"2565-80" - 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 Thirty Seven The impact was not as smashing as I had feared, the landing actually not being all that bad, Darlanis having let the plane settle down to a landing there in the water. I think I remember her giving me a smile as we came down, but my vision was starting to "go" now and I am not really sure what happened next. Sanda says that Darlanis managed to taxi the plane to the dock and get help for me. I faintly remember being "handled", seeing Darla- nis' face looking down into mine, seeing Sanda's, and then noth- ing as I lost consciousness completely. Drifting off into a nightmare I only faintly remember of distorted scenes that make no sense now. I have no doubt that I am lucky to have survived! **************************************************************** "She is starting to come around now," I heard a voice say. I felt very cold, very weak. It took an effort to open my eyes. "I am here, Lorraine," Lady Sanda said to me, taking my hand in hers, looking down into my eyes. "Darlanis flew off in your `metal bird' and `gave us' Trelandar." I could see her eyes glistening with emotion. I suspected she no longer looked upon Darlanis in the same light as before. I tried to speak, to ask what Darlanis was doing flying in my plane, but only a weak croak escaped from my lips! I saw a man of the Physicians sitting there regarding me. I wondered what had been done to me. What sort of antidote had been used to counteract the Lorr medicine! "Welcome back to the land of the living!" Darlanis smiled as she stepped into the hospital room, glorious in her golden at- tire. A smile on that beautiful face. "Although I fear your airplane no longer flies as the engine quit just before I reached Trella and I just managed to get back on some fisherman's boat." I tried to croak something in reply, but I don't think that anyone understood me. Darlanis going on to say that there was a red light flashing on the instrument panel as she flew back next to a dial marked "fuel" for a while before the engine sputtered and then died as Trella became visible just ahead! Now I know how impossible this all sounds, but Darlanis actually did manage to fly my plane to where the fighting was going on between those loyal to her and those loyal to me, and after halting the fight- ing, (She told them that both sides would be able to vote on which Queen they wanted!) then managed to fly back to Trella! It was of course fortunate that there was a large lake for her to land on, as her landings do need a bit of work as yet! It is of course easier to land on water, especially if there is enough of it that you don't have to worry about running out of "runway"! I fear I did "rib" her a bit about forgotten to put in fuel before she flew off, Darlanis protesting that she didn't know such was necessary as I hadn't told her about having to do such a thing! "You saved my life," I told Darlanis as I laid there in the sun on the roof top of Trella's hospital the next morning, an awning over my face to protect my eyes from the glare. I was still "cold", the effects of the poison not yet completely gone from my badly weakened body. It had been "close"! Darlanis re- minded me much of another I had once seen there on Mars. SHE had been also tall and golden like Darlanis, although I think that was just the appearance that I "gave" HER, as SHE is of course without shape or form. I recalled what I had once been told about a "Queen of Light". Darlanis, like Tara, was I supposed, "unkillable". I had told Darlanis about my attempt to kill Tara, explaining that the revolver had been wetted and no doubt the cartridge had been defective. I did not tell her that I suspect- ed that there was another reason. That someday she and Tara would meet again face to face as the representatives of Good and Evil, and that they would fight a duel that would decide the fate of Mankind! As Darlanis did best Tara the time they fought, I have no worries as to what the outcome will be. That GOOD will triumph over EVIL! That she who now serves The Evil One will fi- nally die there at the razor sharp point of Darlanis' keen blade! "You saved mine," Darlanis smiled back. "And you have given me something very precious in return," she added with a smile, reaching down to gently stroke my brow. "Understanding." Lady Sanda smiled and nodded. I wondered what they had spoken about. "There is something that puzzles me," Sanda said to Darla- nis. "Only that portion of Trelandar that you visited in the past few weeks has resisted the Revolution." Darlanis smiling, a glow there in her beautiful azure eyes that indicated a delight- ful "secret" that I wondered if she would "share" with us or not! "You have your `Lorraine' and I have mine," Darlanis smiled. "Sharon," I ventured, suspecting much. Remembering