THE QUEEN OF SWORDS!

A TALE OF ADVENTURE IN THE SECOND DARK AGE OF MAN

By Jerome B. Bigge

Chapter Forty

      "We have," King Terak then said to me as we ate dinner that night, his son at my side, "Evidence that the Dularnians are now supplying the Montanas with their newest and most modern weapons." That was known to both of us, as I had already seen for myself ample "evidence" of Dularn's "involvement" in all this in the person of the new "Queen" of the Montanas. Such now all indicating that Dularn was attempting to win allies among the savages of the plains by any means, perhaps in the belief that given enough time they might encircle the Empire and destroy it from the east. California's control over the length of land she controlled being based for the most part upon her naval strength.

      "In a month Lorraine's factory will be able to supply you with a thousand such weapons as I have shown you," I replied, re- ferring to the new compound bow that she had so ably demonstrat- ed. I was a bit nervous however whether or not I could "trust" the Nevadas with such armaments, especially given their viewpoint that the women of California were better off in slave collars. I was married to their Prince, but there would be those who would say with considerable justification that I had armed one of the Empire of California's worst and most deadly of savage enemies!

      "We need ten thousand such weapons," Terak insisted, a bit of meat speared on the point of his knife as he poked it at me for emphasis. "And we cannot afford to wait a year for them."

      "I can give you the `support' of several Imperial Legions," I pointed out. I had such military forces at my disposal, al- though with the political situation as it was I really didn't know if I'd be able to retain "control" of things if certain peo- ple now in high political office decided to oppose my own wishes.

      "Out here in the plains?" Serak laughed, his eyes speaking what his mouth had not. I knew the "history" of such military expeditions in the past. What the Nevadas had done to such units here on the arid western plains where water was often something as "dear" as gold. Infantry was almost "worthless" on the plain!

      "My Imperial warrioresses have `done well' in the past," I pointed out, cutting at my meat there on the plate before me. I could field a good force of such women with the help of the Neva- das. Whether or not such a combination of forces could "work" together was something else, Nevadas having a low opinion of wom- en as a rule. A woman among the Nevadas being a household drudge and little more. They tended to view Californian women in terms of chains and slave collars, although this might change, I hoped.

      "They will no doubt look pretty in Montana collars," Terak laughed. He did not have a high opinion of the female sex when it came to fighting. I hoped that by now he might have changed his opinion of what women could do after meeting Lorraine and me. Seeing that not "all" women were of the sort he kept for slaves.

      "I have faced your women in battle, my father has not," Ser- ak said to me that evening later on after his father had left us. We were now once again alone together. I had dismissed Pussycat. "The Imperial Warrioress is a worthy foe of any man," he added. I smiled in reply, moving close, letting him take me then in his strong manly arms and hold me close. "And their Empress is the most beautiful woman who ever lived." "Love" is no doubt blind. I still planned, however, to take Serena with me back to Sarn. I could rely upon Aurora seeing to it later on that she got home.

      "I am not without a `certain charm'," I smiled back at him.

      "You would be `more charming' without so many clothes," he teased me, reaching down and undoing the buckle to my sword belt. As I was only wearing my golden mesh, I didn't think that I was "overdressed" by any means. Would he rather see me wearing noth- ing but a bit of perfume? That does have certain "advantages"!!!

      "That is a bit better," he said a minute later regarding me. I now wore only my golden clips and a pale blue strap covering my shaved sex. I stand 5'10", and have the figure to match. As others have noted, I am very nicely proportioned for my height.

      "I can remove these and this," I smiled, indicating the golden disks that now covered my pierced nipples and the triangle of pale blue silk that now covered my freshly shaved sex beneath. My cultural "mores" regarding shaving one's body hair no doubt something that he found quite "exotic", although I do think that he now enjoyed being married to a woman who did "do" such things. The fact that I douched every day meant little as even the Nevada women did that, the cultural "mores" for that being almost uni- versal with the exception of truly "barbaric" women like Serena. Serena being the sort of a person who "bathed" too infrequently, a "fact" I'd noted the first time I got "down wind" from her...

      "I would for the moment prefer to just `admire' you," he smiled, stretching out there on the bed while I stood before him.

      "I do have my `good points'," I smiled back, doing a little "posing" for him. Walking about, standing in "certain" ways too.

      "You are the woman I've always `wanted'," Serak said to me.

      "And now you `have' me," I smiled back in reply, lifting up a leg, placing my foot on a table, and stroking my thigh as I looked into his eyes. I have learned much from the beautiful Lara, who once was the most famous prostitute in all of Califor- nia before she married Jers, the son of Princess Tara of Baja.

      "The most beautiful woman in California," Serak smiled back. "With hair like gold and eyes blue like the sky after it rains."

      "Flattery will win the `love' of a fair maiden," I teased, going to him, slipping my arms around his neck, pressing my naked body up against him. Using my belly and thighs to "tease" a bit as I laid there beside him. Rubbing myself up against him like some great cat. Playfully nipping a bit at the side of his neck.

      "You have `learned' a few things from Pussycat," he laughed.

      "You've never had a wife like me before," I teased him back.

      "I've never had a wife before either," Serak then laughed.

