"2569-32" - 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 Two "Have a good night's sleep?" I smiled up at Lorraine as she entered the room, her slave girl following close behind, the girl no doubt delighted to be "freed" from the "domination" of Pharis. Her name was Nancy, a rather common enough name for a slave girl. "I appreciate `what' you did," Lorraine said to me, giving me a smile while Pharis sat there careful not to meet her eyes. Queen Freydis and her young Nevada Prince grinning at each other. I suspected that Prince Othis of the Nevadas had learned much in her arms. She was "blonde", which is considered highly attrac- tive by the Nevadas, who are a race of dark haired people with a considerable intermixture of Native American bloodlines, mostly Navaho, I understand from what I've been told by others here... "I would like to go with you," I said, seeing her nod back. "Your husband isn't coming?" Lorraine asked as we stood there on the dock, the black Breechcraft Bonanza waiting there for us to board. The Imperial Warlady having supervised the re- fueling operation herself, trusting no one in doing such a task. "I don't `expect' to be gone that long," I smiled back. I hoped to see Darlanis, and see what could be done about Valeris. As Queen of Dularn I might "stall" things for a while, although I was well aware that there was considerably popular "demand" now to have Dularn "act" against Valeris in alliance with the others. Lorraine having said to me that if Darlanis attempted to "defend" Valeris that it would most likely mean her throne and her life... "How are `you' doing?" Lorraine asked, the slave girl cower- ing in terror in the back of the airplane, no doubt terrified of flying up into the air over the strait there below as the plane then lifted from the calm waters of the harbor into the sky now. "Mistress is a very powerful `witch'," Nancy breathed back, watching Lorraine adjust the controls as we climbed higher yet. "Science, not `witchcraft', although I'm `that' too," the Imperial Warlady smiled, seeing me nod. I still remembered the time that Lorraine had me try to hypnotize her. Whether or not it was of any "value" to her is something I really don't know... "Where are you from?" I asked the girl, her own appearance indicating that she was not either Wyoming or Nevada, but perhaps from another "group" even further to the east such as the Colora- dos, although judging from her complexion she had little if any Native American blood. She was dark haired, rather "pretty", but not a woman that you'd really "look at" twice if you were a man. She wore a red woolen dress, fitting for the Dularnian climate. "My people live far to the east," she answered me softly. "Middle of the country," Lorraine replied, giving me a grin. "We know `little' of such lands," I answered Lorraine back. "All `advanced civilization' appears to be on the west coast of America now," she answered. "I've done considerable research, and the rest of the good old USA is now just a land of `barbaric savages' like those we see just to the east of us, nearly `Neo- lithic' societies like the one that Darlanis and Aurora discov- ered there among the ruins of Muskegon back three years ago now." "Why did we develop civilization then?" I asked her back. I saw the slave girl cowering down in her seat, the airplane now a good thousand feet up in the air, and flying almost due south. "Access to the ocean meant ships, trade, and I suspect too that the Priestesses of Lys were the strongest in numbers here," she answered. I thought then of what perhaps might still lie on the Atlantic side of the continent. While it was true that the French Prince who made the trip across in 518 didn't find any- thing but savage tribes, I was well aware that he had not thor- oughly explored the east coast before his death. There was also the entire coastline of South America, of which we knew "little". There was the Peruvian Empire there far to the south, a land of myth and legend that few from California had ever visited due to the hostility of the Mexicans towards those of the northern land. "How you do `fly' this?" I asked, having watched her take off. I was well aware of the principles of its operation, that the airplane "worked" by the movement of air beneath its wings. The Imperial Warlady giving me a grin, having no doubt expected that I might ask. Nancy there in back no doubt wishing with all her young heart that she was safely back down on the ground now. "Landing it is a bit more `difficult', but flying is easy enough," Lorraine smiled as I sat there holding the airplane's wheel in a tight grip, well aware that Darlanis had "learned to fly" while Lorraine