"THE WARLADY OF DULARN"
2567 A.D.!
By Jerome Bigge
Chapter Forty
"Hoist more sail!" Darlanis snapped, Valerie shaking her
head in the negative. She was well aware of the condition of the
standing and running rigging, of the FACT that the pirates had
not kept the ship up. More strain could damage the ship, leave
them almost helpless before the North Star. The three masted
raider was obviously even faster than what she believed it was, a
match she suspected now even for an Imperial first rate in speed.
"That is an order!" Darlanis snarled, her eyes icy blue with
fury! Valerie shuddered as she turned away, gave the orders now.
The first officer shaking his head, looking at Darlanis, then he
carried out the orders, the men dashing up the rigging to set
more sail. The Warriors on the deck watching, tending to their
weapons. Some looked up at their beloved Empress standing there.
Even they understood that the ship could not stand more sail now.
*****************************************************************
"Swiftstar is hoisting more sail," Maris said to me in level
tones. We were driving the North Star hard, the ship pounding in
the seas. The spray was leaping up over the bow with every wave
we smashed into. I reached out, clasping some of the rigging.
The cordage was taut, hard, almost like a steel bar with strain!
Behind us the Swiftstar was smashing into the waves, her
masts almost invisible for the sails she had now just hoisted. I
saw Carol standing there on deck, talking to Anis. Men, women at
the weapons, standing there, swaying with the motion of the ship.
The wind had gotten up a bit too, the waves now slowly growing.
Far in the distance, following, came the Sarn to Trella clipper.
"Darlanis is not a sailor," I said to Maris, seeing her nod.
"I would not however care to face her blade to blade," Maris
smiled back. Darlanis was said to be "second" only to Lorraine,
who many now claimed was the greatest swordswoman of all time. I
had seen how Lorraine had dealt with Carol despite my wife's own
skill. And Carol was "good", at least a "Princess of Swords"!!!
"Let us hope it doesn't come to that," I nodded in reply.
Hopefully Darlanis would damage the Swiftstar enough to end this
pursuit and we'd be "rid" of that damn big blonde for good now...
"I don't think that's a choice left open to us," she said.
"I have no wish to have Darlanis as an enemy behind me with Lor-
raine somewhere ahead of us sitting there waiting for us to come
to her," Maris answered. I could see her reasoning. We could be
"trapped" between those two, without any hope of fighting clear.
"Darlanis will fight, even if she can't win," I pointed out.
"She is of the Warrioresses, as I am," Maris Marn answered.
"And she holds to the `Caste Codes'," I added for her then.
"They are what `separates' us from the `barbarians'," Maris
answered. She considered herself "civilized", although by 20th
Century standards she herself would have been thought to be some-
thing of a "barbarian". One often "wonders" about such things...
The history books of this era consider the people of the second
half of the 20th Century, at least those of North America and
Western Europe, as having been a bunch of "wimps" and "crybabies"
who were totally and completely "unfit" to be considered as any-
thing more than "slaves" just waiting for a master to come along!
It being maintained by the philosophers of this era that Janet
Rogers was a "result" of this "breakdown" in cultural standards.
That a "dictatorship" of the sort she operated was perhaps the
only "practical" form of government suitable for Mankind at that
time. Perhaps there is something to this. Most Americans of the
last half of the 20th Century did seem to lacking in the sort of
qualities that their forefathers had possessed. They were in a
lot of ways much like "slaves". Running crying to the "govern-
ment" for everything instead of resolving matters themselves. I
recall here the "civil rights" and such of my era, none of which
exists now even though there is far more "racial equality" here
in the 26th Century than there ever was back in my own time. One
"wonders" about such things. About a culture where it was unsafe
to walk the streets at night for fear of criminal predators. Due
to "universal armament" now of course such things are merely only
passages in the history books. Neither Dularn or the Empire has
a "police" force as such, as such duties are considered "fitting"
work for the Warriors and Warrioresses of the military forces.
Also no criminal escapes "justice" for "technical reasons" now.
Violent criminals are castrated as a matter of course, and sent
as slaves to the mines and the galleys to repay society for their
misdeeds. This is a harsh, hard world, but one we much enjoy...
"You are the Queen of Dularn," I pointed out to her then.
"A successor will be picked if I fall," she answered me.
"As you said, you are of the Warrioresses," I smiled back.
"As you are of the Warriors despite yourself," she "smiled".
*****************************************************************
"A rogue gust of wind, anything could destroy all!" Valerie
protested, well aware of the Swiftstar's poor condition for this!
"Is it the ship's condition you fear, or her before us?" the
Empress snapped back, the second part of her sentence clearly im-
plying something that under other conditions Darlanis would have
never given voice to. For an instant Valerie's eyes burned hotly
into hers. Given Darlanis' rank there was nothing she could say
or do even although she knew the "insult" there in those words...
"When it comes to battle you will not find me wanting," Val-
erie snapped back, her voice hard. Darlanis was a woman "driven"
by hatred, a woman who could take them all to their deaths here!
"I judge that the North Star is now no more than half a mile
ahead of us," Darlanis spoke in level tones. She was ashamed of
herself for how she'd spoken to the woman, but as a monarch she
knew that she could never speak the words she so wished to say...
