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


     
"That wasn't one of your `brightest moves'," Sharon said to
me as we prepared ourselves for bed. No doubt it had not been
although I was in no mood to be "trifled with", especially not by
the likes of the Lady Sanda Talen, who is not a "favorite" of my
own by any means! No doubt I would hear about it from Lorraine.
     
"Just drop it!" I snapped back, instantly ashamed of myself.
Sharon's reaction visible there on her face as she got into bed.
I wasn't doing very good. Letting my hot temper control me like
it used to years ago when I walked around with a "chip" on my
shoulder just daring anyone to make a comment. Ready to fight a
duel to the death for the slightest "insult" to my touchy honor!*

* My mother says that I wouldn't be the woman that I am today if
I hadn't suffered so as a young woman. I suppose it is true, but
yet when I think what I went through when Aurora could have made
my life so much happier and easy still does "hurt" a bit even
now. I often wonder if she really considered me her "daughter"?

     
"Sharon?" I said there in the darkness a few minutes later.
     
"Yes, Darlanis?" I heard her reply back from the other bed.
     
"I didn't mean it. What I `said' to you," I spoke to her.
     
"It's been a long hard day for both of us," she answered.
     
"It's not something `She-Ra' would have done, would she?" I
asked. Sharon has often compared me to that fictional character.
     
"You wouldn't be `human' if you didn't have a temper," she
answered. "And Sanda was `asking for it' saying what she did."
     
"You mean about `Dularnians'?" I asked back. I understood.
My own people are often considered such by those of California.
We don't have the racial prejudices of the past, but we do have
our own "prejudices" that are just as bad. Lorraine once said to
me that "human nature" hasn't "changed" over ten thousand years!
     
"I guess you can see her point if you think about it," Shar-
on answered. "She did lose her husband because of you in a way,
and he was `unfaithful' to her because of Maris' being `avail-
able'." There is much to this "affair" that has not been told!
I have no doubt that Maris exploited things for her own benefit.
     
"And I do look a bit like Maris too," I pointed out then. I
am taller, more "muscular", but we do look somewhat alike in a
way. We are both blonde, and have beautiful faces. Mine is per-
haps more "regal" than Maris', but that is a matter of opinion.
She is probably a more "competent" monarch than I am, I suspect.
     
"You also look a bit like my real mother too," Sharon added.
She had told me of Marcia Duval, who had been a tall blonde much
like me. Of how her mother had drank, and how concerned Lorraine
had been over that fact. The details are in Lorraine's book and
I feel no need to get into them here. While Sharon had a "good"
childhood, she was torn between her love for Lorraine and Marcia.

     
"I shouldn't have said what I did last night," Sanda said to
me the next morning as I fought back a yawn. I nodded, smiled.
"You've been `decent' considering everything, and there was no
call for me to say what I did to you." Sharon nodding, smiling
there at the breakfast table. We had spoken of much last night.
     
"You touched some `old sores' I carry about," I smiled back.
I had been "teased" as a teenager about my nationality. Too much
perhaps. I had been "touchy" anyway. Too eager to "fight". It
is not a part of my life that I am proud of. I am no "angel" de-
spite whatever Lorraine has written about me there in her book.
     
"We both have `sores'," Sanda smiled back, picking at her
scrambled eggs, the smell of the fresh bacon making me hungry. I
had been so "active" of late that I had lost nearly five pounds!
     
"Lorraine would no doubt have a `professional opinion' of
all this to tell us about," I smiled back, having been more than
once "analyzed" by one Doctor Lorraine Marie Duval for my acts!
     
"I'd feel `better' with her here," Sanda commented then.
     
"Troubles?" I asked her. Lorraine was Trelandar's Queen.
     
"There is a report of a `North' class war-schooner being
sighted off our shores," Sanda answered. "And it shouldn't be."
     
"We are not at war `yet' with Dularn," I pointed out. I
feared that we would soon be. Maris had a "temper" I hadn't
planned on. She was as "touchy" as any new young Queen might be!
     
"I've ordered construction on the three schooners to proceed
on a twenty four hour a day basis," Sanda smiled back. "I'll
feel a lot better when those three are out there rigged for war."
     
"That is my decision, not yours," I answered in level tones.
That was all the Empire needed right now was for Sanda to start a
new war with Dularn by destroying one of their ships in battle.
     
"We are entitled to defend ourselves against `pirates',"
Sanda answered in a tone much like mine, her eyes burning hot. I
had no doubt she had considered all the "legal options" she had.
I had last year signed my name to a Constitution Sanda had drawn
up. No doubt Sanda had carefully thought out all the details! I
knew she had a first rate mind, and she didn't like me very much!
     
"Don't pull `technicalities' on Darlanis, Sanda!" Sharon
warned, coming to my defense, her azure eyes now meeting my own.
The Empire of California is a "commonwealth" much like that of
the British back in Lorraine's era. Trelandar was legally al-
lowed to "defend" itself against any attacker, including Dularn.
     
