« "Pirates!" whispered Conan, a grim smile on his thin lips. (…) There were some seventy of them, a wild horde made up of men from many nations: Kothians, Zamorians, Brythunians, Corinthians, Shemites. Their features reflected the wildness of their natures. Many bore the scars of the lash or the branding-iron. There were cropped ears, slit noses, gaping eye-sockets, stumps of wrists—marks of the hangman as well as scars of battle. Most of them were half naked, but the garments they wore were fine; gold-braided jackets, satin girdles, silken breeches, tattered, stained with tar and blood, vied with pieces of silver- chased armor. Jewels glittered in nose-rings and earrings, and in the hilts of their daggers. »
Robert E. Howard – Iron Shadows in the Moon
