"2569-12" - 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 Twelve "What was `that' all about?" I asked Lorraine, remembering nothing since the time the Priestess had asked me to stare at her golden ankh. Lorraine sitting there staring at me, her swollen belly leaving no doubts that she was a mother to be. She didn't look quite so "self assured", confident now that she knew it all! That rather pleasing me just then, as I was getting a bit "tired" of her "know it all" attitude, that "superior" air she puts on... "I'm not sure, but I think the Priestess believes that your palace is `haunted' by the ghost of Darl Jord," Lorraine replied. "Apparently you are `sensitive' to such things in a way that is rarely found among most people," the Imperial Warlady continued. "The Prince of the Wyomings arrives this afternoon," I said, keeping my voice "level" so that Lorraine would not "guess" how I felt about him. The erotic thoughts that left no doubts about my own feelings towards him. If Paul "wanted" me, I would be "his". "That Priestess of yours is `telepathic'," Lorraine spoke. "Perhaps they are a bit `more' than you think," I smiled. "I know Tais is `more' than she appears," Lorraine admitted. "Silistra did `look' pretty upset," I said, referring to the High Priestess. I would have said "scared", but that didn't seem to be the right word to use here. Lorraine now somberly nodding. "She `saw' something that she didn't like," Lorraine spoke. "We'd better get back," I said, thinking of Prince Paul Blue Sky of the Wyomings, who was due to arrive just this afternoon. I'd met him once before, back when I was married to Darl Jord. I had "given" myself to him, just to "spite" my faithless husband!! He had been a "MAN" in the full sense of the word, completely un- like Darl Jord, who was a sadistic beast and little more then... "The ship is one of `yours'," Lorraine observed as she stood beside me, her eyes having seen the flag, the rake of the masts. A sister vessel to my beloved North Star, swift and "handy" in a way that Imperial steam frigates are not. The Diana at its dock. The other battleship, the Orca, now was resting there beside it, "The Wyomings have no `navy'," Darlanis "pointed out" then. "We have a `visitor'," Sharon spoke, turning then. The sun glinting off the precious jewels that decorated her golden ankh. The First Priestess moving through the crowd with regal dignity. She is tall, blonde, and looks a bit like many of the paintings I've seen of LYS. The "fact" that she was "here" left no doubts! A lieutenant of my Royal Guard, a bit `awed' by her looks, now telling me that Tais had just ordered the palace to be evacuated! "`You' have a `problem'," Tais spoke to me in level tones. "We are in the midst...," I breathed, Tais nodding in reply. "Have everyone withdraw from this entire area," Tais spoke. In the tone of her voice there was now the sound of distant thun- der. The sky, only "clear" a few minutes ago, clouding up now! I saw some sort of "craft" floating in the sky, silvery, shaped much like an arrow head. Smaller than a Lorr battledisc, but yet some sort of interplanetary "spacecraft", doubtlessly well armed! From it came a "voice" like thunder, telling the people of Arsana to leave their city! To flee into the forests surrounding it... "What is happening?" Lorraine spoke, looking nervous now! I had to grin to myself at her "discomfort" as she stood listening. "There is a `leak' in the barrier that separates our own plane of existence from that of the astral universe," Tais spoke. There is also now a `leak' in the barrier that separates that plane of existence from the plane of existence we commonly call `HELL'..." Lorraine nodding, glancing at Jon, then at Darlanis. It was common knowledge "what" was supposed to live in "HELL"... "We can work the ships out of the harbor," Darlanis spoke, her voice as "level" as that of Tais. Lorraine nodding to Jon. "I am going to require your `assistance' and that of the Queen of Dularn," Tais answered back in too calm level tones now. "There has been a `shift' in the space time continuum and a `problem' that I hoped to have `solved' suddenly `is' no longer." "Why us?" Darlanis asked, echoing my own thoughts right now! "Maris is `sensitive' to things few are, and you have within you a `power' that I hope will be adequate to `deal' with what we will face," Tais answered, standing there, a rumble of thunder in the air now as the sun disappeared behind dark boiling clouds of a kind I'd never seen before except when a "GATEWAY" was being opened to link together two separate parts of world space time. I wondered if this time "SOMETHING ELSE" was opening a Gateway!? "Something `spooky' about this place now," Darlanis spoke, her hand on the beautiful ornate golden hilt of her slim sword as we walked through the now abandoned Royal Palace of Dularn to de- scend the rough stone stairs into the dark pits beneath. I felt only "terror", the sort of "terror" that can make a woman "void" without even knowing that she is doing so. Tais now holding her ankh in one hand, and a silvery weapon of some sort in the other. I could faintly hear the sound of thunder, the sky now overcast. "I don't know what `good' our swords will be," I muttered. What we were to "face" wouldn't be of "matter" as we knew it... I wanted to run crying and screaming in terror back out