I jumped as a soft hand gently touched my arm, having been lost in thought as I stared out over Sarnian Lady's foaming wake. Watching the Ronda following close behind, keeping station with us as ordered. Darlanis' sloe-eyed personal slave girl saying softly to me, "My mistress desires to speak with you." The wench was a delight in her clinging short red silken shift that drew the eye of more than one officer there on the trireme's quarterdeck. The golden collar locked about her neck left no doubts as to her status. I wondered briefly what her opinion was of Darlanis? Slave girls often know "more" about their mistresses than even their own husbands do. More than one high born Lady has ended up divorced thanks to the wagging tongue of her slave girl.
"Very well," I answered the delight, following her, aware of the sway of her hips beneath the shift. The slim brunette a feminine delight that any red-blooded man would have much appreciated. I fought down the thought of what such a wench might be trained to do, it being not uncommon here in the Empire for slave girls to be "pleasing" to both sexes! Part of the "sexual immorality" the Dularnians claimed was "part and parcel" of the Empire, which they denounced much like the Christian fundamentalists back in my own era. I thought briefly of Bob's wife Carol, who had once expressed her opinions of such things to me at one time. Carol being of the opinion that what couples did together was of no one's concern but their own. An opinion that I already shared, having seen enough of such ideas to know what the consequences were in the long run. Janet Rogers hadn't believed in such "nonsense" either, but that was a part of her writings that the Dularnians didn't talk too much about from what I had learned in my conversations with the Dularnian Princess. The thought going through my mind as I followed the slave below that Darlanis was considerably different than what Janis had told me about her!
"Inform the guard, Lynn, that we are not to be disturbed, and then take your leave of us," Darlanis ordered as Lynn ushered me into her "Imperial Presence". The sloe-eyed wench nodding and closing the door behind herself as she went out. The tall regal golden Empress giving me a warm smile of greeting. I wondered if one bowed to such an august personage, or just shook her hand. I came to a quick decision and bowed, wondering why Darlanis had requested my presence. It was rather warm below decks, and I noticed a faint gleam there on Darlanis' forehead from the heat, the thought going through my mind that she sweated just like any one else! I wondered too how comfortable that gold mesh was she wore day in and day out. While it was lined with silk, still I suspected that she avoided sitting down on any hard surface while wearing it. In private she sits with the back of the skirt pulled up over her buttocks for comfort, but I suspect that she has often wished she had never started the style as gold is not the most comfortable thing in the world to wear day after day!*
* She also wears a gold thread outfit which is more comfortable, although I do think as she does that the gold mesh is a bit more "impressive" on her. She is also an excellent public speaker as I suppose most of my readers know who have ever listened to her.
"There is a matter of some importance that I wish to have your opinion on," Darlanis smiled, seating herself on a comfortable sofa and then indicating that I was to sit beside her. The flowery scent of her perfume washing over me as I did what she wished. Being around Darlanis was somewhat nerve-racking since I didn't know what to say or do. Feeling like a school-girl instead of an adult woman of nearly forty who always considered herself the equal of anyone she met. Her awe-inspiring beauty making me feel "inadequate" as a woman sitting there beside her.
"As you wish, your majesty," I mumbled in reply, my palms sweaty as I held them down between my thighs and waited to hear what she had to say. Aware of her beauty, the scent of her perfumed body in the still warm air of her palatial cabin, the fine silks, the hangings speaking of the type of person that she was. Aware of her sexuality, the almost incredible "femaleness" of her that I had seen in only one other woman, Darlanis' attire concealing little of her magnificent figure. I thought of the mysterious beautiful young woman who had been the companion of Raspa, the First Princess of the Lorr. Darlanis could have been her mother had I not known better, they had looked so alike in a way.
"There is wine there on the table before us," Darlanis said to me with a friendly smile. "Would you care for some?" Those azure eyes glowing into mine as she spoke, her voice like a beautiful caress. I could understand why she had the power that she had. Men, any man, would be almost powerless against a "goddess of beauty" like this. No doubt that was a "facet" of her power.
