James Allison in “The Tower of Time”

Reading Harvey K. Schreiber’s “Death From the Sea” got me reading other old issues of Fantastic where I found this story. “The Tower of Time” (Fantastic, June 1975) is a Robert E. Howard fragment finished by Lin Carter. This story was reportedly three-fifths finished when Howard set it aside. Like many other fragments, modern authors have completed it either from an outline or out of whole cloth. This one is a minor one, unlike “Nekht Semerkeht” by Howard and Andrew Offutt (Swords Against Darkness, 1977) or even “The Hand of Nergal” (Conan, 1967) by Lin Carter. These fragment stories are never quite as good as the finished one for they lack Howard’s polish. Certainly “The Tower of Time” does.

The story features Hengibar, one of the avatars of James Allison, the crippled Texan who dreams of his past lives. The story begins with an overlong explanation of this time-traveling with Allison telling how he had once been a creature of the primordial slime. Later he was stone-ax wielding Hengibar, an Aesir blond raised by the red-headed Vanir. These two tribes will later wield swords in the Hyborian Age and war with Conan’s people, the Cimmerians. (This connection to the Conan stories is small but 1970s fans loved it.)

The James Allison stories ( for the Howard originals, go here) take place during the migration of people in a time somewhere between Kull’s Atlantis and Conan’s Hyborian Kingdoms or after the fall of the Hyborian kingdoms toward modern history. The wanderers come upon ancient survivals that must be faced by brave heroes. Each story has this basic plot and so “The Tower of Time” will seem familiar to those who have read “The Valley of the Worm” (Weird Tales, February 1934) or “The Garden of Fear” (Marvel Tales, #2 July-August 1934). Or their comic book versions here. Hengibar joins the ranks of Niord, Hunwulf and others. Like these warriors, he is a fierce fighter in the Howard tradition.

Hengibar of the Dawn is a scout for Wolfang’s wandering horde, along with his best friend, Mungar. They come to the Valley of Akram the Mysterious. This place houses an ancient city built long ago by now forgotten people. Mungar is in the lead so it is Hengibar who finds his dead body. The scout has been attacked by seven unknowns from ambush. His body has been mangled and his head taken as a prize. Hengibar vows revenge and tracks the killers to the ancient city walls. There he sees them near a strange tower that is the only building not suffering from the millennia of time. The attackers are brutish ape-like creatures  though they wear fine jewels for they were once the builders of this lost city fallen into corruption.

Suddenly a beautiful woman comes from the tower. The ape men worship her, giving her Mungar’s head. She begins to eat the offered treat. The ape men leave for their burrows, allowing Hengibar to enter the tower after the woman. A bed of strange flowers set up an alarm but the warrior ignores them. There he perceives the ancient magic that keeps the structure free of time. He divines that she is Yavikasha the Undying, an immortal from the ages long ago. Unlike the sturdy Vanir women, she is slender, dark and mysterious. Hengibar desires her, and she is not opposed to taking the man for her mate. Living in the tower, Hengibar, too, would be immortal.

But the warrior is only tempted for a second. He recalls Mungar’s head being snacked upon like a treat. His ax falls and Yavikasha loses her head. Without their goddess to worship, the ape men will soon fall even lower and return to the jungle as animals. Carter, for this is the later section added in 1975, tells us that Yavikasha inspired the story of Jason and Medea, the tale of Adam and Lilith, and even the later vampires and lamias of legend. (Also part of the Allison template.)

Hengibar returns to Wolfang with Yavikasha’s head. Mungar is buried and the tribe moves on. From that day on, Hengibar shuns all women, choosing instead to dream of the woman he slew. The ending is sad in a way that most Howard stories aren’t. This was most likely Carter’s choice.

The original James Allison stories offer much of the material seen here. The plot is familiar but also small things like the weird flowers at the base of the tower. In “The Garden of Fear” these are blood-sucking vines. Here, only an alarm system. What struck me as an outside influence was the ape men worshiping a beautiful woman. Whether Howard or Carter came up with that, it is fairly likely it was inspired by La of Opar in Edgar Rice Burroughs’ Tarzan novels. The fact that Hengibar slays her so easily is the weakest part of this story. In previous tales, Niord and Hunwulf had a lot to do to get at their villains and kill them. Niord didn’t even survive the encounter. Hengibar just makes a decision, granted a hard one, based on his debt he owes the Vanir for saving his life as a small child.

Conclusion

“The Tower of Time” was not the last James Allison story. There are four more based on fragments to follow. It is the last one for Lin Carter. Instead of pastiching more James Allison, he created his own series called The People of the Dragon. He wrote two more stories in the Howard mold for Fantastic the next year. Whether he did this because he couldn’t get permission or because he wanted to go his own way, I don’t know. “The People of the Dragon” (February 1976) and “The Pillars of Hell” (December 1977) could be consider part of this saga or at least this theme. They read like Allison stories with the names changed.

In the letter column, Dave Hulvey wrote:

I could tell where Howard left off and Carter began in The Tower of Time but that didn’t really detract from my reading pleasure. Carter’s efforts, while they maintain some [of ] the resonance in the prose of Howard have a distinctly lighter quality about them. Although he uses the same statuesque of prose rhythms that Howard does, they don’t quite have the same quality of foreboding heavily that Howard so easily evokes. It was a nice try. I appreciate Carter’s efforts in finishing this piece. The more the heirs of the old fantasists try to emulate the better qualities of their work combined with any modern modifications they can provide, produces a hybrid of higher literary quality.

I suspect, as Hulvey did, where that jump from Howard to Carter is. I think Howard took Hengibar to the tower then stopped, unsure what to do with the two humans. Carter gives us his version but, again, I feel it was disappointing. I wanted a full scale fight with the ape men or some monster of Yavikashi’s, or even have her turn into one. The piece needed a stronger finale, and that’s on Carter. I do agree with Hulvey’s thought that those who came after Howard could learn much from his prose. Many have tried, but few have succeeded. It would become common to see later Conan novels declaring such an accomplishment but if you’ve read the Robert Jordan Conans you know this is merely advertising hype. Though I can enjoy any writer for their own gifts, Howard was an original never to be duplicated.

Sword & Sorcery from RAGE machine Books