much. "The best thing that ever happened to me," Darlanis smiled. "We were going up against `She-Ra'," I explained to Sanda. "'She-Ra'?" Sanda said, somewhat puzzled, not understanding. "A beautiful `champion of the people' against `oppression'," I explained. Sanda nodding, not understanding. "My stepdaughter got Darlanis to start behaving like a `friend of the people' in- stead of like the `Imperial monarch' that she used to portray." "I went out and talked to the people, got my boots dirty," Darlanis explained. "Behaved like a `politician'," she smiled. I suspected she had been extremely effective. Fortunately Darla- nis didn't have enough time to cover the country or we would have been lost before we even got started, thanks to Sharon's ideas! Darlanis is a wonderful public speaker, and she is so beautiful I fear that any man who sees her will instantly fall in "love" and believe anything she says. That is why she dresses as she does. Making herself appear like some golden Goddess out of mythology. "She could cost us our Revolution!" Sanda breathed, looking at Darlanis. No doubt wondering what I could do against her. I suspected Sanda was thinking of what it would be like to try to "compete" against a woman like Darlanis in any political contest! "You don't consider me `competition' for Darlanis?" I asked. This was one of those questions like "have you stopped beating your wife?" Obviously Sanda would have "trouble" answering it! "You've got `brains', she's got `beauty'," Sanda spoke, I fear without really thinking through all the "implications" of what she had said. The implication being that I had "intelli- gence", but not "looks", while Darlanis had "looks", but not "brains". She doesn't like being called a "dumb blonde" either! "You should pick your `friends' better, Lorraine," Darlanis observed, giving me a smile and a wink. She was obviously enjoy- ing herself at Sanda's expense. "She just said that you're as `homely as a dog' and that I'm a `dumb blonde' with hardly enough brains to come in out of the rain." Now you will note that Sanda didn't say anything like that at all, but of course Darlanis did twist her words around a bit so that she might tease Lady Sanda! "I didn't `say' anything like that!" Sanda protested hotly. "You did say that I had `intelligence' and that Darlanis has `beauty'," I pointed out to my lovely dark haired prime minister. Sanda was attired in a clinging green silken blouse with a fitted leather skirt that well displayed the delights of her figure. She reminds me just a bit of Carol Simmons in some ways. I used to tease her that way too at times, much to her utter irritation! "I didn't `mean' it that way!" Sanda protested helplessly. "And just what did you mean?" Darlanis teased her back. "I meant to say--" Sanda uttered, now lost for words. "That Lorraine is not really unattractive, and that I am a bit smarter than some people happen to give me credit for?" Dar- lanis laughed in reply. Obviously Sanda had just learned a good lesson. She had always considered herself smarter than Darlanis. While she probably is, Darlanis is "quick-witted" and knew how to tease a woman like Sanda, who is a quite "serious" sober person. "I'm just glad that you are the woman that you are," Sanda admitted. I suspect she was starting to fall for Darlanis a bit! Now changing the subject, Darlanis smiled to Sanda, "A good looking woman like you shouldn't have any trouble finding herself another husband." Sanda was both widowed and pregnant, although she didn't "show" yet and wouldn't for a couple of months even in the most clinging of gowns. I remembered Jon's comment about her, "A capable, competent woman. Not bad looking either." That was a pretty good description of Sanda too. Accurate, precise. "I suppose so," Sanda answered, not meeting her eye. I won- dered if Darlanis had "hit a sore spot" with Sanda. Sanda had not said too much to me about such things after learning that her husband had died in the battle with the pirates. I suspected she might still be in mourning and not really too interested as yet. "Well, I'll go see about having your airplane towed in and fixed," Darlanis said to me, getting up, the sun glowing in her hair and making it almost appear like she had a halo surrounding her head like one of those saints there in a Medieval tapestry. "I `envy' her," Sanda muttered as Darlanis strolled off. "Why?" I asked. I knew a great deal about Queen Darlanis. "She's always been able to `have' everything she's wanted." Sanda answered, shifting her position in the chair beside me. I supposed it was easy to envy someone like Darlanis until you knew the truth about her. What it had been like for her as a child. Brutally raped at the tender age of fifteen by her own eighteen year old brother, and then despised by her unbelieving mother for having