"FREE-29" - читать интересную книгу автора (Jerome Bigge - Warlady 9 - The Freedom Fighters Of Trelandar)Freedom Fighters of Trelandar A Tale of Adventure in the Second Dark Age Book Nine of the Warlady Series By Jerome B. Bigge Chapter Twenty Nine "It was an act of `desperation' upon Darlanis' part," I said to Jon as he read over what I'd written so long ago here for Lor- raine. Technically there had never been any doubt of the fact as such that Darlanis was guilty of allowing Tara to do things that were in violation of the caste codes, the rules of warfare here. Darlanis was losing the war with Trelandar, and she knew it too. "So she challenged your sister to a duel, killed her, and in that way WON what she could not win any other way," Jon smiled in reply, his dark eyes holding mine as I nodded thoughtfully back. "Paula was a proud woman, perhaps too `proud'," I replied. "She could have challenged you..." Jon pointed out to me. "I wasn't a Warrioress," I smiled, remembering it all here. "I keep remembering what Lorraine once said," he said to me. "I'm an old woman, with gray in my hair," I pointed out now. "You're not as `old' as Lorraine was," Jon said to me then. I supposed it was true. Lorraine had been "old", gray haired at the time of her death, although still yet in fairly good shape. By the standards of her own time she'd been about seventy or so. By ours she'd been an "old" woman, who most felt "ready" for Lys. "She and Darlanis are `together' now," I answered, the tears flooding my eyes as I remembered the two of them together. They had been the stuff of which legends are made, it having been said that the two of them together had once stood up against a Legion. In later years I'd grown to "admire" Darlanis for her wisdom, for her own moral code, for what she'd become in later years here... I remembered her as she had been, tall and "golden", although in the last years before her death the signs of age had started to show on her face, in the way that her body started to give way to the ravages of time despite her best efforts to avoid it. She'd been a woman like no other I'd ever known, "different" in her own way from Lorraine, who was more introspective, whereas Darlanis had been of a sort who saw things in a way that few others had... "No doubt giving Lys Herself a `hard time' if I know them," Jon said to me, taking me in his arms and holding me against him. We lived upon a doomed world, and now its last heroes were gone. The legends would live on, but not upon this green Earth of ours. My son Jerry was gone now to Mars with his wife Phara, of whom I had once thought so little of, just because of the fact that she had been the daughter of the blacksmith there upon this estate. Sara was living in Sarn, and Marianne, my youngest, was on Mars. Working with the Women of that world to prepare it for Mankind. ***************************************************************** "And just `what' do you mean by that?" Paula snapped back, no doubt as well aware as I of the "implications" of things here. "Isn't it `obvious'," Darlanis "retorted", standing there in her gold, her cloak now drawn back. An inch or so taller than even my beautiful sister, who was two inches taller than I was... "And under the caste codes, I ask redress for what has happened." The rain wet canvas over her head hanging down from the supports, its odor of dampness trapped too here inside Paula's lovely tent. The words seeming to echo through my mind as I understood it now! It was true that my sister had once been a "Queen of Swords", but that was years ago, and although Paula's skill with a blade was awesome, I knew too of the skills that Darlanis had possessed at the Academy... Having fenced enough with her to realize that I'd never be in the same class as such women as these two before me!! "When?" Paula asked, standing there, her eyes holding those of Darlanis. Her hand on the golden hilt of her sword, no doubt aware of the fact that only one of them at best might survive it! That the fates of two nations was at stake here in this matter... And should she die in this "duel", Trelandar would be lost to us. "Now, outside..," Darlanis snapped back, slipping off her cloak to stand before us here in her beautiful golden mesh. I understood too why she had looked as she had, "knowing" what she "faced" here. Darlanis was proud of her skills, but Paula had an awesome reputation, one that no doubt might even give Darlanis a bit of pause in considering the outcome of any possible duel now. It was, I suspected here of Darlanis, a desperate attempt to gain with her sword what her Legions could not give her, thanks to me. "A `moment'," Paula answered, turning to me then as I stood there stunned by all this, aware as never before of what the out- come could be if Paula was to die at the point of Darlanis' sword in a duel that would perhaps decide the fate of millions here... Darlanis taking Tara by the arm, guiding her then from the tent. "It's all my fault," I said, my eyes growing wet with tears. The "challenge" had actually been directed at me, but because I was not a Warrioress, Paula would have to fight in my place here. And although I knew Paula was awesome with a sword, I also knew of Darlanis' "skills", and I feared much then for my country now. "You would be no `match' for her," Paula said to me softly. "Are you...?" I breathed, aware of Darlanis' awesome skill. "Your big sister has always come through, hasn't