"2567-50" - читать интересную книгу автора (Jerome Bigge - Warlady 5 - The Warlady Of Dularn)"THE WARLADY OF DULARN" 2567 A.D.! By Jerome Bigge Chapter Fifty "Climb up out of there," the captain of the slaver yelled, the hatch now open above their cell. Women are usually kept in cells aboard a slaver, a dozen women or so to a cell in a space about ten feet square. The ladder now dropped down into the cell would allow them to climb out one at a time. Security aboard a slaver is much like that of a prison hulk, although of course the "conditions" are somewhat different in that dealing with women is usually easier than it is dealing with the same number of men... "We spray them down about once every three days," the cap- tain said to me, giving me a gap toothed smile. Apparently he didn't own the ship and thus really didn't care that much if his cargo now ended up going on to Dularn instead of going to Porlan. This last having been his destination with this cargo of slaves. "How often is their bedding changed?" Carol snapped as the first of the girls now climbed out to stand on the deck before us. The girls usually try to reserve one part of their cell for their wastes, leaving the rest of it for themselves to lie upon. The stink that arose from the hatches like that of an outhouse... "The ship was `clean' when they were loaded aboard," he said. The vessel itself was of Sarnian registry, I might note. He had been picking up women all along the coast, with their eventual destination being Porlan, which the northernmost Imperi- al city just south of the "disputed territories". The fact that he would lose both ship and cargo to us didn't seem to bother him. He would still get paid for his services anyway, I suppose. The first dozen girls had now climbed out on deck, blinking and squinting in the sunlight. They were all chained by the neck, I noticed, such being an additional precaution on a vessel where the slave girls outnumbered the crew by some dozen times. "A sailor's dream, ain't they?" the captain smiled at me. "I understand they're headed for the brothels being built there." Darlanis was building up her military forces in Porlan, her "in- tentions" here being rather "obvious" from what I'd heard lately. "You have keys for their chains?" Carol suddenly snapped. "Want to talk about it?" I asked Carol as we laid together that night, the gentle roll of the North Star and the creak of the hull now familiar, comforting sounds. My wife had been qui- et, hardly interested in conversation ever since we'd left the slaver ship. We'd put the second officer in charge of the "prize", and elevated Shari to the position of acting second of- ficer. She was at least "competent", if inexperienced, which was more than I or Carol could say for the other two, both daughters of aristocrats. I had told Sandra that I "needed" her, and couldn't afford to let her go, not with as "inexperienced" a crew as we had aboard now! Now if I could only get "rid" of Monica... "I know most slave girls don't have it that `bad'," my wife said. Those who ended up with single men as their masters often lived lives that most wives might envy I knew. Such girls were always "envied" by their less "lucky" sisters in bondage. On the other hand to be a slave girl in a military brothel was to live a life of constant sexual abuse, mauled and knocked around by half drunken men at arms. Carol didn't need to add the rest of it... "You're thinking that had things been `different' you could have ended up that way," I said, holding her close, kissing her. "I think there are `fates worse than death'," she said. "Put a shot across his bow!" I ordered, Carol standing at my side. The vessel was lateen rigged, slow, a bloated merchantman! We were just north of Sarn, the "hunting" having been good now. Something went flashing just between us then, a seaman there on the deck grabbing at his chest, the blood suddenly welling forth! "Helm to starboard, port battery fire when you bear!" I snapped, the North Star turning, bringing her broadside to bear!! "Idiot!" Carol snapped, looking at the body there on the merchantman's quarterdeck. One of the seamen had told us that he was both the master and the owner. I supposed his life savings were tied up in this ship. That's the only reason I can think of why he would return fire with crossbows against the North Star!!! "You will take the prize back to Dularn," I said to Monica, the golden haired beauty standing there terrified. She was to- tally incompetent, even after "kissing the gunner's daughter" for not paying proper attention to her studies. I considered her "hopeless". She didn't belong at sea, at least not on this ship! "Please sir, send another," the teenage girl begged, no doubt thinking of what it would be like to be in command of our new prize. I would send over a couple seamen for "security" with her, but getting back to Dularn would be her "problem", she knew! "It's considered quite an `honor' to sail a prize home," I said to her. "Your parents will doubtlessly be proud of you." I understood that they were a quite wealthy family there in Arsana. "Take your books on seamanship with you, study," Carol said. I supposed if Monica could manage to get in sight of Dularn some- one could always come out and tow the prize safely into port... "I hate to say it, but she's good for nothing but pleasing a man!" Carol said to me. That was a pretty