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


     
"I wonder how many whores got themselves fucked in here,"
Sharon mused to herself as Lorraine closed the creaky door behind
us, a candle there on the bed table spreading a dim glow over the
dirty fly-specked walls. Her words making me smile, for my Prin-
cess is not the sort of a young lady who usually uses words like
that in front of me! Lorraine's dark brown eyes holding mine,
concern showing in her stern face as she glanced around the room,
her hand unconsciously perhaps now seeking the hilt of her sword.
In the 20th Century she commonly always carried a small pistol.
     
"We could make it out this window and drop to the alley be-
low if we had to," Lorraine said, opening the window, looking out
into the darkness of the night. The air warm, humid, and rather
smelly. Public sanitation leaves a lot to be desired in La Paz.
The black leather she now wore went well with her own appearance.
It was quite similar to that worn by Tara's own personal guards.
     
"We're safe here," I assured her with a smile, although I
did not feel "safe" here in La Paz and wouldn't until I had seen
the last of it. Like Tara, there was something "unclean" about
the place. The men, the women, not like those of our own lands.
     
"I doubt that," Lorraine answered as Sharon stretched out on
the bed behind me, my Warlady lifting her skirt, checking the
weapons that were strapped to her thighs. A dagger on one thigh,
and a weapon similar to an ice pick being strapped to the other.
     
"You're `armed to the teeth'," I commented, seeing her nod
as she checked her caplock pistol, another "invention" of hers.
Like the "nitro" we were carrying, such also violated The Edict.
     
"I brought this along too," she smiled, raising her force
saber, flicking it on. A blade of pure force nothing could with-
stand. There was no defense against it except for another one!
     
"Where are you going?" I asked, Lorraine going to the door.
     
"For a walk," she answered. "I need a breath of fresh air."
     
"What does this woman look like that we're waiting for?"
Sharon asked as Lorraine closed the door behind herself. A sense
of being "alone" going over me as the awesome Warlady left us.
While rationally I knew her presence didn't really make that much
of a difference, still, it was "comforting" to have her "around".
     
"Miss Sandia Allis is an attractive blondish woman," I an-
swered. "You'll like her," I added with a smile. Sharon nodded.
     
"It'd be nice to have `indoor plumbing'," Sharon replied,
sitting there on the bed while I contented myself with the chair.
     
"I'll go with you if you have to go," I smiled, knowing that
this wasn't the sort of a place you'd send a teenage girl to the
"privy" without an escort. Sharon is good with a dagger, but her
swordsmanship needs work. (And she's Lorraine's stepdaughter!)
     
"I can wait a while," Sharon said, stretching out and laying
back on the bed, the springs creaking beneath her weight. The
shortness of her brief leather skirt well displaying her thighs.
     
"I'll see what kind of accommodations Sandia can find for
you while I steal Tara's papers and rescue Lynn," I said to her,
thinking that in another few years she would be a Warrioress like
me. For seventeen she was a surprisingly competent capable girl.
     
"Why can't she and your others do it for you?" Sharon asked,
turning on the bed to look at me, her young teenage body already
showing the "ripeness" of adulthood soon to come. Often girls
her age were already married among the lower castes, I recalled.
"You could show her how to pick the locks and everything else
that she'd need to know." I had such equipment with me. It is a
"skill" that Lynn taught me. I suppose it is somewhat "unusual"
for a person of my own social status to have such a "skill".
There is a common joke around the palace that goes something to
the effect that if you lock yourself out, just call upon Lynn or
her mistress to open the door for you! I once "hot-wired" Lor-
raine's airplane too, which gave her rather quite a surprise too!
     
"It takes a certain `talent' to pick locks," I answered,
thinking that it might not be a bad idea to pick agents with such
"talents" if possible. "And Sandia Allis is a serving maid there
at the palace (Tara's), and she can't just go wandering around."
     
"Like in your own palace where you have to have a `pass' to
go up to the upper floors," Sharon smiled back. I nodded.
Tara's security system was much like my own, which isn't that
surprising when you consider that her "problems" were similar to
mine. Similar problems often produce similar solutions to them.
     
"Then how are you going to do it?" Sharon challenged me, re-
garding me from those lovely azure eyes of hers. She is a beau-
tiful girl. One who looks the part of being the Imperial Prin-
cess of the Empire of California. And with a "sensual" quality
to herself that drives all the young men just crazy with desire!
She also takes considerable pleasure in "teasing" them a little!
     
"I haven't figured that one out yet," I answered, returning
her smile with one of my own. My caste is of the Warrioresses.
We tend to view such problems in terms of sharp blades and sudden
attacks upon unsuspecting sentries. Surprise would count a lot.
     
"Let's just hope Tara's locks aren't any better than yours,"
Sharon smiled back in reply. I do take pride in my "abilities".
It is also something that I can "do" that Lorraine "can't"...
     
"I don't know what I'd do if something happened to you," she
said to me, her words seeming to ring in my ears as she spoke. I
saw the flickering light of the candle reflected in her eyes as I
nodded, not knowing for the instant what to say in reply to this!
     
"You have Lorraine," I said, my voice sounding forced even
to my own ears, the emotions swirling in my thoughts. She was as
much mine as if I had carried her for nine months in my own bel-
ly. Nursed her at my own breast. Held her up to my own heart.
     
"It would not be the same," she answered, regarding me.
     
Suddenly just then there came a soft knock at the door.
     
