"2566-11" - читать интересную книгу автора (Bigge Jerome - Warlady 4 - 2566 Ad)2566 A.D.! A TALE OF ADVENTURE IN THE SECOND DARK AGE OF MAN By Jerome B. Bigge Chapter Eleven "Do you see anything?" I asked, the rain now fading away to a cold drizzle. The rolling waves all that could yet be seen. I wondered if the North Star had survived the storm being "driven" the way that Maris Marn had driven it. Could the ship have sunk? There would have been some drifting wreckage, a few "survivors"!! Just visible now in the distance to seaward was Squala, and beyond Squala was Huntress, now sticking "close" to her bigger companion. I could see the Corsica to the east, and signals had confirmed that Nighthawk, Seahawk, and Arrow had also survived. Not that I had entertained any worries about Jers, who even with a broken arm could certainly have seen his ship through a little rain storm like this one had been even without Lara's assistance. "Nothing but minor damage, your majesty," the signals mid- shipman spoke, my squadron having weathered this storm without any difficulty. The only problem was: Where had Maris gone to?? "Send: `All ships search for wreckage of North Star'," I spoke to him. I thought of Maris, of Gayle, what it would feel like to have to tell my beloved Princess that her own sister had drowned while trying in terror to escape me. That was not a thought that I liked to think about. I didn't like Maris, but I certainly didn't wish her death! And not that way, in any case! "Our first `brush' with the `enemy'," I smiled as I greeted the captains and officers of the squadron there aboard the Sea- wolf. I had now established a semblance of discipline at least. And a feeling among the men that they were under capable command. That when their ship went into battle they could rely upon their officers and captain to see them through to the best of their own abilities. My own reputation as the Warlady of California having been enough to restore the men's confidence in their own ability to deal with any foe or ship that they might now meet up with! I saw Sela nod, the lovely little Princess seemingly preoccupied. "If it hadn't been for that rainstorm we'd have Queen Maris naked and in chains kneeling right here before us," the handsome young captain of Squala spoke as Yvette handed him a filled glass from my own personal stock. I nodded, smiled. There were a lot of "what could have been"'s right now. I commanded one of the most powerful forces ever gathered since The War, but yet I had not been able to bring one Dularnian raider to battle! Maris Jord, the lovely Queen of Dularn, had once again escaped me! And where she had gone no one knew, although I had no doubts that if she was alive we'd soon be hearing about it from everyone too!!! "Or better yet dead and sewn up in a hammock with a shot at her feet," the captain of the Corsica spoke, giving me a smile. Her gray eyes glowing into mine as I nodded and smiled in reply. She was not a Trelandarian like the others, but Sarnian, her cop- per hair like a flame there in the light from the lamps. Valerie Dunn was a capable and apparently quite competent captain. I had already noted that she seemed to be a bit more "competent" than her male counterparts aboard the Seawolf and the Nighthawk too. Janice Hill, commander of Huntress, had once been her first offi- cer. She was one of the few female naval captains of this era. Janice, sitting beside her, looked like a younger version of me! "I'm sure, Valerie, that Lorraine wouldn't let her escape again," the captain of the Nighthawk spoke up with a smile that I suspected was also something of a leer. Captain Dunn being a quite attractive woman, if also of obviously Dularnian breeding. "I think we have more important things to discuss," Captain Hawkins of the Seawolf interjected, giving me a glance as I stood there gently swaying with the roll of the ship. So far I had avoided the seasickness that often afflicts me, although I could not really be sure until we suffered some really bad weather now. I spoke up then, "There are other Dularnian raiders still operating in this area, and we do stand a good chance of taking one by surprise." Just the capture of one Dularnian ship would be welcomed by all the peoples of California, and it would teach Queen Maris that my forces were able to deal with her annoying raiders! That a fleet like mine could protect all of California! "We all know that our ships carry `fire weapons'," Mark Ber- son of the Squala ventured, it having been my order that such weapons of destruction were not to be "used" unless the Dularni- ans used them first. There was no known defense against such! I had not brought with me any of the explosives I had once made up. There was no reason, I felt, to "irritate" the First Priestess. "Which will be `used' only on my express orders," I smiled. I suspected that he also found Sela Dai extremely "attractive" as they sat there side by side. She is "small", but a true delight! "Had the entire fleet been sent after the North Star, we might now have Maris nude and kneeling in chains before us," Val- erie suddenly spoke up, expressing her thoughts quite forcefully! She had now been the first to challenge my orders to hold back the rest of my ships and allow the Squala and Huntress the honors if any of capturing the beautiful golden haired Queen of Dularn. "`Pride goeth before a fall'," I smiled back. It had not been one of my "better" decisions. I had not realized how "fast" the North Class schooners actually were. Queen Maris was also perhaps Dularn's best naval commander, its most "able" captain. I suspected that I had also "held back" because my own beloved Princess Gayle was Maris' sister, although no one had mentioned that. It was, I knew, something that could very well "color" all my military decisions. The knowledge that Gayle would never "forgive" me if I was ever "responsible" for the death of her be- loved sister who she greatly admired despite their "differences"! "We'll do `better' next time," Sela Dai then ventured now. ***************************************************************** "Lorraine let us `go'," Queen Maris spoke to her first offi- cer as they watched the sky darken there in the west, the sun now gone. "And I think I know the `reason why' too," she added then. "The fact that your sister is her `Princess'?" he smiled in reply, admiring the beautiful Queen of Dularn as she stood there. "If she had brought all her forces to `play' we might not have been so `lucky'," the beautiful blonde smiled back, well aware of his eyes on her and the thoughts no doubt there behind them. Maris had lived with that ever since her body had started developing into that of a beautiful young woman back home in Sana. With the "looks" that the young men gave her, the "wolf whistles" that came from their lips when her back was turned to them. There were even those who "compared" her to Darlanis for beauty. She wondered a bit about that, recalling that her own husband had at one time supposedly raped the incredibly beautiful Darlanis back when she was a teenage girl. He had of course de- nied the entire affair, but Maris "wondered"? There was a cer- tain "resemblance" between the two of them, and there were other indications that Darl Jord did look upon her in a way that Maris herself found quite distasteful without knowing why. If he want- ed to "have" a woman while she was tied wrist and ankle to a bed, then he could "use" any of his slave girls, but "that" wasn't for her! And the "sadistic tricks" he played on them irritated her! "We would have given them a `good fight'," he smiled back. "The objective in `winning a war' is making `the other guy' die for his country," Maris smiled back. She remembered reading it once some time a long time ago, it seemed. She had no wish to determine for herself if what the Priestesses had taught her as a child was actually true or not. She was too "young" yet to die!! ***************************************************************** "I'm switching my `flag' to Corsica," I smiled as the meet- ing ended and they all got up to leave. I was "curious" about Valerie and her methods of command. I was also curious about how she would behave knowing that I was now right there watching her? "I'd be `delighted' to have you aboard the Corsica," she smiled, although given the situation as it presently was there was little else that she could have said under the circumstances. "`Warlady', Corsica!" the midshipman bellowed from the bow of the boat as the hail came down from Corsica's deck. Valerie had sent signals that I would be coming aboard. Preparations had been made to receive me. It is the practice in the Imperial Navy to announce the captain of a ship by the name of his or her ship. Such things date back to another era now mostly just "myths" now. "Something troubling you now, your majesty?" Valerie asked as I sat there silently beside her, the up and down motion of the ship's longboat having been enough to remind me that I was not as much of a "sailor" as I would have liked! The meal I had eaten a bit earlier and washed down with perhaps too much strong drink now didn't want to stay "down there". The thought of displaying my seasickness before others of my command much annoying me now!! "It will be all right once I get aboard," I answered back. "I have some good brandy aboard that will settle that stom- ach of yours," she assured me, putting her arm around me then. I thought of another, of another ship, another time. Of Darlanis. "Our Warlady! Our Queen!" the crew of the Corsica cried out as I stepped aboard, the greeting at least getting my mind off the nausea that had afflicted me there in the longboat as I sat beside Valerie. The evident enthusiasm of the crew, the polished whiteness of the deck, the taut and blackened down rigging leav- ing no doubt that Valerie ran a "taut ship". And one, I suspect- ed by now, that could be relied upon to give its best in a fight! While I could not "see" everything, it being nighttime, I could see enough to know that the Corsica was indeed a well run ship! "I'll try to do better `next time'," I told the crew as they stood there in neat rows before me. "And we'll rid the seas of these damm raiders of Queen Maris'!" I added. I wasn't too sure of that, but I felt certain that once we reached Dularn we could teach the Dularnians a few "lessons" that they wouldn't forget! "I have a good ship, a good crew," Valerie said to me as we went below a moment later, the crew having been dismissed to their respective duties. The ship's girls all "healthy" looking wenches that obviously were of the sorts that could much pleasure a "tired sailorman". I suspected that Valerie had taken time to see to that. Most captains merely took what was "issued" to them and called it "good". Obviously Valerie was a very capable and competent