Conan the Barbarian - Xuthal Of The Dusk

A mysterious city rises out of a waterless desert, and for a second it looks like salvation. But there is more than first meets the eye in this supposed oasis.

Transcript

Welcome And Conan Trope Bingo

Michael Kentris 0:06

Welcome to another episode of Brothers Reading Books. We are the titular brothers. I am one of said brothers, Will Kentris, joined by my other brother, Michael Kentris. And today we are covering yet another Epic in the Code of the Sumerian catalog. Today is Zuthal of the Dusk. So, Michael, what are your kind of initial thoughts on this story? What is your vile high perspective on this piece? So I think uh yeah, we really need to create a bingo card, and I wish we had done this at the beginning. So there needs to be Damsel in Distress, Beautiful Women, Description of Conan with blazing blue eyes and dark hair, and or tiger/slash panther comparison, fleeing from either a supernatural or overwhelming force. But uh, this story, I think it it ties in a lot of our common elements, and then it kind of sets us in a little bit of a different framework. It does feel like a slight continuation of some of our past stories, inasmuch as Conan, uh, we find out shortly into this story, is fleeing across the desert after he's been working as a mercenary, as he does, and is fleeing across the desert, and he and the companion with him are both on the verge of death, and they come to the titular Zuthal, and so hijinks ensue. So they uh yeah, they encounter both uh you know physical and supernatural horrors beyond imagination, and then deal with said horrors and proceed. So it uh it hits a lot of the beats that we've come to expect from a Conan the story, Conan the Barbarian story, and I think it does it pretty well overall. There's a couple little twists and turns as we go through here. And uh yeah, I thought overall it was uh page turner. It's it didn't have as much of the long, winding descriptions like we saw in some of the past uh past stories where he has like the lists of like all the ranks in his armies and all that kind of stuff. Not that there's anything wrong with that from like a world building perspective. I just didn't find it necessarily the most engaging from a reading perspective. So yeah, that's that's kind of my my hot take. I thought it was uh yeah, pretty action-packed. Lots of I I always enjoy a good uh mystery wrapped into this. So there's a lot of like what is going on for like the first half of this story. But yeah, I I liked it overall. Yeah, I agree. This does feel kind of like an interlude that we have between some of these more grandiose stories that Conan conveys onto us, because like he said, they're fleeing from an army and they're not necessarily seeking glory. It's just, hey, we're trying not to die in the desert right now. Right. And yeah, as always, the language used in these stories is just very powerful, very visceral. Uh, and I think that's that's one of the things that really defines this subgenre of fantasy, the sword and sorcery, is that there's this very close proximity to the action. It's it's not like kind of your typical epic fantasy, high third person omniscient kind of look. It's like you're you're really close in there. And I think it when we start out with this, there's uh they describe the the desert as an aching desolation, which again, right, it's just like this, it's very evocative language, and I really enjoy that kind of effort being made to make things feel very present. Yeah, and one other point I want to make before we dig into this is that to the point of like the whore not conjured from a sane world or however he describes it later on. Yeah. One thing I like about these sorts of elements is that he doesn't usually specify like how or what they are. And I feel like that really lends itself to not ruining what it is. I I feel like that happens a lot of times, specifically in like horror, for example, with supernatural elements, where as soon as you try to like rationalize it or explain how it happened, it kind of takes away the mystique of it and just makes it lesser. I would agree. It's one of those things where you you have to leave something to the imagination, you have to leave the mystery. It's not a question of the how. And I think part of that, again, right, if we if we ever do any Lovecraft stories, it's it's a lot of it's out to how does the human mind grapple with these things that are kind of beyond its abilities to understand. And I think that's definitely got a lot of like philosophical and religious roots to it. Uh although, if I remember correctly, I think Lovecraft was pretty atheistic. But um but yeah, it's it's an interesting exercise to think like how would we uh deal with something that we couldn't understand. I think it's interesting when you approach that from a materialistic perspective as opposed to say someone from a faith-based perspective, you definitely get different answers, uh, which can, in the case of like, say, Lovecraft or some of the creatures in Howard, let's just say be a little more nihilistic and terrifying. Sure. But yeah.

