"2567-32" - читать интересную книгу автора (Jerome Bigge - Warlady 5 - The Warlady Of Dularn)"THE WARLADY OF DULARN" 2567 A.D.! By Jerome Bigge Chapter Thirty Two "Hey, slut!" the sailor yelled at Kathi, the naked blondish slave girl turning, wondering if she was going to be "had" again! The single men aboard the ship having taken their "pleasure" of her one after another ever since they had left Lorraine's estate! The lower deck of the North Star crowded, with worn out sails now being used to divide it up into compartments so that the single women and married couples might have a little bit of "privacy". Fortunately for Kathi's sake most of the women from San-sha's band of runaway slave girls and those from the estate had already found male companionship. She was paying dearly now for having been the "snitch" and the "tattle-tale" she had once been before! Her "reputation" having soon been spread all over the North Star. "Yes, `master'?" Kathi replied, going to her knees. She was more terrified however of the free women than of the single men. Only those who had once worn the collar of the slave girl could understand what it was like to be some "rightless female animal". "I want you to go down into the hold and bring up some of that cheese and smoked sausage we have stored away," he ordered, the odor of rum on his breath, the woman beside him one of the former members of San-sha's band, a tall slim brunette who some had said reminded them a bit of the famous Warlady of California! "Please no, kind master," Kathi begged on her knees, fearful of the rats she knew lived down there among the boxes and crates. "Someone fetch a whip!" the woman called out, giving Kathi a "smile" that made Carol's ripe bodied slave girl shake in terror! "She is not yours to whip," a voice suddenly spoke from be- hind Kathi, the sailors and their women nodding, and moving back! "It is sometimes `hard' to be a slave girl," Queen Maris said smilingly as she gently tousled Kathi's hair with her hand. Kathi taking the Queen's hand in her own and gently kissing it. Looking up into the green eyes of the Queen with teary gratitude. "Come with me," Maris then said, "And I'll show you where the food they want is kept," Kathi getting to her feet, following the Queen of Dularn, her bare feet padding on the deck planking. ***************************************************************** "And just what do you mean by that!" Darlanis snapped, fear- ing the "worst" now of Lorraine. The ocean a thousand feet below the airplane looking much like a pond with little ripples on it. "You had Sarnian Lady burned out from under you, you were attacked there on my estate only hours later, and then last night you had to face hostile fire again, and I have a hunch that you haven't slept more than a few hours with those burns the way that they are on you," the Warlady of Imperial California "explained". "I'm still your commander in chief!" Darlanis snapped back. "Under the laws of Trelandar Maris is now legally a `pirate' for attacking my estate and I am thus within my legal rights un- der our Constitution to pursue pirates," the Warlady smiled back. "Also, there has never been a formal declaration of `war' between the Empire of California and Dularn, which also makes Maris' own activities those of a `pirate'," the Queen of Trelandar added. A nod from the Warlady leaving no doubts in Darlanis' mind that she was actually legally entitled to do what she wished with Maris!* * The reader will recall here in that in the previous book of this series Darlanis did obtain a "declaration of defense" from the Imperial Senate, but she did not ask for or receive a decla- ration of war as such. Also, Sanda Talen had pointed out to Dar- lanis the year before that under Trelandar's "Constitution" they were entitled to act in their own self-defense against "pirates". I also suspect that Darlanis at this point was getting pretty "tired" of the entire affair and just wanted to get "out". (J.B.) "That damm Sanda Talen!" Darlanis muttered more to herself than to those with her in the airplane. The Scribe having once been a well known lawyer there in Trelandar before Darlanis' own military invasion had forced her to flee for her life for the "crime" of attempting to organize a "popular resistance movement" against Darlanis' rule. The beautiful blonde Empress being well aware that in any contest of "wits" against Lady Sanda Talen she stood no more chance than she did facing Lorraine with a sword! "A quite `intelligent' woman," Lorraine agreed, smiling. "But against their fire weapons?" Darlanis now