Arides

Arides was a nobleman of Argos and the husband of Lady Vasallia. He and Vasallia fled on a passenger coach from an unnamed city in eastern Argos during a war with Koth. With them on the coach were Borondo the merchant and Tamara, a warrior-priestess of Mitra. The coach broke down on the way to the port city of Napolitos, stranding them until they were picked up by Conan, who had been hired by an Argossean magistrate to deliver his wagon of treasure to Napolitos.

Fleeing from bandits, Conan and his passengers escaped them but became trapped on a plateau surrounded by a chasm, and the site of the ancient ruined city of Eidoran. Meanwhile, Argossean soldiers were in pursuit of the four passengers, having been informed that one of them was a spy who stole military secrets and intended to sell them to Koth. Not knowing which of the four was the spy (Borondo), they had been ordered to find and slay all four of them. When the soldiers caught up with them, Arides tried to pull aristocratic rank on the soldiers before being struck down by their arrows.