"2567-31" - читать интересную книгу автора (Jerome Bigge - Warlady 5 - The Warlady Of Dularn)"THE WARLADY OF DULARN" 2567 A.D.! By Jerome Bigge Chapter Thirty One "Carol!" I breathed, holding her, kissing her, stroking her hair. My wife sobbing with emotion in my arms as I held her now. Lorraine, Maris, the Indian women, the Imperials, all forgotten as I once again held my wonderful brownette in my arms. My Carol had come back for me! I tasted the salt of her tears as she clung to me, her mouth soft, moist against mine as she sobbed with deep emotion. How thankful I was that I had remained "true" to her! That I had not succumbed to the "charms" of Maris Marn. "You actually `planned' all this?" Lorraine asked, standing there, tall, proud, truly the Warlady that she is. I don't think she had believed me when I told her how Carol had "changed". I think she expected Carol would still be the "same" as she had been back when the Duvals had taken that little cottage for the summer a quarter mile down the road from us. When a bikini clad Sharon had come "strolling" around. When Jack Duval had leered at my wife taking a sunbath there behind the house. I think that Lorraine still thought of my wife as being a "sexual plaything". "I am the Warlady of Dularn," Carol spoke in level tones. "Imperials have spotted us!" San-sha then interjected. "I think a `cease-fire' might be in order," Lorraine said. "There is something to be said for `discipline'," Lorraine said, her eyes cold as they looked into the hazel of my wife. I could feel the "tension" there in the living room. The burning hatreds that only hard military discipline on both sides held in check. Only Maris' own authority as Queen of Dularn and Carol's as Warlady held our own people in control, while that of Lorraine and Darlanis did the same for the Imperials. An "uneasy" truce had been declared. I could feel the "tension" in my wife's body! Carol was dirty, sweaty, smelly, and utterly exhausted from everything she had been through. Yet there was still "fire" in her eyes, an "alertness" that left no doubts she was running on "nerves" now. Lorraine after the events of the night was in lit- tle better condition. She was a "legend" in the Empire, and now Dularn had a "legend" all of its own, a true fighting woman, one who might well be able now to even change the course of history! Carol had "proved" herself in a way that left no "doubts" as to her own right to be truly the Warlady of the Dularnian Republic! "My wife is a woman of `many talents'," I said to Lorraine. Queen Maris sat on the other side of me, more now properly at- tired as the Queen of Dularn than as some "Playboy Centerfold"! "Archery being obviously one of them," the Warlady smiled. "It is hard to believe that there was a tyrannosaurus living only a few miles from here," Sharon spoke from beside Darlanis. What the Empress had "heard" there while asleep had been "real". "The North Star," Queen Maris said, the ship creeping in to- wards us through the drifting mists like some "Flying Dutchman". I held Carol to me, felt the "tension" burning in her body as we faced Lorraine, Darlanis, Lady Tirana, Valerie Dunn, and others. It was now dawn, the sun a glowing ball there now on the horizon. It had been a long night for all of us, especially us of Dularn. "You have `won' this time, but the next time you will not," Lorraine suddenly spoke to Carol, the very tones of her voice a terrifying threat now as we stood there! "I am not going to al- low some dumb `cunt' like you to....!" Carol's furious slap as she "leaped" at the Imperial Warlady almost knocking her to the ground! I knew to my horror why Lorraine had spoken as she had! "Draw, you God-dammed bitch!" Carol screamed, whipping out her sword, the cold smile on Lorraine's stern features leaving no doubt to my horror that she had wanted Carol to "do" as she had! "She's no match for you!" Darlanis cried, trying to stop her Warlady. I felt Maris clung to me with both arms, Anis helping! Carol and Lorraine now "circling" like a pair of vicious dogs, a sharp clash of steel ringing out in the stillness of the morning as their swords met for the first time in deadly combat. Carol against Lorraine! My own beloved brownette against the greatest swordswoman of all time! Carol's swift blade meeting Lorraine's, although just "barely" this time, Lorraine "feeling out" Carol! Then Lorraine started "driving in" at my Carol, forcing her back! I could feel the coldness of the morning mists, hear the sounds of the ocean there in the early morning, the noises made aboard the North Star some two hundred yards away. Men yelling, the duel between