2569 A.D.!

THE DULARNIAN QUEEN

AN ADVENTURE IN THE SECOND DARK AGE OF MAN

By Jerome B. Bigge

Chapter Eighteen

      "There is an `improvement'," I said to Captain Dan Wood, the crew scampering the ship like a flock of monkeys. There was ob- vious disorder in their movements yet, but they were "learning" what it took to work together as a crew, as sailors, as "seamen".

      "I take `responsibility', your majesty" he answered, regard- ing me. "You put me in command of this ship, and I failed you."

      "I will assume that there are `reasons'," I "smiled" back.

      "My wife died, the first officer got married," he answered.

      "And no one expected me to ask for the North Star," I added.

      "Bunch of clod hoppers and the scum of Arsana," he replied. "The first never saw a ship before this and the second is just a gang of `cutthroats' that'd kill you for the gold in your teeth."

      "That bad?" I spoke, remembering the crews that I once had.

      "When there's war, and prize money to be had...," he smiled.

      "Order steam up so we have weapons drill," I smiled back.

      "Guess neither no one ever thought of it before, but unless you sail around all the time now with steam up you don't have any more `defenses' than some old merchantman does," he answered me.

      "And it takes `time' to raise steam," I breathed, suddenly "aware" of the terrible "flaw" in the design of all "steam" ships including those of the Imperials. The North Star now mounted se- ven quickfirers, all powered by steam, and three steam catapults, the last being able to hurl their missiles some 550 yards. Awe- some, impressive deadly weapons of war as compared to the sort of weapons the ship had carried before, but weapons that were utter- ly "useless" without any high pressure steam to now operate them!

      "Aye, your majesty," he nodded, seeing my eyes meeting his.

      "When we return to Arsana...," I breathed, and thinking now.

      "I'm an old `trireme man', but maybe some of the `old ways' were better," he smiled, perhaps seeing something not visible to me. Perhaps of fleets of galleys rowing into battle, of sword to sword battles across bloody decks, of death, of glory, of honor!!

      "How is she?" I asked, stepping into the cabin. I could tell by the "odor" in the air that Emily had vomited up the food she'd eaten this morning. The girl looking up at me, her dark eyes seeking mine as she sat there beside her master, her short leather skirt up to her hips. It is not usually the practice to give a slave girl anything to "cover" herself beneath her attire. Such is "said" to keep the wench much more "aware" of herself...

      "Better, mistress," Emily answered, aware no doubt that she would no longer be allowed to "do" some of the things she had be- fore. It is seldom that the slave girl views a wife with favor. It is "easier" for the wench to "control" the master than the mistress, who is of course "immune" to the girl's open sexuality.

      "Kathi, come here," I said, the blondish wench doing so, her eyes much like Darlanis' meeting my own. "Bend forward and place your hands on this," I ordered, Kathi doing so. Placing her hands on a book case shelf there about breast high. "Now extend and spread your legs behind yourself." The girl doing so, blush- ing a bit, as the "pose" well displayed her dressed as she was. La-ra sitting there smiling softly, her dark eyes meeting my own.

      "La-ra," I said to my serving maid, "This slave girl needs a `lesson' in submission," Kathi looking back at me with an expres- sion that left no doubts as to "how" she felt about all this now!

      "A pleasure, your majesty," La-ra smiled, stepping forward.

      "Please, La-ra," I heard Kathi whisper as I stepped back.

      "You will be treated as the slave you are," La-ra said.

      "Her fingers are `deft'," my husband smiled as we watched.

      "Kathi squirms well, mistress," Emily observed in reply.

      "There are women who belong in collars," my Prince said.

      "I know of at least `one'," I "agreed", watching Kathi.

      "Perhaps there are `others'," my Prince ventured then.

      "At least we have one `gunner' aboard," I said to the cap- tain as "gunnery practice" ended. Diane was an excellent shot. She had been the only who seemed to understand the "use" of weap- ons. The fact that she was of the Caste of Warrioresses no doubt had its effect here. Doubtless too Tori had taken "pains" with her. The Dularnian mother takes time to teach fighting skills to her children. She takes much pride in a son or daughter's skill. We realize that there is a "difference" in the sexes, but we do not treat women as being inferior to men because they are women.