protested. "Maris keeps the caste codes," Lorraine then smiled back in reply to the golden Empress. "Fire will not be used this time." "She was `brave', that `Carol', to face you," Darlanis said. ***************************************************************** "Down here," Maris said, reaching down, lifting the hatch. "Is there supposed to be `water' down there?" Kathi asked. "OH LYS!!!" the Queen of Dularn gasped, looking down! The water swirling, dark, a cold chill then going through Maris Marn! The North Star's hull had been obviously punctured by something! "Are we sinking?" Kathi whimpered, the terror showing now! "No, but this is `SERIOUS'!" Maris snapped in reply. The Queen taking the lantern from the slave girl, and climbing down the ladder to the hold into the dark water below, the cold sea- water swirling about her waist as she looked about, a number of items floating about, gently drifting with the current as the ship rolled in the gentle swell! While the North Star was built with four watertight compartments below the waterline, the pierc- ing of any of them would cause the ship to ride lower in the wa- ter, slowing it! Making it more "vulnerable" to the enemy too! "Kathi, get Lars, have him put men on pump three," Maris or- dered, the slave girl nodding, then dashing off. The golden haired Queen of Dularn raising the lantern high, frowning at the sight of what she saw before her. It being obvious that their entire supply of fresh and preserved food had been destroyed by the water with the exception of that hung from the crossbeams above! And it was a good two weeks sail at least back to Dularn! The Dularnian Queen having little doubt too as to the "cause"!!! "The North Star took `fire' from the Imperials last night, didn't it?" Maris spoke in level tones as she stood there in the swirling dark water of hold three. Lars nodding, not meeting her emerald eyes. He recalled hearing the bolts hit, although he had felt that they had done the ship little "harm". The marksmanship of the Imperials hadn't been that good there in darkness anyway. "We were hit at least once at the waterline with the ship heeled over on the port tack from the land breeze last night," Maris spoke, her own "experience" being such that she knew quite well from what she'd been told earlier how everything had "hap- pened". The thought going through her mind that it was quite possible that the bolt that had done the "damage" had been the very same one that Lorraine had "said" she'd shot off! "And now we are heeled over on the starboard tack with that hole at least six feet underwater," the blonde Queen of Dularn said. While the pump could deal with such a "leak", still it would be necessary to make "repairs", and the only way such "repairs" could be made now would be to put the ship on the opposite tack! And that would mean sailing back south, and away from Dularn and safety!!! ***************************************************************** "I want to go with you," Darlanis said, touching Lorraine's arm as the Warlady silently regarded the heavy three masted schooner now at floating there at anchor in Trella's harbor. The Athena would be "captained" by Janice Hill, who the Warlady knew she could trust to follow her orders to the letter! Janice Hill herself, so much like a "daughter" of Lorraine in her own appear- ance, now standing there quietly to one side with her husband and son watching the two royal women and those with them. Lorraine's earlier words to her having left no doubt in the young captain's mind that this was now perhaps a voyage from which she would nev- er return! Lorraine's terse orders having left no doubt that she might never see her husband or her own little boy ever again! A fine pair of dark eyes now looking up right into Janice's as she glanced down at her little boy, wondering if she would ever see him ever now again once the Athena set sail to seek out the North Star. Lady Sanda Talen, Prime Minister of Trelandar, her baby son in her arms, quietly standing there watching them. A number of people, the curious, now were held back by the city guardsmen. "If I `fall', make Lady Tirana your Warlady," Lorraine said. "Lorraine," Darlanis said softly, "I wish that.....," The Warlady nodding, briefly kissing her then before stepping down into the boat that would take her out to the now waiting Athena. Jon Richards briefly glancing at Lady Sanda, and then following his wife down into the boat. Janice kissing her husband, hugging her son, while watching the midshipman get their boat under way. Once loading was completed, she would be rowed out to