"CHAP-02" - 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 Two "Mistress is perhaps troubled by something today," my sensu- al brunette haired slave girl Lynn breathed in a soft and sensual purr. Working the perfumed warmed oil into her mistress' smooth lightly tanned skin after her "intimate massage" had earlier soothed and "relaxed" her golden haired Empress. I thought once again of Lorraine as I laid nude face down on the padded table before the rather briefly clad slave girl. What she might have "thought" had she seen what Lynn had just done to me with her slim talented fingers up "in there" between my thighs. The slave girl's "touch" having made me gasp and squirm with the pleasure of it! Such activities between a mistress and a slave were ac- cepted here in the Empire of California as being nothing unusual. Lynn, like many highly trained pleasure slaves, being trained to give sexual pleasure to a woman as well as to a man. The gold collar locked snugly around her slim lovely throat marking her well as what she was. A woman trained in the erotic and sensual "arts". She was far "more" to me than just a slave girl too now. "`Mistress' has no `reason' to be," I lied back. Lynn's dark eyes glowing down into the beautiful sky-blue azure of mine. The collared delight well aware of the "truth" as her Empress now looked back up at the slave girl from over her shoulder. The brunette's slanted dark eyes met mine as she smiled knowingly. One has few secrets from one's slave. Such has gotten more than one unfaithful wife into considerable "trouble" here in Sarn and elsewhere! "Beware the wagging tongues of slave girls!" Yet not even Lynn knew the terrible "TRUTH" about me that I had concealed from everyone! The TRUTH that my now dead "mother" had left in a sealed letter for me, with orders that the letter was to be given to me only after she died! That I was actually the "illegitimate offspring" of a brief liaison between her husband and a Lorr Ser- vitor! I had not even been born here on the Earth, but on the PLANET MARS!!! My mother being the lovely golden haired, emerald eyed Aurora, the Lorr's own ambassador now to Trelandar! The same woman who had taken my own daughter, Anna, and raised her as her own child, even to telling Lorraine there on Mars that I was just a "blood-thirsty barbarian" unfit to raise my own daughter! "And a certain slave girl perhaps knows too much of her mis- tress' affairs," I then commented to that curvy bodied delight in her brief red silk shift as I sat up on the cushioned table. The faint scars scattered there on my body those of the professional fighting woman, one born by birth into the Caste of Warrioresses. It was now late January, the year 519 A.W., or 2566 A. D. as my friend Lorraine would call it. Making it rather chilly here now in Sarn. The fire there in the fireplace a comfort as I then jumped down from the table and strolled over to the full length mirror, studying the reflection thus presented. The rich fur- nishings of the room leaving little doubt that it was the living quarters of a rich and powerful ruler. The fine silks, the furs, the comfortable furnishings all speaking of my own preferences. I have been described by Lorraine and others as "perhaps the most beautiful woman who has ever lived". A tall well built and rather muscular blue eyed blonde standing 5'10, and going about 150. I now turned about before the mirror, studying myself for flaws. Noticing too that I had "put on a few pounds" and that it would once again be "diet and exercise" time for me! I have to be "careful" about such as there is a little "joke" that I always "hear" about the "great width" of the "royal behind" if I don't! "Mistress is a very beautiful woman," Lynn observed with a smile as she stood there at my side. My pubes and armpits were both cleanly shaved as is commonly done among "civilized" women of all but the lowest of castes here in the 26th Century. Such "things" I understand date back to the time of Janet Rogers. To a society that is now more a myth and legend than anything else. "Mistress would bring a high price in certain `markets', wouldn't she?" I teased Lynn. There had once been a "offer" of three hundred gold crowns for me stripped naked and in chains made by the Emperor of Mexico. A certain "Prince" of the Nevadas had also made an "offer" for me, although not in monetary terms. He had wanted me for his wife. I had not desired such a "union". Now I wasn't so sure. My nights were "lonely". My bed cold and empty. There was a "yearning" in my body that Lynn's "talented" fingers couldn't ever satisfy. A need to be "held", caressed, To be "HIS" woman. Even Lorraine from the 20th Century, no beau- ty in the face and rather mannishly figured, yet had a husband! "You should not think such thoughts, mistress!" Lynn gasped. Shocked that I, Darlanis Marden, Queen of Sarn, Empress of Cali- fornia, should even consider herself in such terms! Yet I won- dered if Lynn understood that I often secretly wept with what could never "be". That my "Prince" would never want a "barren shell" of a woman like me. That when Lorraine had taken out my uterus last fall there aboard the awesome Starfire, she had also taken much more than just my ability to ever have any children!