officer. Perhaps better, I thought, than any of my others with the possible of Mark Berson there commanding Squala. "And you take good care of both," I smiled back, stepping into the stern cabin. The sea now invisible beyond the stern windows. The ceiling beams like aboard my other ships just high enough that I could walk beneath them without having to "duck". Mark Berson aboard the Squala was not quite so "lucky" at 6'2" "I handpicked my `ship's girls'," Valerie smiled back. "And I insist that my officers take their `pleasures' from among them too." Most captains allowed their officers to have their own girl. Usually she was of `better quality' than the other women who had been sentenced to "serve" on a ship of war for their crimes. Such being the fate of women here in the 26th Century. It is more sensible than just locking people up for a period of time to ponder over their "mistakes". Economically sensible too! I suppose the women don't care too much for it, but they were the ones who committed the crimes that got them into the "fix" too!!! "They look `healthy'," I smiled back as Valerie got out the brandy she had promised me and poured me a good glassful of it. The furnishings of the cabin spoke much of Valerie's own tastes. "They are of the Peasants," Valerie Dann smiled back then, handing me the glass. They were busty, wide hipped wenches. No doubt with strong female drives that would make them a true de- light to the sailors. I drank deep, now feeling it "warming" me. "Have they required `disciplining'?" I asked. I had seen one whipped today aboard the Seawolf for minor insubordination. Stripped and tied to the rigging, then given a couple dozen where it would hopefully do the most good there before the assembled crew. One must of course be "strict" with such feminine de- lights. They are usually supervised by the Physician aboard, most of whom are usually women, "medicine" now being for the most part a "feminine" profession for what "reason" I don't know yet. "I haven't found it `necessary' as yet," she smiled back. Even on Squala it had been necessary to whip one of them in the few days that we had been out to sea. Two seamen who should have "known better" had also felt the lash since we had left Trella. I do not tolerate "drunkenness" while on duty. The "stakes" are far too high, especially aboard a sailing ship subject to wind and weather and enemy action at any time! I nodded, smiled back. "Where do you think Maris is now?" I then asked Valerie. "Somewhere behind us, keeping our mastheads just in sight," she smiled back. I had suspected the same thing too. We had been keeping to a regular formation. A fairly even speed too. I did not think she would have found it too difficult to do either! 2566 A.D.! A TALE OF ADVENTURE IN THE SECOND DARK AGE OF MAN By Jerome B. Bigge Chapter Eleven "Do you see anything?" I asked, the rain now fading away to a cold drizzle. The rolling waves all that could yet be seen. I wondered if the North Star had survived the storm being "driven" the way that Maris Marn had driven it. Could the ship have sunk? There would have been some drifting wreckage, a few "survivors"!! Just visible now in the distance to seaward was Squala, and beyond Squala was Huntress, now sticking "close" to her bigger companion. I could see the Corsica to the east, and signals had confirmed that Nighthawk, Seahawk, and Arrow had also survived. Not that I had entertained any worries about Jers, who even with a broken arm could certainly have seen his ship through a little rain storm like this one had been even without Lara's assistance. "Nothing but minor damage, your majesty," the signals mid- shipman spoke, my squadron having weathered this storm without any difficulty. The only problem was: Where had Maris gone to?? "Send: `All ships search for wreckage of North Star'," I spoke to him. I thought of Maris, of Gayle, what it would feel like to have to tell my beloved Princess that her own sister had drowned while trying in terror to escape me. That was not a thought that I liked to think about. I didn't like Maris, but I certainly didn't wish her death! And not that way, in any case! "Our first `brush' with the `enemy'," I smiled as I greeted the captains and officers of the squadron there aboard the Sea- wolf. I had now established a semblance of discipline at least. And a feeling among the men that they were under capable command. That when their ship went into battle they could rely upon their officers and captain to see them through to the best of their own abilities. My own reputation as the Warlady of California having been enough to restore the men's confidence in their own ability to deal with any foe or ship that they might now meet up with! I saw Sela nod, the lovely little Princess seemingly preoccupied. "If it hadn't been for that rainstorm we'd have Queen Maris naked and in chains kneeling right here before us," the handsome young captain of Squala spoke as Yvette handed him a filled glass from my own personal stock. I nodded, smiled. There were a lot of "what could have been"'s right now. I commanded one of the most powerful forces ever gathered since The War, but yet I had not been able to bring one Dularnian raider to battle! Maris Jord, the lovely Queen of Dularn, had once again escaped me! And where she had gone no one knew, although I had no doubts that if she was alive we'd soon be hearing about it from everyone too!!! "Or better yet dead