"THE WARLADY OF DULARN"

2567 A.D.!

By Jerome Bigge

Chapter Fifteen

      "We will have to conceal our `intentions' until the last minute," I explained to Lars Debolt. He was presently in "com- mand" of the ship as I had little idea of how to sail her as yet. We were sailing directly towards the shore now in the distance. I had no wish to cause more loss of life among those who "served" Darlanis than necessary when I set fire to Sarnian Lady! As for Darlanis herself I would have gladly "wrung" that beautiful neck and felt the "better" for having done so after what she had done! Earlier my wife had told Kathi that her "use" would be hers now to decide, the wench now being our "property" as it was. Carol had also made Kathi to perform the "gesture of submission" before her in front of everyone, thus confirming her own status. Kathi being forced to strip, to kneel before Carol in the nude, her knees wide apart, her head down, her arms extended before her with her wrists crossed. Carol had then bound her wrists with a length of rawhide, thereby "accepting" Kathi's own "submission".

      "Or we will be lucky to `hang' as pirates," he smiled back. I wondered what Darlanis would "do" if we hoisted a "Jolly Roger" flag up over the stub main mast. I felt it "proper" considering what we "planned" to do. I wondered for a moment what Carol was doing, and why she had not yet come back up on deck to join us? The other slaves looking nervously at the approaching trireme. I would cover the fire pump with an old sail. Those aboard Sarnian Lady would have of course no ideas as to what our cargo had been!

      "At least I will die in the company of a beautiful woman," Lars laughed, kissing Sandi, stroking her naked breasts, her nip- ples I noted, being erect, her very "stance" leaving no "doubts"! She was nicely "assed", her breasts high, firm, quite "nice" too.

      "Take her below, `use' her," I said, taking "command" of the old cargo ship. The name "Cleolantis" painted in flaking paint on its bow above the painted eyes many ships have in this era. I watched Lars dash with Sandi down the hatch to the deck below. I supposed it would not "take long". She was already well aroused! I thought of Carol, wondered what she was doing just then. For an instant then I saw "another" now standing before me, one tall, slim and lovely, Keri Colter, Lady Tirana's own granddaughter!

      "This will do," Carol said, pushing the Queen of Dularn in among the sacks of grain. Maris nodding in reply, well aware of the fact that she was helplessly bound, and that Carol was armed. The brownette's attire giving her a "savage look" Maris felt was fitting considering what she had suggested doing to Sarnian Lady. Carol's innate "dominance", the very "look" of her reminding the Queen of Dularn of "another". Of a tall, stern featured Warlady!

      "It's been a long time for you since you've had a man, isn't it?" Carol spoke in level tones. Maris blushed, nodding back. A pair of soft "understanding" hazel eyes meeting her own emerald. Carol had been glad to see the "last" of Keri, and here was this damn blonde "making eyes" in a way that left no "doubts" either!

      "I've never `felt' this way before," Maris breathed softly. It was the "truth", she felt, recalling the emotions she'd felt!

      "And my husband is both `handsome' and `manly'," Carol said. Maris thought that the brownette's words were an understatement. Had there not been a "wife" like Carol, Maris knew she would al- ready have taken his sperm in her vagina as they laid together. The Queen puzzled that she felt the way that she did towards me!* * It is my belief now that Maris was mind-programmed by Tais. I suspect that I was tested here to prove if I loved Carol. (R.S.)

      "He is much like `another' I once knew," Maris said softly. Yet it had been "different" back then. Not even Carl Talen had aroused such feelings in her. Carol's husband was a "MAN" in the full sense of the term. A man to which she could only submit to! Just as this wife of his was one that a hunk like him might love! Maris having no doubts that a man would have to be very "sure" of his own "manhood" to be married to a "woman" like this brownette! Much like Jon Richards, who had married the fantastic "Lorraine"! They had "gone together" for some time, but she had "wanted more" out of life than he could give her, Maris being well aware of the sort of a woman she was, the term "gold digger" being "fitting"! She had "lied" to Lorraine, even to herself, but Maris was well aware of the truth that she was herself nothing but a true slut!

      "And when Bob `touched' you, you felt `warm and wet', didn't you?" The Queen nodding, and blushing hotly at Carol's words! She would not have "used" such terms, but she understood their meaning, the "implications". She had been sexually aroused then.

      "There is a `difference' between `feeling' and `doing'," my wife said. Maris nodded, unable to meet those burning hazel eyes with her own beautiful green. "But just remember I am his wife." The words "I am his wife" seeming to almost now ring in her ears.

      "I don't want us to be `enemies'," Maris answered softly. She admired the woman, the way that she was willing to deal with this "matter" where another might have let it "fester" until the time came that it would have been "decided" with a dagger or poi- son. Maris being well aware of the "history" of Dularn's past. Many Dularnian Queens had died violent deaths, some by assassins. She recalled the "rumors" there had been about Queen Tulis back when she had been a teenage girl. About the wife of a "Senator" who had been found lying dead in her bed, a dagger in her heart! Tulis had been the sort of a Queen who "took" what she "wanted". Much like her famous `daughter', the present Californian Empress! There had been a "rumor" too about Prince Paul, about a mistress! There had even been a "claim" that his mistress had been of Mars!

