"2568-03" - читать интересную книгу автора (Jerome Bigge - Warlady 6 - In Harms Way)"IN HARM'S WAY" AN ADVENTURE IN THE SECOND DARK AGE OF MAN By Robert J. Simmons Chapter Three "At least there's plenty of `work' for `idle hands'," Sandra said to me as I walked the deck with her beside me, the sun now out, melting the snow yet hiding in shady corners of the ship as fleecy white clouds drifted across the azure vault of the sky. I nodded back, gave her a smile in reply. I'd warned her earlier to keep her knowledge of our mission to herself and to share it with no one until we reached the position where I was to open my sealed orders and proceed from there. There are a lot of Dular- nians who bear Lorraine Richards considerable hatred, and to be ordered to risk their lives for her step daughter might not go down too well with everyone just now. There was a chilly brisk breeze from the west north west, enough to cause a good "chop" and send showers of icy spray over the forward parts of the main deck much to the "discomfort" of anyone underneath it. We were driving the ship hard, but I planned to drive it harder still! I had no doubts that we weren't the only ship sailing on this task! The Imperials would no doubt send a squadron as soon as they knew of the fate of their beloved Imperial Princess and teenage Queen. "This isn't a `pleasure cruise' and the enemy we will face is much `different' from that we've faced before," I spoke, those sailors on deck within earshot listening carefully to my words. I saw men up in the rigging, others on the yards carrying out my orders. A number of women on deck sewing reinforcing cords into the sails. Even Kathi, the "pampered pet" she was, had her own "tasks" to do now. I saw the midshipmen, all three of them with the first officer, Shari motioning with her hands, the three now nodding as they listened to every word she had to say to them. I remembered that only the year before Shari had risen up from the rank of senior midshipman to that of lieutenant aboard this ship! To starboard in the distance I could see the land, the trees coated with white. Dularn has a lot of pines, oaks, the sort of trees you see in lands that have "winters". I thought of Lor- raine, that tall proud brunette Warlady of the Empire of Califor- nia. It would have been a "comfort" to have her at my side now. Despite what everyone believed, we'd been extremely lucky that our first salvo had seriously wounded her in the battle last year between our respective ships. On land I thought Carol was a more "competent" Warlady, but at sea Lorraine had no equal in my eyes. "Why just one ship?" Sandra asked, standing there, the wind blowing her bleached hair. She was a fine looking woman. I had no doubts that many men would pay a good price for her in a slave market. And if things didn't go well, she could well end up as a slave girl. Living out the rest of her life as just a plaything! And not as the "pampered pet" of some slave girl in Arsana, but as some barbarian's "slut", her back often welted from the whip, forced to do things that no self-respecting woman would wish to. I wondered if such thoughts had already passed through her mind? "I'm assuming that Maris believes that one ship can "do" what a fleet could not," I answered, her gray eyes meeting mine as she nodded, her seagoing attire the common blue tunic and hose of both sexes. (I might note at this point that from the back it is sometimes hard to tell a man from a woman in this society.) She was wearing a leather fur collared jacket, such necessary yet despite the warmth of the sun that shone down upon us from above. "Those of your time had weapons that in this time could make a nation `master' of the world," she answered, making me "smile". Such things are more "myth" than reality. It is no doubt "true" that one man with the military rifle of say 2045 could do a lot of "damage", but so could a couple of Marines with M16's from my time. The rifle of 2045 A.D. wouldn't have "won" the war in Vi- etnam, although I suppose we would have killed a lot more of the "enemy" with it. Maybe the "blaster rifle" of the Women of Mars would have been "decisive", but one even wonders about that too. "This is a mission of `rescue', not `war'," I said to her. Sandra and I circled, the tips of our blades touching. She was "good", but not in the same "class" as someone like Carol is. Actually I thought that Shari had a bit more potential here now. This was our second day at sea, the wind brisk, the sails drum tight as we smashed our way through the waves towards the north. I made a quick sudden thrust, Sandra parrying it, then making her own attack in turn that I parried, suddenly now going through her guard with a sudden unexpected thrust to just "touch" her breast! "You're `good'," she breathed, dancing back, her boots clat- tering on the quarterdeck planking. At least such "exercise" did "warm" one a bit, I mused then, the three midshipmen watching us. The