"2567-43" - читать интересную книгу автора (Jerome Bigge - Warlady 5 - The Warlady Of Dularn)"THE WARLADY OF DULARN" 2567 A.D.! By Jerome Bigge Chapter Forty Three I watched the guardsman there on duty relieve himself in the ocean when suddenly a shadowy figure now reared up behind him and dragged him with a soft muffled sound down on to the sand. La-ra had accomplished her task, and without anyone being the wiser. I had seen that she had put her knife to good use. There had been no sound, only a sort of muffled gurgle as she cut his throat. I considered what a "thousand" like her could have done in Vietnam. I understood now too why the Empire of California had never been able to defeat the Nevadas in battle. Why as long as the Priest- esses of Lys maintained their "control" over technology, that no one would ever be able to conquer or control a people like hers. Like those of Dularn, the Nevadas practiced "universal armament". "Take us in," I hissed to the two men at the oars, the boat moving in the darkness towards the shadowy figure standing there. Sandi suddenly vomited over the side, perhaps not feeling well. In the cramped confines of the ship such can often happen. It seemed more "likely", however, that there was another "reason". One should not "dwell" excessively upon such things in "combat". You lose your "edge", the ability to fight effectively at times. "If we had a few dozen of `those'," Anis whispered to me. Like most Dularnians she was "racist" in a way, believing that no Nevada could be really considered "civilized" or really an equal. The same was "true" of Californians, I knew, from what I'd been told by San-sha. Such things are I think "innate" in Mankind... An "us" and "them" attitude that is older than the caves, I feel. An idea that your "culture", your "race", your "ethos", is best. "O.K., Sandi?" I asked, the odor of her vomit in the breeze. If she was sick it would be best that she went back to the ship. "I'll make it," she answered, looking up at me, her face as "black" as mine. I knew Lars thought highly of her, a silver chain about her throat marking her now as "his" in a way that left no "doubts". Maris had performed the marriage as "captain". When they reached Dularn they planned to get properly married... "Found a sentry," San-sha whispered. "Slit his throat," she added, her eyes in the darkness meeting Carol's. The brownette nodding, already "hardened" to warfare to the point such things no longer "bothered" her any more. Things had become now "us" and "them". She didn't even think of the "enemy" as being human. She had now truly become a Warrioress, a true fighting woman of the 26th Century. Her life back in the 20th now only a "memory". "There should be a manor house," Carol answered. "We need to take that, get the keys to their shackles," the Warlady said. Such an "action" perhaps had no "military value" as such, as I had pointed out, but Carol felt that freeing a hundred women from slavery was well worth the risks, the deaths that it might cause. As she said later on to me, "`Freedom is worth fighting for...'" Perhaps she is more a "true American" than I used to think. More faithful to the traditions of earlier America and that of Dularn. In the Janet Rogers' era they had "mind your own business laws". Janet used such "laws" to destroy many "activist organizations" through the use of civil lawsuits that quickly bankrupted them. Such still exist in the Empire, but not here in Dularn, I note... I aimed the shuttered lantern out to sea, sent the signal. I hoped Maris had a good sense of "distance". Otherwise none of us was likely to "enjoy" what would fall as the North Star fired! I saw the answering signal from the darkness, a dark shadow against the sea the only thing I could see of the North Star even with my eyes as completely adapted as they were now to the dark- ness. I saw the red glows as the fire bombs were lit, saw them arch through the sky over us like meteors, and then flare up in flame as they fell perhaps a hundred yards further inland now. A sound of surprised yelling greeting them as people suddenly real- ized now that they were indeed under "attack" by the North Star!! I ordered the North Star to fire another trio of fire bombs, and to then follow this up with a full broadside of darts aimed for a full area coverage using all twelve of our ballistae. Half a dozen of their guardsmen were foolish enough to be "caught" in our broadside half a minute later, falling like wooden soldiers before the deadly barrage! A series of three flashes in the dis- tance behind the buildings now visible beyond the flames left no doubts that Carol's forces had reached their objectives! I gave the North Star the order to "cease fire", and grabbing my cross- bow, followed the three women towards the fighting now ahead... "Follow me!" Carol cried, half a dozen women following her as she dashed for the manor house. Something went "zip" past her ear in the darkness, no doubt an arrow or crossbow bolt, she as- sumed, well aware of the fact that the weapons of this era could "kill" just as swiftly as could the bullets of the 20th Century!! A man reared up out of the darkness behind a bush, swinging his sword in a deadly arc. She parried the slash with her bow, kicking him hard in reply, and followed that up with a swift thrust of her own blade, leaving the body sprawled there in the grass as the other women now dashed on by her, yelling like a swarm of feminine demons as mad as wet hornets! Pausing then, an arrow nocked on the string, her sword thrust into the ground be- fore her, Carol searched for a "target", anyone not in "black face" being an enemy in her eyes! A terrified feminine pale fig- ure running by in the night, naked, no doubt just a slave girl! One of those that she and the others had come for now. Her bow suddenly then snapping in two when she put some tension on it! I fired my crossbow from the hip, dropping the man a dozen feet from me, his sword gleaming in the darkness. Anis giving him "grace" with a swift thrust of her blade as she dashed on by! La-ra was somewhere up ahead, almost invisible in the darkness. I could see shadowy figures in the dying flames of the fire bombs, but whether they were "friend" or "foe" I couldn't tell. The yelling and screaming, the curses, all bringing back memories of another time, another land. Only the lack of rifle shots made this "time" different from those times before. But yet men and women, both "ours" and "theirs", were dying here this night, just as they had died in that land almost half way around the world... "The keys!" Carol snapped, her blade at the man's throat. A woman bleeding from her shoulder standing to one side, a baby in her arms, a little boy at her side clinging to her silken robe. "I want the keys to their chains!" she snapped, prodding him with her point. The man shuddering, nodding, saying that they were kept in the slave shed. San-sha toying with a dagger, eying the woman standing there, muttering something about "white-eye hair"! The woman's hair a lovely shade of reddish gold, her height and coloring leaving little doubt of her own Dularnian ancestry now. "Guard them!" Carol snapped, grabbing the man, her point at his neck, a half full quiver of arrows still hanging down her back. The provocative perfection of her figure well displayed by her tight fitting attire. Her blackened features however left no doubts that she was a fighting woman. One now used to "warfare". "Victory is ours!" Carol called to me as I came running up. I wondered what our "losses" had been. These had not been true "fighters" like those on Lorraine's estates. I did not think we had taken much in the way of losses. Surprise had counted for much here, I thought. The man she "held" trembling with terror. We had struck a blow for "freedom" in a way none could doubt now. "You were right," I said to Carol as we walked back to the North Star. The former slaves were huddled together, almost as terrified of "us" now as they were of their own former masters. We had suffered three wounded, one death in our raid here. Much of the "credit" I thought belonged to the woman there at my side! "Freedom is `important'," Carol answered. "Everyone's!" I thought perhaps she was "right". Perhaps she had seen what I had not. What we were fighting for was "freedom", not an "Empire"!!! "This is the raider North Star and you will be taken to Du- larn as free women to make your lives there as my free citizens," Maris said standing there on the quarterdeck, illuminated by sev- eral lanterns, torches being too "dangerous" to be used aboard a ship. I put my arm around Carol, proud for what sort of a woman she was. Lorraine had once said that Carol was only a "house- wife", but I think she knew better now. My provocative brownette from Alabama had indeed "proved" herself in a way that left no "doubts" now of her worthiness to be the true Warlady of Dularn. ***************************************************************** Lorraine smiled as she read the telegraph. While it did not give the position of the North Star, she could calculate that... The "raid" upon the slaver left no doubts in her mind as to "who" was responsible for that. And the ship would be heavily loaded. Slowed now by the very mass of humanity that it carried towards Dularn. And the Athena would be "waiting", Lorraine vowed then!! ***************************************************************** "A