Carol and Lorraine one perhaps many had hoped to see some day. I knew, however, what the "outcome" would be of this! Carol, despite her own wonderful skills, had no chance in this! The woman has yet to be born who can face Lorraine and ever survive! She is truly the greatest swordswoman of all time! "Maris!" I begged, "Stop Them!" My Queen shook her head in the negative. It was, I knew, "an affair of honor". I saw Shar- on tugging at Darlanis, the Empress shaking her head in the nega- tive. I knew Lorraine would kill Carol. This was the woman who had faced an entire Legion once. To the Imperials she was almost a "goddess", a woman who had become a "living legend" in three short years. A woman who had rose from a homeless refugee to the position of Queen of Trelandar, Warlady of the Empire of Califor- nia! The woman who was to the Imperials spoken of with "awe"!!! I saw Lorraine's long slim blade flash, heard my wife cry out, reach up, touch her face, the blood dark against her skin!!! "No! I won't let you kill her!" Sharon cried, running for- ward, throwing her arms around Lorraine, dragging her away from my wife. Carol merely standing there, her left hand pressed up against her face, well aware I think now that regardless of how "good" she had become with a sword, she had faced one far greater than her! That no woman, from any era, could ever face Lorraine! "There won't be a `Sharon' next time," Lorraine spoke then. "I should have `known' better," Carol said, taking the cloth from Maris, pressing it to her bleeding cheek. There would be a scar. Not one that might disfigure her, but she would be marked. "You faced her, knowing her `reputation'," Maris said then. "I always wondered if she was as `good' as they said," Carol smiled, allowing me to help her then into the North Star's boat. I saw Keri standing there alongside Lady Tirana. I kissed the palm of my hand, blew the kiss towards her. I don't think Carol understood just then, but I suppose it was just as well then too. My wife is a "jealous" woman, perhaps I think now with "reason". ***************************************************************** "I need `transportation' to Trella," Lorraine said, her eyes burning into the azure of Darlanis' as she nodded. The sun now a glowing hot ball there on the eastern horizon as they walked back to the manor house a quarter of a mile away. The "events" of the night something none of them would ever forget, especially the Warlady of California! The sails of the North Star blazing red there in the glow of the rising sun, the Warlady noted just then. "I still have my `duties' to attend to as Warlady of California." The mists clearing from the ocean as the sun rose up higher now. "Your new ship, the Athena, is commissioning there," the Em- press noted. Lorraine nodded. She planned to "settle" things once and for all. At sea where her experience and skill might be applied more "effectively" than this damm "jungle warfare" that Carol Simmons and her husband had dreamed up for the Dularnians! "Lady Tirana can take care of things here," Lorraine said. There was damage to be repaired, the dead to be buried properly. "And I am going with you!" Jon Richards spoke, grabbing his wife by the arms, pulling her around to face him. Lorraine nod- ded, her dark eyes meeting his. She would wish for no other now. "It is not a `victory' I will `rejoice' in," Lorraine said. There would probably be few "survivors" when they met this time! ***************************************************************** "Carol," I breathed, holding her in my arms, content just then to hold her, to feel the warmth of her body against my own. To know that she lived. That we were once again "together" now. She was naked against me, warm, soft, utterly and totally Carol! "I had a `dream' once," Carol answered softly, touching her cheek where the Physician had glued back together the sword cut. While "deep", it would not leave a bad scar when it healed up. I "understood" without any further "explanation" what Carol meant. "You faced her," I replied, holding her close. I could feel the North Star's movement as the ship sailed through the waves. Hear the creak of the rigging, the swish of the water against the hull. Our cabin was tiny, only large enough for a double pair of bunks, a chest for storage built underneath the lower one. Room aboard a raider is precious. Such a ship is "cramped" for space. "She `beat' me," Carol said in a soft whisper. "And before `everyone'," she added. "And I gave it everything I `had' too!" "You `beat' her where it `counted'," I pointed out to her. "It isn't `over' yet," Carol answered, regarding me then. "You