"The City of Skull" by L. Sprague de Camp & Lin Carter (1967) Originally appeared in Conan, 1967. Plot: Conan is sent by King Yildez to deliver the intended bride to a powerful Kuigar khan. The party is wiped out except for Conan, Juma, a black warrior, and the princess Zosara. They are taken to Meru, a country that is hidden in a tropical bowl in the mountains. In Shamballah, the capital city, Conan meets the rimpoche (or god-king) of the Meruvians, a toad-like man named Jalung Thongpa, who Conan almost throttles with his chains. The king's magician, Tanzong Tengri, knocks Conan out with his magical staff. Conan and Juma are sold into slavery. They are placed as rowers on a ship, where they try to plan an escape with the help of the Meruvians. The locals will have none of it because they fear the power of their king to summon the god Yama. Conan and Juma escape and crawl through the sewer into the temple of Yama, where Zosara is about to be sacrificed. They rescue her but Jalung Thongpa summons Yama, a gigantic green jade statue. With his prayers Yama comes to life. Conan tries to stop the statue with a stone bench but is hypnotized by the burning eyes of the god. Juma grabs Jalung Thongpa and throws him under the giant's steps. With his death, the statue becomes lifeless. Conan and Juma take Zosara to her intended groom, but not before Conan has his way with her. Monsters: Yama, The Green God - this thirty-foot statue is kept in the temple and can be activitated by the prayers of the god-king or rimpoche. History: Not the best Conan story ever, but quite Howard-like in its motifs of lost cities and god-kings. I prefer the deCamp-Howard tale, "The Flame Knife" to this one. The fact that Conan and Juma escape the ship and just happen to end up in the temple as the girl is being sacrificed is a coincidence worthy of Edgar Rice Burroughs. Savage Sword of Conan #59 (December 1980)
      
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