THE QUEEN OF SWORDS!
A TALE OF ADVENTURE IN THE SECOND DARK AGE OF MAN
2566 A.D.!
By Jerome B. Bigge
Chapter Eighteen
     


     
"How bad is it?" Sharon asked, her eyes filled with concern
as she looked over at her step mother there in the other seat.
Lorraine now slumped down in the seat, her dark eyes half closed.
She had been badly wounded there in La Paz with a deep stab into
her abdomen. One that had cut deep into her body. The blade had
cut deeply. Without more medical attention it was possible that
she would develop an infection as I had and eventually die of it!
     
"I'll make it," Lorraine weakly smiled, reaching out, touch-
ing her beloved golden haired step daughter's hand. The dark
barren near desert wasteland almost invisible below as my Imperi-
al Princess flew Black Lady back towards the still distant city
of Trella. Baja being scantily populated, except along the sea.
     
"You're getting too `old' for this sort of stuff," Sharon
teased, her 20th Century step mother being some forty years old,
although by the standards of the 26th Century she appeared to be
nearly a hundred if not more. Just then she looked it and then
some, her stern and angular face drawn and pale there in the red-
dish glow from the plane's instrument panel there before her.
     
"Sometimes I do feel like it," Lorraine smiled back then.
"Maybe I should `retire', and let someone `younger' take the
`chances'." Sharon knew that would never happen. Not with her!
     
"I'm worried about Darlanis," Sharon admitted to Lorraine.
I had not been far from her thoughts ever since I had kissed her
good bye there in La Paz, Sandia Allis there at my side, telling
her to see to it that her badly wounded stepmother made it back
to safety. Back to our ships now hove to somewhere off shore.
     
"She is the bravest, most courageous person I've ever met,"
came the reply. "I've often wished I had her fearless courage."
Sharon had to smile a bit at that, knowing some of Lorraine's
fantastic adventures here in the Sixth Century after The War. I
have often wished that I was as brave as Lorraine is in a fight!
To stand beside her in mortal battle is a privilege, an honor for
the greatest of warriors or warrioresses. It has been "mine"...
     
"You've been in some pretty `tight places' yourself," Sharon
pointed out. Lorraine nodded, her harsh features dimly lit there
by the plane's instruments. There had been times she had not be-
lieved that she would survive. That the "odds" were too great
even for her. She was a "living legend", one who many said was
the greatest swordswoman of all time. Lorraine always smiled at
that. Saying that she was "good", but the "best"? Who knows???
     
"Darlanis will `survive'," Lorraine answered in quiet tones.
"She has a `destiny' to fulfill." Sharon nodded, not wishing to
argue the issue. She knew of her step mother's strange beliefs.
Of what she claimed to have seen there on Mars one night while
lying helplessly paralyzed in the sands of that cold arid world!
     
"As soon as I see you to safety I've going to fly back to La
Paz and find out what happened," Sharon answered her stepmother.
     
"You are going to get some sleep and then do a thorough
preflight on this plane before you go anywhere," Lorraine said,
the night sky ahead rich with stars, only a few faint wispy
clouds concealing any of the natural splendor there before them.
     
"I suppose that would be for the best," Sharon then smiled,
keeping to herself that perhaps "another" might also be of help!

*****************************************************************

     
"I trust that you had time to think," Princess Tara said to
me as I stood helpless in the form-fitting cage, naked, exposed.
The discomfort enough to make me "agreeable" to almost anything!
The cage having been placed where those passing by could view me.
A number of her men at arms having taken the opportunity to tease
and torment me. To make ribald comments about what would happen
to me once I was released from the cage. I had no doubt that
Tara would give me to her men. Such would serve to "break my
spirit", my "will to resist". Tara wanted me to learn how to be
a slave girl. To have the "instinctive" reactions of the slave.
I suppose I was "lucky" that she had a "use" for me, since other-
wise I have little doubt she would have tortured me to death! At
her side now was Sela Dai, the exquisite Crown Princess of Talon.
I recalled how she had hoped that Tara's son would marry her in-
stead of Lara Warsan, the most famous prostitute in the Empire.
     
Due to the design of the display cage I could not reply, the
cage being so made that my mouth was held firmly shut. Such a
cage is often used to display slave girls. They may be touched,
teased as men wish, while at the same time they are totally help-
less. Such is quite "educational" for the woman. Tara wanted me
to undergo such "training". It was part of her "plans" for me.
To change me from the Empress of California to just a slave girl.
     
"You will of course note that the cage does `display' you
quite well," she observed. "That the ripe sensual curves of your
body are well displayed for those passing by to view." I under-
stood why she did it. Such was part of my "training" for the Em-
peror of Mexico. I did not think that it would be "successful".
I am not the sort of a woman who would make a "good" slave girl.
     
"And you will of course `please men', although in your case
I strongly suspect that you will need little `training' in that,"
she said to me, standing there before me, Sela Dai there at her
side. The Princess of Talon saying nothing, only silently re-
garding me. I recalled that I had been "responsible" for the
death of her father. No doubt she was enjoying seeing me suffer.
Her dark eyes as they looked up into mine were quite unreadable.
She is black haired, light skinned, aristocratic featured, about
5'2" tall, and beautifully proportioned for her height and size.
Talon bordering on the territory now claimed by Tara's own Baja.*

* We should not expect our present day political borders to sur-
vive. Baja of the 26th Century was larger than the present one.

