Sarn is a beautiful city of white stone that I find reminds me much of Rome at its glory. I suppose it isn't nice to say it, but The War did do one excellent job of "urban renewal"! Perhaps this time we will do things better than before. I wonder sometimes. We do seem doomed to repeat the "mistakes" of the past.
Clad in the black silk of the Warrioress and veiled as a high noblewoman, I strolled the streets of the Imperial capital city, taking in the sights, a broad brimmed hat shading my eyes from the glare of the sun as Yvette now walked just behind me on her leash. One soon gets used to the numerous persistent organic smells which are perhaps in a way an "improvement" over the automobile exhausts of my own era. There is a certain vital essence to Sarn and other large cities I have been in that one did not find in my own era. A feeling that the world is new again and ready for any adventure. I no longer felt like a woman of forty, my birthday having occurred while I had been on Mars. Beneath my thin veil my red lips curved in a smile as I took in the myriad sights of the Imperial capitol. The slim keen blades at my hips yet a comfort in this barbaric and often quite lawless era.*
* I am reminded here of the fact that you are at least permitted to carry the means of defense, which was not generally true in the 20th Century unless you had considerable "influence" with the "right people" as I had thanks to my position. One may draw what conclusions one wishes. I have. "Freedom" does not necessarily require "democracy". Other forms of government may be better. Perhaps Darlanis is a better "leader" than was even Janet Rogers.
One can buy almost anything in Sarn, including naked slaves sold from its blocks. I stood and watched several women sold, my heart going out to the poor wenches as they stood terrified and trembling upon the sawdust beneath their bare feet. Yet, as I write this, I own a number of slaves, and generally think little of it. Perhaps I am not quite as "liberal" as I like to believe, although I am well known as one who will not "tolerate" the abuse of slaves in any form, as you will see in further chapters here.
There is not as much open prostitution as one might think, perhaps due to the institution of female slavery, but more likely due to the efforts of Jers' new wife, Lara, now a Princess of Baja who never dares set foot in her new homeland for fear of the death that awaits her from Princess Tara. Lara having earlier in her life organized the prostitutes of California into a guild of their own, which has done much to raise the status of the women. Another reason may be due to the social effects of strict population control, which tends to make sex more now a matter of "pleasure" than "reproduction" as such. Thus making the women of the 26th Century as a rule more likely to be "willing" than otherwise would be the case if they had to concern themselves with the ultimate results of their actions. Control of reproduction, as I have mentioned earlier, resting not with the Caste of Physicians, as you might first think, but with the Priestesses of Lys.
The Priestesses of Lys also bear the responsibility for seeing to it that those born are without "flaw", for all "flawed" children are destroyed at birth despite the wishes of the parents in the matter. The usual method is to drown the infant like an unwanted puppy, thus sending its soul back to the astral world to await another chance at life here in the physical universe. I am told that even now women sometimes give birth to that which is "mu", and not "hu", all that which is "mu" being thus destroyed.*
* This policy started shortly after The War, when a large number of "mutated" children were born to mothers exposed to radiation. Most of these were destroyed, but some did survive to become the "mutants" that are said to inhabit some of the ruins near Trella.
I had during my stroll made a number of small purchases, a few of which were perhaps more in the nature of "impulse" than rational thought. Needing to concern myself little with the actual costs of things, I spent my silver and gold freely, thinking only of what I could do for those who had been generous with me. Putting Yvette to work carrying my things as I strolled along... The leash locked to her collar insuring that she stayed with me, the theft of slave girls being often commonplace in large cities.
I passed by the white marble temple of Lys, my eyes admiring its construction. The design itself reminding me much of temples I had once seen in Greece long ago back in what now seemed another lifetime ago. Back when I still believed that Jack loved me.
Acting on impulse, I climbed the marble steps and opened the door, stepping into the dimly lit coolness of the interior, Yvette squeezing in behind me, her arms well burdened with all the packages she'd been carrying. The marble pillars and wooden pews of the interior reminding me much of the great cathedrals of Europe that I had visited on vacation as a young woman back in the 20th Century. The altar holding a beautiful golden candle- lit ankh shimmering with the flickering reflections of the myriad tiny flames before which I saw several women now praying there on their knees. There was a sense of peace and contentment that I found satisfying to my yearning soul. Here they knew the TRUTH about SHE. Here they understood the realities of existence as no religion ever had back in my own time. I felt at home here like I never had when my mother had tried to raise me as a Catholic. I recalled what SHE had said. About the lies spoken in HER name. About the perverted distortions of the simple TRUTHS that SHE had once given to the son of a Jewish carpenter there over 2500 years ago. Perhaps I had unknowingly done "more" here than I thought!
