Freedom Fighters of Trelandar
A Tale of Adventure in the Second Dark Age
Book Nine of the Warlady Series
By Jerome B. Bigge
Chapter Three
     
I could feel the sun warm on my shoulders as I rode into the
clearing, holding Lani there against me in the saddle, aware that
she required a level of care that we could never give her... The
dog barking, a man stepping out from the hut to peer up at me, an
axe held in his hand, his own "occupation" without any doubt. He
was, I observed, of an indeterminate age, heavy set, not what one
would ever call handsome. His leather vest and kilt worn, dirty.
     
"Friend of Trelandar?" I ventured, my hand on my sword hilt.
     
"I chop wood, raise some food, a bit of `Mary'," he replied.
"Mary" being the slang often used for marijuana, which many now
"used" much as others drank alcohol. "You a Warrioress?" he then
asked, studying me, Lani Grant there in my arms, it being obvious
no doubt to him just "what" I was, and why I'd come here now too!
"Haven't seen any `Imperials' around these parts lately," he vol-
unteered to me as I urged my unicorn up closer, the dog snarling
viciously as he pulled it back and now tied the animal securely.
"Bastards about as `welcome' as a Lorr," he grinned up at me now,
referring to the true "rulers" of the Earth, those "ants" who in
their way had prevented Mankind from rebuilding any civilization.
     
"I will stay with him," Lani breathed, her voice weak, soft.
     
"She needs someone to take care of her," I said to him, the
man helping me ease Lani down from the saddle. The woman unable
to even walk yet, no doubt due to the aftereffects of the opera-
tion. The woodcutter half "carrying" Lani as I followed behind.
She was not an unattractive woman, with black hair, dark eyes. A
sturdy Peasant girl, a bit stocky, but in otherwise good health.
     
"I'll tell the Imperials that she's my wife," he said to me,
kicking open the door, and helping Lani down to a cot at the side
of the single room that made up his home out here in the forest.
"Tell them she took a fall and pierced herself on a splinter..."
     
"They are going to `ask' where's her neck chain," I pointed
out, even the wife of a man like him wearing some sort of chain.
It might be only gold plated brass, but she would have a "chain"!
     
"I'll tell them we pawned it," he grinned, looking up at me.
Obviously he was a bit more "intelligent" than I'd first thought!
     
"I have one for her," I spoke, thinking of my own here. I'd
never wear it again, now that my husband was dead, and it might
as well be put to some sort of use instead of just lying there in
my saddle bags as a painful reminder of what once had been here!

     
"I was getting `worried' about you," Carl Talen said to me
as I now came riding up, Lani hopefully now safe. I thought too
that the woodcutter, who had never been married, might treat Lani
well, perhaps in the "hopes" that she might be willing to become
his wife later on. Her career as a "terrorist" obviously ended!
     
"She's in good hands," I replied, giving him a smile back.
     
"I expect we'd better get going then," he said, mounting.

     
"We'll stop here," I ordered, the sun now "low" in the west
gleaming through the trees there before us. We'd kept to the
"lesser" trails, cutting across the forest here and there, making
it difficult for even Nevada trackers to follow us here. A small
brook cutting through the forest making a good campsite for us...
Some ruins there just ahead a reminder of civilization long gone.
Crumbling walls, mostly just "rubble" here after five centuries,
but "better" than sleeping out in the open here in these forests.
I'd have myself a bath, get the "stink" off myself, smiling rue-
fully at the thought of how "far" I'd "fallen" now here since the
"invasion" early this spring when Darlanis had attacked Trella...
I'd been of the upper nobility of Trelandar, a Lady by birth, my
own parents of the martial castes, the ruling castes of this era.
A woman who bathed every day, who had owned a slave girl, who had
every luxury that gold could buy, a woman of "breeding", culture.
The Harles tracing their own "ancestry" back to Queen Amethysta.
     
"`Good' a place as any," Carl Talen answered, swinging down
from the saddle, his unicorn like mine now in need of rest here.
"Not likely to find any Imperials around here," he "added" with a
smile, undoing the saddle and setting it aside as I did mine now.
     
"I'm going to take a `bath'," I announced, meeting his eyes.
     
"I'll do the same up around that bend," he offered, smiling.
     
"Just remember that I'm the sister of the Queen," I spoke.
     
"I'm sure I'll remember that," he grinned back at me now.

