"2567-30" - читать интересную книгу автора (Jerome Bigge - Warlady 5 - The Warlady Of Dularn)"THE WARLADY OF DULARN" 2567 A.D.! By Jerome Bigge Chapter Thirty The ballistae bolt smashed into the side of the manor no more than a yard from where Sharon was sitting, Darlanis instant- ly grabbing her shocked terrified Princess and forcing her down, saying," There could be another!" The missile having driven right through the outside wall of the manor house into the living room inside where it had stuck into one of the interior walls!!! "What the hell!" Lorraine growled, hearing the noise, and dashing out of the room. I prayed that Maris was "competent" in a fight. Valerie Dunn was "careless". I swept up her sword blade with my forearm, and leaping up, delivered a punch to her jaw that would have put Mike Tyson himself "down for the count"! I think my boxing instructor in the Marines would have proud of me just then. It's "hard to keep a good Marine down", he used to say. I don't think that Valerie really realized that I possessed actual fighting skills even superior to that of most Warriors! I think I should also mention here and now that a woman, even those of the Warrioresses, is not really any "stronger" than a teen age boy is! Women such as Carol and Lorraine are about equal to a very athletic sixteen year old, and even Darlanis herself is only like some "junior" on a high school football team! In a test of sheer strength I can easily "best" any woman I've ever met. It is true that there are a number who can "best" me with a sword, but in a hand to hand fight I can "deck" any of them with one good blow. And that includes two certain "Warladies" I know too! I grabbed the sword from the unconscious Imperial captain, turned, saw that Maris had "dealt" with Lady Tirana almost at the same instant I had with Valerie Dunn in very much the same way. The Queen of Dularn is an excellent "boxer" I might mention here. It is another thing she can "do" rather well beside sail a ship and sit on a throne and look "beautiful"! She can "lick" Carol. Carol says it was just a "lucky punch". Maybe. Maris is "good"! "We'll bind and gag these," I said, Maris nodding. I had no hatred for either Valerie Dunn or Lady Tirana, and I did rather like the old Warlady, who had been quite "nice" to Carol and me. "If Lorraine returns," Maris whispered in level terms then. "The two of us should be a `match' for her," I answered. Maris at the moment slipping a gag between Lady Tirana's teeth. Valerie was still unconscious, although Tirana was coming around. "I think we would do well together," Maris said to me then. "I think the Queen of Dularn needs more clothes," I spoke. "Perhaps they will confuse me for a slave girl," she smiled. She was, as they say, "slave naked", her robe having fallen open. Val...!" Lorraine gasped in surprise, stepping into the room, a bit "distraught" just then. I put the point of Valerie's sword to her throat, warned her not to try "anything". Lorraine was only "doing" as she saw right. I had no wish to kill her. She was, after all, a woman I had once thought "very highly of". "I hope Sandi has enough `smarts' to follow my orders," Car- ol whispered as San-sha laid there beside her, the Indian woman a bit "smelly" now from their swift dash across the corn fields and everything else. A nod from La-ra there in the darkness adding her opinion to this. Anis kneeling now behind a bush, watching. There was a "glow" there in the east now, although it was still dark, the forests still yet only a darker shadow against the sky. Carol guessing it was now somewhere about 5:15 in the morning. The four of them dashing then to behind a small outbuilding some fifty yards from the manor house proper. A number of men on guard leaving no doubt in Carol's mind that Lorraine was "alert"! "Too bad you white, make good Nevada," La-ra whispered then. The two Indian women having that awesome skill at archery that my wife notes seems to be almost a "racial characteristic" of them. As Darlanis notes in her own book that the Nevadas started little children using bows, and that their women were expected to be able to fight effectively in the defense of their encampment, it is perhaps not all that surprising here as to their own skills. I am "doubtful" in any case that it has to do with their "race". Archery is "important" to the Nevadas. It is the means by which they have preserved their own freedom from Imperial California. "Let's reduce the `odds' a bit," Anis suggested, getting up on one knee behind the outbuilding, and taking aim. The luckless guardsman then gasping and falling, the arrow buried in his body! A woman, a Warrioress, yelling briefly before two more arrows put an halt to her career permanently, San-sha and La-ra having skill almost as good as that of Carol herself. They were, Carol knew, actually a bit "better" at quick shots, although they did not have the accuracy at a long range that she did, she had noticed. "Them `blondes' make good targets," La-ra "laughed" as she followed the other three women to another place of "concealment"! The Indian woman thinking to herself that if her people back long ago in "the time of legends" had possessed a "leader" like Carol the "white