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


     
I carefully crept down the dimly lit carpeted hallway, San-
dia Allis close behind me, still a bit queasy from seeing me kill
the sentry as I had done using Lorraine's ice pick like weapon.
As Lorraine had said, it was much "cleaner" a weapon and didn't
cause anywhere as much bleeding as would have a dagger when you
rammed it through a person's throat right up into their brain!
Muffled yells assuring me that Sharon was still yet bombing the
castle from Black Lady with quart bottles of jellied gasoline! I
had no doubt that Tara's people were doing their best to control
the fires, although there was little "danger" as the castle was
built entirely of stone, and Lorraine's firebombs were only some-
thing to "distract" those "on duty" while Sandia and I looked for
whatever we might use against the infamous Princess. Sandia had
unfortunately known little about Lynn's whereabouts, except to
say that the Princess was keeping her as a sort of "plaything"!
     
I had allowed Sandia to "distract" the sentry on the floor
below by exposing her breasts to him while I stepped around to
one side, the man fortunately then paying too much "attention" to
Sandia and not enough to me. It had been quick. There had not
been much of an outcry, or much blood either. Sandia had looked
pretty shaken however at the sight, which made me smile a bit. I
don't think that she ever seen anyone killed in "cold blood" be-
fore. Neither had her Empress, but I didn't tell her that then!
     
Tara's castle dates back nearly a thousand years to another
era entirely. Back to an era when the early Spanish explorers
first came to this area. Here they built a massive heavy edifice
of great black stone mined by Indian slave labor from a quarry a
few miles away, and constructed for themselves a castle nearly
proof against the primitive cannon of the day. I wondered how
well it would stand up to aerial bombardment from Black Lady. No
doubt Princess Tara was considering the same thought right now!
I was getting worried about Sharon, about what "could happen".
     
My every sense was keenly alert for danger, the hilt of my
slender rapier like sword in its ornate scabbard close at hand as
we carefully crept down the hallway, only a few lamps set in the
walls lighting our way. Half a dozen tightly corked tubes of ni-
troglycerine in my pouch, with Sandia carrying a similar amount,
although not of her own wishes, the stuff muchly terrifying her.
I had Lorraine's pistol now tucked into the back of my harness,
ready to hand should I need it, although I prefer edged weapons.
     
Here and there faint marks on the stones told of another
era, of another who had lived here nearly six centuries before!
I thought of Lorraine's widowed sister Maria. Once this great
pile of stone had been hers. They had been close. I could al-
most feel her ghost looking over my shoulder here in Triskelion.
Her daughter had been involved in Janet Rogers' "administration".
     
As we carefully crept down that dark and dank corridor, I
was very much aware of what could happen if we were caught. The
thought going through my mind that swift death might be much to
be preferred to the fate that Tara meted out to "spies" like us!
     
I paused before a heavy dark oaken door set in the stones of
the wall. The few flickering lamps spaced along the castle's up-
per corridor lighting little but the cold stones of the wall be-
hind them. Glancing in both directions, Sandia beside me, her
sword in her hand, the blade glistening in the lamplight, I
pressed my ear to the door, the nerves taut in my black clad
body. Listening for a moment for any sound before then inserting
the lockpick. Working it into the mechanism of the lock, then
hearing it click softly open before me. I breathed a prayer of
thanks to Lys that it had worked, my dark stained body under the
black leather of my attire now damp with a cold sweat from nerv-
ous tension. Sandia beside me openly sweating, shifting from
foot to foot as if she needed to relieve herself as very well she
might! Such nervous tension often stimulating one's kidneys!
     
"Lys, if I ever get out of this alive I'm taking up another
line of `work'," she breathed, her eyes glowing up into mine as I
nodded and pushed the door open. I prayed that Sharon had enough
sense to keep her altitude up when she flew over on her bombing
runs. Tara had heavy ballistae mounted up on the roof. She knew
"something" of airplanes. Had enough knowledge to be able to
give orders that the plane was to be "lead". It would take only
one bolt. I remembered how surprised Lorraine had been the year
before when some pirate had put a ballistae bolt through a wing!
It had been a good lesson in how effective our own "primitive
technology" could be up against that of the Twentieth Century!
     
"Let's hope you know what you're talking about," I said to
Sandia, who had been my spy in Tara's castle for several months.
Posing as a serving maid to the now infamous evil Bajan Princess.
     
"This is where she keeps her files," Sandia assured me as I
closed the door behind us. The room as dark as the bowels of a
coal mine as I flicked my "lighter", that little fire-making de-
vice often carried by those of the 26th Century to make a fire.
The heavy dark stone of the walls shadowy and dank. The contents
of the room dim in the shadows the lighter barely illuminated.
The movement of the shadows making me nervous as Sandia stood
there beside me. The vivid knowledge of what "awaited" us if
caught preying on my mind as it no doubt did upon Sandia's. I
have faced "danger" before, but this was quite utterly different!
     
