"CHAP-01" - читать интересную книгу автора (Jerome Bigge - Warlady 3 - The Queen Of Swords)THE QUEEN OF SWORDS! A TALE OF ADVENTURE IN THE SECOND DARK AGE OF MAN 2566 A.D.! By Jerome B. Bigge Chapter One "I'm sorry, Darlanis, to hear about the tragic death of your mother," Aurora, the Lorr's yet beautiful "ambassador" to Trelan- dar said to me as I had stepped into her richly furnished office there in the Martian embassy in Trella, the great capital of Tre- landar. The photographs there on the walls showing scenes that few Earthly eyes had ever seen! Views of Mars, of the Earth as seen from far out in space. The green eyed blonde tall, regal in her appearance, and strikingly "beautiful". The silvery clinging jumpsuit she wore also made her look truly "Martian". Her very "presence" here on Earth a vivid reminder of the Lorr's "power". Those "horrid looking" gigantic "ants" that now ruled all Mankind since The War of 2047 some five hundred and nineteen years ago. Like most Martians she was full chested and rather narrow hipped. The effects of life upon a world with an atmosphere far thinner than our own and with a gravitional pull only 38% that of Earth. In her eyes I was doubtlessly "nothing" but a "barbarian" as most Lorr Servitors considered those of the Earth. My royal blue cloak with its silvery silken lining, my long slim sword, the rich golden mesh of my halter and its matching mid-thigh skirt no doubt gave me quite a "barbaric look" to "one" such as her raised on a far distant world! I am a tall blonde, 5'10", broad shoul- dered. A "Queen of Swords". My "caste" is of the Warrioresses. My heart yet with heavy with "pain" from what I had just learned. Are you?" I "challenged" her back, standing there, looking straight into those lovely green eyes as she came around her desk to greet me. "Or was she just the `Earther' who raised me know- ing all the time that I was not actually her child, but just only the `BASTARD BRAT' of her own husband's alien Martian Mistress!"* * Aurora had been the Lorr's ambassador to Dularn at that time. My father was of the "intellectual" type while my "foster" mother Queen Tulis was of the Warrioresses and a "barbarian" by the "standards" that Aurora and my father Prince Paul "saw" her as. Aurora's singing abilities no doubt "played" their part here too as she is a fantastic singer, and very famous too I might add! To listen to her sing her "songs of love" is a true experience! I feel very "embarrassed" now writing all this, but at the time I actually did "hate" her with a furious passion for what she had "done" to me, or whether what I "thought" she had "done" to me!!! "Darlanis!" my mother breathed, reaching out, touching my hand, her eyes burning into mine. Tulis had left me a letter to be opened only after her death. It had told the entire story, although a "pretense" had been made by both her husband and Auro- ra that the baby girl used to "replace" a stillborn baby had been a "foundling". Tulis had, however, known better, having "known" of her husband's "relationship" with Aurora! My father, the late Prince Paul, having become far too "friendly" with the Lorr's own beautiful ambassador to Dularn for Tulis' own liking! The Queen eventually becoming too aware of what Aurora did "mean" to him! That with Aurora he had found a "love" she could never give him!! "I'm `NOT' your `loving daughter'," I snapped back, my voice as "icy" as the very polar caps of Mars themselves while my azure eyes burned hotly into hers. Recalling what Lorraine had written there in her first book of her "adventures" on Mars. Of "what" Aurora had "said" about me! That I was nothing but a "barbarian" unfit to raise my own child! That had been "why" she had kept my own beloved ANNA there on Mars with her after Anna had been res- cued from drowning at sea by some patrolling Lorr battle-disc! "Darlanis! There's so much you don't `understand'!" Aurora pleaded back, now almost "clinging" to me! I detested her very "touch" as I stood there facing her, the "fury" blazing hot in- side my body! My hand now almost with a will of its own seeking my sword's hilt as the "darkness" in my heart overwhelmed me! For an horrible instant I thought of running her through, even if my own life would be instantly forfeit for doing such a horrible deed! There being a death penalty for killing a Lorr Servitor. "You're `despicable'!" I snapped, "And I thank Lys too that I don't have to ever `deal' with you or even see you again!" I snarled, recalling how this woman, my "mother", had taken my own daughter away from me! Then raising her as if ANNA was her's!