"2569-31" - 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 Thirty One "Allow me to sleep a few hours now," Lorraine spoke to me as her "new" slave girl now undressed her, a guardswoman bringing my Physician, "And if you would be so kind, see that pure alcohol is brought for the airplane so that I may have fuel enough to reach Sarn," she said. Kathi standing there watching us all, waiting to be of "service" if so needed, having built up the fire a bit so that the bedroom would be pleasantly warmed for sleeping now. "You are in no condition to travel," my Physician ventured, standing there, her medical bag in her hand, her black hair, slanted eyes, and skin coloring speaking of lands now "legend"... She was a citizen of Dularn, but her ancestors had not been from North America, but from "Japan", a "land" far across the Pacific. A small woman, pretty, attired in the tunic and hose now common. "Damn Priestesses wouldn't `help', and neither would Auro- ra," Lorraine "growled", looking at me as I nodded back in reply, aware that she had attempted no doubt to enlist their help here. "Even had myself `teleported' to Mars to talk to Raspa," she mut- tered as the girl finished stripping her of her clothing now, the Physician glancing at me, seeing me nod in reply. Lorraine had taken considerable "risk" considering her "condition" in doing this. I hoped that she had not harmed the baby or herself here. "Let me examine you," my Physician smiled, her eyes meeting the darkness of Lorraine's. I knew what Lorraine thought of the medical practices of our time, although I don't think we are all that "backward" even if we don't the "technologies" of her time such as "X-ray" machines and everything else they had back then. On the other hand we do have the Priestesses of Lys, who can "do" things that no one back in the 20th Century could do back then... "I'm just `exhausted', that's all," Lorraine answered, my Physician smiling, now "checking" Lorraine as the Warlady submit- ted to her attentions. She was competent, capable, and the same Physician who had three years ago saved Lorraine's life back when my late husband had attempted to kill the Imperial Warlady with a flintlock pistol manufactured by Princess Tara. I was "worried" about what Lorraine had done, the differences in air pressure be- tween Earth and Mars being so that no pregnant woman should ever expose herself to them, that of Mars being a tenth that of Earth. "No contractions, no pain here?" I heard the Physician ask, her fingers sure as she felt of the Warlady's swollen abdomen. There are various "groups" within the Physicians, ranging from those who "nurse" the sick to true masters of the art like mine. "I am a doctor, you know," I heard Lorraine smile back then. She was a member of the caste of Physicians there in Trelandar. She was also a Warrioress, and a member of the Scribes too, the Imperial Warlady being a rather awesome woman in many ways here! "I find they usually make the worst patients," Salmona Tora smiled back, her own ancestry making me think of the bodies we'd found aboard that mysterious derelict off the western coastline. The thought occurring to me that she might have been helpful here in deciphering the mysterious writing we'd found aboard the ship. She had once mentioned to me that she knew of "things" not com- monly known now, of a history of lands that were now just legend. "You do have a good bedside manner," Lorraine now observed. I motioned to Kathi, and took my leave of them then, feeling that Lorraine was in good hands. I was a bit nervous about having her fly back "home" this afternoon, especially by herself, but I did- n't really know "what" I could do about just then as she was the only person who knew how to fly the airplane but for Sharon and Darlanis. I wondered if it might be best if I went along too... "She should rest at least a full day," Salmona Tora said to me when she closed the door behind herself. I did not think that Lorraine would, and there was little that I could do about it... "There are `drugs', mistresses," Kathi now ventured to us. "You're the Physician," I said to the almond eyed Physician. "She won't like it when she awakes," Salmona pointed out to me. I was well aware of that, but I was also well aware that I didn't want anything to "happen" to Lorraine. While she wasn't a "friend" of Dularn, she was also more level headed than Darlanis. "Do it, but don't `over do' it," I warned her in reply then. Adding then, "And when you have a moment, there is something I'd like to have you do," I added, thinking of the documents we'd found there aboard the derelict we'd brought back with us here to Arsana. I'd planned to send them south with Lorraine, but per- haps it might be "possible" translate them here in Dularn now... "`These' were found aboard the vessel we found drifting off the coast," I said, handing the documents to my Physician, who due to her own ancestry, reminded me in a way those who had died aboard the ship perhaps a year ago if not more. My husband giv- ing me a smile as he stood there by the window, while the others sat together, quietly talking among themselves. Pharis' cut on her cheek having been quite minor, easily "closed" by the appli- cation of that "compound" that most Warrioresses