Enchantress of Venus

Stark's friend Helvi sailed into Shuruun and never came back, so Stark goes after him, and the crew of the boat that carries him there tries to take him before it docks. Shuruun is a fog-bound nest of wreckers and smugglers on the Red Sea of Venus, an ocean of burning gas a man can breathe beneath. At night, voices chant out in the gulf, and no one in town will say who the Lost Ones are.

The answer lies with the Lhari, the alien Lords of Shuruun, in their castle on the cliffs: a monstrous old matriarch, her quarrelling brood, a crippled youth who sees what is coming, and Varra, a silver-haired hellcat who wants Stark to fight for her. He walks into their hall of his own free will. Getting out will be harder.