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The Slayer Queen Chapter Five
Sam Perlo-Freeman
A short story based on the world of Buffy the Vampire
Slayer, created by Joss Whedon. Some place names are fictitious, as of
course are all the characters depicted.
Rating: 15
CHAPTER 5: DIPLOMACY
However, before this meeting took place, while the Council were still
sending emissaries back and forth to Amrethus, events began to unfold that
were to lead to the first great expansion of Artemesia's kingdom, the
foundation indeed of her empire. For in the early spring, three years into her reign, there arrived in Amrethus some folk
from the city of Masalis, the nearest great palace city inland to the
south. These folk sought an audience with Artemesia, and begged her
assistance. For Masalis, ruled by King Gorsyres, a mighty and proud warrior, was plagued with vampires and numerous other demons.
They had not taken over the city as during the Terror, but were spreading
destruction and blight far and wide in the city and the surrounding
countryside. Now Artemesia's fame as the Slayer Queen and Liberator of
Amrethus had spread across Pontus and Cappadocia by this time, and so
these people of Masalis had come to beg her to come to their city and free
it from the monstrous infestation under which it laboured.
Otanes counselled that it would be well to obtain the agreement of King
Gorsyres first, as these people had fled on their own account, and carried
no royal authority, and so Artemesia dispatched a messenger forthwith in a
chariot drawn by the fastest team of horses in Amrethus. Two days later
the messenger replied with a message from Gorsyres wishing Artemesia long
life and prosperity, and thanking her for her kind offer of assistance,
but assuring her that he, Gorsyres, had the situation fully under control
and that even now his men were rooting out the demonic plague. He sent a
large, be-jewelled, golden necklace as a token of his esteem.
At first, Artemesia accepted this and gave the matter no further thought,
but before long more refugees arrived from Masalis, telling of the
ever-more dire depredations of the vampires. Artemesia decided this time
to go in person to Masalis, to seek audience with Gorsyres. She went with
Otanes, Antones and a small honour guard, in a magnificent chariot drawn
by majestic pure-white stallions be-decked with coats of gold, and brought
with her lavish gifts of gold, silver and jewellery. Gorsyres welcomed her
cordially and threw a great banquet in her honour, where his court bard
sang paeans in praise of both monarchs.
But when they met in private and Artemesia repeated her offer, Gorsyres
replied,
"Again, I thank you for your kind offer. However I assure you once
again that your aid will not be required. Even now some of my finest
warriors, the most powerful in all Asia, are battling the evil beings
around the city and are most assuredly prevailing."
"The prowess of your warriors is famed throughout the world,"
spoke Otanes, "and we do not doubt their strength and valour. But the
enemy you face is powerful and dangerous, and in all the world,
Artemesia is the Slayer, the Chosen One whose sacred duty it is to fight
the vampires, the demons, the forces of darkness. She and her men could be
of great service to you in your battle, O King!"
"And once more I assure you that the situation is fully under my
control. No Slayer is needed in my town!". Gorsyres' tone was now
somewhat darker.
"That is not what your people tell me," said Artemesia,
"They tell of ever greater fear and deepening darkness!"
Gorsyres brow clouded and his voice was raised. He was a powerfully built
man with thick red hair and a full beard.
"Then they tell you wrong!"
He smiled, and his voice became more reasonable.
"For those who have themselves suffered loss, things always seem much
worse, but these common folk to whom you have spoken do not see the full
picture. And the full picture is that *I am in control!* Now, if that is
all that you came for, may I thank you once again for your visit, and for
your generous gifts, and suggest that you avail yourself of the
hospitality of my palace tonight, and be on your way at first light."
"O King, live for ever!" said Otanes, bowing, "Your
hospitality is most generous, and the splendour of your city and of your
majesty exceed even the reports thereof! May the gods shower their
munificence upon you. We bid you farewell."
Artemesia maintained a tense silence that night in Gorsyres' palace, and
the next day on the way home. But when she was alone with Otanes in her
chambers, she burst out in frustration.
"What foolish pride is this of Gorsyres! Why I could sense the terror
in that city just passing through! His people are dying, and we sit
exchanging fine words and gorging ourselves on fine food, listening to his
honeyed lies! Are we to let his pride seal the death of innocent
people?"
"Not pride, my dear, but fear!" replied Otanes.
"Fear? Fear you say? Good reason has he for fear, but of the demons!
Are you saying he's afraid of me?"
"Yes, he fears you! He fears your reputation, the awed tones in which
your name is spoken! He fears the hopes you make rise in the breasts of
his people. He fears you and your warriors entering his city to cheering
voices, and accomplishing what he and his finest men cannot! He fears hearing the acclamations of the people showered on
you, and not on him! He fears their hearts turning to you, the mighty
Slayer Queen, and away from himself, a weak king who could not protect his
own city, but had to call on a greater neighbour."
"He fears I seek his crown? I never asked for this one!"
"And yet you wear it most comfortably."
"Otanes, you were right those years ago! It seems I cannot be both
Slayer and Queen! If I were still just Artemesia the Vampire Slayer I
would not need Gorsyres' permission to save his city. As a Slayer, I would
enter unnoticed by night, and perform my duty in the alleys and bye-ways,
unnoticed by the great ones of the day. As Queen, I must enter by day in
pomp and splendour, with all the rigmarole of diplomacy and gifts and
banquets, and with due care not to tread on the pride of kings!"
"But you are now a queen. You made that choice three years ago, and
though I opposed it at the time, I cannot say that it has turned out
badly, whatever the Council may say. It is as Queen you must act
now."
Artemesia paused, pondering, frustration etched on her face. Then of
sudden, she looked up and set herself straight, frustration replaced with
new resolve, and exclaimed,
"Then as Queen I will act! As the Slayer Queen!"
She called to a servant outside the door: "Fetch Antones!"
Within minutes, the Commander arrived.
"My lady."
"Antones, I need an army! Draw together the guard. Call up the men of
fighting age from the city and the countryside. Gorsyres of Masalis is in
league with the forces of darkness. We are to march against him as soon as
we are ready, and free Masalis before this evil overwhelms the whole
land!"
Otanes beamed with approval.
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