"2569-01" - читать интересную книгу автора (Jerome Bigge - Warlady 7 - The Dularnian Queen)2569 A.D.! THE DULARNIAN QUEEN AN ADVENTURE IN THE SECOND DARK AGE OF MAN By Jerome B. Bigge Chapter One I could feel the sweat cold on my naked body as I helplessly fought the bonds that held me spread eagled there on my bed. The gag forced between my teeth now allowing me only meaningless ani- mal like squealing sounds as the horrible "thing" opened the door and stepped into the bedroom. A horrid "thing" of rottenness and corruption, the bones exposed here and there where the flesh had rotted away! A "dead" horrid "thing" that should have been safe- ly cremated three years ago! Reduced to ashes and then stored in an urn safely away in a vault there below my palace here in Arsa- na! The last "remains" of Darl Jord, once Prince of Dularn, who had died at my own hands for his violation of the Code of Honor! "I want YOU, Maris Marn!" it spoke to me in a hollow voice, the horrible fleshless tooth filled jaws exposed where the flesh had now rotted away from its horrid face! My scream of horror in reply only a high pitched meaningless squealing as I twisted and arched, glistening wet with sweat. Now only a beautiful terri- fied animal fighting to break the bonds that held it helpless! Helpless before this "creature" that only the "EVIL ONE" himself could have sent to so "torment" the Queen of Dularn! "You were always so `beautiful'," it "crooned" to me, coming closer now, a creature that filled me with horror just to look upon it! Eye- less sockets burning down into my eyes, a ghastly "glow" in them! "My Queen, My Queen!" I heard a voice say, the creature now reaching for me, to put its horrid fleshless rotten hands on me!! I screamed, this time a loud shriek of terror, and then suddenly I found myself looking into the wide terrified eyes of Kathi, her gray eyes filled with fear as they looked into my own sea green! The voluptuous bodied blondish wench's pretty face filled with concern as she brushed the now dark sweat wet hair from my face! My entire body soaking wet with sweat, even the bed now "soaked"! "It was a nightmare, Kathi," I said. "Just a nightmare." A woman of the Royal Guard now bursting through the door, her drawn sword gleaming in the light from the bedroom windows where they overlook the harbor there below the palace. She followed by two more, their polished steel helmets and chain mail over their warm fur lined leather jackets making them look much like the toy sol- diers I used to play with as a girl back in Sana many years ago. "It was a nightmare," I spoke in level tones, seeing them "nod" in reply. Another serving maid coming in on their heels, a woman of reddish copper complexion, who had "once" been my slave. "Mistress should see a Priestess," La-ra smiled in reply, a heavy shawl over her shoulders against the late winter chill no fire could dispel here in the Royal Palace of Dularn. What those of the past had once called the Island of Vancouver long ago now. I thought what I really "needed" now was a man to hold me close. Someone "strong" that I could cuddle up next to so warm and soft. I "needed" a man as bad as any collared slut aware of her "sex"! "It `was' a bad nightmare," I "smiled", the guardswomen now leaving, nodding to themselves in agreement. This had not been the first time they'd heard the terrified screams of their Queen, although this had been the worst nightmare I'd had so far now... "I'll build up the fire," Kathi volunteered, the bed now "cold" with the wetness of my sweat. I suspected that I didn't smell very "royal" just then either, the thought crossed my mind! Kathi tossing in coal into the cast iron stove, while La-ra, once a woman of the Nevadas, busied herself getting the fireplace go- ing and some water heated for the bath that I badly "needed" now! The pair in their long woolen dresses a "contrast" in their way. "It's snowing outside," I said, more to make "conversation" now than anything else, the white flakes drifting down from an iron gray sky. It was the middle of March, with spring hopefully on the way. I was "tired" of winter, of the snow and the cold. I wanted to get out, enjoy life, get the "winter fat" off myself. That little ditty, "The Queen of Dularn is broad in the beam!" no longer "funny" any more to a woman who fought a constant battle with her weight. Who at five feet eight weighed one forty eight! Twenty pounds more than I weighed when I