Desert Desperation And A City Appears

Michael Kentris 5:02

Jumping into this, so yes, we zoom in, desert. So we have Conan, and we also have a young woman with him, and she's described as being uh very white skin, he is hard bronze, and basically she is very much not dressed for the desert, uh, from what they're describing here. Silk tunic, low-neck, sleeveless, girdle, so not uh not good sun protection here, it sounds like. To be fair, it sounds like neither is Conan. His only garment was a silk loin cloth girdled by a wide gold buckled belt from which hung a saber and a broad plate broad bladed poniard. Yeah. They they were not expecting an excursion into the desert. Right, right. And definitely this is not one of the more uh stoic or hardy female characters that we encounter in the Conan corpus. I love this line here. Oh Conan, we shall die here. I am so thirsty. Which again, right, like, yeah, it's very possible, sure. And uh, you know, Conan, uh I like this. He just growled wordlessly, staring truculently at the surrounding waste without thrust jaw. And of course we have our traditional blue eyes smoldering savagely from under his black tousled mane as if the desert were a tangible enemy. When it says tousled mane, does that imply that he has curly hair? I mean it maybe. I think it mostly just means like it's messed up. Tangled. Okay. Yeah. Like he's just a little unkempt, perhaps. Sure. But uh Conan being Conan, he has his own honor. He gives the water canteen to uh Natala, we learn her name is, and basically tells her to keep drinking until he tells her to stop, and she drinks the entire thing, and she when she realizes what he's done, she's like, Oh, Conan, you shouldn't have let me drink it all. Blah blah blah. Yeah, she does a lot of like whimpering and wailing and wringing of hands here, especially in these first few pages. Yes. It doesn't give her the best uh sort of initial character impression. I would agree with that. So we get this, yeah, they're kind of painting a picture here, and I think they will subvert that expectation later. So a nice little bit of character building, I think. So they're they're going through the desert, and we kind of get this extended description of these waterless wastes, and he's kind of saying, like, there's nothing here. Maybe it would be best if I just did a clean sword stroke through through her neck, gave her a quick painless death rather than letting her die of dehydration in the sun's merciless heat. So as he's about to pull his saber out, which is different, right? We we have a saber here as opposed to some of our other swords in the past. But uh he suddenly sees some buildings in the desert. Spires, minarets, and gleaming walls. And at first he questions, you know, is this a mirage? Right, yeah. He does try and validate it before he acts on like an oasis of the desert. So he's like closing his eyes, looking away, waiting for it to fade and vanish. And eventually, yeah, we also get Natala also asked, Is it a city, Conan? Or is it but a shadow? It's like the devil knows it's worth a try, though. So yeah, they they head out to this city. City in the desert. And I like this. Uh even though they were kind of on the verge of death, this is granted them new energy, new vitality, and I love this description here of Conan, a barbarian of barbarians. The vitality and endurance of the wild were his, granting him survival where civilized men would have perished. I do feel like that sort of description comes up several times in this specific story. Right. As opposed to like a man's man, we got a barbarian's barbarian here. And uh we get a little description here of where they were coming from. So he and the girl, as far as Conan was aware, are the sole survivors of Prince Almuric army, as opposed to Amalric, very similar sounding names. I wrote myself a note here, question mark recycling names. But um as opposed to a general, this is a prince, and we are again, you know, in Koth. So it seems like Koth has a bunch of, let's just say, internacine wars here. You have all these rebel princes and invasions and all this kind of stuff here. So yeah, his army has basically been slaughtered, and he and the girl are on the run from the the other force that uh basically ground down his his other mercenaries and such. Yes. Yeah, they're fleeing from some stygians. You know, bad dudes, those stygians. All right. I don't think we've ever met a good Stygian. No, and I don't think we will anytime soon. But uh so we they they fled on camelback, and which I ironically, they do not have any camelbacks with them, you know, with the uh the nice backpacks with the little water spout on them. You know, that would have been useful. So so we get a little bit more of a description of uh Natala here. She's a Brithunian. And he had rescued her from a Shemite slave market, and basically says she's glad, so far as it goes, basically. Right. It's her condition is improved. Yeah, her condition is improved. Right, because she was headed for a Shemetish Seraglio, which uh I think we learned was kind of a a borrowed word from the Ottoman Turkish lexicon, uh, for in a place where they basically kept women in their larger household. So they kept going, the camel died, they kept going more, sun, hot, bad things. Right? The tip the typical depiction of what happens when he gets straight out of the desert. Right, yes. So

Dead Men, A Well, And Dream Palaces

Michael Kentris 10:52

uh they come up on this city, and and we kinda find this massive gate, and it's got this greenish substance shining almost like glass.

SPEAKER_01 11:01

Never trust a green substance.

Michael Kentris 11:06

So he's banging on the gate, and yeah, he gets no response.

SPEAKER_01 11:12

Yeah.

