Conan the Fearless

 is the first Conan novel written by Steve Perry, published in February 1986 by TOR books as a trade paperback with a cover by Kirk Reinert [top image]. The mass market edition was released in January 1987 with cover art by Boris Vallejo [bottom image].

Synopsis
Corinthia, North and West of Mornstadinos, in the secluded castle known as Slott, Sovartus of the Black Square summons the demon Djavul from Gehenna to do his bidding. Sovartus has abducted three children. He is searching for a fourth and binds Djavul to find the child for him. The Child of Fire.

At the Zamoran side of a pass through the Karpash Mountains to Corinthia, Conan rides a rich man's horse toward an inn. Fresh from some thievery, his horse carries saddlebags filled with coins and he flips a gold one to the innkeeper for food, wine and a room with a locking door.

Early the next morning the Cimmerian kills three thieves who thought to surprise him while he slept. Wakened by the fight, the innkeeper and a merchant investigate. Later, at breakfast, Logarno the merchant speaks with Conan. Learning the Cimmerian plans to take the northern fork of the pass, the merchant warns him that it is haunted. Conan scoffs at the warning and soon leaves on his journey.

Riding along a lake at the top of the pass, Conan's horse stops in its tracks and looks at the uniformly frozen water. Suddenly the surface of the lake starts to crack and heave in numerous places.

Completely white humanoids, shaped like apes, pour from under the ice. It soon becomes obvious that the creatures are either intelligent or guided by another's will, for instead of rushing toward Conan, the majority of the creatures rush to either side of his position, to block his escape.

With no other option, Conan vaults from his catatonic horse and charges the nearest of the creatures. Taking their measure, he manages to escape their trap, but his horse is not so fortunate. Unprotected, the unfortunate animal, and also Conan's supplies and his gold, is dragged down into the lake. Abandoning the doomed animal, Conan runs from the lake toward Corinthia.

After a day of running and then walking Conan reaches the foothills at the Corinthian mouth of the pass and glimpses the city of Mornstadinos, another day's travel ahead.

Closer to the city, Logarno stops by the roadside to magically speak with his mistress, Djuvula the Witch. He informs her that a man named Conan could be the physical specimen she has been searching for; an exceptional human heart capable of powering the flesh golem she is assembling; the heart of a truly brave man.

Unknown to Logarno or Djuvula, someone is eavesdropping on their conversation using a mechanical device called a storora. Lemparius, a politician holding a powerful position in the local government, seems mysteriously interested in the stranger, Conan. He is also revealed to be a were-panther.

Reaching Mornstadinos, Conan buys a loaf of hard black bread from an old lady and is directed to the Milk of Wolves Inn. The cheap wine he orders to wash the bread down takes the last of his money.

Sizing up the customers, he sees a group of thieves planning to rob an old man sitting with a early-teen-aged girl. The old man uses illusions to dissuade most of the thieves but when he baits the leader with a similar illusion, the man becomes enraged, throwing his winecup to the side and drawing steel to attack the pair. As luck would have it, the winecup strikes Conan's loaf of bread, knocking it to the filthy floor. Conan kills the man before he can complete his attack on the girl and the old man.

Knowing that the city guard will not tolerate killing a man over a loaf of bread, the old man tells the innkeeper that Conan is their bodyguard; a position that Conan accepts, after some quiet discussion at their table. Logarno, disguised as a priest, watches from the shadows.

Of a day, Conan is more grim than usual and Vitarius deftly draws him into a discussion of why. When Conan relates his confrontation with the ice-apes, Vitarius informs him that they are water spirits called undines and are rumoured to be under the control of an evil mage named Sovartus. Indeed, Sovartus is using those and other elemental spirits to isolate Mornstadinos. He is searching the city for someone or something and is trying to prevent them/it from escaping. Conan remarks that, mage or no, Sovartus owes him a horse, to which Vitarus counsels him to forgive the debt.