assessment of Monica! She could carry out orders, but she couldn't "think on her feet" when it was "necessary" for her to do so. The crew made little "jokes" about her, which was bad for discipline. She got waylaid before she went a hundred miles by some Imperial third rate on patrol, whose captain then kept the wench despite the fact that her parents offered a ransom far more than her "value"! As Carol just said, she did turn out to be "good for something" after all! "Port battery, fire!" I snapped, listening to the man in the bow beside me tossing the lead. I heard the "thud" of the broad- side behind me as our weapons fired their broadside into the darkness lit only by the fires caused by the Swiftstar's broad- side fired just a minute before. Our hull as black as night due to the black canvas now spread over the side of the ship. Swift- star invisible in the darkness just ahead of us had already re- leased her boats, I knew. Sandra Steven, the first officer, now ordering ours released now at my order. I felt uncomfortable knowing Carol was leading the landing party with Shari for sig- nals officer. On the other hand she was more "experienced" at this than I was. The Swiftstar signaling its turn as we now made a great circle in the darkness, coming back around to fire a sec- ond broadside from our starboard batteries over the heads of the landing party. Such fire was not really all that "effective" as such, but it certainly did help "impress" the Imperials a bit! I hoped such "hit and run" raids would be as "effective" as Maris thought. We needed some way of getting Darlanis to "negotiate"! "Imperials never knew what hit them!" Carol laughed, Shari standing there watching the flames shoot up from the buildings. My wife had taken her with her, saying that she could use the "experience". I think Carol felt a bit "motherly" towards Shari, who in a way did look like what Carol might have as a teenager... My wife's blackened face bringing back memories of another time. The boats now being hoisted back on board as we filled our sails. "We need," I said to Lars Debolt of the Swiftstar, his wife Sandi at his side, the silver of her neck chain glistening in the lamplight, "To do something about the telegraph system the Impe- rials have." This was a series of towers about five miles apart running along the coast that served to relay messages from one end of the Empire to the other. The system was a development of Lorraine's, and unlike some of her other ideas, seemed to work effectively, at least when the weather was clear, I understood. There was nothing "modern" about the "technology", since a system very much like it had been in use in France in the 18th Century. "Otherwise Darlanis is going to be able to figure out pretty soon about `where' our ships are," Carol added, glancing at Sandi sitting there next to her husband. The Queen could send out a couple of second rates, and several third rates, enough ships to put a quick halt to our activities if they ever found us at sea!! "Shouldn't be too hard to destroy one of those towers," Lars said, his arm around his wife. "Only trouble is that the Imperi- als are certainly going to know what we're up to when we do it!" "Maybe there's a way of doing it so they won't know," Sandi suggested then, her eyes meeting those of my wife as she nodded. She was first officer on the Swiftstar, a position she deserved!! "`Spooky' out here at night," Shari Johnson whispered, well aware of how useless her sword or bow would be up against some of the life in this era. Her black clad Warlady and the first offi- cer of the Swiftstar smiling to themselves at her choice of words just then! The group of archers and crossbowmen following close. "There's the tower," Carol whispered, the thing towering up into the star sprinkled sky. A small hut at its base no doubt housing the operator and his family. A little jetty jutting out into the bay had a small sailboat tied up to it, she noticed now. "Hold your force here," Sandi ordered Shari, the archers and crossbowmen from the ships squatting down in the sand. Shari watching the two black faced women carefully creeping ahead, the lovely midshipman wondering to herself if she would ever be able to do things like this? To lead a force down a beach to assault an enemy outpost. To bring the force of Dularnian naval power to bear in a place like this? The sixteen year old girl well aware of the "fate" that would await her should the Imperials capture them. The "war" was "undeclared", and so far as the Empire was concerned, she might very well be considered as "collar meat". And the poor family she came from certainly would never be able to ransom her if the Imperials ever decided to make her a slave!! "No guards, no nothing," Sandi breathed into Carol's ear, the Warlady nodding in reply. There was a small village down the coast a mile or so away. This part of southern Sarn was not heavily populated. "We could `take' this ourselves," she smiled! "Let's do it then!" Carol answered with a soft laugh, creep- ing forward, Sandi at her side. The brownette crawling up to the side of the hut, there beneath an open window, the gentle sound of snoring coming to her ears as she listened carefully now. A nod to Sandi and both women lit the fire bottles they'd brought, tossing them in through the open window and then dashing around to the front of the hut, their drawn swords now