"2569-25" - 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 Twenty Five "What is that!?" Paul breathed, standing by the window, the "buzz" of the airplane's engine something that I'd heard before! "Perhaps `someone' who can help us with that derelict," I smiled back. I didn't really "like" Lorraine that much, but I did respect that awesome mind of hers. And bringing her into the picture here would also help "politically", as well I knew here! "The `thing's coming down there in the harbor," he said as I came to watch Lorraine come in for a landing, Black Lady throwing up a cloud of spray as the black Beechcraft Bonanza settled down. The sun bright in a clear blue sky making the spray "flash" like diamonds as the airplane now taxied across the harbor towards us. "Like something out of the `legends'," he breathed, making me smile a bit. I knew "what" airplanes were, even if was impos- sible to build one. There was nothing supernatural or magical about them, only a technology that it was doubtful would ever ex- ist again if the Priestesses of Lys continued to have their way. On the other I don't think I'd like to live in a world with no restrictions on technology. Where weapons existed that could kill at great distances, where something flying above the clouds could destroy an entire city. I do not think those of the "past" were that "happy" with their lives. Why else did they write so many books glorifying simpler, less "complex" social orders then? "I see your captain is back on her feet," Lorraine smiled to me as she stepped up on to the quay, Tori giving her a smile as the two guardswomen holding the ropes to the airplane secured it now to the dock. "And I trust that your daughter is doing well," the Imperial Warlady smiled at Tori, who merely shook her head. "Her daughter was crippled in the assault on the North Star by Princess Tara," I informed her, Tori nodding as Lorraine stood there. The Queen of Trelandar no doubt knew about the "assault". "The `evil' of Tara has touched many `innocents'," Lorraine spoke. "It is unfortunate that `your daughter' was one of them." "The world is a better place now that Tara is dead," Tori answered, the Imperial Warlady nodding, her eyes meeting my own. "One perhaps where a mother may raise her children without fear." "Let us hope `that' she is," Lorraine smiled back at Tori. ***************************************************************** "I should return in a couple days if the wind favors," the mother said to her daughter as she loaded a few things into the small sailboat, the craft what another era would have called a "day sailer" about seventeen or eighteen feet in length. Such in an era without good roads often being more "practical" a form of "transportation" than anything else if you lived along a coast... "And if the woman dies while you are gone?" her daughter now asked, standing there on their little crude dock. The boat it- self was badly in need of paint and minor repairs to its rigging. "Then we will bury her when I return," the woman answered. ***************************************************************** "Like a visitor?" Lorraine smiled, standing there with Tori. I assumed that Diane was properly "impressed", their slave girl, a blonde haired wench, quickly going to her knees and putting her head down at the sight of the two Queens and a Prince there be- fore her. I noted that she kept her knees well together, as is "proper" in the presence of free women such as ourselves here... "You're the Imperial Warlady...!" Diane Wells breathed out. "I'm a woman `good' with a sword," Lorraine smiled back. I had seen her in "action" once. There is no greater swordswoman. "I read your `book'," Diane said, referring to the book the Queen of Trelandar had written in which I played a minor "role". The book itself is "fascinating", as it shows that Lorraine was, even in the 20th Century, truly what one might call a Warrioress. "It all actually happened to me, `fantastic' as it sounds," Lorraine smiled back, "Including my `experiences' there on Mars." This "last" is commonly believed by most people to be just a dream produced by the effects of Lorr venom upon the human mind. On the other hand the description of "LYS" that Lorraine gives is quite similar to that of the paintings of LYS that I have seen... "It's hard to believe that even a swordswoman like you could take on the crew of a slaver and actually `beat' them all," Diane smiled back. I suspect here the "element of surprise" and the fact that the men were not all that skilled with their swords. I will note, however, that Lorraine's skill with a sword exceeds that of any woman living in this era, including that of Darlanis. "Sharon was a big help and I was `lucky'," Lorraine smiled. "My daughter was not `implying' anything," Tori added here, perhaps believing that Diane didn't believe that the book was "true" in this regard. I suspect that Lorraine wrote the "truth" as she saw it, as she lived it according to her own standards... There are intensely "emotional" places in the book, such as when Sanda Talen's organization made her the Queen of Trelandar in the "hope" perhaps that she would kill Darlanis in a sword duel, the Imperial Empress having killed Queen Paula of Trelandar in such. "Many of the things I've done, experienced, are hard to be- lieve," Lorraine smiled back. "Yet sometimes I think `this' is just a dream, that I will wake up someday to find myself back in the 