Michael Kentris 11:12

Yeah, there's nobody around, there's nobody on guard, so he's able to swing open the gate, and as they come in, they spy a human body laying on the ground. And let's see, how is he described specifically? The body was that of a tall, powerful individual, apparently in his prime, the skin was yellow, the eyes slightly slanted, otherwise the man differed little from the Hyborian type. He was clad in high strap sandals and a tunic of purple silk. But yeah, there's no sign of life in the body. By all by all appearances, he's dead, and we we cannot determine why. Right. So beyond the body, they see a well, and they're like, hey, great, a well. And as they're going to look at it, uh Natala screams and he whirls about. The supposedly dead man was rushing upon him, eyes blazing with indisputable life, a short sword gleaming in his hand. So basically, Conan curses, draws his saber, and the fellow's head thudded on the flags. So basically, I like this. Uh Conan glared down, swearing softly, this fellow is no deader now than he was a few minutes a gone. Into what madhouse have we strayed? So we we start getting some weird things happening already just a few pages in. Right. Yeah, I did love that line. And so I find this next part also finds exchange. Oh god, will the people of the city not kill us because of this? It's like well he growled, this creature would have killed us if I hadn't lopped off his head. Very practical, as always. Damned if you do, damned if you don't. That's right. What are you gonna do, right? So I love his solution here. This is definitely like uh reminds me of the the old Aesop's fable of the sour grapes with the fox. It's like they couldn't find a bucket or contraption to get any water out of the well. And so he's like, Since we can't drink this water, he gritted vindictively, I'll see that nobody else enjoys drinking it. Curse such a well anyway. And he heaves the body in. So, yeah, basically, like, well, screw this well. Right. Just go throw a dead body into it, hide the evidence, get on our way. Right. And then Holly's like, there's blood on the stars. Like, there'll be more unless I find water. So like Conan Conan's past the point of caring. Yeah, he's like, screw this place, screw this guy. It's like, where's the frickin' water? Where's the water? So, but yeah, uh Natala, again, right, demonstrating her her lack of intestinal fortitude here. She's like, This is a city of ghosts and dead men, let's go back into the desert. And yeah, I think this might be the the most irritable that we've seen Conan like through most of the story. Uh, because he's always just like, We'll go into the desert when they throw us off the walls. There's water somewhere in this city, and I'll find there's water somewhere in this here city. That's right. And uh if I have to kill every man in it. So yes, he he is definitely uh digging his heels in on this one. But what if they come to life again? Then I'll keep killing them until they stay dead. Right. You know, he he has no lack of endurance and yes, staying power on that point. Right. So yeah, they go into a random doorway, because again, that doorway is as good as another in search of some water, sustenance, something. Right. And so they're they're searching around, right? They kind of go room to room, and uh they find that there is a couch. It's empty, but there's an imprint of a body, it's still warm, and so they kind of get this, as they say here, a weird, unreal atmosphere. So I like this. They describe it as uh the palace was like an opium dream, very appropriately. And so yeah, they kind of find like all these fantastical designs, beautiful appointments, lots of expensive furniture and decorations, and so they're they're kind of fun edge, right? Everything seems a little strange as they're going through here. And eventually they come to a room and it looks like there is a feast laid out. Yes. And then again, with Natala being as cautious as she has been so far, it's like, dare we eat it, Codan. The people might come upon us then. And then this is the first time I feel like we've seen Codan talk in a different language, but yeah, he kind of curses here. Liran Mananan Mach Lear, which I don't I don't know if there's a translation for anything anyway. We starve when you make objections. Right. So actually I looked this up, and so this is, I believe, reference to an Irish sea deity who was a member of the Tuatha de Danan. I apologize if I'm mispronouncing that excessively. Yeah, it's uh apparently I I was doing some reading. There are a lot of parallels in kind of Celtic myth with some of these Conan stories. So I was unaware it's it's a a body of mythology which I am not overly familiar, so I'm probably missing out on some of these references as we've been going through. But yeah, I mean this one looks like it definitely has that flavor of kind of that rhythmic flow, that learanan maclier, which is it almost is what's the word I'm looking for? It almost looks palindromic. Not quite, but yeah, no, I agree. But yeah, it's it's apparently referencing this this sea. So he basically he's he could but he could have just as easily said by crumb here. So yeah. Anyway, uh just an interesting thing. I I do think it is interesting that he invokes here a uh a sea god while we are in the midst of a desert. So I think that uh that definitely has some slight implication, right? Longtime listeners will remember how much we talked about water in Dune. It definitely seems that in the desert, water has this extra import. So perhaps that is the reason for that switch in his swearing here. I think that's definitely a very good point. Yeah. So Conan, being a persuasive sort of mediator that he is, basically shoves her down at the table and they both uh dine on this feast. And Conan has the thought that the food might be poisoned. But it does not lessen his appetite. He preferred to die of poisoning rather than starvation, which fair. Yeah. So yeah, he just keeps eating. And uh yeah. He uh he has no apprehension about a lurking enemy, very confident in his own fighting ability. And so they they finish their feast, and they're looking around. The chamber seemed larger, the table longer than she had first noticed, and she seemed further from her grim protector than she wished to be. And so she again says, Lost place is evil, let's get out of here. And Conan, being Conan, says, Well, we haven't been harmed so far. He began, and a soft but sinister rustling brought him about. Right. Speak of the devil. And so with the quick ease of a panther, he draws his saber and facing the doorway from which the sound had come. And again, we get some more cat-like descriptors of him. We see him kind of gliding forward in a half crouch, stalking like a tiger. And we have what appears to be again another one of these un these dead men. So in this other chamber, we got a man lying on a raced days, being bathed in soft light, and dressed very similarly to the other man that we'd seen before, except slightly more well off, richer garments, uh-huh. Ornamenting with jewels, and again he hears that sort of faint, sinister rustling sound, as if someone had thrust aside a hanging, and then we get some uh some more spooky action going on here. Yes, we have another shadow moved across the wall, a huge, shapeless black blot. Distorted though it might be, he felt that he had never seen a man or beast which cast such a shadow. Consumed with curiosity, but some instinct held him frozen in his tracks. And so we we see this black bulk goes over the Dais, and then as it recedes, the Dais was etched darkly against the wall, but the sleeper was no longer upon it. And uh I feel like we're ragging on Natala here, but a hysterical gurgle rose in her throat, and Conan gave her an admonitory shake. It definitely has like a gosh, Con with the wind kind of vibe. It's like it's like Slap out of it. You're being hysterical. That's right. So it's just uh yeah, it's it's a little ridiculous how we've had female characters in the Conan stories swoon and make kind of excited interjections, but but this character has been the most consistently over the top so far. So I just I'm not sure what was what was going on with this particular writing uh of this character here. Right. And again, to Natal's defense, who's to say that any one of us in this situation would also not be losing their mind? Sure. She's failing her sanity check. Is that what you're saying? Well, yes, yes. Okay. So so yeah, we see as the shadow retreats, there is a single drop of blood on the seat there, like a great crimson gem. And so they're not sure what happened, what it was, but they just say an aura of unnatural horror hung over those chambers. And as they're going, they hear a footfall, a human footfall, no less, and he finds that there is a man there, dressed just like the others so far, tall, well made, purple garments, jeweled girdle, dreamy eyes like a lotus eater's. So again, right, we we've had reference to the lotus in multiple stories so far, sometimes as a hallucinogen, sometimes as a poison. And uh right, this is of course kind of a reference to if we go back far enough, to kind of Odysseus's travels to the land of the lotus eaters. So which I think is very apparent in kind of how these patient people are being described. He starts talking in a language they don't understand, and Conan, being a man of the world, replies in Stigion. So there we go. Now we know that Conan is in fact multilingual. Right? You have to be in this world, I suppose, if you're traveling and acting as a mercenary between different countries. Right. You know, he we know he speaks Sumerian and probably whatever they speak in Koth, you know, is that Cothic? Or I don't know, Hyborian, maybe? I don't know. But uh the equivalent of common. Right, yes. What's that they say? Uh you know you're in a fantasy setting when it's common and a sci fi setting when it's basic or trade. So so yeah, he replies uh in and we get a reply. Flyback that he understands. And he says, Of all my rich visions, this is the strangest. Oh girl of the golden locks, from what far dreamland do you come? From Andara or Tothra or Kuth of the Star Girdle? And Conan's like, What madness is this? And so basically he this guy is saying, like, Come to my couch, little dream girl. So he thinks he's dreaming, apparently, which again kind of fits in with this whole thing of these weird people who are in like a death-like state. And so yeah, he Conan like smacks his hand aside, and he says, What rebellion of ghosts is this? Barbarian, I command you, be gone, fade, dissipate, fade, vanish. And Conan says, I'll vanish your head from your shoulders. So he's just so ridiculous. Uh this is a little bit over the top here. Uh and he says, Thog, he ejaculated, you are real. Whence come you? Who are you? What do you do in Zuthal? So this is the first time we learned the actual name of this city. So it is Zoothhal. We are in Zuth. And uh yes. So they you know they have a little back and forth here, and they're asking him, like, uh, what what was this shadow that we saw? And he's like, You've seen? You have seen? The man was shaking like a leaf, his voice cracked on the high-pitched note. And uh Wednesday he understands the situation, he screams and runs from the chamber, and then suddenly you hear another cry louder than the others, Rose broke short, followed by blank silence.

SPEAKER_01 23:27

Right, presumably meeting the same fate as the earlier man. Yes. And so Again, we get more of Natala just losing her mind for very valid reasons.