made such a horrible accusation against her brother! The nasty rumors as they spread throughout Dularn causing the sensi- tive young Princess nothing but terrible embarrassment until her vindictive "mother" finally disowned her and shipped her off to a boarding school just to get rid of her and the embarrassment she caused! Darlanis' teenage years nothing but misery as she tried to escape the eyes, the whispered words that were spoken about her. It being commonly held by her classmates that she had "pro- voked" her own rape, that she was nothing but a shameless worth- less "slut" who had gotten exactly what she deserved getting! I had always thought my teenage years were bad, but at least my parents loved me and nobody whispered behind my back all the time that I was just some sexy slut that had provoked her own brother into making love to her and then had gone yelled "rape" after- wards just to conceal the fact that she had lost her virginity! "She's fought and scratched for everything she has," I said. I suspected that was why she "used" someone like Princess Tara as she had. Darlanis has a low sense of her own "self-worth". I am speaking here professionally. That is why she is always trying to "prove" herself. And why she does the things that she does. "Perhaps," Sanda answered, the tone of her voice leaving no doubt that she had still had her own opinions of the matter. She can be a rather head-strong woman at times. No doubt that is why she was successful in establishing the "Free Trelandar Movement". "You need a father for that little girl you're carrying," I pointed out to Sanda. I knew she was a good mother, but still, I feel from my own experience that a single woman, even with enough money so that she can devote herself to her children, does not do as good a job of raising her children as does one with a husband. "Perhaps Jon could act as a father to my children," Sanda ventured, regarding me. Her words making me a bit "suspicious"! Sanda was an attractive woman. Probably "good in bed" from what I'd seen of her. I remembered that the "Free Trelandar Movement" had assisted the Dularnian privateers and such from time to time against the Empire. Also, Jon had seemed to "know" quite a bit about Sanda there too in Thistle and Sanda in turn seemed to have been just a bit too overly competent in setting things up for me! "You knew Jon from before," I said to her. It was a state- ment of fact, not a question. Sanda nodded, not daring to speak. "As a matter of fact I also think you are in love with him too." Terror showed in the darkness of her eyes as I saw the truth of my words reflected there in those dark glistening depths. I was weak, almost helpless yet, but I was still able to command men, give orders! I was the Queen of Trelandar. I had the pow- er of life and death over Sanda. I wondered what Darlanis would have done had she been in my boots. I remembered Jack, that slut Sandra Stevens. Sanda shuddered. This was not the 20th Century. "There's a name for wives like you," I told Sanda. I was a Queen. Sanda's Queen. You don't "fool" with the husband of a Queen if you place any value on your life. I was reasonably sure that Sanda hadn't made any "advances" towards Jon since I had been married to him, but that didn't mean that she wouldn't do so should the opportunity happen to present itself at a later date. "It never came to that," Sanda breathed, her words so soft that I had some difficulty in hearing them. "Jon said that no man of honor would sleep with a woman who wore the neck chain of another." Her eyes were glistening now, the tears starting to flow. I had no doubt she would be sobbing in another minute now! "Have you ever spoken to a Priestess about this?" I asked. A Priestess will guide you in working such things out in your own thoughts. I used to do the same thing in the 20th Century, but I charged a lot more for my advice than do the Priestesses of Lys. "I-I'm afraid to," Sanda answered, starting to sob now too. "You fear what she would say to you?" I asked, reaching out, grasping Sanda's hand in mine. I had very little strength, but I didn't need any more than I had just then to do what I wanted to. "I've committed adultery in my heart!" Sanda sobbed. She was starting to draw some attention now although no one came near us. There were three warrioresses standing nearby. Imperials, women of Darlanis' own personal guard, serving under her own or- ders. I had no doubt that they at least could be "relied" upon to protect me against assassins. Tara's agents could be anywhere about, Darlanis had suspected. Obviously Tara knew that her at- tempt to kill me had failed. It was possible that she might try again! For a moment I wondered if it could have been Sanda! She knew of the medicine. Where I had kept it. She would have elim- inated both Darlanis and me with