"Open the window and be ready to jump!" I snapped, moving to
the door, my drawn sword held ready there in my right hand as I
then slipped the latch with my left hand and stepped back, con-
cealed by the door as it then swung inwards into the room. Shar-
on standing there on the bed, her hand on the hilt of her sword.
     
"Awk!" the woman gasped as she stepped into the room, the
keen edge of my sword pressing against the softness of her throat
as I came from behind her and seized her in a Warrioress' Hold,
my left hand in her hair yanking it painfully back while the edge
of my sword pressed against her throat left no doubts of the fate
she would suffer should she in any way make the "wrong move"! I
suspect that Lorraine killed the drug "pusher" in the 20th Cen-
tury by somewhat similar means considering the nature of the de-
vice she used to kill him. She is truly "of" the Warrioresses.
     
"I trust that you are Sandia Allis," I smiled, Sharon swift-
ly moving to assist me, and checking her belt pouch while I
closed the door behind us with a swift movement of my right foot.
Sandia wise enough to keep her hands away from the hilts of her
weapons as my Princess swiftly checked the contents of her pouch.
     
"I am," Sandia Allis breathed, a bit terrified just then as
Sharon then undid her harness and stripped her of her weapons. I
smiled to myself as I had not even thought to tell Sharon that!!!
     
"Among her things there should be a coin similar to the one
I showed you earlier," I told Sharon, my sword edge still pressed
against Sandia's throat. When in the "land of Tara", it is best
not to take "anything" for granted. As I did not know Sandia my-
self that well, except to recall that she was "blondish", I felt
it best to make sure that she was actually my own Imperial agent!
     
"Here it is," Sharon announced, holding it up to the light.
It is a piece made to look quite innocent, but yet may be used as
a means of identification. There are other means too that I use.
     
"Sorry to put you through all this, but I had to be sure," I
told Sandia, giving her back her things, the sweat showing there
on her forehead as she nodded. She had a nice figure, which her
attire well displayed as she buckled her harness back about her-
self. The rise and fall of her breasts speaking of her emotion.
     
"If her majesty will not take offense, it is fool-hardy for
her to be here in La Paz," Sandia Allis now commented in return.
"Even more so for her own Imperial Princess to be with her here."
     
"That is for me to decide," I smiled back, surprised that
Sandia had actually recognized me as her own monarch despite my
own disguise. She explained that my facial features betrayed me.
     
Suddenly then the door burst open and Lorraine stumbled into
the room, the blood yet oozing from her wounds a horrible sight!
     
"A squad of Tara's best led by that damn Talon Princess," my
Warlady hissed at me through gritted teeth, clutching her lower
abdomen where she had been pierced by a swordblade as I helped
her to lie down there on the bed. I could see that she was badly
hurt, and with internal injuries too! SHE WAS LUCKY TO BE ALIVE!
     
"You `need' a physician," I breathed, looking into her eyes.
     
"I am a `physician', and better than your damn quacks," she
snapped back. "I `glued' myself back together good enough to get
here," she growled, "But I'm not able to do my bombing runs on
Tara's palace for you," she gasped, clutching at herself in pain.
There are naturally "limits" to what you can expect even from
the amazing healing compounds that are a part of Lorr technology.
     
"I'll do them," Sharon interrupted, "And fly you back to
Trella for proper medical attention before infection starts in."
     
"`Competent' little thing, isn't she," Lorraine smiled back,
the smile obviously "forced" considering the pain she was in now.
     
"How?" Sandia Allis breathed, looking in horror at Lorraine.
     
"They came up fast, out of the dark," Lorraine growled back.
     
"Your force saber?" I ventured, aware that not even she
could have stood a force of that size all by herself assuming it
was composed of competent swordswomen, as Lorraine had just said.
     
"Got eight of them, the other three run off, including that
little Talon bitch," Lorraine breathed, her eyes looking up into
mine. She had a couple other minor wounds, but the one that most
worried me was the stab into her abdomen, which was quite deep!!!
     
"We've got to get you back to the ships," I answered back,
concerned for her life. Worried too about what Tara knew of us!
     
"I'll do that, and fly the plane," Sharon said, her eyes
meeting mine. "And I'll see that she gets back to Trella too."
     
"Lorraine, change outfits with me," I suggested. Those who
had escaped Lorraine's terrifying force saber would be back, and
in numbers that even she and Sharon would not be able to handle!
     
"You're pretty smart for a `blonde'," Lorraine smiled back.
     
"You're my `ace in a hole' if Tara gets me," I answered. I
didn't want to think about that. About what it would be "like"!
     
"Better take this too," Lorraine said, giving me her pistol,
a packet of the paper wrapped "cartridges" for it, extra "caps".

     
"Now, Sandia, we need the help of your `friends'," I said to
her as I watched Sharon helping Lorraine stumble down the street.
I had poured half a bottle of whiskey over the Queen of Trelandar
to make it appear as if she had been drinking. The other half
had gone poured down her throat to ease the pain of her wounds.
     
"They're dead, both of them," Sandia answered in even tones.
"Found with their swords in their hands in a back alley only last
night. They weren't as `lucky' as your Warlady was." she added.
     
"Then it's just you and me," I smiled back. She nodded. I
had told her what was at issue here. That if I failed to find
any proof of Tara's "meddling" in things that the Empire would
declare war upon Dularn. That thousands of lives were at stake!
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