* * See "2565 A.D.!" for further explanation of this matter. (JBB) "No doubt others have," I laughed in reply as Lynn nodded. I had seen the eyes of men as they had looked at me. Sensed the thoughts that passed through their minds. Often my attire was brief, quite provocative. Carefully designed to be just "that". Much of my "power" over those I rule is based upon the fact that most men found me almost irresistible. That when they con- fronted me they had difficulty in keeping their thoughts under control. I exploited my subtle erotic sexuality, my regal aris- tocratic looks as others might so utilize a weapon. This is per- haps "why" only women have ever been successful in opposing me. "You `worry' too much about Princess Tara, mistress," Lynn said, changing the subject. She knew a great deal about her mis- tress' affairs. I now feared perhaps too much. It is very easy to kidnap a slave girl. To force from her quivering lips with cruel tortures every last "secret" that her mistress possesses! "I have good reason," I smiled in reply, fitting my beauti- ful golden "clips" over my nipples, and snapping them through the little golden "posts" that pierced my pinkish nipples. The his- torical basis of wearing such things now being hopelessly lost in time.* The exposing of the "nipple" in my society being consid- ered extremely erotic, and something done only by slave girls! There are different designs made, some being rather quite ornate. * It was a cultural practice started in the early 21st Century. The women of that era often showing their breasts beneath sheer blouses and such, with the nipple concealed by such "jewelry". I might note here that the "Janet Rogers era" (2009-2045) was per- haps sexually "freer" than any in the history of Mankind. (JBB) "You have Lorraine," Lynn smiled back. She was the greatest "Warrioress" of all time. The greatest fighting woman that ever lived perhaps too. Tall, hard, stern featured. Incredible with a sword. I felt towards her a "love" like one feels towards one's own mother. Her "dominance", her "age", appearance, caus- ing such feelings to be aroused in one beautiful Empress of Cali- fornia. Yet in ways there was also still "distrust" between us. "And my lovely Sharon," I now smiled back in reply as I then slipped on my "strap", that brief triangle of often colorful silk that a woman of the 26th Century wears underneath her clothing next to her body. My own being a royal blue in color. I some- times wear the soft tanned leather ones that are now so popular. The sort that it is said that Lorraine "wears". (She doesn't!)* * This was another item of feminine apparel from the 21st Cen- tury. The attire of that era being brief and provocative. (JBB) "Our Imperial Princess," Lynn smiled back. Lorraine's step- daughter Sharon was blonde, beautiful. Just seventeen, but wise beyond her years. I had found her a considerable asset. Sharon had once nicknamed me "She-Ra" after a 20th Century cartoon char- acter of whom I reminded her of in a way due to my gold mesh hal- ter and matching brief skirt of the same material that I often wear. She-Ra being some sort of a magical "super-woman" who went around "righting wrongs" and fighting "evil" wherever she found it. I had found it "wise" to do much the same thing now myself. "The best thing that ever happened to me," I smiled back. Sharon and I were now very close. "Closer" than most mothers and daughters ever get. Perhaps because with me our relationship was based upon something different. We had endured much together. Faced death together. "Understood" each other like few ever do. "My mistress truly looks like the Queen she is," Lynn said to me as I checked myself in the mirror. The beautiful gold mesh setting off the light tan of my skin. The halter and brief skirt designed to provoke, to draw attention to me. The halter lifting my breasts a bit, making me "jut" out a touch. The skirt short enough that when I sat those before me might see a distance be- neath it. Such tends to keep men "off balance". Makes them less able to think of anything but my sexual desirability as a woman. I sit just high enough on the throne before them that as they kneel before me they must look "up" at me, look at my legs, look at my body. I will recross my legs, "tease" them a bit. Such is one of the "methods" that I use to keep my opponents off balance. I wore matching golden high heeled boots, heavy soled. Such raises me another four inches. Makes me tower over most people I meet. A blue silk lined cape, trimmed with white fur, fell to my knees. Gold rings in my pierced earlobes fitted with long dan- glers so that they would be visible beneath my golden hair. Dia- mond rings on my fingers, a diamond encrusted golden tiara with the symbol of the Imperial Tarl (a great eagle-like bird) marking me as Empress of Imperial California here in the Sixth Century.* * Darlanis is referring to time here in her own era as "dating" from the war between Earth and Mars, which occurred in 2047 A.D. In the time of Janet Rogers "dating" was done using the year 2011 as the "base", this being the establishment of the "Federation". "Mistress is going to have to start watching her weight," I told the slave girl, the waist band of the skirt getting a touch tight. The swell of my buttocks beneath it leaving little doubt that I was putting on weight back there too. Too much rich food, too little exercise, I mused to myself with a grim smile. Time for diet, daily work-outs again. Time to get back into "fighting trim". Time to do some running, some work-outs with my weights. Daily fencing matches with the best swordsmen of the Empire. I then drew my ornate diamond encrusted harness about my waist, the sword and the dagger swinging there in the tooled scabbards. The day might soon come when I needed all my fighting abilities. What I needed was a fencing partner who could give me a "fight". Then I could "hone" my skills to the limits of my own abilities. Someone like Lorraine, whose skills exceeded my own to a degree. "As mistress wishes," Lynn smiled back in reply, a "crafty" slave like her always agreeing with whatever I happened to say. I glanced down at my nails, which had been painted a lovely shade of gold. Glanced again at the mirror, where the hem of my skirt came to the middle of my thighs. I was most definitely "She-Ra"! "Her Imperial Majesty, Darlanis Marden, Queen of Sarn! Be- nevolent Empress of the Imperial Commonwealth of California!" the bull like Royal Caller "called out" as I entered the brilliantly lit throne room on the arm of my escort. The richly clad Lords and Ladies of the Empire bowing as I seated myself on the cush- ioned golden throne, my cape half drawn about me against the damp chill the fireplaces could not dispel. Behind me mounted there on the wall the golden Imperial Tarl of the mighty Empire of California looked down upon the scene from its unseeing ruby eyes that flashed red fire there in the light of the myriad oil lamps. Orgon was now semi-independent, but still "loyal" to me despite the best efforts by Sanda Talen's "revolutionaries" to "do" in Orgon what they had successfully "done" there in Trelandar. They had been "bested" by a very capable and competent young Princess! Sharon having during my time in Dularn assured the people of that country that they would be "better off" with me than anyone else! The "contest" had been "close", but Talen's forces had lost the election held during my stay in Dularn, with Sharon being elected their own official representative much to her surprise and mine! The country now having its own "Queen", my lovely young Sharon!!! "Let those who have need of her royal majesty's `mercy' step forward!" the man now bellowed out at the top of his lungs. It takes practice to keep a straight face at times. The pomp and ceremony that surrounds me can be funny at times if you have any sense of humor at all. I try not to take myself too seriously! One time I slipped and half fell before everyone, bruising my hip on my throne and twisting my back as I did so. The only sound a sort of hushed "Oh!" as I scrambled back on to my throne. On the other hand there are a number of jokes made about me, some rather risque, which I enjoy, although I never let on that I do! Such as the "joke" mentioned earlier about the width of my hips! Imperial California is a "democracy" with a "constitutional" monarch. There is a popular "Assembly" whose members are select- ed by popular ballot and a "Senate" similar to the "House of Lords" of 20th Century Britain. Both act as a check on the oth- er. I then have the power to repeal any law that I find not in the interest of the People of California. The political system is based upon the writings of the famous and fantastic Janet Rog- ers, the Leaderess of the World Federation of the 21st Century as modified by historical experience over the centuries ever since.