"2569-04" - 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 Four "I will go aboard the Imperial ship as soon as it drops an- chor," I said, Tori nodding as she stood there in her armor. Her dark eyes meeting mine in a wordless "understanding" as I stood there on the quay, the Imperial first rate now coming in under steam, the smoke rising from its funnel up into the cloud spotted sky. It was late afternoon, chill, a shiver now going through me as I thought of "what" I might "face" there aboard the Empress' own flagship. That Darlanis would be "FURIOUS" I could take for granted, I expected, Sharon having had no "comprehension" of the seriousness of the "insult" she'd done to her own foster mother. "I'd like to be a `grandmother' someday," Tori smiled back. I suspected that she already knew what Sharon had "done" and what the consequences could be if I couldn't "resolve" the matter now. She had a husband, a Physician, a couple children in their teens. With "population control" enforced by the Priestesses of Lys, there are no longer any "large" families like there once were... "Let's just hope I can `reason' with Darlanis," I "smiled", thinking now of how much Tori reminded me of Carol Simmons, whose hair color had been much the same. I had, however, never told Tori that Bob had also told me once that she had the same "name" as that of an actress in "pornographic" movies in their own time! "Don't wait for me," I snapped, grabbing for the gangway railing as the boat rocked beneath me, an Imperial officer look- ing down at me from above. I could hear orders being barked, the muffled sound of feet there on the deck above, the crew no doubt being gathered now to "honor" Dularn's Queen as she came aboard. A bit of "rust" here and there leaving no doubt that even Imperi- al discipline couldn't keep up with the effects of wind and wave. I climbed the gangway with a measured tread, wondering if I'd ever live to have "grandchildren" of my own? I was thirty years old, childless, a widow, and my "prospects" didn't seem too great now, what with Sharon's thoughtless "insult" to Darlanis' honor! The Empress herself now having been made to look a fool! As my head cleared the railing Darlanis' band started play- ing the Dularnian national anthem, the Empress no doubt wishing to display to everyone that she would observe all the necessary "social protocols" regardless of the "insult" that had been done! Darlanis herself standing there on the quarterdeck, her husband Prince Serak of the Nevadas there at her side, and with them was "Pussycat", that swarthy Nevada slave girl who had served as Dar- lanis' "womb". The Empress herself being unable to bear children due to internal injuries she suffered some years before at the hands of Princess Tara. At the time, however, the "impression" I got was that of a "boiler" just about to "explode" from pressure! The crew, the officers of Sarnian Queen all standing there wooden faced, no doubt well aware of "what" had been done to their own beloved Empress! Darlanis is quite popular with her own people, I might note here, much more so with men than she is with women. My own band on shore now retorted with the Imperial anthem, my orders being carried out to the letter to maintain "protocol" here regardless of what happened. The very "presence" of course of the Astarte leaving no doubts as to "where" Sharon had gone... Darlanis standing there, the sun glinting off her own tiara, her body covered by a heavy cloak against the "chill" of the breeze. She is a big "Viking" of a woman, a full five ten in height, and usually wears high heeled boots to make herself even taller yet! "I give you `greetings', Queen of Dularn," Darlanis said to me when the music stopped, the formal phrase leaving no doubts in my mind that she too wished to observe all the social protocols! "I fear the `one' in both our thoughts is just a bit too `big' now to `spank'," I answered back, hoping this little bit of humor on my part might "break the ice" and allow us to "resolve" this matter before it grew into something neither of us wanted... My comment here being based upon the first meeting between Sharon and Darlanis, where she did actually get a "spanking" for having "threatened" the Empress then with a cocked and loaded crossbow! "I was `hoping' that you would be `reasonable'," Darlanis smiled back, the grins on the faces of her officers leaving no doubt that I had just "defused" a very "bad" situation here too! "She is not of our time," I said, seeing Darlanis nod back. The sun low in the sky to the west dipping in and out from behind the clouds. The breeze chill, it being only the middle of March. I supposed Darlanis found it uncomfortable "dressed" as she was, the Empress' usual attire being rather "brief" and "provocative". "My `authority' has been `challenged'," Darlanis said to me. A sudden cold chill going over me at the sound of her words now! "She is but a `girl' who doesn't `understand' such things," I answered, well aware of the "Code of Honor" in such matters... Sharon wasn't even a "match" for me, and Darlanis' skill with a blade far exceeded my own, being almost a "match" for Lorraine's! "She is a woman, a Queen, a member of the Caste of Warrio- resses," Darlanis answered in level tones, standing there before me, the breeze blowing a few loose strands of that golden hair. "A `child', a girl from another era, where `things' were done differently than they are done now," I quickly retorted now. "And think twice before you pull out that sword at your hip...!" "Lorraine is pregnant," Darlanis "pointed out" to me then. "In four months she won't be," I "retorted" to Darlanis. I knew that Lorraine would kill Darlanis if she ever harmed Sharon. "My `authority' as Empress has been `challenged'," she said. "Lys should have given you more brains, and less beauty," I smiled back. She is a stunningly beautiful woman, but not really too "smart". She is "fearless" in battle, but rather fool hardy. The officers on the quarterdeck now once again "wooden faced" as they stood there listening to this "interplay" between us two... Her husband standing there with a grin on his face, no doubt en- joying all this, the Nevada "sense of humor" often rather "dry". "What would `you' have done, Queen of Dularn?" he asked me. "I feel `flogging' would be more proper than enslavement," I quickly "answered" back. "Although that is of course up to her `Imperial Majesty' to `decide'," I added in "diplomatic" lan- guage, glancing at the Imperial Empress, who "nodded" in reply, her eyes, a beautiful lovely azure hue, gleaming into my green. "Sharon shall be the one to be flogged," Darlanis spoke. I nodded, well aware that the situation was out of my hands here... "`Gag her'," Darlanis spoke, Sharon standing there shivering in the cold, the oil torches set in the walls of the palace dun- geon giving off a smoky smell as well as a flickering light that I thought "fitting" given the situation. Tori looking at me, the expression on her face leaving no doubt as to her thoughts here! The young Queen of Orgon stripped naked, and bound by her wrists to a chain hanging down from the rough stone ceiling overhead. A trio of three naked teenagers, one boy, two girls, cowering down in a corner of the room now huddled together in their own terror. The Empress herself clad in only a brief golden metallic mesh, a silver lined royal blue silken cape swinging there behind her. She wore spike heeled high boots of a beautiful "golden" leather. The precious gems of her golden tiara gleaming in the torchlight. "I'll `do' it," I spoke to Tori, Sharon's eyes burning into mine as I then pushed the wadding of the gag in between her teeth and drew the strap around her head to hold it in place. I knew Sharon felt that I had "betrayed" her by agreeing to "this", but I saw no other "choice" now as Queen of Dularn. I had no wish to see another "war" of the sort that Dularn had fought against the Empire only a couple years ago, not over "something" like this!! "`Stand back'!" Darlanis snapped, her eyes glistening. I did so, the whip whistling through the chilly damp air to "crack" against Sharon's naked back, the young Queen's sudden "uhh!" of pain leaving no doubt as to what she felt! The welt livid on her soft skin as Darlanis drew back the whip, a long bullwhip sort of whip, not the usual multi-stranded "cat" that is used here in Du- larn for flogging "minor" criminals. The Empress now striking again, Sharon jerking against her bonds, twisting about a bit as she stood there, a second livid welt now joining the first one!! "She will bear those marks for some time," Tori "breathed". The whip was of a sort that would cut the skin "used" as it was. Tori's dark eyes meeting mine as I silently nodded back in reply. "I don't think she will forget again `WHO' Darlanis is," I whispered back, watching the three teenagers watching their own Queen being "punished" for what she'd "done" for them. "And see that they do not `interfere'," I added, Tori nodding, drawing her sword and then standing before the three, her naked blade warning enough to them not to interfere in "what" was transpiring here! Her polished gold plated helmet and gleaming steel chain mail the attire of the commander of my Royal Guard who protect me from any and all who might now wish "harm" to the golden Queen of Dularn. Her leather jacket and breeches part of the uniform she now wore. Like Darlanis and myself, she was wearing sturdy high heeled boots, the silver spurs fitted to hers the "mark" of the cavalry. Sharon was standing up well under the whipping, although I could tell that Darlanis wasn't "sparing her" either now, judging from the livid lash marks there across her back and buttocks now. The Empress laying on in a way that left no doubts as to her own feelings for being so "insulted" by one as dear as any daughter! The gag there between Sharon's white teeth no doubt insuring that she would not be allowed to humiliate herself by "pleading" for mercy when none could be granted! The tears glistening in Darla- nis' eyes leaving no doubts as to her own true feelings here too! I saw Sharon "jerk" against her bonds, twisting about, "cry- ing out" now, the lash drawing blood now as Darlanis "struck" the same place that she had struck before. The "snap" of the whip as it struck the young Queen of Orgon seeming to "echo" off the cold stone walls of the palace dungeon, the various instruments of torture here in this room making me "shudder" at the thought of what might be "done" to a helpless victim. The rack, the thumb- screw, the devices to twist cords tighter and tighter about one's head, all things that Dularnian Queens in the past had used upon their enemies to force from them "confessions" of "guilt", to force from unwilling lips "secrets" from those who had fallen into their hands. My late husband had performed such "tortures" upon people with an almost sadistic glee, but I had never done so, although Tori had once forced "secrets" from the lips of an Imperial spy who had been in the "pay" of the Imperial Empress... I never asked Tori the "methods" she used, although I later sold the spy into slavery, the chief Engineer of the Diana buying her. I jerked about as I thought I saw a "movement" in the shadows, my nerves taut, my more and more frequent nightmares terrifying me. "Ahh, Eee!" Sharon squealed into her gag, the blood now red on her naked body as she twisted about to look at her tormentor!! The young Queen sobbing, the tears running from her eyes, Darla- nis herself "weeping", judging from what I saw, although this did not prevent her from once again slashing her whip against Sharon! The helpless blonde haired Queen dancing and twisting in agony as I stood watching, the horror of seeing all this filling my mind! This horrid "punishment" of a young woman that I could not stop!! 2569 A.D.! THE DULARNIAN QUEEN AN ADVENTURE IN THE SECOND DARK AGE OF MAN By Jerome B. Bigge Chapter Four "I will go aboard the Imperial ship as soon as it drops an- chor," I said, Tori nodding as she stood there in her armor. Her dark eyes meeting mine in a wordless "understanding" as I stood there on the quay, the Imperial first rate now coming in under steam, the smoke rising from its funnel up into the cloud spotted sky. It was late afternoon, chill, a shiver now going through me as I thought of "what" I might "face" there aboard the Empress' own flagship. That Darlanis would be "FURIOUS" I could take for granted, I expected, Sharon having had no "comprehension" of the seriousness of the "insult" she'd done to her own foster mother. "I'd like to be a `grandmother' someday," Tori smiled back. I suspected that she already knew what Sharon had "done" and what the consequences could be if I couldn't "resolve" the matter now. She had a husband, a Physician, a couple children in their teens. With "population control" enforced by the Priestesses of Lys, there are no longer any "large" families like there once were... "Let's just hope I can `reason' with Darlanis," I "smiled", thinking now of how much Tori reminded me of Carol Simmons, whose hair color had been much the same. I had, however, never told Tori that Bob had also told me once that she had the same "name" as that of an actress in "pornographic" movies in their own time! "Don't wait for me," I snapped, grabbing for the gangway railing as the boat rocked beneath me, an Imperial officer look- ing down at me from above. I could hear orders being barked, the muffled sound of feet there on the deck above, the crew no doubt being gathered now to "honor" Dularn's Queen as she came aboard. A bit of "rust" here and there leaving no doubt that even Imperi- al discipline couldn't keep up with the effects of wind and wave. I climbed the gangway with a measured tread, wondering if I'd ever live to have "grandchildren" of my own? I was thirty years old, childless, a widow, and my "prospects" didn't seem too great now, what with Sharon's thoughtless "insult" to Darlanis' honor! The Empress herself now having been made to look a fool! As my head cleared the railing Darlanis' band started play- ing the Dularnian national anthem, the Empress no doubt wishing to display to everyone that she would observe all the necessary "social protocols" regardless of the "insult" that had been done! Darlanis herself standing there on the quarterdeck, her husband Prince Serak of the Nevadas there at her side, and with them was "Pussycat", that swarthy Nevada slave girl who had served as Dar- lanis' "womb". The Empress herself being unable to bear children due to internal injuries she suffered some years before at the hands of Princess Tara. At the time, however, the "impression" I got was that of a "boiler" just about to "explode" from pressure! The crew, the officers of Sarnian Queen all standing there wooden faced, no doubt well aware of "what" had been done to their own beloved Empress! Darlanis is quite popular with her own people, I might note here, much more so with men than she is with women. My own band on shore now retorted with the Imperial anthem, my orders being carried out to the letter to maintain "protocol" here regardless of what happened. The very "presence" of course of the Astarte leaving no doubts as to "where" Sharon had gone... Darlanis standing there, the sun glinting off her own tiara, her body covered by a heavy cloak against the "chill" of the breeze. She is a big "Viking" of a woman, a full five ten in height, and usually wears high heeled boots to make herself even taller yet! "I give you `greetings', Queen of Dularn," Darlanis said to me when the music stopped, the formal phrase leaving no doubts in my mind that she too wished to observe all the social protocols! "I fear the `one' in both our thoughts is just a bit too `big' now to `spank'," I answered back, hoping this little bit of humor on my part might "break the ice" and allow us to "resolve" this matter before it grew into something neither of us wanted... My comment here being based upon the first meeting between Sharon and Darlanis, where she did actually get a "spanking" for having "threatened" the Empress then with a cocked and loaded crossbow! "I was `hoping' that you would be `reasonable'," Darlanis smiled back, the grins on the faces of her officers leaving no doubt that I had just "defused" a very "bad" situation here too! "She is not of our time," I said, seeing Darlanis nod back. The sun low in the sky to the west dipping in and out from behind the clouds. The breeze chill, it being only the middle of March. I supposed Darlanis found it uncomfortable "dressed" as she was, the Empress' usual attire being rather "brief" and "provocative". "My `authority' has been `challenged'," Darlanis said to me. A sudden cold chill going over me at the sound of her words now! "She is but a `girl' who doesn't `understand' such things," I answered, well aware of the "Code of Honor" in such matters... Sharon wasn't even a "match" for me, and Darlanis' skill with a blade far exceeded my own, being almost a "match" for Lorraine's! "She is a woman, a Queen, a member of the Caste of Warrio- resses," Darlanis answered in level tones, standing there before me, the breeze blowing a few loose strands of that golden hair. "A `child', a girl from another era, where `things' were done differently than they are done now," I quickly retorted now. "And think twice before you pull out that sword at your hip...!" "Lorraine is pregnant," Darlanis "pointed out" to me then. "In four months she won't be," I "retorted" to Darlanis. I knew that Lorraine would kill Darlanis if she ever harmed Sharon. "My `authority' as Empress has been `challenged'," she said. "Lys should have given you more brains, and less beauty," I smiled back. She is a stunningly beautiful woman, but not really too "smart". She is "fearless" in battle, but rather fool hardy. The officers on the quarterdeck now once again "wooden faced" as they stood there listening to this "interplay" between us two... Her husband standing there with a grin on his face, no doubt en- joying all this, the Nevada "sense of humor" often rather "dry". "What would `you' have done, Queen of Dularn?" he asked me. "I feel `flogging' would be more proper than enslavement," I quickly "answered" back. "Although that is of course up to her `Imperial Majesty' to `decide'," I added in "diplomatic" lan- guage, glancing at the Imperial Empress, who "nodded" in reply, her eyes, a beautiful lovely azure hue, gleaming into my green. "Sharon shall be the one to be flogged," Darlanis spoke. I nodded, well aware that the situation was out of my hands here... "`Gag her'," Darlanis spoke, Sharon standing there shivering in the cold, the oil torches set in the walls of the palace dun- geon giving off a smoky smell as well as a flickering light that I thought "fitting" given the situation. Tori looking at me, the expression on her face leaving no doubt as to her thoughts here! The young Queen of Orgon stripped naked, and bound by her wrists to a chain hanging down from the rough