eBook by Michael A. Stackpole
Cover by Jenny Frison
Illustrations by Patrick Zircher
From Titan Books and Heroic Signatures
Spoilers! Spoilers!
N'Yaga (shaman of the Black Corsairs) is chilling in his cave, he sees in the bones before him that Bêlit will soon be paying him a visit.
Bêlit arrives seeking N'Yaga's wisdom, she's dressed in Shem tribesman robes.
First mate N'Goro, a tall, powerful, scarred hunter brings an antelope has an offering.
N'Yaga knows Bêlit's father.
Nephew Izefia mentions that Bêlit is dressed as a raider. A threat. Izefia misreads his uncle's scattered bones and is told to prepare the antelope for diner.
N'Goro hands Izefia the antelope and sits behind Bêlit.
Bêlit aka The Daughter of the Hawk tosses the shaman's bones to see her own future.
N'Yaga sees a black-maned lion aka Conan in the bones, he foresees the events of "Queen of the Black Coast"
Ophir is mentioned.
N'Yaga remembers Arthaniel's thirty oars galley ship, The Talon. Being kidnaped in Shem, staying aboard for years, then escaping it.
Bêlit mentions that she killed Arthaniel, that she now owns The Talon and that the ship's cook made her aware of the Codex Osyrania, the greatest collection of treasure maps, ever, full of magical twinkling golden crosses indicating where to dig and it updates with new locations on its own.
N'Yaga reminds Bêlit that those who possess the magical Codex end up dead and that not all things marked in the Codex are treasure.
While gambling in Messantia (capital city of Argos) Arthaniel gave away the Codex to regain his ship.
N'Yaga was tortured to give the Codex away.
N'Yaga's bones also tell him to join Bêlit on her quest for the Codex.
N'Yaga knows where the Codex is but not the identity of who took it from him.
Bêlit's father once commanded N'Yaga to find and to hide the Codex, so that no one could peruse it.
The Talon galley's prow is now a falcon instead of a hawk.
The island of the Knefetallans was once run by a sorceress named Merhkyt who fears her father's return.
N'Yaga's bones tell Bêlit to enter the secretive city of Knefetalla by the side that faces away from the wind
Bêlit puts on leather armour and mail.
A ship full of Zingarans and Argosians appears, The Talon rams it, N'Gora, Bêlit and her warriors board the stricken ship.
Bêlit attacks the large artificial limbed captain (armed with a shield and axe) and kills him.
Bêlit opens the dead captains's reinforced chests, looks at his logbook and finds out that the chests belong to the Merhkyt's Whim from the island of Knefetalla.
Bêlit plans to return the chests to the people of Knefetalla.
Bêlit's crew bury the chests thinking that the location will appear in the next Codex update, making the current owner of the Codex reveal himself.
N'Gora stays with the ship, Bêlit, the shaman N'Yaga and 2 warriors go unarmed in a skiff to Knefetalla.
They spot the remaining, yet still standing cloven foot legs of an enormous long destroyed statue.
A dense mass of fog appears, Bêlit tells the fog that they have news concerning the Merhkyt's Whim. The fog disappears. Their skiff is magically pulled toward a Stygian city. An ancient city overrun by climbing plants, clearly rescued from the jungle.
The skiff arrives at a stone wharf where four armed warriors and a Stygian woman are waiting.
King Toraten of the golden beard allowed them to reach the island.
Olaphir and Erihk will watch Bêlit's crew.
Bêlit and N'Yaga are allowed to enter King Toraten's Palace.
N'Yaga is concerned that the King is wearing a mosaic showcasing a LION (as seen in his bones).
Bêlit introduces herself under an alias (Bellesandra of Shem) and the King replies that she will perish on his island.
Bêlit shows off her ruby-encrusted necklace (taken from the Merhkyt's Whim), she tells the King that she's returning his property.
Bêlit is offered drugged wine and a tour of the King's palace. They reach the map room where the Codex Osyrania is suspended on the walls exposing dozens of treasure locations.
The King points to Bêlit the location of her stolen treasure on the Codex and tells her that he's aware of what she's really after: the Codex and his riches.
Bêlit collapses and N'Yaga is knocked unconscious.
Locked up in a cell Bêlit wakes up stripped naked, N'Yaga who still has his satchel of bones, offers her his skirt and sash.
A giant Lion guards the cells. In another cell, a Knefetallan woman Lady Nefin of the Ibex clan (she has an Ibex tattoo too) explains that she too is a prisoner and she's soon to die in the King's arena.
Bêlit starts writing sigils on the prison's floor. She implores the gods: Bel, Ishtar and Derketo.
Old Svarsis and four guards come to fetch Bêlit and N'Yaga. N'Yaga sees more Ibex prisoners in other cells.
Lady Nefin tells Svarsis that his time will come and then a guard punctures her thigh.
Smelling the blood the lion gets excited, it snaps in two the wooden spear of one of the guards and Bêlit catches one part of it.
Bêlit and N'Yaga are to fight to the death in the sands for the King's entertainment.
Bêlit and N'Yaga arrive at the arena. The King is bored, the audience are statues of gold with gemstone eyes.
Bêlit twirls her broken spear, a death's-head mask wearing chain mail covered giant armed with a flail and mace comes out of a gate from beneath the King's dais.
N'Yaga uses the sand to create a sparkling mist powered by ocean spirits. The sand waves make the giant reel, Bêlit takes out his knee, disarms him, skewers his calf and kills him.
The previous four guards try to kill Bêlit, she kills three.
N'Yaga picks up a spear and kills the remaining one.
The King hits his gong and a lion emerges from the gate. Bêlit throws N'Yaga's spear at the King instead of at the lion. The bloody spear misses but the lion follows the coppery smell, kills the king and drags his body away.
Bêlit and N'Yaga return to the throne room. Royal servants are running away from the lion.
Bêlit tells N'Yaga that she's not interested in the codex anymore.
The people are rejoicing that their King is dead. Ibex tattooed warriors are jumping on royal guards, looters are everywhere, fires are igniting.
Bêlit spots her lion still with the mangled body of King Toraten. The lion answers another lion nearby with a roar.
Bêlit and N'Yaga head back to the harbour. She tells the lion that she will come back to it one day, still thinking that it has to be the black-maned lion from N'Yaga's vision of her future.
What I did not like:
The Codex Osyrania updating on its own is pretty absurd.
We do not learn anything more about sorceress Merhkyt.
We get to know nothing about the ancient city.
Bêlit is not interested in the codex anymore? What?!
Svarsis doesn't get his comeuppance? Super disappointing!
I give it a 7/10. Heroic Signatures, when are we getting Michael Stackpole's novel THE SONG OF BELIT?! We've been waiting forever! AND don't forget to give us a Heroic Legends Series version of CONAN: UNCONQUERED by Scott Oden!