bachelor's `dream'," I said to Carol, the former slave girls packed in aboard the North Star like sardines. There was already an "odor" of unwashed femininity despite the fact that we had sprayed the girls down with our deck pumps to get some of the "dirt" and the "stink" off them before then taking them below... "Two women for every man," Carol smiled. Clothing was a "problem" until the former slave girls could sew themselves some- thing to wear. The hundred some women having been kept nude in the slave sheds as is the common practice with slaves. We had also collected half a dozen male slaves, and taken them along with us. There were now well over two hundred people stuffed in- side a ship designed for ninety. Maris thought we might have food enough. Water we'd have to stop for somewhere and fill our barrels. I didn't want to think about what it would be "like" if we met the Athena! We were as crowded now as any "slaver" ship!! ***************************************************************** "Hoist the anchor, set course for Dularn!" Darlanis snapped. Her officer nodded, gave the orders to take the Swiftstar to sea. She had ninety Warriors with her, enough men to sail the ship. The Empress had made her plans. Close and board the North Star. "Settle" the issue with cold steel, cross her blade with that of Carol Simmons, take Maris Marn captive, and put an end to this... ***************************************************************** "I was a lucky man back there in '76," I said to Carol as she washed off the last of the grease paint she'd used to blacken her face. She was naked in our little cabin, her body gleaming in the light from the lantern. We had the port hole open to get what fresh air we could. The odor of the sea much more pleasing than the odor here below decks from the crowd of women packed in. "Worth keeping around?" Carol smiled, washing herself now. "Good in a fight too," I smiled. Carol was all of that. "That is a desirable quality in this era," she smiled. "I don't think I'd want to go `home' now," I said to her. "Me neither anymore," she answered, drying herself. "I think here I have discovered that I am more than just a wife..." "You were always `more' than that to me," I answered her. "It is good to be `loved'," Carol smiled, kissing me then. Her naked body invited my caresses, her rich mouth more kissing. "THE WARLADY OF DULARN" 2567 A.D.! By Jerome Bigge Chapter Forty Three I watched the guardsman there on duty relieve himself in the ocean when suddenly a shadowy figure now reared up behind him and dragged him with a soft muffled sound down on to the sand. La-ra had accomplished her task, and without anyone being the wiser. I had seen that she had put her knife to good use. There had been no sound, only a sort of muffled gurgle as she cut his throat. I considered what a "thousand" like her could have done in Vietnam. I understood now too why the Empire of California had never been able to defeat the Nevadas in battle. Why as long as the Priest- esses of Lys maintained their "control" over technology, that no one would ever be able to conquer or control a people like hers. Like those of Dularn, the Nevadas practiced "universal armament". "Take us in," I hissed to the two men at the oars, the boat moving in the darkness towards the shadowy figure standing there. Sandi suddenly vomited over the side, perhaps not feeling well. In the cramped confines of the ship such can often happen. It seemed more "likely", however, that there was another "reason". One should not "dwell" excessively upon such things in "combat". You lose your "edge", the ability to fight effectively at times. "If we had a few dozen of `those'," Anis whispered to me. Like most Dularnians she was "racist" in a way, believing that no Nevada could be really considered "civilized" or really an equal. The same was "true" of Californians, I knew, from what I'd been told by San-sha. Such things are I think "innate" in Mankind... An "us" and "them" attitude that is older than the caves, I feel. An idea that your "culture", your "race", your "ethos", is best. "O.K., Sandi?" I asked, the odor of her vomit in the breeze. If she was sick it would be best that she went back to the ship. "I'll make it," she answered, looking up at me, her face as "black" as mine. I knew Lars thought highly of her, a silver chain about her throat marking her now as "his" in a way that left no "doubts". Maris had performed the marriage as "captain". When they reached Dularn they planned to get properly married... "Found a sentry," San-sha whispered. "Slit his throat," she added, her eyes in the darkness meeting Carol's. The brownette nodding, already "hardened" to warfare to