"2567-26" - читать интересную книгу автора (Jerome Bigge - Warlady 5 - The Warlady Of Dularn)"THE WARLADY OF DULARN" 2567 A.D.! By Jerome Bigge Chapter Twenty Six "Forest `strange' at night," San-sha said as she walked at Carol's side. "Things come out that do not like light of day." The 20th Century brownette smiling to herself in the darkness. The Indian woman's own superstitious nature was matched by many from the ship, the force of men and women, over half of them wom- en, now huddled as close together as they could get, their hands nervously fingering their weapons as the sounds of the night came whispering in their ears! The few carbide lamps they carried did little to help too. Their imaginations now easily did the rest! Carol also suspecting that Maris should have seen to the better "exercise" of her crew, judging from their lack of "conditioning" for such tasks as this. Those living aboard a ship having little opportunity to get in much exercise as a general rule, she noted! "Afraid of the dark?" Carol smiled back, her voice not quite as calm as she would have liked. She recalled what those aboard the North Star had claimed lived in these forests. Myths and legends that Carol had no doubt were more in the nature of "ghost stories" than anything else. There was the Garth, but against their crossbows even that dinosaur like reptile would be easy to kill. Nothing could withstand the impact of dozens of arrows and crossbow bolts at the same time, and if necessary they had the ballistae off the ship, and Carol had no doubt "that" could even drop a charging elephant right in his tracks if it came to that! "You `white woman', not of the `People'," San-sha retorted! She knew of the "legends" of her people, of the "Hidden Valley". "Sorry, I didn't mean to offend," Carol quickly spoke, her hand touching the Indian woman's arm as they walked side by side. La-ra up ahead, scouting the way, a light bow her only weapon be- sides the long slim fighting dagger she now carried at her hip. "My people have legend of things like Garth, but bigger," the Nevada spoke, her voice low. The few lamps they had were of little help, and only served to guide the column now marching down the game trail towards Lorraine's estate ten miles away. A group of men carrying the ballistae off the ship slung on poles. "Dinosaurs?" Carol asked, recalling Darlanis' book. Leith was a long ways from here, and she doubted that any dinosaur could have gotten this far without getting killed in the process! "That which walks on two legs, its head in the sky," San-sha replied. "That which men once called `Try-rano-saurus'." Carol smiled to herself, thankful for the darkness that concealed her face from San-sha. The thought that the same forests she had lived in for fifteen years now harbored dinosaurs was laughable! Then suddenly La-ra was running down the trail back towards them! "What is it, La-ra?" Carol asked, halting the column, the Indian woman breathing hard, muttering to herself in a language that Carol could make neither heads or tails of. San-sha speak- ing to her in the same language, the tone showing her "concern"! "There clearing ahead, big `thing' in it, like Garth, but not Garth," San-sha spoke, her voice strange, echoing in Carol's ears. "We scout it out, and you have big `crossbow' made ready!" "Sandi, I want that ballistae wound up, a bolt placed on the track. Set it up on the bipod and we'll use it like a crossbow if we need to," Carol spoke, Sandi nodding, her eyes gleaming in the darkness. Carol wondered just then how much she had heard! The muttering among those behind her leaving little doubt that at least some of San-sha's words had been overheard by those behind! "Wind blow from it to us," La-ra whispered, Carol straining her eyes to make out any detail at all in the darkness. She could see something out there, something as big as an elephant, but she couldn't make any details. There was, however, an odor! The sound of great jaws crunching bone, the sound of "breathing"! "We can work around it," San-sha whispered softly, the sound coming from the creature ahead that of something eating. And its sheer size indicated that it could have tackled anything that it found! "Bows no good against that, bows on `sticks' no better." Carol smiled at that, the Dularnian crossbow having the ability to drive a bolt right through a deer from one end to the other! The missiles usually went right through a man like a bullet ex- cept at very long range when the bolt was somewhat less "lethal"! "And if it gets our scent, follows us?" Carol challenged. That was all she needed! A tyrannosaurus attacking the column! The brownette fighting down the terror she felt at facing such a creature armed with the weapons of this era. She had little con- fidence in even the ballistae off the North Star against "such"! "No way kill `thing' like that," La-ra agreed with San-sha. "Darlanis did," Carol answered her, remembering her book. "And what Darlanis did, I can do too," Carol muttered to herself! "We will need the firebottles, every bow, crossbow we have," Carol spoke in a whisper, her orders being passed back down the column. She doubted that many actually