"2565-64" - читать интересную книгу автора (Warlady 1 - 2565 Ad Book 2)2565 A.D.! A TALE OF ADVENTURE IN THE SECOND DARK AGE OF MAN By Jerome B. Bigge Book Two Chapter Twenty One (Darlanis' version) "We can try to run, to drag things out a bit," Shirl said to me, the three pirate schooners now closing fast. She had removed the Ronda's original armament for more space on deck. I didn't think it really mattered all that much. The pirates "outgunned" us by such a margin that a few small ballistae and a couple lit- tle "toy" catapults wouldn't have made any difference! Even Sar- nian Lady would have been in serious trouble facing the three topsail schooners that were racing towards us! There could be but one final outcome regardless of what we did. Shirl knew that. So did I. I wondered what Lorraine Duval would do if she was standing in my boots. I knew her well enough to know what her answer would be! She would fight! Sell her life for all it was worth! Make the pirates pay just as high a "price" as possi- ble! Die with a bloody sword in her hand! I could do no less! "We will ram the center schooner and take as many of the bastards with us as we can," I answered, my bow there in my hand. It was an unusual weapon, expensive, Dularnian. As close a copy of a 21st Century compound as the best members of the caste of Builders of Arsana could make. I had paid several crowns for it. It "peaked" at seventy five pounds, and held at about forty. It could punch through any body armor known in this era. I stand five ten barefooted, go close to one fifty in "fighting trim". I am not like other women. I am muscled almost like a man. I won- dered what the judgment of Lys would be. Shirl gave me a smile, put her hand on my shoulder. She was of low caste, I was a Em- press. Caste, our positions in life, her poverty, my fantastic wealth, nothing really mattered now. We would stand before Lys as equals when the time came. That was, I thought to myself, the way it should be. We shared much then without speaking a word. Without a word she slipped her sword from her sheath and handed it to me hilt first. I kissed the blade and gave it back to her. Such is meaningful to those of the Warrioress Caste. It is not something that I can easily explain to those who are not. It is not the same as swearing an oath of loyalty or such things. It is perhaps more similar to the actions of Sa-she-ra when she cut Lorraine's hand and had Lorraine do the same to her and each tasted the blood of the other. It is a "sisterhood of the sword". An acknowledgment of something only few can understand. "What?" I gasped, seeing a woman raising my personal flag. Such had been among my things. Sharon gave me a smile as she stepped up beside me. She had a bow, a quiver of arrows over her shoulder. My other sword at her hip. We had done a little fenc- ing. Lorraine had taught her a few things back in the 20th Cen- tury, although she lacked the skills or the strength to face men of the sort that we would be facing. She had made her decision. "I'm afraid of sharks," she said to me. She had once seen a Squala chasing killer whales. It is not a sight you forget very quick. There are "predators" now in the ocean that never lived back in the Age of Civilization as it is sometimes called. Back in that brief and all too short "Golden Age" when all of Mankind lived under the benevolent rule of the incredible Janet Rogers. The thirty six years when Man was "one". An era like no other.* * Janet Rogers became President of the United States in 2008, and Leaderess of the World Federation in 2011. Her "society" was de- stroyed in The War of 2047 by the Lorr bombardment from space. "She is still Lorraine Duval's daughter," Shirl said to me. She was wearing a dark blue tunic, matching hose, black boots. I found her attire attractive, fitting. She is truly a "Princess". "I am the `daughter' of Darlanis of California," Sharon snapped back, slipping her left arm around me. "Princess of the Empire. Darlanis is legally my mother and don't ever forget it." "Sorry," Shirl smiled, seeing my wink. My heart singing in my breast despite the sight of death now only a half mile away! Shirl walking to the wheel, taking command of the Ronda's course. "I guess we're not going to make it to Lorraine's estates," Sharon smiled, looking up into my eyes. I knew the terror she felt, that "hand" that clutches at your heart before you go into battle. It was best that neither of us lived to become captives of the pirates. I had little doubt what they would do to Sharon. She was young, innocent, almost "virginal" although she wasn't a virgin, having lost her virginity back in the 20th Century a few months before she flew with Lorraine Duval through the time warp. As for me, I planned to die a Warrioress' Death. Far better than what such