one stroke! Made Jon "avail- able" under such conditions that he would have been "easy prey" for a woman like her. She was a good looking woman too. The Prime Minister of Trelandar. Gayle was just an innocent teenage girl. She would have suspected nothing. Neither would have Sharon. Sanda could have easily ended up ruling both Sarn and Trelandar as their regent! Become another Empress of California! "And would you have committed adultery in deed had Jon been willing to take you to bed?" I challenged the sobbing brunette. "Been unfaithful to your own husband?" I forced from my mind the horrible thought that Sanda could have been the one who tried to have me poisoned. I wished I had the power to read her mind. Find out the truth. Perhaps she was another like Princess Tara! "Yes, Lorraine!" Sanda sobbing, throwing herself to her knees beside me, burying her face against my bosom. (That is the way it's supposed to read, but I don't have much of a bosom when I'm lying flat on my back, although I suppose it didn't matter.) "And if Jon was to come up to you some fine day and slap you on that nice curvy rear of yours would you do it then?" I asked that sobbing Trelandarian Lady as she wept on her Queen's bosom. Darlanis would no doubt get an "earful" from her guards standing there now listening to our every word as closely as they could! "Oh, No, Lorraine, I'd Never Do Something Like That!" Sanda protested, raising her face from my bosom, now well "wetted", the outline of one of my nipple clips now visible there on her cheek. I having been lying there with only a sheet half drawn over me, my breasts bared to the sun. I wondered if I could believe her? And what about the other matter? Who had ordered my death and Darlanis' too? Had not Darlanis been able to fly the plane, we would have both died in the plane crash. And no one would have been the wiser! And Sanda also knew more about flying than any- one else, having ridden in the airplane only a week or so ago!* Comment by Lady Sanda It is of course very painful for me to relive all this as Queen Lorraine's friend. What I think "hurts" more than anything else is that she actually could think that I would try to kill her! I will grant that I did have "feelings" for Jon, and I did one time "offer" myself to him (this was before Lorraine came on the scene), but I never would have hurt Lorraine for anything! 2565 A.D.! A TALE OF ADVENTURE IN THE SECOND DARK AGE OF MAN By Jerome B. Bigge Book Two Chapter Thirty Seven The impact was not as smashing as I had feared, the landing actually not being all that bad, Darlanis having let the plane settle down to a landing there in the water. I think I remember her giving me a smile as we came down, but my vision was starting to "go" now and I am not really sure what happened next. Sanda says that Darlanis managed to taxi the plane to the dock and get help for me. I faintly remember being "handled", seeing Darla- nis' face looking down into mine, seeing Sanda's, and then noth- ing as I lost consciousness completely. Drifting off into a nightmare I only faintly remember of distorted scenes that make no sense now. I have no doubt that I am lucky to have survived! **************************************************************** "She is starting to come around now," I heard a voice say. I felt very cold, very weak. It took an effort to open my eyes. "I am here, Lorraine," Lady Sanda said to me, taking my hand in hers, looking down into my eyes. "Darlanis flew off in your `metal bird' and `gave us' Trelandar." I could see her eyes glistening with emotion. I suspected she no longer looked upon Darlanis in the same light as before. I tried to speak, to ask what Darlanis was doing flying in my plane, but only a weak croak escaped from my lips! I saw a man of the Physicians sitting there regarding me. I wondered what had been done to me. What sort of antidote had been used to counteract the Lorr medicine! "Welcome back to the land of the living!" Darlanis smiled as she stepped into the hospital room, glorious in her golden at- tire. A smile on that beautiful face. "Although I fear your airplane no longer flies as the engine quit just before I reached Trella and I just managed to get back on some fisherman's boat." I tried to croak something in reply, but I don't think that anyone understood me. Darlanis going on to say that there was a red light flashing on the instrument panel as she flew back next to a dial marked "fuel" for a while before the engine sputtered and then died as Trella became visible just ahead! Now I know how impossible this all sounds, but Darlanis actually did manage to fly my plane to where the fighting was going on between those loyal to her and those loyal to me, and after halting the fight- ing, (She told them that both sides would be able to vote on which Queen they wanted!) then