Michael Kentris 23:39

You know, people are dying. And Shirley's is a city of the mad. Let's get out of here before we meet other madmen. It is all a nightmare. We are dead and damned. We died out in the desert and are in hell, we are disembodied spirits. Oh he spags her, apparently, with his open hand. It's like spirit, when a pat makes you yell like that, he commented with grim humor. We are alive, though we're not be if we loiter in this devil haunted pile. Come Right. So yes, Conan, practical as always, says spirits don't feel pain from physical injuries, so Yes. So there you have it. So they they continue on for a while, and we come to another figure, a woman this time. They

Meeting Thallis And Learning About Thog

Michael Kentris 24:23

get a fairly long description. Tall, lithe, shaped like a goddess, clad in a narrow girdle crusted with jewels, a burnished mass of night black hair set off with the whiteness of her ivory body, dark eyes shaded by long, dusky lashes, deep with sensuit sensuous mystery. And he notes that her facial outline was Stiggian, but she was not dusky skinned like the Stigion women he had known. Her limbs were like alabaster. And she speaks to them also in the Stiggian tongue, and we learn her name is Thallis the Stiggin, and she says, Are you mad to come here? Right. And Conan is yeah, again, starting to get frustrated with everything. I've been thinking I must be, he growled, by crom if I am saying I am out of place here because these people are all maniacs. And he describes basically what they've seen so far. Like it's been a very rich palace, we were dying of thirst and hunger, dead man tried to kill me. Then we saw Shadow Devour a sleeping man. And at that last comment, he's keeping an eye after the last response that he got out of somebody, notices that elicits kind of a response from her face. And she's like, Well, what? she demanded, apparently regaining control of herself. I was just waiting for you to run through the rooms howling like a wild woman, he answered. The man I told about the shadow did. And she's like, Those were the screams I heard.

SPEAKER_01 25:46

Right.

Michael Kentris 25:47

And she's like, It's stupid to squeal like a rat in a trap. When Thog wants me, he will come for me. And so So yeah, we learn that the shadow is Thog, and uh we kind of get a bit of a description of him and of the city as well. It's an ancient city built over an away an oasis, and these people came from the east long ago, that they're not even their descendants remember the age, and we kind of get some more description about some of the strange things that are happening here, right? Most of the time these people are lying as if in a sleep, and their dream life is as important to them as the real. And we, again, right, the black lotus is again referenced here, and they have cultivated it under the city until it just gives dreams instead of death. So basically, they, as they say here, they wake, drink, love, eat, and dream again, seldom finishing anything they begin, saying that meal you found is likely such an instance of someone starting something and not finishing it.

SPEAKER_01 26:45

Great. Again, Codon is kind of questioning the logistics of all this, like, where does the food come from?

Michael Kentris 26:52

Like, how is how is this all working? And apparently they have a very elaborate system, so they've manufactured their own food out of the primal elements. Again, wonderful scientists who were not drugged with the Dreamflower at the time, railed coat with all these things, and much of that technology has since meant forgot. Right. Very uh Star Trek-esque kind of thing. Uh you know, where you can find these planets where people shipwrecked or something like that. They have this ancient technology. And I like this. Like we get uh here we are in a fantasy setting, and they talk about the lights, uh, their jewels fused with radium. And like it's it's one of those things where it just gives you like a little bit of a flavor, like there's something else going on here sometimes, right? It's not just your plain old fantasy kind of setting. So so yeah, and I thought that that thing they said about the scientists, right? This I think this is the first time we've seen that word in a Conan story, like scientist. But yeah, it's very interesting. You know, is this uh is this an instance of like lab grown meat or something written back in the 90s or 30s? So I just thought that was interesting. Right. Then basically, yeah, she tells us that the man the dead man at the gate was likely in one of those deep slumbers, and he awoke, saw them, and attacked. So we're able to explain away the dead men that we've been encountering so far. Yes. So now we get the description of Thog himself, the ancient, the god of Zothal, who dwells in the sunken dome in the center of the city. Yeah, basically right, we get our non-description or our non-explanation of him. He's always been here, whether he came with the ancients or was here when they built the city, nobody knows. He usually is asleep below the city, but at irregular intervals he grows hungry, and then he steals through the secret corridors and the dim lit chambers seeking prey. Then none is safe. So that is what we are seeing here. And uh yeah. So we have another here. Crom, he ejaculated. That's two ejaculations in this story so far. Um, you know, keep the count going. But uh and he's like, You mean to tell me that P these people lie down calmly and sleep with this demon crawling among them? And she says it's only occasionally that he is hungry. A god must have his sacrifices. So uh like this. What difference? Yeah, uh she says When I was a child in Stigia, the people lived under the shadow of the priests. None ever knew when he or she would be seized and dragged to the altar. What difference whether the priests give a victim to the gods or the god comes for his own victim? Little uh dark perspective on life there. Right. I do I do have a little stickler of a point here. That seems like a lot. Especially considering they're supposed to have been here for centuries. I would assume that things would not work out logistically well then. Well, I mean, and that is exactly right. We we do find, right, she says he has been one of the factors that have reduced their numbers from thousands to hundreds. So and you know, within a few more generations, she expects that they will be extinct. So And she doesn't know what'll happen then. Will Thog go back to the underworld? Will he go forth looking for new prey? Um and we we get an important piece of information. There's an oasis, a day's march to the south, uh, but no man of Zuthal has visited for three generations. They are a fast fading race, drowned in lotus dreams, stimulating their waking hours by means of the golden wine which heals wounds, prolongs life, and invigorates the most sad debauche. Does sound like a good time, not gonna lie. I don't know about that. But uh but yeah, so she's like, most of these people must be asleep because when thog is known to be about, everyone goes crazy, screaming, tearing out their hair, running frenziedly out of the gates, cowering outside the walls, and then they draw lots to send somebody back in as a sacrifice. So so yes. And uh see, we get a little more of uh Phalus' origin story here. So she came as a young girl, she was the daughter of a king, and uh more or less it just seems like she ended up kind of being taken as what is it here? Yeah, abducted by a rebel prince who with an army of Kushite Bowmen pushed southward in the wilderness, searching for a land he could make his own. They all died in the desert, placed beyond a camel, and walked beside it until he dropped and died in his tracks. And kind of similar to how our two main characters here have wound up with Zuthal, so did she. But it seems like she got a much better welcome than everybody else. Well, uh yeah, I mean, but it is kind of, I don't know, it's kind of sad in a way, right? We learn that she tried to learn their language, but they're very quick and able of intellect, so they learned hers long before she learned theirs. Just the women are jealous of me because of my beauty. Essentially, they're they're kind of yeah, they live only for sensual joys. So they basically they're a bunch of, as Conan says, damned degenerates. But she had been so she's a king's daughter, as you said, daughter of Luxer, which we learn is a city in Stigia, and she had been led through the temples of Dirkito or Dirkito, which I did some research here. So Dirkito is a transliteration of the Derketo, which is itself a localization of an Aramaic or perhaps Ugaritic, so um the Ugaritic area is somewhere in Asia Minor, like Syria, and it was Atergatis, which was a fertility goddess in that area who often had a mermaid-based form. So again, we have a water themed fertility deity, and those who know like the ancient priestesses of fertility gods and goddesses in particular, were often uh when we say priestesses, we don't think of like, oh, there's a priest and a priestess. Priestesses were usually temple prostitutes. So that is likely been her training is as that kind of figure. At least that is the implication based off of this. So she she's been trained in these quote unquote arts uh since childhood, which is again, I think, depressing, uh if you think about it for a moment. But uh yeah, so we kind of find that that's her background, and that's kind of the role that she's been doing here, it sounds like as well, with the men of Zoothal.