* * I found it "wise" to make certain "compromises" here in things rather than have the "bloody" revolution that Trelandar had then. My seventh case was an interesting one. A Warrioress, now widowed, had given her small son to another couple to raise while she served her country. Now that peace existed (at least for the time being) between Dularn and California, she had returned to take back the child she had left in the care of the other couple. However, the couple, childless, now refused to give up the boy, who apparently wished to stay with the couple instead of going back to his mother, whom he had not seen for several years now.* * I was myself rather "emotionally involved" here in this case. As the couple and the Warrioress both testified there before me, my lovely teenage foster daughter Sharon entered the throne room from a side entrance. The newly seventeen blonde haired Im- perial Princess of California receiving as usual considerable at- tention from the young men now present there in the room as they nudged each other. Sharon being the regal strikingly lovely sort of a girl that attracts the handsome young men wherever she goes. "Lorraine just landed and she wishes to see you as soon as possible," Sharon whispered into my ear. Her rich woolen tunic and navy blue skin-tight hose fitted her well, the hem of the tu- nic just high enough to reveal the provocative curves of the bot- toms of her buttocks. Sharon being the sort that likes to "tease" the young men a bit, much to her stepmother's annoyance. As you might guess, my opinion of such things is not the same as Lorraine's. I know Sharon. I trust her to do "the right thing". "No doubt she objected to your hose being too tight and your tunic being too short," I smiled back, Sharon smiling, nodding as everyone else looked on. I liked her jaunty cap with its feath- er, the boots she wore, the long slim dagger there at her hip. I was very delighted with the sort of a girl she had turned out to be. She will be a "Queen" in another year, with a country of her own. The people of Orgon "voted" for her, as those of Trelandar "voted" for Lorraine. I don't think Lady Sanda Talen was too de- lighted! She had no doubt hoped that things would be otherwise. "If Lorraine had her way she'd have you dressing me like a Priestess," Sharon smiled in reply as she stood there at my side. They wear long gowns falling to their ankles, and are considered "sexless", having renounced the "pleasures of the flesh" for Lys. "Let me deal with this case and then we'll go see her," I said, wishing to resolve this matter of the Warrioress mother and her son. The boy now having little wish to go back to her. I had read about the matter in the papers. Offered to resolve it if both parties would agree to my decision. I wondered what my friend Lorraine would have decided. I had "made up" my mind now. "Let the boy come to me," I said to the couple. I saw his mother's face as the other woman then released him to come to me. I knew much of her own situation, her poverty, her own career as a member of the Armed Forces of the Empire of California. She had lost her husband in battle. Now it seemed her son too would be taken away from her. Solely because another had spoiled him! "And what is your name?" I asked the boy, holding him in my lap, the boy about five or six. Awed by being held by his Queen. "Tim- Timothy, your majesty," he breathed, looking up at me. There was an awed hush in the throne room. The case had made all the papers. The consensus had been that the couple was better suited to raise the boy than the widowed mother, who had not even seen the boy for several years. The couple was well to do, the mother only a poor widow who would have a hard time raising him. "And you wish to stay with the Coultons?" I asked him. That being the name of the couple, the husband a well to do Merchant. "They nice, have lots of good things," the boy admitted. "And your mother?" I then challenged him back, curious. "Please, your majesty, let me withdraw my plea," the boy's mother suddenly interrupted. "Let him stay with the Coultons." "Because they can do more for him than you can?" I asked. I saw the tears there in the woman's dark eyes as she nodded. My decision was made for me. She had given much for her country. I felt it due time that her country did something for her in turn! THE QUEEN OF SWORDS! A TALE OF ADVENTURE IN THE