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 murder.
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 murder 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.