and sewn up in a hammock with a shot at her feet," the captain of the Corsica spoke, giving me a smile. Her gray eyes glowing into mine as I nodded and smiled in reply. She was not a Trelandarian like the others, but Sarnian, her cop- per hair like a flame there in the light from the lamps. Valerie Dunn was a capable and apparently quite competent captain. I had already noted that she seemed to be a bit more "competent" than her male counterparts aboard the Seawolf and the Nighthawk too. Janice Hill, commander of Huntress, had once been her first offi- cer. She was one of the few female naval captains of this era. Janice, sitting beside her, looked like a younger version of me! "I'm sure, Valerie, that Lorraine wouldn't let her escape again," the captain of the Nighthawk spoke up with a smile that I suspected was also something of a leer. Captain Dunn being a quite attractive woman, if also of obviously Dularnian breeding. "I think we have more important things to discuss," Captain Hawkins of the Seawolf interjected, giving me a glance as I stood there gently swaying with the roll of the ship. So far I had avoided the seasickness that often afflicts me, although I could not really be sure until we suffered some really bad weather now. I spoke up then, "There are other Dularnian raiders still operating in this area, and we do stand a good chance of taking one by surprise." Just the capture of one Dularnian ship would be welcomed by all the peoples of California, and it would teach Queen Maris that my forces were able to deal with her annoying raiders! That a fleet like mine could protect all of California! "We all know that our ships carry `fire weapons'," Mark Ber- son of the Squala ventured, it having been my order that such weapons of destruction were not to be "used" unless the Dularni- ans used them first. There was no known defense against such! I had not brought with me any of the explosives I had once made up. There was no reason, I felt, to "irritate" the First Priestess. "Which will be `used' only on my express orders," I smiled. I suspected that he also found Sela Dai extremely "attractive" as they sat there side by side. She is "small", but a true delight! "Had the entire fleet been sent after the North Star, we might now have Maris nude and kneeling in chains before us," Val- erie suddenly spoke up, expressing her thoughts quite forcefully! She had now been the first to challenge my orders to hold back the rest of my ships and allow the Squala and Huntress the honors if any of capturing the beautiful golden haired Queen of Dularn. "`Pride goeth before a fall'," I smiled back. It had not been one of my "better" decisions. I had not realized how "fast" the North Class schooners actually were. Queen Maris was also perhaps Dularn's best naval commander, its most "able" captain. I suspected that I had also "held back" because my own beloved Princess Gayle was Maris' sister, although no one had mentioned that. It was, I knew, something that could very well "color" all my military decisions. The knowledge that Gayle would never "forgive" me if I was ever "responsible" for the death of her be- loved sister who she greatly admired despite their "differences"! "We'll do `better' next time," Sela Dai then ventured now. ***************************************************************** "Lorraine let us `go'," Queen Maris spoke to her first offi- cer as they watched the sky darken there in the west, the sun now gone. "And I think I know the `reason why' too," she added then. "The fact that your sister is her `Princess'?" he smiled in reply, admiring the beautiful Queen of Dularn as she stood there. "If she had brought all her forces to `play' we might not have been so `lucky'," the beautiful blonde smiled back, well aware of his eyes on her and the thoughts no doubt there behind them. Maris had lived with that ever since her body had started developing into that of a beautiful young woman back home in Sana. With the "looks" that the young men gave her, the "wolf whistles" that came from their lips when her back was turned to them. There were even those who "compared" her to Darlanis for beauty. She wondered a bit about that, recalling that her own husband had at one time supposedly raped the incredibly beautiful Darlanis back when she was a teenage girl. He had of course de- nied the entire affair, but Maris "wondered"? There was a cer- tain "resemblance" between the two of them, and there were other indications that Darl Jord did look upon her in a way that Maris herself found quite distasteful without knowing why. If he want- ed to "have" a woman while she was tied wrist and ankle to a bed, then he could "use" any of his slave girls, but "that" wasn't for her! And the "sadistic tricks" he played on them irritated her! "We would have given them a `good fight'," he smiled back. "The objective in `winning a war' is making `the other guy' die for his country," Maris smiled back. She remembered reading it once some time a long time ago, it seemed. She had no wish to determine for herself if what the Priestesses had taught her as a child was actually true or not. She was too "young" yet to die!! ***************************************************************** "I'm switching my `flag' to Corsica," I smiled as the meet- ing ended and they all got up to leave. I was "curious" about Valerie and her methods of command. I was also curious about how she would behave knowing