Bêlit
She was the shapely yet formidable captain
of the black corsairs, fierce pirates from the land of the
Southern Isles and perhaps, the only woman that could be considered
Conan’s equal. She has the distinction of being the
only woman the barbarian ever loved.
The Nemedian Chronicles state that she felt an overwhelming
love for Conan from the instant she set eyes on him, as he
mowed down her men on the decks of the doomed Argus. Rather
than see him pinioned with their spears, she ordered them
to stand back, for she had never seen his like. Impulsively,
she invited him to journey with her “to the ends of
the earth and the ends of the sea.” She was Queen of
the Black Coast—and he would be her king.
Although she and Conan ranged the Western Ocean and its southern
shores together for perhaps 1,000 days and nights, she was
a mystery and an anomaly even to the Chroniclers. It is known
that she was Shemite by birth and that she believed the Shemitish
deities Ishtar, Ashtoreth, Derketo, and Adonis to be the greatest
of gods. She even nurtured an affection for Bel, god of thieves.
Yet who was she, really? Scholars of the Chronicles argue
amongst themselves about her origins. She claimed that her
“fathers were kings of Asgalun,” the most important
seaport of pastoral Shem, but some believe the legend that
says she was the only child of a King Atrahis, who was killed
by his usurping brother Nim-Karrak in league with the Stygians.
In these accounts, little Bêlit’s tutor N’Yaga,
an exile from islands south of Kush, fl ed with her back to
his homeland. There, he convinced his superstitious fellow
tribesmen that she was the daughter of the goddess Derketa,
who was perhaps a sister and consort to Derketo, and that
her coming fulfi lled an ancient prophecy.
As she grew, she gained skill with bow, dagger, and spear,
and attained the rank of warrior by battling subterranean
Mound-Dwellers. She used her newfound prestige to convince
the men of the Southern Isles to take up piracy. According
to this cycle, she and Conan later overthrew Nin-Karrak in
Asgalun, after which Bêlit claimed her father’s
throne, then immediately renounced it—for, having avenged
his murder, she now wanted no crown beyond the one worn by
the crashing waves off the Black Coast.
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