eyes" might not have ever taken their lands from them! "We'll try for the manor house, see if we can get a hostage," Carol said, thinking of Sharon or perhaps another then. Someone she could "use" to hold off Lorraine or Darlanis until the North Star could return at their signal to now pick them up. Despite whatever her feelings were now, she was "responsible" for these people. For seeing that as many as possible got back safe! "Where's Lorraine?" Jon Richards asked, Darlanis now in com- mand of things from what it appeared. Sharon and Keri assisting her along with Captain Berson of the late Squala and Princess Sela Dai of Talon. The ballistae bolts were not really that much of a "threat" as such in the military sense, but they were quite "terrifying" as there was no way of telling from where they came! And they were being followed now by a number of crossbow bolts! The missiles came out of the darkness seemingly from everywhere! "Take some men, get down to the cove, see that the North Star gets a proper `welcome' if it comes back as I am sure it will!" Darlanis snapped, her sword gleaming there in her hand! An arrow, spent, almost falling at her feet now as the Empress of California gave her orders, seeing that the estate was defended! "Make those things `count'!" Sandi hissed, the North Star's "gunner" carefully aiming the ballistae there from between the trees. It was "necessary" to move after every shot so that the Imperials could not "guess" where the missiles were coming from! "I'll try for those `officers'," he growled, squeezing off a shot. The bolt going a bit high, just over Darlanis' golden head as the Empress "ducked"! Sharon then urging her to "keep moving" so that she made less of a "target" for the Dularnians. Darlanis herself "smiling" a bit at the words that Sharon had "used" then! "Words" that would have made even the most hard bitten of Warrio- resses to blush, especially when heard coming from the lips of a beautiful and innocent looking young Princess like Sharon Duval! Four bows "twanged" almost as one, those on guard in front of the manor collapsing as the deadly missiles did their work. An oarsman, grabbing up a crossbow, put a bolt far over Carol's head as my beloved brownette then sent a swift shaft back in re- ply! A terrified slave girl, not thinking, now dashing across the field! A ghostly pale "shadow", her naked body highlighted. "I get her, we learn much!" San-sha hissed, dashing forward! "Cover her!" Carol snapped, firing at the two guardsmen who had followed the slave girl. One falling, the other turning, and fleeing, now taking Anis' arrow right in between his shoulders! The shaft from her awesome bow driving right through his body! "One less to `worry about'," she smiled to her Warlady! "I underestimated you," Lorraine said to me as Maris secured her wrists behind her. "You and that wife of yours both," the Warlady spoke, tossing her head, her hair like a heavy dark mane. The living room wall having a new "ornament", a ballistae bolt! "And her too," I answered, indicating Maris with a motion of my head. The Queen of Dularn had come through when I needed her. "You are a man that many women could love," Lorraine said to me. Her words then made no "sense" to me. I think they do now. "The guards in front of the manor!" Maris breathed, the fall of their bodies leaving no doubts that "someone" had come for us. "Tell!" San-sha hissed, holding her dagger to the luckless slave's throat, the woman sobbing helplessly in her terror. She had, Carol noted then, also "wet" herself judging from the odor. They were now crouched behind the outbuilding used to house pigs! The odor unmistakable, and bringing back some very old memories! "They hold Queen of Dularn, and man who was a slave here!" the slave girl sobbed, her hair a darker shadow against the pale- ness of her face. Carol noted that the two Indian women, with their darker features, didn't show up quite so much in the light! "His name!" Carol hissed, seizing the wench by the throat! "Now!" I snapped, shoving Lorraine ahead of me, my hand on her arm. I thought of carrying her over my shoulder, but felt it was better to send her on ahead of me. The Imperials would cer- tainly know their own Warlady! And Dularnians would know that we had taken her captive! I had judged where our "friends" were by the direction from which the arrows had came. The distance I had determined rather easily knowing the range of our compound bows. The trees that shaded the manor house during the day gave us some "cover", although Maris' golden hair stood out in the dim light! "Three now come this way!" San-sha spoke, raising her bow, an arrow nocked on the string as she readied herself to shoot. Carol could see the three among the trees, two clad in what ap- peared to be robes, carrying swords, and pushing with them a black clad woman, who now appeared to an Imperial of high rank. "That mistress!" La-ra breathed in awe. "The Queen!" "Well, what do you think of that!" Anis now smiled! "Hold!" the black clad dark haired woman snapped, suddenly rising up there before us from the brush, a bow in her hands, an arrow nocked on the string. She was obviously a "Dulie"! Then suddenly I realized just "WHO" she was! MY