into the light, out into the outdoors! Anywhere but down into the pits!!! I pressed up close to Darlanis, like a frightened child pressing up against its mother. There was a sort of "aura" from her, like the sort of "aura" that Tais now was generating to "protect" us. "A Warrioress may know fear, but she does not let it conquer her," Darlanis spoke, saying one of the famous "code sayings" we have. "Her `companion' is not a man, but a keen steel blade." I drew mine then, the feel of the hilt comforting just then too... I could feel Tais' "power" seeming to surround us, holding back the "evil" that seemed to grow with every second, every foot we took towards the entrance to the catacombs there beneath palace. "We are being `watched'," I said, feeling the "eyes" on me. There was "movement" in the shadows, shimmering moving "things"! "The `power' it has over you is `drawn' from your own worst fears," Tais spoke, lighting lamps for the three of us now as we stood back to back, swords gleaming there clenched in our hands. "Smells," Darlanis muttered, the odor of sulfur and brim- stone reminding me of the odor of gunpowder. The odor of the smoke released from Darl Jord's weapon when he tried to kill Lor- raine back three years before. "`Something' moving in the shad- ows too," the Empress spoke, her voice as level as if she'd just said that it was going to rain! I could see it rather clearly, a thing of "horror", of rotted flesh, exposed bone, glowing eyes... "What you `see' or `sense' is harmless to us," Tais said, taking hold of the heavy wooden door that led to the pits beneath the palace and dragging it open. It had taken both Tori and Dar- lanis to do that two days ago, but Tais did without any effort!!! "There's a sort of `shield' around us," I said to Tais then. "Neither of you would have made it this far without it," the First Priestess answered. Darlanis taking a lamp, holding it in her left hand, the glow of the flame highlighting her gold mesh. We descended then into the pits beneath the palace, my palace, one now no longer "mine", but the domain of horrors from another plane of existence. I wondered if any of us would survive this? "There's `something' down here," I said to Tais then. And it wasn't Darl Jord's "ghost" by any means either, I could tell!! There was a feeling of "EVIL", of something the opposite of GOOD! "It is coming to meet us," Tais spoke, raising her ankh up! "Put your back to mine," Darlanis snapped, her sword raised. "I can `see' it," I spoke, suspecting that Tais could too. "Ugly damn thing," the First Priestess answered me back. "Bob once told me what `IT' looked like," I said to her. "There's `more'," Darlanis spoke, swinging her sword. I could see "other things", awful "creatures" that LYS never made. Nothing was really "clear", and I didn't want it to be right now! I knew that only Darlanis' awesome courage was keeping me going! "Looks like a spider crossed with a lot of other things," I heard Tais say, the thought going through my mind that she might be in communication with the space ship floating over our heads! "Same creature apparently as what attacked Shalimar in 2579." I heard her saying, "But smaller in size due to its confinement." Bob had told me that the ONE he'd seen had been gigantic then... "I see `something', but not `clear'," I heard Darlanis say. "It is not `materialized' in this time as it was then," Tais was saying, the thought going through my mind that what we needed here wasn't swords, but something far more "effective" than them! I took a swipe at a moving "shadow", saw it move back just a bit. "What does that `flying arrowhead' have to do with this?" I heard Darlanis ask, voicing a "question" I'd had in my mind too. "It carries an anti-matter bomb of three hundred megatons," Tais answered. There wouldn't be much "left" after that fell!!! "You're talking a crater twenty miles across," she answered. "Slightly `less' than that, but you're not far off," Tais answered. I thought of the people of Arsana, of the absolute "futility" in having them evacuate the city in face of this now! "There are `more' things now coming," I said to Tais then. "The `leakage' between the planes of existence," Tais said. "`Who' is `responsible' for this?" Darlanis "spoke" then. I noticed that even she didn't sound so "calm" any more now either! I was "thankful" that I had emptied my bladder just before this! I didn't want them finding the body of the Queen of Dularn with visible evidence that she had "wet" herself in her terror before she'd died. I know it sounds "dumb" now, but that's how I felt. "I'm guessing that Darl Jord found a `way' back," Tais said. "This `part' of the world is a bit `leaky' due to our teleporting people back and forth through time, and he must have come through after I teleported the Simmons back to their own time," she said. "That's also `why'," Tais now added in explanation, "That there can't be any more people brought up to this era from the past." I wondered if perhaps I was hearing the "truth" here from her... "You knew about this beforehand?" I asked the First Priest- ess. I could feel Darlanis' back against mine. Only the contact with her body kept me from curling up into a terrified ball now! "No," Tais answered, firing her strange weapon just then. A brilliant blue white beam of sizzling energy leaping out from it! 2569 A.D.! THE