Cut to Logarno, dragged before Senator Lemparius, the latter of whom has arranged a demonstration for the former. Arming a condemned man and then setting him loose, Lemparius slays the man with ease. The Senator then tells Logarno that he knows of his mission for Djuvula and that, instead, he wants Logarno to bring Conan to him. Lemparius was once Djuvula's lover but was cast aside. Now that he is a were-panther, he wants another opportunity with Djuvula. He plans to use Conan, who Djuvula wants, as leverage to get such an opportunity. Caught between immediate death and only possible future death, Logarno agrees to be Lemparius' double agent.

Cut back to Conan watching over his employer during one of his "magic shows." Vitarius' finale involves a flash of bright light and a cloud of dense white smoke which thins to reveal a nine-foot, bright red skinned, huge-toothed demon. Eldia quietly but quickly tells Conan that Vitarius did not summon the creature. It is real!

The demon menaces Vitarius and demands to know where "she" is. Scanning the crowd, the demon turns and starts toward Eldia. Conan confronts the demon and states his intention to protect her so the demon attacks him.

The battle is resolved by Vitarius who uses Eldia's elemental power to cast blue fire onto the Demon while it battles Conan. The demon flees, but not before Conan removes its hand. In the aftermath, Conan and Vitarius discover that Eldia has vanished.

The demon re-appears in the home of Djuvula, his half sister on his father's side, and asks the witch for aid in locating Eldia. Djuvula agrees in order to gain favor with Sovartus and because a man capable of taking her brother's hand would certainly be a truly brave man; her flesh golem still needs a heart.

Conan finds Eldia in the company of Eldia's older sister, come to rescue her from her abductors and take her home. Eldia vouches for Conan and the trio rejoin Vitarius for a more complete explanation, from the beginning, of what exactly is going on.

Vitarius explains that Eldia is one of a set of quadruplets born to her mother and Hogistum, a wizard of the Grey Square, in a successful attempt to link the power of the four elements to a human soul during conception. The children were separated at birth. Eldia stayed with her mother and the other three were sent into hiding. Kidnapped by agents of Sovartus, Eldia was saved by Vitarius of the White Square. The other three children were not so lucky and are now in Sovartus' clutches.

Vitarius and Kinna resolve to free the other children and defeat Sovartus, but Conan declines on the grounds that he dislikes being lied to and likes sorcery even less. He accepts Vitarius' offer of his pay for the current day and a room for the night and retires, intending to continue his journey to Nemedia in the morning.

That night, Conan and Kinna are restless, both sensing something outside their respective shuttered windows. They meet in the hallway by coincidence and resolve to spend some quality time together in Conan's room, right after Conan checks outside the window of the room she shares with Vitarius and Eldia.

Unbeknownst to the troupe, using Luft's connection to the air element, Sovartus has conjured a tornado to collect her. Conan opens the shutters of Kinna's room to find the devil-wind tearing through the city toward the Milk of Wolves Inn.

Insisting that the tornado cannot turn quickly, Vitarius suggests they can survive if they manage to get behind it. As they flee the inn, Conan is attacked by thugs hired by Logarno to fulfill his commission for Lemparius. Dispatching the assailants, the small group flees the doomed inn. After a long torturous fight against the wind and flying debris, they manage to flank the tornado. Unable to turn around and follow, the wind dissipates.

Sovartus' Demon was following in the path of the tornado and, as the wind abates, spies Conan and the others as they navigate the aftermath of the storm. Instead of attacking however, he tells Vitarius his true name, threatens Conan and then disappears.

After taking stock of the day, Conan decides that Sovartus must die; he joins the group in their plan to defeat the mage. Destitute, except for what they managed to carry with them in their flight from the Inn, Conan decides to burgle the home of one of the wealthiest men in Mornstadinos to quickly obtain the wealth they need to outfit themselves for their assault on Sovartus' castle. His target: the home of Lemparius.