she?" Paula said to me, giving me a hug. "And after I kill her, we'll be rid of the damn bitch, and this will be the end of all of this now." My sister then wiping my eyes with a cloth and suggesting that I have a bit more "confidence" in her. The slave girl then helping her out of her armor and helmet so she stood in just a tunic and hose before us, Paula then rebuckling her sword about her waist. I felt love, a deep love for this sister of mine I'd once envied. She was truly and rightfully the Queen of Trelandar in every way! "No doubt `this' is the best way," Paula spoke to a shiver- ing Darlanis, the drizzle coming down like an icy mist on us all. The two women drawing, facing each other, their long slim swords gleaming in the gray light from above. Both carried weapons made in the 21st Century, the long slim rapier like blade favored by those who have been dust now for centuries. Blades like the one my own mother had carried, the one that I now wore at my own hip. As Paula's "second" I stood away a bit from the crowd, closer in, as now did Princess Tara, who was Darlanis' "second" in all this. The two of us nodding, and then giving the orders to begin here. The "attack" was swift, the movement of the blades a blur to my eyes, the swift clash of steel bringing back memories of long ago. I'd seen Paula win her "gold" there in Trella as a teenage girl, and I had fenced with Darlanis enough times to know about what she was capable of doing. Princess Tara standing there with a smile curving her lips, as if she was pleased by all this here. She would "win" whatever happened, as Darlanis only child was but a small young girl who could not be Queen for many years yet. It was also within the realm of possibility that my sister and Dar- lanis would both inflict fatal wounds upon one another too here, which would leave Tara in control of things on her side. With me in "charge" of Trelandar until a new monarch could be selected now to govern us, to carry on this war to its final conclusions. I watched Paula slip her way past Darlanis' guard, saw the red of blood there on the Sarnian Queen's skin, saw Darlanis now seem to shake her head, return to the attack, forcing Paula back. To my eye the two women were extremely closely matched, with Pau- la in my opinion being the swifter of the two, but Darlanis in a way perhaps the more "skilled", the more "professional" at this. She was also more "experienced", as Paula had never fought to the death with anyone, while Darlanis had done so several times here. Paula was a champion fencer, but Darlanis was more the "killer".* * While Darlanis could always give Lorraine a good fight, it has always been my "opinion" that she would never have been a "match" for Lorraine in an actual duel, something I think Darlanis knew. It would have been a toss up between Tara and Paula, although it is likely that Janet Rogers in her "prime" would matched Lorraine from what Lorraine herself writes in her diary for the year 2570. As I've mentioned, I did fence with Darlanis at the Academy, and she was never in my opinion quite the equal to Lorraine, perhaps because she lacked the true "killer" instinct that Lorraine had. Both were "violent" women, but Lorraine was more so here. (Sanda) I was aware of those around me, but nothing seemed to matter now but this "contest" fought out before me. Two crowned Queens, heads of their respective countries, fighting here to the death in this cold miserable drizzle as hundreds now stood and watched. Paula fighting with that beautiful "style" she had, tall and slim in her gold trimmed tunic and hose with the gold stripes down the sides. Brunette against a blonde, Trelandarian against Dularni- an, Warrioress against Warrioress, with the death of one the only end now to this battle for a whole country! Everyone standing there quietly, watching this, the only "sound" the rasp of steel as their blades again met and clashed in a deadly gleaming dance. Once again Paula's point slipped through Darlanis' guard, it seeming to us watching that it was only a matter of time before our Queen killed theirs, and put an end to this war we'd fought! I felt sorry in a way that Darlanis would die, that such a beauty as her would die here in this place fighting another of her own caste, of her own station in life, and for "what"? To try to re- live a dream that had died over six centuries ago in solar fires? The red blood now "staining" Darlanis' skin leaving no doubts... "Don't kill her, Paula, please don't kill her!" I breathed, knowing that Darlanis had "miscalculated", that in picking a duel with Paula she'd picked on someone whose skill was superior yet! THEN SUDDENLY "IT" HAPPENED SO SWIFTLY THE EYE COULD HARDLY FOLLOW!! DARLANIS SUDDENLY THRUST OUT, TAKING PAULA'S BLADE IN HER SHOULDER, AND DROVE HER POINT RIGHT INTO PAULA'S OWN CHEST!!! My sister stumbling back, dropping her sword, and then falling into my arms as I dashed to her, conscious of nothing but that my sister had been the one who had lost this duel to Darlanis here!! Paula's dark eyes holding mine for an instant before a soft gasp escaped from her lips and she went limp then in my arms, DEAD... "It's all over, Sanda, its all `over' now..." Darlanis spoke as I held my sister in my arms. The blood running from the Em- press' wounds. Her eyes like a blue fire now burning into mine. "And I'm sorry too it had to be this way..." The drizzle pouring down upon us all "fitting" I thought then