"IN HARM'S WAY"
AN ADVENTURE IN THE SECOND DARK AGE OF MAN
By Robert J. Simmons
Chapter Twenty Two
"Engines one and three stop, number two reverse, drop an- chor," I snapped, the lightning flashing in the sky over Arsana. I saw the anchors drop, one from either side of the bow. In the morning we could push the Diana up to the dock with a galley. I wasn't in the "mood" just then to try to do it here in the dark. Sandra gave me a smile, getting up from her seat at the controls.
"Hope the `prize' made it back O.K.," Maris said to me. We had left the damaged schooner behind once we'd gotten back into the strait. I didn't think they'd have too much trouble now. We had "collected" about a couple dozen women, all glad to soak up the "warmth" from the Diana's boilers below decks. Lorraine was with Carol, keeping an eye on her while my wife now slept, the baby beside her. She had a "future" now, thanks to my efforts in the future in dealing with the "EVIL ONE". I hadn't seen Tais again since that time, perhaps with reason, it being reasonable to assume that the Priestesses of Lys were a bit embarrassed now.
"I'm not going to attend the hangings," I said to the Queen. Pirates who had survived to reach the Diana would with the excep- tion of "one" who had unfortunately drowned would hang in Arsana. He had freed the women, doubtlessly saving many of their lives. On the other hand half a dozen of the captured women had drowned there in the ten foot waves before they could reach the Diana.
"You are Admiral of the Dularnian Navy," Maris said to me.
"And it is my `duty' to see men `hang'?" I said to her then.
"You don't `believe' in a death penalty for piracy?" Maris challenged me, captain Steven perking up her ears at our words although she knew better than to enter into a "discussion" like this. Maris certainly had her "dander" up, that was for sure. I would have said "PMS", but that wasn't possible here in this cen- tury due to the fact that only "fertile" married women can men- struate. Otherwise the "contraceptive implants" prevented such.
"I didn't say `that', I merely said that I didn't wish to attend the hangings," I repeated. Such "events" were popular in Arsana, and always brought out a big crowd to watch the hangings. Dularn hangs criminals, while the Empire beheads them. I do not consider one method of execution more "civilized" than the other. It is probably likely though that beheading is a "swifter" death.
"You consider us all `barbarians', don't you?" Maris snapped back, the "tone" of her voice quite unpleasant. I saw lightning flashing up in the sky over the city. It was obvious that I had "touched" a sore spot with the Queen of Dularn here too now. No doubt Maris had also been "nursing" such ideas for some time. I could understand her "feelings", especially as she did have a certain degree of pride in her own abilities, in her competence. I suspected all that all "this" related back to her crashing the Diana into the pirate schooner and the comments I'd made to her.
"We weren't any more `civilized' back in our time," I smiled, well aware of "where" Maris was coming from right now. "And there are features about Dularnian culture that we of the Twentieth Century never had," I added, giving Sandra a nod then.
"It would still be best that you attended the hangings," the Queen of Dularn repeated, her emerald green eyes burning straight into my own just then. "We all must often `do' things that we'd rather not to have to do," she added, having "given" her orders.
"I can walk," Carol said, two seamen with a stretcher ready.
"It would not be `advisable'," Dr. Saris Sanson smiled back.
"I suppose so," Carol admitted, allowing us to lift her on to the stretcher, our little daughter snug there in Saris' arms. Queen Maris was there, along with Lorraine, the Imperial Warlady. I could hear the low rumble of thunder through the Diana's hull. It seemed "fitting" just then considering everything. For the first time in my life I'd seen a "side" to Maris I hadn't liked.
"It would be best perhaps if your wife stayed with me for a few days until she is recovered," Queen Maris said to me as she gave the orders now to have Carol taken to the Royal Palace in- stead of back to our own home there inside the city. "My Physi- cian can take over now from yours too," the Queen said to me, her eyes holding mine as I nodded back in reply. The precious jewels of her tiara gleaming there in the light from the lamps held up. The rain, a heavy downpour now, wetting everything and everyone.
"That probably would be `best'," I said, holding Carol's hand in mine, looking down at the now sleeping baby in her arms. I would send Kathi over to tend to my wife's own needs, Carol no doubt preferring to have Kathi than one of Maris' slave girls. I was aware of the subtle "tension" between Maris and me, of the fact that in the first time I'd known her the Queen of Dularn had "pulled rank" on me. I wondered if it had anything to do with my first reactions to her handling of the Diana against the pirate? I suspected that was the "reason", as Maris was a "proud" woman.
"I'm sorry I couldn't be of more help than I was," Lorraine said to Carol, who nodded, giving the Warlady a smile in return. Lorraine had tried to do what she could for Carol, but my wife's own "mind programming" had prevented her from being hypnotized.
