Conan the Barbarian #59 – “The Ballad of Bêlit” – Roy Thomas/John Buscema/Steve Gan
This one starts with Bêlit and Conan leading the crew of the Tigress against a Stygian galley. They make short work of the Stygians and Conan notices that Bêlit has a special hatred towards them. She’s not inclined to talk about it so Conan asks the Ship’s shaman (N’yaga), who has known Bêlit for years. N’yaga tells the tale of Bêlit’s origin, starting with her childhood in Asgalun, one of the great city-states of Shem. Bêlit’s father (Atrahasis) was
king of Asgalun, but his brother (Nim-Karrak) coveted the throne and helped Stygian assassins get into the palace to murder the king. N’yaga was Bêlit’s tutor at the time and fled the city with her before Nim-Karrak could kill her too. They took the Tigress (which had belonged to the king) south to N’yaga’s homeland in the Southern Isles. Their reception was rather chilly until N’yaga cowed the tribesmen with some fire powder. He told them Bêlit was the daughter of Derketa, the Death Goddess. Chief Uzumi didn’t really believe that, but didn’t want to run afoul of Nyaga’s magic, so he let them stay. Bêlit grew up, learning to hunt and use weapons, but always harbouring the lust for revenge against the Stygians. Bêlit wanted to be made a full warrior of the tribe, but Uzumi 
said she had to prove herself worthy (being female) and sent her to retrieve a sacred relic of the tribe from their enemies the Mound-Dwellers. The Mound-Dwellers had stolen the relic (a silver gem called the Eye of Dagon) and were now worshipping it. Bêlit invaded their lair and grabbed the Eye, but was pursued closely by the Mound-Dwellers, who were like human/worm hybrids. Bêlit returned to the tribe and Uzumi ordered her slain, but she poured a vial of silver (which N’yaga had given her to replace the Eye when she stole it) down Uzumi’s throat. The Mound-Dwellers arrived and sensed the silver inside Uzumi, dragging him back to their lair to extract it. The tribe not only accepted Bêlit as a warrior, but made her chief. She decided that they would become raiders instead of farmers, partly for the loot and partly to seek revenge against the Stygians for killing her father. Conan isn’t sure whether to believe N’yaga’s tale or not, but when he sees the Eye of Dagon in Bêlit’s
treasure hoard, he thinks there may be some truth to the story after all. This is a pretty good story, giving us an origin for Bêlit that’s not considered canon, but does fit pretty well with what we know about her. Robert E. Howard didn’t give specifics about Bêlit’s background, except to mention that her fathers were kings in Asgalun. Roy took that literally and made her the king’s daughter, giving her a reason to hate Stygians and a reason for the Kushite crew to follow her with such devotion (since they believed her to be the daughter of a goddess). Poul Anderson gave Bêlit a different origin in a Conan novel, making her the daughter of a trader, but I think Roy’s version works better. The haughty Bêlit seems more suited to be a king’s daughter than a trader’s, and her attitude fits with someone who’s pretending to be partly divine.
Conan the Barbarian #60 – “Riders of the River-Dragons” – Roy Thomas/John Buscema/Steve Gan
This one starts with Conan wrestling with some of the Tigress’s crew, showing them how to use leverage to overcome the advantage of numbers. Bêlit challenges Conan to a sword duel, but gets pissed off when he easily evades her best moves. She also gets rather jealous when Conan mentions Red Sonja, but their argument is interrupted when they pass the mouth of the river Zarkheba, which is so poisonous only snakes dwell there. As Bêlit’s raids have frightened most merchant ships from the vicinity, she takes the Tigress south to collect tribute from some villages. She reaches
the village of the Watambi people, who usually give her ivory in exchange for being left in peace. But the Watambis have no ivory this time, having been raided by the Riders of the River-Dragons, an almost mythical tribe who ride on giant crocodiles. Bêlit sends some men back to the ship while she and Conan accompany the Watambis to their village. They put on a ritual to bring them victory against the crocodile riders, with the King’s daughter (Nyami) being the focus. Conan joins the ritual out of battle-lust, which pisses Bêlit off since she thinks he’s hot for Nyami. But Conan has no interest in Nyami and ends 
up banging Bêlit that night (after N’yaga slipped her something to calm her down). Conan wakes up to find the crocodile riders attacking the Watambi village and he quickly joins the fight, breaking a crocodile’s neck with his bare hands. Conan turns the crocodiles on each other, giving the villagers the chance to fight back and rout the invaders. A wounded crocodile rider tells Conan they attacked the village to get whatever they could to appease someone called Amra. The Watambi chief tells Conan that Amra (a name that means “lion”) is a wild man who runs with the great cats. The Watambis want Conan to lead
them against the dragon-riders, but he’s reluctant … until he finds out they’ve kidnapped Bêlit. This is a pretty good story, with a few references that fans of the original Conan stories will enjoy. As mentioned in Hour of the Dragon (Robert E. Howard’s Conan novel that’s set many years later in Conan’s life), Amra was the name Conan went by when he was a sea raider, so it’s strange to find out that someone else had the name before him. Roy also name-checks several of Bêlit’s crew (Ajonga, Lasunga, and Yarunga) who were mentioned in Hour of the Dragon. Since Roy planned on filling in the 
missing three years of Conan’s time with Bêlit (which REH alluded to but didn’t expand upon), he decided to get in as many references from Howard’s actual writing as soon as possible. And Conan fans will no doubt recognize the Zarkheba River as the one which Bêlit will eventually up to meet her doom … but we have plenty of stories to go before that happens.