as I looked up at her. Freedom Fighters of Trelandar A Tale of Adventure in the Second Dark Age Book Nine of the Warlady Series By Jerome B. Bigge Chapter Twenty Nine "It was an act of `desperation' upon Darlanis' part," I said to Jon as he read over what I'd written so long ago here for Lor- raine. Technically there had never been any doubt of the fact as such that Darlanis was guilty of allowing Tara to do things that were in violation of the caste codes, the rules of warfare here. Darlanis was losing the war with Trelandar, and she knew it too. "So she challenged your sister to a duel, killed her, and in that way WON what she could not win any other way," Jon smiled in reply, his dark eyes holding mine as I nodded thoughtfully back. "Paula was a proud woman, perhaps too `proud'," I replied. "She could have challenged you..." Jon pointed out to me. "I wasn't a Warrioress," I smiled, remembering it all here. "I keep remembering what Lorraine once said," he said to me. "I'm an old woman, with gray in my hair," I pointed out now. "You're not as `old' as Lorraine was," Jon said to me then. I supposed it was true. Lorraine had been "old", gray haired at the time of her death, although still yet in fairly good shape. By the standards of her own time she'd been about seventy or so. By ours she'd been an "old" woman, who most felt "ready" for Lys. "She and Darlanis are `together' now," I answered, the tears flooding my eyes as I remembered the two of them together. They had been the stuff of which legends are made, it having been said that the two of them together had once stood up against a Legion. In later years I'd grown to "admire" Darlanis for her wisdom, for her own moral code, for what she'd become in later years here... I remembered her as she had been, tall and "golden", although in the last years before her death the signs of age had started to show on her face, in the way that her body started to give way to the ravages of time despite her best efforts to avoid it. She'd been a woman like no other I'd ever known, "different" in her own way from Lorraine, who was more introspective, whereas Darlanis had been of a sort who saw things in a way that few others had... "No doubt giving Lys Herself a `hard time' if I know them," Jon said to me, taking me in his arms and holding me against him. We lived upon a doomed world, and now its last heroes were gone. The legends would live on, but not upon this green Earth of ours. My son Jerry was gone now to Mars with his wife Phara, of whom I had once thought so little of, just because of the fact that she had been the daughter of the blacksmith there upon this estate. Sara was living in Sarn, and Marianne, my youngest, was on Mars. Working with the Women of that world to prepare it for Mankind. ***************************************************************** "And just `what' do you mean by that?" Paula snapped back, no doubt as well aware as I of the "implications" of things here. "Isn't it `obvious'," Darlanis "retorted", standing there in her gold, her cloak now drawn back. An inch or so taller than even my beautiful sister, who was two inches taller than I was... "And under the caste codes, I ask redress for what has happened." The rain wet canvas over her head hanging down from the supports, its odor of dampness trapped too here inside Paula's lovely tent. The words seeming to echo through my mind as I understood it now! It was true that my sister had once been a "Queen of Swords", but that was years ago, and although Paula's skill with a blade was awesome, I knew too of the skills that Darlanis had possessed at the Academy... Having fenced enough with her to realize that I'd never be in the same class as such women as these two before me!! "When?" Paula asked, standing there, her eyes holding those of Darlanis. Her hand on the golden hilt of her sword, no doubt aware of the fact that only one of them at best might survive it! That the fates of two nations was at stake here in this matter... And should she die in this "duel", Trelandar would be lost to us. "Now, outside..," Darlanis snapped back, slipping off her cloak to stand before us here in her beautiful golden mesh. I understood too why she had looked as she had, "knowing" what she "faced" here. Darlanis was proud of her skills, but Paula had an awesome reputation, one that no doubt might even give Darlanis a bit of pause in considering the outcome of any possible duel now. It was, I suspected here of Darlanis, a desperate attempt to gain with her sword what her Legions could not give her, thanks to me. "A `moment'," Paula answered, turning to me then as I stood there stunned by all this, aware as never before of what the out- come could be if Paula was to die at the point of Darlanis' sword in a duel that would perhaps decide the fate of millions here... Darlanis taking Tara by the arm, guiding her then from the tent. "It's all my fault," I said, my eyes growing wet with tears. The "challenge" had actually been directed at me, but because I was not a Warrioress, Paula would have to fight in my place here. And although I knew Paula was awesome with a sword, I also knew of Darlanis' "skills", and I feared much then for my country now. "You would be no `match' for her," Paula said to me softly. "Are you...?" I breathed, aware of Darlanis' awesome skill. "Your big sister has always come through, hasn't she?" Paula said to me, giving me a hug. "And after I kill her, we'll be rid