellish arts had Sotha brought this unnatural being into life? Conan felt vaguely that he had looked on blasphemy against the eternal laws of nature. So he uh basically gets away from this thing. So kind of uh you know, he as he's swerving aside, he he hits something, trips, torch goes flying, extinguished as it struck the floor, and then he kind of gropes in the darkness, but suddenly his barbarian's instinct of near peril halted him short. Is this like the uh detect hidden door, passive India? Something like that, yeah. A roll perception check. Right. So, you know, he basically finds that there is this hole, this pit, and there's a wind, a shadowy wind rising from the well that stirred his black mane. So uh and he knows he's below the hill. He's down deep. And but like where is this wind coming from? So he's kind of like there's something unnatural about this pit. And he thought something floated up out of the well. He could see nothing, he didn't know what it was, but he felt an intangible intelligence which hovered malignely near him. So he turns away and he sees this tiny red spark, and ha, it is his torch. With a glowing coal, he coaxes it back to life and continues on his way. Yeah, it sounds like he's able to find his way back to where he'd previously taken like a cross path or a intersection of tunnels. Right, and we get like all these sounds, uh sounds that did not belong in a sane world, titterings, squeals of demoniac mirth, shuddering howls, uh the squalling laughter of a hyena ended awfully in human words of shrieking blasphemy. It was as it was as if he had wandered into hell, a hell of saltholanthi's making. And so as he's going, he hears the great serpent crawling, sluggish from its recent grisly meal. And so he keeps going. Uh he almost felt a kinship with the servant, I like this, uh, remembering the different the weeping, tittering obscenity and the dripping mouthing thing that came out of the well. So uh yes. So he's continuing on, and all of a sudden he comes across a he hears a low moan, and he saw a cage, and within this cage was a figure, and around this figure was he was twined and bound about with tendrils of a thick vine which seemed to grow through the solid stone of the floor, covered with strangely pointed leaves and crimson blossoms, not the satiny red of natural petals, but a livid unnatural crimson, like a perversity of flower life. So one great blossom hovered exactly over his mouth. Uh I'm having trouble with this word today. Bestial moaning drooled from the blue slopes. This is like the third or fourth time I had to say this today. Let's go kids. Getting your quota filled. Oh my goodness. So basically, you know, he realizes he's looking on some sort of horror, capital H, and it touches Conan's wayward and impulsive heart. So, you know, he looks through his keys, unlocks a door, and the the plant shakes and sways menacingly at him. Which compared to the other stuff, uh not particularly impressive. But uh once again, we we hear the description, the leaves shook and rattled like castanets. And uh he swings his sword, cuts through the stem with a single stroke. You know, I was wondering about this, castanets. So we we do know that Howard lived in Texas. So I wonder, you know, sometimes they'll describe rattlesnakes like castanets, or maybe there was a you know, some interaction with nearby Spanish enclaves. So perhaps that's why he's familiar with the castanet. Yeah, I don't know when those really became well known across. Yeah, is that is that associated with like Mex like Mexican music or Spanish music? Like flamenco style music? Yeah, like flamenco style. Okay. Which I don't know when that became a thing, or if it was a precursor to it to some my music history is not that strong. But um but I imagine perhaps. Okay. Maybe. Maybe yes, maybe no. So anyway, he cuts this flower down like the dog that it is. Uh so as he he looks back at this man, no longer were the eyes on the worn face expressionless, dark and meditative, they were alive with intelligence. The whole build of the man was aristocratic, evident no less in his tall, slender frame than in the small trim feet and hands. His first words were strange and startling. What year is this? he asked, speaking Kothic. Uh and then we get something that means nothing