The Chronicles of Conan #8

In the sun-scorched Plain of Shamu, Conan battles a monstrous bull and a deadly giant scorpion, testing his strength against the wilds of Belverus. Amid the chaos, a fierce new ally emerges—Tara of Hanumar—whose presence marks the beginning of a dangerous alliance. As Conan claims his cloak and mail-shirt from the ruins of an ancient altar, the true cost of survival begins to unfold.

Conan and his companions journey toward Messantia when they stumble upon a mysterious city shrouded in mist, its towers looming like forgotten dreams. When a bat-winged creature abducts a captive woman and drags her to a towering spire, Conan must fight his way through the city’s eerie defenses—only to discover that the entire place is a living illusion, born from the twisted will of its deranged founder, Mad Jakk. As the city collapses around them, Tara and Yusef reveal the truth behind its creation, leaving Conan to wonder what other secrets lie hidden in the ruins.

In "Incident in Argos!", Conan finds himself entangled in a web of betrayal and danger upon arriving in Messantia, where a clash with the arrogant Royal Guard quickly turns deadly. With Yusuf on the run after killing a corrupt captain and Tara in peril, Conan must rely on the cryptic visions of fortune teller Momratha while evading capture—until a brutal confrontation at the courthouse forces him to take a desperate stand against the city’s corrupt justice.

Conan flees Messantia’s justice only to find himself aboard a doomed ship, stranded off the coast of Kush—where he’s seized by the legendary pirate queen Bêlit and her Black Corsairs. Forced to fight the fearsome warrior Odongo for his life, Conan’s victory earns him not just survival, but a place at Bêlit’s side as her second-in-command. With the Sirens’ song echoing in the distance and the past of a fallen captain and a lost lover haunting the shadows, Conan must now navigate a world of blood, betrayal, and a bond that burns as fiercely as the southern sun.

In "The Ballad of Belit!", Conan listens as N’yaga the Shaman recounts the legendary rise of Bêlit, the warrior princess wronged by her uncle Nim-Karrak and raised in secret by the tribe of the Bird-Riders. Though believed to be the daughter of the goddess Derketa, Bêlit’s true destiny lies in reclaiming her birthright—her father’s throne—after surviving a deadly mission meant to end her life. Her path from exile to vengeance is forged in blood and betrayal, as she turns to the sea and the Black Corsairs, seeking justice in a world that once tried to bury her.