believed in the "reality" of the mysterious creature ahead of them. To them it might be some sort of a "forest devil", something no weapon would kill! Against a human foe they would stand and fight, but against this? Carol prayed they would not break and run in terror at the sight of whatever it was there in the forest glade a furlong ahead now! ***************************************************************** "What was Carol like?" Jon Richards asked, holding his wife Lorraine in his arms, kissing the side of her neck as she gently caressed him in return. Wondering a bit now what her own "rela- tionship" had been with this man from the past. With the "woman" who Lady Tirana said had been almost "another" like Lorraine her- self, but yet so utterly "different". This famous Carol Simmons. The woman who almost six centuries before had written "A KEY TO A WOMAN'S HEART". He stroked her hard muscular body, a body not like most women's. Yet his Lorraine was a woman like no other. A woman who was "easy" to live with, a woman with "brains", who a man could "talk to", "relate to" in ways you couldn't with most! "Remember Lara?" Lorraine spoke, caressing him as she laid beside him there in the bed, their only light a dim glowing lamp. The windows open to admit a little fresh air. Carol had been a "sensual delight" much like the present Princess of Baja, but she had also been so "different" in her own way too. "She was not a `beautiful' woman, but she was `provocative' like Lara is," Lor- raine explained, thankful Jon had "understood" about Bob Simmons. About the "emotional bond" that was still there after all this time. The Warlady had worried much about that. She knew how a man might feel meeting his wife's "former lover", although Lor- raine had not ever considered me in quite those terms, I believe. "Better with a sword, though," Jon smiled, having heard of Carol's skills. Of what those from Sarnian Lady had said of her. "And we do have your former `girlfriend'," Lorraine teased. There was a sense of "unease" in knowing he had once "known" the woman who was now the Queen of Dularn. Especially as Lorraine had little doubt that Maris was of a "sort" who might just try to exploit such "memories" for her own benefit if she could "do" so! "She never was any `match' for you," Jon laughed, kissing her, reaching beneath the bed covers, caressing her nakedness. A pair of strong muscular arms drawing him to her. The Warlady's own surprising love making skills being such that even the most highly trained of slave girls could hardly "match" her at "such". ***************************************************************** "Carol will return for us," I said to Maris. I "knew" as I knew that the sun would come up in the east there in the morning! Despite Lorraine's own "preparations", I had no doubt that Carol would "return". "She will come through the forest at night, and take Lorraine's forces by surprise from the rear," I told Maris. The Queen's golden hair a pale shadow there against the pillows. "Just remember: You can't outrun it, so shoot like you've never shot before," Carol spoke in low tones, dimly seen faces of terrified men and women now meeting her eyes. She wondered if she was doing the right thing. Perhaps it would be better to try to get around the creature, but if it "scented" them? At least like this they had a good chance of now killing it, assuming that her own marksmanship with the ballistae was adequate to the task! "It senses us," La-ra breathed, the terror filling her heart as she laid next to the new Warlady of Dularn. She had "faith" in Carol as a fighting woman, as a Warrioress, but against THIS? Carol taking her position behind the ballistae, aiming it like a crossbow as best she could, the weight of the weapon almost more than she could "handle" even mounted on the bipod as it now was! Burly Anis at her side, an arrow nocked on her bowstring. Carol hoped the woman was still the "archer" that others had said she was. The woman drew a bow as heavy as any man might draw, a good eighty pounds. She was a dark haired woman, near six feet tall. "THROW THOSE FIREBOMBS!" Carol yelled, hearing something like a great "snarl" from the dimly seen great object before her! "OH LYS!" Carol heard Sandi mutter, the great scaly body now clearly revealed! The great jaws, the teeth like daggers, the small ridiculous looking forelimbs, all leaving no doubts now! A TYRANNOSAURUS! She saw the great head come around, and without a second's thought she fired by instinct, the ballistae thumping as a three pound sharp pointed steel bolt, two feet long, at a ve- locity of 375 feet per second slammed into the dinosaur's skull! "SHOOT! DAMMIT! SHOOT!" Carol screamed, the horrible roar of the mortally wounded dinosaur like nothing she'd ever heard!!! Darlanis suddenly sat up in bed, her eyes wild, the sound that had come to her ears bringing back memories of another time! Men everywhere on the estates stared at the forest, reaching for weapons. None had ever heard a sound like that before! None wished to hear it again either! The roar of an infuriated tyran- nosaurus is something you never ever forget. And one just shot in the head with a