SPEAKER_01 33:28

Yes. And so at that point Codin's like, okay, we need to get out of here. Uh I could see this is no place for ordinary mortals, it'll be gone before your morons awake, or thog comes to devour us. I think the desert would be kinder. And he asks her to show us the nearest way out of this city, and we'll take ourselves off.

Michael Kentris 33:50

And so he kind of lingers on her form a little bit there. She does not miss the lingering look, and she smiles in response. She's like, sure, come follow me. And at one point, as they're kind of walking around, and they encounter a fountain, and it seems like Thallus is kind of goading Natala here, like, don't you want to wash your face, child? It is stained with dust, and there's dust in your hair. And it was kind of described earlier. There's kind of a jealousy of Thallus by Natala, kind of how uh obviously Conan is admiring her form. And I find this part kind of funny where as she's cleaning herself, she's like, by crumb, grumbled Conan. But one will stop to consider her beauty if the devil himself were on her heels. Haste girl, you'll be dusty again before we've got outside of this city. Thallus, I'd take it kindly if you furnish us with a bit of food and drink. Yes. And so so as Natala steps away for a moment, she whispers to him, Why dare the desert stay here, I will teach you the ways of Zuthel. I will protect you, I will love you. You are a real man. I am sick of these moon calves who sigh and dream and wake and dream again. I am hungry for the hard, clean passion of a man from the earth. The blaze of your dynamic eyes makes my heart pound in my bosom, and the touch of your iron thewed arm maddens me. So again, this is this is basically just like romance novels for like men. Yes. When you when you get language like this. Yes. So there's more violence than I assume that we'll see in like a more female-oriented romance novel, but this is like very much this is just purple prose, right? I mean, there's no two ways about it.

SPEAKER_01 35:32

Right. So again, she's like trying to convince him to stay. Stay here, I will make you king of Zuthu. And uh basically while she's doing this, Natal catches sight of her and uh looks surprised.

Betrayal In The Secret Corridor

Michael Kentris 35:49

Yes, she is yeah, she's shocked. She's pouting. Right, well, so we are Conan, I mean, sometimes you know, sometimes he's very honorable, and sometimes they emphasize that yes, he is a barbarian. As they say here, he was no more monogamous in his nature than the average soldier of fortune. But there was an innate decency about him that was Natala's best protection. So so yeah, it's it's one of the things, right? He's a mercenary, he's a barbarian, he's not necessarily your clean cut guy. So yes, he is certainly tempted by this offer, but he does resist at this point in time. Yes. And so basically, kind of she makes up kind of this false pretense of like, oh hey, keep a watch on that doorway. And while he does that, she kind of steals away with the tala behind a tapestry into a secret corridor, and as he gaped bewilderedly from behind that tapestry while ring a muffled scream in the voice of the Berthudian girl.

SPEAKER_01 36:46

So oops. Yes. So so yes.

Michael Kentris 36:51

Basically, Thallus and Natala are gone, and we we learn now, we switched perspective. She, Natala, had grabbed Thallus. Or strike that, reverse it. Thallas had grabbed Natala, pulled her behind one of these curtains into a secret passageway, slammed a bolt home, and basically she laughs at her like poisoned honey in the darkness. Scream if you will, little fool. It will only shorten your life. So uh and she's like, why? Why would you do this? It's like, I want your warrior, and you stand in my way. Right. The simplest of motivations. Yes. I like her response, like, he will cut your throat, answered Natala, knowing Conan better than Thalus did. So her plan here is to basically drag her into the darkness, chain her to the wall, and leave her for thog. So we get a little bit of a turn in Natala's character here. So, you know, she's been this kind of this shrinking violet this whole time, and she is struggling against her and basically pulls a knife from her girdle and stabs her, but it is only a flesh wound. All it does is really kind of make Thallus angry. Right. Stigin was quite certainly not dead. She was cursing in a steady stream, and her fury was so concentrated deadly that Natala fell her bones turned to wax, her blood to ice. Yes. And uh yeah, so they uh you know, she like slips away in the darkness a little bit, and uh it's like, Where are you, you little she-devil? Let me get my fingers on you again, and I'll da da da. So uh so yeah, eventually she does get a hold of her. Her beautiful face contorted with a passion that was no less than hellish. And she also has a pantherish tread, we learn.

SPEAKER_01 38:35

That's how you know she's dangerous.