to us. Today is the tenth day of the month, Yulik of the year of the gazelle. Yagkulin Ishtar murmured the stranger. Ten years. Uh so who are you? Conan once of Sumeria, now King of Aquilonia. Indeed, and Nemedides. There we go. Uh I think yeah, Thim Themadides must have been somebody else. Uh I strangled him on his throne the night I took the royal city. Uh and he's like, Pardon, your majesty. So you get a little bit of like a sarcastic tone to this guy. I should have thanked you for your service you have done me. I'm like a man woken suddenly from sleep, deeper than death, and shot with nightmares of agony more fierce than hell. But I understand that you delivered me. And he's like, Well, why did you cut the stem of the plant instead of tearing it up by the roots? And Cameron responds, Because I learned long ago to avoid touching with my flesh that which I do not understand. Right. He knows. Don't touch things that you don't know. Right. Just smash them with your sword. Just cut through. Right. That's the smart thing to do. So we learned this character is named Peleus. So and he's like, What? Peleus the sorcerer, Sotholanthi's rival, who vanished from the earth ten years ago. In case you didn't know who he was. Right. Right. Found fertile field only in the maggot writhing corruption at sea that is on the floors of hell. So needs a lot of fertilizer. Uh but so anyway, this thing was kind of holding them in some kind of like mind sleep situation. So uh going on, uh you know, is the black wizard in Korshramish, no you need number polite. My powers begin to wake, um, you know, but it's I'm not I'm not at full strength yet. I'm too s I'm too weak yet from my slumber. So they continue on, and he's uh we learn the name of the cursed big snake. Uh his name is Sotha, the old one, chiefest of Tsotha's pets. And then we get a little history lesson here. So there is a little bit of a uh Greek mythology flavor to this part, at least to me. So I kind of get a flavor, right? Peleus, obviously we know that Peleus was a character in ancient Greek history. Um we also get this King Cossus V was the person who initially had these uh this castle built, so nobody dug these things, they were kind of built on on top of. Uh but when I hear Cossus, I kind of think of Gnosis, um, you know, kind of like the um like the minotaur and that kind of thing. Oh, okay, yeah. Anyway, maybe. Maybe he's just Howard's just changing like a letter. Maybe there's some parallels, that's all I'll say. So right, we kind of get like the um the thing where you know, like uh you get the string it leads you out of the maze or the minotaur, that kind of that whole myth deal. Which I believe that was Peleus, if I remember correctly. Is that right, Will? Oh, I uh I couldn't say. King of Thea. Uh he was known. Oh wait. That's silly of me. Peleus is uh Achilles' father. So different myth. I'm getting my myths mixed up. My apologies. So, uh we get this whole history lesson about, you know, they thought it was weird, and there was you know, like many old houses, they had black mold. So he decided to depart to a new city. Uh sorry. And we this was left vacant, Sothilanthi put his citadel here, opened the way to the pits again after they'd been blocked up. Uh, and he went into that well. Um came up with a strange expression which has not since left his eyes. I have seen that well, but I do not care to seek in it for wisdom. Right. Yeah, the pre-human ruins on Dagoth Hill, right? Which again, very Lovecraftian uh word there, Dagoth, I believe. Oh, it's from Morrowind. Oh well. You know, a lot of these sort of phonemes kind of blend together. They do, they do. So yes, uh so we get Peleus says, I am human, but Sothalanti, perhaps not. Uh men say that a dancing girl of Shadazar slept too near the prehuman ruins of Dagoth Hill and woke in the grip of a black demon from that unholy union was spawned in a cursed hybrid men call Sothalanti. So as they're walking along, Satha, the snake, rears up about to strike Conan, but then looks over his shoulder, sees Peleus, the great cold yellow eyes slowly, the hate died out in a glitter of pure fear, and basically it flees uh before them. It's like oh you see my fleshly guise, he saw my naked soul, basically saying Peleus, like, you know, I'm kind of a big deal.

