The Tigress heads into Kush on the river Zarkheba, where years ago Belit's crew discovered an abandoned ship, with only one mad sailor huddled on the deck describing a rich city upriver. At night, while Conan and Belit talk about the gods, a sea serpent attacks the boat and pulls Labato into the depths. Despite N'Yanga's warnings of the evil along the river, Belit continues the journey. The next morning, they spot a crumbling stone city off the shore of the putrid river, and the crew debates what a ape-like statue with wings atop a pillar is when the "statue" comes to life and flies into the sky. The entire crew goes ashore into the city and find a blood-stained altar. Belit commands four men to life the altar-stone, suspecting treasure underneath. She also secretly suspects a trap, and wh