"2566-14" - 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 Fourteen "The squadron will continue north towards Dularn and await me there at the Isle of Sandor," I told Sela Dai as her dark eyes looked up with puzzlement into mine. It had been impossible to keep secret for long the tale of our own adventures the night be- fore. The story of my spanking the luckless slave girl was al- ready making the rounds through the squadron. It had, I thought, been something that might make me more "human" in the eyes of those who served on my ships. Perhaps now they might better un- derstand the woman who would perhaps someday send them into bat- tle. The woman that to most of them was a "name", little more. I planned to take the Huntress into Sarn, and speak to Darlanis. Try to convince her to negotiate some sort of "peace" with Maris. Otherwise I had no choice but to bring death and destruction to Dularn. To teach them that their coastline too was "vulnerable"! "I don't why you even bother," Sela said to me, "Darlanis is `worthless'." The little Princess of Talon having a low opinion of the Empress of California. One I suspected that was shared by many aboard the ships of my squadron. I did not share them, but I could understand how they felt about an Empress who now seemed to refuse to defend her own Empire against one such as Maris was! "She has her `reasons', I have mine," I smiled back. I was tempted to give the little Princess a hug, but knew that it might be misunderstood by many of those watching us. Sela is as I have mentioned something of a "spit-fire", but she is just the sort of a young woman that I admire greatly for what she is as a person! "If you were Empress...," Mark Berson breathed in low tones. I nodded, smiled. I did not wish it so. Yet I knew that there were many who now thought as he did. Enough perhaps that the day might come when there would be an "outcry" even Darlanis would have to take note of. I was "Warlady", Queen of Trelandar. I am not a woman who wishes to be "more" than what she now is. Once I "was", but I have learned much since that night Sharon and I flew through that "Gateway" and ended up here in the 26th Century! "I am your Queen, and that is all I wish to be," I said to him, taking his hands in mine. If Darlanis would not "fight", I felt there was no other "alternative" available now but to try to negotiate some sort of "settlement" with Maris over the "issues". "I fear that things are a bit `snug' aboard here," the young commander of Huntress smiled as she welcomed me aboard her ship. She was tall and slim, brunette. Like a "daughter" in her looks. Valerie had told me much about her, about her own capabilities. She was clad in black silk, leather, the dress of the Warrioress. "We are not far from Sarn," I smiled, "And I have sailed in worse," I added, glancing about the deck, looking up at the sails there overhead, the men standing there on deck, swaying with the roll of the ship. It was a well found ship, well commanded too! The deck a spotless white, the rigging taut, well tarred. There was "that" about the ship and its company that left no "doubts". "It will be a pleasure to have you aboard," Janice Hill smiled, her dark eyes sparkling into mine. I thought her to be the sort of a woman that someday would "go far" if she lived. A golden chain snug about her throat, the mark of a wife of more than three years. She had, I knew, one child, a boy of around two. A husband back home in Trella. Many men will not marry a Warrioress because of the "dangers" of her never "coming back" from a battle. It is "hard" on the woman too, especially if she has children. I thought briefly of little Mara, of Ta-she-ra, both of whom might never see me again too. Both had already lost their own mothers. Now they might "lose" their beloved Lorraine. "I have heard much about you from `another'," I smiled back. "I hope she did not `bend' the truth too much," she smiled. "I don't think so," I smiled. She was not a beautiful wom- an, but I suspected she was a woman who enjoyed being a woman. I have "known" in my life a number of women who did not. Many of them became involved in radical political movements. Groups who sat around raising each other's "consciousness" (that's what they called it). Making themselves "miserable". Many ended up spend- ing considerable sums of money "visiting" those of my profession. Getting themselves straightened back out after such foolishness. Janice then giving the orders that got us under way towards Sarn. "What did happen to the North Star?" Janice Hill asked as she escorted me below a few minutes later on, the low height of the deck beams there above making me "duck" a bit, although I did find that I did "clear" the oaken beams by about an inch or so. "My guess is that Maris decided to sail south," I replied. That is what I would have done had I been in her boots and facing a force like the one I commanded. Maris could be a "gadfly" all down the coastline of southern California if she escaped capture. "That's what I would have done," Janice agreed with a smile. "We'll be in Sarn by nightfall if this wind holds," Janice told me later on. I could see that she maintained good morale aboard her command. The sword at her hip left few doubts that she was also a capable and competent member of the Warrioresses. I did not "envy" her with a young child at home and a husband who might not see his wife for months at a time if then. I knew of several Warrioresses who had divorced their husbands after coming "back home" and "catching" them with another woman! It is "hard" on any woman to have to face such "worries" day after day. "Yes," I