THE ROAD OF THE EAGLES (A.K.A. "CONAN, MAN OF DESTINY")

"The Road of the Eagles" is one of the four Conanless Robert E. Howard stories that L. Sprague de Camp pulled from Howard's fragments and plans in the early 50s and preceded to inject Conan into. It's the only one of the four that kept it's original title. Sort of. 

The original version, a story set in Turkey at the end of the 16th century, was actually sold for publishing during Howard's lifetime, but the magazine went out of business before the pages went public so it was effectively still an unpublished story. de Camp added Conan to its plot and some little vampire-goblin fellas for the climax and it appeared as "Conan, Man of Destiny" (tremendously awful title) in the December 1955 Fantastic Universe issue. When it was republished in Conan the Freebooter, it got its original title back. In 1979, Howard's original story (without Conan) was published and was re-christened ​The Way of the Swords, which is not as completelyfuckingterrible as "Man of Destiny" but is still pretty bad.

de Camp did a good job with this one.

Despite there being too much of an exposition dump in the first few pages, "Eagles" is a seriously thrilling story. Conan and his Red Brotherhood pirates are in the mountains by the sea and attack a castle that has been carved out of sheer rock into a mountainside. There is a secret-passageway backroad to the castle, which leads to a single door in the side of the wall, and the way there is filled danger. Seeing the Turanians tie a rope to the door and shimmy over chasms to get to the only opening to the castle is just awesome, I can't think of a better word for it. Once the action begins, the story never stops rolling.

I get the feeling that I like "The Road of the Eagles" way more than most Conan fans, but I'll go to bat for this story. Of the ratings I've been doing in this chronology, it's the first time I wish I could give out half-stars, because I'd love to give it four and a half. It's definitely not quite on par with classics like "The Tower of the Elephant," but I think it's probably my favorite of the stories that were contributed to by more than just Howard (pastiches and re-edits included).

The story isn't deep and it doesn't represent any kind of leap forward for Conan's character; it's just action setpiece after action setpiece. Conan taking his sword in his teeth in order to scurry up the wall of the crypt rules.

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"As he reached the wall, Conan dropped his buckler, took his sword in his teeth, sprang high in the air, and caught the lower sill of one of the cells in the third tier above the floor, a cell that had already discharged its occupant. With simian agility the Cimmerian mountaineer went up the wall, using the cell openings as hand and foot-holds."

I first read this story in the pages of Savage Sword and I think Roy Thomas's version might ultimately be the superior version. The ending is a little too swift, with Conan heading off to Khauran for "A Witch Shall Be Born," which is a classic that I'm excited to re-read.

There aren't a ton of markers that place this story firmly in chronology other than the fact that Conan is with the Red Brotherhood and the fact that he's on the Vilayet Sea. I think that where most other Conan chroniclers have put it, after "Iron Shadows in the Moon" and prior to "A Witch Shall Be Born," makes sense.

Now, if you look over at our "Chronology" page, you'll see that this is the first story in our "Conan the Barbarian" section, having completed "The Coming of Conan." I'm totally ripping off this labeling convention from the Joe Marek chronology, which is pretty close to mine. That was mostly just to break it up into slightly more digestible fragments (speaking of fragments, I think I'm at the halfway point!), but I don't think it's the best way to divide Conan's career. 

The way that makes the most sense to me is to divide by the section of Conan's life, because most of them have fit into a clear era so far.

1. The first few stories I would call "The Coming of Conan," for lack of a better title. I kind of think of them as "the Aesir stories," even though Conan's not with the Aesir by the third.
   1. The Frost-Giant's Daughter
   2. Legions of the Dead
   3. The Thing in the Crypt
2. The next group are the thief period.
   1. The Tower of the Elephant
   2. Conan and the Sorcerer
   3. The Hall of the Dead
   4. The God in the Bowl
   5. Rogues in the House
3. The next grouping is the Turanian mercenary stories.
   1. The Hand of Nergal
   2. The City of Skulls
   3. The People of the Summit
   4. The Curse of the Monolith
   5. The Blood-Stained God
   6. The Lair of the Ice Worm
4. The next set I think of as "Goin' down south; or, Conan visits the Black Kingdoms." This is my least favorite period of Conan's career so far, despite having one of the best stories.
   1. Queen of the Black Coast
   2. The Vale of Lost Women
   3. The Castle of Terror
5. Then is his second mercenary period in which Conan is given more responsibility than his last go-round. These stories do feel like a natural continuation from the above category though, so I may change this. 
   1. The Snout in the Dark
   2. Hawks Over Shem
   3. Black Colossus
   4. Shadows in the Dark
6. After this, Conan spends time leading various bands as a kozak outlaw, so I'm thinking of it as his kozaki period. I've read ahead a little ways and I think this period goes to at least:
   1. Iron Shadows in the Moon
   2. The Road of the Eagles
   3. A Witch Shall Be Born
   4. Black Tears
   5. Shadows in Zamboula
   6. The Star of Khorala
   7. The Devil in Iron
   8. The Flame Knife

It's like the classic Conan introductory quote:

“Hither came Conan, the Cimmerian, black-haired, sullen-eyed, sword in hand, a thief, a reaver, a slayer, with gigantic melancholies and gigantic mirth, to tread the jeweled thrones of the Earth under his sandaled feet.”

He's been a pirate, a thief, a reaver, and a mercenary... sometimes at different times and sometimes mixed all together.

Anyway, this story rules.

Let me know what you think of my chronology divisions in the comments. I'd love to hear if there's a better way to break these up so far.

★★★★☆