herself had laid poisoned there beside her! "And the people in your time all had these?" I asked her. "Not many due to the `cost'," Lorraine pointed out to me. "You can take control back now," I said to her, nervous. "It's not that hard to `recover' from a spin," she smiled, suddenly stalling out the airplane and putting it into a "spin". The terrified whimpering of the slave girl still remains in my memory from that brief minute before Lorraine pulled it back out! "Please don't `do' that again," I suggested to the Warlady. "The Warrioress may know fear...," Lorraine "smiled" back. "But may not submit to it...," I grinned back at her then. "You know `where' we are?" I asked Lorraine, eying the woods as her slave girl stood there nervously at my side. The Warlady returning, smoothing down her dress, her booted feet muddy now as she squatted there at the edge of the water and washed her hands. "Nope," Lorraine smiled, climbing into the airplane then as a fish jumped a hundred yards off there in the little lake we'd just landed on. The slave girl and I then following her aboard. "Going to have to remember to boil my drinking water," she added, giving me a grin. "I'm not a rough tough `barbarian' like you." "I don't like the `looks' of that," Lorraine spoke, looking at the thunderstorm that "filled" the sky there ahead of us now. "How close are we to Sarn?" I asked, aware that we had been flying for several hours after taking off from that little lake there in Orgon. Lorraine's new slave girl keeping her thoughts to herself as was "proper" considering her status in relation to our own. The Queen of Trelandar glancing at the instruments be- fore answering me. I knew how long it would have taken the North Star to sail this distance, but the airplane flew as far in an hour as would take my beloved ship now twenty four hours to sail. "Half an hour, maybe a bit more," Lorraine answered, looking down at the coastline below and now swinging the airplane inland. "I'm not flying through `that'," she added, the tone of her voice leaving no doubts as to her feelings about "thunderstorms", it being well known that she had arrived in our era by such a storm! "Couldn't we fly under it?" I asked, knowing little of such. "Back when I was `younger', maybe I would have," she spoke, circling what appeared to be another small lake beneath us now. I saw the slave girl nod at me, no doubt hoping Lorraine would land instead of trying to fly underneath the thunderstorm ahead!! "Is it safe to sit in this during a storm?" I asked, aware that metal drew lightning. The slave girl no doubt thinking the same thoughts. Nancy was still a bit "scared" of her new mis- tress, no doubt due to Lorraine's appearances, her "mannerisms". "Safe as back in your own bed next to your husband," the Im- perial Warlady smiled back. "I'll have Darlanis fly me back home to Trella, then she can come back for you and the two of you can see what you can work out with Valeris," the Trelandarian Queen added, staring out into the downpour that rattled off the metal of the airplane like hail. The wind blowing the airplane back and forth at the end of the rope I'd tied there to a sturdy tree. "There are a whole lot of people in Dularn who want Valeris' blood," I answered, well aware of the "political realities" here. "Darlanis' having the same `trouble' here," Lorraine said, a sudden bolt of lightning making us all "jump" just a bit then... "There's a big bunch in the Imperial Senate who says that killing Valeris and eliminating her women should be the duty of all War- riors, regardless of their nationality," Lorraine then added now. "I've got a `gang' down in Trelandar that feels the same here..." "A `war' between the sexes," I smiled, my smile a bit forced here as I thought of what could happen. Most men I talked to had the opinion that Queen Valeris and her "Free Women" were a threat to all "Mankind", and should be exterminated without hesitation!! All the old "hatreds" men once felt against women were once again rising after some five centuries. I had heard "talk" that spoke of a "holy war" against Valeris, even references to her as being the "Queen of Darkness" who is supposed to now be the "ANTI-LYS"! "I thought `more' of Tais and Aurora," Lorraine muttered... "I don't think the Priestesses wished to take a `stand'," I answered. No doubt they were well aware of "what" might happen if they did. And Aurora would not like having a bunch of "unciv- ilized" barbarians living on Mars among her own women either now! "Maybe that's `why' so many of `us' end up `collared'," the Queen of Trelandar answered, staring out into the downpour then. 2569 A.D.! THE DULARNIAN QUEEN AN ADVENTURE IN