20th Century still married to Jack Duval." This being her late husband in the 20th Century who once threatened to kill her. "You are `responsible' for much of our present society," I said to her, well aware of the influence she had on Janet Rogers. Upon our own culture here in Dularn, upon so many other things! "We all `dream' of remaking the world as we would like it," she answered, looking at some of the items there in Diane's room. "Of `correcting' all the `mistakes' that others have made," she smiled. "All in all, I rather think that I did fairly well now." "You are a `legend' everywhere in the world," Paul smiled. I suspected that he was rather "fascinated" by her as many are. "A `myth', a `legend' who now `is'," Lorraine smiled back. "She was so `vital', so full of life," Tori said, the Impe- rial Warlady nodding as we got into the carriage to go back to the palace. Diane had enjoyed "seeing" Lorraine, but I knew from Tori that she often wept softly to herself at the thought of hob- bling through life now on a wooden peg instead of two good sound feet. She was only a girl of sixteen, suddenly now a "cripple". "A `boot' can be constructed so as to fit her stump, giving her what will appear to be two sound legs, although she will no doubt walk with a limp due to the lack of a foot," Lorraine said. Since Diane's foot was severed just above her ankle by Tara's ex- plosive shot, a normal woman's boot would be high enough to sup- port the leg, especially if the boot was constructed to fit her! "Assuming the boot is carefully constructed, she should be able to lead a fairly normal life although she will naturally limp." "Could you tell her that!" Tori begged, clasping Lorraine's hand in hers. "Could you tell that she can walk again, climb the rigging of a ship, and live a life like a normal woman!" I could see the tears now in Tori's eyes as the Warlady nodded in reply. "I know this isn't healed yet, but I think you can see how such a boot would fit you," Lorraine said, holding Diane's right leg in her hand, and slipping one of Tori's boots on over it now. "There would be padding to cushion the stump, and some of your weight would be carried by the calf of your leg inside the boot. It should also be simple enough I feel to construct some sort of a carved wooden foot that would fasten to this `ring' you have." The surgeon here in Arsana having fitted Diane with a stainless steel pin ending in a ring so that she might later be fitted with something so that she might stand on both legs. The types of ar- tificial limbs that were used in the past are almost unknown now, I should mention here as a note although there is no good reason why this is so as such things do not fall under the restrictions of technology imposed upon us now here by the Priestesses of Lys. "I would look `normal' then," Diane said, looking up into the dark eyes of the Queen of Trelandar. "And no one would know that I don't have a right foot," she added, looking at Tori now. "You will limp, perhaps quite noticeably," Lorraine said. "It's a lot better than a damn wooden peg," Diane smiled. "I am aware that these sort of accidents are `rare' in this era, but this seems to be something that we as Queens should dis- cuss with those of the caste of Physicians," Lorraine said to me. ***************************************************************** "You seem to be getting a little better," the girl said to the semi-unconscious woman as she now carefully spooned some warm soup in between the burned lips. So far the woman had not yet opened her eyes, although her mother said that the woman would be able to see, that the terrible burns she'd suffered hadn't blind- ed her. Most of her hair was gone, charred by the heat of a beam of energy "hotter" than the surface of the sun. At 10,000 C the beam had destroyed everything it touched, vaporizing wood and metal, human bodies, fatally burning anyone exposed to it in a brief fraction of a second. The weapon being much the same as the Lorr's own "Light That Burns" that was well known to Mankind. "Ooh," the woman suddenly spoke, her eyes opening, con- sciousness now returning to the Princess, the agony of her burns something that assured her that she was still yet alive! The girl looking down at her light haired, undoubtedly a Dularnian. "My mother went to get medicine for you," the girl said, fearing to touch the burned hand that reached out for her then. "She wouldn't bring a Physician for you because she is afraid." Tara nodding, her mind, as good as Lorraine's still functioning. "She knows `who' I am then?" the Princess breathed back, an "edge" to her voice due to the agony of her burns. Burned into her memory were those last few seconds when she realized that the Priestesses of Lys had "acted" against her, that they too were now her enemy. She remembered the terrible searing burning, the agony as she flung herself into the water, her clothing aflame, to escape if only for seconds that terrible death from the sky! "She said like her you are an `outlaw'," the girl spoke. "I feel `empty'," Tara breathed out, the girl nodding. "Perhaps from all that has happened to you," she smiled. "I think I have been `abandoned'," the Princess spoke then, "aware" that she no longer "shared" her own soul with "another". With that "Being" from another plane of existence called "HELL"! The "QUEEN OF DARKNESS" having abandoned her now for "another"... 