managed to fly back to Trella! It was of course fortunate that there was a large lake for her to land on, as her landings do need a bit of work as yet! It is of course easier to land on water, especially if there is enough of it that you don't have to worry about running out of "runway"! I fear I did "rib" her a bit about forgotten to put in fuel before she flew off, Darlanis protesting that she didn't know such was necessary as I hadn't told her about having to do such a thing! "You saved my life," I told Darlanis as I laid there in the sun on the roof top of Trella's hospital the next morning, an awning over my face to protect my eyes from the glare. I was still "cold", the effects of the poison not yet completely gone from my badly weakened body. It had been "close"! Darlanis re- minded me much of another I had once seen there on Mars. SHE had been also tall and golden like Darlanis, although I think that was just the appearance that I "gave" HER, as SHE is of course without shape or form. I recalled what I had once been told about a "Queen of Light". Darlanis, like Tara, was I supposed, "unkillable". I had told Darlanis about my attempt to kill Tara, explaining that the revolver had been wetted and no doubt the cartridge had been defective. I did not tell her that I suspect- ed that there was another reason. That someday she and Tara would meet again face to face as the representatives of Good and Evil, and that they would fight a duel that would decide the fate of Mankind! As Darlanis did best Tara the time they fought, I have no worries as to what the outcome will be. That GOOD will triumph over EVIL! That she who now serves The Evil One will fi- nally die there at the razor sharp point of Darlanis' keen blade! "You saved mine," Darlanis smiled back. "And you have given me something very precious in return," she added with a smile, reaching down to gently stroke my brow. "Understanding." Lady Sanda smiled and nodded. I wondered what they had spoken about. "There is something that puzzles me," Sanda said to Darla- nis. "Only that portion of Trelandar that you visited in the past few weeks has resisted the Revolution." Darlanis smiling, a glow there in her beautiful azure eyes that indicated a delight- ful "secret" that I wondered if she would "share" with us or not! "You have your `Lorraine' and I have mine," Darlanis smiled. "Sharon," I ventured, suspecting much. Remembering much. "The best thing that ever happened to me," Darlanis smiled. "We were going up against `She-Ra'," I explained to Sanda. "'She-Ra'?" Sanda said, somewhat puzzled, not understanding. "A beautiful `champion of the people' against `oppression'," I explained. Sanda nodding, not understanding. "My stepdaughter got Darlanis to start behaving like a `friend of the people' in- stead of like the `Imperial monarch' that she used to portray." "I went out and talked to the people, got my boots dirty," Darlanis explained. "Behaved like a `politician'," she smiled. I suspected she had been extremely effective. Fortunately Darla- nis didn't have enough time to cover the country or we would have been lost before we even got started, thanks to Sharon's ideas! Darlanis is a wonderful public speaker, and she is so beautiful I fear that any man who sees her will instantly fall in "love" and believe anything she says. That is why she dresses as she does. Making herself appear like some golden Goddess out of mythology. "She could cost us our Revolution!" Sanda breathed, looking at Darlanis. No doubt wondering what I could do against her. I suspected Sanda was thinking of what it would be like to try to "compete" against a woman like Darlanis in any political contest! "You don't consider me `competition' for Darlanis?" I asked. This was one of those questions like "have you stopped beating your wife?" Obviously Sanda would have "trouble" answering it! "You've got `brains', she's got `beauty'," Sanda spoke, I fear without really thinking through all the "implications" of what she had said. The implication being that I had "intelli- gence", but not "looks", while Darlanis had "looks", but not "brains". She doesn't like being called a "dumb blonde" either! "You should pick your `friends' better, Lorraine," Darlanis observed, giving me a smile and a wink. She was obviously enjoy- ing herself at Sanda's expense. "She just said that you're as `homely as a dog' and that I'm a `dumb blonde' with hardly enough brains to come in out of the rain." Now you will note that Sanda didn't say anything like that at all, but of course Darlanis did twist her words around a bit so that she might tease Lady Sanda! "I didn't `say' anything like that!" Sanda protested hotly. "You did say that I had `intelligence' and that Darlanis has `beauty'," I pointed out to my lovely dark haired prime minister. Sanda was attired in a clinging green