Meanwhile Logarno pulls his lone remaining kidnapper from the ruins of the Milk of Wolves Inn. With the promise of even more riches, the thug sets off once more to find and capture the barbarian.

Conan and his allies make their way to another Inn, The Smoking Cat, to secure lodging while they make their preparations to travel to Sovartus' castle. On the way, Conan performs a feat of strength to free a workman from a giant wooden beam that fell on his legs, just as they passed.

After their rooms are arranged at the new inn, Conan retires to sleep for a few hours before his coming nocturnal undertaking. Awakening to a thin haze of yellow smoke in his room, he finds himself filled with a powerful lust as a female voice bids him open the door. Standing in the hallway is Djuvula, wearing a silken blue robe. She enters, shuts the door and lets the robe drop to the floor, revealing her naked, perfect body.

Meanwhile, locating his prey at The Smoking Cat, Logarno's kidnapper decides to salve his wounded pride and kill the Cimmerian, alone, rather than gather a new gang and capture him. Seeing Conan go upstairs to his rooms after drinking three cups of wine, the kidnapper waits for a time and then proceeds upstairs, hoping to catch the barbarian sleeping it off.

In the midst of coupling with Djuvula, the door bursts open and the intruder attacks. Hurling the woman from him, Conan dives toward his sword, narrowly managing to evade the attacker's blade as it crashes down on the bed. Killing the man, Conan realizes that his beautiful bed-mate has fled and that the yellow smoke was probably some sort or sorcery to make him unable to refuse her advances.

That night, Conan invades the house of Lemparius, discovering it shockingly easy to do so. Finding a room filled with wealth, Conan takes a candle from the hall to light the room while he assembles his loot. As he turns to leave he is surprised by a voice behind him. Dropping the candle to draw his sword, he soon discovers that his adversary seems able to see in the dark, while Conan can make out little save the slit of light from under the closed door to the hallway.

Weaving his sword in continuous arcs he manages to make his way to the door unscathed, yanks it open without dropping his swag or sword, and leaps into the hallway. Finding it empty, he sprints toward the store-room where he entered the house, only to find the hallway blocked by a dozen men with swords and pikes.

Turning back he discovers a lone man, standing with a relaxed pose, armed with only a curved dagger. The man introduces himself as Lemparius. They begin a duel, with Lemparius whistling for assistance from his men-at arms when it becomes apparent that he cannot dispatch Conan as easily as he had first thought. Lemparius cannot withstand Conan's assault and falls to the floor, but before the Cimmerian can deal the killing stroke, the summoned guards appear. Distracted by their attack, Conan is knocked unconscious by a recovered Lemparius.

He awakens in a cell, clad only in, "...brief underbreeks, and above that his belt and purse, nothing more." Eventually Lemparius comes to gloat at the irony that, despite his fruitless efforts to capture Conan in the past days, the barbarian delivered himself into Lemparius' hands without prompting. Soon after, Djuvula arrives demanding to see Conan. Conan uses the distraction to kick his captor in the genitals and is then clubbed back into unconsciousness by Lemparius' men.

When next he awakes, Conan is bound hand and foot with soft tight straps, laying on padded bed. Pretending to still be asleep, he listens to Lemparius and Djuvula verbally spar over whether, now that he has become a werepanther, Lemparius has the vigour to once again share her bed. Djuvula relents, giving him three days to recover from the injury Conan recently dealt him, otherwise Conan's heart will animate her Prince of the Lance, instead.

Refusing to be sacrificed to her foul sorcery, Conan breaks his bonds and battles Lemparius for his freedom, learning in the process that the man is are werebeast. Using Lemparius' own enchanted dagger against him, Conan escapes.

Making haste for the Inn, Conan collects Vitarius, gathers his companions and their supplies from the outfitter's shop by bartering for a single Emerald from Lemparius' treasure room that was missed when his men emptied the Cimmerian's money pouch. Together they quit the city ahead of Morstadinos' City Gaurd.