2569 A.D.! THE DULARNIAN QUEEN AN ADVENTURE IN THE SECOND DARK AGE OF MAN By Jerome B. Bigge Chapter Twenty Five "What is that!?" Paul breathed, standing by the window, the "buzz" of the airplane's engine something that I'd heard before! "Perhaps `someone' who can help us with that derelict," I smiled back. I didn't really "like" Lorraine that much, but I did respect that awesome mind of hers. And bringing her into the picture here would also help "politically", as well I knew here! "The `thing's coming down there in the harbor," he said as I came to watch Lorraine come in for a landing, Black Lady throwing up a cloud of spray as the black Beechcraft Bonanza settled down. The sun bright in a clear blue sky making the spray "flash" like diamonds as the airplane now taxied across the harbor towards us. "Like something out of the `legends'," he breathed, making me smile a bit. I knew "what" airplanes were, even if was impos- sible to build one. There was nothing supernatural or magical about them, only a technology that it was doubtful would ever ex- ist again if the Priestesses of Lys continued to have their way. On the other I don't think I'd like to live in a world with no restrictions on technology. Where weapons existed that could kill at great distances, where something flying above the clouds could destroy an entire city. I do not think those of the "past" were that "happy" with their lives. Why else did they write so many books glorifying simpler, less "complex" social orders then? "I see your captain is back on her feet," Lorraine smiled to me as she stepped up on to the quay, Tori giving her a smile as the two guardswomen holding the ropes to the airplane secured it now to the dock. "And I trust that your daughter is doing well," the Imperial Warlady smiled at Tori, who merely shook her head. "Her daughter was crippled in the assault on the North Star by Princess Tara," I informed her, Tori nodding as Lorraine stood there. The Queen of Trelandar no doubt knew about the "assault". "The `evil' of Tara has touched many `innocents'," Lorraine spoke. "It is unfortunate that `your daughter' was one of them." "The world is a better place now that Tara is dead," Tori answered, the Imperial Warlady nodding, her eyes meeting my own. "One perhaps where a mother may raise her children without fear." "Let us hope `that' she is," Lorraine smiled back at Tori. ***************************************************************** "I should return in a couple days if the wind favors," the mother said to her daughter as she loaded a few things into the small sailboat, the craft what another era would have called a "day sailer" about seventeen or eighteen feet in length. Such in an era without good roads often being more "practical" a form of "transportation" than anything else if you lived along a coast... "And if the woman dies while you are gone?" her daughter now asked, standing there on their little crude dock. The boat it- self was badly in need of paint and minor repairs to its rigging. "Then we will bury her when I return," the woman answered. ***************************************************************** "Like a visitor?" Lorraine smiled, standing there with Tori. I assumed that Diane was properly "impressed", their slave girl, a blonde haired wench, quickly going to her knees and putting her head down at the sight of the two Queens and a Prince there be- fore her. I noted that she kept her knees well together, as is "proper" in the presence of free women such as ourselves here... "You're the Imperial Warlady...!" Diane Wells breathed out. "I'm a woman `good' with a sword," Lorraine smiled back. I had seen her in "action" once. There is no greater swordswoman. "I read your `book'," Diane said, referring to the book the Queen of Trelandar had written in which I played a minor "role". The book itself is "fascinating", as it shows that Lorraine was, even in the 20th Century, truly what one might call a Warrioress. "It all actually happened to me, `fantastic' as it sounds," Lorraine smiled back, "Including my `experiences' there on Mars." This "last" is commonly believed by most people to be just a dream produced by the effects of Lorr venom upon the human mind. On the other hand the description of "LYS" that Lorraine gives is quite similar to that of the paintings of LYS that I have seen... "It's hard to believe that even a swordswoman like you could take on the crew of a slaver and actually `beat' them all," Diane smiled back. I suspect here the "element of surprise" and the fact that the men were not all that skilled with their swords. I will note, however, that Lorraine's skill with a sword exceeds that of any woman living in this era, including that of Darlanis. "Sharon was a big help and I was `lucky'," Lorraine smiled. "My daughter was not `implying' anything," Tori added here, perhaps believing that Diane didn't believe that the book was "true" in this regard. I suspect that Lorraine wrote the "truth" as she saw it, as she lived it according to her own standards... There are intensely "emotional" places in the book, such as when Sanda Talen's organization made her the Queen of Trelandar in the "hope" perhaps that she would kill Darlanis in a sword duel, the Imperial Empress having killed Queen Paula of Trelandar in such. "Many of the things I've done, experienced, are hard to be- lieve," Lorraine smiled back. "Yet sometimes I think `this' is just a dream, that I will wake up someday to find myself back in the 20th Century