first became the Queen!! "What your majesty needs..," Kathi "ventured", bringing in my breakfast while La-ra busied herself washing me down, "Is a man to keep her `warm' at night," the grin on her face leaving no doubt in my mind as to her own sleeping "arrangements" right now. I muchly envied the wench, but such was quite impossible for the Queen of Dularn, who must observe certain social "proprietaries"! "Carol Simmons `spoiled' her," La-ra "whispered" to me then. I nodded, smiling, well aware that High Priestess Tais would be bringing no more people from the "past" up into our own time, nor would the Simmons, a couple from the 20th Century, ever be "back" again now that they had served their purpose here in our era of restoring the "balance of power" between Dularn and California... I had their baby daughter Hope, a lovely child now eight months old who had been left with me to raise, Carol having said to me that she did not wish to raise a child back in the era from which they had come, not with what they knew about everything to come. "As did `others' before her," I smiled back at the Nevada. Kathi had been a slave girl on the estate of Lorraine Richards, the Queen of Trelandar before Carol had stolen her from Lorraine. "She `belongs' in a collar," La-ra "breathed" in reply then. "No woman `belongs' in a collar unless she is a criminal," I answered in level tones, well aware of the enmity growing between the two women. La-ra having been my own personal slave girl be- fore I'd freed her, while Kathi had once belonged to the Simmons before they'd left our time to return back to their own last fall. I still missed them both, both Bob's intelligence and wit, and his wife's delightful provocativeness that left no doubts in anyone's mind who met her that she was a "woman" like few others! I still recalled too that morning there in Trelandar when she had faced the Imperial Warlady herself blade to blade, the "duel" in its way perhaps only the climax of "something" that had "driven" the lovely 20th Century brownette to become so filled with "hate" that she could think of nothing more than crossing blades with a woman who many have said is the greatest swordswoman of all time! "Your majesty doubtless knows best," La-ra answered softly. I had spent several years in slavery in California, mostly on an estate in Trelandar, where my golden blonde hair and green eyes had made me extremely "popular" with men, although fortunately I never suffered too much "abuse" at their hands due to the rules and policies of Lady Lana, whose name had been on my collar then. I had also found "love" in the arms of a man married to another, a "situation" that later on led to serious trouble when Lady Lana was killed in battle and left her estates to one Lorraine Duval, a woman whom I was led to believe wished me to become her lover!* *No doubt Lady Sanda would prefer not to have me "mention" this, but as it is well documented by others I see no harm in it here. I am obviously a "beautiful" blonde, and I suppose Mrs. Talen saw this as a way of getting "revenge" against one she much disliked! My "epic" voyage in a small sailboat all the way from Trelandar to Dularn was the "turning point" in my life, making me "famous", and thus "eligible" for marriage to Queen Tulis' son, Darl Jord, of whom the less "said" now perhaps the better here. (M.M.) "It is wrong for human beings to `own' other human beings," I answered, La-ra nodding, well aware of my feelings on this now. It hadn't made me too "popular" with a lot of people, but I felt I was "right" on this issue despite whatever anyone thought now! I had not been able to "outlaw" slavery, but my feelings on the subject were well known here in Dularn, and had some "support"... "I will brush your hair out while Kathi gets your clothing ready," La-ra replied, nodding to the former Trelandarian, whose ample rear end often got its "share" of "attention" from my men, Kathi being the sort of a woman who enjoys "teasing" men whenever she gets the chance to do so, something that will no doubt some- day get her into "trouble" despite whatever she thinks of it now! "The blue woolen tunic and hose?" Kathi asked, holding the items up for my attention. My sword and dagger in their sheaths were fixed to my weapons belt slung there on the bedpost, a Queen of Dularn if "wise" sleeping always with "weapons" close to hand. ***************************************************************** "We are