SECOND DARK AGE OF MAN 2566 A.D.! By Jerome B. Bigge Chapter Two "Mistress is perhaps troubled by something today," my sensu- al brunette haired slave girl Lynn breathed in a soft and sensual purr. Working the perfumed warmed oil into her mistress' smooth lightly tanned skin after her "intimate massage" had earlier soothed and "relaxed" her golden haired Empress. I thought once again of Lorraine as I laid nude face down on the padded table before the rather briefly clad slave girl. What she might have "thought" had she seen what Lynn had just done to me with her slim talented fingers up "in there" between my thighs. The slave girl's "touch" having made me gasp and squirm with the pleasure of it! Such activities between a mistress and a slave were ac- cepted here in the Empire of California as being nothing unusual. Lynn, like many highly trained pleasure slaves, being trained to give sexual pleasure to a woman as well as to a man. The gold collar locked snugly around her slim lovely throat marking her well as what she was. A woman trained in the erotic and sensual "arts". She was far "more" to me than just a slave girl too now. "`Mistress' has no `reason' to be," I lied back. Lynn's dark eyes glowing down into the beautiful sky-blue azure of mine. The collared delight well aware of the "truth" as her Empress now looked back up at the slave girl from over her shoulder. The brunette's slanted dark eyes met mine as she smiled knowingly. One has few secrets from one's slave. Such has gotten more than one unfaithful wife into considerable "trouble" here in Sarn and elsewhere! "Beware the wagging tongues of slave girls!" Yet not even Lynn knew the terrible "TRUTH" about me that I had concealed from everyone! The TRUTH that my now dead "mother" had left in a sealed letter for me, with orders that the letter was to be given to me only after she died! That I was actually the "illegitimate offspring" of a brief liaison between her husband and a Lorr Ser- vitor! I had not even been born here on the Earth, but on the PLANET MARS!!! My mother being the lovely golden haired, emerald eyed Aurora, the Lorr's own ambassador now to Trelandar! The same woman who had taken my own daughter, Anna, and raised her as her own child, even to telling Lorraine there on Mars that I was just a "blood-thirsty barbarian" unfit to raise my own daughter! "And a certain slave girl perhaps knows too much of her mis- tress' affairs," I then commented to that curvy bodied delight in her brief red silk shift as I sat up on the cushioned table. The faint scars scattered there on my body those of the professional fighting woman, one born by birth into the Caste of Warrioresses. It was now late January, the year 519 A.W., or 2566 A. D. as my friend Lorraine would call it. Making it rather chilly here now in Sarn. The fire there in the fireplace a comfort as I then jumped down from the table and strolled over to the full length mirror, studying the reflection thus presented. The rich fur- nishings of the room leaving little doubt that it was the living quarters of a rich and powerful ruler. The fine silks, the furs, the comfortable furnishings all speaking of my own preferences. I have been described by Lorraine and others as "perhaps the most beautiful woman who has ever lived". A tall well built and rather muscular blue eyed blonde standing 5'10, and going about 150. I now turned about before the mirror, studying myself for flaws. Noticing too that I had "put on a few pounds" and that it would once again be "diet and exercise" time for me! I have to be "careful" about such as there is a little "joke" that I always "hear" about the "great width" of the "royal behind" if I don't! "Mistress is a very beautiful woman," Lynn observed with a smile as she stood there at my side. My pubes and armpits were both cleanly shaved as is commonly done among "civilized" women of all but the lowest of castes here in the 26th Century. Such "things" I understand date back to the time of Janet Rogers. To a society that is now more a myth and legend than anything else. "Mistress would bring a high price in certain `markets', wouldn't she?" I teased Lynn. There had once been a "offer" of three hundred gold crowns for me stripped naked and in chains made by the Emperor of Mexico. A certain "Prince" of the Nevadas had also made an "offer" for me, although not in monetary terms. He had wanted me for his wife. I had not desired such a "union". Now I wasn't so sure. My nights were "lonely". My bed cold and empty. There was a "yearning" in my body that Lynn's "talented" fingers couldn't ever satisfy. A need to be "held", caressed, To be "HIS" woman. Even Lorraine from the 20th Century, no beau- ty in the face and rather mannishly figured, yet had a husband! "You should not think such thoughts, mistress!" Lynn gasped. Shocked that I, Darlanis Marden, Queen of Sarn, Empress of Cali- fornia, should even consider herself in such terms! Yet I won- dered if Lynn understood that I often secretly wept with what could never "be". That my "Prince" would never want a "barren shell" of a woman like me. That when Lorraine had taken out my uterus last fall there aboard the awesome Starfire, she had also taken much more than just my ability to ever have any children!