should get some rest," Darlanis said, meeting the dark- ness of Lorraine's eyes as the Warlady taxied Black Lady around into the wind for a takeoff. Jon Richards in the back seat keep- ing his thoughts to himself, well aware of his wife's "temper". The blast from the propeller and the noise from the engine making conversation difficult just then. Lorraine nodding, pushing the throttle all the way forward for takeoff. The airplane bumping over the rough ground, the Queen of Trelandar keeping her thoughts to herself just then as she watched the instruments be- fore her. The Empress well aware that had it not been for Shar- on, it was quite possible that Lorraine would have killed Carol! "I will when I get to Trella," Lorraine answered as the air- plane lifted up into the air, the tall black clad brunette reach- ing down, moving a lever, well "aware" of Darlanis' eyes on her. "I want to see an `end' to this war," Darlanis now ventured. "So do I," Lorraine answered, a cold chill going through the Empress as she saw the "look" there in the Warlady's dark eyes. "And the quicker I can catch up with the North Star the better." "I don't want it to `end' this way," Darlanis spoke softly, reaching out, touching the hard muscular hand of the Warlady's. Far too vivid in Darlanis' mind were the last moments of Sarnian Lady. She was of the Caste of Warrioresses, but this was a new form of "warfare" that she wished to have no further part of now. "You should have thought of that last year when we had the chance to negotiate a `settlement' with Queen Maris," Lorraine snapped back. Darlanis nodding, her azure eyes moist with tears. She suspected strongly that she would never "see" Lorraine again. That both she and this Carol Simmons would die for their causes! That both ships would "burn" there at sea just because of her own stubbornness the year before in refusing to negotiate with Maris! "Then I'll do it now!" Darlanis wept, a tear rolling down a burned cheek, "And you will carry my offer of peace under a flag of truce to Queen Maris!" Lorraine shaking her head in the nega- tive! The Warlady's eyes like icy coals burning right into hers! "Combat fatigue," Lorraine then answered with a grim smile. "It happens to the best of us," the Warlady smiled at Darlanis. "A nice quiet rest in Trella should do you a world of good now." "THE WARLADY OF DULARN" 2567 A.D.! By Jerome Bigge Chapter Thirty One "Carol!" I breathed, holding her, kissing her, stroking her hair. My wife sobbing with emotion in my arms as I held her now. Lorraine, Maris, the Indian women, the Imperials, all forgotten as I once again held my wonderful brownette in my arms. My Carol had come back for me! I tasted the salt of her tears as she clung to me, her mouth soft, moist against mine as she sobbed with deep emotion. How thankful I was that I had remained "true" to her! That I had not succumbed to the "charms" of Maris Marn. "You actually `planned' all this?" Lorraine asked, standing there, tall, proud, truly the Warlady that she is. I don't think she had believed me when I told her how Carol had "changed". I think she expected Carol would still be the "same" as she had been back when the Duvals had taken that little cottage for the summer a quarter mile down the road from us. When a bikini clad Sharon had come "strolling" around. When Jack Duval had leered at my wife taking a sunbath there behind the house. I think that Lorraine still thought of my wife as being a "sexual plaything". "I am the Warlady of Dularn," Carol spoke in level tones. "Imperials have spotted us!" San-sha then interjected. "I think a `cease-fire' might be in order," Lorraine said. "There is something to be said for `discipline'," Lorraine said, her eyes cold as they looked into the hazel of my wife. I could feel the "tension" there in the living room. The burning hatreds that only hard military discipline on both sides held in check. Only Maris' own authority as Queen of Dularn and Carol's as Warlady held our own people in control, while that of Lorraine and Darlanis did the same for the Imperials. An "uneasy" truce had been declared. I could feel the "tension" in my wife's body! Carol was dirty, sweaty, smelly, and utterly exhausted from everything she had been through. Yet there was still "fire" in her eyes, an "alertness" that left no doubts she was running on "nerves" now. Lorraine after the events of the night was in lit- tle better condition. She was a "legend" in the Empire, and now Dularn had a "legend" all of its own, a true fighting woman, one who might well be able now to even change the course of history! Carol had "proved" herself in a way that