Writer: Don Kraar
Artist: Dave Simons
Conan is leader of the Kozaki and raids a caravan taking a princess of Iranistan to be a concubine to King Yezdigerd. Conan’s hetmen want the girl for themselves but Conan is going to ransom her. The girl Serena doesn’t want to be a concubine but stay with Conan. The three hetmen plot among themselves to get rid of Conan. Meanwhile at Fort Ghori the satrap is being pressured by the king to get the Kozaki or be replaced by Shah Amurath. The satrap goes to a priest of Tarim who is secretly a worshipper of the Black Circle. He offers some black magic to help, and he gets a hawk.
Well, the hetmen plot and one dies in a duel with Conan. The other is convinced by the weasel guy to kidnap the princess. Conan goes after him and rescues her after killing the kidnapper. Only he gets captured by the Turanians. The princess manages to free Conan and they escape through a swamp. The satrap sets his magic falcon which turns into a demon. Conan defeats it and comes to his camp to warn of an impending attack. The weasel guy is now in charge and Conan challenges him. With daggers dipped in snake venom they fight and naturally Conan wins. He defeats the Turanians and the satrap gets executed for his failure. Conan keeps the princess as his own woman.
“The Prince of Thieves”
Writer: Charles Dixon
Artists: Val Semeiks and Walter Brogan
A group of assassins infiltrate Kull’s palace. At the same time a thief also enters. The thief runs into the assassins and runs into Kull in his bath. A fight ensues with the thief helping out. Kull in gratitude allows the thief to leave with all he can carry.
This was an interesting story. One from Conan’s Kozaki days. The writer drops some Howard stuff like the Black Circle, and it is sort of an introduction on how Shah Amurath gets his position. The Kull story was another excellent backup feature. A good read on this snowy Sunday.
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