Blood of the Serpent is a Conan pastiche written by S. M. Stirling. The book also contains Robert E. Howard’s original story Red Nails.

As sword for hire for a mercenary troop, Conan finds himself in Sukhmet, a filthy backwater town south of the River Styx considered “the arse-end of Stygia.” Serving in the company known as Zarallo’s Free Companions, he fights alongside soldiers of fortune from Zingara, Koth, Shem, and other lands—a hard-handed band of killers loyal to anyone who pays them well.

In a Sukhmet tavern he encounters one soldier in particular—Valeria of the Red Brotherhood, a veteran of freebooters with whom Conan also sailed, launching raids out of the Barachan Isles on the Western Sea. Valeria’s reputation is that of a deadly swordswoman, a notoriety she quickly proves to be accurate. When she runs afoul of an exiled Stygian noble, however, things take a deadly turn, embroiling them both in the schemes of a priest of the serpent god Set.

Contents

•   9 • Map over the Hyborian Age
•  11 • Blood of the Serpent • (2022) • by S. M. Stirling 
•  13 • Part One: Slayers in Sukhmet 
•  99 • Part Two: Rebellion at Wedi Shebelli
• 201 • Part Three: Death Beyond Stygia
• 307 • Part Four: Xucotl
• 317 • Red Nails • [Conan] • (1936) • novella by Robert E. Howard
• 422 • Afterword 
• 425 • Acknowledgments
• 427 • About the Author

Notes

Illustrations by Roberto De La Torre. Cover art is uncredited.