"2570-13" - читать интересную книгу автора (Jerome Bigge - Warlady 8 - The Queen Of Time)THE QUEEN OF TIME 2570 A.D.! A TALE OF ADVENTURE IN THE SECOND DARK AGE By Jerome B. Bigge Chapter Thirteen "They must `know' we don't have any more arrows," Hope said to me as we dashed now from one piece of rubble to another, well aware of what sort of "life" lived in these ruins and its "inten- tions" towards us! Our swords there in our hands, Hope's blade yet clean and shiny, while mine was covered with a strange gore. The mutants having quickly learned now to avoid meeting my blade. None of them so far any way having anything but the crudest of weapons, primitive bows and spears being their most "advanced" arms we'd encountered so far, although most now just threw rocks. A "coordinated attack" would have been the "end" for us, but the creatures seemed to even lack the ability to work together here!* * The question may be raised here whether they wished to kill us or just drive us away. I believe they sought our lives, although Queen Joyce says that the latter was more likely the case here... "There's Trella in the distance," I spoke, aware that we'd never reach the city shining there in the afternoon sun now. Not unless the HORRORS that had pursued us this far "gave up" on us. The "edge" of the ruins perhaps yet a good mile or so before us. Lovely forests, green rich fields like a "heaven" we'd never see. "`There they are'!" Hope answered, looking behind us now. "Maybe we've gotten out of their territory," I "ventured". "Like dogs who have a territory to protect?" she asked as we ran around the edge of some long fallen ruins. Perhaps a big de- partment store back in the 21st Century, I thought to myself now. "Like...!" I gasped, the HORROR that grabbed for me taking thirty inches of stainless steel right into its armored guts now! Its clawed hand ripping my shoulder, the blood already running as I twisted away, yanking my sword free from its doubled up body!! Hope and I again fleeing, running, the blood red now on my body! The pain of my wounds making everything seem so "unreal" now too! I'd used the last of my own wound compound on Hope, and there was nothing I could do now but just hope the bleeding would stop be- fore I bled too much to continue on here. The lovely brownette just ahead of me, her sword gleaming in the sunlight, her figure, her face so much reminding me of her mother, although Hope did not have quite the "provocativeness" that was a part of Carol... "You're hurt `bad'," Hope said, bandaging me as best she could. My shoulder was nothing but "ripped meat" from its claws, my lungs "burning" in my chest from our last quarter mile dash. Fortunately it had struck my left, not my right, and I was still able to use my sword, despite my almost total exhaustion now from running and the loss of blood I had suffered here in this hellish place. In a "place" that perhaps truly SHE had indeed "cursed"!! "Still could conquer you an empire or two," I "smiled" back. "Just because the anti-aging serums don't work on me doesn't mean I'm `over the hill' yet," I "laughed", aware I was starting to "lose it" now from exhaustion and the loss of blood I'd suffered! "There will never be `another' like you," Hope answered, the tears running down her cheeks as she regarded me propped up there against a half fallen wall. The sun a torment, our tongues dry, water something not to be found in this Lys-forsaken "hell hole"! The only form of life that lived here besides monsters was flies! "Was the greatest swordswoman of all time," I grinned back. "And I still aught to be able to kill a few more of `them' yet!" Going on to say, "Now you just run on like a good little girl and let old Lorraine here have her `last battle'. Tell Tais I died a `Warrioress' Death', a sword in my hand," I told Carol's daughter then, knowing that now here in this place my bones would remain. That Trelandar's Queen Lorraine back in the year 2365, among the ruins of Los Angeles, showed the SHE-dammed HORRORS of this hell hole just what a WARRIORESS could do when she put her mind to it! "No!" Hope cried, grabbing my hand, almost dragging me with her. A rock flung from somewhere behind us suddenly striking her down! The blood red haze of anger enough to let me drag her with me as I dragged her unconscious or perhaps dead body along now!! The blood running down my arm, down my side, down my leg, so much blood, spots of it on the rubble as I now dragged Hope like some Neanderthal dragging a woman by the hair! My sword, my long slim lovely stainless steel sword now covered by a strange "blood"... I saw the "creatures" approaching, like dogs closing in for the kill, hideous things, like something out of a Grade B horror movie. Things "cursed" by Lys as the Priestesses often say here. I knew this time there would be too many, Hope yet unconscious or dead at my feet as I hunted for something to put my back against! A place where the Warlady of California might make a last stand!! Take as many of them with me as I could to greet SHE herself now! Suddenly I saw one of the creatures clutch at itself, the others hesitating as several young Peasants ran up, shooting half a dozen arrows at the HORRORS! Their longbows driving them off!! WE HAD CROSSED THE RUINS OF LOS ANGELES! AND MADE IT TO TRELLA!! "You need the services of a Physician," the woman said, Hope holding her head in a way that left no doubts as to her headache! One of the children had seen us, had come running back to their village that bordered on the ruins. The young men had entered the ruins, their bows finally enough to drive back the mutants... "I will seek one in Trella," I answered, totally exhausted. The thought going through my mind that no one would ever believe. That even in the 26th Century they would never know that Lorraine Richards, Queen of Trelandar, Warlady of the Empire of Califor- nia, and Hope Lynn Simmons, daughter of the late Carol Simmons, once a Warlady of Dularn, had indeed "crossed" these very ruins!! "None will ever believe what you did," she said to me then. I suspected that it was true. None would ever believe we did so! "Two centuries from now there will be a `Queen Lorraine' of Trelandar," I said to her, the look in her eyes leaving no doubt that she felt that I was in serious need now of a Priestess too!! The Priestesses of Lys often "treating" those who "hold" such in- sane delusions as mine. It being well known that no one has ever crossed the ruins of Los Angeles. That is those of Trelandar BE- LIEVE this, although Queen Joyce showed me the records her own people kept, now over two centuries old, of two Warrioresses who fought their way across these very ruins, killing over thirty of her own race of people in their epic battle still yet remembered! "You have suffered serious injuries," the woman said to me. The interior of her hovel leaving no doubts as to her poverty... "Take this," I said, handing her a golden crown then. "This is not our Queen," she pointed it out to me. "It is gold, good gold," I pointed out to her. "You did not cross the ruins," she said to me. "Perhaps it is best you believe so," I answered. "What sort of `thing' did this to you?" the Physician asked, his eyes looking straight into mine as I sat there stripped to the waist before him. "Did you dare enter the ruins?" he asked, the tone of his voice indicating what he felt of such! Hope and I having spent the night in the village, and then had walked to Trella this morning where we'd found ourselves lodging. The landlord having looked at us with suspicion, due perhaps to Hope's own provocative attire and my own almost as brief "top", this being all that had been left now of my fine silken blouse. My feet were badly blistered from those "stylish" boots I'd worn. I'd gotten a pair of open sandals, padding my feet in wool socks. "Found out that is not a good place for even an old `Warrio- ress' like me to enter," I smiled back, aware that there was no other form of life that would make such "marks" save for say a Tigon or a great bear. I knew the ruins were entered for short distances, more as a "dare" than as anything else, such having been a popular stunt among young Warrioresses here for centuries. A way, I suspect, of "proving" your courage like nothing else... "A woman who has lived at least a century like you should be a bit more `careful'," the Physician said, checking my wounds for infection, his very "touch" at times enough to make me gasp with the pain of it. I was one very "battered" Warrioress, I thought! "And taking your grand daughter into `this' with you...," he then added, Hope sitting there quietly taking this all in as she wait- ed her turn, her own injuries having been less serious than mine. "As a matter of fact, I think you should seriously consider re- tiring and taking your last couple decades a bit more easy," he now commented, apparently believing me to be well over a hundred! "Grandma is a bit `reckless' at times," Hope volunteered... The Physician nodding, his assistant, perhaps his wife, now com- ing into the room with the medicines that he'd ordered for me. I supposed everyone would have believed Hope to be my granddaughter as we did look about that far apart if not even "more" here now. "But when it comes to `kicking ass', she's still the `best'," Hope continued, the doctor giving her an odd look, as the idiom "kicking ass" was virtually unknown here in this time, although it is "known" to a certain degree in mine due to