2565 A.D.!
A TALE OF ADVENTURE IN THE SECOND DARK AGE OF MAN
By Jerome B. Bigge
Book Two
Chapter Forty Four
"We need to talk," Sharon said to me in low tones as we both stood side by side filling our glasses there at the gigantic cut glass punch bowl. Darlanis at the moment busy talking to a group of Californian aristocrats, explaining to them the implications of the "New Order" that we were now establishing here in the 26th Century. Gayle off somewhere with Sanda and Jon, mingling with the others there in that brilliantly lit Imperial throne room. I nodded in reply, giving my golden haired stepdaughter a smile in return. I had few doubts what the conversation would consist of.
"I could use a breath of fresh air," I assured her in turn. Sharon had become much more "adult" in the last couple months. I suspected that Darlanis had something to do with that, although it was quite possible that what she had recently endured had ma- tured her considerably. She was no longer my "little girl". She had become a woman now, a surprisingly very capable and competent Princess, I understood from what Darlanis had told me earlier. I thought of Gayle. She was also competent and capable, I had seen for myself as she "covered" for me while Yvette fixed my makeup.
It was a lovely night, a bit of chill in the air speaking of fall. The stars bright in the sky above. There is little "light pollution" from 26th Century cities, which are not brightly lit at night. The night sky is gorgeous to see, the Milky Way like a gleaming band of tiny sparkling diamonds sprinkled across the heavens. Three planets were visible, Jupiter, Mars, and Saturn. The Moon would not rise until well after midnight, I remembered. Deimos had gone over some time during the day, I recalled then, the Lorr "starship" circling the Earth now about every two hours.
"Darlanis loves me very much," Sharon said to me softly. I could understand why. Sharon was more a "sister" than a "daugh- ter" to her. Their relationship was different than what ours had been. Sharon was to Darlanis both "sister" and "daughter" both. They had stood together side by side against a common foe, know- ing the "horrors" that awaited them in the hands of the pirates.
"I'm well aware of that," I smiled back in reply, wishing I had a wrap for my shoulders as we walked side by side along the graveled walks of the palace grounds. The crunch of the foot- steps of the warrioresses behind us speaking of the security pre- cautions we had taken. Princess Tara was still on the "loose". The Imperial Guard had "gone over" to Tara when she tried to take "control" of things. Darlanis like me was now rather "paranoid".
"And I love her just as much in return," Sharon said to me.
"Even if she isn't `She-Ra' any more?" I smiled back. I had once warned Sharon about that. That Darlanis was a woman, not a fantasy figure drawn out of the Twentieth Century cartoon series.
"She is still `She-Ra' to me," Sharon smiled back in the darkness as we halted. The warrioresses behind us halting too. "She will always be to me something `good', something 'decent'."
"None of us are without `sin'," I answered, remembering. I knew that Sharon knew of the crossbowman, of what had been done.
"She has `Talos', you have that `crossbowman'," she smiled.
"And I have my memories to haunt me," I answered, remember- ing. I should never have let Lady Tirana do what she did to him.
"Darlanis believes now that it was one of her agents who was also working for Princess Tara who paid him," Sharon spoke there in the darkness, the lights of the city of Sarn twinkling across the calm waters of the bay. I thought of those who had once been imprisoned here on this very spot over six centuries ago. They would have been surprised to know what it was now being used for!
"There was a time when I prayed that it wasn't Darlanis who had been responsible," I told Sharon. She knew of my "moods", of the fact that there were times that I distrusted everyone close to me. It is, I suppose, part of being what I now am. A Queen lives from minute to minute, knowing that a crossbowman could at any time squeeze his trigger and end her life. Darlanis and I share much. Sometimes I hate myself for what I think. The way I have of "hurting" others. My "moodiness", my suspicious nature. The feeling of "superiority" I have because I am from a techno- logically advanced era. That I can fly an airplane, travel in the skies while those of this era must ride about on dumb beasts. Perhaps An'na and Raspa feel the same about me because they have space ships to ride around in and can travel between the planets.
"She is your `friend', perhaps more so than any one else," Sharon said to me, looking up into my eyes, her hand on my arm. We had stood side by side, facing a common foe. We were "sisters of the sword". I had saved her life, and she had saved mine too.
"Yet she has you, and I don't," I answered in reply, taking her in my arms. Happy to hold her, feeling the "warmth" of her. She is "different" than Gayle. More like Janet Rogers, I think.
