41. Tor Conan #34, Conan at the Demon's Gate by Roland Green.

This story opens years after the previous left off. Conn, Son of Conan is king of Aquilonia and is busy trying to pacify the borders of his land which abut the Pictish Wilderness. A minor nobleman who has been stationed in these newly colonized lands is investigating a cave when he finds something which shocks him. A statue of King Conan, deep in territory where Conan never ruled but also supposedly never visited. This then is a mystery.

The story then jumps backwards in time, back to Conan following the death of Belit and the destruction of the Tigress has been living in the dense jungles for some weeks. He has been taking offerings left to appease him by a superstitious tribe of fisher folk, and generally trying to sort himself out and decide what to do next. It isn't long before this choice is made for him when he runs across a group of Bamula warriors out hunting boar. Recognizing him as Amra, though not quite trusting him, the Bamula's invite him to their village where he quickly begins gaining prominence.

While this is happening various animals and creatures are appearing in the surrounding jungle and Conan and the Bamulas decide to investigate. They discover that there is a gateway, known as the Demon's Gate, which is allowing these creatures access to the lands of the black kingdoms. This gate must be closed, but in the attempt Conan and several Bamula warriors are transported through it into the vast Pictish Wilderness where they must not only fight for their lives against the hordes of barely human Picts but also defeat a Stygian sorcerer who is powering the Demon's Gate, in the Pictish lands looking for an artifact of great power, the dread Crystal of Thraz.

It takes days, requires allies of Bossonians and a few Aqulionians to eventually defeat this sorcerer before their plans can come to fruition and unleash greater evil on the world. The power of the crystal transforms an ordinary stone into a replica of the Cimmerian and imbues it with powers, while dread, are soon able to be controlled by Conan who commands it to cease its attack and go dormant.

At the end of the story, Conan opts to return to the black kingdoms which he has now come to think of as as new home, due mostly to the strength of the warriors and the embraces of the women, and the jungle beer which a man could drink quantities sufficient to float a ship yet never get drunk, ready for more adventures in new lands.

The story then flashes back to the Aqulionian nobleman investigating the statue, he finds out from some extremely aged Bossonians more or less rumors of what had happened.. King Conan leading a band of black skinned warriors against the Picts years ago, and commanding an army of stone statues. The nobleman deduces that, though the statue is obviously some sort of powerful weapon, only one person, King Conn, likely has the ability to control it, and so opts to ignore investigating the mystery any further and forget about the statue as nothing more than a quirk or relic destined for some later purpose. 

 Now this was an interesting book. I felt that in spite of it's strange plot, the demon's gate functioning as a portal between two completely different yet equally dangerous locales, that the writing of Conan himself was very good. Further, the book showed a great deal of details about the Bamulas, a group which got lots of mentions but not a whole lot of time on the page being fleshed out. What emerges is a warrior society which has very well established orders and a good bit to be admired and for Conan to learn from.. while also still not doing much to disabuse him of his more cynical observations of the human condition.

The frame story set during the reign of Conn is interesting but ultimately un-needed.. it didn't need to exist other than to add some sort of permanence to the expedition through the Demon's Gate. It also served to show that, though the people of Conan's day are mostly unaware of the relics of the past which still litter their world, they clearly exist and often have a great potency and capacity for ill use by those so inclined. This book also yet again shows how far flung the machinations of the Stygians really extends. Destabilizing the Hyborean kingdoms, hunting for powerful relics, directly interceding in conflicts to ensure lucrative outcomes.. it all feels as if this is building up to something, vengeance against the Hyboreans maybe, more than likely just an attempt to grab at the remnants left behind when Stygia's sister empire Acheron fell thousands of years before.

Over all though this was an enjoyable and fast read, and was a complete change from the previous Roland Green book that I read set in Argos.

Up next, back to Robert E. Howard, with " The Vale of Lost Women "...

37. Tor Conan #23, Conan the Guardian by Roland J. Green

This story picks up more or less where the last left off, Conan and his free companions are now in Argos after having barely escaped the fall out of the political power struggle in Ophir. The Argossians are not particularly interested in allowing a group of free-lances into their country, and it requires hefty "tolls" in order to get the gears of Argossian bureaucracy turning.  Eventually, following a tussle with a river monster, Conan manages to get his companions into Argos, and gets them gainful employment.