the point such things no longer "bothered" her any more. Things had become now "us" and "them". She didn't even think of the "enemy" as being human. She had now truly become a Warrioress, a true fighting woman of the 26th Century. Her life back in the 20th now only a "memory". "There should be a manor house," Carol answered. "We need to take that, get the keys to their shackles," the Warlady said. Such an "action" perhaps had no "military value" as such, as I had pointed out, but Carol felt that freeing a hundred women from slavery was well worth the risks, the deaths that it might cause. As she said later on to me, "`Freedom is worth fighting for...'" Perhaps she is more a "true American" than I used to think. More faithful to the traditions of earlier America and that of Dularn. In the Janet Rogers' era they had "mind your own business laws". Janet used such "laws" to destroy many "activist organizations" through the use of civil lawsuits that quickly bankrupted them. Such still exist in the Empire, but not here in Dularn, I note... I aimed the shuttered lantern out to sea, sent the signal. I hoped Maris had a good sense of "distance". Otherwise none of us was likely to "enjoy" what would fall as the North Star fired! I saw the answering signal from the darkness, a dark shadow against the sea the only thing I could see of the North Star even with my eyes as completely adapted as they were now to the dark- ness. I saw the red glows as the fire bombs were lit, saw them arch through the sky over us like meteors, and then flare up in flame as they fell perhaps a hundred yards further inland now. A sound of surprised yelling greeting them as people suddenly real- ized now that they were indeed under "attack" by the North Star!! I ordered the North Star to fire another trio of fire bombs, and to then follow this up with a full broadside of darts aimed for a full area coverage using all twelve of our ballistae. Half a dozen of their guardsmen were foolish enough to be "caught" in our broadside half a minute later, falling like wooden soldiers before the deadly barrage! A series of three flashes in the dis- tance behind the buildings now visible beyond the flames left no doubts that Carol's forces had reached their objectives! I gave the North Star the order to "cease fire", and grabbing my cross- bow, followed the three women towards the fighting now ahead... "Follow me!" Carol cried, half a dozen women following her as she dashed for the manor house. Something went "zip" past her ear in the darkness, no doubt an arrow or crossbow bolt, she as- sumed, well aware of the fact that the weapons of this era could "kill" just as swiftly as could the bullets of the 20th Century!! A man reared up out of the darkness behind a bush, swinging his sword in a deadly arc. She parried the slash with her bow, kicking him hard in reply, and followed that up with a swift thrust of her own blade, leaving the body sprawled there in the grass as the other women now dashed on by her, yelling like a swarm of feminine demons as mad as wet hornets! Pausing then, an arrow nocked on the string, her sword thrust into the ground be- fore her, Carol searched for a "target", anyone not in "black face" being an enemy in her eyes! A terrified feminine pale fig- ure running by in the night, naked, no doubt just a slave girl! One of those that she and the others had come for now. Her bow suddenly then snapping in two when she put some tension on it! I fired my crossbow from the hip, dropping the man a dozen feet from me, his sword gleaming in the darkness. Anis giving him "grace" with a swift thrust of her blade as she dashed on by! La-ra was somewhere up ahead, almost invisible in the darkness. I could see shadowy figures in the dying flames of the fire bombs, but whether they were "friend" or "foe" I couldn't tell. The yelling and screaming, the curses, all bringing back memories of another time, another land. Only the lack of rifle shots made this "time" different from those times before. But yet men and women, both "ours" and "theirs", were dying here this night, just as they had died in that land almost half way around the world... "The keys!" Carol snapped, her blade at the man's throat. A woman bleeding from her shoulder standing to one side, a baby in her arms, a little boy at her side clinging to her silken robe. "I want the keys to their chains!" she snapped, prodding him with her point. The man shuddering, nodding, saying that they were kept in the slave shed. San-sha toying with a dagger, eying the woman standing there, muttering something about "white-eye hair"! The woman's hair a lovely shade of reddish gold, her height and coloring leaving little doubt of her own Dularnian