the ship. There to sail under the direct command of Lorraine Richards, the Queen of Trelandar, and the Warlady of the Empire of California! ***************************************************************** I awoke to the sounds of "activity", of men carrying things, of "thumps" on the deck overhead, the sound of voices, Carol now sleeping quietly there beside me, her lips like a lovely rosebud. Slipping out of the bunk, I quickly dressed, pulling on my stuff. My clothing still damp from Kathi's having washed it all earlier. "Bob?" Carol breathed, her eyes half open, the exhaustion from everything she'd been through still showing on her features. She had done the "impossible", actually "defeating" Lorraine! I knew, as the others did not, that Carol had really "won" in that her military tactics had actually been "superior" to Lorraine's! "Just `checking' things out," I said, giving her a smile. "Something's `wrong'," Carol spoke, raising her head, throw- ing back the blanket, her beautiful body a pale shadow in the dim light coming through the curtained port hole there in the hull. "I'll check it out," I answered, giving her a kiss then. "I'll be right behind you," my wife answered in reply. "Trouble?" I asked, seeing Maris supervising the opening of crates, of boxes, it being "obvious" that everything had been wetted. A stream of water spurting over the side further proof! The sun bright in the sky there just to the west, the few clouds like lovely cotton puffs floating there in the azure blue vault. The blue green "day" sails taking the light breezes gracefully with nothing but a rolling ocean now to be seen in any direction. "We've been `holed'," Maris answered, looking "tired" now. "One of those Imperial ballistae bolts fired at us last night hit below the waterline and went right through the side of the ship." "I guess your weapons aren't as `primitive' as I thought," I smiled back, Maris giving me a bit of a frown just then in reply! I suppose I shouldn't have said that just then, but as I've never really considered the weapons of this era as being really all that "effective", I suppose it was an "easy mistake" on my part! "I know you `mean well' and all that, but I'm just not in the `mood' right now," Maris forced a smile, turning back then to seeing what could be "salvaged" from the water damaged "stores". "THE WARLADY OF DULARN" 2567 A.D.! By Jerome Bigge Chapter Thirty Two "Hey, slut!" the sailor yelled at Kathi, the naked blondish slave girl turning, wondering if she was going to be "had" again! The single men aboard the ship having taken their "pleasure" of her one after another ever since they had left Lorraine's estate! The lower deck of the North Star crowded, with worn out sails now being used to divide it up into compartments so that the single women and married couples might have a little bit of "privacy". Fortunately for Kathi's sake most of the women from San-sha's band of runaway slave girls and those from the estate had already found male companionship. She was paying dearly now for having been the "snitch" and the "tattle-tale" she had once been before! Her "reputation" having soon been spread all over the North Star. "Yes, `master'?" Kathi replied, going to her knees. She was more terrified however of the free women than of the single men. Only those who had once worn the collar of the slave girl could understand what it was like to be some "rightless female animal". "I want you to go down into the hold and bring up some of that cheese and smoked sausage we have stored away," he ordered, the odor of rum on his breath, the woman beside him one of the former members of San-sha's band, a tall slim brunette who some had said reminded them a bit of the famous Warlady of California! "Please no, kind master," Kathi begged on her knees, fearful of the rats she knew lived down there among the boxes and crates. "Someone fetch a whip!" the woman called out, giving Kathi a "smile" that made Carol's ripe bodied slave girl shake in terror! "She is not yours to whip," a voice suddenly spoke from be- hind Kathi, the sailors and their women nodding, and moving back! "It is sometimes `hard' to be a slave girl," Queen Maris said smilingly as she gently tousled Kathi's hair with her hand. Kathi taking the Queen's hand in her own and gently kissing it. Looking up into the green eyes of the Queen with teary gratitude. "Come with me," Maris then said, "And I'll show you where the food they want is kept," Kathi getting to her feet, following the Queen of Dularn, her bare feet padding on the deck planking. ***************************************************************** "And