Conan the Barbarian 159

Major Characters

 * Conan (Previous appearance in CB-158; next appearance in CB-160).

Minor Characters

 * Tonzhog (First and only appearance to date). Gladiator.
 * Marielle de Bruvahr (First and only appearance to date). Noblewoman.
 * Nateesa (First and only appearance to date). Servant girl.
 * Zogran (First and only appearance to date). Brute.

Locations

 * Border Kingdoms

Time Frame

 * A week

Synopsis
Conan battles the brute Tonzhog in a gladiatorial ring and defeats him to the admiration of the crowd, and the specific interest of the sculptress Marielle de Bruvahr, who stumbles into Conan and twists her ankle. Conan gallantly assists Marielle back to her house and admires the sculptures in her courtyard, and agrees to stay for dinner. Conan intercedes when Marielle reacts violently to a a minor mistake by a servant girl, Nateesa, but soon falls into a drugged stupor arranged by Marielle. COnan has been drugged with a mind-controlling potion and soon becomes a foppish, obsequious arm candy for Marielle until one day she gets bored of his fawning attitude. While Conan pouts and refuses to eat, she realizes the mind control drug is wearing off and tells Nateesa to give him some drugged wine. Nateesa switches wine flasks, though, trying to get Conan to snap out of his stupor, but Marielle notices and has the brute Zogran drag Nateesa off to punish. Conan is drugged again, but Marielle is tired of him and leads him to her cellar where a servant is mixing molten metal - it seems when Marielle gets bored with a man she coats him in metal and displays them as a sculpture in her courtyard. However, Nateesa, recovering from being whipped, sneaks into the chamber and hurls a dagger at Conan just as he is about to jump into the cauldron. The shock snaps him out of his stupor and he attacks the men trying to prod him into the boiling metal. Nateesa hurls herself at Marielle and knocks her unconscious, and Nateesa begs Conan to take her away. A confused Conan acquiesces and asks Nateesa to explain what in the world just happened.

Reprinted

 * The Chronicles of Conan 20 - Night of the Wolf and Other Stories