I poured for us, handing her a goblet, taking the other, seating myself once again beside her. Aware of her eyes on me. The smile that curved those perfect lips, rich and red with lip gloss. "Let us drink to friendship and understanding," she said to me. I found that agreeable considering the circumstances in which I found myself. Aware of the rich furnishings, of the beautiful hangings, the lovely paintings, the rugs there concealing the planking beneath of the deck. Darlanis was obviously a woman who enjoyed comfort. Not the sort that I would have thought would be sailing around the ocean on a trireme like this.
Darlanis took a sip of her wine as she regarded me over the rim of the golden goblet with those beautiful azure eyes. I wondered what she thought of me. I wasn't really sure what I thought of her. Darlanis wasn't what I had thought she would be like. She was warm, friendly, pleasant. The sort of a woman I thought that made friends easily. I found her quite intriguing.
"I need your advice on a matter that is of great concern to me," Darlanis spoke, lowering her goblet. I suspected that she was "testing" me, although with her there was no way of knowing.
"Shoot," I smiled, her eyes briefly glowing up into mine. There is a considerably change in the use of such idioms over the centuries, and the meaning of the word "shoot" was quite different here in the 26th Century than it had been back in the 20th.
"I'm really going to enjoy having you around!" she laughed, then suddenly stopping, her hand briefly reaching out to touch my arm as she said, "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to make fun of you." That last sentence an utter surprise to me as I always thought that a woman like her would never apologize for anything she did!
"I could say the same for you," I smiled, although I didn't know if that was really what I meant to say just then. Darlanis was obviously quite a lot different from what Janis had claimed!
"You are what I have always dreamed about all these years," she replied, her words making little sense to me at all! I didn't know then of course about Darlanis' life-long study of the past. That she was perhaps more knowledgeable about such things than anyone else alive here in this time! That she actually knew a considerable amount about me due to Janet Rogers' own writings.
Janis having carefully kept such from me for what reasons I will never know. Perhaps fearing that I might learn the "truth" and see that not all "truth and justice" was on the Dularnians' side! That Dularn had once had its own "Empire" not that long ago too!!
"A woman from six centuries ago?" I ventured, now enjoying this verbal interplay with Darlanis. I was no longer afraid of her. I sensed her own vulnerabilities, her own weaknesses that she had fought all her life. It is, I suppose, one reason why I picked the profession that I did. Why I was so "good" at it too!
"Did you ever think of the questions you could answer for us? The questions we've never been able to answer? You were the woman that Janet Rogers worshiped, the woman to who she dedicated every book she wrote! YOU ARE THE `LORRAINE DUVAL' OF LEGEND!!!" Darlanis breathed, suddenly so terribly "vulnerable" there before me. Now I understood why Janis had said I might "alter" history itself! Why I was the "second Janet Rogers" all Humanity wanted!
"Perhaps," I answered, taking a sip of my wine while I gathered my thoughts. Darlanis sitting there looking at me, those beautiful azure eyes pleading into mine. Now I suspected why she had come looking for me, why she had chased us halfway to Dularn.
"Lorraine, I can give you everything you could want. Money, estates, power, slaves, everything that the Empire has is yours." Darlanis was "begging" now. I hated to see her do it. Hated myself for letting her do it too. For leading her on like this! I could think of only one thing I wanted from her. It would be little to ask. She had the power to grant my wishes, I knew too.
"Let your sister return to Dularn. Free the slaves aboard the Ronda. Give the ship to Shirl as a command. She's earned it if anyone ever has," I answered. Still vivid in my mind how she had acted to save Darlanis' life there only a few hours before.
"And in return?" Darlanis asked, sitting there. Beautiful. Tall. Golden. The flowery scent of her perfume in my nostrils. A cool breath of air coming through the open stern windows to us.
"Whatever you ask," I answered, aware that I had just "sold" my soul to Darlanis for the freedom of those who had become my friends there in the last week or so. I wondered what "price" she would charge me for her "favors". I felt "dirty", "unclean".
"I ask only your friendship, nothing more," she answered. Suddenly I felt "clean" again, felt that suddenly a great burden had been lifted from my shoulders. Felt nothing but love for her, the thought going through my mind that I loved her like I had loved no other woman ever before! That here now was my home! Not with the Dularnians still living in a past now history, but in this young glorious civilization still struggling to be born. This time we would learn from the mistakes of the past. Make our peace with the Lorr. That was why I had been sent to this era!
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