A lovely white robed Priestess stepped to my side as I stood there with Yvette, the slave girl dropping to her knees and putting her head down as she knelt there beside me. "May I be of assistance?" the Priestess asked, regarding the two of us there. I wondered if she could sense my thoughts. Read my mind. Darlanis had told me much about the Priestesses of Lys, although I suspected she really knew little of "what" they really "were"....
"I am Lorraine Duval," I answered, meeting her eyes with mine as I lifted my veil. A smile curving her lips as she nodded in understanding. She was a warm, feminine woman, her hair as dark as a raven's wing, her eyes as blue as those of Darlanis. Eyes, I thought to myself, that could see inside my soul. The silver ankh hanging by its matching chain over her bosom a lovely ornament against the pure snowy white of her Grecian styled gown.
"Tais has been waiting here for you," she answered me, her voice warm and friendly, her azure eyes glowing into mine. "You have been `touched' by LYS and will never now be at peace until you finally submit yourself completely to HER and obey HER teachings," the Priestess "added" with a smile, taking Yvette's leash.
"It is a pleasure to meet you again," The First Priestess said with a warm smile she greeted me there at the door, taking my hands in hers. The events of the previous night still vivid in my memories. While there had been no doubt in my mind that Princess Tara had been responsible for the assassin, there was no way of proving it and not even Darlanis dared go any further than to warn Tara that any further episodes would result in her death!
"Tara isn't `The Queen of Darkness', is she?" I asked Tais. I had sensed something "unclean" about the evil Bajan Princess, but I suspected now that it was only my own feelings towards her.
"`The Queen of Darkness' is an `evil spirit' from that plane of existence we call `Hell'," Tais smiled back at me, her eyes, a lovely azure shade like those of Darlanis glowing into mine then. THE BOOK OF LYS I owned had a drawing of this "Queen", a hideous looking creature that could have easily graced any "nightmare"... The "EVIL ONE" himself looking somewhat like a giant "spider" with claws at the ends of his many legs according to the drawing. These drawings having left few doubts in my mind that both these "creatures" were merely a part of someone's "vivid" imagination! I also was starting to "doubt" whether or not my experiences on Mars were "real", or actually just caused by Raspa's own venom... Certainly someone as GOOD as SHE wouldn't allow "creatures" like these to threaten Humanity without doing something about it here! This last having made me "doubt" everything I'd experienced now.
"Every religion has its `devils'," I smiled back at Tais.
"Ours, I fear, are `real'," the First Priestess answered.
"You altered the `flight' of that arrow," I smiled back.
"I do have certain `powers'," Tais grinned in reply.
"I am not `unfamiliar' with such things," I answered her.
"A little `wisdom' is sometimes a dangerous thing," Tais answered back, her eyes glowing straight into mine. "And do not doubt what you experienced there on Mars," the white gowned First Priestess added, looking at a painting someone had made of "LYS". The painting amazingly like the "vision" of SHE that I'd seen...! "And," Tais then added in warning, "`Beware' of Princess Tara and the `evil' that now fills her soul like `corruption' in a grave."
"I have the `means' to `deal' with her," I smiled, touching the hilt of my sword as Tais nodded, shaking her head in reply. "You would not succeed in `doing' what you are thinking," Tais warned. "We cannot alter THAT which is to be." I supposed she might be right, although I still felt that killing Tara would solve a lot of problems. A duel would be easy to arrange. I had no doubt that my skill with a sword would exceed hers. I thought dark murderous thoughts and saw Tais frowning as she regarded me.
"It is not wise for one to harbor such thoughts, Lorraine," Tais warned me. One cannot lie to a telepath. I nodded, understanding. Remembering what SHE had once told me. How THE EVIL ONE came to those who welcomed Evil into their hearts. The sword is not always the best way to deal with an enemy. I understood that. Still yet I didn't like having someone like Tara "around". She had attempted to kill Lara. Would my Sharon be "next" now? The woman was like a rabid dog, a threat to everyone around her!!
"How did you ever gain such powers?" I asked, changing the subject now to a "different" topic. Tais understood that I was not referring to her, but to those who had lived perhaps hundreds of years before. I knew that such ESP powers tended to be enhanced by hypnosis, although Janet and I had never followed through on everything that we and a number of others had found.
"That is perhaps best kept a secret," she smiled back.
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