"Article Two, Amendment One," Sanda snapped back, "Gives us
the right to defend ourselves against all pirates and criminals."
     
"Sharon, take Black Lady, fly to Talon, get Lorraine," I
said, turning to my Princess. I was not going to get into a le-
gal argument with Sanda over some Constitutional technicalities!

     
"They hit us last night about two am," Lady Tirana said,
laying the ballistae javelin down there on the table before us.
"Nothing much, just enough to wake everyone up with the fuss."
An attack had been made from a "North" class war-schooner on Lor-
raine's estates there some hundred miles north of Trella. There
had been a note wrapped around the javelin. It was signed "Maris
Jord, Queen of Dularn". Tirana's dark eyes burned hot into mine.
She come aboard "Sea Star", Lorraine's new swift racing yacht. A
vessel even faster than Maris' Swiftstar or anything else afloat!
The ship had fired a couple broadsides into the shore buildings!
     
"There! Do you need any further proof!" Lady Sanda snapped.
Tirana nodding, my old Warlady giving me a smile. She had made a
reputation for herself back before I had become the Queen of Sarn
by marrying Thar Marden. There were some who felt she was as ca-
pable and competent as Lorraine herself. I needed "advice" now!
Sharon had taken off earlier for Talon, but she would not be back
until the early evening, I suspected. It was obvious that we
were very close to going to war with Dularn. And no one here but
me thought that Maris might very well be innocent of everything!
     
"I don't think there's any doubt now," Jers said to me, his
arm around his provocative wife. "I'll take the Seahawk out and
see if I can't run this new `enemy' of ours down." I shook my
head in the negative. I didn't think Maris was the guilty party!
     
"We don't even know this is Maris' signature," I pointed out
futilely grasping at straws now. It certainly did look like
hers, and the royal seal of Dularn was there just below it too!
     
"Lys, are you ever worthless!" Sanda snapped, her eyes hot!
     
"We'll let Lorraine `DECIDE'," I answered in level tones,
fighting to "control" myself, my entire body shaking with fury!!!

     
"No body likes you very much now," Ta-she-ra said to me, her
dark eyes glowing up into mine as I stood there looking out over
the harbor, waiting like the others for Lorraine and Sharon to
return from Talon. The Nevada girl reaching out, touching me. I
nodded, clasped her hand in mine. I was "in the midst of ene-
mies" right now, it seemed. Even Lara thought I was mistaken in
trusting Maris. I wondered what Lorraine would do. I feared for
what the future held. My Warlady bore no love for Maris or did
Maris for Lorraine. I shuddered at the thought of another war!!!
     
"I should have married your eldest Prince, wore beads and
buckskin," I smiled, leaning back, looking down into her eyes. I
was "tired" of "responsibilities", of trying to keep an uneasy
peace when others could only think of the glories of war! I re-
called Queen Tulis, her death there in my arms. Thought of Ma-
ris. Reflected upon the fact that I was the daughter of Aurora
and Prince Paul of Dularn. That I had been born there on Mars in
the year 2521. That I was actually "half-Martian" in a way too!
     
"You are Lorraine's `Queen of Light'," Ta-she-ra said to me
in low soft tones. "You represent `good' against Tara's `evil'."
     
"Tara's the one responsible for all this," I told her. She
nodded, her deep dark eyes glowing into mine. It was near sunset
now. Lorraine could be returning soon, I hoped. I dreaded what
her decision would be. If she advised "war", there would be no
way that I could stop a declaration of war from being declared
against Dularn. Even my own awesome veto power could be overrid-
den by a four fifths vote of the Assembly and the Senate both to-
gether. Such was provided for to prevent an incompetent or stub-
born monarch from bringing the entire government to a sudden halt
over something! If "WAR" was to be declared, it would have to be
by such means, because I now intended to use my veto regardless!
And if they decided to depose me for my opposition to this "war",
then they could do just that! I was sick and tired of all this!
     
"You understand what others do not," Ta-she-ra said to me.

     
"I respect your decision, even if I don't agree with it,"
Lorraine said to me, her dark eyes meeting mine as I handed her
my veto, all properly signed and sealed with my own Imperial seal
of the Empress of California. If war was to be declared against
Dularn, it would have to be over my veto, although I shuddered at
what the political "consequences" might just be for me later on!
     
"I want to borrow the Sea Star," I said to her. There was
"something" I still needed to do. Lorraine could run the Empire,
fight the war with Dularn if she wanted. I still planned to res-
cue Lynn, and if possible, gather the evidence that would prove
to even the most doubtful that Princess Tara was behind all our
"troubles". That Maris Jord, the Queen of Dularn, was indeed
"innocent" of the charges of starting a war against the Empire of
California. I thought I owed the memory of one yet "dear" that
much! I had promised Tulis I would never declare war again on
Dularn. I intended to keep that "promise" now despite Lorraine!
     
"The Seahawk is at your service, your majesty," Jers said,
giving me a smile. "Ready to go wherever you wish," he added.
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