Conan the Barbarian 108

Major Characters

 * Conan (Last appearance in CB-107; next appearance in CB-109).

Minor Characters

 * Diana (Last appearance in CB-107); No further appearances to date.
 * Thutmekri (Last appearance in CB-28; next appearance in ??).
 * Erfu (First appearance; next appearance in CB-109). Stygian servant and apprentice sorcerer.

Locations

 * Kush
 * Darfar
 * Sukhmet, near the border of Stygia and Darfar

Time Frame

 * Several days

Synopsis
Conan and Diana find shelter from a storm as they ride away from Meroe. Diana tells Conan how she and her father's ship was captured by pirates, her father slain, and she sold into slavery. The next morning, they continue their journey to the Stygian border-town of Sukhmet, but are ambushed by the cannibal Darfaris. They lose their horses but manage to flee into the path of a traveling caravan that includes an old acquaintance of Conan, Thutmekri. Although Thutmekri wants nothing more than to run Conan through, the others convince him to allow Conan to assist in fighting off the Darfari. The caravan and Conan hold off the cannibals, who retreat and say they will leave the caravan alone in return for Diana. Although Thutmekri is agreeable, Conan is not and the Darfari counter with accepting two men instead of one woman. Conan decides to surrender himself and Thutmekri orders his indentured servant Erfu to go with him. The two men are taken to the Darfari camp and tied to stakes. Erfu uses some acid to burn through his chains and uses the last few drops on Conan's...enough to weaken them enough for Conan to break free. The two men grab a horse and flee, arriving a few days later at the border town Sukhmet. They track down Thutmekri in order to retrieve Diana, but are shocked to find she wants to stay with him - she prefers a spoiled life as the kept woman of a slave trader to one on the road with Conan. Conan silently leaves the city with Erfu.

Reprinted

 * The Chronicles of Conan 14 - Shadow of the Beast and Other Stories