Conan the Barbarian 100

Major Characters

 * Conan (Last appearance in the second story of CtS-4; next appearance in CB-101).
 * Belit (Last appearance in the second story of CtS-4); dies in this issue.

Minor Characters

 * M'Gora, N'Yaga and the Black Corsairs (Last appearance in the second story of CtS-4); Labato named. All die in this issue.

Locations

 * Kush
 * The Western Sea Coast
 * The River Zarkheba

Time Frame

 * Several days

Synopsis
The Tigress heads into Kush on the river Zarkheba, where years ago Belit's crew discovered an abandoned ship, with only one mad sailor huddled on the deck describing a rich city upriver. At night, while Conan and Belit talk about the gods, a sea serpent attacks the boat and pulls Labato into the depths. Despite N'Yanga's warnings of the evil along the river, Belit continues the journey. The next morning, they spot a crumbling stone city off the shore of the putrid river, and the crew debates what a ape-like statue with wings atop a pillar is when the "statue" comes to life and flies into the sky. The entire crew goes ashore into the city and find a blood-stained altar. Belit commands four men to life the altar-stone, suspecting treasure underneath. She also secretly suspects a trap, and when boulders fall onto the men, crushing them, even Conan is startled by her uncaring attitude as she orders the rocks to be pulled away, revealing a horde of gold and jewels. A shrieking cry alerts them to look toward the Tigress, where the devil-ape can be seen flying away. They rush back and see the creature has destroyed the water supply, effectively trapping them there until they can find fresh water. Conan takes M'Gora and some others to search for fresh water while Belit supervises loading the loot onto the boat. After a bit, he hears movement behind them and orders the men to continue while he checks the rear. Unfortunately, stumbles across a black lotus tree, the blooms of which put him to sleep. In his slumber, he dreams of alien, winged beings who built the city ages ago, polluting the water and land with their machines, until ultimately changing and dying out leaving only a black-winged beast as lone survivor. When primitive man came to the city, the beast hunted them, and even to this day, it preys on those foolish enough to sail up the river. Conan even sees, as through the beast's own eyes, an attack on his own men. Conan wakes with a start, and races off to where he sent his party, but comes across only their shields, weapons, and a savage M'Gora, driven mad to the point where Conan has to slay him. A saddened Conan then finds the rest of the party, dead, and runs back to the Tigress, where he finds the entire crew slain, and Belit herself hanging, dead, from the ships mast. He carefully takes her down and lays her on the ship, surrounded by jewels, and, finding some high ground, awaits the night. From the forest springs a pack of Hyena, and Conan cuts as many down with his bow as he can before he runs out ot arrows, then plunges at the herd with his sword. Battered and bloody, he watches the flying beast circle overhead. Suddenly, the altar he is standing on begins to crumble, and a pillar pins Conan to the ground. The beast lands and begins to approach Conan, whose sword is just out of reach. Before it can reach Conan, though, an apparition of Belit appears and confronts the creature. Conan manages to free himself while the creature is distracted, grabs his sword, and kills the beast, ending the line of the oldest race. With tears in his eyes, he lights the Tigress on fire and lets it sail into the sea.

Reprinted

 * Conan Saga #95
 * The Chronicles of Conan 12 - The Beast King of Abombi and Other Stories