loading their crates. Unsure if the caravan will be friendly or not, the crew split up, one will follow the caravan, and another returned home by walking along the coast. Conan's crew eventually close the distance and, by nightfall, have come within feet from the caravan's distant bonfire. Conan assumes the identity of a Vendhyan merchant and, after a brief conversation with the captain of the caravan guard, they learn that the owner will speak with them in the morning. During the night, a Khitan merchant approaches the smugglers and offers in hiring them as his guards. In Vendhya, Naipal discovers Conan has become embroiled in his schemes. Believing Conan's involvement is purposeful, he plans to kill both the Cimmerian and his companions. After his agents in the caravan attempt without success in slaying Conan, Naipal lays a trap for him in the lost city of Gwandikian. Soon, Conan takes the bait. Lured into an ancient tower, he's attacked by a swarm of cobras and narrowly escapes. Afterward, Conan searches for an antidote to his poisoned wound in a nearby forest, where he has been told it can be located. Soon, he discovers the herbalist who originally treated him and learns he was in fact cured by his first treatment; the man had lied about it then to secure the Cimmerian's aid. He, presumably, is Naipal's true adversary. A final conflict between the two sorcerers ensues, in which both end up dead at the hands of the demon each tried to control, and the demon itself is destroyed by the spells they had lain on it. Conan, surviving, decides to return home. On the way, he encounters Lord Khalid's agent Jelal. The spy has completed his investigations and cleared the Cimmerian of complicity in the Vendhyan plot against Turan. He gives Conan a parchment and instructs him to present it at the headquarters of the Turanian army on his return to Sultanpoor. Reception Don D'Ammassa writes "As always Jordan told a good story, but the repetition of the same basic plot is not relieved by the few minor variations that he adds." Ryan Harvey, in an aside to a review of another Conan novel, calls the book a "poor work" from an "otherwise skilled pastiche writer" on which he "would hate to judge" Jordan. References External links Page at Fantastic Fiction 1984 American novels 1984 fantasy novels Conan the Barbarian