left no "doubts" as to her own right to be truly the Warlady of the Dularnian Republic! "My wife is a woman of `many talents'," I said to Lorraine. Queen Maris sat on the other side of me, more now properly at- tired as the Queen of Dularn than as some "Playboy Centerfold"! "Archery being obviously one of them," the Warlady smiled. "It is hard to believe that there was a tyrannosaurus living only a few miles from here," Sharon spoke from beside Darlanis. What the Empress had "heard" there while asleep had been "real". "The North Star," Queen Maris said, the ship creeping in to- wards us through the drifting mists like some "Flying Dutchman". I held Carol to me, felt the "tension" burning in her body as we faced Lorraine, Darlanis, Lady Tirana, Valerie Dunn, and others. It was now dawn, the sun a glowing ball there now on the horizon. It had been a long night for all of us, especially us of Dularn. "You have `won' this time, but the next time you will not," Lorraine suddenly spoke to Carol, the very tones of her voice a terrifying threat now as we stood there! "I am not going to al- low some dumb `cunt' like you to....!" Carol's furious slap as she "leaped" at the Imperial Warlady almost knocking her to the ground! I knew to my horror why Lorraine had spoken as she had! "Draw, you God-dammed bitch!" Carol screamed, whipping out her sword, the cold smile on Lorraine's stern features leaving no doubt to my horror that she had wanted Carol to "do" as she had! "She's no match for you!" Darlanis cried, trying to stop her Warlady. I felt Maris clung to me with both arms, Anis helping! Carol and Lorraine now "circling" like a pair of vicious dogs, a sharp clash of steel ringing out in the stillness of the morning as their swords met for the first time in deadly combat. Carol against Lorraine! My own beloved brownette against the greatest swordswoman of all time! Carol's swift blade meeting Lorraine's, although just "barely" this time, Lorraine "feeling out" Carol! Then Lorraine started "driving in" at my Carol, forcing her back! I could feel the coldness of the morning mists, hear the sounds of the ocean there in the early morning, the noises made aboard the North Star some two hundred yards away. Men yelling, the duel between Carol and Lorraine one perhaps many had hoped to see some day. I knew, however, what the "outcome" would be of this! Carol, despite her own wonderful skills, had no chance in this! The woman has yet to be born who can face Lorraine and ever survive! She is truly the greatest swordswoman of all time! "Maris!" I begged, "Stop Them!" My Queen shook her head in the negative. It was, I knew, "an affair of honor". I saw Shar- on tugging at Darlanis, the Empress shaking her head in the nega- tive. I knew Lorraine would kill Carol. This was the woman who had faced an entire Legion once. To the Imperials she was almost a "goddess", a woman who had become a "living legend" in three short years. A woman who had rose from a homeless refugee to the position of Queen of Trelandar, Warlady of the Empire of Califor- nia! The woman who was to the Imperials spoken of with "awe"!!! I saw Lorraine's long slim blade flash, heard my wife cry out, reach up, touch her face, the blood dark against her skin!!! "No! I won't let you kill her!" Sharon cried, running for- ward, throwing her arms around Lorraine, dragging her away from my wife. Carol merely standing there, her left hand pressed up against her face, well aware I think now that regardless of how "good" she had become with a sword, she had faced one far greater than her! That no woman, from any era, could ever face Lorraine! "There won't be a `Sharon' next time," Lorraine spoke then. "I should have `known' better," Carol said, taking the cloth from Maris, pressing it to her bleeding cheek. There would be a scar. Not one that might disfigure her, but she would be marked. "You faced her, knowing her `reputation'," Maris said then. "I always wondered if she was as `good' as they said," Carol smiled, allowing me to help her then into the North Star's boat. I saw Keri standing there alongside Lady Tirana. I kissed the palm of my hand, blew the kiss towards her. I don't think Carol understood just then, but I suppose it was just as well then too. My wife is a "jealous" woman, perhaps I think now with "reason". ***************************************************************** "I need `transportation' to Trella," Lorraine said, her eyes burning into the azure of Darlanis' as she nodded. The sun now a glowing hot ball there on the eastern horizon as they walked back to the manor house a quarter of a mile away. The "events" of the night something