"Kings of the Night" by Robert E. Howard (1930) Originally appeared in Weird Tales, Novembr 1930. Plot: Bran Mak Morn and his Gaelic allies prepare to meet a Roman army marching beyond the wall. Bran needs to convince 300 Vikings to join his side but their leader Ragnar was slain in a skirmish with some Roman scouts. The Vikings threaten to desert to the Roman side if Bran can't produce a king worthy to lead them, a king who is neither Pict nor Gael. Gonar, the wizard, comes to the rescue by calling King Kull from the past, using the magic stone in Bran's headress, a stone given to Brule the Spear-Slayer by Kull. Kull appears out of the sunrise. To convince the Vikings he must fight Wulfhere to the death. During the fight Wulfhere bites his arm, making him bleed. The Vikings see he is flesh and blood and not a ghost. That morning the 300 Vikings and Kull take positions as the bait in an ambush. Once the Roman's enter the valley and engage the Vikings, the Gaels and Picts will come from the forests on either side to close the trap. Marcus Sulius arogantly and foolishly falls for the trap, riding into the valley to assault the shield wall of the Vikings. These men with Kull valiantly hold the Romans while Cormac watches from the side, thinking Bran is late in closing the trap. The Picts and Gaels do attack and the battle really begins, with chariots cutting down Romans and men dying all over. Bran kills Marcus Sulius himself with a dagger and the battle is over. Every last one of the Vikings has died but they did not give an inch. Kull is surrounded by a group of Gaulish Romans, doomed but wanting revenge on the Valusian. They watch as he fades back to his time as the sun sets. Cormac is angry with Bran but the king of the Picts explains he knew he was sacrificing the Vikings but it was necessary to keep the Romans from reforming. A hard decision but one he made. Gonar shows up to tell them how the stories tell Kull returned to his time, wounded but survived. Monsters: None. History: This story's title was chosen for the name of this website because as a tale it features perhaps the boldest example of Howard's spirit. There is dark magic, brooding history and, of course, plenty of action. The only thing it is missing is a good monster or two. As history it is pretty inaccurate but Howard always dwelt in his own version of time and space. As part of his pseudo-history, from Valusia to Britain, it is a brilliant cross-over (the only one he wrote) of his characters. The 300 Vikings are quite obviously inspired by the 300 Spartans at Thermopylae. The academics have made a lot about the Cormac in the story. Time-wise he simply could not be the same Cormac (no doubt, a relative) that appears in "Tigers of the Sea" and the Offutt books. Those two characters are separated by many centuries.
"Kings of the Night" was adapted by Roy Thomas and drawn by David Wenzel in Savage Sword of Conan #42-43 (July-August 1979).
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