silken blouse with a fitted leather skirt that well displayed the delights of her figure. She reminds me just a bit of Carol Simmons in some ways. I used to tease her that way too at times, much to her utter irritation! "I didn't `mean' it that way!" Sanda protested helplessly. "And just what did you mean?" Darlanis teased her back. "I meant to say--" Sanda uttered, now lost for words. "That Lorraine is not really unattractive, and that I am a bit smarter than some people happen to give me credit for?" Dar- lanis laughed in reply. Obviously Sanda had just learned a good lesson. She had always considered herself smarter than Darlanis. While she probably is, Darlanis is "quick-witted" and knew how to tease a woman like Sanda, who is a quite "serious" sober person. "I'm just glad that you are the woman that you are," Sanda admitted. I suspect she was starting to fall for Darlanis a bit! Now changing the subject, Darlanis smiled to Sanda, "A good looking woman like you shouldn't have any trouble finding herself another husband." Sanda was both widowed and pregnant, although she didn't "show" yet and wouldn't for a couple of months even in the most clinging of gowns. I remembered Jon's comment about her, "A capable, competent woman. Not bad looking either." That was a pretty good description of Sanda too. Accurate, precise. "I suppose so," Sanda answered, not meeting her eye. I won- dered if Darlanis had "hit a sore spot" with Sanda. Sanda had not said too much to me about such things after learning that her husband had died in the battle with the pirates. I suspected she might still be in mourning and not really too interested as yet. "Well, I'll go see about having your airplane towed in and fixed," Darlanis said to me, getting up, the sun glowing in her hair and making it almost appear like she had a halo surrounding her head like one of those saints there in a Medieval tapestry. "I `envy' her," Sanda muttered as Darlanis strolled off. "Why?" I asked. I knew a great deal about Queen Darlanis. "She's always been able to `have' everything she's wanted." Sanda answered, shifting her position in the chair beside me. I supposed it was easy to envy someone like Darlanis until you knew the truth about her. What it had been like for her as a child. Brutally raped at the tender age of fifteen by her own eighteen year old brother, and then despised by her unbelieving mother for having made such a horrible accusation against her brother! The nasty rumors as they spread throughout Dularn causing the sensi- tive young Princess nothing but terrible embarrassment until her vindictive "mother" finally disowned her and shipped her off to a boarding school just to get rid of her and the embarrassment she caused! Darlanis' teenage years nothing but misery as she tried to escape the eyes, the whispered words that were spoken about her. It being commonly held by her classmates that she had "pro- voked" her own rape, that she was nothing but a shameless worth- less "slut" who had gotten exactly what she deserved getting! I had always thought my teenage years were bad, but at least my parents loved me and nobody whispered behind my back all the time that I was just some sexy slut that had provoked her own brother into making love to her and then had gone yelled "rape" after- wards just to conceal the fact that she had lost her virginity! "She's fought and scratched for everything she has," I said. I suspected that was why she "used" someone like Princess Tara as she had. Darlanis has a low sense of her own "self-worth". I am speaking here professionally. That is why she is always trying to "prove" herself. And why she does the things that she does. "Perhaps," Sanda answered, the tone of her voice leaving no doubt that she had still had her own opinions of the matter. She can be a rather head-strong woman at times. No doubt that is why she was successful in establishing the "Free Trelandar Movement". "You need a father for that little girl you're carrying," I pointed out to Sanda. I knew she was a good mother, but still, I feel from my own experience that a single woman, even with enough money so that she can devote herself to her children, does not do as good a job of raising her children as does one with a husband. "Perhaps Jon could act as a father to my children," Sanda ventured, regarding me. Her words making me a bit "suspicious"! Sanda was an attractive woman. Probably "good in bed" from what I'd seen of her. I remembered that the "Free Trelandar Movement" had assisted the Dularnian privateers and such from time to time against the Empire. Also, Jon had seemed to "know" quite a bit about Sanda there too in Thistle and Sanda in turn seemed to have been just a bit too overly competent in setting things up for me! "You knew Jon from before," I said to her. It was a state- ment of fact, not a