SPEAKER_02 49:00

Right.

A Coup In Tamar While Conan Falls

Michael Kentris 49:02

Um So uh we come back to the great um by the ivory hips of Ishtar, who is our doorman? Lo, it is no less than the noble Shukeli, who hanged my young men by their feet, and skinned them with squeals of laughter. Do you sleep, Shukeli? Why do you lie so stiffly with your fat belly sunk in like a dressed pig's? He is dead, muttered Conan, ill at ease to hear these wild words. Dead or alive, laughed Belius, he shall open the door for us. I like this bit. He clapped his hands sharply and cried, Rise, Shukeli, rise from hell and rise from the bloody floor and open the door for your masters. Rise, I say. So basically, you know, we get a little necromancy action here. So the corpse of Shukeli stirs up and uh we get this merciless laughter as he moves from Peleus. Peleus hates this guy, which I guess he he killed his acolytes, so fair. So they uh you know wide open eyes, glassy and empty, his entrails hung limply on the floor, uh moving like a brainless automaton. So they walk past him, and uh he had not taken half a dozen strides when a sodden thud brought him round. Shakelli's corpse lay limply at the foot of the grill. His task is done, and hell gapes for him again, remarked Peleus pleasantly. Um yes. So as they're walking, they uh you know they don't encounter anybody, and they are like, you know, I have a terrible thirst on me. So they they grab they get some wine. And like this, Sothra affects to be above the pleasures of the flesh, but he is half devil. I am human, despite my black arts. I love ease and good cheer. That's how Tsotha tramped me. He caught me helpless with drink. Wine is a curse by the ivory bosom of Ishtar, even as I speak of it. The traitor is here. Friend, please pour me a goblet. Hold. I forgot that you are a king, I will pour. That sounds like something I would read in a Shakespeare play. Yes. It's like, huh? Hold. Yes, the traitor is here, you're a man. Yeah, that those last two cents particular. I forgot that you are a king, I will pour. Right. It's like the dog knows good wine. Uh and so they're like, well, Cutan's like, I wish I was at sword points with this guy, you know, he's so far away, I'll never catch him in time. And um they find this shimmering globe, and Pelius says, Sotha's crystal, childless toy, but useful when there's lack of time for higher science. It's like this Sotha. What an what an idiot. And so he he shows uh Shamar, the town that is currently under siege. And you know, we kind of get some some background here. We got the the Knights of Poitain, who are kind of you know Conan's most loyal group in Aquilonia. And there's looting, rioting, uh you know, people turning on each other, and so we kind of get this uh this scene of internal strife under the pressure of the siege. Yes, and then overall, like a phantasmal mirage, he saw the dark, triumphant face of Prince Arpello of Pelia. So he has taken taken command, it seems. Yes. So he's like uh O Krom Imur and Set, if I but had wings to fly like lightning to Tamar. So uh Peleus suddenly halts, gets up, and goes, and says there are creatures not alone of earth and sea but of air in the far reaches of the skies, dwelling apart unguessed of men, yet to him who holds the master words and signs and the knowledge underlying all, they are not malignant nor inaccessible. Watch and fear not. So he makes this long, weird call, and there's a sudden beat of wings, a huge bat like creature alights next to him, neither bat nor bird, and Peter says, Mountain ride, by dawn it will bring you to Tamar. It's like by crom, is this all a nightmare from which I shall presently awaken in my palace at Tamar? What of you? I would not leave you alone among your enemies. It's like be at peace. At dawn the people of Korshmesh will know they have a new master. Doubt not what the gods have sent you, I will meet you in the plain by Shamar. And off he goes on his uh new mount. Right? A little less uh grand than the the eagles in Lord of the Rings. This a uh not Batbird. Yes. Um so we kind of you know, we cut to Tamar, and we get howling mobs, uh you know, word had reached that there was uh the Conan had died, so the barons had deserted to go back and protect their own areas, and so they were you know, the mobs are mobs are out there asking for someone to guide them essentially. So we got mercenaries looting quarters, we've got this character Trocero, Count Trocero, left by Conan in charge of the city, trying to reassure everybody, but they remember these civil wars that he had, you know, fought against this town in previously, and so yeah, we gotta get the impression still the people rush wildly about with brainless squawks. Um basically the the mobs are dumb. And you kind of always think of that one quote from Men in Black. You know? It's like uh no, a person is smart, people are dumb. Uh there's a whole rant that goes with it, but uh, people are dumb panicky animals, and you know it, something like that. Right, yeah, yes. So now you get Prince Arpello, right? This is the intended puppet governor here, and so he is uh basically announcing himself ready to take over the government until a new king could be decided upon, and eventually the council relents and says yes. And so Trocero hurls a baton in his rival's face, hang the leaders of the mercenary, and rode out the southern gate at the head of his fifteen hundred steel clad knights. And as the gate slammed behind him, Arpello's swell mask fell away to reveal the grim visage of the hungry wolf. And then he shortly proclaims himself King of Aquilonia. So there you go. Uh Publius, the Chancellor, who we may remember also from the Phoenix on the Sword, uh, was thrown into prison for opposing this. And then what else should we do during a siege other than raise taxes? So six rich merchants sent as a delegation to protest were seized and their heads slashed off without ceremony. Uh the rest of the merchants fell on their fat bellies and licked their oppressors' boots. Some literal, yeah, literal boot licking. I did that, yeah, like the the merchants confronted by a power they could not control with money. Yes. So I suppose that would be a power outside of what they would consider to be a sane world. Right. And uh we get also a description of the pleasure palace. Conan's girls were dragged to his quarters, people muttered at the sight of the royal beauties rather than in the brutal hands of the ironclad retainers, and we get uh descriptions of various damsels, wenches, girls uh weeping with fright and shame, unused to brutality. So uh they stormed our pellows doors, Dominican marched southward and drive the enemy back over the Tibor, or as we would call it in Rome, the Tiber. So I do I do really think that this is like, you know, Aquilonia is is very much becoming like a kind of Rome-ish stand-in to an extent.

