Queen Taramis A Witch Shall Be Born Conan the Destroyer

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Queen Taramis

a short story|the protagonist and principal character|Conan the Cimmerian}}

"A Witch Shall be Born" is one of the original stories by Robert E. Howard about Conan the Cimmerian, first published in Weird Tales in 1934. The story was republished in the collections Conan the Barbarian (Gnome Press, 1954) and Conan the Freebooter (Lancer Books, 1968), and the anthology The Mighty Barbarians (Lancer Books, 1969). It was first published by itself in book form by Donald M. Grant, Publisher, Inc. in 1974. It has more recently been published in the collections The Conan Chronicles Volume 1: The People of the Black Circle (Gollancz, 2000) and Conan of Cimmeria: Volume Two (1934) (Del Rey, 2005).

Plot overview
Queen Taramis of Khauran awakens one day to find an identical twin sister, Salome, staring her in the face. As a child, Salome was deemed a witch due to a crescent scar upon her body. Believing this birthmark to be a sign of evil, she was cast out into the desert to perish. However, a magician from Khitai sheltered her and, as she matured, instructed Salome in the arts of sorcery.

Salome — along with a Shemite mercenary named Constantius — rape Queen Taramis and confine her to the palace dungeon. Salome then assumes Taramis' identity as queen of Khauran and appoints Constantius as her royal consort. The palace guard is disbanded and replaced by Constantius' Shemitish mercenaries, an event which turns violent when the captain of the palace guard, Conan the Cimmerian, refuses to obey the order.

Conan is crucified for his defiance. He strains at the iron spikes driven through his hands to no avail. Olgerd Vladislav, the leader of a band of outlaws and thieves, rides by with a scouting party and spies Conan writhing on the cross. Vladislav does not help the Cimmerian; rather he cuts across the base of the cross, leaving it to fate and Conan's hardiness that he is not crushed by the heavy wood. After the spikes are removed from his hands, Conan removes the foot spikes himself. Vladislav refuses to give Conan any water, claiming the Cimmerian must wait until after a ten-mile trek to the outlaw camp to prove his worthiness to his band.

Meanwhile in Khauran, Salome's reign as "Taramis" has plunged the kingdom into darkness and ruin. The farmers suffer under slave-drivers while city dwellers endure excessive taxation and debauchery of their daughters in the royal court. A rebellion is brewing, and the time grows ripe for Conan's return. Conan replenishes his ranks by recruiting every caravan raider in the region, while keeping them content with the loot from merchants marching toward Khauran, then he wrests control of the motley horde from Vladislav but does not kill him in recognition of him having saved his life. Ready to march on the city Conan fakes the construction of towers and siege engines (all that is really built is just mockups), thus causing the mercenary prince Constantius to ride out of the city for an open-field clash where the fate of Khauran, Taramis and Salome will be resolved once and for all.

Adaptation
The story was adapated by Roy Thomas and John Buscema in Savage Sword of Conan #5.

Queen Taramis A Witch shall be born
(A Witch is born; Savage Sword of Conan#5) - A night seven months after Salome's arrival, the Witch showed to her sister the head of Krallides, Taramis' most faithful counselor. Marcios, who had never believed that Salome was Taramis, learned about the real fate of Taramis and organized her liberation.

(A Witch is born; Savage Sword of Conan#5) - A week later, Conan, survived to the cross and now leader of more than 11,000 Zuagir warriors, headed to Khauran with his nomads, plus a secret battalion of 3,000 Khauran Hyborian knights. A battle was fought outside the town. The Zuagirs and the Khauran defeated the Shemites mercenaries. Before the end of the battle, Conan and some soldiers used the secret passages under the city walls and reached the prison where Taramis was kept. But some minutes after, Salome and Zinn slew all the soldiers but Conan and kidnapped Taramis with the purpose to give her to Thaug, a demon. Conan followed the two, Zinn left Taramis to Salome. The Witch tried to kill Taramis but Marcios arrived from behind and stabbed her with his sword. Taramis was taken outside the Temple by Conan who had to defend her from the arrows of some Shemites led by Constantius. Then Salome appeared, she called Thaug and died. Conan and his Desert Wolves killed Thaug. Taramis was the Queen again. She offered to Conan to become Captain again and also to become her counselor. But Conan preferred to be the leader of the Zuagirs, then Taramis claimed Marcios new Captain of the Guards.

Adaptation
The story was adapated by Roy Thomas and John Buscema in Savage Sword of Conan #5. The only difference is unlike the Howard novella,Queen Taramis is blond and not brunette,which was done basically to shack the cliches of blond girl is good and brunette girl is evil.Otherwise,a fine adaption.