Michael Kentris 38:36

That's right, panther's dangerous. Yeah. Uh she basically she grabs her, drags her down the corridor, and uh she basically drags her by her hair. So very, very much a stereotype of women fighting each other. Right. Not an accurate one, perhaps, but she ties her to a metal ring and basically starts whipping her. And yeah. As this is going on here, they we get a little Deus Ex Machina type event here. So what happens, Will? So, as Natala is being whipped, she's shrieking. And she had forgotten the lurking menace or Christ might summon, and so apparently had Thalis. So, with the uh shrieking that uh were being elicited here, is summoning Thog, and karma comes calling. Yeah, agony gave place to paralyzing horror in her beautiful eyes as Natala caught something over Thalus' shoulder here, and Thalus recognizes something in her expression, but too late, even though she is as quick as a cat. And so she gets taken. She gets taken by a black, great black, shapeless mass that towers over her, and it takes her away. Yep. We get screams of agony, hysterical laughter, sobs, dwindles to convulsive panting, and then this too ceased. And there's a silence more terrible hovered over the secret corridor. So we have Natala tied to the wall here, darkness starts taking form, and we get a our classic horror description here. A giant misshapen head. Uh although she she took it for a head, but it was not the member of any sane or normal creature. She saw a great, toad like face, the features of which were as dim and unstable as those of a spectre seen in a mirror of nightmare. Great pools of light that might have been eyes blinked at her, and she shook at the cosmic lust reflected there. She could tell nothing about the creature's body, its outline seemed to waver and alter subtly even as she looked at it, yet its substance was apparently solid enough. So it's moving towards her. We have this horrible creature of some kind. And as it's moving closer and closer, she just she decided she was mad because she couldn't tell if the creature was looking up at her or down at her, and like uh all those things weird, and then we get you know further kind of Lovecraftian descriptions here. A dark tentacle-like member slid about her body and she screamed at the touch of it on her flesh. And it spawned all these feelings of obscenity, salacious infamy in the muck of abysmal pits of life, drowning her in seas of cosmic filth. So, as this is going on, something crashed above their heads and a form hurtled down through the air to strike the stone floor.

Conan Cuts Through The Horde

Michael Kentris 41:34

And as you might imagine, we have uh Conan here coming in like a human meter, right? Right. So, yeah, I like I just love the way sometimes they describe Conan's actions here. He's crashing into the wall. This is we kind of jump back in time a little bit. Conan's back in the corridor, the door is sealed and shut, and he's crashes, he hurls himself against the wall with an impact that would have splintered the bones of a lesser man. It's not just his muscles, Will. His bones. The very bones of the man. He's a barbarian of a barbarian. We learned this already. That is true. You know, I should stop being surprised. So uh as it's going on, a score of figures run in here, and uh Conan does Conan stuff. Right. He wheels like a cat, he twists like a panther, he lays waste, roars like a lion. No, right, throat like a bull. There we go. Some slight different. Oh yeah, it does say bullshit. He's a tigerish barbarian. What are there any others? He's got a tiger sleep that he does later on. But you know, he's running around, he's not staying still, and they're all slow and clumsy in comparison to him, and he's able to just as they say here, he moves with the quickness possible only to steal fuse knit to a perfect fighting brain. That's right. So it's it's uh flesh and mental prowess combined into one perfect unit. That's right. That is right. But yeah, like they flounder, they stumble, just even though they have overwhelming numbers, they're just too slow. Yes. And he's able to just keep moving, keep slashing, and running around.

SPEAKER_01 43:11

Yeah.

Michael Kentris 43:11

I just I love just briefly some of the wounds here. Uh brains gushing, belly muscles cut, spurt of crimson. So just uh few words to paint the picture of the carnage that uh Conan is unleashing against the what for other people might be overwhelming numbers. Right. And so obviously he is still kind of like facing bad odds. So he's looking for an exit, and he sees that there's a tapestry on a wall pulled aside, disclosing a narrow stairway, and he sees a person standing there in rich robes, vague eyed and blinking, and he's like, that's the exit. So he goes over there with a tiger sleep, like I said before, and literally just like rams him through and let's What's the exact verse that they use here? Uh as Conan rushed up the marble stair, the man above shook himself from his stupor and drew a sword that sparkled frostily in the iranium light. He thrust downward as the bear bar as the barbarian surged upon him, but as the point sank toward his throat, Conan ducked deeply. The blade slit the skin of his back and Conan straightened, driving his saber upward, as a man might wield a butcher knife with all the power of his mighty shoulders, and basically sends him back down the stairs to act as a violent barrier to the other van. Chasing us. Yeah, right. I just highlighted further just buzzwords from the carnage here. Welter of blood and brains, dying dog, stump that had been an arm. Yes. Ripped open to the spine from groin to broken breastbone in a ghastly mess of streaming entrails. So yeah, uh basically it is just nonstop carnage here. So again, I think this is just one of those things that probably made Conan so successful with the young male market when it came out, right? Because we have this beautiful lady lusting after Conan. And then minutes later, uh he's just being a complete boss, cutting down dudes left and right. So he he is this kind of like hyper masculine figure that basically is unstoppable by any mortal means almost. Right? Yeah, it's it's definitely kind of feeding into that power fantasy kind of idea a little bit. You know, he's the women want him and men want to be him kind of thing.

SPEAKER_01 45:38

Absolutely. So yeah. Yeah.

Michael Kentris 45:42

As as he's escaping, he stops in the new chamber, sees it's empty, and uh behind him the horde was yelling with such intensified horror and rage they knew he had killed some notable man there on the stair, probably the king of that fantastic city. Oops.

SPEAKER_01 45:57

Little little reticide.

Michael Kentris 46:00

Maybe, maybe. So it so basically Conan's kind of fighting a bit of a retreating battle at this point, right? He's been, you know, going from room to room, trying to avoid the numbers, uh, you know, kind of pressing in on him. So he's he's making sure he sticks to like the stairwells, the narrow, narrow doorways, things like this. I kind of had read down here as a Scooby-Doo chase. Yeah, kind of. So as he goes, he uh goes into another ornate chamber and he became aware of his mistake. And I don't think we mentioned this earlier, but we we did learn from Thallus earlier that this this whole city is one giant palace. So the architecture is a bit unusual. So he's basically just going from room to room to room. And he comes into this room, and there is an occupant, and he sees a woman, and she's, as they say here, loaded with jeweled ornaments, but otherwise nude, and he sees her reach for his silken rope, pulls it, the floor drops from under him, and I like this, all his steel trap coordination could not save him from the plunge into the black depths that opened beneath him. So uh I like this. Again, bones. Bones. He did not fall great distance, though it was far enough to have snapped the leg bones of a man not built of steel springs and whalebone. So Conan uh Conan is again hard boned. Hard bone. Yes. So basically, I know that we get a couple like little Deus Ex mocking it type things in this story here. So he basically falls right in front of Natala, writhing in the grass with this black nightmare shape that could only have been bred in the lost pits of hell. So Conan being Conan rather than being frozen with the sight of this awful shape.

SPEAKER_01 47:47

Seeing the juxtaposition to his girl, quotation.