SPEAKER_01 56:49

Definitely. Definitely.

Michael Kentris 56:53

Um and I like this here. We get um a young student, Athemedes, mounted a column in the market and with burning words accused Arpello of being a cat's paw for Strabonus. A very accurate uh perception of events as they are occurring here. And I thought there might be something in his name here. There is a uh a goddess in Greek uh Greek myth named Themis. And uh what would you guess that she is the goddess of, Will?

SPEAKER_01 57:30

Truth.

Michael Kentris 57:31

Close. Justice. So we have here uh Athymides, right? So without justice, oh apropos. So perhaps Howard Howard had a little bit of Greek to his name. So I thought that was uh a nice little touch there. It's like you know, when you like personify something. I don't know. I thought it was a neat little touch there. So I I see it there, I think it's there. I'm pretty sure. But uh anyway, so they're trying to kill this guy because uh no one no one likes a little firebrand. So he leaves, he finds Tresero breaking his camp, and uh he pleads him to come back and basically says that um can't do it. You know, they're not uh they're not down for it. So we get the the Prince of Pellia, right, Trocero here, broad built, medium height, dark stern face, he was an intriguer, but also a fighter. So we kind of go on a little bit here with the you know the the intrigue back and forth about the barons and the mobs and blah blah blah. So again, this was I don't know, I thought this was an awkward transition. It says, Fools, our pella was king, the sun was rising over the eastern towers, and out of that crimson dawn came a flying speck that grew to a bat, then to an eagle. So we get all this stuff, and it's just like, you know, like hard transition. Yes. I guess yeah, sometimes that's just how it goes. And we know that all of a sudden King Conan is arriving, and so we see a shape such as men knew only in half forgotten legends, and from between its Titan wings sprang a human form as it roared over the great tower. Then with a deafening thunder of wings it was gone, and the folk blinked, wondering if they dreamed. But on the turret stood a wild barbaric figure, half naked, blood stained, brandishing a great sword. Like the king, it's the king!

SPEAKER_02 59:32

The kirk.