of the damn bitch, and this will be the end of all of this now." My sister then wiping my eyes with a cloth and suggesting that I have a bit more "confidence" in her. The slave girl then helping her out of her armor and helmet so she stood in just a tunic and hose before us, Paula then rebuckling her sword about her waist. I felt love, a deep love for this sister of mine I'd once envied. She was truly and rightfully the Queen of Trelandar in every way! "No doubt `this' is the best way," Paula spoke to a shiver- ing Darlanis, the drizzle coming down like an icy mist on us all. The two women drawing, facing each other, their long slim swords gleaming in the gray light from above. Both carried weapons made in the 21st Century, the long slim rapier like blade favored by those who have been dust now for centuries. Blades like the one my own mother had carried, the one that I now wore at my own hip. As Paula's "second" I stood away a bit from the crowd, closer in, as now did Princess Tara, who was Darlanis' "second" in all this. The two of us nodding, and then giving the orders to begin here. The "attack" was swift, the movement of the blades a blur to my eyes, the swift clash of steel bringing back memories of long ago. I'd seen Paula win her "gold" there in Trella as a teenage girl, and I had fenced with Darlanis enough times to know about what she was capable of doing. Princess Tara standing there with a smile curving her lips, as if she was pleased by all this here. She would "win" whatever happened, as Darlanis only child was but a small young girl who could not be Queen for many years yet. It was also within the realm of possibility that my sister and Dar- lanis would both inflict fatal wounds upon one another too here, which would leave Tara in control of things on her side. With me in "charge" of Trelandar until a new monarch could be selected now to govern us, to carry on this war to its final conclusions. I watched Paula slip her way past Darlanis' guard, saw the red of blood there on the Sarnian Queen's skin, saw Darlanis now seem to shake her head, return to the attack, forcing Paula back. To my eye the two women were extremely closely matched, with Pau- la in my opinion being the swifter of the two, but Darlanis in a way perhaps the more "skilled", the more "professional" at this. She was also more "experienced", as Paula had never fought to the death with anyone, while Darlanis had done so several times here. Paula was a champion fencer, but Darlanis was more the "killer".* * While Darlanis could always give Lorraine a good fight, it has always been my "opinion" that she would never have been a "match" for Lorraine in an actual duel, something I think Darlanis knew. It would have been a toss up between Tara and Paula, although it is likely that Janet Rogers in her "prime" would matched Lorraine from what Lorraine herself writes in her diary for the year 2570. As I've mentioned, I did fence with Darlanis at the Academy, and she was never in my opinion quite the equal to Lorraine, perhaps because she lacked the true "killer" instinct that Lorraine had. Both were "violent" women, but Lorraine was more so here. (Sanda) I was aware of those around me, but nothing seemed to matter now but this "contest" fought out before me. Two crowned Queens, heads of their respective countries, fighting here to the death in this cold miserable drizzle as hundreds now stood and watched. Paula fighting with that beautiful "style" she had, tall and slim in her gold trimmed tunic and hose with the gold stripes down the sides. Brunette against a blonde, Trelandarian against Dularni- an, Warrioress against Warrioress, with the death of one the only end now to this battle for a whole country! Everyone standing there quietly, watching this, the only "sound" the rasp of steel as their blades again met and clashed in a deadly gleaming dance. Once again Paula's point slipped through Darlanis' guard, it seeming to us watching that it was only a matter of time before our Queen killed theirs, and put an end to this war we'd fought! I felt sorry in a way that Darlanis would die, that such a beauty as her would die here in this place fighting another of her own caste, of her own station in life, and for "what"? To try to re- live a dream that had died over six centuries ago in solar fires? The red blood now "staining" Darlanis' skin leaving no doubts... "Don't kill her, Paula, please don't kill her!" I breathed, knowing that Darlanis had "miscalculated", that in picking a duel with Paula she'd picked on someone whose skill was superior yet! THEN SUDDENLY "IT" HAPPENED SO SWIFTLY THE EYE COULD HARDLY FOLLOW!! DARLANIS SUDDENLY THRUST OUT, TAKING PAULA'S BLADE IN HER SHOULDER, AND DROVE HER POINT RIGHT INTO PAULA'S OWN CHEST!!! My sister stumbling back, dropping her sword, and then falling into my arms as I dashed to her, conscious of nothing but that my sister had been the one who had lost this duel to Darlanis here!! Paula's dark eyes holding mine for an instant before a soft gasp escaped from her lips and she went limp then in my arms, DEAD... "It's all over, Sanda, its all `over' now..." Darlanis spoke as I held my sister in my arms. The blood running from the Em- press' wounds. Her eyes like a blue fire now burning into mine. "And I'm sorry too it had to be this way..." The drizzle pouring down upon us all "fitting" I thought then as I looked up at her. |
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