ballistae bolt is a very infuriated dinosaur! "THE WARLADY OF DULARN" 2567 A.D.! By Jerome Bigge Chapter Twenty Six "Forest `strange' at night," San-sha said as she walked at Carol's side. "Things come out that do not like light of day." The 20th Century brownette smiling to herself in the darkness. The Indian woman's own superstitious nature was matched by many from the ship, the force of men and women, over half of them wom- en, now huddled as close together as they could get, their hands nervously fingering their weapons as the sounds of the night came whispering in their ears! The few carbide lamps they carried did little to help too. Their imaginations now easily did the rest! Carol also suspecting that Maris should have seen to the better "exercise" of her crew, judging from their lack of "conditioning" for such tasks as this. Those living aboard a ship having little opportunity to get in much exercise as a general rule, she noted! "Afraid of the dark?" Carol smiled back, her voice not quite as calm as she would have liked. She recalled what those aboard the North Star had claimed lived in these forests. Myths and legends that Carol had no doubt were more in the nature of "ghost stories" than anything else. There was the Garth, but against their crossbows even that dinosaur like reptile would be easy to kill. Nothing could withstand the impact of dozens of arrows and crossbow bolts at the same time, and if necessary they had the ballistae off the ship, and Carol had no doubt "that" could even drop a charging elephant right in his tracks if it came to that! "You `white woman', not of the `People'," San-sha retorted! She knew of the "legends" of her people, of the "Hidden Valley". "Sorry, I didn't mean to offend," Carol quickly spoke, her hand touching the Indian woman's arm as they walked side by side. La-ra up ahead, scouting the way, a light bow her only weapon be- sides the long slim fighting dagger she now carried at her hip. "My people have legend of things like Garth, but bigger," the Nevada spoke, her voice low. The few lamps they had were of little help, and only served to guide the column now marching down the game trail towards Lorraine's estate ten miles away. A group of men carrying the ballistae off the ship slung on poles. "Dinosaurs?" Carol asked, recalling Darlanis' book. Leith was a long ways from here, and she doubted that any dinosaur could have gotten this far without getting killed in the process! "That which walks on two legs, its head in the sky," San-sha replied. "That which men once called `Try-rano-saurus'." Carol smiled to herself, thankful for the darkness that concealed her face from San-sha. The thought that the same forests she had lived in for fifteen years now harbored dinosaurs was laughable! Then suddenly La-ra was running down the trail back towards them! "What is it, La-ra?" Carol asked, halting the column, the Indian woman breathing hard, muttering to herself in a language that Carol could make neither heads or tails of. San-sha speak- ing to her in the same language, the tone showing her "concern"! "There clearing ahead, big `thing' in it, like Garth, but not Garth," San-sha spoke, her voice strange, echoing in Carol's ears. "We scout it out, and you have big `crossbow' made ready!" "Sandi, I want that ballistae wound up, a bolt placed on the track. Set it up on the bipod and we'll use it like a crossbow if we need to," Carol spoke, Sandi nodding, her eyes gleaming in the darkness. Carol wondered just then how much she had heard! The muttering among those behind her leaving little doubt that at least some of San-sha's words had been overheard by those behind! "Wind blow from it to us," La-ra whispered, Carol straining her eyes to make out any detail at all in the darkness. She could see something out there, something as big as an elephant, but she couldn't make any details. There was, however, an odor! The sound of great jaws crunching bone, the sound of "breathing"! "We can work around it," San-sha whispered softly, the sound coming from the creature ahead that of something eating. And its sheer size indicated that it could have tackled anything that it found! "Bows no good against that, bows on `sticks' no better." Carol smiled at that, the Dularnian crossbow having the ability to drive a bolt right through a deer from one end to the other! The missiles usually went right through a man like a bullet ex- cept at very long range when the bolt was somewhat less "lethal"! "And if it gets our scent, follows us?" Carol challenged. That was all she needed! A tyrannosaurus attacking the column! The brownette fighting down the terror she felt at facing such a creature armed with the weapons of this era. She had little con- fidence in even the ballistae off the North Star against "such"! "No way kill `thing' like that," La-ra agreed with San-sha. "Darlanis did," Carol answered her, remembering her book. "And what Darlanis did, I can do too," Carol muttered to herself! "We will need the firebottles, every bow, crossbow we have," Carol spoke in a whisper, her orders being passed back down the column. She doubted that many actually believed in the "reality" of the mysterious creature