Arsinoe Library Edition, 2026
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In Robert E. Howard’s classic Conan tale “The Scarlet Citadel,” first published in Weird Tales in January 1933, an older King Conan of Aquilonia answers a plea for help from Amalrus, king of neighboring Ophir. Amalrus claims that Strabonus, king of Koth, is invading his western lands. Conan rides south with five thousand Aquilonian knights, only to discover a carefully laid trap. Amalrus and Strabonus have allied against him, backed by the sinister Kothian sorcerer Tsotha-lanti. Outnumbered six to one on the plain of Shamu, Conan’s cavalry is annihilated. The king himself stands alone amid the corpses until Tsotha paralyzes him with a poisoned ring-fang and has him chained and carted to the Scarlet Citadel in Khorshemish.
WARNING: Plot spoilers if you read further.
There the three conspirators demand that Conan abdicate in favor of the puppet Prince Arpello of Pellia in exchange for gold and safe passage. Conan contemptuously refuses, spatters Amalrus with saliva, and is dragged into the nightmare dungeons beneath the citadel—the Halls of Horror where Tsotha performs blasphemous experiments on human and inhuman subjects. Chained in darkness, Conan faces the enormous white serpent Satha. A vengeful Kushite slave arrives seeking Conan’s head; Satha kills the man, dropping keys and a sword within Conan’s reach. Freed, Conan kills the eunuch Shukeli and wanders the lightless tunnels, encountering grotesque monsters, including a weeping jelly-like abomination, before locating the imprisoned wizard Pelias, a long-time rival of Tsotha who has been held for a decade.
Pelias, grateful for release, uses sorcery to free them both. He summons a flying creature that carries Conan back to Aquilonia. In Tamar, the capital, Arpello has already seized the throne with the support of opportunistic nobles. Conan storms the palace, hurls the usurper from a high window to his death, and rallies loyal Bossonian archers, pikemen, and remaining knights. He marches to relieve the besieged city of Shamar, where the combined Kothian-Ophirean army under Strabonus and Tsotha waits. In the ensuing battle Conan’s forces, though still outnumbered, break the enemy lines. Conan confronts Tsotha personally; after a fierce struggle he beheads the wizard. Even headless, Tsotha’s body continues to move until Pelias’s summoned eagle seizes the severed head and flies away with it, ending the sorcerer’s threat. Conan reclaims his throne, having once again proven that barbarian steel and stubborn will can overcome both royal treachery and dark magic.
Full Text
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MARC 21 Bibliographic Data / MARCXML
Title
The Scarlet Citadel
Author
Robert E. Howard
Language
English
Original print date
January 1933, in Weird Tales
Title image
Conan chained in the dungeon beneath the scarlet citadel, facing the serpent (AL, 2026).
Arsinoe Library Edition, published by the Arsinoe Library
Arsinoe Library Edition release date
2026
License
Core text is US Public Domain. Any text and editing additions by the Arsinoe Library are under the CC BY-SA (Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike) license. Webpage and code is under the GNU General Public License (GPLv3). The purpose of all Arsinoe Library publications is to make this work free, for everyone, forever, with proper attributions to the creators involved. Any reproduction of this work must do so under these licenses.