DULARNIAN QUEEN AN ADVENTURE IN THE SECOND DARK AGE OF MAN By Jerome B. Bigge Chapter Twelve "What was `that' all about?" I asked Lorraine, remembering nothing since the time the Priestess had asked me to stare at her golden ankh. Lorraine sitting there staring at me, her swollen belly leaving no doubts that she was a mother to be. She didn't look quite so "self assured", confident now that she knew it all! That rather pleasing me just then, as I was getting a bit "tired" of her "know it all" attitude, that "superior" air she puts on... "I'm not sure, but I think the Priestess believes that your palace is `haunted' by the ghost of Darl Jord," Lorraine replied. "Apparently you are `sensitive' to such things in a way that is rarely found among most people," the Imperial Warlady continued. "The Prince of the Wyomings arrives this afternoon," I said, keeping my voice "level" so that Lorraine would not "guess" how I felt about him. The erotic thoughts that left no doubts about my own feelings towards him. If Paul "wanted" me, I would be "his". "That Priestess of yours is `telepathic'," Lorraine spoke. "Perhaps they are a bit `more' than you think," I smiled. "I know Tais is `more' than she appears," Lorraine admitted. "Silistra did `look' pretty upset," I said, referring to the High Priestess. I would have said "scared", but that didn't seem to be the right word to use here. Lorraine now somberly nodding. "She `saw' something that she didn't like," Lorraine spoke. "We'd better get back," I said, thinking of Prince Paul Blue Sky of the Wyomings, who was due to arrive just this afternoon. I'd met him once before, back when I was married to Darl Jord. I had "given" myself to him, just to "spite" my faithless husband!! He had been a "MAN" in the full sense of the word, completely un- like Darl Jord, who was a sadistic beast and little more then... "The ship is one of `yours'," Lorraine observed as she stood beside me, her eyes having seen the flag, the rake of the masts. A sister vessel to my beloved North Star, swift and "handy" in a way that Imperial steam frigates are not. The Diana at its dock. The other battleship, the Orca, now was resting there beside it, "The Wyomings have no `navy'," Darlanis "pointed out" then. "We have a `visitor'," Sharon spoke, turning then. The sun glinting off the precious jewels that decorated her golden ankh. The First Priestess moving through the crowd with regal dignity. She is tall, blonde, and looks a bit like many of the paintings I've seen of LYS. The "fact" that she was "here" left no doubts! A lieutenant of my Royal Guard, a bit `awed' by her looks, now telling me that Tais had just ordered the palace to be evacuated! "`You' have a `problem'," Tais spoke to me in level tones. "We are in the midst...," I breathed, Tais nodding in reply. "Have everyone withdraw from this entire area," Tais spoke. In the tone of her voice there was now the sound of distant thun- der. The sky, only "clear" a few minutes ago, clouding up now! I saw some sort of "craft" floating in the sky, silvery, shaped much like an arrow head. Smaller than a Lorr battledisc, but yet some sort of interplanetary "spacecraft", doubtlessly well armed! From it came a "voice" like thunder, telling the people of Arsana to leave their city! To flee into the forests surrounding it... "What is happening?" Lorraine spoke, looking nervous now! I had to grin to myself at her "discomfort" as she stood listening. "There is a `leak' in the barrier that separates our own plane of existence from that of the astral universe," Tais spoke. There is also now a `leak' in the barrier that separates that plane of existence from the plane of existence we commonly call `HELL'..." Lorraine nodding, glancing at Jon, then at Darlanis. It was common knowledge "what" was supposed to live in "HELL"... "We can work the ships out of the harbor," Darlanis spoke, her voice as "level" as that of Tais. Lorraine nodding to Jon. "I am going to require your `assistance' and that of the Queen of Dularn," Tais answered back in too calm level tones now. "There has been a `shift' in the space time continuum and a `problem' that I hoped to have `solved' suddenly `is' no longer." "Why us?" Darlanis asked, echoing my own thoughts right now! "Maris is `sensitive' to things few are, and you have within you a `power' that I hope will be adequate to `deal' with what we will face," Tais answered, standing there, a rumble of thunder in the air now as the sun disappeared behind dark boiling clouds of a kind I'd never seen before except when a "GATEWAY" was being opened to link together two separate parts of world space time. I wondered if this time "SOMETHING ELSE" was opening a Gateway!? "Something `spooky' about this place now," Darlanis spoke, her hand on the beautiful ornate golden hilt of her slim sword as we walked through the now abandoned Royal Palace of Dularn to de- scend the rough stone stairs into the dark pits beneath. I felt only "terror", the sort of "terror" that can make a woman "void" without even knowing that she is doing so. Tais now holding her ankh in one hand, and a silvery weapon of some sort in the other. I could faintly hear the sound of thunder, the sky now overcast. "I don't know what `good' our swords will be," I muttered. What we were to "face" wouldn't be of "matter" as we knew it... I wanted to run crying and screaming in