THE SECOND DARK AGE OF MAN By Jerome B. Bigge Chapter Thirty Two "Have a good night's sleep?" I smiled up at Lorraine as she entered the room, her slave girl following close behind, the girl no doubt delighted to be "freed" from the "domination" of Pharis. Her name was Nancy, a rather common enough name for a slave girl. "I appreciate `what' you did," Lorraine said to me, giving me a smile while Pharis sat there careful not to meet her eyes. Queen Freydis and her young Nevada Prince grinning at each other. I suspected that Prince Othis of the Nevadas had learned much in her arms. She was "blonde", which is considered highly attrac- tive by the Nevadas, who are a race of dark haired people with a considerable intermixture of Native American bloodlines, mostly Navaho, I understand from what I've been told by others here... "I would like to go with you," I said, seeing her nod back. "Your husband isn't coming?" Lorraine asked as we stood there on the dock, the black Breechcraft Bonanza waiting there for us to board. The Imperial Warlady having supervised the re- fueling operation herself, trusting no one in doing such a task. "I don't `expect' to be gone that long," I smiled back. I hoped to see Darlanis, and see what could be done about Valeris. As Queen of Dularn I might "stall" things for a while, although I was well aware that there was considerably popular "demand" now to have Dularn "act" against Valeris in alliance with the others. Lorraine having said to me that if Darlanis attempted to "defend" Valeris that it would most likely mean her throne and her life... "How are `you' doing?" Lorraine asked, the slave girl cower- ing in terror in the back of the airplane, no doubt terrified of flying up into the air over the strait there below as the plane then lifted from the calm waters of the harbor into the sky now. "Mistress is a very powerful `witch'," Nancy breathed back, watching Lorraine adjust the controls as we climbed higher yet. "Science, not `witchcraft', although I'm `that' too," the Imperial Warlady smiled, seeing me nod. I still remembered the time that Lorraine had me try to hypnotize her. Whether or not it was of any "value" to her is something I really don't know... "Where are you from?" I asked the girl, her own appearance indicating that she was not either Wyoming or Nevada, but perhaps from another "group" even further to the east such as the Colora- dos, although judging from her complexion she had little if any Native American blood. She was dark haired, rather "pretty", but not a woman that you'd really "look at" twice if you were a man. She wore a red woolen dress, fitting for the Dularnian climate. "My people live far to the east," she answered me softly. "Middle of the country," Lorraine replied, giving me a grin. "We know `little' of such lands," I answered Lorraine back. "All `advanced civilization' appears to be on the west coast of America now," she answered. "I've done considerable research, and the rest of the good old USA is now just a land of `barbaric savages' like those we see just to the east of us, nearly `Neo- lithic' societies like the one that Darlanis and Aurora discov- ered there among the ruins of Muskegon back three years ago now." "Why did we develop civilization then?" I asked her back. I saw the slave girl cowering down in her seat, the airplane now a good thousand feet up in the air, and flying almost due south. "Access to the ocean meant ships, trade, and I suspect too that the Priestesses of Lys were the strongest in numbers here," she answered. I thought then of what perhaps might still lie on the Atlantic side of the continent. While it was true that the French Prince who made the trip across in 518 didn't find any- thing but savage tribes, I was well aware that he had not thor- oughly explored the east coast before his death. There was also the entire coastline of South America, of which we knew "little". There was the Peruvian Empire there far to the south, a land of myth and legend that few from California had ever visited due to the hostility of the Mexicans towards those of the northern land. "How you do `fly' this?" I asked, having watched her take off. I was well aware of the principles of its operation, that the airplane "worked" by the movement of air beneath its wings. The Imperial Warlady giving me a grin, having no doubt expected that I might ask. Nancy there in back no doubt wishing with all her young heart that she was safely back down on the ground now. "Landing it is a bit more `difficult', but flying is easy enough," Lorraine smiled as I sat there holding the airplane's wheel in a tight grip, well aware that Darlanis had "learned to fly" while Lorraine herself