* * Lorraine writes in her book that I "forgave" Aurora for that. BULLSHIT! I "accepted" it solely for Anna's sake as I didn't want to make "trouble" just then! I didn't want to "hurt" Anna by "attacking" the woman she had learned to love. I also didn't want to see Sharon get "embarrassed" with me by making a "scene" right there before everyone! I do have my "pride" as an Empress! "Darlanis," Aurora begged, weeping now, the tears starting to run down her cheeks, "I only `wanted' for you what you never could have had on Mars...!" I wasn't interested in "what" she had "wanted" for me or why! I told her so too in no uncertain terms, using certain words that my friend Lorraine uses when she is very angry. I think Aurora "understood" them. I really did- n't much give a damn just then either after what she had done! "Go back to Mars and stay there, you Lys-dammed Lorr bitch!" I snarled in fury, yanking open the door, slamming it behind me! Leaping into the saddle of my unicorn as soon as I got outside, the hot fury in my body driving away the "chill" of the late De- cember day. The bright decorations of Christmas now meaningless! So far as I was concerned there was nothing left to "celebrate"! "You look like a `thunderstorm' about to `strike'," Lorraine observed with a smile as I returned to the palace that had once been "mine" not that long ago. The smile curving the thin lips of the Queen of Trelandar leaving little doubt that she "knew"!!! Lorraine is a tall slender muscular brunette, perhaps the great- est fighting woman who has ever lived in any era Man has existed! Near by at her side Jon Richards, her husband and Prince-Consort. "You Knew! She Told You!" I snapped back, well aware of the relationship between Aurora and this amazing woman from the past! For an instant I felt an insane "fury" that she too knew of this! "AND I THOUGHT YOU WERE MY `FRIEND'!" I screamed, half drawing my sword, my azure eyes hot with frustrated fury that she too KNEW!! "Drawing on me won't accomplish anything," Lorraine spoke in level tones, motioning back those with her, their hands on their own weapons. Among them the noticeably pregnant Lady Sanda Ta- len, Prime Minister of Trelandar, Lorraine's "second in command". The very same woman who had led a successful REVOLUTION against me only some months before! The woman who had "used" Lorraine to take Trelandar away from me! Another damn bitch like my mother! "Sharon doesn't `know', does she?" I breathed softly as the Queen of Trelandar closed the door behind herself a moment later. The black of her flowing silken dress leaving no doubts that she was truly "of" the Warrioresses. Sharon is Lorraine's stepdaugh- ter, my own foster daughter, my Imperial Princess, my "heir" to the throne of Imperial California should anything happen to me. I saw those dark eyes meet mine, knew that Lorraine "understood" as no other could have "understood" just then the "PAIN" I suf- fered! Knowing that I was the bastard "brat" of some MARTIAN!!! "I wouldn't advise keeping it a `secret' from her," Lorraine advised, her midnight hair like a rich black mane falling to her shoulders. "The `trust' that she now has in you is something very important to her." I nodded, understanding, accepting the drink that the Queen of Trelandar now poured for me. I supposed it wouldn't matter to Sharon if I was "ILLEGITIMATE" or not. It might, however, to a number of others, especially my own enemies! This was certainly the sort of thing the newspapers would enjoy! Darlanis Marden, Empress of California, the illegitimate daughter of a Woman of Mars. What a field day they'd have with all that!! "I suppose Aurora told you all the `lurid' details," I said, sipping at the drink she'd given me, strolling over to the win- dow, looking out at the city, the harbor there in the distance. Trella is built somewhat to the south of the ruins of Los Angeles which form its northern borders. The ruins are said to be inhab- ited by that which is "mu", not "hu" like most life. Lorraine once saw such a creature, a horned, scaly creature like a cross between a man and reptile. It is the general policy to kill such things whenever they are found lurking near human habitation. It being commonly believed among the Peasants that they steal and eat human babies when they can find one untended by its mother. The same belief with some justification is held by the Nevadas who live on the other side of the Sierras from California, I add. I tend after my own "experiences" with such creatures to believe that it may be true. Those who captured me certainly had every intention of gutting me out and roasting me over a fire for food! "I `suspected' such ever since she seemed so concerned about you there aboard the Ronda when we rescued you from the pirates," Lorraine answered, joining