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Ben Haas, using the pseudonym of "Quinn Reade", wrote Quest Of The Dark Lady, which was published in December 1969. Haas also wrote at least two more sword-and-sorcery tales around that time, Exile's Quest and Sword of the Morningstar, but used the pen name of "Richard Meade" for these. He also wrote in other genre areas using other pseudonyms, and used his actual name for works he considered more "literary". At the time that this book was published in 1969, sword-and-sorcery tales had been produced for several years and were becoming increasingly popular. This book was part of the large amount printed during that time to meet the desires of the many readers of this exciting genre.

At first glance, the story line is not terribly original: a warrior must quest and win an object to help save a royal’s life. However, Haas has thrown some mystery and suspense into the mix to keep it interesting and exciting. The story begins in the Iron Lands, which is benevolently ruled by King Langax. According to legend, five hundred years ago there was a great battle among wizards that left only the Iron Lands in a normal condition populated by normal humans.

The Terrible East, on the other hand, is the home to many horrible creatures created as ghastly side effects of the massive powers unleashed during the war: the Slimy Ones, large slug-like creatures with bloodsucking mouths; the Formless Things, monstrous blobs that can engulf and disintegrate a person; the Gibberers, strange clawed and fanged human-like swordsman that constantly cause a verbal racket; and many other such monstrosities. These creatures, collectively called the Other Things, are constantly trying to cross the borders of the Iron Lands and annihilate the people. Only the King’s Mounted Bladesmen can guard the borders and protect the people from being overrun by these creatures. The Mounted Bladesmen are superior to the Other Things only because the Other Things attack individually or in very small unorganized groups.

However, two things have occurred that could spell doom for the Iron Lands. One is that someone is able to gather the Other Things into large organized groups that are nearly impossible for the Mounted Bladesmen to overcome. The other is that the King is on his deathbed, felled by a spell from a wizard deep within the Terrible East. He asks his chief minister of state and his physician, Delius, to send Wulf of Niedrigaard, an ex-captain of the Mounted Bladesmen, to go into the Terrible East to seek out and return with the Dark Lady, the only one who can save his life. Previously, the King had sentenced Wulf to die for apparently sending his men to their needless deaths while battling the Other Things. However, it does seem very unusual to the minister and to the doctor that the King should ask for this man to be his and his people’s savior. What is the connection here?

The Dark Lady is known from ancient legend, before the terrible war. The legend was about a beautiful lady without mercy, called La Belle Dame Sans Merci in the ancient tongue (French, by the way). She was also known as Aphrodite, Asharte, Lilith, and many other names throughout time. But why is the Dark Lady, La Belle Dame, the only one who can save the King? And what other powers does she possess?

Delius is also a magician. He has had to hide his talent when the King banished all wizards from the realm because of fear of another wizard war. Delius persuades Wulf to allow him to accompany him because his magic will work well with Wulf’s sword in pursuing their quest. Wulf reluctantly agrees but insists that Reen, a female highway robber/sword-fighter and now his lover, also accompany them. As the three begin their perilous quest, they near the dark wooded border with the Terrible East. They come upon a fierce battle between a group of Mounted Bladesmen and the giant slug-like Slimy Ones, where

…twenty of the giant slugs formed in ranks, oozed from the darkness (of the woods) and were attacked by two dozen Mounted Bladesmen, who galloped at them, hacking and chopping with their swords. But the Slimy Ones—twelve feet long or so and perhaps four, five feet in thickness and leaving behind them glittering trails of silver ichor—were hard to kill. The swords sank deep into their boneless bodies and yet they came on, bleeding not blood but only that same silver ooze, the first third of their shapeless forms raised high and questing, eyestalks probing this way and that…. As the Bladesmen attacked the van, the ones behind crawled over their hacked-up comrades. Wulf saw a horse rear as a Slimy One, belly glistening, towered over it, then came down hard, burying horse and rider beneath its shining belly. He heard a scream. Then the creature crawled on, leaving behind only a rack of bones, a skeleton of man and a skeleton of horse from which all flesh and blood had been almost instantaneously sucked up and absorbed.