carry with them. "I have seen writing like this before," she said, looking up at me. "My grandmother had some sort of a `book'," she added, her dark slanted eyes looking up into mine as I nodded back then. "Does she yet live?" my Prince asked, his curiosity aroused. "She is a very `old' woman, close to death," Salmona spoke. "There are people like `her' among those of Valeris'," Queen Freydis commented, getting up, looking "closely" at my Physician. "It is said that they speak another language than our own too..." "All the more reason not carry out your `plans'," I replied. "Lorraine said that she knew `some' in Trella," Salmona said to me. I wondered if such "people" would still recall the "old ways" of the past. Of an age now only memory for five centuries! "Have a carriage summoned," I spoke then to the guardswoman on duty. The woman nodding, and then taking her leave of us now. "She is a very `old' woman," my husband smiled. She was. I guessed her age at far over a hundred, perhaps even a hundred and thirty or so, which is pretty much the limit for life now. I saw that the woman was nearly blind from the glasses that she wore, glasses that made her look somewhat like a wizened wrinkled owl. "Grandma ma," I have brought `friends'," she said to the old woman, who peered at us standing there before her. The room was hot, a stove at the side almost glowing with the heat of the fire in it. She was clad in blankets, an old, dried up woman, soon now to pass from this material life to one beyond the ken of Man. The decorations about the room "different" from those of most of my people. Decorations that spoke of another culture, of history still yet remembered by a far of another time now only "legends"! "Pour them some tea," the old woman spoke in a watery voice. "Her mind sometimes `drifts'," Salmona Tora warned me then. "This is a log book off a ship we found drifting off the coast," I spoke, sliding the log book across the table to her... I wondered if she could even "see" well enough now to read it? "It is Japanese, but not Japanese," she spoke, her hand shaking a bit as she held the log book there in her wizened hand. "It is not like the writing I know, but some of the characters I can read for you if you'd like," she spoke, looking up into my face as I sat across the table from her, sweating from the heat! "There was a great storm, the masts, sails torn off," the woman spoke. "They tried to rig or make repair, but no good." I saw her finger tracing the symbols, saw her shaking her head as she read further on. "Water barrels in hold no good, no water." "About what we figured happened," Prince Paul Blue Sky said, nodding to me. The old woman pushing the log book back, then sipping at her tea, studying me, so much like some wizened owl. "They all die, didn't they?" she then said to me. I told her that we'd found the bodies, very much decayed by the time that had passed. "And now you want to sail there," she ventured. "We have ships that could make the trip," I said to her now. "I would like to `go' with you," the old woman said to me. "But grandma ma, you're too `old'!" Salmona Tora protested. "I would like to `return' to the land of my ancestors," the old woman said, "If golden hair here will allow it to be done." "`She' is the Queen of Dularn!" Salmona Tora breathed back. "And a `good Queen' too, from what I hear of her," the old woman answered, not at all "awed" by being in my royal presence! "Where `is' Japan?" my husband ventured as we left the old woman's tiny apartment, the room having been as "hot" as a Tre- landarian midsummer. "I know its supposed to be on the other side of the Pacific from us, but how far away is the place now?" "Forty five hundred miles from Dularn," Salmona answered. "A months' sailing on the North Star if the wind favors," I added, figuring what the ship had done in the time I had command- ed her. A hundred and fifty miles being a good day's sailing... "Make a nice honeymoon for us," my husband then smiled back. "If the Priestesses `allow' us to make the voyage," I said. "We could be `sneaky' about it," Salmona then ventured now. "Sail to the north, and then come across at the Bering Strait." I was well aware that the Priestesses did not maintain the sort of "patrols" that the Lorr had done with their own space craft... "Keeping `something' like that a secret from everyone might be a bit difficult," my husband pointed out then with a smile as I nodded. I wasn't too sure either what the crew of a ship would "think" of such a voyage, recalling Lorraine's own "troubles" earlier on when she'd pursued Princess Tara straight out into the Pacific. Even the "iron discipline" of the Imperials hardly ade- quate against the "terror" the men had felt about sailing so far! ***************************************************************** "I have the medicines," the old woman said, giving Princess Tara a smile, the Princess' face, hair, her burns leaving no doubt that she would be scarred now from what she'd gone through. "You have my `gratitude'," the former Bajan Princess said. "You `need' a Physician for your burns," the old woman said. "I need to get a letter to the Priestesses," Tara said then, wondering if even they would heed the warning she had to give... 2569 A.D.! THE