men would do should the Empress of California fall alive into their hands. I still have my memories. I still some- times awaken wet with sweat, shivering in terror. Sharon strokes me, calms me. I still bear the scar across my lower abdomen from the surgery that Lorraine was forced to perform on me. The sur- gery that took my womanhood, left me just a beautiful shell with nothing left inside. She has done for me what she can do as have the Priestesses of Lys now. I do not wish to have my mind "re- programmed". Be made into something "different" than what I am. I have lost much. Too much to ever be as I once was before this. I walked to the bow of the Ronda, stood there on the fore- castle, my golden armor, helmet gleaming in the bright sun. It was warm, the azure sky nearly cloudless. The sun bright nearly overhead in the western part of the sky. I knew I would never see it set. Never see another sunrise, another sunset. Never again! My death now was as sure as that of a felon's condemned to the headman's axe. There was no "appeal" from what faced me. I prayed I would die bravely when the time came. Die as a Warri- oress should, her sword bloody in her hand. I asked no more of Lys. I would stand before Her this day, and face Her judgment. I fitted an arrow to my bow, that beautiful weapon I loved so well. I had not carried it before on the Ronda, for reasons I cannot answer. Lorraine had carried hers. I had used my sword. I drew the arrow all the way back, past that "stiffness" where the bow peaked, and back to that "easy" spot where I can hold for almost minutes at a time. I took careful aim, the arrow pointed up into the azure blue vault of the sky. Sharon stood beside me. "You missed," Sharon observed. I did not think so. I saw the disturbance on the pirate schooner's deck. Someone had just gotten themselves a good scare! The range was three hundred yards. A good hundred past what any ordinary archer can do! The pirate was getting "nervous" now. The Ronda was solidly built, a heavier ship than his lightweight schooner. I saw his foresail shiver as he started to turn away. I fitted another arrow to my string. Slipped my gloved fingers on the silk whipped bowstring and drew back. Raised another arrow until it pointed up into the sky. Up into that lovely azure blue vault. I recalled the words of the only man I had ever loved. He had called me "azure eyes". Prince Serak had compared my eyes to the sky over his dusty, dry lands. He had been a barbarian. No fit "consort" for a Em- press like myself! I had looked down upon him because he wore buckskin, and knew not books, learning, the history of the past. He was just a Prince of the Nevadas. Unfit to be the husband of a "civilized" woman like myself! I might have to wear beads and buckskin, fix meals, do all those menial little things that their women do. Even stitch and sew clothing! I was an Empress! Not some Nevada slut that couldn't read or even write her own name! I could write him, tell him how I feel. But I will not. I cannot give him children. I am beautiful, but barren. Useless. No longer a woman, but just a hollow shell like some suit of ar- mor with nothing inside. I yet live, but no longer as a woman!* * You will argue here that I have "children". There is Anna, who has rejected me for the excitement of travel through space, the challenge of pioneering another world, a better world perhaps than ours. One clean, pure, a world without any history of Man. There is Sharon, whose mother has been dead for six centuries. I suppose you can say that Sharon is "mine". She loves me, but yet she also has a "mother" of her own who loves her too. Lorraine! I watched the pirate schooner turning now, the captain fi- nally aware of what we were doing. The Ronda coming around as he turned, Shirl aiming squarely at his side! I tried for him, but without any success. I had dropped perhaps half a dozen arrows on his decks. Two had struck human targets. A couple badly aimed almost spent crossbow bolts whizzed harmlessly by me. I told Sharon to seek cover. She asked me WHY? I had no answer for my Princess then! What did it matter anymore? We were just as good as dead. We would both stand together before Lys today! "Their aim is improving," Sharon observed. She was much different now than she had been when I had first seen her. More "sure" of herself, more willing to stand up and tell me what she thought of things. I do not have the innate dominant personality that Lorraine has despite whatever you may think of me. I did not "dominate" her life like Lorraine perhaps has without being aware of it. My own teenage years were miserable. I can under- stand how hard it is for a young girl to grow up. I gave her my love, understanding. For a few blessed weeks she had been "mine". We had grown close. Closer than