me there at the window, the silver links of her neck-chain gleaming against her skin. "Especially considering the fact that Tulis `disowned' you, something that no true mother would have ever `done' to her own daughter regardless of what that daughter had said that her brother had done to her." I suppose it is to Tulis' "credit" that she never made these things "public", although how many would have "believed" them is another issue, considering the "relationship" between her and me! The fact that I was of "Martian" parentage would have been hard to prove, although there is a slight difference in my blood type from what would be usual and normal for a woman of Earth origins. "There was a `time' when I `needed' her, `anyone', just to take me in their arms and let me know that I had at least one friend in this world, even if it was only a Lorr Servitor who had let herself get `carried away' emotionally with an Earthman," I wept, my hands clasping the sill of the window there before me. I felt terribly ashamed now of what I had said to Aurora. True, I had ample reason to feel that way, but I had behaved just like a "barbarian", no doubt now confirming my mother's opinion of me! "And "what" would you have felt like, knowing that you were the illegitimate bastard of a Martian?" Lorraine challenged me in reply. "That you were nothing more than the result of a woman's emotional `infatuation' with a man she'd never be able to marry?" "Relationships" between the Men of Earth and the Women of Mars being considered generally "unthinkable" by most of both worlds! "Aurora should have never `kept' my Anna," I answered back, changing the subject, knowing that Lorraine spoke the truth now. "I think she wanted `what' she could never have," Lorraine replied, "A `part' of the little girl she'd given up years be- fore. The child that she now wanted back after it was too late." I could "understand" that. Anna had been a "replacement" for me. I have done the "same" with Sharon, as Lorraine has with Gayle. Both of us "seeking" what we had earlier "lost". Gayle and Shar- on do look like "sisters", as does Anna too, surprisingly enough! All three being blue eyed, "blonde", and very pretty young women! "She `substituted' Anna for me?" I asked, Lorraine nodding. In the 20th Century Lorraine had been much like a Priestess here. Her profession had been "helping" others "understand" themselves. "You both turned out to be women any mother could be proud to call hers," Lorraine smiled back, changing the "subject" just a bit. I supposed it was true. I was quite "proud" of my Anna. Of "An'na of Mars" as Lorraine and others now often called her. At least Aurora had done a good job as a mother of raising her! "And you are the finest example of `Cro-Magnon womanhood' that I've ever seen," Lorraine now smiled, sipping at her drink. I wasn't too "sure" that she wasn't "insulting" me as Lorraine likes to "do" things like that at times to me. I suppose because she feels somewhat "inferior" to me due to her looks as compared to mine. She is actually quite "attractive", and I am sure that her husband, Jon Richards, finds her quite delightful as a wife! "And just `what' does that `mean'?" I "challenged" her back! "The Cro-Magnon's were perhaps the finest example of `Stone Age Man' that we know of," Lorraine smiled in reply. "They were tall, robust, and truly of a `race of warriors'," she then added. "And I am just a beautiful blonde barbarian," I smiled back, understanding the "implications" here of what she had just said. "There is something to be said for barbarians," she smiled. "We of the past forgot our ancestry, what made us what we were." "But there have been times you have `recalled' it," I said. Lorraine is perhaps the greatest Warrioress who has ever lived. "I fear I am not a `civilized' woman," Lorraine admitted. "One can become `too civilized'," I smiled back in reply. "Perhaps those of the past did so," Lorraine agreed. "We will not `repeat' such mistakes again," I said. "We will not allow `them' to `disarm' us," she smiled. "As Janet Rogers did," I smiled back, now enjoying this. "One of her two `mistakes'," Lorraine answered. Her "other" was the failure to realize the "necessity" of population control. Lorraine walking over to a rack of fencing foils, tossing me one. "I need the `practice'," she smiled, facing me, going to "guard". "And you're the only one who can give me a `good fight' anymore." Lorraine's skill with a sword such that none could face her now. "I could say the `same'," I smiled, taking a better grip of my weapon, then with a grim smile curving my lips I suddenly forced her back with a series of violent slashing attacks, Lor- raine as usual