However, it isn't long until Conan yet again finds himself embroiled in a local power struggle, and has to continually dodge the officious bureaucrats of Argos who wish nothing more than to expel him and his companions. After several weeks spent searching for the cause of the disturbances surrounding his employer, Conan succeeds in alleviating the problem. For his efforts he is made a citizen of Argos, and retroactively made a member of the elite Guardians of Argos.. before just as swiftly losing his status as a Guardian, all through the effects of bureaucratic paperwork.

He opts to stay in Argos while some of his companions chose to continue onwards to other locations, but it's unlikely he will be here long with the judicial system seemingly constantly out to get him, it's only a matter of time before a misunderstanding finally compels him to leave.

This wasn't a bad book, but it wasn't great either. Roland J. Green seems to turn in that sort of book consistently, neither bad nor good, but simply existing. As the finale of the series depicting Conan's journey southwards, I felt it did it's job adequately, but I was disappointed that the writer didn't attempt to link the story closer to the one which follows it, "Queen of the Black Coast". I presume that, they simply didn't want to make it to concrete in case there was ever the option of adding another story in between.

Up next is, at least part of a Robert E. Howard story, perhaps one of the most important Conan stories, Queen of the Black Coast.

33. Tor Conan #26 - Conan: The Relentless by Roland Green

Conan's story picks up with him entering the Border Kingdoms, briefly recapping the events which transpired on snow devil glacier and Conan's run in with the Ice Worm, and contemplates joining a bandit group to raid a caravan. Conan hears the bandits speaking of a certain personage with whom he is familiar. Raihna. This woman, whom Conan had last seen during an adventure in the Illbars mountains (Conan the Valiant, also by Green) directly preceding his exile from Turan (Conan and the Spider-God, DeCamp) and his return to Cimmeria (Conan the Valorous, John Roberts) is apparently in command of the guards of the soon to be raided caravan. Now Conan is curious as to what this woman is doing so far from her typical haunts, and aims to find out. He turns down the bandits and opts instead to side with Raihna and her caravan guards, soon fighting his way through the bandits to her side in battle.

Before long they are journeying together, and telling one another of the things which have occurred in the year since they parted company. It doesn't take long before the two adventurers are embroiled in court intrigues with the pauper lord of the border realms, King Eloikis. Though Conan wonders what in the border realms is worth calling a kingdom, the people themselves seem proud in spite of their deprivation. Raihna and Conan are informed that the King's got a problem, and It seems one of the local Counts, and a pair of demon summoning wizards are involved. Eloikis wishes the adventurers to deal with this problem for him in the most expeditious way possible.

Over the course of the next 200 pages or so, Conan and Raihna find themselves involved in a series of incidents which without fail leave Conan ample opportunity, and energy to cavort with his female counterpart. They engage in all manner of exploits, culminating in rescuing the King's daughter, and his new grandson. Over the course of the story Raihna realizes that she has come to love one of the King's guards and opts to stay in the Border Kingdom, poor as it may be, with him rather than continue southwards with Conan. She takes her position in the new Queen's court, and bids Conan Adieu as he turns his sights to the sunny south once more.

In the end, this was not a bad little story. As with most of the Pastiches, it was to long for the scanty plot which it was built around, and like most it would have been better served to come to the 130-150 page mark rather than the obligatory 270+ Page mark. The story was especially interesting in that it reintroduced a character we had seen previously, adding a lot to her character, and then wraps her story up with a nice conclusion.  The story also was very easy to place chronologically due to the author taking steps to give clear markers as to where the story fit. Plot wise there wasn't a whole lot going on that we haven't seen before. It felt like mostly what it was, filler, but decent filler rather than horrid filler. So far it's the second Roland J. Green that I've read and I'm just not seeing what is supposedly so offensive about the guy's writing. Sure, he's not John Maddox Roberts or even Robert Jordan.. but he's far superior to Leonard Carpenter or Steve Perry.

Up next is Conan the Savage by Leonard Carpenter. 

27. Tor Conan #16, Conan the Valiant by Roland J. Green, part 5

At Fort Zheman, Sergeant Kemal has begun preparations for the coming attack, Bringing in all the civilians but not the live stock. The last thing they need are fevers and fluxes running rampant in the cramped quarters. They know that sometime in the next few days Eramius will throw the full weight of his Transformed at the fortress. Kemal has also sent runners to those officials he knows he can trust, hoping for reinforcements.