most mothers and daugh- ters ever become. To me there is Sharon and then everyone else. We were just coming within bowshot now. Sharon tried for them with her own bow, but I saw her arrow fall short, drop harm- lessly into the sea at a hundred and sixty yards. The next one would hit. The schooner was nearly broadside to us now. Their captain was a fool. I found the thought satisfying to my Warrio- ress soul. I recalled what the Janis had done to my own ship! We were joined by the other women who crewed the Ronda. We fired a volley that reduced his numbers by a few. Made his own return fire less effective. He started firing his ballistae. I saw a woman pierced, the javelin passing through. One hit by my feet. It all seemed like a dream now. I fitted another arrow to my bow. Sharon fired too. Both our arrows hit. Another ballis- tae bolt whizzed between us, inches away from my hip. A dark blurred streak against the sea. I considered it unimportant now. I was already dead. You can only die once. I prayed that it would swift when it came. That the pain would not be too great! Less than a hundred yards now. Two of Shirl's women went down from crossbow bolts. A ballistae bolt took another. Some- thing cut my thigh just below the hem of my chain mail. There was blood on my leg, more oozing from the flesh wound. It was not serious. Not in the time I had left now. I wondered who would take over the Empire when I was gone? Lorraine or Princess Tara? I prayed that it would be Lorraine, not that damm Bajan! I saw a man shake his fist at me. Saw my arrow pierce him, the man standing behind him. My arrows are designed to pierce armor. They will go completely through a deer and out the other side. Bury themselves to the feathers in the body of a Garth! Sharon cried out, clutched at herself, bleeding under her armpit. A crossbow bolt had just grazed her. A spent arrow just pierced my armor as men fired from another pirate schooner. I yanked it out just as the Ronda struck dead center. Threw my bow aside and whipped out my sword. Leaped to the enemy's deck as the ship's foremast fell, sails and all, going over the other side of the schooner! Heard yelling behind me as the other schooners grap- pled the Ronda. Shirl's women fighting, dying. Selling their lives as best they could. I am told the pirates lost nearly thirty men. We did give a good account of ourselves for women! "That's Darlanis!" a man cried. Another thrust at me. My point entered his throat as the ship listed beneath us, taking in water. I parried another thrust. Shirl was at my side now. I saw a man clutch at an arrow in his chest. I had told Sharon to rely on her bow, not the sword she carried. I got my point under another pirate's guard, thrust, slashed another across the face as I recoiled. Felt a sword seeking my vitals as it scraped across my armor. Something struck my head, making everything whirl for a brief second. No doubt a belaying pin! I saw Shirl go down, a pike buried in her guts. Another arrow I believed to be Sharon's whizzed by me to take another life. The pirates were forcing me back against the rail of their listing ship. I knew this was the end for Darlanis Marden of Imperial California! I thrust again, burying my keen blade deep in a man's gut. Some- thing slammed against my head, perhaps the shaft of a big pike. I felt everything spinning around. Saw the blackness before my eyes. Then nothing more. The battle was finally over for me. "We got her! We got Darlanis!" I heard voices crying out. That did not please me much. I was surprised to be yet alive! I hoped fate had been more merciful to Sharon. That her body laid among the fallen. She was so young, innocent, that I knew Lys would be merciful! It was best that way. Not the way I faced! My head agony, some demon pounding on an anvil there inside it! "And here's her `brat', that little bitch with the bow!" I heard another cry as I struggled to get to my feet, everything swimming before me, several pirates holding me down. Swords threatened me. A pike was held to my throat. I saw my sword, my beautiful sword, being examined by some cut-throat. A woman leaping on to the deck of the sinking schooner from the Ronda, a woman in black, heavily veiled. A woman from another schooner! The pirates to my surprise drawing away, stepping back from her! For a horrible moment I thought it was Lorraine Duval, but then even with her veiling, her attempts to conceal herself, I recog- nized her true identity before she stood before me and slowly lifted her veil to one side. Before me there stood Tara Bisan, the Princess of Baja! The one that Lorraine calls "The Princess of Darkness" with perhaps good reason even if you don't accept all the "supernatural" claims that Lorraine has made about her! "You fought well, Darlanis," Tara smiled, her