"The Servants of Bit-Yakin
" (a.k.a. "Jewels of Gwahlur") is a Conan the Barbarian story written by Robert E. Howard. First published in March, 1935.
While working as a military liaison in Keshan, Conan hears of the legendary Teeth of Gwahlur, a set of jewels more valuable than any other know to man, kept far away in the abandoned city of Alkmeenon, and overseen by an immortal goddess. Setting out to find them, Conan comes upon a mummy on the side of a cliff with a parchment in its hand. Conan can make out the words "Bit-Yakin", a powerful wizard who used to live in the abandoned city with his mysterious servants.
While in the city, Conan experiences a number of accidents which lead him to believe he is not alone. He then stumbles upon what appears to be the goddess, only for it to be a slave girl, Muriela, in disguise, working for an old rival of his. Turns out Conan is not the only one after the jewels, and after a number of crosses and double crosses it's a race to see who will get to the jewels first.
All the while, however, Conan can't help but shake the feeling they are being watched, and, after Muriela is kidnapped, he discovers some exposition hieroglyphs which confirms his worst fears: the servants of Bit-Yakin still live, and never left the city!
Marvel Comics adapted the work in their Savage Sword of Conan magazine. Darkhorse Comics would later adapt the story as a three part miniseries in 2005, with art by P. Craig Russell. An illustrated text serialization is available at Arktoons.
The Servants of Tropes Yakin:
- And the Adventure Continues: The story ends with Conan and Muriela leaving Alkmeenon to try to pull off a similar scam elsewhere, with Muriela posing as a goddess for monetary gain.
- Distinguishing Mark: How Conan ID's Muriela: she has a birthmark on her thigh, and he never forgets details like that.
- Distressed Damsel: Muriela is one of the more fragile ladies to enter Conan's orbit, requiring his rescue multiple times throughout the story.
- Exact Eavesdropping: Conan overhears a priest mentioning that jewels he seeks are int the temple the other priests will visit to consult the oracle, which spurs Conan to get to them first.
- Fantasy Counterpart Culture: Bit-Yakin was a "Pelishtim".
- Faux Death: Subverted. Yelaya is dead, but her body is do perfectly preserved she looks almost alive.
- Frazetta Man: The Servants, possibly. May also be a case of All Trolls Are Different, although they're never referred to as such.
- Friend-or-Idol Decision: Subverted. It comes up, but faced with the choice of saving either Muriela or the titular priceless treasure,
Conan does not even hesitate for a second to save the girl. - Gambit Pileup: Conan's serving as a military advisor to learn the location of and steal the Teeth of Gwahlur. Thutmekri the Stygian arrives to promise a military alliance with Zembabwei, asking only for a few of the Teeth as a symbol of the alliance. This is a ploy to learn their location and steal them, ostensibly for the Zembabweians, really for himself. Muriela is caught in the middle, first told by her master to tell the Keshan priests to give the gems to the Stygian and kill Conan, then told by Conan to tell the priests to give the gems to Conan and kill the Stygian. A Keshia priest in league with Thutmekri undoes this prophecy by stealing Yelaya's body and delivering the original fake one while decrying the other fake one. And then there's servants of Bit-Yakin, who rather forcefully insist these outsiders get off their lawn.
- Good Shepherd: One priest is incorruptible, which surprises the hell out of Conan.
- The Glomp: Muriela keeps doing this to Conan, to the point where the narration lampshades it and he gets annoyed.
- Inelegant Blubbering: Murieta falls into this several times. Conan fears she'll do so while playing the oracle, but she keeps it together.
- Made of Iron: The servants like most ape-man in the settings are rather solid and can go for a while despite a mortal blow.
- Mineral MacGuffin: The Teeth of Gwahlur, fantastically rare and rich gems.
- Not Even Bothering with the Accent: In-universe, the Keshians won't question how their goddess used to talk but the more metropolitan Conan catches Muriela's Corinthian accent which breaks the illusion.
- Posthumous Character: Bit-Yakin. Conan finds his mummy at the start, but his actions in life create the bulk of the conflict.
- Spotting the Thread: Conan susses out that someone is living in the temple and maintaining Yelaya's corpse—even if her corpse is somehow incorrupt, her clothes would have rotted away long ago. He can also spot the minor differences between the dead but perfectly preserved Yelaya and the playing dead but very much alive Muriela.