Never one to sit around and wait, Conan opts to take a group of men out and bring the fight to Eramius. Illyana and Rhaina go with him, along with the boy Bora who plans to lead them to the valley where he knows Eramius's alter to be. They follow a mountain stream further and further into ever winding valleys. After a good bit of traveling they finally draw near to the valley where Eramius is at. Conan and Rhaina creeping into a good position, draw their bows and let fly at the Transformed who are milling about.

They shoot a good number of them before Eramius reacts, they then flee back into the higher passes and hole up in a cave. He does his best to block the entrance, knowing they only have a matter of time before Eramius sends his minions to attack them. Using the time they have, Illyana beings to prepare a magical offense to be used against Eramius. As soon as night falls, they are attacked by the Transformed. Conan goes out, leaving Rhaina to shoot their remaining arrows. Illyana attacks with her full magical might.

Conan sneaks through Eramius's camp, eventually coming upon the mad sorcerer himself. He surprises the man, and quickly slices at him with his sword before the shock of it wears off. With Eramius dead, Conan heads back to the cave to collect the others. With the sorcerer gone, his foul creations cease living also. Conan, Rhaina, Illyana and Bora head back to the fort, and from there the original three companions set off back to Agraphur.


Review ~

For all the horrid things I've heard about Roland Green, this book was something of a surprise. It was easily better than all but one of Steve Perry's books. At least as good as two of the three Leonard Carpenter's I've read so far as well. But not as good as anything that Sean A. Moore or Robert Jordan wrote. It's perhaps only because my expectations were so low that it wasn't as bad as I feared. The story line more or less made complete sense, though it was rather annoying to have yet another evil sorcerer and yet another magical gewgaw. These things are clearly very standard in the Conan yarns produced by both Tor and Bantam/Ace.

I'd have preferred it have been just a political thriller, rather than involving magic. That aspect of the story was much more interesting.

Having now read my first Roland Green novel, this still leaves me with one of the more prolific Tor authors unread, John Maddox Roberts, but soon I'll be catching up with him.

Up Next, one of the more atrocious of the novels I've already read. Conan and the Spider-God by L. Sprague and Catherine DeCamp.

27. Tor Conan #16, Conan the Valiant by Roland J. Green, part 4

The following day, The Sorceress Illyana decides they need to take the refuges of Crimson Springs and head towards Fort Zheman. Now that she has stalled Eramius's plans, he will have to use brute force to achieve his goals. So they organize the villagers, and then the trio of Conan, Illyana and Rhaina set off to warn the fort of the impending arrival of the villagers.

The Camp's captain is not thrilled to hear about it. But he quickly is made to understand, at least in so far as if he dosen't do what Illyana wants Conan will pummel him. With reticence he gives them leave to prepare the fort. Over the next two days they slowly get things in order just as the first of the villagers begin to arrive. Conan wastes no time asserting his authority over the camp. He too is a captain, but is less concerned with debauchery and more with getting things into shape.

Meanwhile Eramius fumes over his setbacks. He takes it out on Achmai's men and on his Transformed. Cursing them all for their failure to secure the jewel for him. He sends them to destroy another village out of spite for his loss, and to gain more people which he can convert into the Transformed. He will need as much brute strength as he can get now that he no longer has the jewels.

Scouts at fort Zheman report in that they have spotted an army of demons marching towards the caravan train of refugees. They obviously plan to slaughter the helpless civilians. Conan and one of the bases sergeants organize a cavalry patrol and ride out to head off the horde of Transformed. It's a bloody battle, but after many hours of fighting they manage to get the villagers safely to the fort. Now they at least have a good wall between them and Eramius's forces.

27. Tor Conan #16, Conan the Valiant by Roland J. Green, part 3

The group continue away from Achmai's Keep. Traveling quickly to avoid being followed. After several days of travel they stop in a village, well out of Achmai's territory. They find in the village a girl,"Possessed", by the power of one of the Jewels of Kuarag. Ilyana instructs Conan and Rainha to wait outside, only she has the magical aptitude to try and save the girl.

During the night, Eramius and his Transformed attack the village. Using sorcery and brute strength they quickly secure the second jewel. Conan's strength and cunning weren't enough to stand up against shear brute force. With both of the jewels, Eramius is now far more powerful. And even more difficult to defeat. All they can do is try. Illyana's Sorcery however was just enough.

She took the time to lay a trap on the second jewel. When Eramius placed it onto his staff, the magic took effect. It removed his ability to control not just the second, but also the first jewel as well. He suddenly finds himself far weaker than he had been before this night. His grip over the Transformed is steady for now, but who can say how long? And that Barbarian has managed to rouse the villagers into a show of defense.