none of them would ever forget, especially the Warlady of California! The sails of the North Star blazing red there in the glow of the rising sun, the Warlady noted just then. "I still have my `duties' to attend to as Warlady of California." The mists clearing from the ocean as the sun rose up higher now. "Your new ship, the Athena, is commissioning there," the Em- press noted. Lorraine nodded. She planned to "settle" things once and for all. At sea where her experience and skill might be applied more "effectively" than this damm "jungle warfare" that Carol Simmons and her husband had dreamed up for the Dularnians! "Lady Tirana can take care of things here," Lorraine said. There was damage to be repaired, the dead to be buried properly. "And I am going with you!" Jon Richards spoke, grabbing his wife by the arms, pulling her around to face him. Lorraine nod- ded, her dark eyes meeting his. She would wish for no other now. "It is not a `victory' I will `rejoice' in," Lorraine said. There would probably be few "survivors" when they met this time! ***************************************************************** "Carol," I breathed, holding her in my arms, content just then to hold her, to feel the warmth of her body against my own. To know that she lived. That we were once again "together" now. She was naked against me, warm, soft, utterly and totally Carol! "I had a `dream' once," Carol answered softly, touching her cheek where the Physician had glued back together the sword cut. While "deep", it would not leave a bad scar when it healed up. I "understood" without any further "explanation" what Carol meant. "You faced her," I replied, holding her close. I could feel the North Star's movement as the ship sailed through the waves. Hear the creak of the rigging, the swish of the water against the hull. Our cabin was tiny, only large enough for a double pair of bunks, a chest for storage built underneath the lower one. Room aboard a raider is precious. Such a ship is "cramped" for space. "She `beat' me," Carol said in a soft whisper. "And before `everyone'," she added. "And I gave it everything I `had' too!" "You `beat' her where it `counted'," I pointed out to her. "It isn't `over' yet," Carol answered, regarding me then. "You should get some rest," Darlanis said, meeting the dark- ness of Lorraine's eyes as the Warlady taxied Black Lady around into the wind for a takeoff. Jon Richards in the back seat keep- ing his thoughts to himself, well aware of his wife's "temper". The blast from the propeller and the noise from the engine making conversation difficult just then. Lorraine nodding, pushing the throttle all the way forward for takeoff. The airplane bumping over the rough ground, the Queen of Trelandar keeping her thoughts to herself just then as she watched the instruments be- fore her. The Empress well aware that had it not been for Shar- on, it was quite possible that Lorraine would have killed Carol! "I will when I get to Trella," Lorraine answered as the air- plane lifted up into the air, the tall black clad brunette reach- ing down, moving a lever, well "aware" of Darlanis' eyes on her. "I want to see an `end' to this war," Darlanis now ventured. "So do I," Lorraine answered, a cold chill going through the Empress as she saw the "look" there in the Warlady's dark eyes. "And the quicker I can catch up with the North Star the better." "I don't want it to `end' this way," Darlanis spoke softly, reaching out, touching the hard muscular hand of the Warlady's. Far too vivid in Darlanis' mind were the last moments of Sarnian Lady. She was of the Caste of Warrioresses, but this was a new form of "warfare" that she wished to have no further part of now. "You should have thought of that last year when we had the chance to negotiate a `settlement' with Queen Maris," Lorraine snapped back. Darlanis nodding, her azure eyes moist with tears. She suspected strongly that she would never "see" Lorraine again. That both she and this Carol Simmons would die for their causes! That both ships would "burn" there at sea just because of her own stubbornness the year before in refusing to negotiate with Maris! "Then I'll do it now!" Darlanis wept, a tear rolling down a burned cheek, "And you will carry my offer of peace under a flag of truce to Queen Maris!" Lorraine shaking her head in the nega- tive! The Warlady's eyes like icy coals burning right into hers! "Combat fatigue," Lorraine then answered with a grim smile. "It happens to the best of us," the Warlady smiled at Darlanis. "A nice quiet rest in Trella should do you a world of good now." |
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