"The People of the Black Circle" is a novella by Robert E. Howard featuring Conan the Barbarian, first published in Weird Tales in 1934. Set in the Himelian Mountains, the story begins when the king of Vendhya dies through black magic practiced by the Black Seers of Mount Yimsha. His sister, Queen Yasmina, vows revenge and ventures into the wild hills, where she is captured by Conan, now a chieftain of the Afghuli tribes. Pursued by the treacherous sorcerer Khemsa and Turanian schemers, Conan and Yasmina ascend the haunted mountain itself to confront the Master of the Black Circle, blending fierce sword-and-sorcery action with dark, exotic magic.