Michael Kentris 47:51

The sight sent a red wave of murderous fury through Conan's brain, and in a crimson mist, he smote the monster, or at least tries to. He's attacking it over and over, and it's not offering the resistance that he had expected of like a physical creature. And I think anybody who's played DD realizes like, oh, he needs a magical weapon. He's that Phoenix sword. Yes. Yeah, is he doing half damage? Right. So um Yeah, right, we get this uh is ripping Ponyard, tore and rent it, deluge with a slimy liquid that must have been its sluggish blood. So, yeah, we get this kind of knockdown, drag out fight, which very similar to what we saw in the the previous story where he was fighting kind of what was it, the gray ape creature. Yeah. Where he's just like slashing. Yeah, right. Tossed to and fro in the violence of that awful battle, had a dazed feeling that he was fighting not one, but an aggregation of lethal creatures. He felt fangs and talons rend his flesh, like a whip of scorpions falling across his shoulders, and so on. Once he sank his teeth, beast-like, into the flabby substance of his foe, revolting as the stuff writhed in his squirmed like living rubber from between his iron jaws. So right, they're just kind of fighting and fighting, and it's this thing eventually starts trying to get away from him. Conan being Conan. I like this. It says he was hanging on like a bulldog to the hilt of his saber, which he could not withdraw, tearing and ripping at the shuddering bulk with the ponyard in his left hand, goring it to ribbons. Like you said, half damage, probably. So in those situations, it's all about uh the number of attacks. So yes. But yeah. And eventually this thing it disappeared and slides down into the blackness of the abyss from which no sound came. So it flees Conan, so call it a uh a a draw here. Yeah. Yeah. So we switch back to Natala. She's still struggling at these silken cords, and uh she hears a footstep and she sees Conan, dripping blood coming out of the darkness here.

Battle With Thog And Golden Wine

Michael Kentris 49:58

And uh he is not looking great. His lips were pulped, blood oozed down his face from a scalp wound, deep gashes in his thighs, calves, forearms, a great bruise on his limbs and body from impacts against the stone floor. He's bruised, swollen, lacerated, skin hanging in loose strips as if he'd been lashed with wire whips. And uh Natala reverts to her previous like, Oh, Conan, you are wounded unto death, oh what shall we do? Right. And uh can't fight a devil out of hell and come off the whole skin. Yeah, so basically he says, like, you know, it uh it fled, it fell into a pit, I was hanging in bloody shreds. Whether it can be killed by steel, I know not. And uh he's like, We can't go back through the secret door, that room's full of dead men, warriors will be keeping watch. So we have to go back the other corridor, it may lead to a pit. We can't stay here and rot. So they continue on here, and they come to a long stair, came upon a stone door with a single golden bolt. And he's like, open the door, the men of zooth will be waiting for us, and I would not disappoint them. By crumb, the city has not seen such a sacrifice as I will make. So I do like at this point, like he's he's obviously a little delirious from his blood loss, like he's sweating, he's tired. She knew he was half delirious, and thankfully they didn't encounter anybody in the room.

SPEAKER_01 51:17

Right. She's like, There's no one in the chamber, but there is water. He's like, I hear it.

Michael Kentris 51:23

He licked his blackened lips. We will drink before we die. Right. So she says, I'll bathe their wounds, and you know, all silent. So as they're going in here, they see a another one of these women naked and apparently lifeless, and at her hand was a jade jar nearly full of peculiar golden-colored liquid, which again we remember uh Thallas told us about the golden wine that they used to basically wake themselves from their dream stupor. So Natala grabs it, and she comes back, puts the jar to Conan's lips, and then he sits up, took the vessel, and his eyes are clear, normal, much of the haggard look gone, and his voice was not the mumble of delirium, as you were saying was. Right. And I like this, he thrust his muzzle again into the golden liquid. So, yes, this is some sort of magic elixir, essentially. Is it so now that he's obviously a little more put together, again, they are back to their original plan of leaving the city. We are not wraths to hide, because initially Nahal suggests that they hide in the corridors until he gets fully healed. And he's like, We are not wraths to hide in dark burrows, we leave this devil's city now and let none seek to stop us. And ultimately he's like, I don't feel the pain from my wounds. It may be a false strength this liquor has given me, but I swear I'm aware of neither pain nor weakness. Yes. So so their plan is there's a jar in the room filled with water. They're gonna take some of these tapestries and create a rope, right? They they realize they're on one of the outer rooms of the wall here, and so they're gonna basically just shimmy down the wall and make for that oasis a day's march to the south. So yeah, they're they got a plan and they are they are executing, basically. So they shimmy down the wall, and uh I like this here. They uh they say, My you know, Natala's finally happy. Her heart sang with joy because they were out of that ghostly unreal city. And they they may find uh that rope and pursue us, but from what Thallis said, I doubt it. So they they head out to the oasis, and we get a little kind of ending conversation between Conan and Natala here.

SPEAKER_01 53:47

Right. She says it's all your fault if you're not looked so long and admiring that Stiggian cat.

Michael Kentris 53:51

And then he replies, I don't know if you want to take this long, Mike. Yes. When the oceans drown the world, women will take time for jealousy. Devil take their conceit. Did I tell you the Stiggin to Did I tell the Stigan to fall in love with me? After all, she was only human. I feel like you could play like the Looney Tunes outro here like at the end of that thing. So, yeah, uh yes, Conan is certainly aware of his own attractiveness, I suppose you could say. It's the Steely Theo's. So uh that takes us to the end of Zoothal of the Dusk.

Final Thoughts And Listener Challenge

Michael Kentris 54:24

So definitely a bit of a strange story, a lot of weird things happening, right? We get a little bit of a land of the lotus eaters mixed in with some Lovecrafting horror here. So, Will, what are your what are your thoughts after reading this story? It definitely, like you said, kind of fits a lot of the uh sort of tropes that we come to expect from a lot of these conan stories. Like you said, we have the damsel in distress, we've got either noble horror or something along with some sort of supernatural element typically. Then we got Conan just laying death and waste to any who stand in his way. I don't I don't think you can really expect a whole lot more from any given Conan story. Right. Yeah, it's it seems like there's a contrast. I think maybe three kind of combat types that I've seen for Conan so far. We have like the the individual combat, we've got the kind of military large-scale battle, and then we've got the Conan versus horde of MOOCs, if you will. To to borrow again borrow a uh tabletop gaming term. So where he's just basically like kind of cleaving his way through dozens of nameless enemies. Uh I would say that we have had him, I'm trying to think. Have we had a story where he has not killed somebody? That's a good question. And I think the answer is no. I think so too. Because I think even back to like some of the ones where he Wait. Wait, wait, wait. What about the uh No, I was thinking of the Frost Giants' daughter, but he definitely killed the guards there. He killed he killed the frost giants. Yes. Yeah, he killed the frost giants. What about uh God in the Bowl? Where he's a thief.