Djuvula divines that Conan and his band traveled the West road out of the city. Djavul goes after Conan and Eldia to complete his mission for Sovartus and have his revenge on Conan. He vows to return the Cimmerian's heart to Djavula for her golem.

Three days later, Lemparius returns to Djuvula to be tested in her bed, bringing the traitor Logarno for her as a token of his favour. As Djuvula expected, Lemparius fails her test and Logarno escapes in the ensuing battle between Lemparius' were-form and the witch. He promptly flees the city, heading westward. Meanwhile, Djavula prevails easily in the battle and curses Lemparius to forevermore be trapped in his panther-form. He is also no longer able to attack Djuvula nor is he able to have sex with other panthers. as night falls, Lem-panther leaves the city intent on killing Conan so Djuvula cannot use his heart for her golem.

In the meantime, Conan and his comrades have turned north from the Corinthian Road towards Sovartus' domain. That northern road leads them through Bloddolk Forest, a dark enchanted wood that Vitarius hopes to travel through in a single day. To avoid spending the night in its bounds, the group camps for the night prior to entering it. Vitarius casts a warding spell around their camp to warn them if something tries to approach their camp in the night.

Djavul catches up to the group but is unable to breach the ward without alerting the camp and risking a repeat of his defeats by Eldia, back in the city. As he watches Conan and Kinna get better acquainted, the demon devises a plan to separate Eldia from the others so he can defeat Conan.

The next day, the group travels through the forest but are forced to detour an hour off the main trail due to a huge fallen tree. As they regain the main trail, night is falling and they are forced to make camp inside the forest; Vitarius claims it is far too dangerous to travel through it at night. Djavul uses the close confines of the forest to sneak close enough that he is inside the perimeter of the ward that Vitarius sets, again, for the night.

Setting Eldia and Conan's sword aside, Djavul attacks Kinna and Conan as they sleep. Conan tries to use Lemparius' enchanted dagger but Djavul is the stronger and disarms him. Vitarius provides Conan the demon's severed hand and he uses it to kill the demon.

Back in the city, Djvula senses her half-brother's death and begins preparations to follow the group herself.

On the Corinthian Road, Logarno is discovered sleeping under a tree by Lem-panther and the traitor becomes supper.

Djavula sets out the next morning and enters the In-Between Lands, a hostile alternate dimension which allows her to to travel the distance of days in only hours. She braves the horrific creatures there to try to get ahead of Conan's group so she can fulfill Djavul's mission and thereby gain a powerful patron in Sovartus while also securing Conan's heart for her golem.

She travels for a few hours but is forced back to our dimension when threatened by a giant creature that moves under the ground and intends to eat her and her horse-drawn wagon. The witch re-enters our dimension at dusk just to the North of the Bloddok Forest on the Dodligia Plain, still a half-day behind Conan's group. As she pushes her horses on through the darkness, she takes scant notice when her horses shy away from a tree where a panther lies sleeping.

That night, while camped on the plain en-route to Sovartus' mountain-castle, Conan's band is attacked by demi-whelves, creatures that resemble kobolds, large upright dogs with human-like legs, long ape-like hands and the head of a dog/wolf. Conan fights the attackers until Vitarius can summon Eldia's power to help drive them off, but the old man and the girl are attacked from behind...Conan defeats the immediate threat but Eldia and Kinna are abducted while Conan saves Vitarius.

Vitarius soon begins to shield them from Sovartus' increasing threats, eventually stopping on the plain to marshal his strength and sending Conan on ahead to the castle to rescue the two females.

Thinking her wagon to be undetectable, Djuvula starts after Conan but is surprised when Vitarius speaks to her as she passes, warning her to leave the area while she still can. She decides to ignore his warning and continues after Conan who is now unprotected from her magic.

Conan soon reaches the mountain upon which Castle Slott is built and decides against taking the unguarded entrance. Instead, he opts to climb the mountain and look for an opening above to gain access.

