Once upon a time there was an author, Fritz Leiber. He and a friend created two characters, as a kind of counter to the Conan and Tarzar characters that were popular at the time (1930s & 40s). Fafhrd, a tall barbarian swordsman and the Gray Mouser, a smaller man, also adept with a sword and with a little knowledge of magic, a couple of "heroes" out for a bit of adventure and good times.
Leiber eventually tells the backstory of how the two came to be partners in the Swords and Deviltry short story, Ill Met in Lankhmar. The other stories in the book detail the two rogues lives as young men before they came to know each other. In The Snow Women, we learn how Fafhrd barely escaped with his life, fleeing from his vengeful and controlling mother. And in The Unholy Grail, how Mouse (as he was called then) was almost tortured to death at the hands of a vicious nobleman, escaping only with the help of the man's downtrodden daughter.
The two wizards, Ningauble of the Seven Eyes and Sheelba of the Eyeless Face, that Fafhrd and Gray Mouser later become involved with do not make an appearance in these three stories.
It's a nice introduction to the two characters and to the city of Lankhmar. I read the book back in the 1970s when it first came out and the description of the Gray Mouser's lair stuck with me all these many years. I didn't remember its ultimate fate, but I did remember the description of luxury piled on luxury, silks and velvets, cushions and furs everywhere, hiding rat holes and roaches.
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