      "You have one now," I said, undoing his clothing, my eyes glowing hot into his. I reached down, undid my silken "strap" to bare my sex. His lips seeking, finding mine as I undid my clips to bare my nipples. And lifting my body, guiding his lips to me.

      "I will miss you when you are gone back to California," he said to me, tracing circles with his fingertip around my left nipple as I laid there beside him, "contented", and a bit sleepy.

      "You're coming with me!" I laughed, rolling over, kissing him, my mouth wet, eager, loving as he held me close, tight, our mutual nakedness speaking of what we had just done moments ago.

      "My father needs me here as long as the Montanas are on the warpath," Serak answered me in level tones, looking into my eyes.

      "Your brother...?" I asked, already knowing the answer now.

      "A boy, not yet a man," he replied. I nodded back in reply.

      "And if I don't return to California...," I mused, aware that I really had no "choice" given the sort of a woman I was. I was Darlanis, Empress of California. My marriage to Serak didn't alter that. Nor the fact that there would soon be a war between the Empire and Dularn once again. One now no doubt unstoppable!

      "We have our `obligations'," he answered, looking down into my eyes. Stroking my nakedness as it now laid there before him.

      "Yours to your father, and mine to my people," I answered.

      "The `price' of being what we are," he smiled back at me.

      "You will be even more beautiful when this is gold," Serak said to me as he toyed with the silver neck chain there snug around my throat the next morning. The history of "neck chain- ing" one's wife now being lost somewhere in the centuries that have passed since the custom was first introduced sometime after The War of 2047 A.D. Lorraine believes that it symbolizes the submission of the wife to her husband, but I rather doubt it! To me it symbolizes that I am "his". That I belong to my Nevada Prince. That there is someone to whom I am "important". Someone who thinks of me not as an Empress, but as a woman to be "loved"!

      "I am a woman with `needs'," I purred, kissing him then. I let him lift me in his strong arms, and carry me then to the bed!

      "Perhaps it is best that you do return to California," my Prince smiled as we got dressed for the day a while later. "I don't know if I could stand the `strain' of having you `around' all the time." I smiled, splashed some perfume into the palm of my hand and splashed it beneath my armpits. Rubbing the rest be- tween my breasts. I would have to teach him the delights of mak- ing "love" to me in more "exotic" and "different" ways, I mused!

      "You have Pussycat, all I have is my `hand'," I teased him.

      "There are advantages to being a man," Serak smiled back.

      "We have an `important visitor' who arrived only this morn- ing," King Terak said to us as we entered the throne room, mo- tioning with his hand then for the person to be brought forward.

      "Tara!" I hissed, seeing that infamous Bajan Princess. She didn't look too "delighted" over this turn of affairs either. I saw that she had been wisely disarmed, with a Nevada on either side to insure "order" as she was brought up the center of the throne room to where Serak and I now stood quietly waiting. The silver chain that Serak had locked around my throat told its own story in a way that needed no words to "explain itself" to Tara.

      "We explained to this Bajan that the relationship between us and the Empire of California has been `altered'," Terak smiled.

      "I have been your `friend' long before this `bitch' came here!" Tara snapped back. I assumed that Terak had already spo- ken to her. That I was now the Crown Princess of the Nevadas. I don't think she was really aware of the situation she was now in.

      "Does she have `suitable accommodations'?" I asked Terak, a smile of pleasure now curving my lips as I regarded the Princess. It would not be proper to chain her in a dungeon like some slut!

      "Those suitable for a woman of her `position'," he answered.

      "See that she lacks for nothing, but under no conditions is she to be allowed to return to her own country," I smiled back.

      "You Lys-damned bitch!" Tara screamed back, furious at me!

      "Perhaps you would prefer her `status' and the `pleasing' of warriors?" I asked, indicating Terak's own white skinned, blonde haired female slave who wore only beads and a bit of buckskin. I knew he had only purchased the wench the day before from some Nevada warrior, but Tara didn't of course know that. She was of Dularnian ancestry, but had lived in California for all her life.

      "I am the Princess of Baja!" Tara then snapped back in fury!

      "You are not `unattractive'," King Terak observed with a smile. "Your breasts are still firm and the curves of your body beneath your clothing do indicate that you would be quite becom- ing kneeling here at my side," the King of the Nevadas added, giving Tara a leering smile back as he tousled the hair of his new slave girl. The wench, well "trained", kissing at his hand.

      "You will regret doing this!" Tara snapped furiously back!

      "See that she has every `comfort', but don't let her escape or I can promise you that she will be nothing but `trouble'," I warned Terak, giving Tara a "smile" that made her even more mad!!

      "Perhaps she will grow lonely for a man's `touch'," he smiled back. I hoped he would take the precaution of seeing that she didn't have anything around that could be used as a weapon. Tara was like me of the Warrioresses. And a very dangerous one!

      Tara's reply to that wasn't even remotely "printable"!!! *****************************************************************

      "I've been wondering," Jon said to Lorraine as they laid to- gether after making love there in her lovely palace in Trella.

      "About what?" Lorraine asked, kissing the mark there on his neck where she had just bit him only a few minutes before that.

      "If a woman like Darlanis could ever make love like you," he teased the tall brunette from a past era now mostly only legends.

      "I don't think it's likely you'll ever know," she laughed.