Book excerpt: Few places are as desolate as the Thanza Mountains on the border of Nemedia and Aqilonia. few area are so remote, so dangerous, or so inaccessible...which is why Conan chose these mountains as the perfect spot in the world for Conan to be. Unfortunately, it is the single worst spot in the world for Conan to be. Bandits and sorcerers--and worse--inhabit this lonely realm. Worst of all, it is the home of the Soul of Thanza. He who possesses the Soul will become the Death Lord--a post unfilled for many thousands of years. If the Death Lord should come into his full power, mountains will move, seas will be pushed back, the earth itself will shiver, and dead men will rise to fight again. No army of puny humans will be able to stand against the Death lord. Only one man would even dare to try--Conan the Cimmerian!