"2567-05" - читать интересную книгу автора (Jerome Bigge - Warlady 5 - The Warlady Of Dularn)"THE WARLADY OF DULARN" 2567 A.D.! By Jerome Bigge Chapter Five "You are an Dularnian Warrioress," I whispered in Carol's ear, warning her about our three "allies". Carol nodded, her na- ked body yet trembling a bit against mine as I held her. I had brought her clothing with me. My own was now the worse for wear. I thought however perhaps one of the dead men might "donate" his. "From the `disputed territories'," my quick witted brownette whispered back, clinging to me, her nakedness like a warm caress. Sandi Cahill and her companions looking on. I wondered if there was a band of such now lurking somewhere out there in the woods. It was now getting dark, the sun a red glow there on the horizon. The moon now glowing there to the east just visible between the trees. I heard the cry of some sort of animal, a big animal! Thought how "helpless" we'd be against something like a Garth!* * Lorraine once told me that she thought the Garth was the result of the early experiments by the Women of Mars there in Leith to "recreate" the dinosaurs from fossilized DNA. It is as "good" an explanation as any. She also claims that the dire wolf and the saber tooth tiger were "recreations" produced by genetic manipu- lation back in the era of Janet Rogers' "WORLD FEDERATION". This is doubtlessly the "case" at least so far as the unicorn is con- cerned, so it is safe to assume the same of the "others". (R.S.) "We're `lucky', that's all I've got to say," I told Carol. "When I get my hands on Lorraine...," my wife muttered! Carol squatted by the fire, the leaping flames lighting up her face, the sensual curves of her body well displayed by the soft fitted leather of her 20th Century jumpsuit. We had told the three runaway slave girls that we were from the "disputed territories". They seemed "content" with that. I didn't want to let on that we knew next to nothing about Dularn, that we were in reality only "time travelers" from the Twentieth Century. Sandi and her two friends had been of considerable help, and I hated to disappoint them now with the "TRUTH". Perhaps Lorraine could be helpful to them. I thought she might if I "asked" her. The two dark haired girls had been whipped so badly that their backs were badly scarred, while Sandi had been "tortured" by some sadistic "pervert"! Such are "rare" now in this era, but they do "exist". "Slave abuse" is "illegal" here in Trelandar, but it does happen. My wife had "washed" herself in the ocean, rinsing out her mouth, although the man had not come in it before he had suddenly found "other things" to draw his attention. The five men had all raped her, staking her out there on the ground and taking "turns" sexually abusing her. I had "suggested" baths for all of us. The three slave girls at least smelling a bit better afterwards! Carol feared that she might be "impregnated" by her rapists, such an additional horror she might have to soon face if it was true! Due to having myself "fixed" years ago, Carol had not been using contraceptives which "meant" of course that any sexual inter- course with a "fertile" man could result in her impregnation! Fortunately "nothing" ever came of it, and after our capture by Lady Tirana's forces, Carol was of course "implanted" with the usual contraceptive implants commonly used in this era. Easing her mind and also putting a halt to her monthly menstrual cycle. "You two are `spies', aren't you?" Sandi had said in tones that left no doubts as to what she thought was the "truth". The other two women being Tula and Susan "of" Trelandar. Both were "convict" slave girls, women convicted of crimes and enslaved as is the policy here in the 26th Century. Sandi had spent a dozen years as a slave here in Trelandar after being taken by pirates from a coastal vessel off Dularn. Her first master had died of a heart attack a few months before and she had been sold by his widow, ending up in the cruel hands of a "pervert" who tortured her with sadistic pleasure. One night she took a knife, drove it into his throat to the hilt, and ran for her life, well aware of the execution that now awaited her should she ever be captured! "What makes you think that?" I asked, Carol there at my side as we sat around the fire, drawing "comfort" from it and each other. The sounds that came from the forest from time to time left no doubt of the sort of animal life that roamed it at night! "You don't have caste marks, and your clothing is odd," she said, well aware perhaps of the "fact" that we were both "armed". "And there is no doubt that you are both of the `Warriors'," she added, regarding Carol as my wife nodded quietly back in reply. The "Warrioresses" being a "twin-caste" of the "Warriors". The other two runaway slave girls now nodded, glancing at each other. Both had been petty thieves, such being a more "serious" crime in this era than it was back in my own time when criminal acts were less "punished" than they are now. This is a "harsh era", but in its way a "fair" one. I consider it perhaps superior to our own. Here the "criminal" does not seem to have more "rights" than does the victim of his misdeeds. And if you kill a criminal, you are "rewarded" for your deed, not put on trial for it like back in my own era. One wonders sometimes if the "Western Civilization" that we bragged so much about was really even worth preserving! I once