* * See "2565 A.D.!" for further explanation of this matter. (JBB) "No doubt others have," I laughed in reply as Lynn nodded. I had seen the eyes of men as they had looked at me. Sensed the thoughts that passed through their minds. Often my attire was brief, quite provocative. Carefully designed to be just "that". Much of my "power" over those I rule is based upon the fact that most men found me almost irresistible. That when they con- fronted me they had difficulty in keeping their thoughts under control. I exploited my subtle erotic sexuality, my regal aris- tocratic looks as others might so utilize a weapon. This is per- haps "why" only women have ever been successful in opposing me. "You `worry' too much about Princess Tara, mistress," Lynn said, changing the subject. She knew a great deal about her mis- tress' affairs. I now feared perhaps too much. It is very easy to kidnap a slave girl. To force from her quivering lips with cruel tortures every last "secret" that her mistress possesses! "I have good reason," I smiled in reply, fitting my beauti- ful golden "clips" over my nipples, and snapping them through the little golden "posts" that pierced my pinkish nipples. The his- torical basis of wearing such things now being hopelessly lost in time.* The exposing of the "nipple" in my society being consid- ered extremely erotic, and something done only by slave girls! There are different designs made, some being rather quite ornate. * It was a cultural practice started in the early 21st Century. The women of that era often showing their breasts beneath sheer blouses and such, with the nipple concealed by such "jewelry". I might note here that the "Janet Rogers era" (2009-2045) was per- haps sexually "freer" than any in the history of Mankind. (JBB) "You have Lorraine," Lynn smiled back. She was the greatest "Warrioress" of all time. The greatest fighting woman that ever lived perhaps too. Tall, hard, stern featured. Incredible with a sword. I felt towards her a "love" like one feels towards one's own mother. Her "dominance", her "age", appearance, caus- ing such feelings to be aroused in one beautiful Empress of Cali- fornia. Yet in ways there was also still "distrust" between us. "And my lovely Sharon," I now smiled back in reply as I then slipped on my "strap", that brief triangle of often colorful silk that a woman of the 26th Century wears underneath her clothing next to her body. My own being a royal blue in color. I some- times wear the soft tanned leather ones that are now so popular. The sort that it is said that Lorraine "wears". (She doesn't!)* * This was another item of feminine apparel from the 21st Cen- tury. The attire of that era being brief and provocative. (JBB) "Our Imperial Princess," Lynn smiled back. Lorraine's step- daughter Sharon was blonde, beautiful. Just seventeen, but wise beyond her years. I had found her a considerable asset. Sharon had once nicknamed me "She-Ra" after a 20th Century cartoon char- acter of whom I reminded her of in a way due to my gold mesh hal- ter and matching brief skirt of the same material that I often wear. She-Ra being some sort of a magical "super-woman" who went around "righting wrongs" and fighting "evil" wherever she found it. I had found it "wise" to do much the same thing now myself. "The best thing that ever happened to me," I smiled back. Sharon and I were now very close. "Closer" than most mothers and daughters ever get. Perhaps because with me our relationship was based upon something different. We had endured much together. Faced death together. "Understood" each other like few ever do. "My mistress truly looks like the Queen she is," Lynn said to me as I checked myself in the mirror. The beautiful gold mesh setting off the light tan of my skin. The halter and brief skirt designed to provoke, to draw attention to me. The halter lifting my breasts a bit, making me "jut" out a touch. The skirt short enough that when I sat those before me might see a distance be- neath it. Such tends to keep men "off