"You did what you could, and that's what counts," Carol said as she was now lifted up into the carriage to take her to the Royal Palace, Queen Maris now climbing in after her. I took the hand of the Imperial Warlady, held it for a brief instant, then climbed up into the carriage where my wife and the Queen waited.
"How do you feel?" I asked, fussing over Carol a bit, my wife nursing our little baby daughter there at her breast, the thought going through my mind then that she was no longer the same woman that she'd been back there in the Twentieth Century. Queen Maris' sea green eyes glowing into mine as I stood up. A waiting slave girl, dark haired, collared, now giving me a smile. I saw the lightning flash through the palace window, heard the rumble of the thunder. It was August 6, the year 2568, or 521 as time is now measured. The world was at peace, the future safe...
"Like a mother," Carol smiled, her hazel eyes glowing warm.
"Life `continues'," Maris said, giving me a smile. I think that motherhood is more highly regarded now than it was back in our own time, perhaps due to the effects of "population control". Here one must be married, have a "stable marriage" of more than three years, (this is the symbolism of the "gold chain" a wife of more than three years wears) before you are "allowed" children...
"Kathi," I said to the wench, her halter and short skirt leaving no doubts that she was a very "desirable" collared wench, "Before you go to the palace I have a `task' to ask of you." The girl nodding, her eyes, so much like Queen Maris', meeting mine.
"As Master wishes," Kathi answered, coming to me. I had her kneel, then undo me. She was "proficient" at such things, and it did not "delay" her more than ten minutes at the most either now. No doubt the fact that she was "blonde" had its advantages here. I then had her wash out her mouth before leaving for the palace.
"Last night would have been better," I smiled at Maris as I stood beside her, the pirates all standing there bound in a group now guarded by guardsmen with drawn swords. The crowd was large, the people pushing and shoving each other a bit for a better view. Vendors of foodstuffs, drinks, moving with difficulty in between the tightly packed people. "One should have an overcast sky, perhaps some lightning flashing, the drumroll of thunder." The scaffold had come as a surprise, as Dularn generally executed people by simply hanging them by the neck until they died of it! Lorraine standing there watching us, her dark eyes unreadable...
"Those who drowned were perhaps the `lucky' ones," she said. I suspected that she had done some thinking, made a "decision". That explained the scaffold, the neck breaking "drop" that would be used to kill instead of just simple strangulation as before.
"In the Twentieth Century there were a number of `debates' over whether or not a `civilized nation' should execute crimi- nals," I replied. "The `question' was never `answered'," I said.
"I think it has been," Maris answered, giving me a "smile". I recalled the words of First Priestess Tais, about what would have been done with High Priestess Martis had we not killed her.
"One should not confuse `technology' and `civilization'," I said to the Queen of Dularn as the first pirate was marched up on the scaffold. A hood placed over his head, the noose slipped about his neck. I saw the executioner glance up at his Queen, saw Maris nod, saw the hooded man drop through the trapdoor. The "death", I thought, had been "swift", "different" than before. I supposed the people were a bit "disappointed", as usually those hung kicked and jerked for perhaps a minute or more before losing consciousness from strangulation and lack of blood to the brain.
"I am not unfamiliar with such ideas," Maris smiled back.
"I will `resume' my full duties as Warlady once our daughter is weaned," Carol smiled to me, her hazel eyes glowing into mine. Little Hope Simmons at the moment drinking her fill from my wife. I thought she would make a good mother, one who could be both a "loving" mother and one who would not make the "mistake" as was made in the Twentieth Century of not disciplining one's children. Carol now holding the baby to herself so that her breast was con- cealed, such being the way a woman "nursed" when in the presence of others, my wife having "adapted" well to Dularnian "culture".
"I'll complete the `refit' on the Diana in another week," I said, Queen Maris having wished to use the Diana against the Northmen there in their own ports, while Queen Valeris attacked down from the north. I was a bit "worried" about this, as it was obvious that eventually there would be a "clash" between the Free Women and the Wyomings to the east, who were considerably "con- cerned" about Queen Valeris' "activities" here to the south now. There was also the "concern" now in certain quarters about "what" we would do if she decided to someday attack our "territories"...
"There is `meaning' in my life now," Carol said to me, look- ing down at the little baby girl that she held there in her arms. There was no "need" just then of any further explanations. Carol was a mother, a Warlady of Dularn, no longer just my "playmate".
"And perhaps when she grows up there will be no more war," I said, wondering if someday it might come true, although I doubted it unless the Priestesses of Lys decided to take over completely!