2569 A.D.!
THE DULARNIAN QUEEN
AN ADVENTURE IN THE SECOND DARK AGE OF MAN
By Jerome B. Bigge
Chapter Fifty Five


     
"Who was that woman?" Mara mused, watching the restless sea
as the ship plowed its way through the waves towards far Dularn.
There was "something" about her that seemed to be so "familiar",
but for the life of her she couldn't figure out what it was now!
And the idea of going to the Priestesses seemed to be out of the
question for some reason, although she didn't know quite why now!
There was a sort of "blur" in her memories, as if something was
"missing", Tara's use of electronic hypnosis having been rather
unskilled, leaving poor Mara with a certain amount of confusion.

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"We are now approaching Lorraine's estates," the captain of
the Astarte announced to her golden haired Queen, Darlanis nod-
ding as she sat there watching little blonde Artemis at play. A
smile from her seated Queen there in the stern cabin her reward.
     
"It is possible that Lorraine is `here', instead of in Trel-
la," Darlanis ventured then in her lovely rich voice to Sharon.
     
"Approach the shore, and make signals," Sharon ordered...

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

     
"We are perhaps `here'," I spoke, my husband nodding back.
     
"We could sight land tomorrow then," Prince Paul Blue Sky of
the Wyomings smiled back, studying the chart laid out there on my
oaken desk. Dularn lying just ahead of the ship's course now. I
didn't think we would, but it was likely now the day afterwards.
How accurate my calculations were after all was another question.
     
"I am trying to make the strait," I "grinned" back at him.
     
"And add to your `legendary reputation'," he smiled back.
     
"There is, as you have said so many times now, only one `Ma-
ris Marn'," I laughed, aware of the "truth" there in his words.
     
"And she is `mine'," he answered with a joyous laugh, seiz-
ing me then by my silver neck chain and drawing me to his lips.

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"Thought it'd be `better' here," Lorraine smiled, greeting
her golden haired guests there on her estate, there being no sign
of the damage done back two years before by the Warlady of Du-
larn, the fantastic amazing and provocative Carol Lynn Simmons.
     
"Should be `any day' now," Darlanis smiled, looking at her.
     
"`Looks' like I swallowed a watermelon!" Lorraine laughed.
     
"The Priestess says our son is healthy," Jon Richards added.
     
"You `left' Maris `out there'," Lorraine suddenly spoke in
an accusing voice, her dark eyes blazing into those of Darlanis.
It was not "something" that the Empress thought highly of doing
and she had feared what others might say upon hearing about it...
     
"Sarnian Queen was damaged...," Darlanis protested, wonder-
ing to herself how Lorraine had learned of the matter this soon.
She thought it likely that Sarnian Queen had also come this way,
perhaps even stopping here before continuing on south to Baja.
It being necessary to sail completely around Baja to reach Nevada
territory, the only other way being to travel overland, over the
mountains that separated California from the desert to the east.
     
"The Japanese may `keep' her and the North Star," Lorraine
spoke, a film of sweat on her brow, the living room hot, stuffy.
"If she does not `return' in the next few months I am taking a
fleet of steam frigates across the Pacific," the Warlady spoke.
"Along with Black Lady and enough fuel so that I can overfly the
Japanese islands," the Imperial Warlady spoke in a strange tone!
The look on her face leaving no doubts then what was happening!
     
"You are having labor pains!" Jon Richards breathed then!
     
"I fear my concerns over Maris Marn will have to wait," the
Imperial Warlady, the elected Queen of Trelandar now smiled back!
A slave girl, more "attentive" than the others, now bringing in a
woman in the attire of the Physicians along with a Priestess too.
     
"I will sail with you," the Empress of California replied.
     
"Let's hope they don't harm Maris," Lorraine spoke then.

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"When's Lorraine due to have her baby?" Paul asked me as we
ate dinner. The North Star plowing her way through the waves. I
wondered if the Japanese government would send a ship to Dularn?
     
"Any time now," I now grinned back, recalling the Warlady.
     
"She's an `enemy' any Warrior might `respect'," he said.
     
"I think in a way she is a `friend' too," I answered him.
     
"One is known by the swords of one's enemies," he smiled.
     
"A `saying' of the Wyomings?" I smiled back, seeing him nod.
     
"I've often wondered if she is as `good' as the tales say,"
he mused, regarding me over the rim of the goblet in his hand. I
informed him that Lorraine was indeed as "good" as the tales say!
I saw her `take on' Carol, and best her like some girl new to the
sword, and Carol was a swordswoman nearly of "gold medal" rating!
When it comes to swordsmanship, the woman has yet to live who
could best Lorraine Richards, Queen of Trelandar in open battle!