in their hands!!! "THE WARLADY OF DULARN" 2567 A.D.! By Jerome Bigge Chapter Fifty "Climb up out of there," the captain of the slaver yelled, the hatch now open above their cell. Women are usually kept in cells aboard a slaver, a dozen women or so to a cell in a space about ten feet square. The ladder now dropped down into the cell would allow them to climb out one at a time. Security aboard a slaver is much like that of a prison hulk, although of course the "conditions" are somewhat different in that dealing with women is usually easier than it is dealing with the same number of men... "We spray them down about once every three days," the cap- tain said to me, giving me a gap toothed smile. Apparently he didn't own the ship and thus really didn't care that much if his cargo now ended up going on to Dularn instead of going to Porlan. This last having been his destination with this cargo of slaves. "How often is their bedding changed?" Carol snapped as the first of the girls now climbed out to stand on the deck before us. The girls usually try to reserve one part of their cell for their wastes, leaving the rest of it for themselves to lie upon. The stink that arose from the hatches like that of an outhouse... "The ship was `clean' when they were loaded aboard," he said. The vessel itself was of Sarnian registry, I might note. He had been picking up women all along the coast, with their eventual destination being Porlan, which the northernmost Imperi- al city just south of the "disputed territories". The fact that he would lose both ship and cargo to us didn't seem to bother him. He would still get paid for his services anyway, I suppose. The first dozen girls had now climbed out on deck, blinking and squinting in the sunlight. They were all chained by the neck, I noticed, such being an additional precaution on a vessel where the slave girls outnumbered the crew by some dozen times. "A sailor's dream, ain't they?" the captain smiled at me. "I understand they're headed for the brothels being built there." Darlanis was building up her military forces in Porlan, her "in- tentions" here being rather "obvious" from what I'd heard lately. "You have keys for their chains?" Carol suddenly snapped. "Want to talk about it?" I asked Carol as we laid together that night, the gentle roll of the North Star and the creak of the hull now familiar, comforting sounds. My wife had been qui- et, hardly interested in conversation ever since we'd left the slaver ship. We'd put the second officer in charge of the "prize", and elevated Shari to the position of acting second of- ficer. She was at least "competent", if inexperienced, which was more than I or Carol could say for the other two, both daughters of aristocrats. I had told Sandra that I "needed" her, and couldn't afford to let her go, not with as "inexperienced" a crew as we had aboard now! Now if I could only get "rid" of Monica... "I know most slave girls don't have it that `bad'," my wife said. Those who ended up with single men as their masters often lived lives that most wives might envy I knew. Such girls were always "envied" by their less "lucky" sisters in bondage. On the other hand to be a slave girl in a military brothel was to live a life of constant sexual abuse, mauled and knocked around by half drunken men at arms. Carol didn't need to add the rest of it... "You're thinking that had things been `different' you could have ended up that way," I said, holding her close, kissing her. "I think there are `fates worse than death'," she said. "Put a shot across his bow!" I ordered, Carol standing at my side. The vessel was lateen rigged, slow, a bloated merchantman! We were just north of Sarn, the "hunting" having been good now. Something went flashing just between us then, a seaman there on the deck grabbing at his chest, the blood suddenly welling forth! "Helm to starboard, port battery fire when you bear!" I snapped, the North Star turning, bringing her broadside to bear!! "Idiot!" Carol snapped, looking at the body there on the merchantman's quarterdeck. One of the seamen had told us that he was both the master and the owner. I supposed his life savings were tied up in this ship. That's the only reason I can think of why he would return fire with crossbows against the North Star!!! "You will take the prize back to Dularn," I said to Monica, the golden haired beauty standing there terrified. She was to- tally incompetent, even after "kissing the gunner's daughter" for not paying proper attention to her studies. I considered her "hopeless". She didn't belong at sea, at least not on this ship! "Please sir, send another," the teenage girl begged, no doubt thinking of what it would be like to be in command of our new prize. I would send over a couple seamen for "security" with her, but getting back to Dularn would be her "problem", she knew! "It's considered quite an `honor' to sail a prize home," I said to her. "Your parents will doubtlessly be proud of you." I understood that they were a quite wealthy family there in Arsana. "Take your books on seamanship with you, study," Carol said. I supposed if Monica could manage to get in sight of Dularn some- one could always come out and tow the prize safely into port... "I hate to say it, but she's good for nothing but pleasing a man!" Carol said to me. That was a pretty assessment of Monica! She could carry out orders, but she couldn't "think