eyes icy cold. "But now soon the Empire will be mine as it should have been." I wondered what she planned to do about Lorraine Duval? Unlike me, Lorraine would not spare her life if it ever came to it again! "Let Sharon go," I answered, regarding her as I laid there, a pike thrust against my throat. "Send her back to Lorraine and I will sign whatever papers you want giving you the throne of California." I did not think the Senate would accept her, but that was her problem, not mine. I didn't think she would be dumb enough to take me up on the offer, but for Sharon I would do any- thing in my power to save her, even at the cost of my own life! "You've always been a fool, Darlanis, an incompetent fool," Tara smiled back. "But I'm not stupid enough to think that Lor- raine Duval would just sit there on her estates and drink rum and fruit drinks for the rest of her life with Sharon at her side." I suppose she too had heard of the calls for a "Free Trelandar". "I can give these men of yours far `more' than you can," I snapped back. "I am after all the Empress of California." I spoke what I did not for her ears, but for those around her. Sharon's azure eyes looked down into mine as they held her there. They were dry, not filled with tears. She was a Warrioress. I felt the point of the pike momentarily lift just a bit as it left my throat. "I can make every one of them a rich man, give them slave girls, lands, and everything that any man could ever want." "Kill Her!" Princess Tara snapped. "Kill Them Now!" Obvi- ously Tara was getting "nervous". Doubtless her control over these cut-throats was starting to slip. They were loyal only to gold. No doubt Tara paid them well, but there were limits to even her resources! To those of the Mexican Empire that support- ed her secretly against me. I had known such things for months! "No!" a voice snapped, a big burly swarthy man in colorful clothing pushing his way through the crowd that surrounded us. I had no doubt that this was the pirates' commander. "There are those who will pay us good for the Empire Princess stripped and in chains kneeling bare-ass before them." I saw Sharon shudder and then lift her chin high. She was truly my Imperial Princess! "And I've always now sort'a wondered to me self just'a what it would be like to get my prong up in between Darlanis' thighs! To spurt my jism into that royal slit of hers!" the pirate laughed! 2565 A.D.! A TALE OF ADVENTURE IN THE SECOND DARK AGE OF MAN By Jerome B. Bigge Book Two Chapter Twenty One (Darlanis' version) "We can try to run, to drag things out a bit," Shirl said to me, the three pirate schooners now closing fast. She had removed the Ronda's original armament for more space on deck. I didn't think it really mattered all that much. The pirates "outgunned" us by such a margin that a few small ballistae and a couple lit- tle "toy" catapults wouldn't have made any difference! Even Sar- nian Lady would have been in serious trouble facing the three topsail schooners that were racing towards us! There could be but one final outcome regardless of what we did. Shirl knew that. So did I. I wondered what Lorraine Duval would do if she was standing in my boots. I knew her well enough to know what her answer would be! She would fight! Sell her life for all it was worth! Make the pirates pay just as high a "price" as possi- ble! Die with a bloody sword in her hand! I could do no less! "We will ram the center schooner and take as many of the bastards with us as we can," I answered, my bow there in my hand. It was an unusual weapon, expensive, Dularnian. As close a copy of a 21st Century compound as the best members of the caste of Builders of Arsana could make. I had paid several crowns for it. It "peaked" at seventy five pounds, and held at about forty. It could punch through any body armor known in this era. I stand five ten barefooted, go close to one fifty in "fighting trim". I am not like other women. I am muscled almost like a man. I won- dered what the judgment of Lys would be. Shirl gave me a smile, put her hand on my shoulder. She was of low caste, I was a Em- press. Caste, our positions in life, her poverty, my fantastic wealth, nothing really mattered now. We would stand before Lys as equals when the time came. That was, I thought to myself, the way it should be. We shared much then without speaking a word. Without a word she slipped her sword from her sheath and handed it to me hilt first. I kissed the blade and gave it back to her. Such is meaningful to those of the Warrioress Caste. It is not something that I can easily explain to those who are not. It is not the same as swearing an oath of loyalty or such things. It is perhaps more similar to the actions of Sa-she-ra when she cut Lorraine's hand and had Lorraine do the same to her and each