An "Empress" such as her could never "apologize" to anyone.
"She's held together so far," I said to Maris, the Swiftstar
now only half a mile behind us. Twice the range of our best
weapons. Maris nodding, her eyes thoughtful as they met mine. I
glanced at Carol, at the ship, the sails hard, full bellied, the
sea ahead. Maris had been a good teacher. I had the "feel" of
the North Star now. I could "sense" the play of wind, wave, the
"grip" of the keels beneath us. A sailing ship is like a living
thing. Much different in fact from a mechanically powered ship.
"Yes...," Maris breathed, the North Star suddenly heeling a
bit more than before, a groan going through the ship as the over-
stressed rigging and masts took the strain. The Dularnian flag,
the battle flags on each of the three masts snapping in the wind!
I thought gladly of the close inspection we'd given the ship...
I turned, Maris' hand suddenly on my arm, seeing the Swift-
star's foremast suddenly snap off just above the deck, the ship
suddenly swinging up into the wind, now helpless in the waves!!!
"Let fly the spanker, hard to starboard!" Maris screamed at
the top of her lungs. The North Star turning now, Carol running
across the deck, slapping backs, men and women dashing to weapons
as the crew prepared themselves for battle! The ship coming more
around now, the wind astern, the spanker being pulled back in,
the jib freed for a moment to spin us the rest of the way about!
Men up there, fifty feet from the deck, taking in the top sails!
"Not a chance now!" Valerie muttered to herself, her sword
in her hand. The Swiftstar rolling heavily in the sea, a half
dismasted wreck, all DUE to that Lys dammed Darlanis and her in-
sane hatred that had doomed them all to a fiery death at sea!!!
"Open fire as soon as they come within range!" Darlanis
snapped, her heavy compound bow now in her hand. Her golden at-
tire glistening in the sunlight like that of a Viking Goddess...
"Get that cut alway!" Valerie snapped at the first officer,
"Put those Warriors of Darlanis' to work!" she added, well aware
that they were useless for anything else right now until some
sort of a fore sail could be rigged to act as a jib for the ship!
The first officer staring at the approaching North Star with
visible terror. Right now due to the pressure of the wind on the
main mast they were lying bows on to the wind, with the North
Star approaching from the north west, no more than a quarter of a
mile away now. Valerie was well aware of Maris' "options" here.
Her most "intelligent" move would be to fire a broadside from
close range as she passed across their bow. While the Swiftstar
might fire back with some of her armament, the Dularnian would be
able to fire far more missiles per exchange now than they could!!
"We'll have to rig some sort of jib!" Darlanis snapped, the
big blonde obviously a bit "smarter" than Valerie had "thought".
Men already hard at work cutting away the rigging the held the
broken mast alongside the ship as they drifted back towards land.
"We'll do what we can," Valerie answered, well aware of the
fact that nothing they could do would be of any real value now...
"`She' doesn't stand a chance!" Carol protested, suddenly
standing there at my side, her hazel eyes burning hotly into mine
as I nodded back. To fight or not was rightly Maris' decision.
"Darlanis will not surrender to us," Maris answered back.
"Better get back to your post," I told Carol softly then.
"They're `sitting ducks'!" Carol retorted, standing there.
"She would not hesitate to destroy us," Maris answered her.
"Darlanis can't hurt us now!" Carol protested hotly in turn!
"She has her own navy, and ships the match of this," Maris
answered in level tones. "And I have no wish to met up with her
again, especially not with Lorraine somewhere still ahead of us!"
I could see the clipper in the distance, several miles behind us.
I had no doubts that its captain would "protect" his Empress if
he could. The clipper had poor maneuverability, but its firepow-
er was almost equal to the Swiftstar and not greatly inferior to
ours. In any case it would soon be arriving to "save" Darlanis.
"Go back to your post," I said, taking Carol by the arm. I
was well aware of my wife's feelings, and also well aware if Car-
ol was not that military discipline allowed no other action now!
Every Sunday Maris read to us the "laws" under which we sailed.
I was well aware too that violation of Maris' orders was mutiny!
That the penalty for that was hanging from the main mast yardarm!
This was a Dularnian warship, and Maris maintained discipline!!
"They're so helpless against us!" Carol whispered hoarsely.
"I think Maris is well `aware' of that fact," I said softly.
"But you are going to have to obey her orders or face court mar-
tial for insubordination under combat conditions," I warned her!
"The North Star is offering us `terms of surrender'," Valer-
ie Dunn spoke, standing there, watching the men at work. The
ship was less than a quarter of a mile away now, obviously work-
ing itself into a position where it might fire a full broadside
down the length of the helpless Swiftstar. Darlanis nodding, her
eyes unreadable just then. Valerie did not "envy" the Empress...
"I will not use fire," Darlanis muttered, mostly to herself.
She had such weapons, and the clipper was coming up to "rescue".
She could destroy the North Star, put an "end" to Maris' career.
On the other hand she "admired" Maris, the woman's own "bravery".
"Perhaps `they' will `avenge' us," Valerie said, looking at
the rapidly approaching clipper, well aware too that the clipper
was no match for the North Star in a fight, although it could of
course outrun the Dularnian raider without too much difficulty...
Next Chapter
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