The trio enters the dark Eastern Forest bordering the Iron Lands. Delius has woven an invisible protective wall around them to protect them from the denizens of this foreboding forest. For some reason, the enemy wizard has not cancelled Delius’s simple spell. As they travel east, Gibbers, Slimy Ones, and other creatures hidden in the surrounding vegetation are constantly following them. They finally come to the end of the forest onto

…a vast and treeless expanse of Plain, going on so far as the eye could see and it all appeared to be made of, or paved with, a slick red glass, from which the high sun struck reflection that turned the very sky to shimmering red and would surely have blinded them without the glasses (wooden-framed with smoked-quartz lenses). And that vitreous Plain gave back the sun’s heat like an immense reflecting oven, so that even as they stood still, the horses lathered with sweat and, beneath their garments, the riders streamed with it.

At an oasis protected from the terrible heat, the threesome barely survives an attack by a pack of fifty huge two-headed, large-fanged dogs, furless and covered with gruesome sun-blistered scarlet skin. They then meet a group of black-armored knights astride equally black-armored warhorses. These are to be their captor-escorts to the King of the Eastern Lands. Wulf, Reen, and Delius arrive at the Black Castle of the Eastern King, built and furnished all in black: jet black marble, onyx, and other stones; ebony woods; sable furs; blackened metals and armor. After being bathed and clothed, they are escorted to the throne room of the King down a quarter-mile long corridor. As they arrived at the entrance to the throne room,

…great, ornately carved doors swung open, like midnight itself yielding to daybreak. For the first time, Wulf saw a fully lighted room—a huge room, as long as the corridor and half as wide as its length, with great black columns on either side, each carved intricately with a snake writhing upward on its length through the lush leaves of grape, fig, and apple. At the far end of the torchlit room, under candelabra blazing gaily, were two throne-chairs, of black onyx, and in those sat the King, Naadon, and his Dark Lady.

After refusing to join the King’s forces against his own Iron Lands, Wulf is led away to the dungeons. Later under a pretense of finally accepting the King’s offer, he is released from the dungeon. Through winning a formal sword fight, he becomes more accepted at court. He finally has a private meeting with the Dark Lady, who explains that she has existed since ages upon ages from the dim and forgotten past. She also explains her unusual relationship with strong kings and emperors.

Eventually, Wulf attempts a seemingly suicidal plan to take the Dark Lady away from the Eastern King and bring her and his two companions back to the King of the Iron Lands. At the end of the story it appears that the Dark Lady may have plans of her own.

Some readers feel that this story actually occurs in Europe and Russia five hundred years after a devastating nuclear war destroyed modern civilization worldwide. Gradually, from the ashes, a medieval-type of society developed in Europe. And in the Terrible East, the radioactivity produced weird mutant creatures and plants. Also, magic now exists. However, I feel that this scenario wouldn’t be possible for two reasons. The first reason is that five hundred years would seem a very short time for a medieval society, with magic existing, to develop from the almost total nuclear devastation of modern society. The second reason is that no mention is made of any modern cities in ruin or of leftover technology, both of which would definitely still exist. Based on these reasons, I would have this story occur very far in the distant future, à la Clark Ashton Smith’s Zothique, where in fact a terrible war of wizardry destroyed the current civilizations, which were probably medieval or at least pre-industrial to begin with. Of course, the story could just have simply occurred on another world or dimension altogether.

The ancient name for the Dark Lady, La Belle Dame Sans Merci, is actually from a poem of the same name by the English poet John Keats. Here is the actual poem itself. See this Wikipedia article for more details.

This is one of those short sword-and-sorcery novels that were frequently published back in the ‘60s and ‘70s. This one comes in at 135 pages, more of a novella by today’s standards. However, for sword-and-sorcery this length works well, keeping the story moving along with clashes, encounters with weird creatures and plants, and a queen to rescue (so they think!).

Not uncommon in 60s and 70s (and probably even now), were book covers that really didn’t represent anything in the story. Contrary to the gray cover, the hero is a dark-haired soldier of the mounted Bladesmen, stronger than most but definitely not a big brawny blond barbarian brandishing broadsword and buckler. And the creatures on the gray cover never appear in the story. Also, no mention is made of the several moons depicted on this cover. In other words, this appears to be just a generic cover. Wulf probably more closely resembles the hero on the yellow cover. However, in this yellow cover, Reen, Wulf’s sword-wielding lover/companion, should be on her feet, standing next to him, feet braced, with sword in hand.

This books is available at Abebooks.com, Amazon.com, and other similar online used bookstores.

To read reviews of more books from decades past, go to
Forgotten Stories of Fantastic Sword-fighters.

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