"THE WARLADY OF DULARN"
2567 A.D.!
By Jerome Bigge
Chapter Forty Five
"If what you say is true...," Lorraine spoke, pacing the carpeted deck of Athena's stern cabin, her dark eyes burning into those of the Dularnian Senator and his companions, "Then this puts an entirely different `light' on the issue now." Jon sit- ting there quietly, keeping his thoughts to himself. That the Senate of Dularn was seriously considering deposing Maris Marn in favor of Darlanis as their new "Queen" was an utter shock to ev- eryone!!! Arsana visible there through the ship's stern windows.
"We'd be better off with Darlanis than a `radical' like Ma- ris," the Senator replied. "She's a Lys damned `FEMINIST' who will be the ruin of this country if she isn't stopped right now!" They had come out to the Athena in a small vessel flying a flag of truce as the Imperial dreadnought had patrolled the strait.
"You must value your slave girls highly," Lorraine thought to herself, regarding the men. That was really the "issue" here, she knew. Maris had attempted to make a "stand" for women, as she had once dreamed of doing before learning its "consequences". Sanda Talen had wisely prevented her from doing so back in '65... The midshipman who burst in just then putting a halt to things!!!
"The EMPRESS is coming!" the girl squeaked, her eyes big!
"Darlanis may be interested in what you have to say," the Warlady spoke, "uncomfortable" with the idea of seeing Maris Marn deposed because of her beliefs regarding the "rights of women"!!! *****************************************************************
"If we could reach Arsana...," Carol breathed, staring at Maris. The Queen of Dularn badly "shaken" by the news Miles had just now given her there in the stern cabin of the North Star!
"Many of those in the disputed territories will support me," Maris breathed. "It is likely however that the Empire will `ex- ploit' this situation for their own ends," she added then for us.
"There are the lands to the north of Dularn," Miles suggest- ed. "Ships like ours would be valuable..." I saw Maris nodding.
"You really don't have any `balls', do you Maris?" Carol suddenly snapped back. "Maybe that's `WHY' you've been `running' all this time instead of making a `stand' for what's `RIGHT'!!!"
"You don't understand...," Maris answered, her eyes "moist".
"Do you WANT the Imperials to WIN!?" Carol snapped back! "Are you just a whipped cur to go running off with your tail be- tween your legs or are you a Queen who will fight for something!"
"There is Lorraine...," Maris breathed, not meeting the hot hazel fury of Carol's eyes. "And you are talking `REVOLUTION'!" I recalled reading in Lorraine's book that she had considered do- ing something about slavery, but had decided not to after threats had been made against her. Darlanis mentions somewhat the same thing in her writings. The men of this era are not the "wimps" of the 20th Century. They have "drawn a line" none dares cross.
"We won't fight Lorraine `single handed', will we?" Carol snapped, turning to Miles, who then nodded slowly in reply back.
"Always liked Maris, guess one last battle won't hurt," he answered. "Then I'll retire from this and let a younger man have the North Wind," he smiled, grinning up at Maris standing there. *****************************************************************
"I haven't seen anything of the North Star, have you?" Dar- lanis spoke as she came aboard the Athena, Lorraine smiling to herself as the Empress' azure eyes did not "miss" their "guests"!
"Maybe it doesn't matter any more," the Warlady smiled back! Breaking this bit of "news" to Darlanis with pain in her heart... *****************************************************************
"I think there is a good reason you are `here'," I heard Ma- ris say to Carol as captain Miles of the North Wind climbed down the side of the ship to the boat that had brought him over to us.
"I will be at your side until the `end'," Carol answered...
"I wish to address those aboard," Maris said to me then. I nodded to Lars, who gave the orders to those gathered below the quarterdeck. Maris then stepping up to the railing, speaking to them in ringing tones. I thought she was well worth dying for... *****************************************************************
"I see," Darlanis spoke, the golden mesh concealing little. Her azure eyes meeting the darkness of the brunette Lorraine's. She felt as if she was betraying her own sex doing this to Maris. The enslavement of women by both sides had been one of the causes of this conflict between Dularn and the Empire, and now she was going to be fighting on the side of the slave owners against the rightful Queen of Dularn who sought only to put an end to this...
"You are at least of royal birth, which is more than Maris can claim," the Senator continued, feasting his eyes on Darlanis.
"You are `aware' of my true parentage?" Darlanis challenged.