Finding a candle, I then lit it, snapping shut my lighter
and replacing it in the black leathern pouch that hung from my
harness a bit too snug around my waist, the clothing having been
Lorraine's, whose waist is a couple inches slimmer than my own!
     
"Look in those files over there while I take these," I said
to Sandia, wondering how much "time" we had before Tara managed
to restore "order" after Sharon's "bombing runs" on the castle!
     
Earlier Sandia had told me that she believed from what she
had heard that Darl Jord, my brother, husband of Maris, Queen of
Dularn, was actually a secret "ally" of the evil Bajan Princess.
Such would "explain" much of what had happened in the last few
weeks. The attacks upon Californian shipping by a "Dularnian
raider" despite the fact that Queen Maris denied any such thing!
     
She had also told me that the evil Princess seemed to have
"contacts" with the criminal underworld of both Trelandar and
Sarn, as well as "having a finger in the pie" in other countries!
Such did explain much that I had always wondered about. Things
that Lara had told me that seemed quite odd, strange at the time.
     
With such in my possession I could write "finis" to Tara's
infamous career, her treason to her own people and to the Empire
now something that none could doubt. While she would have her
supporters, I had no doubt that given the truth, the people of
Baja would rise up against their evil ruler and depose her in fa-
vor of her son, Jers, who was honest and straight forward, the
sort of a young man who could make Baja a lovely place to live!
     
Careful not to make any more noise than necessary, I picked
the file's simple lock with my lockpick after picking Sandia's
for her and both of us set to work going through Tara's records.
Hoping against hope that Tara had been careless and had left
something that we could use as proof of her involvement with my
brother in Dularn and the criminal underworld of western North
America. Tara's activities having made the "Mafia" of the 20th
Century look like the activities of a bunch of schoolboys in com-
parison. The Princess being the sort who had few enemies simply
because very few of them ever lived long enough to be "dangerous"
to her! In this regard she more resembled the drug overlords of
South America in the last decade of the 20th Century before Janet
Rogers finally put an end to such nonsense by "legalizing drugs"!
     
Perhaps it was the light from the candle glowing under the
door or perhaps one of us made a noise unknowingly, but suddenly
the door sprang open, and there stood a guard! A big burly brute
of a man in a short brown leather kilt and vest, high strapped
sandals on his feet, a polished steel helmet on his head. Trou-
ble, and lots of it! His great yard long longsword gleaming
there in his hand as he confronted the two of us standing there!
     
"A pair of spies!" he snarled, leaping forward without
thinking of the consequences. Swinging a mighty cut at Sandia as
she jumped back in terror while reaching for her own sword! I
leaped to one side of him and thrust up, my point driving deep,
coming up from below, through the side of his neck and up into
the lower portion of the brain. Death was of course swift as he
now collapsed there before us, the blood spurting from his wound.
     
"If there are more like him---," Sandia breathed softly, her
eyes gleaming there in the candle light as I shut the door again
and locked it. I did not think the man would be missed. Not for
a while yet. It would be some time before Tara would be able to
restore order after the bombing of her castle by Black Lady. It
would be a blow to her pride I knew she would not forget for some
time. "Proof" that we could at any time mount an attack on her
from the air, and there wasn't a thing she could do about it in
return! Not as long as the airplane stayed well up in the air!
I suspected that the "attack" of the two ships in the harbor was
also something to keep her "occupied" just a bit now with things.
     
"Push that rug there up against the bottom of the door," I
said to her, turning back to my labors. I had come this far, and
I wasn't going to run off just because of one stupid dumb guard!

     
"Nothing here we can use," I growled to myself. The bombing
of the castle had stopped, Sharon having exhausted her supply of
jellied gasoline. I didn't like to consider the possibility that
she had been shot down by one of Tara's ballistae although that
was possible if she came too low over the castle and one of the
Princess' men got "lucky" with his ballistae or even a crossbow!
     
"We'd better get out of here," Sandia Allis breathed, the
fear showing in her eyes. I wondered how she had ever been able
to work here as "terrified" of the Princess as she obviously was?
     
"Damn it!" I snarled, thinking of all risks taken in vain!
And I didn't have the faintest idea either where Lynn was being
held! Sandia having said to me that she seemed to be Tara's new
"favorite plaything" from what she had heard others speak of her.
     
"Take me with you," Sandia breathed. "It's too dangerous
now for me to stay here any more." I nodded, wondering about how
Lorraine was doing. She had been seriously wounded by Tara's own
warrioresses there in La Paz. I wondered how she had been recog-
nized as being who she was. And why Sharon and I had not been?
     
"We'll be out of here and on the Seahawk in another couple
hours," I assured her with a smile, praying what I said was true!
     
We had just closed the door behind ourselves when to our
horror we saw half a dozen more guards come strolling down the
dim lamp-lit corridor towards us. The men whipping out their
swords and charging down upon us! Reaching in my pouch, I tossed
a tube of nitroglycerine down the corridor towards them, the tube
falling a dozen feet before them and exploding with a bright
flash and a loud thunderous "BOOM" that nearly deafened us both!
     