replied, not really feeling that good "down there". The Huntress, unlike my bigger and heavier ships, tended to al- most "bound" over the waves. The sturdy two master, some ninety feet in length being a fast, handy vessel, but also one well de- signed, I mused then, that "found out" a true landlubber like me! "Sail Ho!" the cry came down from the mainmast far above. The man pointing with his telescope, the sun glinting off the brass tube. The other ship almost between us and Sarn, I noted! "What ship?" Janice barked. She had a voice that carried. "Three master, a `Dulie' by the looks of her!" he yelled. "Beat to Quarters, Rig for Battle!" I snapped harshly. "You think it is the North Star?" Janice asked. I nodded. "Be a `nasty fight'," Janice smiled, her tone much as if I'd said that it'd probably rain before nightfall. She was of the Warrioresses. We do tend to look upon such things "differently". We were even more "outgunned" by the North Star as the North Star would have been "outgunned" by one of my own big new first rates. "We don't have their `weight' or `firepower', but we are a bit more `handy'," I spoke. I would take "command" of Huntress. My "skills" against "those" of the lovely golden Queen of Dularn. Maris' ship was "faster". There was no "running away" from this battle if the Queen of Dularn decided to "fight". I had no doubt that she would. Especially given the "odds" that applied here!!! ***************************************************************** "From deck here you can't see anything but their mastheads as yet, but the lookout says that he's sure its the same ship that chased us yesterday. That scout ship off Lorraine's squad- ron," the first officer of the North Star said to his young gold- en haired captain. Queen Maris nodding in reply, her beautiful features showing the nervous "strain" that she was under after the events of the last twenty hour hours. Suddenly life had be- come much more terrifying and dangerous than before with Lorraine around. The woman living up to her legendary bulldog tenacity! "Any other ships of her squadron in sight?" Maris asked. "None that we can see from here," he answered in reply. "They are `aware' of `what' we are?" Maris then said. "As we know `what' they `are'," he then now smiled back. "Go to battle stations, rig for battle," Maris answered. "Hoist our battle flags. This time I'm not `running' from her." There being no doubt in his mind as to "who" Maris was referring. ***************************************************************** "Enemy's coming about! Raising her battle flags!" I heard the lookout call down. The mastheads now easily visible from our deck now. There was no doubt now that it was the North Star! "Hoist ours! Run up the Warlady's!" Janice snapped orders. I considered her competent at her tasks. It would be a nasty fight. In a way it would now be me against Maris. Dularn's best against California's. She had the heavier ship, but mine was a bit more "handy", easier to handle in battle. There was a good possibility that neither Maris or I would now survive the battle. The loss of life on both sides would doubtlessly be quite heavy. "`These are the times that try men's souls'!" I cried out to the crew as they dashed to obey Janice's orders. "Let ours not be found wanting!" I saw faces look up at me. I was the Warlady of the Empire. The legendary "Lorraine". The woman who had been transported from the now mythical Twentieth Century to their era! "They will give you their `best'," Janice said. I nodded. Many would stand before SHE yet today to answer for their lives. Perhaps fate had brought us together here on this rolling sea to "settle" the issue of "who" was to control this blue green water! ***************************************************************** Maris steadied the odd looking telescope, an instrument she knew that dated back to before The War. It had taken the best of her people's abilities to recoat the mirror, to make the repairs. The name on the side of the tube "CELESTRON" had meant nothing to anyone. It was however far superior to what Dularn could build. Even on the tripod the telescope was hard to use, but Maris did manage to see the other ship clearly for an instant in the K18mm eyepiece. The C-90's 55x bringing up the other ship amazingly close. The figures of its crew and officers concerning her far less than did the black flag that now flew over its tall masts!!! "It's `personal' now, isn't it, Lorraine?" Maris breathed softly, beautiful azure eyes looking out over the tossing ocean. She wondered what it would be "like" to face me in battle. There would be many deaths on both sides, she suspected. Hers, Mine??? ***************************************************************** "There will be no `broadsides'," I said to the assembled crew of the Huntress as I stood there on the quarterdeck before them. "You will fire whenever you get a chance to make your shots `tell' on the enemy." We were "outgunned" by the North Star. Maris had the bigger ship, the most armament. I recalled a book I had once read back in the 20th Century by C.S. Forester. A battle between a 36 gun frigate and a 50 gun two decker. This would be somewhat of the same. Maris had more "firepower", I had the "handier" ship in battle. Perhaps the "steadier" nerves, or so I hoped. Maris was young, inexperienced in a fight like this. On the other hand she had done well against one of my own ships. "We will give you our `best'," Janice Hill said to me. I saw the sun glint off the gold of her neck chain. She was doubt- lessly an experienced Warrioress. A good capable fighting woman. 