that I was now right there watching her? "I'd be `delighted' to have you aboard the Corsica," she smiled, although given the situation as it presently was there was little else that she could have said under the circumstances. "`Warlady', Corsica!" the midshipman bellowed from the bow of the boat as the hail came down from Corsica's deck. Valerie had sent signals that I would be coming aboard. Preparations had been made to receive me. It is the practice in the Imperial Navy to announce the captain of a ship by the name of his or her ship. Such things date back to another era now mostly just "myths" now. "Something troubling you now, your majesty?" Valerie asked as I sat there silently beside her, the up and down motion of the ship's longboat having been enough to remind me that I was not as much of a "sailor" as I would have liked! The meal I had eaten a bit earlier and washed down with perhaps too much strong drink now didn't want to stay "down there". The thought of displaying my seasickness before others of my command much annoying me now!! "It will be all right once I get aboard," I answered back. "I have some good brandy aboard that will settle that stom- ach of yours," she assured me, putting her arm around me then. I thought of another, of another ship, another time. Of Darlanis. "Our Warlady! Our Queen!" the crew of the Corsica cried out as I stepped aboard, the greeting at least getting my mind off the nausea that had afflicted me there in the longboat as I sat beside Valerie. The evident enthusiasm of the crew, the polished whiteness of the deck, the taut and blackened down rigging leav- ing no doubt that Valerie ran a "taut ship". And one, I suspect- ed by now, that could be relied upon to give its best in a fight! While I could not "see" everything, it being nighttime, I could see enough to know that the Corsica was indeed a well run ship! "I'll try to do better `next time'," I told the crew as they stood there in neat rows before me. "And we'll rid the seas of these damm raiders of Queen Maris'!" I added. I wasn't too sure of that, but I felt certain that once we reached Dularn we could teach the Dularnians a few "lessons" that they wouldn't forget! "I have a good ship, a good crew," Valerie said to me as we went below a moment later, the crew having been dismissed to their respective duties. The ship's girls all "healthy" looking wenches that obviously were of the sorts that could much pleasure a "tired sailorman". I suspected that Valerie had taken time to see to that. Most captains merely took what was "issued" to them and called it "good". Obviously Valerie was a very capable and competent officer. Perhaps better, I thought, than any of my others with the possible of Mark Berson there commanding Squala. "And you take good care of both," I smiled back, stepping into the stern cabin. The sea now invisible beyond the stern windows. The ceiling beams like aboard my other ships just high enough that I could walk beneath them without having to "duck". Mark Berson aboard the Squala was not quite so "lucky" at 6'2" "I handpicked my `ship's girls'," Valerie smiled back. "And I insist that my officers take their `pleasures' from among them too." Most captains allowed their officers to have their own girl. Usually she was of `better quality' than the other women who had been sentenced to "serve" on a ship of war for their crimes. Such being the fate of women here in the 26th Century. It is more sensible than just locking people up for a period of time to ponder over their "mistakes". Economically sensible too! I suppose the women don't care too much for it, but they were the ones who committed the crimes that got them into the "fix" too!!! "They look `healthy'," I smiled back as Valerie got out the brandy she had promised me and poured me a good glassful of it. The furnishings of the cabin spoke much of Valerie's own tastes. "They are of the Peasants," Valerie Dann smiled back then, handing me the glass. They were busty, wide hipped wenches. No doubt with strong female drives that would make them a true de- light to the sailors. I drank deep, now feeling it "warming" me. "Have they required `disciplining'?" I asked. I had seen one whipped today aboard the Seawolf for minor insubordination. Stripped and tied to the rigging, then given a couple dozen where it would hopefully do the most good there before the assembled crew. One must of course be "strict" with such feminine de- lights. They are usually supervised by the Physician aboard, most of whom are usually women, "medicine" now being for the most part a "feminine" profession for what "reason" I don't know yet. "I haven't found it `necessary' as yet," she smiled back. Even on Squala it had been necessary to whip one of them in the few days that we had been out to sea. Two seamen who should have "known better" had also felt the lash since we had left Trella. I do not tolerate "drunkenness" while on duty. The "stakes" are far too high, especially aboard a sailing ship subject to wind and weather and enemy action at any time! I nodded, smiled back. "Where do you think Maris is now?" I then asked Valerie. "Somewhere behind us, keeping our mastheads just in sight," she smiled back. I had suspected the same thing too. We had been keeping to a regular formation. A fairly even speed too. I did not think she would have found it too difficult to do either! |
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