Conan the Barbarian 134

Major Characters

 * Conan (Previous appearance in CB-133; next appearance in CB-135).

Minor Characters

 * Pelija Lon (First appearance; next appearance in CB-138).
 * Eshe Lon (Firstappearance; next appearance in CB-138). Wizard

Locations

 * The Border Kingdoms
 * Lucerthan

Time Frame

 * A day

Synopsis
Conan is tracking a murderer for the Border Kingdom village of Lucerthan when he spies a bear trap in the grass. It is merely a distraction, though, as the killer he is hunting leaps from behind the trees to attack. Conan defeats his opponent, and is shocked to discover it's a woman. She admits to killing the victim, Ranj, and Conan returns her to the town to claim the bounty, though disturbed the villagers were not forthcoming about her identity, and confused as to why they were having a hard time capturing her. After he rides away pondering for a bit, he turns back to have his questions answered when he and his horse are bitten by a viper, the poison to which there is no antidote. Still wanting answers, he returns to the execution site and to his astonishment, the entire town is frozen in time, including the boulder being pushed on the girl to execute her. Conan finds a wizard named Eshe Lon also unaffected by the frozen time, and he explains that the girl, Pelija, is his daughter, whose innocence was seduced by the rakish Ranj, and when he abandoned her to return to his fiance, his body was found the next day and Pelija was accused. Eshe Lon prayed to the snake goddess Ishiti for help, and she froze time so he could come up with a solution to his dilemma, sending an asp to bite him as only her reptilian servants and those whose venom course through their veins would be immune to the time spell, which is why Conan is able to move as well. Eshe has been unable to figure out a way to free his daughter, as she is tied to a deep stake and cannot be removed from the giant boulder plummeting from the cliff onto her. Conan agrees to help him if he will share the antidote to the poison and Eshe agrees. Conan climbs up the cliff and leaps onto the boulder, tying a rope securely around it. Then he throws the rope over a strong tree branch and ties the other end to the stake. When time starts again, the boulder's weight pulls the stake out as Conan rushes Pelija and rolls out of the boulder's path in the nick of time. Eshe takes his daughter to his castle while Conan guards the rear, battling and defeating the villagers. He goes to the castle only to find that Eshe has taken the entire antidote himself and had, in fact, killed Ranj in the first place. Conan collapses as Pelija begs her father to help. Suddenly, Ishiti appears, disappointed that her servant acted with such dishonor, and sucks the antidote from Eshe to give to Conan. Conan recovers as Eshe is pulled into Ishiti's vortex and he and Pelija make their exit.

Reprinted

 * The Chronicles of Conan 17 - The Creation Quest and Other Stories