Savage Sword of Conan 81

=The Palace of Pleasure=

Writer: Michael Fleisher

Penciler: John Buscema

Inker: Ernie Chan

Major Characters

 * Conan (Previous chronological appearance in CB-5; next chronological appearance in CB-6).

Minor Characters

 * Nadia (First and only appearance to date). Shadizar working-girl.
 * Captain of the Guard (First appearance; dies in this issue).
 * Chamberlain (First and only appearance to date). Fey adviser to the king.
 * Councillor Yernaz (First and only appearance to date).
 * Madame X'arthalla (First appearance; dies in this issue). Sorceress.
 * King (First and only appearance to date).

Location

 * Shadizar.

Time Frame

 * Two weeks.

Synopsis
Conan, on his way to Shadizar, encounters a lake full of beautiful, bathing women. As he admires the view, a tentacled sea monster attacks the women from below. The barbarian springs to their rescue and as a reward, one of the women gives him a token to be redeemed at her place of work, Madame X'arthalla's Palace of Pleasure. Conan enters the capital of Zamora, promptly gets into a bar fight, and is taken prisoner by the local guard. As the soldier's ranks are thin, Conan is given the option of imprisonment or joining the royal guardsmen. Conan chooses to be a soldier, and impresses the troops when he passes a test by defeating another guardsmen. After several days of duty, Conan finally is able to take advantage of his token and visits the Palace of Pleasure. He is given a brief tour of the many rooms the Palace has to offer, and sees every type of fantasy being fulfilled by the staff. He also glimpses the sorceress Madame X'arthalla herself, before Conan finally gets restless enough to do with Nadia what he came to do. The next morning, while traveling with the royal entourage on a hunt, Conan comes across the king himself, who has been led nearly to his death by an image of his deceased wife. Conan barely reaches the monarch in time, as the vision of Satrina, the king's lost love was tempting him to fall from a cliff. In gratitude, the king makes Conan his personal bodyguard. That night, a woman appears in Conan's bedchamber and bewitches him into slaying the king. He snaps out of the spell, but not soon enough as he is attacked and defeated by the guards. He is set to be executed in a rather grisly style - sealed in a barrel that has been punched through with iron spikes, then dragged by a pair of horses out of town. Conan grasps two spikes and stiffens his body in order to not bounce around and get impaled, and he manages to survive the ordeal. He returns to the palace and sneaks in, seeking the king, only to discover the monarch has gone to the Palace of Pleasure. After a brief altercation with the guard, he makes his way for the brothel. Once there, he discovers much of the king's staff targeted for execution, although they don't realize the fantasies they have placed themselves in are about to turn deadly, on the orders of the traitorous Captain of the Guard. Conan saves them all, and soon encounters Madame X'anthralla, the captain's partner. The sorceress distracts Conan by changing into the form of his mother, but is killed by Nadia. The king, embarrassed about the whole thing, gives Conan a bag of gems and tells him to get the hell out of town.