2566 A.D.! A TALE OF ADVENTURE IN THE SECOND DARK AGE OF MAN By Jerome B. Bigge Chapter Fourteen "The squadron will continue north towards Dularn and await me there at the Isle of Sandor," I told Sela Dai as her dark eyes looked up with puzzlement into mine. It had been impossible to keep secret for long the tale of our own adventures the night be- fore. The story of my spanking the luckless slave girl was al- ready making the rounds through the squadron. It had, I thought, been something that might make me more "human" in the eyes of those who served on my ships. Perhaps now they might better un- derstand the woman who would perhaps someday send them into bat- tle. The woman that to most of them was a "name", little more. I planned to take the Huntress into Sarn, and speak to Darlanis. Try to convince her to negotiate some sort of "peace" with Maris. Otherwise I had no choice but to bring death and destruction to Dularn. To teach them that their coastline too was "vulnerable"! "I don't why you even bother," Sela said to me, "Darlanis is `worthless'." The little Princess of Talon having a low opinion of the Empress of California. One I suspected that was shared by many aboard the ships of my squadron. I did not share them, but I could understand how they felt about an Empress who now seemed to refuse to defend her own Empire against one such as Maris was! "She has her `reasons', I have mine," I smiled back. I was tempted to give the little Princess a hug, but knew that it might be misunderstood by many of those watching us. Sela is as I have mentioned something of a "spit-fire", but she is just the sort of a young woman that I admire greatly for what she is as a person! "If you were Empress...," Mark Berson breathed in low tones. I nodded, smiled. I did not wish it so. Yet I knew that there were many who now thought as he did. Enough perhaps that the day might come when there would be an "outcry" even Darlanis would have to take note of. I was "Warlady", Queen of Trelandar. I am not a woman who wishes to be "more" than what she now is. Once I "was", but I have learned much since that night Sharon and I flew through that "Gateway" and ended up here in the 26th Century! "I am your Queen, and that is all I wish to be," I said to him, taking his hands in mine. If Darlanis would not "fight", I felt there was no other "alternative" available now but to try to negotiate some sort of "settlement" with Maris over the "issues". "I fear that things are a bit `snug' aboard here," the young commander of Huntress smiled as she welcomed me aboard her ship. She was tall and slim, brunette. Like a "daughter" in her looks. Valerie had told me much about her, about her own capabilities. She was clad in black silk, leather, the dress of the Warrioress. "We are not far from Sarn," I smiled, "And I have sailed in worse," I added, glancing about the deck, looking up at the sails there overhead, the men standing there on deck, swaying with the roll of the ship. It was a well found ship, well commanded too! The deck a spotless white, the rigging taut, well tarred. There was "that" about the ship and its company that left no "doubts". "It will be a pleasure to have you aboard," Janice Hill smiled, her dark eyes sparkling into mine. I thought her to be the sort of a woman that someday would "go far" if she lived. A golden chain snug about her throat, the mark of a wife of more than three years. She had, I knew, one child, a boy of around two. A husband back home in Trella. Many men will not marry a Warrioress because of the "dangers" of her never "coming back" from a battle. It is "hard" on the woman too, especially if she has children. I thought briefly of little Mara, of Ta-she-ra, both of whom might never see me again too. Both had already lost their own mothers. Now they might "lose" their beloved Lorraine. "I have heard much about you from `another'," I smiled back. "I hope she did not `bend' the truth too much," she smiled. "I don't think so," I smiled. She was not a beautiful wom- an, but I suspected she was a woman who enjoyed being a woman. I have "known" in my life a number of women who did not. Many of them became involved in radical political movements. Groups who sat around raising each other's "consciousness" (that's what they called it). Making themselves "miserable". Many ended up spend- ing considerable sums of money "visiting" those of my profession. Getting themselves straightened back out after such foolishness. Janice then giving the orders that got us under way towards Sarn. "What did happen to the North Star?" Janice Hill asked as she escorted me below a few minutes later on, the low height of the deck beams there above making me "duck" a bit, although I did find that I did "clear" the oaken beams by about an inch or so. "My guess is that Maris decided to sail south," I replied. That is what I would have done had I been in her boots and facing a force like the one I commanded. Maris could be a "gadfly" all down the coastline of southern California if she escaped capture. "That's what I would have done," Janice agreed with a smile. "We'll be in Sarn by nightfall if this wind holds," Janice told me later on. I could see that she maintained good morale aboard her command. The sword at her hip left few doubts that she was also a capable and competent member of the Warrioresses. I did not "envy" her with a young child at home and a husband who might not see his wife for months at a time if then. I knew of several Warrioresses who had divorced their husbands after coming "back home" and "catching" them with another woman! It is "hard" on any woman to have to face such "worries" day after day. "Yes," I replied, not really