my being there. THE QUEEN OF TIME 2570 A.D.! A TALE OF ADVENTURE IN THE SECOND DARK AGE By Jerome B. Bigge Chapter Thirteen "They must `know' we don't have any more arrows," Hope said to me as we dashed now from one piece of rubble to another, well aware of what sort of "life" lived in these ruins and its "inten- tions" towards us! Our swords there in our hands, Hope's blade yet clean and shiny, while mine was covered with a strange gore. The mutants having quickly learned now to avoid meeting my blade. None of them so far any way having anything but the crudest of weapons, primitive bows and spears being their most "advanced" arms we'd encountered so far, although most now just threw rocks. A "coordinated attack" would have been the "end" for us, but the creatures seemed to even lack the ability to work together here!* * The question may be raised here whether they wished to kill us or just drive us away. I believe they sought our lives, although Queen Joyce says that the latter was more likely the case here... "There's Trella in the distance," I spoke, aware that we'd never reach the city shining there in the afternoon sun now. Not unless the HORRORS that had pursued us this far "gave up" on us. The "edge" of the ruins perhaps yet a good mile or so before us. Lovely forests, green rich fields like a "heaven" we'd never see. "`There they are'!" Hope answered, looking behind us now. "Maybe we've gotten out of their territory," I "ventured". "Like dogs who have a territory to protect?" she asked as we ran around the edge of some long fallen ruins. Perhaps a big de- partment store back in the 21st Century, I thought to myself now. "Like...!" I gasped, the HORROR that grabbed for me taking thirty inches of stainless steel right into its armored guts now! Its clawed hand ripping my shoulder, the blood already running as I twisted away, yanking my sword free from its doubled up body!! Hope and I again fleeing, running, the blood red now on my body! The pain of my wounds making everything seem so "unreal" now too! I'd used the last of my own wound compound on Hope, and there was nothing I could do now but just hope the bleeding would stop be- fore I bled too much to continue on here. The lovely brownette just ahead of me, her sword gleaming in the sunlight, her figure, her face so much reminding me of her mother, although Hope did not have quite the "provocativeness" that was a part of Carol... "You're hurt `bad'," Hope said, bandaging me as best she could. My shoulder was nothing but "ripped meat" from its claws, my lungs "burning" in my chest from our last quarter mile dash. Fortunately it had struck my left, not my right, and I was still able to use my sword, despite my almost total exhaustion now from running and the loss of blood I had suffered here in this hellish place. In a "place" that perhaps truly SHE had indeed "cursed"!! "Still could conquer you an empire or two," I "smiled" back. "Just because the anti-aging serums don't work on me doesn't mean I'm `over the hill' yet," I "laughed", aware I was starting to "lose it" now from exhaustion and the loss of blood I'd suffered! "There will never be `another' like you," Hope answered, the tears running down her cheeks as she regarded me propped up there against a half fallen wall. The sun a torment, our tongues dry, water something not to be found in this Lys-forsaken "hell hole"! The only form of life that lived here besides monsters was flies! "Was the greatest swordswoman of all time," I grinned back. "And I still aught to be able to kill a few more of `them' yet!" Going on to say, "Now you just run on like a good little girl and let old Lorraine here have her `last battle'. Tell Tais I died a `Warrioress' Death', a sword in my hand," I told Carol's daughter then, knowing that now here in this place my bones would remain. That Trelandar's Queen Lorraine back in the year 2365, among the ruins of Los Angeles, showed the SHE-dammed HORRORS of this hell hole just what a WARRIORESS could do when she put her mind to it! "No!" Hope cried, grabbing my hand, almost dragging me with her. A rock flung from somewhere behind us suddenly striking her down! The blood red haze of anger enough to let me drag her with me as I dragged her unconscious or perhaps dead body along now!! The blood running down my arm, down my side, down my leg, so much blood, spots of it on the rubble as I now dragged Hope like some Neanderthal dragging a woman by the hair! My sword, my long slim lovely stainless steel sword now covered by a strange "blood"... I saw the "creatures" approaching, like dogs closing in for the kill, hideous things, like something out of a Grade B horror movie. Things "cursed" by Lys as the Priestesses often say here. I knew this time