merely "defending" herself against me for the mo- ment. She is extremely "deadly" with a blade, and so utterly "lethal" that I'm forever grateful to Lys that she is my friend, for I have no doubts any more of the consequences were she not! "There's a lot of `hate' pent up in you," Lorraine smiled, her defense impregnable. She is not "invincible", but few have ever "stood" against her blade to blade for more than just a few seconds! Our foils ringing together as I tried "every trick in the book" to break through that awesome defense of hers! Lor- raine having an "answer" for everything that I tried against her! She is no doubt the greatest swordswoman who has ever lived too. I tried a "combination" of tricks, but whenever I thrust she was either "on guard" or just "not there", Lorraine being a woman who depends a great deal on "footwork" when she fences with me! I am "stronger", but she is "quicker". We are well matched too! "You're not `concentrating' on what you're doing," Lorraine warned me with a grim smile, suddenly going on the "attack", her slim fencing foil a blur that it took all my abilities to meet, a grim smile on those thin lips as she drove me back with her at- tack across the room! Forcing me to "concentrate" on my defense! "You shouldn't have called Darlanis a `Cro-Magnon'," Sharon said to Lorraine as the four of us had dinner together that night. Lorraine's own foster daughter, Princess Gayle being with us. She is the younger sister of Maris, the new Queen of Dularn. I "felt" better now after I'd been able to "work off" some of the "fury" that had been held inside me. I had eventually "lost" to Lorraine, but that was to be expected. I had told Sharon "all", feeling that she should know the "truth" about the "issue". Lor- raine had "hinted" to Lady Sanda that we wished to be "alone". There is little "love" between Lady Sanda and me. I once killed her sister in a sword duel, and "won" the country of Trelandar by it. Sanda's sister, Queen Paula of Trelandar, died in her arms. Such painful "memories" are not easily nor quickly "forgotten". "She `is' one, however," Lorraine smiled. "Her bone struc- ture, her height, features, all indicate that she is exactly the sort of a woman who stood beside her own mate and fought the sab- er tooth tigers and great cave bears of the Neolithic Age perhaps thirty thousand years ago." I found the "thought" appealing too. I am the sort of a woman who expects to be "more" than a "wife". "She's the daughter of Queen Tulis and Prince Paul," Gayle interjected. "I don't see how you think she's the same as women who lived thirty thousand years ago." I smiled to myself. Gayle of course had no way of knowing that I was actually Aurora's own daughter formed from a brief illicit relationship between her and the late Prince-Consort of Dularn now some forty five years be- fore! And that Aurora, like all the women of Mars, was a Cro- Magnon, or at least a "descendant" thanks to the Lorr and their "tampering" with human genes! Unlike the Cro-Magnons, however, the women of Mars are mostly "blonde", for what reason I don't know. Aurora once told me that the Lorr visual sense finds women with "blonde" hair more "pleasing", although Lorraine differs, saying that it is due to their life over the ages "underground". They do find Earth's gravity, the "glare" of the sun, unpleasant. The Women of Mars usually shielding their eyes with dark glasses. "Like to celebrate New Year's back home?" I asked Sharon. I wanted to get back to my own "home". Away from Lorraine and a certain Lorr ambassador who had once long ago given birth to me on a world that is only a point of orange light in Earth's sky! "Is it `colder' there?" Sharon asked, giving me a smile. "It's not `that bad'," I assured my own lovely Princess. "Just as long as Lorraine will fly us there," she smiled. "I'm sure she'd be willing to do so," I smiled in return. ***************************************************************** "Darlanis," Sharon said to me as I sat there on the edge of her bed, her azure eyes looking up into mine. We are very close, much more so I think than are most "mothers and daughters". We have shared much together in the half a year we've been together. "Yes?" I smiled down at her, the bedroom chilly, the light from the fireplace casting dancing shadows there on the walls. Through the bedroom windows one could see the lights of Sarn, my capital built upon the ruins of what once had been San Francisco. "I'm glad Lorraine flew through that `time-warp'," she said. I nodded, bent down, gently kissed her on the forehead. Aurora might have taken my Anna from me, but at least Sharon was "mine"! "And you're still `She-Ra' regardless of who