"Queen of the Black Coast" by Robert E. Howard(1934)
Originally appeared in Weird Tales, May 1934. Plot: Escaping Argos on a ship, Conan is captured by Belit and her famous pirates. Rather than death, Belit takes Conan for her lover and partner. She claims she loves him so much that even in death she would come back and save him. Taking their ship up a haunted river to an ancient ruin, they find a great treasure under an altar. They also see a strange winged figure. While worrying about the treasure, the water casks on their ship are smashed. Conan takes a squad into the jungle to find water while Belit loads the treasure. Conan misses the attack on his men because he stumbles into a patch of black lotus. While knocked out he has visions of what the ancient city was once like and the history of the winged beings. Waking, he finds his squad has run over a cliff to their death, except for their chief who is insane. Conan has to kill him in self-defense. Conan hurries back to the boat but all the rest of the men are dead and so is Belit, her body hanging from the yard-arm by a beautiful necklace of rubies. Conan plots his revenge. He takes on the horde of were-hyenas, shooting them with arrows, then using his sword and finally choking them with his hands. While recovering from the fight the winged ape attacks, pinning Conan under a slab of stone. Death is but a half-second away when Belit's spirit intervenes, saving Conan. Free, Conan cuts the winged one in half with his sword. He burns all the treasure along with Belit's body before leaving the coast. Monsters: Were-Hyenas - using twisted magic, the winged ape turned invading Stygians into giant hyenas. The Winged Ape - once a superhuman being, the winged ape is the last decadent remnant of his species. History: This is one of the best of the Conan stories, having the rare romance as well as good monsters. Howard used the winged man idea in "The Garden of Fear" as well. The idea of teh supernatural savior was used in the first Conan film, though the lover was Valeria (from "Red Nails"). John Buscema and Ernie Chan did the main part of the story for the 100th issue of Conan the Barbarian.
|
1