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"Hurts," Lorraine hissed, wet with sweat as she gave birth.
The Priestess standing there watching quietly while the woman of
the Physicians did her work. Then suddenly the woman stood up,
and slapped the little squirming bloody red figure on its rump!
A cry of protest informing all that Trelandar now had a Prince!!!
     
"The baby is fit to live," the Priestess spoke, examining it
with glowing eyes, it being the task of the Priestesses to verify
that all newborns were fit to live and not mutants or defectives
of one sort or another to be destroyed in the "water bucket"...
     
"Was worried about that a bit," Lorraine breathed, her dark
brown eyes glowing up into those of the lighter eyed Priestess.*

* It was the policy in the 26th Century to destroy all "defective
children" at birth. Such is perhaps a policy we should follow
considering the social costs we have allowing such life. (JB)

     
"I have a son," Jon Richards spoke, looking down at his
wife, meeting the darkness of her eyes with his own as he took
the baby from the Physician and placed it then in Lorraine's
arms. The Imperial Warlady holding the baby to herself, smiling.
     
"`We' have a son," Lorraine gently "corrected" him softly.

     
"Sometimes I speak without thinking," Lorraine said to Dar-
lanis, the Warlady resting, a tired look on her stern features.
Her young son sleeping peacefully in his crib next to the bed.
     
"I think you spoke as a Warrioress must," Darlanis said.
     
"I let Tara go when I could have had her," Lorraine smiled.
     
"That time when you chased her half way to Hawaii?" the Em-
press replied, recalling that Lorraine had finally damaged her
ship the Corsica in the mad pursuit after Tara to the point that
she was forced to break off the chase due to severe storm damage.
     
"Too eager to fight," the famous Warlady smiled back then.
     
"We all make `mistakes'," Darlanis smiled at the Warlady.
     
"We are `human', not `computers'," Lorraine grinned back.
     
"Maris is a `crafty wench'," Darlanis mused thoughtfully.
     
"As we both well know," Lorraine readily agreed with her.
     
"I think a ship like the North Star or the Astarte would be
`better' for such a voyage than any of our steam frigates," Dar-
lanis suggested. "When it comes to ship design, those designed
by Maris herself seem to be `superior' to anything we can build."
     
"She's not a `dumb blonde'," Lorraine agreed, smiling a bit.
     
"We're `lucky' that the Simmons did go back to their own
time," Darlanis ventured, recalling now what I had once told her.
I had not however told her about what I'd found with the bodies.
     
"Carol wasn't really a `fighting woman'," Lorraine comment-
ed. "On the other hand she managed to make `fools' of us both,"
the Warlady grinned, seeing the beautiful Empress nod in return.
     
"She understood how to `use' our weaknesses against us,"
Darlanis commented, the provocative brownette having been a very
"crafty" woman in many ways, one who understood "tactics" in a
way that left no doubts that she was truly "of" the Warrioresses.
     
"And a woman that any red blooded man might lust after," the
Queen of Trelandar grinned, the Empress nodding, "smiling" a bit.
     
"She fought well in the arena too," Darlanis recalled, hav-
ing seen the brownette fighting there alongside her beloved Bob.
     
"Theirs was a love like none I've ever seen," Lorraine spoke
softly, her dark brown eyes staring on past Darlanis to see what
only she could see. Memories of a time over five centuries past.

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"Can't sleep?" my husband asked, sitting up now in bed, see-
ing me sitting there on the cushioned seat there beneath the
stern windows clad in my robe against the chill of the night air.
It was very late too, perhaps three or four am in the morning...
     
"Just remembering `another'," I answered, recalling Carol.
     
"Share you thoughts," he suggested, encouraging me to speak.
     
"There was once a woman I knew, who was loved like no other
woman was ever `loved'," I spoke, "A woman who has been dead now
for nearly five centuries, but a woman that I once `knew' well."
I had never mentioned that she had stood at my side there in the
north when I faced that evil demoness from Hell blade to blade...
     
"You speak in `riddles'," Prince Paul Blue Sky said to me.
     
"I speak of Carol Simmons, who was my Warlady," I spoke. He
knew of course of her, of the remains that had been found hidden
in a cave outside Arsana. I had no doubts now of "how" they had
felt towards a society to which they could never return in life.
"She was `loved' so much by her husband that their marriage was
`more' than just a marriage, more than just a `joining'," I said.
     
"Your eyes are wet with tears," my husband observed then.
     
"Sometimes I am just an `emotional woman'," I smiled.
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