balance". Makes them less able to think of anything but my sexual desirability as a woman. I sit just high enough on the throne before them that as they kneel before me they must look "up" at me, look at my legs, look at my body. I will recross my legs, "tease" them a bit. Such is one of the "methods" that I use to keep my opponents off balance. I wore matching golden high heeled boots, heavy soled. Such raises me another four inches. Makes me tower over most people I meet. A blue silk lined cape, trimmed with white fur, fell to my knees. Gold rings in my pierced earlobes fitted with long dan- glers so that they would be visible beneath my golden hair. Dia- mond rings on my fingers, a diamond encrusted golden tiara with the symbol of the Imperial Tarl (a great eagle-like bird) marking me as Empress of Imperial California here in the Sixth Century.* * Darlanis is referring to time here in her own era as "dating" from the war between Earth and Mars, which occurred in 2047 A.D. In the time of Janet Rogers "dating" was done using the year 2011 as the "base", this being the establishment of the "Federation". "Mistress is going to have to start watching her weight," I told the slave girl, the waist band of the skirt getting a touch tight. The swell of my buttocks beneath it leaving little doubt that I was putting on weight back there too. Too much rich food, too little exercise, I mused to myself with a grim smile. Time for diet, daily work-outs again. Time to get back into "fighting trim". Time to do some running, some work-outs with my weights. Daily fencing matches with the best swordsmen of the Empire. I then drew my ornate diamond encrusted harness about my waist, the sword and the dagger swinging there in the tooled scabbards. The day might soon come when I needed all my fighting abilities. What I needed was a fencing partner who could give me a "fight". Then I could "hone" my skills to the limits of my own abilities. Someone like Lorraine, whose skills exceeded my own to a degree. "As mistress wishes," Lynn smiled back in reply, a "crafty" slave like her always agreeing with whatever I happened to say. I glanced down at my nails, which had been painted a lovely shade of gold. Glanced again at the mirror, where the hem of my skirt came to the middle of my thighs. I was most definitely "She-Ra"! "Her Imperial Majesty, Darlanis Marden, Queen of Sarn! Be- nevolent Empress of the Imperial Commonwealth of California!" the bull like Royal Caller "called out" as I entered the brilliantly lit throne room on the arm of my escort. The richly clad Lords and Ladies of the Empire bowing as I seated myself on the cush- ioned golden throne, my cape half drawn about me against the damp chill the fireplaces could not dispel. Behind me mounted there on the wall the golden Imperial Tarl of the mighty Empire of California looked down upon the scene from its unseeing ruby eyes that flashed red fire there in the light of the myriad oil lamps. Orgon was now semi-independent, but still "loyal" to me despite the best efforts by Sanda Talen's "revolutionaries" to "do" in Orgon what they had successfully "done" there in Trelandar. They had been "bested" by a very capable and competent young Princess! Sharon having during my time in Dularn assured the people of that country that they would be "better off" with me than anyone else! The "contest" had been "close", but Talen's forces had lost the election held during my stay in Dularn, with Sharon being elected their own official representative much to her surprise and mine! The country now having its own "Queen", my lovely young Sharon!!! "Let those who have need of her royal majesty's `mercy' step forward!" the man now bellowed out at the top of his lungs. It takes practice to keep a straight face at times. The pomp and ceremony that surrounds me can be funny at times if you have any sense of humor at all. I try not to take myself too seriously! One time I slipped and half fell before everyone, bruising my hip on my throne and twisting my back as I did so. The only sound a sort of hushed "Oh!" as I scrambled back on to my throne. On the other hand there are a number of jokes made about me, some rather risque, which I enjoy, although I never let on that I do! Such as the "joke" mentioned earlier about the width of my hips! Imperial California is a "democracy" with a "constitutional" monarch. There is a popular "Assembly" whose members are select- ed by popular ballot and a "Senate" similar to the "House of Lords" of 20th Century Britain. Both act as a check on the oth- er. I then have the power to repeal any law that I find not in the interest of the People of California. The political system is based upon the writings of the famous and fantastic Janet Rog- ers, the Leaderess of the World Federation of the 21st Century as modified by historical experience over the centuries ever since.