OWN BELOVED CAROL!!! "THE WARLADY OF DULARN" 2567 A.D.! By Jerome Bigge Chapter Thirty The ballistae bolt smashed into the side of the manor no more than a yard from where Sharon was sitting, Darlanis instant- ly grabbing her shocked terrified Princess and forcing her down, saying," There could be another!" The missile having driven right through the outside wall of the manor house into the living room inside where it had stuck into one of the interior walls!!! "What the hell!" Lorraine growled, hearing the noise, and dashing out of the room. I prayed that Maris was "competent" in a fight. Valerie Dunn was "careless". I swept up her sword blade with my forearm, and leaping up, delivered a punch to her jaw that would have put Mike Tyson himself "down for the count"! I think my boxing instructor in the Marines would have proud of me just then. It's "hard to keep a good Marine down", he used to say. I don't think that Valerie really realized that I possessed actual fighting skills even superior to that of most Warriors! I think I should also mention here and now that a woman, even those of the Warrioresses, is not really any "stronger" than a teen age boy is! Women such as Carol and Lorraine are about equal to a very athletic sixteen year old, and even Darlanis herself is only like some "junior" on a high school football team! In a test of sheer strength I can easily "best" any woman I've ever met. It is true that there are a number who can "best" me with a sword, but in a hand to hand fight I can "deck" any of them with one good blow. And that includes two certain "Warladies" I know too! I grabbed the sword from the unconscious Imperial captain, turned, saw that Maris had "dealt" with Lady Tirana almost at the same instant I had with Valerie Dunn in very much the same way. The Queen of Dularn is an excellent "boxer" I might mention here. It is another thing she can "do" rather well beside sail a ship and sit on a throne and look "beautiful"! She can "lick" Carol. Carol says it was just a "lucky punch". Maybe. Maris is "good"! "We'll bind and gag these," I said, Maris nodding. I had no hatred for either Valerie Dunn or Lady Tirana, and I did rather like the old Warlady, who had been quite "nice" to Carol and me. "If Lorraine returns," Maris whispered in level terms then. "The two of us should be a `match' for her," I answered. Maris at the moment slipping a gag between Lady Tirana's teeth. Valerie was still unconscious, although Tirana was coming around. "I think we would do well together," Maris said to me then. "I think the Queen of Dularn needs more clothes," I spoke. "Perhaps they will confuse me for a slave girl," she smiled. She was, as they say, "slave naked", her robe having fallen open. Val...!" Lorraine gasped in surprise, stepping into the room, a bit "distraught" just then. I put the point of Valerie's sword to her throat, warned her not to try "anything". Lorraine was only "doing" as she saw right. I had no wish to kill her. She was, after all, a woman I had once thought "very highly of". "I hope Sandi has enough `smarts' to follow my orders," Car- ol whispered as San-sha laid there beside her, the Indian woman a bit "smelly" now from their swift dash across the corn fields and everything else. A nod from La-ra there in the darkness adding her opinion to this. Anis kneeling now behind a bush, watching. There was a "glow" there in the east now, although it was still dark, the forests still yet only a darker shadow against the sky. Carol guessing it was now somewhere about 5:15 in the morning. The four of them dashing then to behind a small outbuilding some fifty yards from the manor house proper. A number of men on guard leaving no doubt in Carol's mind that Lorraine was "alert"! "Too bad you white, make good Nevada," La-ra whispered then. The two Indian women having that awesome skill at archery that my wife notes seems to be almost a "racial characteristic" of them. As Darlanis notes in her own book that the Nevadas started little children using bows, and that their women were expected to be able to fight effectively in the defense of their encampment, it is perhaps not all that surprising here as to their own skills. I am "doubtful" in any case that it has to do with their "race". Archery is "important" to the Nevadas. It is the means by which they have preserved their own freedom from Imperial California. "Let's reduce the `odds' a bit," Anis suggested, getting up on one knee behind the outbuilding, and taking aim. The luckless guardsman then gasping and falling, the arrow buried in his body! A woman, a Warrioress, yelling briefly before two more arrows put an halt to her career permanently, San-sha and La-ra having skill almost as good as that of Carol herself. They were, Carol knew, actually a bit "better" at quick shots, although they did not have the accuracy at a long range that she did, she had noticed. "Them `blondes' make good targets," La-ra "laughed" as she followed the other three women to another place of "concealment"! The Indian woman thinking to herself that if her people back long ago in "the time of legends" had possessed a "leader" like Carol the "white eyes" might not have ever taken their lands from them! "We'll try for the