just what do you mean by that!" Darlanis snapped, fear- ing the "worst" now of Lorraine. The ocean a thousand feet below the airplane looking much like a pond with little ripples on it. "You had Sarnian Lady burned out from under you, you were attacked there on my estate only hours later, and then last night you had to face hostile fire again, and I have a hunch that you haven't slept more than a few hours with those burns the way that they are on you," the Warlady of Imperial California "explained". "I'm still your commander in chief!" Darlanis snapped back. "Under the laws of Trelandar Maris is now legally a `pirate' for attacking my estate and I am thus within my legal rights un- der our Constitution to pursue pirates," the Warlady smiled back. "Also, there has never been a formal declaration of `war' between the Empire of California and Dularn, which also makes Maris' own activities those of a `pirate'," the Queen of Trelandar added. A nod from the Warlady leaving no doubts in Darlanis' mind that she was actually legally entitled to do what she wished with Maris!* * The reader will recall here in that in the previous book of this series Darlanis did obtain a "declaration of defense" from the Imperial Senate, but she did not ask for or receive a decla- ration of war as such. Also, Sanda Talen had pointed out to Dar- lanis the year before that under Trelandar's "Constitution" they were entitled to act in their own self-defense against "pirates". I also suspect that Darlanis at this point was getting pretty "tired" of the entire affair and just wanted to get "out". (J.B.) "That damm Sanda Talen!" Darlanis muttered more to herself than to those with her in the airplane. The Scribe having once been a well known lawyer there in Trelandar before Darlanis' own military invasion had forced her to flee for her life for the "crime" of attempting to organize a "popular resistance movement" against Darlanis' rule. The beautiful blonde Empress being well aware that in any contest of "wits" against Lady Sanda Talen she stood no more chance than she did facing Lorraine with a sword! "A quite `intelligent' woman," Lorraine agreed, smiling. "But against their fire weapons?" Darlanis now protested. "Maris keeps the caste codes," Lorraine then smiled back in reply to the golden Empress. "Fire will not be used this time." "She was `brave', that `Carol', to face you," Darlanis said. ***************************************************************** "Down here," Maris said, reaching down, lifting the hatch. "Is there supposed to be `water' down there?" Kathi asked. "OH LYS!!!" the Queen of Dularn gasped, looking down! The water swirling, dark, a cold chill then going through Maris Marn! The North Star's hull had been obviously punctured by something! "Are we sinking?" Kathi whimpered, the terror showing now! "No, but this is `SERIOUS'!" Maris snapped in reply. The Queen taking the lantern from the slave girl, and climbing down the ladder to the hold into the dark water below, the cold sea- water swirling about her waist as she looked about, a number of items floating about, gently drifting with the current as the ship rolled in the gentle swell! While the North Star was built with four watertight compartments below the waterline, the pierc- ing of any of them would cause the ship to ride lower in the wa- ter, slowing it! Making it more "vulnerable" to the enemy too! "Kathi, get Lars, have him put men on pump three," Maris or- dered, the slave girl nodding, then dashing off. The golden haired Queen of Dularn raising the lantern high, frowning at the sight of what she saw before her. It being obvious that their entire supply of fresh and preserved food had been destroyed by the water with the exception of that hung from the crossbeams above! And it was a good two weeks sail at least back to Dularn! The Dularnian Queen having little doubt too as to the "cause"!!! "The North Star took `fire' from the Imperials last night, didn't it?" Maris spoke in level tones as she stood there in the swirling dark water of hold three. Lars nodding, not meeting her emerald eyes. He recalled hearing the bolts hit, although he had felt that they had done the ship little "harm". The marksmanship of the Imperials hadn't been that good there in darkness anyway. "We were hit at least once at the waterline with the ship heeled over on the port tack from the land breeze last night," Maris spoke, her own "experience" being such that she knew quite well from what she'd been told earlier how everything had "hap- pened". The thought going through