"The Shadow Kingdom"

by Robert E. Howard

originally published Weird Tales, August 1929
 
King Kull, the new king of Valusia, one of the seven great empires and the greatest power in the known world, is invited to come alone to a feast by Ka-nu, emissary of the Picts, a savage tribe allied to Valusia.
He tells him that a trusted emissary, Brule, will come to him in the night.

Brule turns up, shows Kull the maze of secret passages that riddle the palace, and reveals that all of Kull's guards have been killed, and their bodies hidden, while impostors stand sentry outside his rooms.  Kull's chief councillor, Tu, enters the room, expecting to find Kull asleep, intending to assassinate him.  A wide-awake Kull kills Tu, who turns out not to be Tu, but in fact a serpent-headed monster magically disguised as his advisor.

Brule reveals that the Serpent Men have been ruling Valusia from the shadows for hundreds of years, replacing the kings with Serpent Man impostors. 

The Serpent Man use illusions lead Brule and Kull into the room where a long-ago king Eallal was slain.  They realize the trap and manage to fight their way out to the Council Room, where a phony Kull is holding court.  The real Kull confronts and kills the Serpent Man, thus exposing their nefarious plans as well.  He vows to hunt down and destroy the race.

I first came across this near-classic in a comic book back in the early 70's.  It adapted perfectly.  Later, in my teens, I came across the original in a sword and sorcery anthology.  "The Shadow Kingdom" is early Howard, and his style has plenty of pulp in it, but the energy and atmosphere are all there.   Its a memorable, exciting, and suspenseful tale, among Howard's best.