there would be too many, Hope yet unconscious or dead at my feet as I hunted for something to put my back against! A place where the Warlady of California might make a last stand!! Take as many of them with me as I could to greet SHE herself now! Suddenly I saw one of the creatures clutch at itself, the others hesitating as several young Peasants ran up, shooting half a dozen arrows at the HORRORS! Their longbows driving them off!! WE HAD CROSSED THE RUINS OF LOS ANGELES! AND MADE IT TO TRELLA!! "You need the services of a Physician," the woman said, Hope holding her head in a way that left no doubts as to her headache! One of the children had seen us, had come running back to their village that bordered on the ruins. The young men had entered the ruins, their bows finally enough to drive back the mutants... "I will seek one in Trella," I answered, totally exhausted. The thought going through my mind that no one would ever believe. That even in the 26th Century they would never know that Lorraine Richards, Queen of Trelandar, Warlady of the Empire of Califor- nia, and Hope Lynn Simmons, daughter of the late Carol Simmons, once a Warlady of Dularn, had indeed "crossed" these very ruins!! "None will ever believe what you did," she said to me then. I suspected that it was true. None would ever believe we did so! "Two centuries from now there will be a `Queen Lorraine' of Trelandar," I said to her, the look in her eyes leaving no doubt that she felt that I was in serious need now of a Priestess too!! The Priestesses of Lys often "treating" those who "hold" such in- sane delusions as mine. It being well known that no one has ever crossed the ruins of Los Angeles. That is those of Trelandar BE- LIEVE this, although Queen Joyce showed me the records her own people kept, now over two centuries old, of two Warrioresses who fought their way across these very ruins, killing over thirty of her own race of people in their epic battle still yet remembered! "You have suffered serious injuries," the woman said to me. The interior of her hovel leaving no doubts as to her poverty... "Take this," I said, handing her a golden crown then. "This is not our Queen," she pointed it out to me. "It is gold, good gold," I pointed out to her. "You did not cross the ruins," she said to me. "Perhaps it is best you believe so," I answered. "What sort of `thing' did this to you?" the Physician asked, his eyes looking straight into mine as I sat there stripped to the waist before him. "Did you dare enter the ruins?" he asked, the tone of his voice indicating what he felt of such! Hope and I having spent the night in the village, and then had walked to Trella this morning where we'd found ourselves lodging. The landlord having looked at us with suspicion, due perhaps to Hope's own provocative attire and my own almost as brief "top", this being all that had been left now of my fine silken blouse. My feet were badly blistered from those "stylish" boots I'd worn. I'd gotten a pair of open sandals, padding my feet in wool socks. "Found out that is not a good place for even an old `Warrio- ress' like me to enter," I smiled back, aware that there was no other form of life that would make such "marks" save for say a Tigon or a great bear. I knew the ruins were entered for short distances, more as a "dare" than as anything else, such having been a popular stunt among young Warrioresses here for centuries. A way, I suspect, of "proving" your courage like nothing else... "A woman who has lived at least a century like you should be a bit more `careful'," the Physician said, checking my wounds for infection, his very "touch" at times enough to make me gasp with the pain of it. I was one very "battered" Warrioress, I thought! "And taking your grand daughter into `this' with you...," he then added, Hope sitting there quietly taking this all in as she wait- ed her turn, her own injuries having been less serious than mine. "As a matter of fact, I think you should seriously consider re- tiring and taking your last couple decades a bit more easy," he now commented, apparently believing me to be well over a hundred! "Grandma is a bit `reckless' at times," Hope volunteered... The Physician nodding, his assistant, perhaps his wife, now com- ing into the room with the medicines that he'd ordered for me. I supposed everyone would have believed Hope to be my granddaughter as we did look about that far apart if not even "more" here now. "But when it comes to `kicking ass', she's still the `best'," Hope continued, the doctor giving her an odd look, as the idiom "kicking ass" was virtually unknown here in this time, although it is "known" to a certain degree in mine due to my being there. |
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