told Queen Maris I saw little "reason" to consider it so. "We are here on a `mission'," I said, glancing at Carol. I knew my wife was "quick witted". That was one of the reasons I'd married her in the first place twelve years ago. Carol was the sort of a woman who could "think on her feet" without hesitation! Unlike that blonde I'd been going with who never "knew her mind"! One who could never "decide" what restaurant to go to, or what to "order" once she got there. A submissive woman, not like Carol. "To `gather information'," my wife added with a "smile". I knew from bits and pieces of conversation I'd overhead that the Empire of California was once again at war with the Dularnian Re- public, that being its new "official name" apparently, I noticed! Queen Maris Marn of Dularn doubtlessly being well "aware" of the "political advantages" she might be able to gain here in this era by calling her own constitutional monarchy a "Republic". Maris is a good competent Queen, although she lacks the "pizzazz" that Darlanis is so well known for. The "elections" in the "disputed territories" were a lot "closer" than one would have "expected". I think Carol gave us the "edge" against Darlanis and Lorraine. "For Queen Maris," Sandi smiled back, her eyes meeting mine as she stirred up the fire a bit. The sparks flying up into the sky like fireflies. The odor of the wood smoke was "comforting". Its flickering light highlighting the dark trees there around us. Carol yawned, her eyelids heavy, and leaned her head against my shoulder. I put my arm around, "comforted" by her very presence. "For Dularn," Carol smiled, careful here as we had no way of knowing if Sandi was "suspicious" of us or not. I recalled that as far as I knew Maris was still Queen of Dularn, but one could never be sure about those things. I had not been able yet to de- termine just what "year" this way, although I suspected it was not too far in the future after Lorraine's last book in 2566 A.D. "We're only a dozen miles from the Warlady's estates," Tula said, interrupting our conversation. That would have to be our own "destination". Why Lorraine hadn't been there to "greet us" was something I wanted an answer to. It was starting to appear that either Tais had made some sort of "error" in her teleporting us through time, or the Priestesses of Lys had their own "plans" for us that Lorraine herself had known nothing about! It is now my considered opinion that the second is probably more "correct"! One thinks here of "balances of power", of a cold ruthless "plan" that used us as "pawns" for some yet almost unfathomable purpose! It is now my belief that what "happened" was "planned" to happen! "Our eventual `destination' if things go right," I said, seeing Carol nodding in agreement. There is not another to com- pare with her anywhere. Provocative, sensual, a fighting woman almost beyond compare! My own beloved "Warrior Wife". My Carol! A wife who is also now a "Princess of Swords". A Warrioress who once crossed blades with the awesome "Lorraine" herself and sur- vived to tell of the "experience". When one is as much in "love" with a woman as I am with my Carol, she is much "more" than just a "wife" to you. Far, far more! She is truly my "one and only"! "I am of the Merchants, not the Warrioresses," Sandi said, "But I will fight at your side if you wish to attack Lorraine's estates." It being obvious that Sandi had little "love" for the famous Warlady of California, the new elected Queen of Trelandar. "We don't intend to attack her estates," Carol quickly said. That would have gained us nothing but a swift death in any case! "We are after `information'," I quickly interjected here. "There is certain `information' we require," my wife added, yawning, her hazel eyes half concealed now by her drooping lids. "It has been a `hard day'," I said, hugging Carol. I could see the "tiredness" in her, the way she fought to stay awake now. We had both been awake now for well over twenty hours. I guessed it was perhaps six or seven am in the morning back in our time. I snuggled up against Carol there beneath the blanket, her body warmth "comforting" just then. We had given up a "comfort- able" peaceful life for "what"? A life of danger and adventure? Sandi still sitting there by the fire, looking down into it now. Her attire was brief, rather "provocative", I supposed. She wore her hair tied in a ponytail, such being an excellent choice given the sort of a life she led here hiding in these Trelandarian for- ests of the 26th Century. She had lived in Trella, the capital, which laid ninety miles or so to the south from where we were. "Bob," Carol breathed, her sleepy eyes now meeting my own. She was naked beneath the blankets, her body "warmth" enjoyable. It is colder in the 26th Century than it was back in our own era. I suspected too that it was in the spring here, not the middle of the summer as it had been back in the Twentieth Century. There was sufficient "proof" of this when you looked closely at things. "Yes?" I asked, holding her close, enjoying her "closeness". Just the simple fact that we were both "alive" in this new world! "I'm glad we're together," she said, kissing me then gently. "I wouldn't want to live without you," I told her. I think she knew that it was true. There is, I think, only one "Carol". "Nor I without you, Robert John," my lovely brownette whis- pered softly, using the name she sometimes used