question. Sanda nodded, not daring to speak. "As a matter of fact I also think you are in love with him too." Terror showed in the darkness of her eyes as I saw the truth of my words reflected there in those dark glistening depths. I was weak, almost helpless yet, but I was still able to command men, give orders! I was the Queen of Trelandar. I had the pow- er of life and death over Sanda. I wondered what Darlanis would have done had she been in my boots. I remembered Jack, that slut Sandra Stevens. Sanda shuddered. This was not the 20th Century. "There's a name for wives like you," I told Sanda. I was a Queen. Sanda's Queen. You don't "fool" with the husband of a Queen if you place any value on your life. I was reasonably sure that Sanda hadn't made any "advances" towards Jon since I had been married to him, but that didn't mean that she wouldn't do so should the opportunity happen to present itself at a later date. "It never came to that," Sanda breathed, her words so soft that I had some difficulty in hearing them. "Jon said that no man of honor would sleep with a woman who wore the neck chain of another." Her eyes were glistening now, the tears starting to flow. I had no doubt she would be sobbing in another minute now! "Have you ever spoken to a Priestess about this?" I asked. A Priestess will guide you in working such things out in your own thoughts. I used to do the same thing in the 20th Century, but I charged a lot more for my advice than do the Priestesses of Lys. "I-I'm afraid to," Sanda answered, starting to sob now too. "You fear what she would say to you?" I asked, reaching out, grasping Sanda's hand in mine. I had very little strength, but I didn't need any more than I had just then to do what I wanted to. "I've committed adultery in my heart!" Sanda sobbed. She was starting to draw some attention now although no one came near us. There were three warrioresses standing nearby. Imperials, women of Darlanis' own personal guard, serving under her own or- ders. I had no doubt that they at least could be "relied" upon to protect me against assassins. Tara's agents could be anywhere about, Darlanis had suspected. Obviously Tara knew that her at- tempt to kill me had failed. It was possible that she might try again! For a moment I wondered if it could have been Sanda! She knew of the medicine. Where I had kept it. She would have elim- inated both Darlanis and me with one stroke! Made Jon "avail- able" under such conditions that he would have been "easy prey" for a woman like her. She was a good looking woman too. The Prime Minister of Trelandar. Gayle was just an innocent teenage girl. She would have suspected nothing. Neither would have Sharon. Sanda could have easily ended up ruling both Sarn and Trelandar as their regent! Become another Empress of California! "And would you have committed adultery in deed had Jon been willing to take you to bed?" I challenged the sobbing brunette. "Been unfaithful to your own husband?" I forced from my mind the horrible thought that Sanda could have been the one who tried to have me poisoned. I wished I had the power to read her mind. Find out the truth. Perhaps she was another like Princess Tara! "Yes, Lorraine!" Sanda sobbing, throwing herself to her knees beside me, burying her face against my bosom. (That is the way it's supposed to read, but I don't have much of a bosom when I'm lying flat on my back, although I suppose it didn't matter.) "And if Jon was to come up to you some fine day and slap you on that nice curvy rear of yours would you do it then?" I asked that sobbing Trelandarian Lady as she wept on her Queen's bosom. Darlanis would no doubt get an "earful" from her guards standing there now listening to our every word as closely as they could! "Oh, No, Lorraine, I'd Never Do Something Like That!" Sanda protested, raising her face from my bosom, now well "wetted", the outline of one of my nipple clips now visible there on her cheek. I having been lying there with only a sheet half drawn over me, my breasts bared to the sun. I wondered if I could believe her? And what about the other matter? Who had ordered my death and Darlanis' too? Had not Darlanis been able to fly the plane, we would have both died in the plane crash. And no one would have been the wiser! And Sanda also knew more about flying than any- one else, having ridden in the airplane only a week or so ago!* Comment by Lady Sanda It is of course very painful for me to relive all this as Queen Lorraine's friend. What I think "hurts" more than anything else is that she actually could think that I would try to kill her! I will grant that I did have "feelings" for Jon, and I did one time "offer" myself to him (this was before Lorraine came on the scene), but I never would have hurt Lorraine for anything! |
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