Shamar Siege And Final Reckoning

Michael Kentris 59:34

So he's not dead. So Arpello is there, he draws and leaps at Conan, and Conan drops his own sword I love this, drops his own sword, grips the prince, and heaved him high above his head by crotch and neck. Take your plots to hell with you, he roared, and like a sack of salt, he hurled the Prince of Apelia far out to fall through empty space for 150 feet. People gave back as the body came hurtling down to smash on the marble marble pave, spattering blood and brains and lie crushed in its splintered armor like a mangled beetle. Hardcore. Oh, for sure. I mean, 150 feet, then I what, maybe like ten stories? Like Yeah, yeah, that's about right. That's that's a drop. That is that is gonna leave a mess. Especially with all that metal, you know. Especially with all that metal holding it together. Oh, goodness gracious. So uh I love those this section ends. High above all, the naked figure of the king rocked and swayed on the dizzy battlements, mighty arms brandished, roaring with gargantuan laughter that mocked all mobs and princes, even himself. Very funny. Right. Um, so so yes, Conan is now moving into barbarian stage. And uh we are in section five of this story. So we have uh another scene shift here where we have uh Shemar, right? So we were in Tamar, now we're in Shamar, which took me a second to reorient name-wise. That is, yeah, a little close. Alright, so Shemar, Tamar is the capital, Shemar is the city that is under wait, Tamar's the capital, Shimar is the one that's undersea. And so we get a description of this. There's a bridge over uh barges that were chained together to make a bridge for the attackers, and we got uh light riders, uh you know, siege engines in the plane, blah, blah, blah. So there's there's a bunch of big description of like all these siege engines, manganelles raining boulders, um, sappers, etc., etc. here. And as we go here, you know, the the feeling in the city is grim. Hope had been abandoned, a bare 1,500 men resisted, 40,000 warriors, no word had come from the kingdom whose outpost the city was. Conan was dead, so the invaders shouted exultantly. So uh we we have again, we kind of zoom in on our leaders of the the enemy here, the banners of Koth and Ophir, the slim lethal figure of the gold mailed amalys, the squat black armored form of Strabonus, and between them a shape that made the bravest blinch with horror, a lean vulture figure in a filmy robe. So things are looking grim for Shemar. But all of a sudden, a bugle call cuts the din, and we get the uh the very dramatic charge out of the low hills of Conan at the head of his mailed horsemen. Yeah, from the electrified watchers on the towers a great shout rent the skies, and ecstasy warriors clashed their notched swords on their riven shields, and the people of the town, ragged beggars and rich mertons, harlots, and red kirtles and dames in silks and satins, fell to their knees and cried out for joy to Mitra, tears of gratitude streaming down their faces. I I do think it's interesting how in this world the gods kind of like coexist amongst the populations, because obviously, you know, Conan is a follower, member of Krom, but he's not forcing, you know, after becoming king, like, all right, now we're all gonna worship Krom. Yeah. Well, it's kind of interesting you say that, because in in kind of like Bronze Age practice, right, we tend to think in our our modern sensibilities of like a pantheon, right? Like the Egyptian pantheon or the Norse pantheon or the Greek pantheon. But in reality, like a city would have like, you know, their gods, and it'd be maybe a couple of them. But um as things were conquered, right, so like with initially like the you know the the Hellenic kind of imperial diaspora, and then you know, much more so with the the Roman Empire, we get um basically these gods being incorporated, so we get this kind of syncretism of religion and practices, um, where it's more like uh, well, you know, I'm I'm saying a prayer to to Zeus, might as well say one to Apollo here too, just just in case, cover my bases. Absolutely. So and uh a lot of times, and you see this a lot in like Middle uh not Middle Eastern, uh Near Eastern, kind of uh Mesopotamian and Egyptian, where the supremacy of one god over the other would kind of mirror real-world events, like one city becomes predominant or conquers another, and so their god becomes like the most high god of that region, so to speak, and the other one becomes kind of uh subordinate. So, yeah, I would say that that is that is a fairly common thing where they didn't really care if you worship your own god as long as you also worshipped the one, like of the like domineering culture. And kind of historically, right, this is why like um Jews and Christians were persecuted in in the Roman Empire was because they would not offer sacrifice to the pagan gods, because that was considered, you know, basically a sin for them. And um, so that was why they you know, like, oh, we lost in battle? Well, it's because these guys in our empire weren't participating in the uh corporate worship of of the city or state. So sorry, there's a bit of a diversion there. But uh but but yeah, I would say that like that's as far as you know, like Kram, Mitra, Ishtar, what have you, um, which obviously a lot of these are, you know, gods or parallels of of historical deities from olden times. But um yeah. Anyway. It doesn't surprise me too much, is what I'm saying. Fair. So, uh we get uh Sa Sotha finally upset for the first time in his life. You're mad, Conan has been in Sath's belly for days, you know, as they recognize that uh it's King Conan. A scream of feline fury bursts from Sotha's lips, flecking his beard with foam. That's pretty pretty