sun dipping in and out from behind the clouds there overhead. "Had quite a bit of `practice' down there in Trelandar last year," I smiled back. Lady Tirana had used us as "gladiators" in the arena there in Trella. She had won a number of gold crowns in doing so, as well as "irritating" Darlanis for some unknown reason. Such "irritation" having almost cost Carol and me our lives. Only my wife's fantastic swordsmanship having saved us... "Never thought of an `admiral' as being a fighting man," the captain smiled back, driving in, making me pay attention to the task at hand just then. She was "good", and learning fast too! "Never planned on being an `admiral'," I now smiled back. I watched the midshipmen at their work, the hands all keep- ing busy now carrying out my orders. From the rear rail over the stern to the start of the bowsprit was a hundred and twenty three feet. The "width' of the North Star is about twenty feet at the widest point, with the length of the ship at the water line just a hair over a hundred feet. The masts are eighty three feet to the tips of the top mast, although the actual yard on which the top gallant mounts is a foot or so below that. We had come very briefly close to shore yesterday, lowered a boat, and cut our- selves a new set of top masts, these being about seven feet long- er than "standard". Later stopping at a fishing village, pur- chasing a few things that we'd need to complete our "refitting". I doubted that the "Northmen" would easily give up their captive. They would doubtlessly welcome the gold, but they might very well decide to keep both us and the North Star along in the bargain... "Going to be the most `fit' crew that ever sailed," Sandra smiled, seeing me nod. I was keeping everyone "busy" as I had promised. There had been little "griping" from the crew surpris- ingly. I suspected that most everyone knew that we were sailing into danger, into "harm's way" as seafaring men once put it back in another era when ships were square rigged and carried cannon. We were three days out from Arsana, and four hundred miles north. "I'd think a woman as `attractive' as you would be married," I said, Sandra being blonde, gray eyed, and rather nicely figured by the standards of this era, which finds "muscle" on a woman to be much more attractive than it was back in my own era long ago. Husbands often "brag" about their wives' fighting skills, much as a man of my own era might "brag" about cooking and housekeeping. The Dularnian wife on the other hand, if she has "married well", will have a slave girl to do the cooking, housework, and also keep her husband "happy" if she doesn't happen to care for sex. This is probably a more "sensible" state of affairs than what was done back in our own time, the women of this time as a rule being a lot more "rational" about such things than were their counter- parts of the 20th Century. The existence of legal prostitution no doubt helps keep things from getting out of hand, I might add. "Was," Sandra answered back, the tone of her voice leaving no doubt that I had indeed touched "a tender spot" with my ques- tion. "Too many wenches in Arsana with `morals' of an alley cat." I could fill the "rest" in for myself. It is doubtlessly "why" many Warrioresses don't marry until rather "late" in life when they actually "retire" from active service as such. "Didn't figure she was `worth' a duel," Sandra added, giving me a "smile" and letting me full in the rest for myself. The Dularnian wife is often quite "possessive" to the point that she will "chal- lenge" a woman who gets too overly "friendly". This can get "in- volved", especially if the "mistress" herself is married as is often the case. Dularnians are a "violent" people, much more so than were 20th Century Americans, and sword duels are quite com- monplace, more surprisingly enough among women than among men!* * Women seem to be more "touchy" about their honor than men, I might note here. Men will "laugh off" things that women won't. This is true of Californian women to a lesser extent too. (R.S.) "Sail Ho, Dead Ahead!" the lookout called down, putting a halt to this. "Looks like two ships, right close together too!" "Shari," I said to the first officer, seeing her turn, "If you look up at the stars at night, are they tiny points of light without any `blurring', and is the full Moon a clear sharp disk?" "Yes, sir," the first officer said, a puzzled expression on her pretty face. I hope my daughter grows up to look like her... "Then take our best telescope and go up there and tell us what you see," I said. "And `see' what is there, not what you think `should be' there," I added, well aware of such things from my own experience many years ago in another land, a war now myth. "Two ships, both topsail schooners!" Shari called down to us. There are no topsail merchantmen I know of, only warships and pirates carrying topsails. "Looks like one of ours chasing a pirate!" she added with a yell