tasted the blood of the other. It is a "sisterhood of the sword". An acknowledgment of something only few can understand. "What?" I gasped, seeing a woman raising my personal flag. Such had been among my things. Sharon gave me a smile as she stepped up beside me. She had a bow, a quiver of arrows over her shoulder. My other sword at her hip. We had done a little fenc- ing. Lorraine had taught her a few things back in the 20th Cen- tury, although she lacked the skills or the strength to face men of the sort that we would be facing. She had made her decision. "I'm afraid of sharks," she said to me. She had once seen a Squala chasing killer whales. It is not a sight you forget very quick. There are "predators" now in the ocean that never lived back in the Age of Civilization as it is sometimes called. Back in that brief and all too short "Golden Age" when all of Mankind lived under the benevolent rule of the incredible Janet Rogers. The thirty six years when Man was "one". An era like no other.* * Janet Rogers became President of the United States in 2008, and Leaderess of the World Federation in 2011. Her "society" was de- stroyed in The War of 2047 by the Lorr bombardment from space. "She is still Lorraine Duval's daughter," Shirl said to me. She was wearing a dark blue tunic, matching hose, black boots. I found her attire attractive, fitting. She is truly a "Princess". "I am the `daughter' of Darlanis of California," Sharon snapped back, slipping her left arm around me. "Princess of the Empire. Darlanis is legally my mother and don't ever forget it." "Sorry," Shirl smiled, seeing my wink. My heart singing in my breast despite the sight of death now only a half mile away! Shirl walking to the wheel, taking command of the Ronda's course. "I guess we're not going to make it to Lorraine's estates," Sharon smiled, looking up into my eyes. I knew the terror she felt, that "hand" that clutches at your heart before you go into battle. It was best that neither of us lived to become captives of the pirates. I had little doubt what they would do to Sharon. She was young, innocent, almost "virginal" although she wasn't a virgin, having lost her virginity back in the 20th Century a few months before she flew with Lorraine Duval through the time warp. As for me, I planned to die a Warrioress' Death. Far better than what such men would do should the Empress of California fall alive into their hands. I still have my memories. I still some- times awaken wet with sweat, shivering in terror. Sharon strokes me, calms me. I still bear the scar across my lower abdomen from the surgery that Lorraine was forced to perform on me. The sur- gery that took my womanhood, left me just a beautiful shell with nothing left inside. She has done for me what she can do as have the Priestesses of Lys now. I do not wish to have my mind "re- programmed". Be made into something "different" than what I am. I have lost much. Too much to ever be as I once was before this. I walked to the bow of the Ronda, stood there on the fore- castle, my golden armor, helmet gleaming in the bright sun. It was warm, the azure sky nearly cloudless. The sun bright nearly overhead in the western part of the sky. I knew I would never see it set. Never see another sunrise, another sunset. Never again! My death now was as sure as that of a felon's condemned to the headman's axe. There was no "appeal" from what faced me. I prayed I would die bravely when the time came. Die as a Warri- oress should, her sword bloody in her hand. I asked no more of Lys. I would stand before Her this day, and face Her judgment. I fitted an arrow to my bow, that beautiful weapon I loved so well. I had not carried it before on the Ronda, for reasons I cannot answer. Lorraine had carried hers. I had used my sword. I drew the arrow all the way back, past that "stiffness" where the bow peaked, and back to that "easy" spot where I can hold for almost minutes at a time. I took careful aim, the arrow pointed up into the azure blue vault of the sky. Sharon stood beside me. "You missed," Sharon observed. I did not think so. I saw the disturbance on the pirate schooner's deck. Someone had just gotten themselves a good scare! The range was three hundred yards. A good hundred past what any ordinary archer can do! The pirate was getting "nervous" now. The Ronda was solidly built, a heavier ship than his lightweight schooner. I saw his foresail shiver as he started to turn away. I fitted another arrow to my string. Slipped my gloved fingers on the silk whipped bowstring and drew back. Raised another arrow until it pointed up into the sky. Up into that lovely azure blue vault. I recalled the words of the only man I had ever loved. He had called me "azure eyes". Prince Serak had compared my eyes to the sky over his dusty, dry lands. He had