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Title: The Tower of the Elephant
Series:
Conan Chronicles #3
Author: Robert Howard
Rating:
3.5 of 5 Stars
Genre: Fantasy
Pages:
30
Words: 9K
Publish: 1933
This Conan story goes back into the past, when Conan is still a young thief. He is in a new city, chasing down a legendary and quite possibly fictional, treasure called the Heart of the Elephant. It is contained within a wizard’s tower.
The opening scene shows how brash Conan is as a young man. He demands answers. He’s, not exactly insecure, but unsure of the situation in the inn due to his inexperience with merchants and this city. Thus his confrontation with the merchant and his having to leave rather quickly. He might be unsure of some things, but he’s never at a loss when it comes to “doing” things.
And that leads him to attempt the robbery of the tower that very night. No planning, no reconnaissance, just Conan going to the tower to try to break in. Once again, it shows his young brashness but he’s not stupid. He meets a skilled thief who is also attempting to rob the wizard and the team up. This is why I say Conan isn’t stupid. He knows the other thief has more experience and knowledge and is more than willing to go along with him. The old thief dies in a trap and that puts Conan on his guard. Because he really wasn’t before, even though he was robbing a wizard’s tower of its most treasured and magical possession.
When Conan meets the wizard’s mentor, who is now a mutilated being imprisoned on a throne of jade, things move slightly into the cosmic horror side of things. And that is a good thing because Conan isn’t just a barbarian fighting other humans, but a Force of Nature that those cosmic beings crash against. It’s very much the “Yes, there are terrible, horrible, no-good things out there. But our indomitable human spirit will conquer all!” kind of attitude that I like in my stories. Don’t give me this defeatist crap we see in books today where everything is hopeless and wrecked beyond recovery and everybody just sits on their ass bewailing how “done bad” they’ve been. Get off your ass and DO something, no matter how small. There are times I wish characters like Conan were real just so he could kill off all those lousy purveyors of despair and hopelessness. Anyway…. the mentor ends up helping Conan kill the sorcerer and Conan escapes with his life and nothing else.
That is one thing I’m not a fan of about Conan, he’s not a wise financial decision maker ;-) Hahahahaa.
★★★✬☆
From Wikipedia
In the Zamorian city of Arenjun also known as the "City of Thieves,” Conan drinks in a tavern. He overhears a Kothic rogue describe a fabulous jewel known as the "Heart of the Elephant," which is kept in a tower by an evil sorcerer named Yara.
Conan ventures into Yara's garden to steal the jewel and encounters Taurus of Nemedia, known as the "Prince of Thieves,” who has the same agenda. Taurus is wily and fat, but amazingly agile. Impressed by Conan's daring, Taurus agrees to work together. After battling lions in the tower gardens, the thieves ascend Yara's spire. Upon reaching the top, Taurus enters a treasure vault and is killed by the venomous bite of a giant spider. Conan crushes the spider with a chest of gems, then continues his search for the Heart of the Elephant.
He discovers a strange being with the body of a man and the head of an elephant. The creature, Yag-kosha, is a blind and tortured prisoner of Yara.
Yag-kosha reveals to Conan the pre-cataclysmic saga of his people, their arrival on Earth, and how he taught Yara the art of magic only to have his apprentice betray him. At Yag-kosha's request, Conan grabs the fabled jewel, kills the being, extracts the heart from his corpse, and drips its blood over the Heart of the Elephant. When he sets the blood-infused relic in front of Yara in his sleeping-chamber, the gem's magic shrinks and draws the sorcerer into the jewel. Inside, a revived Yag-kosha, limbs and wings restored, pursues the screaming Yara, and the Heart vanishes.
Obeying Yag-kosha's instructions, Conan leaves, emerging empty-handed from the tower at dawn as it collapses behind him. He has nothing after his night's work except for his sword, loin-cloth, and sandals.
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