manor house, see if we can get a hostage," Carol said, thinking of Sharon or perhaps another then. Someone she could "use" to hold off Lorraine or Darlanis until the North Star could return at their signal to now pick them up. Despite whatever her feelings were now, she was "responsible" for these people. For seeing that as many as possible got back safe! "Where's Lorraine?" Jon Richards asked, Darlanis now in com- mand of things from what it appeared. Sharon and Keri assisting her along with Captain Berson of the late Squala and Princess Sela Dai of Talon. The ballistae bolts were not really that much of a "threat" as such in the military sense, but they were quite "terrifying" as there was no way of telling from where they came! And they were being followed now by a number of crossbow bolts! The missiles came out of the darkness seemingly from everywhere! "Take some men, get down to the cove, see that the North Star gets a proper `welcome' if it comes back as I am sure it will!" Darlanis snapped, her sword gleaming there in her hand! An arrow, spent, almost falling at her feet now as the Empress of California gave her orders, seeing that the estate was defended! "Make those things `count'!" Sandi hissed, the North Star's "gunner" carefully aiming the ballistae there from between the trees. It was "necessary" to move after every shot so that the Imperials could not "guess" where the missiles were coming from! "I'll try for those `officers'," he growled, squeezing off a shot. The bolt going a bit high, just over Darlanis' golden head as the Empress "ducked"! Sharon then urging her to "keep moving" so that she made less of a "target" for the Dularnians. Darlanis herself "smiling" a bit at the words that Sharon had "used" then! "Words" that would have made even the most hard bitten of Warrio- resses to blush, especially when heard coming from the lips of a beautiful and innocent looking young Princess like Sharon Duval! Four bows "twanged" almost as one, those on guard in front of the manor collapsing as the deadly missiles did their work. An oarsman, grabbing up a crossbow, put a bolt far over Carol's head as my beloved brownette then sent a swift shaft back in re- ply! A terrified slave girl, not thinking, now dashing across the field! A ghostly pale "shadow", her naked body highlighted. "I get her, we learn much!" San-sha hissed, dashing forward! "Cover her!" Carol snapped, firing at the two guardsmen who had followed the slave girl. One falling, the other turning, and fleeing, now taking Anis' arrow right in between his shoulders! The shaft from her awesome bow driving right through his body! "One less to `worry about'," she smiled to her Warlady! "I underestimated you," Lorraine said to me as Maris secured her wrists behind her. "You and that wife of yours both," the Warlady spoke, tossing her head, her hair like a heavy dark mane. The living room wall having a new "ornament", a ballistae bolt! "And her too," I answered, indicating Maris with a motion of my head. The Queen of Dularn had come through when I needed her. "You are a man that many women could love," Lorraine said to me. Her words then made no "sense" to me. I think they do now. "The guards in front of the manor!" Maris breathed, the fall of their bodies leaving no doubts that "someone" had come for us. "Tell!" San-sha hissed, holding her dagger to the luckless slave's throat, the woman sobbing helplessly in her terror. She had, Carol noted then, also "wet" herself judging from the odor. They were now crouched behind the outbuilding used to house pigs! The odor unmistakable, and bringing back some very old memories! "They hold Queen of Dularn, and man who was a slave here!" the slave girl sobbed, her hair a darker shadow against the pale- ness of her face. Carol noted that the two Indian women, with their darker features, didn't show up quite so much in the light! "His name!" Carol hissed, seizing the wench by the throat! "Now!" I snapped, shoving Lorraine ahead of me, my hand on her arm. I thought of carrying her over my shoulder, but felt it was better to send her on ahead of me. The Imperials would cer- tainly know their own Warlady! And Dularnians would know that we had taken her captive! I had judged where our "friends" were by the direction from which the arrows had came. The distance I had determined rather easily knowing the range of our compound bows. The trees that shaded the manor house during the day gave us some "cover", although Maris' golden hair stood out in the dim light! "Three now come this way!" San-sha spoke, raising her bow, an arrow nocked on the string as she readied herself to shoot. Carol could see the three among the trees, two clad in what ap- peared to be robes, carrying swords, and pushing with them a black clad woman, who now appeared to an Imperial of high rank. "That mistress!" La-ra breathed in awe. "The Queen!" "Well, what do you think of that!" Anis now smiled! "Hold!" the black clad dark haired woman snapped, suddenly rising up there before us from the brush, a bow in her hands, an arrow nocked on the string. She was obviously a "Dulie"! Then suddenly I realized just "WHO" she was! MY OWN BELOVED CAROL!!! |
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