gave birth to you." THE QUEEN OF SWORDS! A TALE OF ADVENTURE IN THE SECOND DARK AGE OF MAN 2566 A.D.! By Jerome B. Bigge Chapter One "I'm sorry, Darlanis, to hear about the tragic death of your mother," Aurora, the Lorr's yet beautiful "ambassador" to Trelan- dar said to me as I had stepped into her richly furnished office there in the Martian embassy in Trella, the great capital of Tre- landar. The photographs there on the walls showing scenes that few Earthly eyes had ever seen! Views of Mars, of the Earth as seen from far out in space. The green eyed blonde tall, regal in her appearance, and strikingly "beautiful". The silvery clinging jumpsuit she wore also made her look truly "Martian". Her very "presence" here on Earth a vivid reminder of the Lorr's "power". Those "horrid looking" gigantic "ants" that now ruled all Mankind since The War of 2047 some five hundred and nineteen years ago. Like most Martians she was full chested and rather narrow hipped. The effects of life upon a world with an atmosphere far thinner than our own and with a gravitional pull only 38% that of Earth. In her eyes I was doubtlessly "nothing" but a "barbarian" as most Lorr Servitors considered those of the Earth. My royal blue cloak with its silvery silken lining, my long slim sword, the rich golden mesh of my halter and its matching mid-thigh skirt no doubt gave me quite a "barbaric look" to "one" such as her raised on a far distant world! I am a tall blonde, 5'10", broad shoul- dered. A "Queen of Swords". My "caste" is of the Warrioresses. My heart yet with heavy with "pain" from what I had just learned. Are you?" I "challenged" her back, standing there, looking straight into those lovely green eyes as she came around her desk to greet me. "Or was she just the `Earther' who raised me know- ing all the time that I was not actually her child, but just only the `BASTARD BRAT' of her own husband's alien Martian Mistress!"* * Aurora had been the Lorr's ambassador to Dularn at that time. My father was of the "intellectual" type while my "foster" mother Queen Tulis was of the Warrioresses and a "barbarian" by the "standards" that Aurora and my father Prince Paul "saw" her as. Aurora's singing abilities no doubt "played" their part here too as she is a fantastic singer, and very famous too I might add! To listen to her sing her "songs of love" is a true experience! I feel very "embarrassed" now writing all this, but at the time I actually did "hate" her with a furious passion for what she had "done" to me, or whether what I "thought" she had "done" to me!!! "Darlanis!" my mother breathed, reaching out, touching my hand, her eyes burning into mine. Tulis had left me a letter to be opened only after her death. It had told the entire story, although a "pretense" had been made by both her husband and Auro- ra that the baby girl used to "replace" a stillborn baby had been a "foundling". Tulis had, however, known better, having "known" of her husband's "relationship" with Aurora! My father, the late Prince Paul, having become far too "friendly" with the Lorr's own beautiful ambassador to Dularn for Tulis' own liking! The Queen eventually becoming too aware of what Aurora did "mean" to him! That with Aurora he had found a "love" she could never give him!! "I'm `NOT' your `loving daughter'," I snapped back, my voice as "icy" as the very polar caps of Mars themselves while my azure eyes burned hotly into hers. Recalling what Lorraine had written there in her first book of her "adventures" on Mars. Of "what" Aurora had "said" about me! That I was nothing but a "barbarian" unfit to raise my own child! That had been "why" she had kept my own beloved ANNA there on Mars with her after Anna had been res- cued from drowning at sea by some patrolling Lorr battle-disc! "Darlanis! There's so much you don't `understand'!" Aurora pleaded back, now almost "clinging" to me! I detested her very "touch" as I stood there facing her, the "fury" blazing hot in- side my body! My hand now almost with a will of its own seeking my sword's hilt as the "darkness" in my heart overwhelmed me! For an horrible instant I thought of running her through, even if my own life would be instantly forfeit for doing such a horrible deed! There being a death penalty for killing a Lorr Servitor. "You're `despicable'!" I snapped, "And I thank Lys too that I don't have to ever `deal' with you or even see you again!" I snarled, recalling how this woman, my "mother", had taken my own daughter away from me! Then raising her as if ANNA was her's!