angry. Oh, for sure. I mean I would be too if my ill-conceived slow demise for my uh prisoner did not work. It's like why and how to get here in time. Alright, this is the work of Peleus Carsim, I feel his hand in this. May I be cursed for not killing him when I had the power. So anyway, uh they're like, you know, strike home, we're still stronger, charge and crush these dogs, so we shall yet feast in the ruins of Shimar tonight. O set, grant us victory, and I swear I'll offer up to thee five hundred versions of Shimar writhing in their blood. Still a bad dude. So oh we get our our armies squaring up with each other, you know, Conan's motley crew, and uh the main bulk is the Poetanian Knights, so kind of his uh his solid core, if you will. And then uh they also have some various other archers, pikemen, etc. And we get a long description of the various forces in the other the Cothian spearmen, the Shemidish archers, uh we also have a on the other side, on Conan's side, we have the Basanian archers who were outnumbered, but were still very good archers. So this kind of goes on. We've got the uh the wild Gundamen, uh, who are from northern Aquilonia, which, you know, Gunderman sounds kind of like you know, Dutch, I don't know. But uh and they're basically known to be the best infantry in in the world, and so they charge up, and the uh the general for Storbonus is advising a temporary retirement to draw out the knights, but Sturbonus was mad with rage, so he commands Arbanus, the general, to give the order. And the general commended his soul to Ishtar and sounded the golden oliphant. So it's like, well, guess I'm dead. Uh which, you know, in uh a page by the end of this page, yes, that is in fact the case. Um charge, the whole front rank of knights melted away, over the pincushioned corpses of horses and riders, their comrades stumbled and fell headlong, Arbanus was down an arrow through his throat, his skull smashed by the hoofs of his dying war horse. General confusion, things are falling apart, they are basically throwing away their numerical advantage here. Um so things go on and on, we get some mark some notable deaths here. Uh in particular, Amalrus goes down, dying beneath trampling hoofs after his shoulder bone was hewn in twain by Prospero's two-handed sword. We can remember Prospero from uh Phoenix on the sword as well. At the tip of the steel wedge, Conan roars his battle cry. Like the thunderbolt strikes, Conan struck, and uh they'll say, now here the battle hung in balance, for with his superior numbers, Strabonus still had opportunity to pluck victory from the knees of the gods. And so we get Strabonus and Conan squaring up with each other, and uh basically uh the Conan's five-foot blade crushed Strabonus' cask and skull, and the king's charger reared screaming, hurling a limp and sprawling corpse from the saddle. And then the great con goes up, you know, the morale obviously drops, all the leaders are dead, and we see uh basically a general route going on here. So everyone's fleeing for the river, but uh, you know, there's no honor among thieves here, and they kind of are cutting the bridge barges loose, and so we've got all these people who are just getting cut down on the banks of the river as they're trying to escape. No quarter they had promised, no quarter they got. Right. Uh the rule of war doesn't really apply here if they're not following it themselves. Right. The river whose tide ran red floated thick with the dead. Um the great host was hacked out of existence, and those that fled were less than those that died. So more than half of the army here was destroyed. And we get uh Sotha riding like the wind on a gaunt, weird looking steed whose stride no natural horse could match. So he's making a break for it. Conan came on recklessly. I like this, leaping his steed from boat to boat as a man might leap from one cake of floating ice to another. So he's chasing down Sotha, and uh you know, as they're going on and on here, uh the hunted and the hunter, not a foot could the black stallion gain, though he strained each nerve and few. And then we get another dot in the sky here. Grew into a huge eagle, and it drove at uh the head of Sotha's steed, which screamed, reared, and threw its rider. He rose, faced his pursuer, eyes those of a maddened serpent. And uh he got something in his hand. Conan knew he held death there, which is this is kind of neat. Uh again we meet, wizard, he grinned savagely. Keep off screamed Sotha like a blood mat jackal. I'll blast the flesh from your bones. You cannot conquer me. If you hack me in pieces, the bits of flesh and bone will reunite and haunt you to your doom. I see the hand of Peleus in this, but I defy I defy ye both. I am Sotha, son of and uh he kind of rushes, you know, dodges something that he throws at him and explodes, searing hellish fire. And basically, uh Conan's sword sheered through his lean neck. The wizard's head shot from his shoulders on an arching fountain of blood, and the robed figure staggered and crumpled drunkenly. Yet the mad black eyes glared up at Conan with no dimming of their feral light. Uh so weird. The head still like trying to like cast a spell at him or something, lips writhing awfully, the hands groped as if searching for the severed head. Then, with a swift rush of wings, something swooped from the sky, and in its mighty towns it snatched up the dripping head and soared skyward. Conan stood struck dumb, for from the eagle's throat boomed human laughter in the voice of Peleus the sorcerer. Takes a wizard to kill a wizard. Yes. Well, I love this this ending quote from Conan here. Crom, his mighty shoulders twitched. A murder a moraine on these wizardly feuds. I learned like a plague, basically. I had to look that one up.