Djuvula arrives a short time later and, seeing no sign of the Cimmerian, she en-spells one of Sovartus' robed servants to lead her through the castle. Lemparius the Werepanther follows soon after, entering the unguarded gate.

As bolts of blue fire, cast by Vitarius, begin to impact the castle, Conan quickly attains the crevice he is climbing towards before he is dislodged by the impacts. The passage grants him access to the engineered corridors of the palace and he makes his way upward until he reaches a room with cells along one wall; in one of which he finds Kinna.

During this journey Conan also discovers that Sovartus is served by lizard-men, not unlike the servants of the sorcerer, Amanar, from Conan the Invincible.

Freeing Kinna after dispatching her lizard-man guards,the young woman leads the way through the castle to where she last saw Eldia. They arrive to find nine more lizard-men guarding the door to Sovartus' chambers.

As Conan discusses their situation with Kinna, Djuvula comes upon them and orders her thralled lizard-man to deliver Conan to her, planning to kill them both with black lotus dust. As she watches her minion execute her will, Lem-panther catches up with her. His animal nature takes control of him and he attacks Djuvula.

Conan dispatches Djuvula's lizard-man and, unable to reach Djuvula, Lempanther attacks Conan. Conan disembowels the were-panther with his own magic dagger. Djuvula monologues her intention to kill Conan and Kinna, raising her filter of poison to cast it at the pair. Another of Vitarius' bolts of power smashes into the castle at that moment and Djuvula drops the deadly missile, dying by her own hand.

Conan orders Kinna to hold her breath and they both run towards the cloud of poison, which kills the remaining lizard-men as they pursue.

In his chambers, Sovartus has completed his ritual and summoned the Thing of Power. He sends it out onto the plain to slay Vitarius.

Conan and Kinna enter Sovartus' chamber and kill his two guards but fare poorly against their master. He disarms them with the elements of fire and earth and then begins to beat them with the element of air.

Eldia awakes and distracts Sovartus so Conan can grapple the wizard, strangling him.

Upon Sovartus' death, the Thing of Power lunges back towards the castle even as it begins to disintegrate.

Conan Kinna and the children slow theri flight back through the castle so as not to stir the Black Lotus powder and Conan spies a pack of items on the dead lizard-man that Djuvula had commanded. Among the items is his ancient broadsword (The Sword of Conan) and the other items he abandoned when he escaped Djuvula's home in Mornstadinos.

The troupe escapes the fortress as the Thing of Power completes the destruction of the castle and then dissipates.

Riding horses that were stabled at the base of the mountain (on the opposite side from the attack of the Thing of Power), they soon come across Vitarius who escaped the elemental beast's attack by casting an illusion of himself standing on the plain while he took refuge in the tunnels of the demi-whelves.

Finding the rest of the emeralds stolen from Lemparius' treasure room secreted in the pack he retrieved from Djuvula's minion, Conan apportions them amongst his companions. They part with Conan riding west and the rest of the troupe returning to Kinna's home.

Characters

 * Sovartus - Mage of the Black Square, student and son of Hogistum
 * Djavul - demon from Gehenna, half brother to Djuvula the witch
 * Atena - Child of Water; child imbued with the elemental essence of water
 * Jord - Child of Earth; child imbued with the elemental essence of earth
 * Luft - Child of Air; child imbued with the elemental essence of air
 * Eldia - Child of Fire; Flameweaver; child imbued with the elemental essence of fire. Female assistant to Vitarius. Approximately 13.
 * Hogistum - Mage of the Grey Square. Father to Sovartus, murdered by him as well [mentioned by name only]
 * Conan
 * Undines - creatures resembling white apes in size and movement, smooth as polished crystal. composed of water, inhabiting the frozen Lake Spokesjo.
 * Logarno - merchant of Corinthia with "interests" in Koth
 * Djuvula the Witch - half demon sister of Djavul. Hedonist.
 * Lemparius - Center Strand of the Senate's Treble Whip. Were-panther.
 * Arsheva of Khemi - leader of a group of thieves in Mornstadinos
 * Vitarius - Mage of the White Square, student of Hogistum. White haired conjuror/entertainer.  Hires Conan to be his bodyguard for approximately 1 month.
 * Kinna - Older half-sister to Eldia. Approximately 18.
 * Patch - Zamoran kidnapper who talks like a Barachan pirate. Hired by Logarno to capture Conan
 * Demi-whelves - humanoid creatures with the heads of jackals; visually similar to kobolds.