DULARNIAN QUEEN AN ADVENTURE IN THE SECOND DARK AGE OF MAN By Jerome B. Bigge Chapter Thirty One "Allow me to sleep a few hours now," Lorraine spoke to me as her "new" slave girl now undressed her, a guardswoman bringing my Physician, "And if you would be so kind, see that pure alcohol is brought for the airplane so that I may have fuel enough to reach Sarn," she said. Kathi standing there watching us all, waiting to be of "service" if so needed, having built up the fire a bit so that the bedroom would be pleasantly warmed for sleeping now. "You are in no condition to travel," my Physician ventured, standing there, her medical bag in her hand, her black hair, slanted eyes, and skin coloring speaking of lands now "legend"... She was a citizen of Dularn, but her ancestors had not been from North America, but from "Japan", a "land" far across the Pacific. A small woman, pretty, attired in the tunic and hose now common. "Damn Priestesses wouldn't `help', and neither would Auro- ra," Lorraine "growled", looking at me as I nodded back in reply, aware that she had attempted no doubt to enlist their help here. "Even had myself `teleported' to Mars to talk to Raspa," she mut- tered as the girl finished stripping her of her clothing now, the Physician glancing at me, seeing me nod in reply. Lorraine had taken considerable "risk" considering her "condition" in doing this. I hoped that she had not harmed the baby or herself here. "Let me examine you," my Physician smiled, her eyes meeting the darkness of Lorraine's. I knew what Lorraine thought of the medical practices of our time, although I don't think we are all that "backward" even if we don't the "technologies" of her time such as "X-ray" machines and everything else they had back then. On the other hand we do have the Priestesses of Lys, who can "do" things that no one back in the 20th Century could do back then... "I'm just `exhausted', that's all," Lorraine answered, my Physician smiling, now "checking" Lorraine as the Warlady submit- ted to her attentions. She was competent, capable, and the same Physician who had three years ago saved Lorraine's life back when my late husband had attempted to kill the Imperial Warlady with a flintlock pistol manufactured by Princess Tara. I was "worried" about what Lorraine had done, the differences in air pressure be- tween Earth and Mars being so that no pregnant woman should ever expose herself to them, that of Mars being a tenth that of Earth. "No contractions, no pain here?" I heard the Physician ask, her fingers sure as she felt of the Warlady's swollen abdomen. There are various "groups" within the Physicians, ranging from those who "nurse" the sick to true masters of the art like mine. "I am a doctor, you know," I heard Lorraine smile back then. She was a member of the caste of Physicians there in Trelandar. She was also a Warrioress, and a member of the Scribes too, the Imperial Warlady being a rather awesome woman in many ways here! "I find they usually make the worst patients," Salmona Tora smiled back, her own ancestry making me think of the bodies we'd found aboard that mysterious derelict off the western coastline. The thought occurring to me that she might have been helpful here in deciphering the mysterious writing we'd found aboard the ship. She had once mentioned to me that she knew of "things" not com- monly known now, of a history of lands that were now just legend. "You do have a good bedside manner," Lorraine now observed. I motioned to Kathi, and took my leave of them then, feeling that Lorraine was in good hands. I was a bit nervous about having her fly back "home" this afternoon, especially by herself, but I did- n't really know "what" I could do about just then as she was the only person who knew how to fly the airplane but for Sharon and Darlanis. I wondered if it might be best if I went along too... "She should rest at least a full day," Salmona Tora said to me when she closed the door behind herself. I did not think that Lorraine would, and there was little that I could do about it... "There are `drugs', mistresses," Kathi now ventured to us. "You're the Physician," I said to the almond eyed Physician. "She won't like it when she awakes," Salmona pointed out to me. I was well aware of that, but I was also well aware that I didn't want anything to "happen" to Lorraine. While she wasn't a "friend" of Dularn, she was also more level headed than Darlanis. "Do it, but don't `over do' it," I warned her in reply then. Adding then, "And when you have a moment, there is something I'd like to have you do," I added, thinking of the documents we'd found there aboard the derelict we'd brought back with us here to Arsana. I'd planned to send them south with Lorraine, but per- haps it might be "possible" translate them here in Dularn now... "`These' were found aboard the vessel we found drifting off the coast," I said, handing the documents to my Physician, who due to her own ancestry, reminded me in a way those who had died aboard the ship perhaps a year ago if not more. My husband giv- ing me a smile as he stood there by the window, while the others sat together, quietly talking among themselves. Pharis' cut on her cheek having been quite minor, easily "closed" by the appli- cation of that "compound" that