SPEAKER_01 1:13:10

Okay.

Takeaways Plus Next Conan Reading

Michael Kentris 1:13:10

Peleus has dealt well with me, but I care not if I see him no more. Give me a clean sword and a clean foe to flesh it in. Damnation, what I would not give for a flagon of wine. Never changed, Conan. Alright. So so yeah, that is the end of the Scarlet Citadel, you know? Betrayal, imprisonment, uh pitched battles, wizards. Some Lage Horse. It's it's got everything you would want from a sword and sorcery uh type story, I think. Absolutely. So uh we are running a little long. But do you think what do you think, Will? Should we go for the Queen of the Black Coast today or should we should we put a pin in it? I know we've mentioned that we were gonna do Queen of the Black Coast, but Yeah, I am I am hesitant because this one's also a longer one as well. It is. It's probably put us at least at the two hour mark. Yeah. Hmm, hmm. Maybe for for thoroughness's sake, so we don't rush through it. We'll do it next time. Sounds good. But uh but yes, also a great story. So I look forward to sharing that with you next time, dear listener. Sorry to overpromise and underdeliver. But yes, join us next time when we discuss the Queen of the Black Coast, another thrilling Conan the Barbarian story. Uh as always, you can find us online at brothersreadingbooks.com, you can email us at brothersreadingbooks at gmail.com, and you can find us on uh Twitter slash X at Brothers Reading. Uh if you're enjoying what we're doing, let us know. If you're not, I guess you can let us know about that too. But uh yeah, drop us a line, book suggestions, feedback. Uh if we get listener feedback, maybe we can read it on the show sometime. Yeah, that'd be fun. That'd be fun. Maybe do a listener QA episode. Yeah. Um But as always, uh make sure to like, rate, and subscribe. Uh I think we do that in podcast apps, right? Uh and share it with your friends. Word of mouth is always best. Smash that like button. We are not on YouTube. Do not look for us there. Um final thoughts, Will? No, just uh yeah. I when I was reading this, I was thinking to myself, are we actually gonna have time for the black coast? But yeah, you know, perhaps it was overly optimistic, but that's okay. It's it's uh you know shoot for the stars and you'll land on the moon. That's right. It's a marathon, not a surprise. That's right. That's right. All right. Well, thank you everybody for listening, and we will talk to you next time.