"You will always be my `mother', but she is like a `sister' to me. A big sister that I can always turn to." Sharon replied.
"And when I `lost' you I bought a slave girl to replace you," I answered, looking out into the darkness, my teeth chat- tering a bit from the chill. My evening gown offered little pro- tection from the elements. No doubt Sharon's did little better.
"And do you `love' her?" Sharon asked me. I knew the answer to that. I had held Gayle in my arms only an hour ago, wept on her shoulder. I had "used" Gayle for my own selfish needs, not ever realizing how much she loved me even although I didn't real- ly deserve her love. Often I wonder why people "admire" me so much. I am not an "admirable" person really. I am not "good and decent" like Darlanis is. I fear that I will have much to answer for when I finally stand before SHE and SHE judges me for my sins. I have done evil things in my life, not perhaps intention- ally, but because I "hurt" and I wanted to "hurt" others back.
"She is more precious to me than I believed," I answered. I had once "used" Gayle as a "replacement" for Sharon, but Gayle had a personality of her own, different than Sharon's, but in her own way she was a lovable well bred girl who I now loved dearly.
"I am glad now that you have her," Sharon answered, "Al- though there was a time that I hated her because she was yours."
"There on the Janis," I replied, remembering, holding her. I saw the glitter of chain mail there in the darkness. Darlanis' warrioresses are well trained, alert, capable. I felt very safe.
"It was like Darlanis struck me, the words she used," Sharon said in soft tones. I remembered the Empress' comment. Sharon had perhaps deserved it, although I don't think Darlanis quite understood then just why Sharon had said what she had. I HAD! I am trained in such things. I understood what she said and why.
I heard footsteps on the stones, looked around, saw golden hair there in the starlight. The glitter of precious gems. Saw the figures of three more warrioresses. Knew that Darlanis had come looking for us. For an instant I felt hatred, felt my hand seek the hilt of my sword as Sharon broke our embrace and stepped back to my side. Then I let my hand drop, hoping Darlanis had not seen. She is my dearest friend here in the 26th Century. I hope she understands when she reads this why I sometimes behave as I do. Why sometimes I hurt those I love the way that I do.* * I have often wondered about this myself, Lorraine! (Darlanis)
"There were things I had to explain to Lorraine," Sharon said, Darlanis standing there. I wondered what thoughts went through her mind. She had seen us together. Perhaps drawn cer- tain conclusions from what she had seen. I was after all still Sharon's step-mother. I had allowed Darlanis to "adopt" Sharon under the Codes of the Caste of Warrioresses, but she was still mine in a way. Not really hers. The situation here is complex.
"I understand," Darlanis answered, her long gown clinging to that perfect body. She is, I think, the most beautiful woman who has ever lived. She is to Beauty what I am to Swordsmanship. I did not think that Darlanis actually "understood" the situation.
"You are `better' for her than I can ever be," I said to the golden haired Empress of California. "She worships you as some- thing I can never be." I saw Darlanis nod, the diamonds glitter- ing there on her tiara. It was too dark to see her face, eyes.
"Yet you will always be to her the woman who held her when she was small, the woman who `protected' her from thunderstorms," Darlanis answered. That was true. I had been Sharon's "mother". Her "mother" in a way that Marcia had never been. Marcia and Darlanis looked somewhat alike in a way, although Darlanis is far more beautiful. I wondered if secretly Sharon had an idealized fantasy of her own true mother, and if Darlanis fulfilled that fantasy. Children often do such in cases of divorce and such. I had treated several cases back in the 20th Century. Darlanis herself had been an "abused" child. She shared much with Sharon.
"Just as I can never be Mara's or Ta-she-ra's true mother," I answered. Gayle of course never viewed me in any such light.
"You must have brought an `army'," Sharon commented from be- side me, the crunch of more feet now audible there on the gravel. The palace grounds are quite lovely in the day time. There was a small dock behind us. Some sort of small craft tied to it now.
"I don't understand," Darlanis said. I feared I did. There was a rasp of steel as my sword left its sheath. I wished I had brought my force-saber instead. I feared Princess Tara might yet win as I saw Darlanis whip out her own blade and face those now facing us. One of the warrioresses removed her helmet. Her hair was black. She was slim, muscular. HER RIGHT HAND WAS STIFF!!!
"Kill them, but don't harm the girl," Princess Tara said.