had laid poisoned there beside her! "And the people in your time all had these?" I asked her. "Not many due to the `cost'," Lorraine pointed out to me. "You can take control back now," I said to her, nervous. "It's not that hard to `recover' from a spin," she smiled, suddenly stalling out the airplane and putting it into a "spin". The terrified whimpering of the slave girl still remains in my memory from that brief minute before Lorraine pulled it back out! "Please don't `do' that again," I suggested to the Warlady. "The Warrioress may know fear...," Lorraine "smiled" back. "But may not submit to it...," I grinned back at her then. "You know `where' we are?" I asked Lorraine, eying the woods as her slave girl stood there nervously at my side. The Warlady returning, smoothing down her dress, her booted feet muddy now as she squatted there at the edge of the water and washed her hands. "Nope," Lorraine smiled, climbing into the airplane then as a fish jumped a hundred yards off there in the little lake we'd just landed on. The slave girl and I then following her aboard. "Going to have to remember to boil my drinking water," she added, giving me a grin. "I'm not a rough tough `barbarian' like you." "I don't like the `looks' of that," Lorraine spoke, looking at the thunderstorm that "filled" the sky there ahead of us now. "How close are we to Sarn?" I asked, aware that we had been flying for several hours after taking off from that little lake there in Orgon. Lorraine's new slave girl keeping her thoughts to herself as was "proper" considering her status in relation to our own. The Queen of Trelandar glancing at the instruments be- fore answering me. I knew how long it would have taken the North Star to sail this distance, but the airplane flew as far in an hour as would take my beloved ship now twenty four hours to sail. "Half an hour, maybe a bit more," Lorraine answered, looking down at the coastline below and now swinging the airplane inland. "I'm not flying through `that'," she added, the tone of her voice leaving no doubts as to her feelings about "thunderstorms", it being well known that she had arrived in our era by such a storm! "Couldn't we fly under it?" I asked, knowing little of such. "Back when I was `younger', maybe I would have," she spoke, circling what appeared to be another small lake beneath us now. I saw the slave girl nod at me, no doubt hoping Lorraine would land instead of trying to fly underneath the thunderstorm ahead!! "Is it safe to sit in this during a storm?" I asked, aware that metal drew lightning. The slave girl no doubt thinking the same thoughts. Nancy was still a bit "scared" of her new mis- tress, no doubt due to Lorraine's appearances, her "mannerisms". "Safe as back in your own bed next to your husband," the Im- perial Warlady smiled back. "I'll have Darlanis fly me back home to Trella, then she can come back for you and the two of you can see what you can work out with Valeris," the Trelandarian Queen added, staring out into the downpour that rattled off the metal of the airplane like hail. The wind blowing the airplane back and forth at the end of the rope I'd tied there to a sturdy tree. "There are a whole lot of people in Dularn who want Valeris' blood," I answered, well aware of the "political realities" here. "Darlanis' having the same `trouble' here," Lorraine said, a sudden bolt of lightning making us all "jump" just a bit then... "There's a big bunch in the Imperial Senate who says that killing Valeris and eliminating her women should be the duty of all War- riors, regardless of their nationality," Lorraine then added now. "I've got a `gang' down in Trelandar that feels the same here..." "A `war' between the sexes," I smiled, my smile a bit forced here as I thought of what could happen. Most men I talked to had the opinion that Queen Valeris and her "Free Women" were a threat to all "Mankind", and should be exterminated without hesitation!! All the old "hatreds" men once felt against women were once again rising after some five centuries. I had heard "talk" that spoke of a "holy war" against Valeris, even references to her as being the "Queen of Darkness" who is supposed to now be the "ANTI-LYS"! "I thought `more' of Tais and Aurora," Lorraine muttered... "I don't think the Priestesses wished to take a `stand'," I answered. No doubt they were well aware of "what" might happen if they did. And Aurora would not like having a bunch of "unciv- ilized" barbarians living on Mars among her own women either now! "Maybe that's `why' so many of `us' end up `collared'," the Queen of Trelandar answered, staring out into the downpour then. |
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