The Garden Of Set

Conan The Rebel, XIII.

Conan and Daris proceed through a walled garden designed as a maze beside a temple of Set:

skeletal palms;

mossy paths between dense, thorny, man-high hedges;

crimson-flowered serpentine vines;

poisonous black or purple lotuses;

spider webs;

winged beetles;

files of killer ants;

no birds;

giant fungi;

bestial topiaries;

deadly nightshade.

Conan compares the garden to a jungle and uses his woodsman's skills to locate a fountain of cold artesian water which flows through onyx basins into a pool with lilies and carp. They drink, wash and eat raw fish. The maze brings them to the temple.