that could left no "doubts" now!!! "The Sea Star has doubtlessly found something," I smiled. The Swiftstar was in dry dock, and the other third rate was some- where on patrol back in the straits between Dularn and the main- land. Dularn usually keeps a couple such ships on patrol for pi- rates, who are as I have mentioned quite a "nuisance" to those living in coastal villages along the western shore of the island. The new Northlight was being used as a "training ship" right now. "There's a sail behind us!" Shari suddenly yelled down. As we were faster than any merchantman, there shouldn't have been anyone capable of catching up with us now! Not at ten knots now! "General Quarters!" Sandra snapped, not even hesitating now! "What kind of sails, Shari?" I yelled up at her, seeing the men and women coming pouring out from below, some blinking a bit in the bright sunlight after the semi-darkness of the lower deck. The trill of the bosuns' whistles something "familiar" to me now. "`Square sails', sir!" Shari answered, the tone of her voice now leaving no "doubts". There are only two ships that carry square sails. One is the Sarn to Trella clipper, and the other is the flagship of the Warlady of California, Lorraine Richards! The fact that the Athena was doing better than ten knots spoke much of its rig, the heavy dreadnought not being noted for speed. On the other hand Lorraine is a woman like none other I know of. There had been "rumors" of "steam engines", but Maris' spies in the Empire tended to pass on "tales" that were just "fantasies". Lorraine also had a "security system" that was hard to penetrate. I understood the ship had been completely rebuilt and refitted. "We are `not' at war with the Empire," I now said to Sandra. "A good friend of mine last year lost her daughter to them," she snapped back. "Now she's just a slave girl kneeling before some damn Imperial!" Both sides in the war had employed a number of "privateers" that frankly were more used to flying the "Jolly Roger" than either the "maple leaf" or the "tarl" of the Empire. The new Dularnian flag just introduced this year was based upon one first used in the American Revolution of 1776. A rattle- snake, poised to strike, surrounded by a circular field of stars. There were those, however, who had pointed out to Maris that our flag looked something like that of the personal flag of Darlanis, whose own flag is a golden crown surrounded by a circle of stars. A number of senators having "proposed" that Dularn return to its own "maple leaf" flag that it had used for hundreds of years now. "I would like to have the stay sails hoisted up," I said to Sandra. "And if you think it might be wise to go to battle sta- tions as soon as the new sails are in position," I added then... "Sea Star asks if we can render assistance," Shari called down, reading the signals. The sails of Lorraine's ship were now just a speck there on the horizon behind us. She was obviously pulling up, which amazed me as the North Star was doing close to twelve knots, although she had of course not reached her "limits" as yet due to my modifications of the rigging and equipment. I saw Sandra glance at me, then down at the deck where the crew now stood among the weapons, the ballistae and catapults now cocked. The men and women obviously uncomfortable due to the spray that leaped up over the bow with every wave that we smashed into now. "They may have `useful information'," I suggested to Sandra. "Hoist battle flags!" she snapped, her hair golden in the sunlight. A bit of the icy spray flying the length of the ship to touch my cheek with an cold drop. In this wind a "fight" would be "hit and run", not the old broadside to broadside battle so beloved of certain sea officers that I knew. Even "outgunned" as the pirate was, I had no doubt that he'd put up a good fight! "Remember our darts don't have the `range' of javelins," I pointed out. On the other hand I considered them much more "ef- fective" against another ship than the more usual javelins. I am of the opinion that victory at sea is best obtained by killing the enemy, not by trying to punch holes in his ship or rigging. While ballistae javelins will pierce a ship's hull, making holes a couple inches in diameter doesn't do that much "damage" either! "A little gunnery practice won't hurt," she smiled back. I considered her a "competent" captain, although not "outstanding" when it came to battle. I'd seen her in action as a first lieu- tenant the year before there late last summer. She was a good sailor, but not really the "fighting officer" that Maris or Lor- raine are. Whether I am their "equal" is a question I will leave up to the reader to decide. On land Carol is superb, perhaps even "better" than Lorraine, but I still give Lorraine the "edge" when it comes to fighting at sea. That Imperial Warlady is good! "I would like lieutenant Johnson on the jib," I said to her. "This is likely to be a battle where maneuver will