to use long ago. "THE WARLADY OF DULARN" 2567 A.D.! By Jerome Bigge Chapter Five "You are an Dularnian Warrioress," I whispered in Carol's ear, warning her about our three "allies". Carol nodded, her na- ked body yet trembling a bit against mine as I held her. I had brought her clothing with me. My own was now the worse for wear. I thought however perhaps one of the dead men might "donate" his. "From the `disputed territories'," my quick witted brownette whispered back, clinging to me, her nakedness like a warm caress. Sandi Cahill and her companions looking on. I wondered if there was a band of such now lurking somewhere out there in the woods. It was now getting dark, the sun a red glow there on the horizon. The moon now glowing there to the east just visible between the trees. I heard the cry of some sort of animal, a big animal! Thought how "helpless" we'd be against something like a Garth!* * Lorraine once told me that she thought the Garth was the result of the early experiments by the Women of Mars there in Leith to "recreate" the dinosaurs from fossilized DNA. It is as "good" an explanation as any. She also claims that the dire wolf and the saber tooth tiger were "recreations" produced by genetic manipu- lation back in the era of Janet Rogers' "WORLD FEDERATION". This is doubtlessly the "case" at least so far as the unicorn is con- cerned, so it is safe to assume the same of the "others". (R.S.) "We're `lucky', that's all I've got to say," I told Carol. "When I get my hands on Lorraine...," my wife muttered! Carol squatted by the fire, the leaping flames lighting up her face, the sensual curves of her body well displayed by the soft fitted leather of her 20th Century jumpsuit. We had told the three runaway slave girls that we were from the "disputed territories". They seemed "content" with that. I didn't want to let on that we knew next to nothing about Dularn, that we were in reality only "time travelers" from the Twentieth Century. Sandi and her two friends had been of considerable help, and I hated to disappoint them now with the "TRUTH". Perhaps Lorraine could be helpful to them. I thought she might if I "asked" her. The two dark haired girls had been whipped so badly that their backs were badly scarred, while Sandi had been "tortured" by some sadistic "pervert"! Such are "rare" now in this era, but they do "exist". "Slave abuse" is "illegal" here in Trelandar, but it does happen. My wife had "washed" herself in the ocean, rinsing out her mouth, although the man had not come in it before he had suddenly found "other things" to draw his attention. The five men had all raped her, staking her out there on the ground and taking "turns" sexually abusing her. I had "suggested" baths for all of us. The three slave girls at least smelling a bit better afterwards! Carol feared that she might be "impregnated" by her rapists, such an additional horror she might have to soon face if it was true! Due to having myself "fixed" years ago, Carol had not been using contraceptives which "meant" of course that any sexual inter- course with a "fertile" man could result in her impregnation! Fortunately "nothing" ever came of it, and after our capture by Lady Tirana's forces, Carol was of course "implanted" with the usual contraceptive implants commonly used in this era. Easing her mind and also putting a halt to her monthly menstrual cycle. "You two are `spies', aren't you?" Sandi had said in tones that left no doubts as to what she thought was the "truth". The other two women being Tula and Susan "of" Trelandar. Both were "convict" slave girls, women convicted of crimes and enslaved as is the policy here in the 26th Century. Sandi had spent a dozen years as a slave here in Trelandar after being taken by pirates from a coastal vessel off Dularn. Her first master had died of a heart attack a few months before and she had been sold by his widow, ending up in the cruel hands of a "pervert" who tortured her with sadistic pleasure. One night she took a knife, drove it into his throat to the hilt, and ran for her life, well aware of the execution that now awaited her should she ever be captured! "What makes you think that?" I asked, Carol there at my side as we sat around the fire, drawing "comfort" from it and each other. The sounds that came from the forest from time to time left no doubt of the sort of animal life that roamed it at night! "You don't have caste marks, and your clothing is odd," she said, well aware perhaps of the "fact" that we were both "armed". "And there is no doubt that you are both of the `Warriors'," she added, regarding Carol as my wife nodded quietly back in reply. The "Warrioresses" being a "twin-caste" of the "Warriors". The other two runaway slave girls now nodded, glancing at each other. Both had been petty thieves, such being a more "serious" crime in this era than it was back in my own time when criminal acts were less "punished" than they are now. This is a "harsh era", but in its way a "fair" one. I consider it perhaps superior to our own. Here the "criminal" does not seem to have more "rights" than does the victim of his misdeeds. And if you kill a criminal, you are "rewarded" for your deed, not put on trial for it like back in my own era. One wonders sometimes if the "Western Civilization" that we bragged so much about was really even worth preserving! I once told Queen Maris I saw little "reason" to consider it so. "We are here on