feeling that good "down there". The Huntress, unlike my bigger and heavier ships, tended to al- most "bound" over the waves. The sturdy two master, some ninety feet in length being a fast, handy vessel, but also one well de- signed, I mused then, that "found out" a true landlubber like me! "Sail Ho!" the cry came down from the mainmast far above. The man pointing with his telescope, the sun glinting off the brass tube. The other ship almost between us and Sarn, I noted! "What ship?" Janice barked. She had a voice that carried. "Three master, a `Dulie' by the looks of her!" he yelled. "Beat to Quarters, Rig for Battle!" I snapped harshly. "You think it is the North Star?" Janice asked. I nodded. "Be a `nasty fight'," Janice smiled, her tone much as if I'd said that it'd probably rain before nightfall. She was of the Warrioresses. We do tend to look upon such things "differently". We were even more "outgunned" by the North Star as the North Star would have been "outgunned" by one of my own big new first rates. "We don't have their `weight' or `firepower', but we are a bit more `handy'," I spoke. I would take "command" of Huntress. My "skills" against "those" of the lovely golden Queen of Dularn. Maris' ship was "faster". There was no "running away" from this battle if the Queen of Dularn decided to "fight". I had no doubt that she would. Especially given the "odds" that applied here!!! ***************************************************************** "From deck here you can't see anything but their mastheads as yet, but the lookout says that he's sure its the same ship that chased us yesterday. That scout ship off Lorraine's squad- ron," the first officer of the North Star said to his young gold- en haired captain. Queen Maris nodding in reply, her beautiful features showing the nervous "strain" that she was under after the events of the last twenty hour hours. Suddenly life had be- come much more terrifying and dangerous than before with Lorraine around. The woman living up to her legendary bulldog tenacity! "Any other ships of her squadron in sight?" Maris asked. "None that we can see from here," he answered in reply. "They are `aware' of `what' we are?" Maris then said. "As we know `what' they `are'," he then now smiled back. "Go to battle stations, rig for battle," Maris answered. "Hoist our battle flags. This time I'm not `running' from her." There being no doubt in his mind as to "who" Maris was referring. ***************************************************************** "Enemy's coming about! Raising her battle flags!" I heard the lookout call down. The mastheads now easily visible from our deck now. There was no doubt now that it was the North Star! "Hoist ours! Run up the Warlady's!" Janice snapped orders. I considered her competent at her tasks. It would be a nasty fight. In a way it would now be me against Maris. Dularn's best against California's. She had the heavier ship, but mine was a bit more "handy", easier to handle in battle. There was a good possibility that neither Maris or I would now survive the battle. The loss of life on both sides would doubtlessly be quite heavy. "`These are the times that try men's souls'!" I cried out to the crew as they dashed to obey Janice's orders. "Let ours not be found wanting!" I saw faces look up at me. I was the Warlady of the Empire. The legendary "Lorraine". The woman who had been transported from the now mythical Twentieth Century to their era! "They will give you their `best'," Janice said. I nodded. Many would stand before SHE yet today to answer for their lives. Perhaps fate had brought us together here on this rolling sea to "settle" the issue of "who" was to control this blue green water! ***************************************************************** Maris steadied the odd looking telescope, an instrument she knew that dated back to before The War. It had taken the best of her people's abilities to recoat the mirror, to make the repairs. The name on the side of the tube "CELESTRON" had meant nothing to anyone. It was however far superior to what Dularn could build. Even on the tripod the telescope was hard to use, but Maris did manage to see the other ship clearly for an instant in the K18mm eyepiece. The C-90's 55x bringing up the other ship amazingly close. The figures of its crew and officers concerning her far less than did the black flag that now flew over its tall masts!!! "It's `personal' now, isn't it, Lorraine?" Maris breathed softly, beautiful azure eyes looking out over the tossing ocean. She wondered what it would be "like" to face me in battle. There would be many deaths on both sides, she suspected. Hers, Mine??? ***************************************************************** "There will be no `broadsides'," I said to the assembled crew of the Huntress as I stood there on the quarterdeck before them. "You will fire whenever you get a chance to make your shots `tell' on the enemy." We were "outgunned" by the North Star. Maris had the bigger ship, the most armament. I recalled a book I had once read back in the 20th Century by C.S. Forester. A battle between a 36 gun frigate and a 50 gun two decker. This would be somewhat of the same. Maris had more "firepower", I had the "handier" ship in battle. Perhaps the "steadier" nerves, or so I hoped. Maris was young, inexperienced in a fight like this. On the other hand she had done well against one of my own ships. "We will give you our `best'," Janice Hill said to me. I saw the sun glint off the gold of her neck chain. She was doubt- lessly an experienced Warrioress. A good capable fighting woman. |
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