been a barbarian. No fit "consort" for a Em- press like myself! I had looked down upon him because he wore buckskin, and knew not books, learning, the history of the past. He was just a Prince of the Nevadas. Unfit to be the husband of a "civilized" woman like myself! I might have to wear beads and buckskin, fix meals, do all those menial little things that their women do. Even stitch and sew clothing! I was an Empress! Not some Nevada slut that couldn't read or even write her own name! I could write him, tell him how I feel. But I will not. I cannot give him children. I am beautiful, but barren. Useless. No longer a woman, but just a hollow shell like some suit of ar- mor with nothing inside. I yet live, but no longer as a woman!* * You will argue here that I have "children". There is Anna, who has rejected me for the excitement of travel through space, the challenge of pioneering another world, a better world perhaps than ours. One clean, pure, a world without any history of Man. There is Sharon, whose mother has been dead for six centuries. I suppose you can say that Sharon is "mine". She loves me, but yet she also has a "mother" of her own who loves her too. Lorraine! I watched the pirate schooner turning now, the captain fi- nally aware of what we were doing. The Ronda coming around as he turned, Shirl aiming squarely at his side! I tried for him, but without any success. I had dropped perhaps half a dozen arrows on his decks. Two had struck human targets. A couple badly aimed almost spent crossbow bolts whizzed harmlessly by me. I told Sharon to seek cover. She asked me WHY? I had no answer for my Princess then! What did it matter anymore? We were just as good as dead. We would both stand together before Lys today! "Their aim is improving," Sharon observed. She was much different now than she had been when I had first seen her. More "sure" of herself, more willing to stand up and tell me what she thought of things. I do not have the innate dominant personality that Lorraine has despite whatever you may think of me. I did not "dominate" her life like Lorraine perhaps has without being aware of it. My own teenage years were miserable. I can under- stand how hard it is for a young girl to grow up. I gave her my love, understanding. For a few blessed weeks she had been "mine". We had grown close. Closer than most mothers and daugh- ters ever become. To me there is Sharon and then everyone else. We were just coming within bowshot now. Sharon tried for them with her own bow, but I saw her arrow fall short, drop harm- lessly into the sea at a hundred and sixty yards. The next one would hit. The schooner was nearly broadside to us now. Their captain was a fool. I found the thought satisfying to my Warrio- ress soul. I recalled what the Janis had done to my own ship! We were joined by the other women who crewed the Ronda. We fired a volley that reduced his numbers by a few. Made his own return fire less effective. He started firing his ballistae. I saw a woman pierced, the javelin passing through. One hit by my feet. It all seemed like a dream now. I fitted another arrow to my bow. Sharon fired too. Both our arrows hit. Another ballis- tae bolt whizzed between us, inches away from my hip. A dark blurred streak against the sea. I considered it unimportant now. I was already dead. You can only die once. I prayed that it would swift when it came. That the pain would not be too great! Less than a hundred yards now. Two of Shirl's women went down from crossbow bolts. A ballistae bolt took another. Some- thing cut my thigh just below the hem of my chain mail. There was blood on my leg, more oozing from the flesh wound. It was not serious. Not in the time I had left now. I wondered who would take over the Empire when I was gone? Lorraine or Princess Tara? I prayed that it would be Lorraine, not that damm Bajan! I saw a man shake his fist at me. Saw my arrow pierce him, the man standing behind him. My arrows are designed to pierce armor. They will go completely through a deer and out the other side. Bury themselves to the feathers in the body of a Garth! Sharon cried out, clutched at herself, bleeding under her armpit. A crossbow bolt had just grazed her. A spent arrow just pierced my armor as men fired from another pirate schooner. I yanked it out just as the Ronda struck dead center. Threw my bow aside and whipped out my sword. Leaped to the enemy's deck as the ship's foremast fell, sails and all, going over the other side of the schooner! Heard yelling behind me as the other schooners grap- pled the Ronda. Shirl's women fighting, dying. Selling their lives as best they could. I am told the pirates lost nearly thirty men. We did give a good account of ourselves for women! "That's Darlanis!" a man cried. Another thrust at me. My point entered his