her mind that it was quite possible that the bolt that had done the "damage" had been the very same one that Lorraine had "said" she'd shot off! "And now we are heeled over on the starboard tack with that hole at least six feet underwater," the blonde Queen of Dularn said. While the pump could deal with such a "leak", still it would be necessary to make "repairs", and the only way such "repairs" could be made now would be to put the ship on the opposite tack! And that would mean sailing back south, and away from Dularn and safety!!! ***************************************************************** "I want to go with you," Darlanis said, touching Lorraine's arm as the Warlady silently regarded the heavy three masted schooner now at floating there at anchor in Trella's harbor. The Athena would be "captained" by Janice Hill, who the Warlady knew she could trust to follow her orders to the letter! Janice Hill herself, so much like a "daughter" of Lorraine in her own appear- ance, now standing there quietly to one side with her husband and son watching the two royal women and those with them. Lorraine's earlier words to her having left no doubt in the young captain's mind that this was now perhaps a voyage from which she would nev- er return! Lorraine's terse orders having left no doubt that she might never see her husband or her own little boy ever again! A fine pair of dark eyes now looking up right into Janice's as she glanced down at her little boy, wondering if she would ever see him ever now again once the Athena set sail to seek out the North Star. Lady Sanda Talen, Prime Minister of Trelandar, her baby son in her arms, quietly standing there watching them. A number of people, the curious, now were held back by the city guardsmen. "If I `fall', make Lady Tirana your Warlady," Lorraine said. "Lorraine," Darlanis said softly, "I wish that.....," The Warlady nodding, briefly kissing her then before stepping down into the boat that would take her out to the now waiting Athena. Jon Richards briefly glancing at Lady Sanda, and then following his wife down into the boat. Janice kissing her husband, hugging her son, while watching the midshipman get their boat under way. Once loading was completed, she would be rowed out to the ship. There to sail under the direct command of Lorraine Richards, the Queen of Trelandar, and the Warlady of the Empire of California! ***************************************************************** I awoke to the sounds of "activity", of men carrying things, of "thumps" on the deck overhead, the sound of voices, Carol now sleeping quietly there beside me, her lips like a lovely rosebud. Slipping out of the bunk, I quickly dressed, pulling on my stuff. My clothing still damp from Kathi's having washed it all earlier. "Bob?" Carol breathed, her eyes half open, the exhaustion from everything she'd been through still showing on her features. She had done the "impossible", actually "defeating" Lorraine! I knew, as the others did not, that Carol had really "won" in that her military tactics had actually been "superior" to Lorraine's! "Just `checking' things out," I said, giving her a smile. "Something's `wrong'," Carol spoke, raising her head, throw- ing back the blanket, her beautiful body a pale shadow in the dim light coming through the curtained port hole there in the hull. "I'll check it out," I answered, giving her a kiss then. "I'll be right behind you," my wife answered in reply. "Trouble?" I asked, seeing Maris supervising the opening of crates, of boxes, it being "obvious" that everything had been wetted. A stream of water spurting over the side further proof! The sun bright in the sky there just to the west, the few clouds like lovely cotton puffs floating there in the azure blue vault. The blue green "day" sails taking the light breezes gracefully with nothing but a rolling ocean now to be seen in any direction. "We've been `holed'," Maris answered, looking "tired" now. "One of those Imperial ballistae bolts fired at us last night hit below the waterline and went right through the side of the ship." "I guess your weapons aren't as `primitive' as I thought," I smiled back, Maris giving me a bit of a frown just then in reply! I suppose I shouldn't have said that just then, but as I've never really considered the weapons of this era as being really all that "effective", I suppose it was an "easy mistake" on my part! "I know you `mean well' and all that, but I'm just not in the `mood' right now," Maris forced a smile, turning back then to seeing what could be "salvaged" from the water damaged "stores". |
|
|