Lord Malvin, ruler of Ophir, invades Aquilonia with King Balt of Nemedia, in order to secure the latter's support against the kingdom of Koth, which ravages his eastern marches.

Seeking a king powerful enough to spread Kthantos's worship across the world, and disappointed in his hopes for Balt, the scheming jester insinuates himself into Conan's confidence.

Delvyn feeds on Conan's anxieties about his advancing age, while heightening his concern over the resurgent strength of Koth, newly energized under its new ruler, the amoral and ruthless Prince Armiro of Khoraja.

Conan beats Armiro to the capital, Ianthe, on the Red River, by racing ahead of his army, suborning a disaffected noble to admit him to the citadel, and slaughtering the fugitive Balt.

Concerned by rumors Armiro has imprisoned his former lover, Queen Yasmala of Khoraja, he decides to liberate her and so gain intelligence on his foe.

Gaining entry through an underwater passage guarded by a giant water spider, he finds Yasmala indeed present, but in voluntary retirement.

Conan soon escapes and, as the conflict in Ophir remains stalemated, moves to turn Armiro's flank by taking the now kingless Nemedia, part of which is already in the hands of his nominee Baron Halk.

Meanwhile, Conan's queen Zenobia, perturbed by her husband's behavior and jealous of his dalliances, receives a visitation disturbingly similar to Yasmala's.

Aquilonian corps marshall Egilrude, leading the advance into Corinthia, is challenged by a combined force of Corinthians and Brythunians.

Emulating his king, Egilrude impetuously forces battle, overwhelming the defenders and pursuing their remnants into a fort guarding a neglected mountain pass, which he then takes.

As the demon god hails them, Delvyn and Amlunia incite the two rulers to personal combat, the prize being mastery of their combined armies and the world under Kthantos's patronage.

In his diminished guise he had played the fool, enticing kings to the demon's service until, in the troubled Conan, he had found what he deemed the perfect tool, to be first used and then supplanted.

A modus vivendi is envisioned in which both monarchs will pull back from Ophir and respect each other's spheres of influence, abandoning pretensions to sole mastery of the Hyborian world.