     
"It no doubt pleases Sela too to see you like this," Tara
said with a glance at her royal companion. I recalled Sela from
the year before when she had been with Tara and we had fought our
now famous duel. She had loved Tara's son. Unfortunately Jers
had loved another, the provocative, sensual "Lara of Trelandar"!
Lara was an utterly "different" sort of woman than the Princess.
"Earthy", sensual, exciting, a woman who was so totally "female".
     
"I am not my mother," Sela suddenly said to Tara. "I do not
live every day filled with `hatred' for what happened years ago."
     
"But this is the woman who killed your father!" Tara pointed
out. This was true only in an indirect sense, of course, as I
had not actually had too much to do with the death of her father.
     
"But you commanded the forces that killed him," she replied.
Sela's deep dark beautiful eyes glowing up into those of Tara.
     
"I only obeyed `her' orders," Tara quickly answered in re-
ply. Tara had doubtlessly used just that "excuse" before I knew.
     
"As I recall, such a claim was made once before," Sela said.
"In a 20th Century war now only legend in our own history books."
That had been after World War Two, when the "Allies" had tried
the leaders of the Nazi "war machine" for their own war-crimes.
Their "defense" had been that they had merely "followed orders".
     
"Darlanis gave me the orders, I just carried them out," Tara
answered. That was true, but not in the way Tara made it sound!
I never told Tara to "do" much of the "things" that she had done!
     
"You perhaps added your own ideas to them"," Sela answered.
     
"I would suggest that you watch your tongue," Tara snapped.
     
"The `truth' is often embarrassing," Sela Dai smiled back.
     
"Your mother has not forgotten what Darlanis did," Tara re-
torted. Obviously there was "more" to Sela than I had thought!
     
"My mother often believes what she wishes to believe," Sela
answered with a smile. "Not what the `truth' so happens to be."
     
"It is to the `benefit' of Talon as well as Baja that this
woman no longer sits of the throne of the Empire," Tara answered.
I wondered why she thought that. Granted Sharon would not be as
"forceful" a ruler as I was, but she would have the help of many
even if Tara managed to kill Lorraine as she had bragged about.
I also wondered about that, as I did not think who ever "did" the
deed was likely to "get away" with it once Raspa learned of it!
     
"And will Lorraine be less of a `threat'?" Sela challenged.
     
"I will `deal' with Lorraine when the time comes," Tara
snapped. I saw Sela Dai smile, glance up against at me before
her. I could read her thoughts there in her aristocratic face.
     
"If you `can'," the Princess of Talon smiled back at Tara.
     
"I've warned you before ------!" Tara snapped back at Sela.
     
"I do not fear you," Sela Dai answered back in level tones.
The Princess of Talon then strolling off, leaving Tara standing
there before me. I took pleasure in seeing Tara being told off!
     
"I will `deal' with her when the time comes," Tara told me,
her dark eyes burning up into mine as I stood in helpless naked
bondage there before her. I feared for the Princess of Talon as
I feared for my friend Lorraine. Tara's "evil" was "worse" than
even we had dreamed about if she had the "help" of a Lorr woman!

*****************************************************************

     
"I'm scared," Sharon spoke in a soft voice to Sanda Talen,
the Prime Minister of Trelandar as she prepared herself for bed
that morning. Sanda sitting there nodding, her body swelling now
with child. "With Darlanis gone and Lorraine in the hospital I'm
afraid of what could happen now." Vivid in Sharon's imagination
were a number of things all of which were actually very unlikely.
     
"You have Lady Tirana and me," Sanda smiled back at Sharon.
     
"But you're pregnant and Tirana's too old," Sharon answered.
     
"The fact that I'm pregnant doesn't effect my ability to
think," Sanda replied, "And Lady Tirana's still not `that' old!"
     
"Anyway," Sanda continued, "Lorraine should be back on her
feet in no time and I'm sure she's equal to anything that can
come up." Sharon nodding, giving the woman a smile as she
slipped beneath the silken covers. The Prime Minister getting to
her feet to waddle over to the bed to kiss her "good night".

*****************************************************************

     
"I think it is time that you are put to use for tasks more
`fitting' for one such as you," Tara said to me as I knelt there
before her, naked, and in bondage, my wrists and ankles bound. I
had my wrists bound to my hips, held in place by the same sort of
a "bondage harness" that was used to restrain Lynn, now kneeling
silently beside me, her head down, her hair before her face.
     
"No doubt you will find it quite delightful to see me in
your collar pleasing your men," I said to her, looking at the
tool work of her sandals as she sat on her throne before me. Her
toe nails brightly painted as is the style of Bajan aristocrats.
     
"You will wear my collar," Tara snapped. "Your use will be
mine to decide. Mine and mine alone." I nodded, understanding!
I had no doubt she would enjoy seeing me as a slave girl panting
and heaving in the arms of strong men. Yielding to them as a
slave must! Such would doubtlessly greatly please the Princess!
     
"And part of the `entertainment' will be watching you and
Lynn making love together," Tara laughed, looking down at us two!
"And I am making Lynn `first girl' over you!" she then laughed!!!
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