* * Lorraine writes in her book that I "forgave" Aurora for that. BULLSHIT! I "accepted" it solely for Anna's sake as I didn't want to make "trouble" just then! I didn't want to "hurt" Anna by "attacking" the woman she had learned to love. I also didn't want to see Sharon get "embarrassed" with me by making a "scene" right there before everyone! I do have my "pride" as an Empress! "Darlanis," Aurora begged, weeping now, the tears starting to run down her cheeks, "I only `wanted' for you what you never could have had on Mars...!" I wasn't interested in "what" she had "wanted" for me or why! I told her so too in no uncertain terms, using certain words that my friend Lorraine uses when she is very angry. I think Aurora "understood" them. I really did- n't much give a damn just then either after what she had done! "Go back to Mars and stay there, you Lys-dammed Lorr bitch!" I snarled in fury, yanking open the door, slamming it behind me! Leaping into the saddle of my unicorn as soon as I got outside, the hot fury in my body driving away the "chill" of the late De- cember day. The bright decorations of Christmas now meaningless! So far as I was concerned there was nothing left to "celebrate"! "You look like a `thunderstorm' about to `strike'," Lorraine observed with a smile as I returned to the palace that had once been "mine" not that long ago. The smile curving the thin lips of the Queen of Trelandar leaving little doubt that she "knew"!!! Lorraine is a tall slender muscular brunette, perhaps the great- est fighting woman who has ever lived in any era Man has existed! Near by at her side Jon Richards, her husband and Prince-Consort. "You Knew! She Told You!" I snapped back, well aware of the relationship between Aurora and this amazing woman from the past! For an instant I felt an insane "fury" that she too knew of this! "AND I THOUGHT YOU WERE MY `FRIEND'!" I screamed, half drawing my sword, my azure eyes hot with frustrated fury that she too KNEW!! "Drawing on me won't accomplish anything," Lorraine spoke in level tones, motioning back those with her, their hands on their own weapons. Among them the noticeably pregnant Lady Sanda Ta- len, Prime Minister of Trelandar, Lorraine's "second in command". The very same woman who had led a successful REVOLUTION against me only some months before! The woman who had "used" Lorraine to take Trelandar away from me! Another damn bitch like my mother! "Sharon doesn't `know', does she?" I breathed softly as the Queen of Trelandar closed the door behind herself a moment later. The black of her flowing silken dress leaving no doubts that she was truly "of" the Warrioresses. Sharon is Lorraine's stepdaugh- ter, my own foster daughter, my Imperial Princess, my "heir" to the throne of Imperial California should anything happen to me. I saw those dark eyes meet mine, knew that Lorraine "understood" as no other could have "understood" just then the "PAIN" I suf- fered! Knowing that I was the bastard "brat" of some MARTIAN!!! "I wouldn't advise keeping it a `secret' from her," Lorraine advised, her midnight hair like a rich black mane falling to her shoulders. "The `trust' that she now has in you is something very important to her." I nodded, understanding, accepting the drink that the Queen of Trelandar now poured for me. I supposed it wouldn't matter to Sharon if I was "ILLEGITIMATE" or not. It might, however, to a number of others, especially my own enemies! This was certainly the sort of thing the newspapers would enjoy! Darlanis Marden, Empress of California, the illegitimate daughter of a Woman of Mars. What a field day they'd have with all that!! "I suppose Aurora told you all the `lurid' details," I said, sipping at the drink she'd given me, strolling over to the win- dow, looking out at the city, the harbor there in the distance. Trella is built somewhat to the south of the ruins of Los Angeles which form its northern borders. The ruins are said to be inhab- ited by that which is "mu", not "hu" like most life. Lorraine once saw such a creature, a horned, scaly creature like a cross between a man and reptile. It is the general policy to kill such things whenever they are found lurking near human habitation. It being commonly believed among the Peasants that they steal and eat human babies when they can find one untended by its mother. The same belief with some justification is held by the Nevadas who live on the other side of the Sierras from California, I add. I tend after my own "experiences" with such creatures to believe that it may be true. Those who captured me certainly had every intention of gutting me out and roasting me over a fire for food! "I `suspected' such ever since she seemed so concerned about you there aboard the Ronda when we rescued you from the pirates," Lorraine answered, joining me there at the window, the silver links of her neck-chain gleaming