ancestry now. "Guard them!" Carol snapped, grabbing the man, her point at his neck, a half full quiver of arrows still hanging down her back. The provocative perfection of her figure well displayed by her tight fitting attire. Her blackened features however left no doubts that she was a fighting woman. One now used to "warfare". "Victory is ours!" Carol called to me as I came running up. I wondered what our "losses" had been. These had not been true "fighters" like those on Lorraine's estates. I did not think we had taken much in the way of losses. Surprise had counted for much here, I thought. The man she "held" trembling with terror. We had struck a blow for "freedom" in a way none could doubt now. "You were right," I said to Carol as we walked back to the North Star. The former slaves were huddled together, almost as terrified of "us" now as they were of their own former masters. We had suffered three wounded, one death in our raid here. Much of the "credit" I thought belonged to the woman there at my side! "Freedom is `important'," Carol answered. "Everyone's!" I thought perhaps she was "right". Perhaps she had seen what I had not. What we were fighting for was "freedom", not an "Empire"!!! "This is the raider North Star and you will be taken to Du- larn as free women to make your lives there as my free citizens," Maris said standing there on the quarterdeck, illuminated by sev- eral lanterns, torches being too "dangerous" to be used aboard a ship. I put my arm around Carol, proud for what sort of a woman she was. Lorraine had once said that Carol was only a "house- wife", but I think she knew better now. My provocative brownette from Alabama had indeed "proved" herself in a way that left no "doubts" now of her worthiness to be the true Warlady of Dularn. ***************************************************************** Lorraine smiled as she read the telegraph. While it did not give the position of the North Star, she could calculate that... The "raid" upon the slaver left no doubts in her mind as to "who" was responsible for that. And the ship would be heavily loaded. Slowed now by the very mass of humanity that it carried towards Dularn. And the Athena would be "waiting", Lorraine vowed then!! ***************************************************************** "A bachelor's `dream'," I said to Carol, the former slave girls packed in aboard the North Star like sardines. There was already an "odor" of unwashed femininity despite the fact that we had sprayed the girls down with our deck pumps to get some of the "dirt" and the "stink" off them before then taking them below... "Two women for every man," Carol smiled. Clothing was a "problem" until the former slave girls could sew themselves some- thing to wear. The hundred some women having been kept nude in the slave sheds as is the common practice with slaves. We had also collected half a dozen male slaves, and taken them along with us. There were now well over two hundred people stuffed in- side a ship designed for ninety. Maris thought we might have food enough. Water we'd have to stop for somewhere and fill our barrels. I didn't want to think about what it would be "like" if we met the Athena! We were as crowded now as any "slaver" ship!! ***************************************************************** "Hoist the anchor, set course for Dularn!" Darlanis snapped. Her officer nodded, gave the orders to take the Swiftstar to sea. She had ninety Warriors with her, enough men to sail the ship. The Empress had made her plans. Close and board the North Star. "Settle" the issue with cold steel, cross her blade with that of Carol Simmons, take Maris Marn captive, and put an end to this... ***************************************************************** "I was a lucky man back there in '76," I said to Carol as she washed off the last of the grease paint she'd used to blacken her face. She was naked in our little cabin, her body gleaming in the light from the lantern. We had the port hole open to get what fresh air we could. The odor of the sea much more pleasing than the odor here below decks from the crowd of women packed in. "Worth keeping around?" Carol smiled, washing herself now. "Good in a fight too," I smiled. Carol was all of that. "That is a desirable quality in this era," she smiled. "I don't think I'd want to go `home' now," I said to her. "Me neither anymore," she answered, drying herself. "I think here I have discovered that I am more than just a wife..." "You were always `more' than that to me," I answered her. "It is good to be `loved'," Carol smiled, kissing me then. Her naked body invited my caresses, her rich mouth more kissing. |
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