a `mission'," I said, glancing at Carol. I knew my wife was "quick witted". That was one of the reasons I'd married her in the first place twelve years ago. Carol was the sort of a woman who could "think on her feet" without hesitation! Unlike that blonde I'd been going with who never "knew her mind"! One who could never "decide" what restaurant to go to, or what to "order" once she got there. A submissive woman, not like Carol. "To `gather information'," my wife added with a "smile". I knew from bits and pieces of conversation I'd overhead that the Empire of California was once again at war with the Dularnian Re- public, that being its new "official name" apparently, I noticed! Queen Maris Marn of Dularn doubtlessly being well "aware" of the "political advantages" she might be able to gain here in this era by calling her own constitutional monarchy a "Republic". Maris is a good competent Queen, although she lacks the "pizzazz" that Darlanis is so well known for. The "elections" in the "disputed territories" were a lot "closer" than one would have "expected". I think Carol gave us the "edge" against Darlanis and Lorraine. "For Queen Maris," Sandi smiled back, her eyes meeting mine as she stirred up the fire a bit. The sparks flying up into the sky like fireflies. The odor of the wood smoke was "comforting". Its flickering light highlighting the dark trees there around us. Carol yawned, her eyelids heavy, and leaned her head against my shoulder. I put my arm around, "comforted" by her very presence. "For Dularn," Carol smiled, careful here as we had no way of knowing if Sandi was "suspicious" of us or not. I recalled that as far as I knew Maris was still Queen of Dularn, but one could never be sure about those things. I had not been able yet to de- termine just what "year" this way, although I suspected it was not too far in the future after Lorraine's last book in 2566 A.D. "We're only a dozen miles from the Warlady's estates," Tula said, interrupting our conversation. That would have to be our own "destination". Why Lorraine hadn't been there to "greet us" was something I wanted an answer to. It was starting to appear that either Tais had made some sort of "error" in her teleporting us through time, or the Priestesses of Lys had their own "plans" for us that Lorraine herself had known nothing about! It is now my considered opinion that the second is probably more "correct"! One thinks here of "balances of power", of a cold ruthless "plan" that used us as "pawns" for some yet almost unfathomable purpose! It is now my belief that what "happened" was "planned" to happen! "Our eventual `destination' if things go right," I said, seeing Carol nodding in agreement. There is not another to com- pare with her anywhere. Provocative, sensual, a fighting woman almost beyond compare! My own beloved "Warrior Wife". My Carol! A wife who is also now a "Princess of Swords". A Warrioress who once crossed blades with the awesome "Lorraine" herself and sur- vived to tell of the "experience". When one is as much in "love" with a woman as I am with my Carol, she is much "more" than just a "wife" to you. Far, far more! She is truly my "one and only"! "I am of the Merchants, not the Warrioresses," Sandi said, "But I will fight at your side if you wish to attack Lorraine's estates." It being obvious that Sandi had little "love" for the famous Warlady of California, the new elected Queen of Trelandar. "We don't intend to attack her estates," Carol quickly said. That would have gained us nothing but a swift death in any case! "We are after `information'," I quickly interjected here. "There is certain `information' we require," my wife added, yawning, her hazel eyes half concealed now by her drooping lids. "It has been a `hard day'," I said, hugging Carol. I could see the "tiredness" in her, the way she fought to stay awake now. We had both been awake now for well over twenty hours. I guessed it was perhaps six or seven am in the morning back in our time. I snuggled up against Carol there beneath the blanket, her body warmth "comforting" just then. We had given up a "comfort- able" peaceful life for "what"? A life of danger and adventure? Sandi still sitting there by the fire, looking down into it now. Her attire was brief, rather "provocative", I supposed. She wore her hair tied in a ponytail, such being an excellent choice given the sort of a life she led here hiding in these Trelandarian for- ests of the 26th Century. She had lived in Trella, the capital, which laid ninety miles or so to the south from where we were. "Bob," Carol breathed, her sleepy eyes now meeting my own. She was naked beneath the blankets, her body "warmth" enjoyable. It is colder in the 26th Century than it was back in our own era. I suspected too that it was in the spring here, not the middle of the summer as it had been back in the Twentieth Century. There was sufficient "proof" of this when you looked closely at things. "Yes?" I asked, holding her close, enjoying her "closeness". Just the simple fact that we were both "alive" in this new world! "I'm glad we're together," she said, kissing me then gently. "I wouldn't want to live without you," I told her. I think she knew that it was true. There is, I think, only one "Carol". "Nor I without you, Robert John," my lovely brownette whis- pered softly, using the name she sometimes used to use long ago. |
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