Publisher's Synopsis
In the citadel, in a chamber with a domed ceiling of carven jet, and the fretted arches ofdoorways glimmering with strange dark jewels, a strange conclave came to pass. Conan ofAquilonia, blood from unbandaged wounds caking his huge limbs, faced his captors. Oneither side of him stood a dozen black giants, grasping their long-shafted axes. In front ofhim stood Tsotha, and on divans lounged Strabonus and Amalrus in their silks and gold, gleaming with jewels, naked slave boys beside them pouring wine into cups carved of asingle sapphire. In strong contrast stood Conan, grim, blood-stained, naked but for aloincloth, shackles on his mighty limbs, his blue eyes blazing beneath the tangled blackmane which fell over his low broad forehead. He dominated the scene, turning to tinsel thepomp of the conquerors by the sheer vitality of his elemental personality, and the kings intheir pride and splendor were aware of it each in his secret heart, and were not at ease.Only Tsotha was not disturbed."Our desires are quickly spoken, king of Aquilonia," said Tsotha. "It is our wish to extendour empire.""And so you want to swine my kingdom," rasped Conan."What are you but an adventurer, seizing a crown to which you had no more claim than anyother wandering barbarian?" parried Amalrus. "We are prepared to offer you suitablecompensation-""Compensation!" It was a gust of deep laughter from Conan's mighty chest. "The price ofinfamy and treachery! I am a barbarian, so I shall sell my kingdom and its people for lifeand your filthy gold? Ha! How did you come to your crown, you and that black-faced pigbeside you? Your fathers did the fighting and the suffering, and handed their crowns to youon golden platters. What you inherited without lifting a finger-except to poison a fewbrothers-I fought for
