The Scarlet Citadel is one of the earliest short stories featuring the fictional sword and sorcery hero Conan the Cimmerian, penned by American author Robert E. Howard. Excerpt: "Conan cursed and panic surged through him as he glared into the darkness that pressed against the half-circle of light. All the superstitious dread of the barbarian slept in his soul, untouched by civilized logic. His primitive imagination peopled the subterranean darkness with grisly shapes. Besides, his reason told him that he had not been placed there merely for confinement. His captors had no reason to spare him. He had been placed in these pits for a definite doom."