be important." "IN HARM'S WAY" AN ADVENTURE IN THE SECOND DARK AGE OF MAN By Robert J. Simmons Chapter Three "At least there's plenty of `work' for `idle hands'," Sandra said to me as I walked the deck with her beside me, the sun now out, melting the snow yet hiding in shady corners of the ship as fleecy white clouds drifted across the azure vault of the sky. I nodded back, gave her a smile in reply. I'd warned her earlier to keep her knowledge of our mission to herself and to share it with no one until we reached the position where I was to open my sealed orders and proceed from there. There are a lot of Dular- nians who bear Lorraine Richards considerable hatred, and to be ordered to risk their lives for her step daughter might not go down too well with everyone just now. There was a chilly brisk breeze from the west north west, enough to cause a good "chop" and send showers of icy spray over the forward parts of the main deck much to the "discomfort" of anyone underneath it. We were driving the ship hard, but I planned to drive it harder still! I had no doubts that we weren't the only ship sailing on this task! The Imperials would no doubt send a squadron as soon as they knew of the fate of their beloved Imperial Princess and teenage Queen. "This isn't a `pleasure cruise' and the enemy we will face is much `different' from that we've faced before," I spoke, those sailors on deck within earshot listening carefully to my words. I saw men up in the rigging, others on the yards carrying out my orders. A number of women on deck sewing reinforcing cords into the sails. Even Kathi, the "pampered pet" she was, had her own "tasks" to do now. I saw the midshipmen, all three of them with the first officer, Shari motioning with her hands, the three now nodding as they listened to every word she had to say to them. I remembered that only the year before Shari had risen up from the rank of senior midshipman to that of lieutenant aboard this ship! To starboard in the distance I could see the land, the trees coated with white. Dularn has a lot of pines, oaks, the sort of trees you see in lands that have "winters". I thought of Lor- raine, that tall proud brunette Warlady of the Empire of Califor- nia. It would have been a "comfort" to have her at my side now. Despite what everyone believed, we'd been extremely lucky that our first salvo had seriously wounded her in the battle last year between our respective ships. On land I thought Carol was a more "competent" Warlady, but at sea Lorraine had no equal in my eyes. "Why just one ship?" Sandra asked, standing there, the wind blowing her bleached hair. She was a fine looking woman. I had no doubts that many men would pay a good price for her in a slave market. And if things didn't go well, she could well end up as a slave girl. Living out the rest of her life as just a plaything! And not as the "pampered pet" of some slave girl in Arsana, but as some barbarian's "slut", her back often welted from the whip, forced to do things that no self-respecting woman would wish to. I wondered if such thoughts had already passed through her mind? "I'm assuming that Maris believes that one ship can "do" what a fleet could not," I answered, her gray eyes meeting mine as she nodded, her seagoing attire the common blue tunic and hose of both sexes. (I might note at this point that from the back it is sometimes hard to tell a man from a woman in this society.) She was wearing a leather fur collared jacket, such necessary yet despite the warmth of the sun that shone down upon us from above. "Those of your time had weapons that in this time could make a nation `master' of the world," she answered, making me "smile". Such things are more "myth" than reality. It is no doubt "true" that one man with the military rifle of say 2045 could do a lot of "damage", but so could a couple of Marines with M16's from my time. The rifle of 2045 A.D. wouldn't have "won" the war in Vi- etnam, although I suppose we would have killed a lot more of the "enemy" with it. Maybe the "blaster rifle" of the Women of Mars would have been "decisive", but one even wonders about that too. "This is a mission of `rescue', not `war'," I said to her. Sandra and I circled, the tips of our blades touching. She was "good", but not in the same "class" as someone like Carol is. Actually I thought that Shari had a bit more potential here now. This was our second day at sea, the wind brisk, the sails drum tight as we smashed our way through the waves towards the north. I made a quick sudden thrust, Sandra parrying it, then making her own attack in turn that I parried, suddenly now going through her guard with a sudden unexpected thrust to just "touch" her breast! "You're `good'," she breathed, dancing back, her boots clat- tering on the quarterdeck planking. At least such "exercise" did "warm" one a bit, I mused then, the three midshipmen watching us. The sun dipping in and out from behind the clouds there overhead. "Had