allowing the Imperials to make the Pacific Ocean an `Imperial Lake'!" the Senator exclaimed, standing there before me as I stood behind the podium upon the speaker's dais. "They have over half a dozen steam frigates in commission, and soon they will have three battleships against our two," he continued on. I knew that he spoke the truth so far as it went, but I didn't see that there was very much that Dularn could "do" about it now! A number of his companions now nodding as they sat in the semi-cir- cular chamber, Dularn being a "democracy" with a constitutional monarch (me) whose absolute veto power often served to protect the people of Dularn from those who thought they knew "best" what the people really "needed", even if it wasn't what they "wanted"! This being a "failure" of the old democracies back centuries ago. It being known now that "freedom" is won with "arms" and lost by "ballots", such having happened back in the Twentieth Century... "We are not without `allies'," I "answered" in level tones. "Queen Freydis is a good friend, and Sharon of Orgon, young and inexperienced as she may be, believes in the same ideals we do." This "last" had come as a big surprise to both Darlanis and Lor- raine last winter, when Sharon Duval, the Queen of Orgon, had let it be "known" that she favored Dularn over the Empire in a dis- pute over whether Orgon should be "Californian" or "Dularnian". Sharon having maintained that Dularn was more a "peace loving" society than the more militarily aggressive Empire of California. I didn't mention Queen Valeris of the "Free Women", who was still a considerable problem to Queen Freydis due to covert assistance by the Imperials despite "agreements" they had made not to do so. This "assistance" having been carried out mostly by "Bajan trad- ers" who were obviously very well "paid" for their "troubles"... "There are also the Wyomings, whose Prince will be here in Arsana in a few days," I added. "To sign a treaty that will unite their peoples with ours in a common bond against `those' of the south." There being no "doubt" in anyone's mind who "those of the south" were, the names of Darlanis of California and Lorraine of Trelan- dar names muchly "feared" by many of Dularn now with good reason. 2569 A.D.! THE DULARNIAN QUEEN AN ADVENTURE IN THE SECOND DARK AGE OF MAN By Jerome B. Bigge Chapter One I could feel the sweat cold on my naked body as I helplessly fought the bonds that held me spread eagled there on my bed. The gag forced between my teeth now allowing me only meaningless ani- mal like squealing sounds as the horrible "thing" opened the door and stepped into the bedroom. A horrid "thing" of rottenness and corruption, the bones exposed here and there where the flesh had rotted away! A "dead" horrid "thing" that should have been safe- ly cremated three years ago! Reduced to ashes and then stored in an urn safely away in a vault there below my palace here in Arsa- na! The last "remains" of Darl Jord, once Prince of Dularn, who had died at my own hands for his violation of the Code of Honor! "I want YOU, Maris Marn!" it spoke to me in a hollow voice, the horrible fleshless tooth filled jaws exposed where the flesh had now rotted away from its horrid face! My scream of horror in reply only a high pitched meaningless squealing as I twisted and arched, glistening wet with sweat. Now only a beautiful terri- fied animal fighting to break the bonds that held it helpless! Helpless before this "creature" that only the "EVIL ONE" himself could have sent to so "torment" the Queen of Dularn! "You were always so `beautiful'," it "crooned" to me, coming closer now, a creature that filled me with horror just to look upon it! Eye- less sockets burning down into my eyes, a ghastly "glow" in them! "My Queen, My Queen!" I heard a voice say, the creature now reaching for me, to put its horrid fleshless rotten hands on me!! I screamed, this time a loud shriek of terror, and then suddenly I found myself looking into the wide terrified eyes of Kathi, her gray eyes filled with fear as they looked into my own sea green! The voluptuous bodied blondish wench's pretty face filled with concern as she brushed the now dark sweat wet hair from my face! My entire body soaking wet with sweat, even the bed now "soaked"! "It was a nightmare, Kathi," I said. "Just a nightmare." A woman of the Royal Guard now bursting through the door, her drawn sword gleaming in the light from the bedroom windows where