https://conan.fandom.com/wiki/Thak
;)
The real Nabonidus fought Conan:
Thak was of a race considered halfway between man and ape, that lived in the mountains on the eastern fringes of Zamora. Thak was captured and kept by Nabonidus as a servant and a pet. He was highly devious and possessed near-human intelligence. Eventually, Thak grew jealous of, and rebellious towards his master, and took control of the system of traps that Nabonidus had installed in his house; using them to eliminate a party of nationalistic enemies of Nabonidus who had come to assassinate him.
A year or so ago I re-read the original version of that (not sure the Lancer edition had R.E. Howard’s, some of them were edited by L. Sprague de Camp or Lin Carter) and enjoyed it immensely. Most of those have not held up for me, but that one does, along with “Beyond the Black River”.
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/42254
ooh, audiobook versions of “Rogues in the House”:
https://search.brave.com/search?q=Rogues+in+the+House+robert+e+howard+full+text