SPEAKER_01 56:09

Oh wait, no, he he definitely lion.

Michael Kentris 56:13

Yeah. No, that was that was the Tower of the Elephant. Oh, I'm sorry. Which one did you say? The one before that, God in the Bowl, where he uh was trying to steal from that museum. He definitely stabbed several people. Right. He definitely, yeah. Like and like some potentially lethal blows, but they didn't die. Right. They didn't die in story. They may have died later. Um I'm trying to think, because I don't think any of those wounds were like immediately fatal. Like he cut off somebody's hand and stabbed one of the guardsmen like into the thigh bone.

SPEAKER_01 56:42

Yeah.

Michael Kentris 56:43

I don't know that he killed anybody. That's a good one. No, he killed well, he killed the snake monster. Sure. Alright. Well we'll count monsters. Yeah. Alright, fair enough. So so yes, I think the answer is yes, he's killed, let's say, something every story. Whether it was human or not. Um but yeah, so there we go. I guess that answers the question.

SPEAKER_01 57:07

He is a barbarian.

Michael Kentris 57:08

If we're wrong, we haven't read all the Conan stories yet. We have what do we got here by my count? One, two, three, four, four more uh stories in this omnibus that we're reading through here. So we got another month of Conan ahead of us. But uh yeah, if uh we'll have to recap after we've read all the original Conan stories and see if there are any stories in which Conan does not dispatch a foe. And I know there have been some where he has not saved a beautiful woman in distress. Some of those earlier stories in particular. Yeah. But um but it's definitely becoming more of a common theme, I think, in these later stories. Right. And I do wonder like, are these being sort of ordered by publication date? Or I wonder what the public like the ordering of this omnibus is. I think these are by publication date, is my understanding. Aaron Ross Powell So maybe he got some feedback from his publisher, but hey, maybe a little more romance. You know, maybe. Got to think about what sells. Absolutely. Well, for those, I hope you enjoyed our conversation today about Zoo of the Dark. We will continue our Conan exploration going forward with the pool of the black one next week. And yeah, thank you all for listening. Let us know are we missing a story? Did he in fact not kill somebody? And one of the ones we've already covered and we're just forgetting. Future so show suggestions and other comments and criticisms can be sent to brothersreadingbooks at gmail.com, or you can find us on X at BrothersReading. Will, anything else we want to mention at this point in time? Thanks for listening along with us. Yes, yes. Appreciate you going on this journey through Hyboria with us. It's it's definitely been interesting. Uh it's been something totally different for me as far as uh some of my reading. Oh, we didn't talk about

What We’re Reading Right Now

Michael Kentris 59:01

books. What have we been reading lately? Will, do you have anything new to report in your other reading life? So I did finish that uh This is how you lose the time war, and I wanted to correct myself and say that yes, epistolary does describe it much more accurately. Excellent, excellent. And it was it was good. I I would recommend it. It was a short read, but um I would say that some of the pros, it was doing that thing where it blended like sci-fi terminology and metaphor to the point where it was hard for me to kind of visualize some of what was being described, but the actual letters that were being exchanged back and forth. I really loved that part of the story. Interesting. Yeah, I'll have to keep that one in mind. How about you? Well, I I think I'm still reading the same books, to be honest. I've had uh I was uh a bit busy this last week, so I didn't get as much extraneous reading. This may not be as much interest to to our listeners, but uh I'm usually reading through the Bible at one pace or another. So I I just finished the Paul's letter to the Galatians, uh, which is kind of an interesting thing from a historical context. Again, it's an area in Asia Minor, and the the Galatians, broadly speaking, it was a a population from Gaul that had settled there, and so they had some some interesting pagan practices there. So they had, you might have heard of Cybel or like Chibele, a pagan god who was like a fertility god, and his priests would castrate themselves and dress in female garb, essentially, and the Romans thought it was very strange. So they uh they didn't accord them necessarily the same rites as other priesthoods in the area. So that's something I was I was listening to some commentary on it as well. But uh it's not explicitly mentioned in the letter, per se. Sure. But but yeah, it's uh it's an interesting book. It has a lot of theological implications, especially in our Western world with respect to differences in kind of more traditional, like Roman Catholic, Eastern Orthodox versus Protestant strains of thought. So it it definitely was uh an interesting read from that perspective. So not necessarily falling into our sci-fi fantasy recommendations. I'm still reading on that front um Starbreaker. I think this is the fourth book in the series. Mostly reading that one before I go to bed at night. And um actually, I do have a new recommendation. Uh I picked up a book by Tolstoy, actually. Okay. And so later in life, he actually created this book called like uh like Daily Words of Wisdom, I think is the title. And it's exactly what it sounds like. Each date has a little quotation, and then Tolstoy has like maybe a few sentences about his thoughts on it. So he's got basically words of wisdom from people throughout history. So I haven't read a huge amount of it yet. Sure. But uh, we've got like quotes from like Emerson and Cicero and Pascal, and so all these different uh famous philosophers and thinkers throughout history that Tolstoy has found to be edifying, and he's kind of collected them. This was one of the last works he did before he passed away, so kind of late in his life. So very interesting, you know, great author, great thinker in the Russian literature sphere, obviously, and just you know, in you know, Western literature in general. So it's it's interesting to see the things that he thought were edifying. So it's been it's been interesting from that perspective.

SPEAKER_01 1:02:29

Nice.

Michael Kentris 1:02:30

Yeah. So just quick little yeah, it's like one page, just like a daily reflection kind of thing. So I've picked up several of those books over time that are like a just a little bit, I like read this once a day for like five minutes. So even if you're falling behind on your other reading habits, you can still kind of get that ball rolling. So I I've I've picked up a couple of books like that over the years, and they're they're usually something good even when you're pressed for time. Nice. Yeah. Well, if you've listened to the end, thank you again, and uh we'll we'll talk to you next week. Take care. Bye. Bye.