quite a bit of `practice' down there in Trelandar last year," I smiled back. Lady Tirana had used us as "gladiators" in the arena there in Trella. She had won a number of gold crowns in doing so, as well as "irritating" Darlanis for some unknown reason. Such "irritation" having almost cost Carol and me our lives. Only my wife's fantastic swordsmanship having saved us... "Never thought of an `admiral' as being a fighting man," the captain smiled back, driving in, making me pay attention to the task at hand just then. She was "good", and learning fast too! "Never planned on being an `admiral'," I now smiled back. I watched the midshipmen at their work, the hands all keep- ing busy now carrying out my orders. From the rear rail over the stern to the start of the bowsprit was a hundred and twenty three feet. The "width' of the North Star is about twenty feet at the widest point, with the length of the ship at the water line just a hair over a hundred feet. The masts are eighty three feet to the tips of the top mast, although the actual yard on which the top gallant mounts is a foot or so below that. We had come very briefly close to shore yesterday, lowered a boat, and cut our- selves a new set of top masts, these being about seven feet long- er than "standard". Later stopping at a fishing village, pur- chasing a few things that we'd need to complete our "refitting". I doubted that the "Northmen" would easily give up their captive. They would doubtlessly welcome the gold, but they might very well decide to keep both us and the North Star along in the bargain... "Going to be the most `fit' crew that ever sailed," Sandra smiled, seeing me nod. I was keeping everyone "busy" as I had promised. There had been little "griping" from the crew surpris- ingly. I suspected that most everyone knew that we were sailing into danger, into "harm's way" as seafaring men once put it back in another era when ships were square rigged and carried cannon. We were three days out from Arsana, and four hundred miles north. "I'd think a woman as `attractive' as you would be married," I said, Sandra being blonde, gray eyed, and rather nicely figured by the standards of this era, which finds "muscle" on a woman to be much more attractive than it was back in my own era long ago. Husbands often "brag" about their wives' fighting skills, much as a man of my own era might "brag" about cooking and housekeeping. The Dularnian wife on the other hand, if she has "married well", will have a slave girl to do the cooking, housework, and also keep her husband "happy" if she doesn't happen to care for sex. This is probably a more "sensible" state of affairs than what was done back in our own time, the women of this time as a rule being a lot more "rational" about such things than were their counter- parts of the 20th Century. The existence of legal prostitution no doubt helps keep things from getting out of hand, I might add. "Was," Sandra answered back, the tone of her voice leaving no doubt that I had indeed touched "a tender spot" with my ques- tion. "Too many wenches in Arsana with `morals' of an alley cat." I could fill the "rest" in for myself. It is doubtlessly "why" many Warrioresses don't marry until rather "late" in life when they actually "retire" from active service as such. "Didn't figure she was `worth' a duel," Sandra added, giving me a "smile" and letting me full in the rest for myself. The Dularnian wife is often quite "possessive" to the point that she will "chal- lenge" a woman who gets too overly "friendly". This can get "in- volved", especially if the "mistress" herself is married as is often the case. Dularnians are a "violent" people, much more so than were 20th Century Americans, and sword duels are quite com- monplace, more surprisingly enough among women than among men!* * Women seem to be more "touchy" about their honor than men, I might note here. Men will "laugh off" things that women won't. This is true of Californian women to a lesser extent too. (R.S.) "Sail Ho, Dead Ahead!" the lookout called down, putting a halt to this. "Looks like two ships, right close together too!" "Shari," I said to the first officer, seeing her turn, "If you look up at the stars at night, are they tiny points of light without any `blurring', and is the full Moon a clear sharp disk?" "Yes, sir," the first officer said, a puzzled expression on her pretty face. I hope my daughter grows up to look like her... "Then take our best telescope and go up there and tell us what you see," I said. "And `see' what is there, not what you think `should be' there," I added, well aware of such things from my own experience many years ago in another land, a war now myth. "Two ships, both topsail schooners!" Shari called down to us. There are no topsail merchantmen I know of, only warships and pirates carrying topsails. "Looks like one of ours chasing a pirate!" she added with a yell that could left no "doubts" now!!! "The Sea Star has doubtlessly found