Conan the Barbarian Sets Sail - Dark Horse Comics: Queen of The Black Coast pt. 1 (of 6)

NARRATOR: Like a gilded pearl glittering against the cobalt waters of the Western Ocean, a city of aristocracy, of finance, of the rule of law, the justice system. A city where great merchant villas adorning terraces high in the hills looked down over grimy hovels [INAUDIBLE]. Crime-infested bazaars, where the abstract corruption of the upper classes translates down to a knife lodged in the ribs of a man dying in a dark alley. Conan the Sumerian does not notice this divide. The barbarian from the North is busy riding for his life. TITO: What the-- for the love of Mitra! Heave lads. Get us moving now! Now lads. Get us out of here. CONAN: Wait! Krom! TITO: Who invited you aboard? CONAN: Keep us moving. Head for open water. TITO: Ignore that order. Stop rowing. We're headed for Kush. CONAN: Then so am I. Get moving. TITO: Have you any silver to pay for passage, Barbarian? CONAN: I pay with steel. And I promise you, if you don't put distance between us and those guardsmen on shore, I will drench this ship in your blood, and that of your crew. TITO: Heh. You heard the swordsman, lads. Get us clear of the harbor. CONAN: You have my thanks, master stewardsman, I regret to say, the fresh acquisition of new enemies-- the Messantia court guardsmen. TITO: I must choose between your sword in defiance and their crossbows for aiding in your escape. I think instead that I'll simply choose the much friendlier coasts of Kush, Barbarian. CONAN: My name is Conan, and I am Sumerian. TITO: I am Tito, master of the Argos. And licensed trader on the Kush Argos sea road. If I'm to be forced to abandon free access to the ports of Argos, care to tell me just what your business was in Messantia that inflamed the guardsmen so? CONAN: I have nothing to conceal. I came to Argos seeking employment, but with peace currently in abundance, such work is scarce. I admit I'm a man of humble upbringing. So I'm prone to misunderstand the ways of the city dwellers. And perhaps more than a few quarts of ale have passed my lips. You men must surely know the place-- The Bone in the Throat-- that inn down the old wharf road, with the twin redheads working the ale taps. [MEN CHUCKLING] CONAN: As I said, I am just a man. So my head heavy with ale an my heart yearning for battle, I had the misfortune to witness an officer in the King's guard mistreating a young woman. The sweetheart of a soldier, who had the greater misfortune of being deeply in love with this girl, and who ran the captain through, right in the middle of the tavern. TITO: But Conan, surely you committed no crime in witnessing this. And surely you were not the only one with eyes on the ***. CONAN: No crime, but everyone else fled. And I was the fool for staying to finish my drink. More guardsmen appeared and I, as the sole remaining witness, was hauled off to the clink, [VOMITING] where I spent the night behind bars. Come sunrise, I was furious. Were I not sick as a dog, I would have cut a path out of that hole of a prison. Instead, I live in the hallway to the courts. Apparently-- and perhaps this is just how city folk live-- but apparently it's against the law to *** a captain of the garden. Where I come from in the North, you avenge a woman's honor. But I'm straying from the story. They got it into their heads that I was friends with the younger soldier. And their repeated requests for information were starting to edge my nerves. The judge started in with a sermon on my duty to the state and society. I had just arrived in Argos the day before. I was practically drooling at the sight of my confiscated sword. But I chocked my ire back and held my peace. TITO: A stronger man than I. CONAN: Until the judge ordered me sent back to the dungeons for contempt of the court. Clearly I was in a room of lunatics. So I reacquired my sword, and split the judge's skull in two like a melon. [LAUGHTER] CONAN: And that horse, stolen from the Chief Constable. [LAUGHTER] NARRATOR: The Sumerian, young in years though he may be, possesses a rare quality of charisma. And the crew of the Argos, having known him only minutes, loved him like a comrade. As a youth dreamed about Belit this Queen of the Black Coast has gripped Conan's heart.