they overlook the harbor there below the palace. She followed by two more, their polished steel helmets and chain mail over their warm fur lined leather jackets making them look much like the toy sol- diers I used to play with as a girl back in Sana many years ago. "It was a nightmare," I spoke in level tones, seeing them "nod" in reply. Another serving maid coming in on their heels, a woman of reddish copper complexion, who had "once" been my slave. "Mistress should see a Priestess," La-ra smiled in reply, a heavy shawl over her shoulders against the late winter chill no fire could dispel here in the Royal Palace of Dularn. What those of the past had once called the Island of Vancouver long ago now. I thought what I really "needed" now was a man to hold me close. Someone "strong" that I could cuddle up next to so warm and soft. I "needed" a man as bad as any collared slut aware of her "sex"! "It `was' a bad nightmare," I "smiled", the guardswomen now leaving, nodding to themselves in agreement. This had not been the first time they'd heard the terrified screams of their Queen, although this had been the worst nightmare I'd had so far now... "I'll build up the fire," Kathi volunteered, the bed now "cold" with the wetness of my sweat. I suspected that I didn't smell very "royal" just then either, the thought crossed my mind! Kathi tossing in coal into the cast iron stove, while La-ra, once a woman of the Nevadas, busied herself getting the fireplace go- ing and some water heated for the bath that I badly "needed" now! The pair in their long woolen dresses a "contrast" in their way. "It's snowing outside," I said, more to make "conversation" now than anything else, the white flakes drifting down from an iron gray sky. It was the middle of March, with spring hopefully on the way. I was "tired" of winter, of the snow and the cold. I wanted to get out, enjoy life, get the "winter fat" off myself. That little ditty, "The Queen of Dularn is broad in the beam!" no longer "funny" any more to a woman who fought a constant battle with her weight. Who at five feet eight weighed one forty eight! Twenty pounds more than I weighed when I first became the Queen!! "What your majesty needs..," Kathi "ventured", bringing in my breakfast while La-ra busied herself washing me down, "Is a man to keep her `warm' at night," the grin on her face leaving no doubt in my mind as to her own sleeping "arrangements" right now. I muchly envied the wench, but such was quite impossible for the Queen of Dularn, who must observe certain social "proprietaries"! "Carol Simmons `spoiled' her," La-ra "whispered" to me then. I nodded, smiling, well aware that High Priestess Tais would be bringing no more people from the "past" up into our own time, nor would the Simmons, a couple from the 20th Century, ever be "back" again now that they had served their purpose here in our era of restoring the "balance of power" between Dularn and California... I had their baby daughter Hope, a lovely child now eight months old who had been left with me to raise, Carol having said to me that she did not wish to raise a child back in the era from which they had come, not with what they knew about everything to come. "As did `others' before her," I smiled back at the Nevada. Kathi had been a slave girl on the estate of Lorraine Richards, the Queen of Trelandar before Carol had stolen her from Lorraine. "She `belongs' in a collar," La-ra "breathed" in reply then. "No woman `belongs' in a collar unless she is a criminal," I answered in level tones, well aware of the enmity growing between the two women. La-ra having been my own personal slave girl be- fore I'd freed her, while Kathi had once belonged to the Simmons before they'd left our time to return back to their own last fall. I still missed them both, both Bob's intelligence and wit, and his wife's delightful provocativeness that left no doubts in anyone's mind who met her that she was a "woman" like few others! I still recalled too that morning there in Trelandar when she had faced the Imperial Warlady herself blade to blade, the "duel" in its way perhaps only the climax of "something" that had "driven" the lovely 20th Century brownette to become so filled with "hate" that she could think of nothing more than crossing blades with a woman who many have said is the greatest swordswoman of all time! "Your majesty doubtless knows best," La-ra answered softly. I had spent several years in slavery in California, mostly on an estate in Trelandar, where my golden blonde hair and green eyes had made me extremely "popular" with men, although fortunately I never suffered too much "abuse" at their hands due to the rules and policies of Lady Lana, whose name had been on my collar then. I had also found "love" in the arms of a man married to another, a "situation" that later on led to serious trouble when Lady Lana was killed in battle and left her estates to one Lorraine Duval, a woman whom I was led to believe wished me to become her lover!