Conan the Barbarian #36 (1974)

Conan rides hard into Aghrapur, driving his horse to death, in order to bring the report of the Wan Tengri mission to his commander Narim-Bey. He collapses at the feet of king Yildiz, who, impressed with his sense of duty, decides to make Conan part of his personal guard. Amytis, the wife of Narim-Bey, uses the absence of her husband to tend to Conans wounds in the luxury of her quarters in the palace, and the both begin an affair. Others in the palace make fun of Conan's barbarism, and, after he sets them straight, spends weeks learning training in horsemanship and with bows, spears, and axes. Meanwhile, the King's son Yezdigerd, still ravaging the hyrkanian cities east of the Vilayet sea, has sent a huge, headless stone statue to his father as tribute from one of the cities he has razed. Yildiz is appreciative of the gift, though Conan is suspicious of how the supposedly sacred statue was conveniently found. One night, Conan is almost discovered in Amytis's chambers while Narim-Bey is away, and Conan begins to worry about Bey discovering their affair. Conan uses the next weeks for an intense training on weapons with wich he as a Cimmerian was not familiar yet. After some time, a priest of the newly conquered hyrkanian city of Dimmorz arrives carrying the head of the statue, to Yildiz's delight. That delight soon turns to horror as the statue comes alive and begins to slaughter everyone within sight. Conan notices that the priest seems to be controlling the now-active stone golem and, just before it crushes the king, Conan kills the priest with a well-thrown axe, so his training begins to pay off. The king, shaken, wonders if he has been set up by his son, and Nerim-Bey, who observed Amytis reaction to Conans wounds, takes the opportunity of the king's newfound decision to become a recluse in his castle to send Conan on a mission to the north.