most Warrioresses carry with them. "I have seen writing like this before," she said, looking up at me. "My grandmother had some sort of a `book'," she added, her dark slanted eyes looking up into mine as I nodded back then. "Does she yet live?" my Prince asked, his curiosity aroused. "She is a very `old' woman, close to death," Salmona spoke. "There are people like `her' among those of Valeris'," Queen Freydis commented, getting up, looking "closely" at my Physician. "It is said that they speak another language than our own too..." "All the more reason not carry out your `plans'," I replied. "Lorraine said that she knew `some' in Trella," Salmona said to me. I wondered if such "people" would still recall the "old ways" of the past. Of an age now only memory for five centuries! "Have a carriage summoned," I spoke then to the guardswoman on duty. The woman nodding, and then taking her leave of us now. "She is a very `old' woman," my husband smiled. She was. I guessed her age at far over a hundred, perhaps even a hundred and thirty or so, which is pretty much the limit for life now. I saw that the woman was nearly blind from the glasses that she wore, glasses that made her look somewhat like a wizened wrinkled owl. "Grandma ma," I have brought `friends'," she said to the old woman, who peered at us standing there before her. The room was hot, a stove at the side almost glowing with the heat of the fire in it. She was clad in blankets, an old, dried up woman, soon now to pass from this material life to one beyond the ken of Man. The decorations about the room "different" from those of most of my people. Decorations that spoke of another culture, of history still yet remembered by a far of another time now only "legends"! "Pour them some tea," the old woman spoke in a watery voice. "Her mind sometimes `drifts'," Salmona Tora warned me then. "This is a log book off a ship we found drifting off the coast," I spoke, sliding the log book across the table to her... I wondered if she could even "see" well enough now to read it? "It is Japanese, but not Japanese," she spoke, her hand shaking a bit as she held the log book there in her wizened hand. "It is not like the writing I know, but some of the characters I can read for you if you'd like," she spoke, looking up into my face as I sat across the table from her, sweating from the heat! "There was a great storm, the masts, sails torn off," the woman spoke. "They tried to rig or make repair, but no good." I saw her finger tracing the symbols, saw her shaking her head as she read further on. "Water barrels in hold no good, no water." "About what we figured happened," Prince Paul Blue Sky said, nodding to me. The old woman pushing the log book back, then sipping at her tea, studying me, so much like some wizened owl. "They all die, didn't they?" she then said to me. I told her that we'd found the bodies, very much decayed by the time that had passed. "And now you want to sail there," she ventured. "We have ships that could make the trip," I said to her now. "I would like to `go' with you," the old woman said to me. "But grandma ma, you're too `old'!" Salmona Tora protested. "I would like to `return' to the land of my ancestors," the old woman said, "If golden hair here will allow it to be done." "`She' is the Queen of Dularn!" Salmona Tora breathed back. "And a `good Queen' too, from what I hear of her," the old woman answered, not at all "awed" by being in my royal presence! "Where `is' Japan?" my husband ventured as we left the old woman's tiny apartment, the room having been as "hot" as a Tre- landarian midsummer. "I know its supposed to be on the other side of the Pacific from us, but how far away is the place now?" "Forty five hundred miles from Dularn," Salmona answered. "A months' sailing on the North Star if the wind favors," I added, figuring what the ship had done in the time I had command- ed her. A hundred and fifty miles being a good day's sailing... "Make a nice honeymoon for us," my husband then smiled back. "If the Priestesses `allow' us to make the voyage," I said. "We could be `sneaky' about it," Salmona then ventured now. "Sail to the north, and then come across at the Bering Strait." I was well aware that the Priestesses did not maintain the sort of "patrols" that the Lorr had done with their own space craft... "Keeping `something' like that a secret from everyone might be a bit difficult," my husband pointed out then with a smile as I nodded. I wasn't too sure either what the crew of a ship would "think" of such a voyage, recalling Lorraine's own "troubles" earlier on when she'd pursued Princess Tara straight out into the Pacific. Even the "iron discipline" of the Imperials hardly ade- quate against the "terror" the men had felt about sailing so far! ***************************************************************** "I have the medicines," the old woman said, giving Princess Tara a smile, the Princess' face, hair, her burns leaving no doubt that she would be scarred now from what she'd gone through. "You have my `gratitude'," the former Bajan Princess said. "You `need' a Physician for your burns," the old woman said. "I need to get a letter to the Priestesses," Tara said then, wondering if even they would heed the warning she had to give... |
|
|