Black Colossus

""Whence came Natohk?" rose the Shemite's vibrant whisper. "Out of the desert on a night when the world was blind and wild with mad clouds driven in frenzied flight across the shuddering stars, and the howling of the wind was mingled with the shrieking of the spirits of the wastes. Vampires were abroad that night, witches rode naked on the wind, and werewolves howled across the wilderness. On a black camel he came, riding like the wind, and an unholy fire played about him; the cloven tracks of the camel glowed in the darkness. When Natohk dismounted before Set's shrine by the oasis of Aphaka, the beast swept into the night and vanished. And I have talked with tribesmen who swore that it suddenly spread gigantic wings and rushed upwards into the clouds, leaving a trail of fire behind it. No man has seen that camel since that night, but a black brutish manlike shape shambles to Natohk's tent and gibbers to him in the blackness before dawn.""

"Black Colossus" is a Conan the Barbarian story by Robert E. Howard. First published in June, 1933.


 * The Berserker: The horde acts as a mass of this
 * Bling Bling Bang: A jewel-hilted sword
 * The Chains of Commanding
 * The Chase: After Yasmela is abducted
 * Cool Mask: The villain is even called the Veiled One
 * Damsel in Distress: Yasmela
 * Evil Sorcerer
 * Fog of Doom: The Evil Sorcerer uses it to block line-of-sight
 * "Glad to Be Alive" Sex: Yasmela insists
 * The Horde: Consisting of thirty tribes
 * Kill It with Fire: A wall of fire, used on charging knights
 * The Lady's Favour: Knights carry them
 * Magic Wand
 * Mars Needs Women: The Eldritch Abomination wants Yasmela
 * Perpetual Motion Monster: A snake in a 3000 year old tomb
 * Rescue Sex: Yasmela throws herself at Conan and demands it immediately on being rescued
 * Shrouded in Myth: Thugra Khotan
 * A Storm Is Coming: Part of the warning
 * Treasure Room
 * Vagueness Is Coming: the prophecied coming
 * Was Once a Man: the Eldritch Abomination
 * What Happened to the Mouse?: Yasmela's brother
 * Your Worst Nightmare: Yasmela denies this trope, knowing that her lady in waiting will assume it's true; she really was awake when the apparition -- an Eldritch Abomination Stalker with a Crush -- menaced her.