      "You are a very beautiful woman, and `blonde'," Carol said. Maris had been compared by a few with Darlanis, the acknowledged "Queen of Beauty" of the 26th Century, although she did not have the "height", or the "amazonic" build of the Empire's own ruler.

      "Many in my country are light haired," the Queen replied. Not all Dularnians were light haired, but a large number were.* * It should be noted here that it is possible to make a "blonde" out of a dark haired person by the alteration of one gene in the set of 48 chromosomes that make up a human being. It is my be- lief that the Priestesses of Lys possess such powers as the tech- nology was developed by the World Federation of the 21st Century before The War of 2047 destroyed that civilization. Many chil- dren are born "light haired", but become dark haired later on. I have spoken with a number of Physicians here in Arsana and else- where who note that the number of "light haired" children born to dark haired parents seems to be greater than what ordinary cur- rent genetic theory would indicate. The Priestesses appear to be the ones "responsible" as all pregnant women usually see a Priestess some time before giving birth. Their "role" here in life in the 26th Century reminds me much of that of the "Catholic Church" in the Middle Ages, although their power, I might note, is greater. All in all, I do think they are a "benefit" to hu- manity much as Lorraine planned them to be when she gave the con- cept of them to Janet Rogers. As a "means" of installing a "safeguard" against the misuse of electronic hypnosis by a world political state. Perhaps Tais now is "the second Janet Rogers"! She is for all practical purposes the "ruler" of the world in a way, although she rarely "interferes" in domestic politics. I also note here that Aurora's "conversations" with Darlanis in her own book indicate that Aurora herself has somewhat similar "pow- ers" to a much lesser degree, "proving" Lorraine's theories. (RS)

      "My husband has a `weakness' for `women' like you," Carol mused, regarding the Queen of Dularn, "And I also suspect too you may be being `tested' yourself for some reason here." Given the sort of power that the Priestesses of Lys possessed, such was, my wife felt, quite "possible" considering their other capabilities!

      "Perhaps `you' are also so being `tested'," Maris ventured.

      "Perhaps Tais has a `sense of humor'," Carol "smiled" back.

      "You are not a `beautiful woman', but there is a `quality' about you that I have `seen' in few others," Maris then answered.

      "I am a `woman' who has no `doubts' about herself," Carol smiled back, leaning back against one of the sacks of corn there in the ship's hold. Keeping her voice down as she suspected they were not the only ones here in the hold from the soft sounds she had heard only a moment ago. The sort of sounds that men and women make when they are making "love" in conditions like this! Many "believing" that they would die beneath Sarnian Lady's ram.

      "You are also much like `another' in some ways," Maris said, remembering a tall, stern featured brunette who had demonstrated to those of Dularn the awesome power of the great Tarls of Talon!

      "Lorraine?" Carol asked, well aware that she had been told the "same" by some of the other slave girls there on the estate. A nod by the Dularnian Queen leaving no doubts in my wife's mind. Carol recalling then what I had told her about being "selected". Of what Tais had once said to me about my wife back in our time.

      "One I much fear," Maris answered. It was not just a "fear" of the famous Warlady's military capabilities, but something else that Maris feared. The woman's "dominance", her appearance, all instilling in Maris strange "feelings", "urges" that she feared!* * A part of Maris' "hostility" to me may be due to this. (L.R.)

      "I think I know `why'," Carol spoke, suddenly seizing the beautiful Queen of Dularn in her arms, and pressing her lips down upon the lovely soft mouth of the blonde's! Maris for an instant "fighting", then Carol felt her "yield", felt the lips "open" be- neath hers, felt the warm body of the Queen press up against her own half naked form. Her actions leaving no "doubts" now in my wife's mind as to just "why" Maris Marn so feared the "Warlady"!!

      "Carol!" Maris breathed, still held in my wife's arms, her beautiful azure eyes seeking the lovely hazel of the brownette's. Carol herself now feeling strange "urges", "feelings" she'd never felt before too as she held the blonde Dularnian in her arms! A feeling of "terror" clutching her heart as she realized just what these feelings meant! Was she another like the Imperial Warlady?

      "I think I `understand' now what I did not before," Carol said, looking into the lovely eyes of the Dularnian. She re- called the "hostility" another "blonde" had once felt towards her long ago. That woman had been, Bob said, quite "submissive". I suspect here too that a great deal of Carol's "attractiveness" to me is the "fact" that she is a rather "dominant" woman in a way! On the other hand we get along as well as we do because we are a "team", not just a husband and wife. I can "rely" on Carol, and she on me. The two of us "together" is greater than the "two of us" apart. Carol is "Warlady of Dularn", which I feel is proper. I still recall that arena in Trella. Carol "there" at my side.

      "I fear I am not much of a `Queen'." Maris spoke softly, her eyes glowing into the hazel of Carol's. Others had noted too that she was not the "Queen" for example that the late Tulis had been. That had been part of the reason she had taken command of the North Star. "Running away" from her own "responsibilities". Carol's own body warmth, her "closeness" now a strange "comfort".

      "A `Queen' must have both `courage' and `compassion'," my wife now answered back, looking into those beautiful green eyes. "And the world does not `need' right now either a woman playing `She-Ra' or another who thinks she's `the second Janet Rogers'."

      "I think I do need a `Warlady'," Maris answered softly.

      "And a `Warrior' to stand at her side," Carol smiled.

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