throat as the ship listed beneath us, taking in water. I parried another thrust. Shirl was at my side now. I saw a man clutch at an arrow in his chest. I had told Sharon to rely on her bow, not the sword she carried. I got my point under another pirate's guard, thrust, slashed another across the face as I recoiled. Felt a sword seeking my vitals as it scraped across my armor. Something struck my head, making everything whirl for a brief second. No doubt a belaying pin! I saw Shirl go down, a pike buried in her guts. Another arrow I believed to be Sharon's whizzed by me to take another life. The pirates were forcing me back against the rail of their listing ship. I knew this was the end for Darlanis Marden of Imperial California! I thrust again, burying my keen blade deep in a man's gut. Some- thing slammed against my head, perhaps the shaft of a big pike. I felt everything spinning around. Saw the blackness before my eyes. Then nothing more. The battle was finally over for me. "We got her! We got Darlanis!" I heard voices crying out. That did not please me much. I was surprised to be yet alive! I hoped fate had been more merciful to Sharon. That her body laid among the fallen. She was so young, innocent, that I knew Lys would be merciful! It was best that way. Not the way I faced! My head agony, some demon pounding on an anvil there inside it! "And here's her `brat', that little bitch with the bow!" I heard another cry as I struggled to get to my feet, everything swimming before me, several pirates holding me down. Swords threatened me. A pike was held to my throat. I saw my sword, my beautiful sword, being examined by some cut-throat. A woman leaping on to the deck of the sinking schooner from the Ronda, a woman in black, heavily veiled. A woman from another schooner! The pirates to my surprise drawing away, stepping back from her! For a horrible moment I thought it was Lorraine Duval, but then even with her veiling, her attempts to conceal herself, I recog- nized her true identity before she stood before me and slowly lifted her veil to one side. Before me there stood Tara Bisan, the Princess of Baja! The one that Lorraine calls "The Princess of Darkness" with perhaps good reason even if you don't accept all the "supernatural" claims that Lorraine has made about her! "You fought well, Darlanis," Tara smiled, her eyes icy cold. "But now soon the Empire will be mine as it should have been." I wondered what she planned to do about Lorraine Duval? Unlike me, Lorraine would not spare her life if it ever came to it again! "Let Sharon go," I answered, regarding her as I laid there, a pike thrust against my throat. "Send her back to Lorraine and I will sign whatever papers you want giving you the throne of California." I did not think the Senate would accept her, but that was her problem, not mine. I didn't think she would be dumb enough to take me up on the offer, but for Sharon I would do any- thing in my power to save her, even at the cost of my own life! "You've always been a fool, Darlanis, an incompetent fool," Tara smiled back. "But I'm not stupid enough to think that Lor- raine Duval would just sit there on her estates and drink rum and fruit drinks for the rest of her life with Sharon at her side." I suppose she too had heard of the calls for a "Free Trelandar". "I can give these men of yours far `more' than you can," I snapped back. "I am after all the Empress of California." I spoke what I did not for her ears, but for those around her. Sharon's azure eyes looked down into mine as they held her there. They were dry, not filled with tears. She was a Warrioress. I felt the point of the pike momentarily lift just a bit as it left my throat. "I can make every one of them a rich man, give them slave girls, lands, and everything that any man could ever want." "Kill Her!" Princess Tara snapped. "Kill Them Now!" Obvi- ously Tara was getting "nervous". Doubtless her control over these cut-throats was starting to slip. They were loyal only to gold. No doubt Tara paid them well, but there were limits to even her resources! To those of the Mexican Empire that support- ed her secretly against me. I had known such things for months! "No!" a voice snapped, a big burly swarthy man in colorful clothing pushing his way through the crowd that surrounded us. I had no doubt that this was the pirates' commander. "There are those who will pay us good for the Empire Princess stripped and in chains kneeling bare-ass before them." I saw Sharon shudder and then lift her chin high. She was truly my Imperial Princess! "And I've always now sort'a wondered to me self just'a what it would be like to get my prong up in between Darlanis' thighs! To spurt my jism into that royal slit of hers!" the pirate laughed! |
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