One wizard is bad. Two are complete disasters... Perhaps even a deadly catastrophe, for Conan, who, after refusing to help the evil wizard Etram-Fal, was cursed by him with a spell that slowly and inexorably compressed the Cimmerian's life. The only person who can break the spell - besides Etram-Fal, of course - is the sorceress Zelandra, who only practices white magic... at least that's what she says. Zelandra offered to remove the spell from Conan if only he would do her one small favor: steal the deadly Emerald Lotus from the clutches of Etram-Fal, kept in his impregnable fortress in the desert. Conan believes that nothing good will come from this. Unfortunately, he's right.