* * I found it "wise" to make certain "compromises" here in things rather than have the "bloody" revolution that Trelandar had then. My seventh case was an interesting one. A Warrioress, now widowed, had given her small son to another couple to raise while she served her country. Now that peace existed (at least for the time being) between Dularn and California, she had returned to take back the child she had left in the care of the other couple. However, the couple, childless, now refused to give up the boy, who apparently wished to stay with the couple instead of going back to his mother, whom he had not seen for several years now.* * I was myself rather "emotionally involved" here in this case. As the couple and the Warrioress both testified there before me, my lovely teenage foster daughter Sharon entered the throne room from a side entrance. The newly seventeen blonde haired Im- perial Princess of California receiving as usual considerable at- tention from the young men now present there in the room as they nudged each other. Sharon being the regal strikingly lovely sort of a girl that attracts the handsome young men wherever she goes. "Lorraine just landed and she wishes to see you as soon as possible," Sharon whispered into my ear. Her rich woolen tunic and navy blue skin-tight hose fitted her well, the hem of the tu- nic just high enough to reveal the provocative curves of the bot- toms of her buttocks. Sharon being the sort that likes to "tease" the young men a bit, much to her stepmother's annoyance. As you might guess, my opinion of such things is not the same as Lorraine's. I know Sharon. I trust her to do "the right thing". "No doubt she objected to your hose being too tight and your tunic being too short," I smiled back, Sharon smiling, nodding as everyone else looked on. I liked her jaunty cap with its feath- er, the boots she wore, the long slim dagger there at her hip. I was very delighted with the sort of a girl she had turned out to be. She will be a "Queen" in another year, with a country of her own. The people of Orgon "voted" for her, as those of Trelandar "voted" for Lorraine. I don't think Lady Sanda Talen was too de- lighted! She had no doubt hoped that things would be otherwise. "If Lorraine had her way she'd have you dressing me like a Priestess," Sharon smiled in reply as she stood there at my side. They wear long gowns falling to their ankles, and are considered "sexless", having renounced the "pleasures of the flesh" for Lys. "Let me deal with this case and then we'll go see her," I said, wishing to resolve this matter of the Warrioress mother and her son. The boy now having little wish to go back to her. I had read about the matter in the papers. Offered to resolve it if both parties would agree to my decision. I wondered what my friend Lorraine would have decided. I had "made up" my mind now. "Let the boy come to me," I said to the couple. I saw his mother's face as the other woman then released him to come to me. I knew much of her own situation, her poverty, her own career as a member of the Armed Forces of the Empire of California. She had lost her husband in battle. Now it seemed her son too would be taken away from her. Solely because another had spoiled him! "And what is your name?" I asked the boy, holding him in my lap, the boy about five or six. Awed by being held by his Queen. "Tim- Timothy, your majesty," he breathed, looking up at me. There was an awed hush in the throne room. The case had made all the papers. The consensus had been that the couple was better suited to raise the boy than the widowed mother, who had not even seen the boy for several years. The couple was well to do, the mother only a poor widow who would have a hard time raising him. "And you wish to stay with the Coultons?" I asked him. That being the name of the couple, the husband a well to do Merchant. "They nice, have lots of good things," the boy admitted. "And your mother?" I then challenged him back, curious. "Please, your majesty, let me withdraw my plea," the boy's mother suddenly interrupted. "Let him stay with the Coultons." "Because they can do more for him than you can?" I asked. I saw the tears there in the woman's dark eyes as she nodded. My decision was made for me. She had given much for her country. I felt it due time that her country did something for her in turn! |
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