stone ceiling overhead. A trio of three naked teenagers, one boy, two girls, cowering down in a corner of the room now huddled together in their own terror. The Empress herself clad in only a brief golden metallic mesh, a silver lined royal blue silken cape swinging there behind her. She wore spike heeled high boots of a beautiful "golden" leather. The precious gems of her golden tiara gleaming in the torchlight. "I'll `do' it," I spoke to Tori, Sharon's eyes burning into mine as I then pushed the wadding of the gag in between her teeth and drew the strap around her head to hold it in place. I knew Sharon felt that I had "betrayed" her by agreeing to "this", but I saw no other "choice" now as Queen of Dularn. I had no wish to see another "war" of the sort that Dularn had fought against the Empire only a couple years ago, not over "something" like this!! "`Stand back'!" Darlanis snapped, her eyes glistening. I did so, the whip whistling through the chilly damp air to "crack" against Sharon's naked back, the young Queen's sudden "uhh!" of pain leaving no doubt as to what she felt! The welt livid on her soft skin as Darlanis drew back the whip, a long bullwhip sort of whip, not the usual multi-stranded "cat" that is used here in Du- larn for flogging "minor" criminals. The Empress now striking again, Sharon jerking against her bonds, twisting about a bit as she stood there, a second livid welt now joining the first one!! "She will bear those marks for some time," Tori "breathed". The whip was of a sort that would cut the skin "used" as it was. Tori's dark eyes meeting mine as I silently nodded back in reply. "I don't think she will forget again `WHO' Darlanis is," I whispered back, watching the three teenagers watching their own Queen being "punished" for what she'd "done" for them. "And see that they do not `interfere'," I added, Tori nodding, drawing her sword and then standing before the three, her naked blade warning enough to them not to interfere in "what" was transpiring here! Her polished gold plated helmet and gleaming steel chain mail the attire of the commander of my Royal Guard who protect me from any and all who might now wish "harm" to the golden Queen of Dularn. Her leather jacket and breeches part of the uniform she now wore. Like Darlanis and myself, she was wearing sturdy high heeled boots, the silver spurs fitted to hers the "mark" of the cavalry. Sharon was standing up well under the whipping, although I could tell that Darlanis wasn't "sparing her" either now, judging from the livid lash marks there across her back and buttocks now. The Empress laying on in a way that left no doubts as to her own feelings for being so "insulted" by one as dear as any daughter! The gag there between Sharon's white teeth no doubt insuring that she would not be allowed to humiliate herself by "pleading" for mercy when none could be granted! The tears glistening in Darla- nis' eyes leaving no doubts as to her own true feelings here too! I saw Sharon "jerk" against her bonds, twisting about, "cry- ing out" now, the lash drawing blood now as Darlanis "struck" the same place that she had struck before. The "snap" of the whip as it struck the young Queen of Orgon seeming to "echo" off the cold stone walls of the palace dungeon, the various instruments of torture here in this room making me "shudder" at the thought of what might be "done" to a helpless victim. The rack, the thumb- screw, the devices to twist cords tighter and tighter about one's head, all things that Dularnian Queens in the past had used upon their enemies to force from them "confessions" of "guilt", to force from unwilling lips "secrets" from those who had fallen into their hands. My late husband had performed such "tortures" upon people with an almost sadistic glee, but I had never done so, although Tori had once forced "secrets" from the lips of an Imperial spy who had been in the "pay" of the Imperial Empress... I never asked Tori the "methods" she used, although I later sold the spy into slavery, the chief Engineer of the Diana buying her. I jerked about as I thought I saw a "movement" in the shadows, my nerves taut, my more and more frequent nightmares terrifying me. "Ahh, Eee!" Sharon squealed into her gag, the blood now red on her naked body as she twisted about to look at her tormentor!! The young Queen sobbing, the tears running from her eyes, Darla- nis herself "weeping", judging from what I saw, although this did not prevent her from once again slashing her whip against Sharon! The helpless blonde haired Queen dancing and twisting in agony as I stood watching, the horror of seeing all this filling my mind! This horrid "punishment" of a young woman that I could not stop!! |
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