on her feet" when it was "necessary" for her to do so. The crew made little "jokes" about her, which was bad for discipline. She got waylaid before she went a hundred miles by some Imperial third rate on patrol, whose captain then kept the wench despite the fact that her parents offered a ransom far more than her "value"! As Carol just said, she did turn out to be "good for something" after all! "Port battery, fire!" I snapped, listening to the man in the bow beside me tossing the lead. I heard the "thud" of the broad- side behind me as our weapons fired their broadside into the darkness lit only by the fires caused by the Swiftstar's broad- side fired just a minute before. Our hull as black as night due to the black canvas now spread over the side of the ship. Swift- star invisible in the darkness just ahead of us had already re- leased her boats, I knew. Sandra Steven, the first officer, now ordering ours released now at my order. I felt uncomfortable knowing Carol was leading the landing party with Shari for sig- nals officer. On the other hand she was more "experienced" at this than I was. The Swiftstar signaling its turn as we now made a great circle in the darkness, coming back around to fire a sec- ond broadside from our starboard batteries over the heads of the landing party. Such fire was not really all that "effective" as such, but it certainly did help "impress" the Imperials a bit! I hoped such "hit and run" raids would be as "effective" as Maris thought. We needed some way of getting Darlanis to "negotiate"! "Imperials never knew what hit them!" Carol laughed, Shari standing there watching the flames shoot up from the buildings. My wife had taken her with her, saying that she could use the "experience". I think Carol felt a bit "motherly" towards Shari, who in a way did look like what Carol might have as a teenager... My wife's blackened face bringing back memories of another time. The boats now being hoisted back on board as we filled our sails. "We need," I said to Lars Debolt of the Swiftstar, his wife Sandi at his side, the silver of her neck chain glistening in the lamplight, "To do something about the telegraph system the Impe- rials have." This was a series of towers about five miles apart running along the coast that served to relay messages from one end of the Empire to the other. The system was a development of Lorraine's, and unlike some of her other ideas, seemed to work effectively, at least when the weather was clear, I understood. There was nothing "modern" about the "technology", since a system very much like it had been in use in France in the 18th Century. "Otherwise Darlanis is going to be able to figure out pretty soon about `where' our ships are," Carol added, glancing at Sandi sitting there next to her husband. The Queen could send out a couple of second rates, and several third rates, enough ships to put a quick halt to our activities if they ever found us at sea!! "Shouldn't be too hard to destroy one of those towers," Lars said, his arm around his wife. "Only trouble is that the Imperi- als are certainly going to know what we're up to when we do it!" "Maybe there's a way of doing it so they won't know," Sandi suggested then, her eyes meeting those of my wife as she nodded. She was first officer on the Swiftstar, a position she deserved!! "`Spooky' out here at night," Shari Johnson whispered, well aware of how useless her sword or bow would be up against some of the life in this era. Her black clad Warlady and the first offi- cer of the Swiftstar smiling to themselves at her choice of words just then! The group of archers and crossbowmen following close. "There's the tower," Carol whispered, the thing towering up into the star sprinkled sky. A small hut at its base no doubt housing the operator and his family. A little jetty jutting out into the bay had a small sailboat tied up to it, she noticed now. "Hold your force here," Sandi ordered Shari, the archers and crossbowmen from the ships squatting down in the sand. Shari watching the two black faced women carefully creeping ahead, the lovely midshipman wondering to herself if she would ever be able to do things like this? To lead a force down a beach to assault an enemy outpost. To bring the force of Dularnian naval power to bear in a place like this? The sixteen year old girl well aware of the "fate" that would await her should the Imperials capture them. The "war" was "undeclared", and so far as the Empire was concerned, she might very well be considered as "collar meat". And the poor family she came from certainly would never be able to ransom her if the Imperials ever decided to make her a slave!! "No guards, no nothing," Sandi breathed into Carol's ear, the Warlady nodding in reply. There was a small village down the coast a mile or so away. This part of southern Sarn was not heavily populated. "We could `take' this ourselves," she smiled! "Let's do it then!" Carol answered with a soft laugh, creep- ing forward, Sandi at her side. The brownette crawling up to the side of the hut, there beneath an open window, the gentle sound of snoring coming to her ears as she listened carefully now. A nod to Sandi and both women lit the fire bottles they'd brought, tossing them in through the open window and then dashing around to the front of the hut, their drawn swords now in their hands!!! |
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