Her magic may have proved to strong though, It's interactions with the jewels seems to have not only denied Eramius their use, but actually dissolved them. As Eramius bemoans the loss of one of the pre-eminent items in the magical demesne. Conan sets out to deal with Achmai's troops who are currently encircling the village waiting for the Transformed to do all the work for them. Using his skills as a soldier, and especially as an officer, he quickly has them fighting amongst themselves.

The night will soon be over, but the threat of Eramius remains to be dealt with. Conan heads back to the house where he and Raihna and Illyana are staying. He wants to know what the sorceress plans to do next.

27. Tor Conan #16, Conan the Valiant by Roland J. Green, part 2

Before they can set forth, Conan and Rhaina must secure mounts. They go to the horse market and spend some time haggling over stringy mares and threadbare tack. They can't simply take official mounts, as that would arouse suspicions among those best left alone. After some time of haggling, the two set forth. They must first cross the ferry over the Shimak River.

Due to Rhaina's presence however, this doesn't go without incident. A particularly scrofulous Sargent decided to take a liking to her. He also took a dislike to the large man with her. Not realizing that this man was a Captain in the Turanian army, and Conan being under specific orders not to reveal that.. the misunderstanding quickly turns into an altercation. The Sargent is given a much needed bath when he is tossed into the Shimak to cool his heels.

Back in Bora's village in the Illbars, the boy is in conferance with the monk. Though he sent word north, nothing has returned to him from Agraphur. He fears that his warnings have been ignored, and wishes the boy to try and rouse the villages, if no one else will lead, Bora will have to. Meanwhile Eramius's is marching his Transformed to some further unholy task. They can do walk for days between meals, and he has much further for them to go yet.

After several more days of Travel, Rhaina, Illyana, and Conan make their way to the town of Gala. They rent a room in the local tavern, and set forth to seek out any additional information they can about the sorcerous happenings in the Illbars. As with most hill people though, the denizens of Gala prove to be tight lipped. After some persuasion, Illyana manages to find a lead for their investigation. She sets forth to put a glamour on Rhaina, and contrives for her and Conan to enter the service of a lord Achmai.

After walking to the gates of Achmai's keep, the twain are admitted and searched. Some hours pass, but both are eventually put into his service. So far, Illyanas plan is working. After nightfall, they find what they came for and then quickly beat an escape. Their purloining has not gone unnoticed and pursuit is hot on their heels as they make their way out of Achmai's keep.

27. Tor Conan #16, Conan the Valiant by Roland J. Green, part 1.

In the Ilbars Mountains a Shepard boy, Bora, is watching an unusual ritual. The perpetrator of this is Eramius. He's currently using one of the jewels of Kurag to turn some unwitting person into one of The Transformed. A large, but slow witted collected of mutants. Perfect for doing the bidding of their sorcerous master. This explained the mysterious disappearance of so many from the neighboring tribes. Without waiting to see the end, Bora leaves to go and try and warn others.

His warnings go unheeded, after all, haven't they already been reported to King Yildiz's minister for the region? The man didn't think enough of them to do anything, so clearly there isn't anything that can be done. Having no alternative, he goes to talk to the priest of Mitra. A man not from his tribe, or even from the Ilbars. A man who came to convert the tribes, but not live among them. He is far more interested in the boys news and promises to send the information to his superiors in Agraphur.

Meanwhile, Captain Conan is training new recruits in the use of the Bow. No easy task, and as soon as the days work is done he heads to a local watering hole. It's proprietor is an old soldier himself, full of stories and a sympathetic ear for those still in the service. Before long however, one of the obnoxious Turanian hereditary officers saunters into the tavern. With him are a small handful of sycophants who almost immediately begin to cause trouble. Before the night is out, Conan has slain several of them and wounded the Turanian.

He goes back to his duties as captain, but is soon requested. He knew this was coming, but had hoped to avoid it. He is summoned to the residence of Lord Mishrak. King Yildiz's cheif of spies. A certain job has come up that they feel he can help them with. It's been two years since he broke the Cult of Doom, an action that lead to him joining the Turanian Military. In return they will make sure the problems with the Turanian lordling will go away. Conan is to escort the Rhaina, the assistant to the sorceress Illyana south to the Illbars, and from there search for clues as to what is going on there.