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Title: Rogues in the House
Series:
Conan Chronicles #7
Author: Robert Howard
Rating:
3.5 of 5 Stars
Genre: Fantasy
Pages:
48
Words: 10K
Publish: 1933
“Even the Wind tastes sweet when one is in love” is not the sentiment expressed in this novella. Conan dangles a prostitute off of a high tower and throws her into a pile of muck down in the street. In his defense, she’d sold him out to the authorities and his head had been on the chopping block before he escaped.
The rest of the story is Conan and the noble who hired him fighting against a priest and his half-human servitor, who is more apebeast than man. This was more “sword” than “sorcery” but that’s how a lot of Conan stories were told. New adventures in strange lands, no magic needed. But my preference is for stories that do have some magic in them.
★★★✬☆
From Grokipedia.com
Characters
The primary protagonist is Conan the Cimmerian, a barbarian warrior hailing from the grim northern hills of Cimmeria in the fictional Hyborian Age. He is depicted as a towering, powerfully built figure whose thick-muscled limbs combine the raw strength of a grizzly bear with the lithe quickness of a panther, crowned by a tangled black mane and lit by fierce blue eyes that blaze with unquenchable savagery. Conan adheres to a strict personal code of honor that compels him to fulfill obligations, even as he survives in civilized lands as a mercenary and thief. Murilo is a young aristocrat of the city, characterized by scented black curls and foppish apparel, though he is no weakling and pursues sophisticated intrigue by bribing officials and selling state secrets to rival powers. Nabonidus, known as the Red Priest, is the true power behind the throne, a master manipulator who controls the king, chancellor, and populace through razor-keen intellect and ruthless ambition. Often clad in scarlet robes and hood, he resides in a mansion rigged with elaborate mechanical death-traps and possesses expertise in poisons, including the deadly gray lotus dust. Thak is a grotesque, semi-human creature, transitional between ape and man, captured as a cub from the high eastern mountains of Zamora. His thick, stooped body is covered in furlike black hair, with unnaturally wide shoulders, a flat nose featuring great flaring nostrils, loose lips revealing huge yellow fangs, and small, pig-like eyes that glare redly. He formerly served as Nabonidus' bodyguard and servant, demonstrating unusual quickness in learning human behaviors. Supporting figures include Athicus, a bribable guard stationed in the dungeon; Joka, Nabonidus' tall, silent, and saturnine servant; Petreus, a young nobleman heading a group of conspirators; and an unnamed yellow-haired woman from the city's slums.
Synopsis
"Rogues in the
House" opens with Murilo, a young aristocrat in an unnamed
city-state, receiving a severed human ear in a gold box from
Nabonidus, the Red Priest who holds true power in the city.
Recognizing the ear as belonging to a bribed court secretary, Murilo
understands that Nabonidus has uncovered his treasonous plotting and
intends to destroy him. Rather than flee, Murilo resolves to
assassinate the priest and recruits Conan, a Cimmerian barbarian
imprisoned for killing a treacherous priest.Murilo visits Conan in
the dungeon, frees him from his chains, and strikes a bargain: Conan
will kill Nabonidus that night in exchange for gold and a horse for
escape. The plan falters when the bribed guard is arrested, replaced
by an incorruptible jailer who discovers Conan's freedom. Conan kills
the jailer with a sharpened beef bone, takes his keys and dagger, and
escapes the prison. Believing Conan still confined, Murilo decides to
infiltrate Nabonidus's mansion alone.At midnight, Murilo climbs the
garden wall and finds the guard dog and Nabonidus's servant Joka both
dead with broken necks. Inside the house, he sees a figure in
Nabonidus's scarlet robes and approaches to stab it, only to discover
it is Thak, a monstrous ape-like creature with a fanged face and red
eyes, who has donned the priest's garments. Overcome by horror,
Murilo faints. Meanwhile, Conan enters the mansion through the
sewers, settling a prior score along the way, but becomes trapped in
the pits beneath the house when an iron grille falls behind
him.Murilo awakens in the pits and encounters Conan; soon after, they
find the unconscious Nabonidus. Upon reviving, Nabonidus explains
that Thak, an almost-human beast he raised as a servant, rebelled the
previous night, attacked him, killed the dog and Joka, stripped him,
and assumed his robes. Using mirrors and tubes, Nabonidus shows the
trio the chamber above, where Thak guards the exit stairs. Nabonidus
reveals Thak has mastered the mansion's deadly traps, including one
that releases gray lotus dust to induce murderous madness.A group of
conspirators enters the chamber intending to kill "Nabonidus,"
but Thak reveals his bestial form, triggers the trap, and seals the
room with glass panels while releasing the dust. The men go mad and
slaughter one another as Thak watches delightedly from outside. After
the dust clears, Thak departs briefly, allowing Nabonidus, Murilo,
and Conan to ascend to the house. Thak returns and hunts them;
Nabonidus positions Conan to ambush the creature while Murilo lures
it.Thak charges Murilo, passing the curtain where Conan leaps onto
its back and stabs repeatedly with his poniard. In the fierce
struggle, Murilo strikes Thak's head with a heavy chair, stunning it
long enough for Conan to drive the blade into the beast's heart,
killing it. Nabonidus retrieves his keys from Thak's body and leads
the others to a chamber where he pours wine. As Murilo tends Conan's
wounds, Nabonidus attempts to activate another trap to kill them both
and dispose of their bodies, but Conan hurls a stool that strikes and
kills the priest instantly.At dawn, Murilo and Conan leave the
mansion through the garden. Murilo decides to remain in the city now
free of Nabonidus's threat, while Conan, still wanted for his crimes,
takes the waiting horse and departs the kingdom
