Savage Sword of Conan 61

=The Wizard Fiend of Zingara=

Creators
Writer: Michael Fleisher

Art: John Buscema

Letterer: Rick Parker

Major Characters

 * Conan (Previous chronological appearance in first story of SSOC-115; next chronological appearance in SSOC-36).

Minor Characters

 * Tamar-Shar-Khun (First and only appearance to date; dies in this issue).
 * Bar-Helm (First and only appearance to date; dies in this issue). Zingarian soldier
 * Nefertali (First and only appearance to date; dies in this issue). Zingarian servant girl
 * Zerbo (First and only appearance to date; dies in this issue).
 * Phehmenes (First and only appearance to date). King of Zingara
 * Sharmela (First and only appearance to date). Queen of Zingara
 * Czarzak (First and only appearance to date; dies in this issue). Zingarian torturer.

Location

 * Zingara
 * Kordova, the capital

Time Frame

 * Several weeks
 * The story ends on "the fourth day of the fourth month"

Synopsis
Three men break into the castle of the wizard-fiend Tamar-Shar-Khun, determined to find the secret of the giant animals he farms, but the wizard discovers and quickly slays them. Meanwhile, many leagues away Conan returns to the Zingaran capital of Kordova with a captive from a small rebellion he helped put down in the service of king Phehmenes. He turns the prisoner, Ragnok, over to Captain Bar-Helm and recounts how the resistance burned the crops and destroyed the land, and predicts a food shortage and famine. Bar-Helm takes Conan to greet the king, who rewards Conan with a woman, Nefertali, much to the chagrin of the simple giant, Zerbo, who pines for her. Conan takes stock of Phehmenes, who is in most ways a good man and king, but Conan notes his young wife, Sharmela, has sharper edges. Suddenly, Ragnok breaks free and attacks the king, but is stopped by Conan, impressing Phehmenes the more. That night, Sharmela leaves her bed and goes to visit her secret lover, Bar-Helm, to plot against her husband, as Bar-Helm's secretly cutting Ragnok loose did not end with the king's death. First, though, they plot to remove Conan from the equation, and to that end Bar-Helm talks Zerbo into gathering a band of cutthroats to kill Conan in the street, though Conan quickly defeats the would-be assassins. When Zerbo reports his failure to Sharmela, she has her pet falcon peck out Zerbo's eye. Bar-Helm and Sharmela put together a second plan to get Conan out of the way, and send him on a mission to find out how Tamar-Shar-Khun grows his giant crops and beasts. Conan, though suspicious of Sharmela, leaves on his journey, followed by Zerbo, who by now realized he was played and wants to make amends to Conan. He tells Conan what has happened and pledges his service to him. Back at the castle, Bar-Helm and Sharmela continue their plotting, but discover Nefertali eavesdropping. The captain takes her to a torturer to find out what she overheard. Conan and Zerbo travel through the forest and come across two women attacked by a monstrous lizard. Conan fights the beast back, knocking it over a cliff, and the two women demonstrate their thanks to the two willing men. However, they turn into demonic creatures and slay Zerbo, though Conan manages to fight them off, but not before they reveal they are servants of Tamar-Shar-Khun. A day late, Conan reaches the castle and scales the outer wall. He finds the wizard inside the castle, and avoids a pit trap and wall of magical fire to confront him, though Tamra-Shar-Khun escapes through a hidden door. The sealed room Conan is trapped in begins to flood and a giant moray eel slithers in. As the entire room becomes engulfed in water, Conan stabs at the eel and its death throes crack the stone walls which burst open. the resulting wave of water crashing through the crumbling castle utterly destroys it, overtaking a surprised Tamar-Shar-Khun and crushing him as Conan rides the waves to safety. Conan returns some days later to Kordova and makes his way to the the torturer Czarzak. Conan kills the torturer, and releases Nefertali for only a brief moment before she dies, though she is able to tell him that Sharmela plots with Captain Bar-Helm to assassinate the king. Conan heads to the palace to confront the conspirators, killing Bar-Helm but King Phehmenes reveals he knew of the plotting all along, preferring to stay one step ahead of the plotters. An incredulous Conan decides he cannot stay under the command of a fool, and rides away.