"So what! Your mother is the `Queen' of Mars," he laughed. *****************************************************************
"You have `reservations' about all this, don't you?" Carol said to me later on. We had listened to Maris' speech to the "crew" of the North Star. There was no doubt that they were all prepared to give their lives for Maris. For the former slave girls there was of course nowhere "else" to go. If Maris "won", there would be a major historical change like nothing since The War of 2047. Dularn would be the first country where no woman would be a slave unless condemned to slavery for her own crimes!!
"Either we're going to make `history' or we'll all end up dead," I answered, taking my brownette in my arms, kissing her. I remembered those Japanese pilots at the end of World War Two... *****************************************************************
"I feel `sorry' for Maris," Darlanis spoke to Lorraine as they stood there on the quarterdeck of the Athena, the sails of the little Dularnian vessel carrying it back now towards Arsana. "She tried to `do' what millions of women have dreamed of doing." A nod from the black clad Warlady was "answer" enough just then.
"Sanda Talen stopped me from `trying it'," Lorraine said.
"I didn't want it to `end' this way!" Darlanis answered.
"You've `won', and Maris has `lost'," Lorraine replied.
"I'm going to offer her `terms'," Darlanis answered back.
"Better dry your eyes," Lorraine said, offering her a cloth.
"Two ships, both `Dulie rigged'," Jon spoke to his wife, her dark eyes lifting, burning into his as she sat there in the stern cabin beneath the stern windows. It was nearly dark, the sun a hot glowing red ball on the horizon that divided sea from sky...
"Signal Darlanis," the Warlady answered him, the tone of her voice as if she was going to her own execution. He understood her "feelings". The fact they would have to kill a brave Queen who had tried to stand up for the "rights" of her own sex against men who only saw a woman in terms of whips and a slave collar... She knew that Maris would never agree to "terms", to "surrender".
"Be nasty if she fights," Jon said to the Queen before him.
"I would," Lorraine answered, her eyes glistening with tears as they met his. "At least she had the `guts' to stand up for something!" Lorraine snapped, standing up, her hand on her sword! *****************************************************************
"Swiftstar," I said, although Maris already knew that, I supposed. The lines of the ship approaching us unmistakable now.
"Two against two," Maris spoke, her voice hard, steely. So much like Carol's might have been under similar circumstances... To starboard the forest, ahead the masts, sails of the Athena on the horizon. Beyond her like a dim haze now was Dularn itself.
"Swiftstar's signaling," the signals midshipman spoke then.
"`Typical' of Darlanis," Maris snapped, reading the "words"!
The last rays of the setting sun highlighted Darlanis' hair as she stepped aboard the North Star, her golden mesh concealing little of that magnificent body. She is a very "impressive" gal!
"I have been in `contact' with Dularn," Darlanis said to us. "They have decided that your return would not be `welcome' now." I had no doubts that she spoke the truth. Darlanis was that sort of a woman. A true "sword sister" to Maris. They shared caste. The same "Code of Honor" that only those like ourselves honored.
"I have already been informed of that," Maris answered her. "The people of Dularn will be the ones to make that decision..."
"I think you will find my terms `generous'," Darlanis said.
"You've never been a slave girl, have you?" Maris retorted.
"I was the captive of Tara for a while," Darlanis answered.
"Not the same thing," Maris snapped, "Now leave this ship."
"I'm so `proud' of you," Carol said, putting her arm around Maris Marn, the Queen of Dularn. Darlanis now was being rowed back to her ship as fast as her oarsmen could pull on their oars. I wondered how many of us would survive, and if we did, then what? We were being given the choice of "deaths", either at sea or at the hands of the Dularnians if any of us made it to Arsana!
"I'm sorry it had to `end' like this," Maris said to her. I saw Carol's eyes meet mine. I thought our deaths would have "meaning". One of our ships might make it past the enemy to Ar- sana. Even if we all died here in battle, there would be those in Dularn who would "understand" what their Queen had fought for!
"John Brown, Harper's Ferry, 1857," I said to Maris then. I saw Carol nod. She did remember some of her "American history". We'd "lose", but our deaths would inspire others to "carry on"...
"Run up our battle flags, and hoist that new flag of ours!" Maris snapped to Lars, who nodded, giving me a big "grin" then!!
"That's not a flag I've ever seen!" the first officer of the Swiftstar gasped, glancing at his Empress, who smiled in reply.
"It was called the `Stars and Stripes'," she smiled. "It was the flag of a nation that once believed in freedom for all." She felt it "proper" that Maris Marn was the one to fly it now. It was not the flag of 20th Century America, but an earlier one. An America who had stood against another "Empire", defeated it!!!