Locations

 * Castle Slott, Corinthia
 * Inn (un-named) - located near a fork on the Road of Kings through the Karpash mountains between Zamora and Corinthia, on the Zamorian side


 * Haunted Pass - the north fork of the Corinthian road through the Karpash mountains
 * Spokesjo Lake - lake of Haunted Pass, near the summit of the pass.
 * Mornstadinos - Jewel of Corinthia. Small city in northeast Corinthia.
 * Milk of Wolves Inn - Conan meets Vitarius and Eldia
 * Smoking Cat Inn - Lodgings for the group after an air-elemental (tornado) destroys the Milk of Wolves
 * Palace of Lemparius
 * Manse of Djuvula
 * Bloddolk Forest - "A place of strange fauna and stranger flora. It lies away from the Corinthian road, to the north, along a side path." Four days ride from Mornstadinos.
 * Dodligia Plain - barren wasteland where Sovartus' castle stands. Lies on the far side of Bloddolk Forest.
 * The in-between lands - alternate dimension, filled with supernatural perils, can be used to traverse distances in the "real world" more quickly than doing so conventionally.

Mystic Items
Parchment of Slicreves - contains the The Seven Words that enables (along with various other preparations) a mage of the Black Square to summon the demon Djavul.

Thing of Power - a magical beast with the power of the four elements, capable of being brought into being through control of the Square's Four Corners by controlling the four children imbued with their essence. Its creation is rumoured to be, "...such a monstrous happening that even the gods would turn their faces away from it."

Storora - a.k.a. the "magic ear". Stygian designed device that can eavesdrop on mages (and their agents) as they communicate across great distances.

Sword of Conan - introduced in "The Thing in the Crypt", the ancient broadsword makes an appearance here, as with many of the pastiche stories by this author and by Robert Jordan, set prior to this novel. The sword appears again, many years later, in Conan the Triumphant.

Severed demon body-part - flesh of a demon's flesh can be used to dispel that demon. It will fuse to the demon wherever it touches...even if not re-attached in the correct place. The resulting corporeal-shock causes the demon's physical form to melt and banishes the spirit from the corporeal plane for a time.

Zilbermankarikatur - An unholy book containing a spell called The Rain of Cosmic Fire.

Black Lotus powder - The witch, Djuvula, has a glass bulb of the powder to use as a grenade-like weapon. The greenish-yellow powder is fatal if inhaled.

Continuity Notes
Most Conan chronologies place this story immediately after the deCamp pastiche "Hall of the Dead" and before Howard's "The God in the Bowl" and then "Rogues in the House"; Conan states that he is "...late of Shadizar."

The Rippke timeline (unencumbered by any pastiche tales) suggests Captain Nestor from "Hall of the Dead" also appears in "Rogues in the House" (after this story takes place), yet Nestor does not appear in this story

What does appear is Conan riding a rich-man's horse and possessing a saddlebag full of gold...items which are not explained by the details of "Hall of the Dead" ...items Conan does however possess after "Rogues in the House".

In short, this story gives conflicting evidence as to where it lands in a timeline...a substantial off-camera adventure is necessary, after "Hall of the Dead", to satisfy the facts in place at the start of this story.

Publication History

 *  (novel) &bull; Steve Perry &bull; Tor February 1986 trade paperback
 *  (novel) &bull; Steve Perry &bull; Tor January 1987 mass market paperback