"People of the Dark"

 

by Robert E. Howard

originally published Strange Tales of Mystery and Terror, June 1932

John O'Brien goes to Dagon's Cave, a shunned and mysterious cavern said to be the ancestral home of "Little People" (see previous Howard-related posts), following his crush Eleanor Bland and his rival in love, Richard Brent.  His plan is to bump off Brent.

Making his way through the dark tunnels, he falls and conks his head, and the next thing you know, he's back in an earlier incarnation, a Gaelic reaver named Conan (no relation to REH's most famous character).

Back in ancient times, Conan's on a raid against the locals when he spies a hot little blonde and starts chasing her ("I would have treated her kindly," he muses).  She (her name, we learn, is Tamera), runs to her boyfriend Vertorix.  Conan and Vertorix duke it out for a bit, while Tamera runs for Dagon's Cave, where she's taken captive by the reptilian Little People.

Vertorix and Conan rescue her but the Little People are coming on strong.  The three make it to an exit, but its a ledge that ends in a deadly drop into the river below.  Conan urges the two to jump for it rather than end up prey for the Littlers.   As they jump off, he makes a last stand.

Back in his present form, O'Brien makes his way through the now clearly deserted caves, and finds Eleanor and Richard standing out on the ledge.  Eleanor tells Richard its him she loves.  O'Brien is about to slink off when he sees a vile-looking thingy - a descendant of the Little People, now even less human than its ancestors, slithering towards them.  With the gun he intended to use on Richard, O'Brien shoots the critter.

Mostly this is merely an average, though atmospheric and effective, action-horror tale with our heroes fighting vainly against the sinister Little People. The soap opera wraparound and the more-than-clear implication that O'Brien, Richard and Eleanor are the reincarnations of Conan, Vertorix and Tamera add an element of interest.