terror back out into the light, out into the outdoors! Anywhere but down into the pits!!! I pressed up close to Darlanis, like a frightened child pressing up against its mother. There was a sort of "aura" from her, like the sort of "aura" that Tais now was generating to "protect" us. "A Warrioress may know fear, but she does not let it conquer her," Darlanis spoke, saying one of the famous "code sayings" we have. "Her `companion' is not a man, but a keen steel blade." I drew mine then, the feel of the hilt comforting just then too... I could feel Tais' "power" seeming to surround us, holding back the "evil" that seemed to grow with every second, every foot we took towards the entrance to the catacombs there beneath palace. "We are being `watched'," I said, feeling the "eyes" on me. There was "movement" in the shadows, shimmering moving "things"! "The `power' it has over you is `drawn' from your own worst fears," Tais spoke, lighting lamps for the three of us now as we stood back to back, swords gleaming there clenched in our hands. "Smells," Darlanis muttered, the odor of sulfur and brim- stone reminding me of the odor of gunpowder. The odor of the smoke released from Darl Jord's weapon when he tried to kill Lor- raine back three years before. "`Something' moving in the shad- ows too," the Empress spoke, her voice as level as if she'd just said that it was going to rain! I could see it rather clearly, a thing of "horror", of rotted flesh, exposed bone, glowing eyes... "What you `see' or `sense' is harmless to us," Tais said, taking hold of the heavy wooden door that led to the pits beneath the palace and dragging it open. It had taken both Tori and Dar- lanis to do that two days ago, but Tais did without any effort!!! "There's a sort of `shield' around us," I said to Tais then. "Neither of you would have made it this far without it," the First Priestess answered. Darlanis taking a lamp, holding it in her left hand, the glow of the flame highlighting her gold mesh. We descended then into the pits beneath the palace, my palace, one now no longer "mine", but the domain of horrors from another plane of existence. I wondered if any of us would survive this? "There's `something' down here," I said to Tais then. And it wasn't Darl Jord's "ghost" by any means either, I could tell!! There was a feeling of "EVIL", of something the opposite of GOOD! "It is coming to meet us," Tais spoke, raising her ankh up! "Put your back to mine," Darlanis snapped, her sword raised. "I can `see' it," I spoke, suspecting that Tais could too. "Ugly damn thing," the First Priestess answered me back. "Bob once told me what `IT' looked like," I said to her. "There's `more'," Darlanis spoke, swinging her sword. I could see "other things", awful "creatures" that LYS never made. Nothing was really "clear", and I didn't want it to be right now! I knew that only Darlanis' awesome courage was keeping me going! "Looks like a spider crossed with a lot of other things," I heard Tais say, the thought going through my mind that she might be in communication with the space ship floating over our heads! "Same creature apparently as what attacked Shalimar in 2579." I heard her saying, "But smaller in size due to its confinement." Bob had told me that the ONE he'd seen had been gigantic then... "I see `something', but not `clear'," I heard Darlanis say. "It is not `materialized' in this time as it was then," Tais was saying, the thought going through my mind that what we needed here wasn't swords, but something far more "effective" than them! I took a swipe at a moving "shadow", saw it move back just a bit. "What does that `flying arrowhead' have to do with this?" I heard Darlanis ask, voicing a "question" I'd had in my mind too. "It carries an anti-matter bomb of three hundred megatons," Tais answered. There wouldn't be much "left" after that fell!!! "You're talking a crater twenty miles across," she answered. "Slightly `less' than that, but you're not far off," Tais answered. I thought of the people of Arsana, of the absolute "futility" in having them evacuate the city in face of this now! "There are `more' things now coming," I said to Tais then. "The `leakage' between the planes of existence," Tais said. "`Who' is `responsible' for this?" Darlanis "spoke" then. I noticed that even she didn't sound so "calm" any more now either! I was "thankful" that I had emptied my bladder just before this! I didn't want them finding the body of the Queen of Dularn with visible evidence that she had "wet" herself in her terror before she'd died. I know it sounds "dumb" now, but that's how I felt. "I'm guessing that Darl Jord found a `way' back," Tais said. "This `part' of the world is a bit `leaky' due to our teleporting people back and forth through time, and he must have come through after I teleported the Simmons back to their own time," she said. "That's also `why'," Tais now added in explanation, "That there can't be any more people brought up to this era from the past." I wondered if perhaps I was hearing the "truth" here from her... "You knew about this beforehand?" I asked the First Priest- ess. I could feel Darlanis' back against mine. Only the contact with her body kept me from curling up into a terrified ball now! "No," Tais answered, firing her strange weapon just then. A brilliant blue white beam of sizzling energy leaping out from it! |
|
|