* *No doubt Lady Sanda would prefer not to have me "mention" this, but as it is well documented by others I see no harm in it here. I am obviously a "beautiful" blonde, and I suppose Mrs. Talen saw this as a way of getting "revenge" against one she much disliked! My "epic" voyage in a small sailboat all the way from Trelandar to Dularn was the "turning point" in my life, making me "famous", and thus "eligible" for marriage to Queen Tulis' son, Darl Jord, of whom the less "said" now perhaps the better here. (M.M.) "It is wrong for human beings to `own' other human beings," I answered, La-ra nodding, well aware of my feelings on this now. It hadn't made me too "popular" with a lot of people, but I felt I was "right" on this issue despite whatever anyone thought now! I had not been able to "outlaw" slavery, but my feelings on the subject were well known here in Dularn, and had some "support"... "I will brush your hair out while Kathi gets your clothing ready," La-ra replied, nodding to the former Trelandarian, whose ample rear end often got its "share" of "attention" from my men, Kathi being the sort of a woman who enjoys "teasing" men whenever she gets the chance to do so, something that will no doubt some- day get her into "trouble" despite whatever she thinks of it now! "The blue woolen tunic and hose?" Kathi asked, holding the items up for my attention. My sword and dagger in their sheaths were fixed to my weapons belt slung there on the bedpost, a Queen of Dularn if "wise" sleeping always with "weapons" close to hand. ***************************************************************** "We are allowing the Imperials to make the Pacific Ocean an `Imperial Lake'!" the Senator exclaimed, standing there before me as I stood behind the podium upon the speaker's dais. "They have over half a dozen steam frigates in commission, and soon they will have three battleships against our two," he continued on. I knew that he spoke the truth so far as it went, but I didn't see that there was very much that Dularn could "do" about it now! A number of his companions now nodding as they sat in the semi-cir- cular chamber, Dularn being a "democracy" with a constitutional monarch (me) whose absolute veto power often served to protect the people of Dularn from those who thought they knew "best" what the people really "needed", even if it wasn't what they "wanted"! This being a "failure" of the old democracies back centuries ago. It being known now that "freedom" is won with "arms" and lost by "ballots", such having happened back in the Twentieth Century... "We are not without `allies'," I "answered" in level tones. "Queen Freydis is a good friend, and Sharon of Orgon, young and inexperienced as she may be, believes in the same ideals we do." This "last" had come as a big surprise to both Darlanis and Lor- raine last winter, when Sharon Duval, the Queen of Orgon, had let it be "known" that she favored Dularn over the Empire in a dis- pute over whether Orgon should be "Californian" or "Dularnian". Sharon having maintained that Dularn was more a "peace loving" society than the more militarily aggressive Empire of California. I didn't mention Queen Valeris of the "Free Women", who was still a considerable problem to Queen Freydis due to covert assistance by the Imperials despite "agreements" they had made not to do so. This "assistance" having been carried out mostly by "Bajan trad- ers" who were obviously very well "paid" for their "troubles"... "There are also the Wyomings, whose Prince will be here in Arsana in a few days," I added. "To sign a treaty that will unite their peoples with ours in a common bond against `those' of the south." There being no "doubt" in anyone's mind who "those of the south" were, the names of Darlanis of California and Lorraine of Trelan- dar names muchly "feared" by many of Dularn now with good reason. |
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