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The Slayer Queen Chapter Nine
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 9: EMPIRE
With the conquest of Masalis, and the adulation of the people of both cities and the countries they controlled, Artemesia (and, no less, Otanes), began to acquire the taste for further conquest and yet greater power and glory. Yet still she was the Slayer Queen, and so still did she base her claims for rulership on her destruction of the undead. In the years that followed, a familiar pattern emerged to the expansion of her rule.
From time to time, reports of vampire activity in one city or other would reach her ears. These reports would be retold and magnified, both by Artemesia's people and by visitors from these cities, eager to curry favour and gain position in what they fully expected to be the new order. Artemesia would then send an ultimatum to the king of that city, ordering him to open his gates to her and her armies so that she could save the city from the vampire terror. Those that agreed, would submit to some form of vassal status, swearing loyalty and pay tribute to the Slayer Queen, in return for which they would keep the trappings of their power, if not in truth the substance. Those that refused, she would lead her ever-growing army against and, almost always, conquer. For her reputation grew throughout Asia Minor, as an invincible warrior, and as a Goddess, who had descended from the heavens to be the scourge of the creatures of hell. Thus she struck fear into the hearts of her enemies' warriors, who were frequently all too keen to lay down their arms and place themselves before the Queen of Light's renowned magnanimity.
In some cities, truly the vampire threat had become serious enough to warrant the intervention of her and her armies, and the people welcomed her deliverance with great joy and relief. In others, there were but few creatures of the night, such as even a regular group of warriors, suitably prepared, could deal with. Indeed this became more often the case, as word spread round the world of the undead that these parts of Asia were not the healthiest land in which to hunt. Even so, she would most often be greeted by ecstatic, cheering crowds upon her victory, eager to welcome the divine Queen come to rule over them. And nor was her rule unduly harsh, for the times, nor unwise, so that the land prospered and the people were, for the most part, content.
Before long, Artemesia was mistress of all of Pontus and Cappadocia, from the Halys to the Caucasus and the upper reaches of the Euphrates, and then beyond. Amongst her conquests of note:
In the fifth year of her reign, she took the great city of Hattusa, that much later became the capital of the Hittite race;
In the seventh year, Trapezus, towards the south-eastern corner of the Black Sea;
In the ninth year, she finally crossed the Halys to the west, taking Sinope.
In the ninth and tenth years, some cities to the south of the Halys in the central plains of Asia Minor and towards the east
It is not my concern to note the details of all her conquests, in so far as they can be known; of the minutiae of each battle, of her slayings of great kings, of her triumphal parades and triumphant speeches there is, I believe, little to interest the reader. I will make mention of the city of Heryth, on the banks of the Halys near to the point where it turns north, the one place to resist her successfully. In this city I am not even sure that there were any vampires or demons, merely perhaps reports of them from malcontents hoping to benefit from a change of rule. When Artemesia invested the city, and presented her usual ultimatum, King Lysarius of Heryth made the following reply:
"Slayer Queen, you come claiming to be a deliverer, a Goddess, the scourge of vampires and all things evil. In truth, you are dependant on these creatures. On them you base your whole claim to royal power, and without them you would have no crown, no throne, no cities to rule, no shrines, no adulating crowds. You would be nothing but a young girl. Well know then, Slayer Queen, that there are no vampires in Heryth for you to slay, and therefore there is no city over which to rule, no throne for you to sit on, no crown for you to wear, no joyful crowd to greet you. There is nothing for you here; Heryth has no need of you, and no desire to be part of your empire. Go, therefore, oh Slayer, to where there are real creatures of darkness and cold death for you to slay, and not just your fellow men, creatures of warm flesh and blood and beating hearts!"
After this, the city held firm for 11 days, eschewing open battle, forcing the Slayer's armies to try to storm the walls, which they were unable to do. After these 11 days, Otanes recommended she give up the attempt and, with her agreement, negotiated for Heryth to pay a token tribute to Artemesia in return for its freedom, so that of all the cities of Cappadocia, Artemesia never set foot in Heryth alone.
After the conquest of Sinope, across the Halys, the expansion of her empire proceeded apace; for with this crossing of the river, the lands in the west of Asia began to take note of her, and to fear her growing power. Thus many of the Kings of the west, of Lydia, Phrygia and Galatia and elsewhere, made alliance against her, and long and bloody warfare ensued. But by now the human and material resources Artemesia commanded were great, and combined with her Slayer power, and the godlike status this conferred upon her in the eyes of friends and foe alike, this made her more than a match for her enemies. Thus, although she was taken by surprise at first by the raids the western kings launched on her territories and her cities, she quickly recovered, and time and again led her forces to victory on the battlefield.
And thus, in the eleventh year of her reign, Artemesia entered, in great pomp and triumph, the famous city of Ilium, after shattering her enemies' forces in a final great battle some leagues from there. Not for the last time, the horse-taming city fell to foreign forces, and indeed with rather greater ease than it was to fall to the Greeks many centuries later. For Troy lacked in those days any defenders of the renown of Priam and Hector and, great and famous as were its latter conquerors - Agammemnon, Menelaus, brave Achilles, mighty Ajax and the resourceful Odysseus to name but a few - the Slayer Queen exceeded them all. Her armies took the city from the east, and after her triumphal parade through the city, Artemesia walked alone across the fields and strands where so many brave and celebrated heroes would one day shed their blood, to stand on the shore and gaze for the first time upon the wine-dark Mediterranean, hitherto known to her only in tale. Raising her hands to the heavens she let out a scream of triumph and delight, as the scorching noon-day sun shone down upon her in her lustrous ceremonial robes, causing her to shine, so it seemed to those who saw it, with the light of heaven.
After the fall of Ilium, the remaining kings of the west sought peace with Artemesia, and made tribute to her. She and her forces entered also many of the cities of the south, mostly by invitation, destroying such minions of evil as dwelled therein (though most had fled), so that all of Asia Minor came under her sway. After this the country knew peace for a time.
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