      "As I said, she's the best of the midshipmen," Wood smiled. I noticed the brightness of the sun, the glare off the water, the island there to starboard a bluish haze, the mainland to port. I smiled in reply, "thinking" of Tori, how "pleased" she would be. The clouds in the sky lovely white "puffs" of pure white cotton. Before us now the ocean, and thousands of miles away, was Asia...

      "We should reach Sana by nightfall," I smiled, content now.

      "I will continue with sail drill," he answered. I thought that wise. The North Star is a sailing ship, not a steam ship.

      "There is `something' floating out there," the midshipman said, La-ra having opened the door to admit him. I was sure that the officer who had sent him had told him "more" than that, but I supposed one might be in "awe" of a Queen such as me, especially as I had just "blistered" his ears only a few hours before now!

      "I do have a `title'," I reminded him with a broad grin.

      "Yes, your majesty!" he stammered, blushing hotly now!

      "I will come," I smiled, getting up from my seat.

      "Some sort of `hulk' from the looks of her," captain Wood spoke, handing me the telescope as my husband stood swaying be- side me. We were now out into the ocean proper, Dularn to star- board, a mile or so away, a gathering of huts scattered here and there along the wooded coastline. The sun lower now in the sky now that it was well past noon. Sana still a couple hours away.

      "Nothing I've seen before," I answered, holding the tele- scope up to my eye. It was obviously a vessel, but not like any- thing I'd ever seen before anywhere along the coast of North America. The remains of the masts, the height of the forecastle and the poop quite unlike any ship of any nation that I knew of! I sensed that this ship was "dead", that it was totally lifeless!

      "We can take a closer look, your majesty," he answered me.

      "There is no sign of life," I replied, lowering the glass.

      "She's low in the water," captain Wood spoke as I nodded.

      "There are countries on the other side of the world," my husband smiled as I nodded in reply. Such places were more "leg- end" than anything else, although I no doubt that they did exist from what was known of life here in the Americas. Lorraine's slave girl, Yvette Senchal, was from France, a country in Europe. Her owner, a Prince Philip, son of the Empress of that nation, having dared the Lorr's wrath by crossing the Atlantic Ocean in 2565, eventually suffering shipwreck there off the Florida Keys.

      "Perhaps someone dared...," I ventured thoughtfully. Such a voyage was within the capabilities of ships like the North Star. Whether or not the Priestesses of Lys would "bless" such a voyage was something else entirely, their current attitude towards such voyages having been much like that of the Lorr before "2566" when the Priestesses wrestled control of Earth from those of Mars to "rule" the Earth on their own. I wondered if Lorraine was right?

      "It's a big ocean," my husband smiled as the North Star's longboat carried us over the waves towards the drifting derelict. Aboard the North Star, a hundred and twenty feet from stern to bowsprit, the waves had not really "looked" that large. From a twenty two foot long longboat they looked considerably "larger"!

      "I once sailed from Trelandar to Dularn in a boat smaller than this one," I smiled back, remembering that "epic" voyage...

      "I read your book, your majesty," Diane ventured, giving me a smile. It had been my "voyage" that had made me "famous", gave me the sort of a "name" that Darl Jord had wanted in his "wife". I considered the marriage from the first to be "political", more a marriage in "name" than in anything else. Queen Tulis, aware of her impending death, having told her son to marry or "else"...

      "Those men need to be taught how to `row'," I said, Diane nodding, their efforts lacking the "skill" of the trained seaman!

      "They're more used to the handles of a plow, your majesty," she grinned back. I suspected some were more "used" to other things from the looks of them. Arsana like all large cities has a "criminal element" that even my best efforts can't "eradicate". Pretty young Dularnian women fetch a high price in the Empire, I might mention here, and there were those who would shanghai such girls, getting them across the strait on some "fishing boat", to meet with a slaver on the other side who happens to be "there". I eventually put a "halt" to this by patrolling the strait, but there is of course a "limit" to what can be "done" as long as the Empress of California refuses to do anything about such "things"! There are also enough crooked merchantmen who will transport such "cargoes" for a high enough price that the practice still exists despite my best efforts, although now upon a much reduced scale.

      "We will find nothing but death aboard that ship," I spoke, my strange new "power" having told me that as we came closer now. Diane nodding, the boat's crew muttering a bit among themselves, looking at me, then at the North Star a hundred yards away now. The derelict low in the water, as if ready to give up the battle.

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