"Run for it!" I cried, grabbing Sandia, who was almost as
stunned by the blast as the guardsmen were! Tossing another tube
of "nitro" at them to keep them dazed as we then fled down the
corridor. The blasts, I feared, would serve to draw even more!
     
Three Warrioresses came dashing towards us, women of Tara's
own personal guard. I flung another tube of nitroglycerine, one
of the women going down, and met the blade of another with my own
as we fought there in that smoke filled hallway, our ears still
ringing from the blast in such a confined area! The woman I
faced no match for me as I got my point under her guard and sent
her to the afterlife to face Lys and be judged for her own sins!
     
I saw Sandia stagger back, hurt, the Warrioress driving for-
ward, my point taking her in the side of the neck. The yells of
the men behind us leaving no doubt that they had finally gathered
their wits about themselves once again after the stunning blasts
from the nitroglycerine that I had thrown at them! I grabbed my
companion by the wrist, dragging her with me as we fled towards
the stairs that led to the main floor below! Sandia gasping as I
dragged her along, the blood running down her body from her stab!
     
"Get them!" I heard cry, a half dozen Warrioresses charging
up from below. I flung nitroglycerine like a mad woman, both my
own and Sandia's. The blasts stunning us almost as much as them!
     
We leaped down the stairway, stumbling over the stunned and
still bodies of those who had sought to stop us. I saw more in
the smoke, the dust, saw Princess Tara point at us. Saw more of
her Warrioresses now charge us. I flung the last of the "nitro"!
     
Something whizzed out of the dust, the smoke, a crossbow
bolt! Sandia's eyes wild as she turned to me, the bolt buried in
her chest, the head sticking out between her shoulderblades! I
caught her in my arms as she fell, but there was nothing I could
do for her now. I prayed that Lys would be merciful when she
stood before her and was judged for her sins. I feared that I
would soon be standing at her side. They had the exits blocked.
There was no escape now. I knew Lorraine would avenge me. Once
before I had fallen alive into Tara's hands. I would not make
the same mistake again! I drew Lorraine's pistol, cocked it, and
fired directly at Tara! The Princess leaping to one side as I
fired, the heavy recoil of the weapon jarring! I had MISSED HER!
     
"Get the bitch!" Tara screamed, pointing at me. "Get her!"
I took a better grip on the hilt of my sword. This time I would
die a Warrioress' Death here in Baja! None of Tara's tortures!!!
     
They backed me up against a wall, perhaps a dozen of Tara's
women, even more of her men. They were very "polite" about it.
I have no doubt that they knew I was Darlanis Marden, Queen of
Sarn, the Empress of California. That my skill with a sword is
second only to that of Lorraine Richards, the greatest swordswom-
an of all time! The Princess herself urging them on, standing
there. Sela Dai, that little Talon Princess, there at her side.
     
"Well, damn it, go get her!" Tara screamed angrily, none of
her men or women being all that eager to cross blades with me. I
wondered if she would set an "example" and face me. I rather
doubted it. I "beat" Tara once. She knows I could do it again.
     
A crossbowman of Tara's stepped forward, his weapon cocked
and loaded, leveled at my heart. I saw Sela Dai leap forward,
and force the crossbow aside! "No," she cried, "Not that way!"
The beautiful little brunette Princess for the moment saving me!
     
"Is this what you came for, Darlanis?" Tara taunted me, Lynn
there at her side, naked, her pubes shaved, her wrists fixed to
some sort of harness around her hips so that she could not defend
herself against any who wished to rape her. Her dark eyes filled
with horror as they looked into mine. I knew something of what a
skilled torturer like Tara can "do" to a person if she wishes to.
     
"She's only a slave girl, Tara," I answered, hoping that the
Princess had little "inkling" of the "relationship" between us.
Tara's forces pressing close, their points menacing me. None yet
dared to cross blades with me. They knew well of my "reputation"
with a sword. I am generally considered second only to Lorraine!
     
"We've waited long enough now," Tara snapped to her people,
"Take her, but don't kill her!" I "shuddered" at the thought of
what might "await" me at her hands! With Tara death can be slow!
     
My blade met that of the first man, his reckless attack al-
most instantly fatal as my keen point opened a small, but deadly
slit in the center of his throat. One down, another couple dozen
to go! Another pinked me in the shoulder before I got my point
underneath her guard and sent her on to her next reincarnation!
     
"Get her!" Tara snapped. "She's only one woman, damn it!"
The Princess standing there, her face growing red with rage now!
     
"`Get her' yourself!" one of her warrioresses then snapped
back! It was obvious that none wished to face me point to point.
     
"Get a heavy rug," Sela Dai snapped, "Throw it over her!"
     
I saw Tara's eyes gleam with pleasure into mine as they
brought a rug, a big heavy rug well over half a dozen feet
across. I tried to edge to one side, but they had me hemmed in.
     
"Now!" Sela cried, the men throwing the rug over me, the
little Princess leaping forward, grabbing my sword arm, clinging
with both hands to my arm as they swarmed over me, beat me down!
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