ahead of them. To them it might be some sort of a "forest devil", something no weapon would kill! Against a human foe they would stand and fight, but against this? Carol prayed they would not break and run in terror at the sight of whatever it was there in the forest glade a furlong ahead now! ***************************************************************** "What was Carol like?" Jon Richards asked, holding his wife Lorraine in his arms, kissing the side of her neck as she gently caressed him in return. Wondering a bit now what her own "rela- tionship" had been with this man from the past. With the "woman" who Lady Tirana said had been almost "another" like Lorraine her- self, but yet so utterly "different". This famous Carol Simmons. The woman who almost six centuries before had written "A KEY TO A WOMAN'S HEART". He stroked her hard muscular body, a body not like most women's. Yet his Lorraine was a woman like no other. A woman who was "easy" to live with, a woman with "brains", who a man could "talk to", "relate to" in ways you couldn't with most! "Remember Lara?" Lorraine spoke, caressing him as she laid beside him there in the bed, their only light a dim glowing lamp. The windows open to admit a little fresh air. Carol had been a "sensual delight" much like the present Princess of Baja, but she had also been so "different" in her own way too. "She was not a `beautiful' woman, but she was `provocative' like Lara is," Lor- raine explained, thankful Jon had "understood" about Bob Simmons. About the "emotional bond" that was still there after all this time. The Warlady had worried much about that. She knew how a man might feel meeting his wife's "former lover", although Lor- raine had not ever considered me in quite those terms, I believe. "Better with a sword, though," Jon smiled, having heard of Carol's skills. Of what those from Sarnian Lady had said of her. "And we do have your former `girlfriend'," Lorraine teased. There was a sense of "unease" in knowing he had once "known" the woman who was now the Queen of Dularn. Especially as Lorraine had little doubt that Maris was of a "sort" who might just try to exploit such "memories" for her own benefit if she could "do" so! "She never was any `match' for you," Jon laughed, kissing her, reaching beneath the bed covers, caressing her nakedness. A pair of strong muscular arms drawing him to her. The Warlady's own surprising love making skills being such that even the most highly trained of slave girls could hardly "match" her at "such". ***************************************************************** "Carol will return for us," I said to Maris. I "knew" as I knew that the sun would come up in the east there in the morning! Despite Lorraine's own "preparations", I had no doubt that Carol would "return". "She will come through the forest at night, and take Lorraine's forces by surprise from the rear," I told Maris. The Queen's golden hair a pale shadow there against the pillows. "Just remember: You can't outrun it, so shoot like you've never shot before," Carol spoke in low tones, dimly seen faces of terrified men and women now meeting her eyes. She wondered if she was doing the right thing. Perhaps it would be better to try to get around the creature, but if it "scented" them? At least like this they had a good chance of now killing it, assuming that her own marksmanship with the ballistae was adequate to the task! "It senses us," La-ra breathed, the terror filling her heart as she laid next to the new Warlady of Dularn. She had "faith" in Carol as a fighting woman, as a Warrioress, but against THIS? Carol taking her position behind the ballistae, aiming it like a crossbow as best she could, the weight of the weapon almost more than she could "handle" even mounted on the bipod as it now was! Burly Anis at her side, an arrow nocked on her bowstring. Carol hoped the woman was still the "archer" that others had said she was. The woman drew a bow as heavy as any man might draw, a good eighty pounds. She was a dark haired woman, near six feet tall. "THROW THOSE FIREBOMBS!" Carol yelled, hearing something like a great "snarl" from the dimly seen great object before her! "OH LYS!" Carol heard Sandi mutter, the great scaly body now clearly revealed! The great jaws, the teeth like daggers, the small ridiculous looking forelimbs, all leaving no doubts now! A TYRANNOSAURUS! She saw the great head come around, and without a second's thought she fired by instinct, the ballistae thumping as a three pound sharp pointed steel bolt, two feet long, at a ve- locity of 375 feet per second slammed into the dinosaur's skull! "SHOOT! DAMMIT! SHOOT!" Carol screamed, the horrible roar of the mortally wounded dinosaur like nothing she'd ever heard!!! Darlanis suddenly sat up in bed, her eyes wild, the sound that had come to her ears bringing back memories of another time! Men everywhere on the estates stared at the forest, reaching for weapons. None had ever heard a sound like that before! None wished to hear it again either! The roar of an infuriated tyran- nosaurus is something you never ever forget. And one just shot in the head with a ballistae bolt is a very infuriated dinosaur! |
|
|