against her skin. "Especially considering the fact that Tulis `disowned' you, something that no true mother would have ever `done' to her own daughter regardless of what that daughter had said that her brother had done to her." I suppose it is to Tulis' "credit" that she never made these things "public", although how many would have "believed" them is another issue, considering the "relationship" between her and me! The fact that I was of "Martian" parentage would have been hard to prove, although there is a slight difference in my blood type from what would be usual and normal for a woman of Earth origins. "There was a `time' when I `needed' her, `anyone', just to take me in their arms and let me know that I had at least one friend in this world, even if it was only a Lorr Servitor who had let herself get `carried away' emotionally with an Earthman," I wept, my hands clasping the sill of the window there before me. I felt terribly ashamed now of what I had said to Aurora. True, I had ample reason to feel that way, but I had behaved just like a "barbarian", no doubt now confirming my mother's opinion of me! "And "what" would you have felt like, knowing that you were the illegitimate bastard of a Martian?" Lorraine challenged me in reply. "That you were nothing more than the result of a woman's emotional `infatuation' with a man she'd never be able to marry?" "Relationships" between the Men of Earth and the Women of Mars being considered generally "unthinkable" by most of both worlds! "Aurora should have never `kept' my Anna," I answered back, changing the subject, knowing that Lorraine spoke the truth now. "I think she wanted `what' she could never have," Lorraine replied, "A `part' of the little girl she'd given up years be- fore. The child that she now wanted back after it was too late." I could "understand" that. Anna had been a "replacement" for me. I have done the "same" with Sharon, as Lorraine has with Gayle. Both of us "seeking" what we had earlier "lost". Gayle and Shar- on do look like "sisters", as does Anna too, surprisingly enough! All three being blue eyed, "blonde", and very pretty young women! "She `substituted' Anna for me?" I asked, Lorraine nodding. In the 20th Century Lorraine had been much like a Priestess here. Her profession had been "helping" others "understand" themselves. "You both turned out to be women any mother could be proud to call hers," Lorraine smiled back, changing the "subject" just a bit. I supposed it was true. I was quite "proud" of my Anna. Of "An'na of Mars" as Lorraine and others now often called her. At least Aurora had done a good job as a mother of raising her! "And you are the finest example of `Cro-Magnon womanhood' that I've ever seen," Lorraine now smiled, sipping at her drink. I wasn't too "sure" that she wasn't "insulting" me as Lorraine likes to "do" things like that at times to me. I suppose because she feels somewhat "inferior" to me due to her looks as compared to mine. She is actually quite "attractive", and I am sure that her husband, Jon Richards, finds her quite delightful as a wife! "And just `what' does that `mean'?" I "challenged" her back! "The Cro-Magnon's were perhaps the finest example of `Stone Age Man' that we know of," Lorraine smiled in reply. "They were tall, robust, and truly of a `race of warriors'," she then added. "And I am just a beautiful blonde barbarian," I smiled back, understanding the "implications" here of what she had just said. "There is something to be said for barbarians," she smiled. "We of the past forgot our ancestry, what made us what we were." "But there have been times you have `recalled' it," I said. Lorraine is perhaps the greatest Warrioress who has ever lived. "I fear I am not a `civilized' woman," Lorraine admitted. "One can become `too civilized'," I smiled back in reply. "Perhaps those of the past did so," Lorraine agreed. "We will not `repeat' such mistakes again," I said. "We will not allow `them' to `disarm' us," she smiled. "As Janet Rogers did," I smiled back, now enjoying this. "One of her two `mistakes'," Lorraine answered. Her "other" was the failure to realize the "necessity" of population control. Lorraine walking over to a rack of fencing foils, tossing me one. "I need the `practice'," she smiled, facing me, going to "guard". "And you're the only one who can give me a `good fight' anymore." Lorraine's skill with a sword such that none could face her now. "I could say the `same'," I smiled, taking a better grip of my weapon, then with a grim smile curving my lips I suddenly forced her back with a series of violent slashing attacks, Lor- raine as usual merely "defending" herself against me for the mo- ment. She is extremely "deadly" with a blade, and so utterly "lethal" that I'm forever grateful to Lys that she is my friend, for I have no doubts any more of the consequences were she not! "There's a lot of `hate' pent up in you," Lorraine smiled, her defense impregnable. She is not "invincible", but few have ever "stood" against her blade to blade for more than just a few seconds! Our foils ringing together as I tried "every trick in the book" to break through that awesome defense of hers! Lor- raine having an "answer" for everything that I tried against her! She is no doubt the greatest swordswoman who has ever lived too. I tried a "combination" of tricks, but whenever I thrust she was either "on guard" or just "not there", Lorraine being a woman who depends a great deal on "footwork" when she fences with me! I am "stronger", but she is "quicker". We are well matched too! "You're not `concentrating' on what you're doing," Lorraine warned me with a grim smile, suddenly going on the "attack", her slim fencing foil a blur that it took all my abilities to meet, a grim smile on those thin lips as she drove me back with her at- tack across the room! Forcing me to "concentrate" on my defense! "You shouldn't have called Darlanis a `Cro-Magnon'," Sharon said to Lorraine as the four of us had dinner together that night. Lorraine's own foster daughter, Princess Gayle being with us. She is the younger sister of Maris, the new Queen of Dularn. I "felt" better now after I'd been able to "work off" some of the "fury" that had been held inside me. I had eventually "lost" to Lorraine, but that was to be expected. I had told Sharon "all", feeling that she should know the "truth" about the "issue". Lor- raine had "hinted" to Lady Sanda that we wished to be "alone". There is little "love" between Lady Sanda and me. I once killed her sister in a sword duel, and "won" the country of Trelandar by it. Sanda's sister, Queen Paula of Trelandar, died in her arms. Such painful "memories" are not easily nor quickly "forgotten". "She `is' one, however," Lorraine smiled. "Her bone struc- ture, her height, features, all indicate that she is exactly the sort of a woman who stood beside her own mate and fought the sab- er tooth tigers and great cave bears of the Neolithic Age perhaps thirty thousand years ago." I found the "thought" appealing too. I am the sort of a woman who expects to be "more" than a "wife". "She's the daughter of Queen Tulis and Prince Paul," Gayle interjected. "I don't see how you think she's the same as women who lived thirty thousand years ago." I smiled to myself. Gayle of course had no way of knowing that I was actually Aurora's own daughter formed from a brief illicit relationship between her and the late Prince-Consort of Dularn now some forty five years be- fore! And that Aurora, like all the women of Mars, was a Cro- Magnon, or at least a "descendant" thanks to the Lorr and their "tampering" with human genes! Unlike the Cro-Magnons, however, the women of Mars are mostly "blonde", for what reason I don't know. Aurora once told me that the Lorr visual sense finds women with "blonde" hair more "pleasing", although Lorraine differs, saying that it is due to their life over the ages "underground". They do find Earth's gravity, the "glare" of the sun, unpleasant. The Women of Mars usually shielding their eyes with dark glasses. "Like to celebrate New Year's back home?" I asked Sharon. I wanted to get back to my own "home". Away from Lorraine and a certain Lorr ambassador who had once long ago given birth to me on a world that is only a point of orange light in Earth's sky! "Is it `colder' there?" Sharon asked, giving me a smile. "It's not `that bad'," I assured my own lovely Princess. "Just as long as Lorraine will fly us there," she smiled. "I'm sure she'd be willing to do so," I smiled in return. ***************************************************************** "Darlanis," Sharon said to me as I sat there on the edge of her bed, her azure eyes looking up into mine. We are very close, much more so I think than are most "mothers and daughters". We have shared much together in the half a year we've been together. "Yes?" I smiled down at her, the bedroom chilly, the light from the fireplace casting dancing shadows there on the walls. Through the bedroom windows one could see the lights of Sarn, my capital built upon the ruins of what once had been San Francisco. "I'm glad Lorraine flew through that `time-warp'," she said. I nodded, bent down, gently kissed her on the forehead. Aurora might have taken my Anna from me, but at least Sharon was "mine"! "And you're still `She-Ra' regardless of who gave birth to you." |
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