still married to Jack Duval." This being her late husband in the 20th Century who once threatened to kill her. "You are `responsible' for much of our present society," I said to her, well aware of the influence she had on Janet Rogers. Upon our own culture here in Dularn, upon so many other things! "We all `dream' of remaking the world as we would like it," she answered, looking at some of the items there in Diane's room. "Of `correcting' all the `mistakes' that others have made," she smiled. "All in all, I rather think that I did fairly well now." "You are a `legend' everywhere in the world," Paul smiled. I suspected that he was rather "fascinated" by her as many are. "A `myth', a `legend' who now `is'," Lorraine smiled back. "She was so `vital', so full of life," Tori said, the Impe- rial Warlady nodding as we got into the carriage to go back to the palace. Diane had enjoyed "seeing" Lorraine, but I knew from Tori that she often wept softly to herself at the thought of hob- bling through life now on a wooden peg instead of two good sound feet. She was only a girl of sixteen, suddenly now a "cripple". "A `boot' can be constructed so as to fit her stump, giving her what will appear to be two sound legs, although she will no doubt walk with a limp due to the lack of a foot," Lorraine said. Since Diane's foot was severed just above her ankle by Tara's ex- plosive shot, a normal woman's boot would be high enough to sup- port the leg, especially if the boot was constructed to fit her! "Assuming the boot is carefully constructed, she should be able to lead a fairly normal life although she will naturally limp." "Could you tell her that!" Tori begged, clasping Lorraine's hand in hers. "Could you tell that she can walk again, climb the rigging of a ship, and live a life like a normal woman!" I could see the tears now in Tori's eyes as the Warlady nodded in reply. "I know this isn't healed yet, but I think you can see how such a boot would fit you," Lorraine said, holding Diane's right leg in her hand, and slipping one of Tori's boots on over it now. "There would be padding to cushion the stump, and some of your weight would be carried by the calf of your leg inside the boot. It should also be simple enough I feel to construct some sort of a carved wooden foot that would fasten to this `ring' you have." The surgeon here in Arsana having fitted Diane with a stainless steel pin ending in a ring so that she might later be fitted with something so that she might stand on both legs. The types of ar- tificial limbs that were used in the past are almost unknown now, I should mention here as a note although there is no good reason why this is so as such things do not fall under the restrictions of technology imposed upon us now here by the Priestesses of Lys. "I would look `normal' then," Diane said, looking up into the dark eyes of the Queen of Trelandar. "And no one would know that I don't have a right foot," she added, looking at Tori now. "You will limp, perhaps quite noticeably," Lorraine said. "It's a lot better than a damn wooden peg," Diane smiled. "I am aware that these sort of accidents are `rare' in this era, but this seems to be something that we as Queens should dis- cuss with those of the caste of Physicians," Lorraine said to me. ***************************************************************** "You seem to be getting a little better," the girl said to the semi-unconscious woman as she now carefully spooned some warm soup in between the burned lips. So far the woman had not yet opened her eyes, although her mother said that the woman would be able to see, that the terrible burns she'd suffered hadn't blind- ed her. Most of her hair was gone, charred by the heat of a beam of energy "hotter" than the surface of the sun. At 10,000 C the beam had destroyed everything it touched, vaporizing wood and metal, human bodies, fatally burning anyone exposed to it in a brief fraction of a second. The weapon being much the same as the Lorr's own "Light That Burns" that was well known to Mankind. "Ooh," the woman suddenly spoke, her eyes opening, con- sciousness now returning to the Princess, the agony of her burns something that assured her that she was still yet alive! The girl looking down at her light haired, undoubtedly a Dularnian. "My mother went to get medicine for you," the girl said, fearing to touch the burned hand that reached out for her then. "She wouldn't bring a Physician for you because she is afraid." Tara nodding, her mind, as good as Lorraine's still functioning. "She knows `who' I am then?" the Princess breathed back, an "edge" to her voice due to the agony of her burns. Burned into her memory were those last few seconds when she realized that the Priestesses of Lys had "acted" against her, that they too were now her enemy. She remembered the terrible searing burning, the agony as she flung herself into the water, her clothing aflame, to escape if only for seconds that terrible death from the sky! "She said like her you are an `outlaw'," the girl spoke. "I feel `empty'," Tara breathed out, the girl nodding. "Perhaps from all that has happened to you," she smiled. "I think I have been `abandoned'," the Princess spoke then, "aware" that she no longer "shared" her own soul with "another". With that "Being" from another plane of existence called "HELL"! The "QUEEN OF DARKNESS" having abandoned her now for "another"... |
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