something," I smiled. The Swiftstar was in dry dock, and the other third rate was some- where on patrol back in the straits between Dularn and the main- land. Dularn usually keeps a couple such ships on patrol for pi- rates, who are as I have mentioned quite a "nuisance" to those living in coastal villages along the western shore of the island. The new Northlight was being used as a "training ship" right now. "There's a sail behind us!" Shari suddenly yelled down. As we were faster than any merchantman, there shouldn't have been anyone capable of catching up with us now! Not at ten knots now! "General Quarters!" Sandra snapped, not even hesitating now! "What kind of sails, Shari?" I yelled up at her, seeing the men and women coming pouring out from below, some blinking a bit in the bright sunlight after the semi-darkness of the lower deck. The trill of the bosuns' whistles something "familiar" to me now. "`Square sails', sir!" Shari answered, the tone of her voice now leaving no "doubts". There are only two ships that carry square sails. One is the Sarn to Trella clipper, and the other is the flagship of the Warlady of California, Lorraine Richards! The fact that the Athena was doing better than ten knots spoke much of its rig, the heavy dreadnought not being noted for speed. On the other hand Lorraine is a woman like none other I know of. There had been "rumors" of "steam engines", but Maris' spies in the Empire tended to pass on "tales" that were just "fantasies". Lorraine also had a "security system" that was hard to penetrate. I understood the ship had been completely rebuilt and refitted. "We are `not' at war with the Empire," I now said to Sandra. "A good friend of mine last year lost her daughter to them," she snapped back. "Now she's just a slave girl kneeling before some damn Imperial!" Both sides in the war had employed a number of "privateers" that frankly were more used to flying the "Jolly Roger" than either the "maple leaf" or the "tarl" of the Empire. The new Dularnian flag just introduced this year was based upon one first used in the American Revolution of 1776. A rattle- snake, poised to strike, surrounded by a circular field of stars. There were those, however, who had pointed out to Maris that our flag looked something like that of the personal flag of Darlanis, whose own flag is a golden crown surrounded by a circle of stars. A number of senators having "proposed" that Dularn return to its own "maple leaf" flag that it had used for hundreds of years now. "I would like to have the stay sails hoisted up," I said to Sandra. "And if you think it might be wise to go to battle sta- tions as soon as the new sails are in position," I added then... "Sea Star asks if we can render assistance," Shari called down, reading the signals. The sails of Lorraine's ship were now just a speck there on the horizon behind us. She was obviously pulling up, which amazed me as the North Star was doing close to twelve knots, although she had of course not reached her "limits" as yet due to my modifications of the rigging and equipment. I saw Sandra glance at me, then down at the deck where the crew now stood among the weapons, the ballistae and catapults now cocked. The men and women obviously uncomfortable due to the spray that leaped up over the bow with every wave that we smashed into now. "They may have `useful information'," I suggested to Sandra. "Hoist battle flags!" she snapped, her hair golden in the sunlight. A bit of the icy spray flying the length of the ship to touch my cheek with an cold drop. In this wind a "fight" would be "hit and run", not the old broadside to broadside battle so beloved of certain sea officers that I knew. Even "outgunned" as the pirate was, I had no doubt that he'd put up a good fight! "Remember our darts don't have the `range' of javelins," I pointed out. On the other hand I considered them much more "ef- fective" against another ship than the more usual javelins. I am of the opinion that victory at sea is best obtained by killing the enemy, not by trying to punch holes in his ship or rigging. While ballistae javelins will pierce a ship's hull, making holes a couple inches in diameter doesn't do that much "damage" either! "A little gunnery practice won't hurt," she smiled back. I considered her a "competent" captain, although not "outstanding" when it came to battle. I'd seen her in action as a first lieu- tenant the year before there late last summer. She was a good sailor, but not really the "fighting officer" that Maris or Lor- raine are. Whether I am their "equal" is a question I will leave up to the reader to decide. On land Carol is superb, perhaps even "better" than Lorraine, but I still give Lorraine the "edge" when it comes to fighting at sea. That Imperial Warlady is good! "I would like lieutenant Johnson on the jib," I said to her. "This is likely to be a battle where maneuver will be important." |
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