     
Squatting in the water, using the last of my soap, I shaved
my body, armpits and pubes, as proper for a woman of my status, a
woman of a higher caste, not some plain simple Peasant girl here.
Washing my hair, trimming it, making myself once again beautiful.
Using the last of my perfume here and there as I dried myself as
best I could behind some brush before slipping on my dress. The
sun now settling behind the trees in a lovely glowing red sunset.

     
"Ah," Carl Talen grinned, looking up at me as he chewed on a
piece of dried meat, we having loaded ourselves up with it here.
Sitting on a fallen tree trunk, the end hanging over the brook.
The unicorns safely tied up for the night there inside the ruins.
I'd washed out my clothes as best I could, hoping that they'd dry
by morning so that I could put them back on when we rode out now.
Otherwise I'd have to ride in this dress, which I didn't care to
do as it was the only decent piece of clothing I had left to me.
A lovely green silk that clung like a second skin to every curve.
     
"You are a man of `honor'," I said, giving him a smile then.
     
"What do you mean?" Carl asked as I sat down and started now
to brush my hair out, no doubt aware that I had used perfume and
cosmetics, that I wasn't just a simple guerrilla fighter as he'd
no doubt thought when we'd first met early this morning here now.
     
"You didn't try to `sneak' a `peek' at me bathing myself," I
smiled back, aware that I had only clips and strap on underneath
this clinging green silk... That I'd done things to myself that
I'd not really needed to DO!! What was I thinking of anyway now?
     
"Good things come to those who wait," he grinned back then.
     
"The emotional pain's too strong yet," I answered softly.
     
"We're losing this war with the Sarnians," he said to me.
     
"That's because we don't understand how to fight," I said.
     
"And just `how' would you go about it here?" he challenged.
     
"When someone grabs you by the throat, you knee them in the
groin," I answered. "We should have struck back with everything
we had against Sarn itself when Darlanis invaded," I explained...
"Kicked her royal butt where it would have done us some good," I
said with a big grin. "Made an alliance against her with Talon,
with Dularn, given her so much `trouble' she'd have wished she'd
never been born!" I'd expressed these same "thoughts" when Dar-
lanis had first started getting "unpleasant" last year, but nei-
ther the King or my own sister would even seriously listen to me!
"You can't win a `defensive' war like we're doing," I protested!!
"Paula's brave, she's a great Warrioress, but she doesn't under-
stand that you can't win a war the way she's doing against Sarn!"
Paula's tactics leaving no doubt she really didn't understand you
can't win a defensive war, not if you allow the enemy free rein!
Darlanis was slowly eating up Trelandar like a mouse nibbling on
cheese. Slowly occupying the country, taking it over, ruling it!
     
"I assume that you've told her this," Carl smiled in reply,
cutting off a piece of the dried meat with his dagger, and giving
it to me as I sat there beside him. His dark eyes meeting mine.
I was so very much "aware" that he was a MAN, and I was a woman.
He was also a Warrior, not another Scribe like my late husband...
I'd had a good marriage, but it had lacked something I'd needed.
We'd been more "friends" than "lovers", each going our own ways.
     
"I'm a Scribe, and that means to her I don't know anything!"
I protested back. "I've spent years studying history, the wars
of the past, even the `wars' men fought before The War!" I added!
There was a lot of confusion with the historians about these, but
I had come to the conclusion that some of what was written did in
a way make sense, even if I had a hard time understanding things.
There had been so much that had been "lost" when Man fought The
War there in 2047 against Mars, against the alien Lorr, horrors
from another world, monsters out of some drug addict's nightmare!
     
"You were raised as a Warrioress," Carl suddenly said to me.
"Queen Paula told me something of you," he continued, explaining.
"I'd like to hear your side of the story," he smiled as I nodded,
having little doubt here of what my sister had said about me now.
The Harles clan having almost "disowned" me for refusing "caste".
For refusing to become a Warrioress as everyone thought I should!
     
"I was first at the Academy," I answered, remembering it as
if it was but yesterday. I had been the pride of the family, the
valedictorian, the daughter who had made everyone so proud of her
even if she wasn't ever going to be the awesome swordswoman like
her older sister. Everyone saying how wonderful it was to have a
young Warrioress like me to bring glory and honor to the Harles!!
     
"But then you rejected the caste mark," he said, looking at
me, aware that I was no doubt a more competent military leader as
he'd seen than my sister, than even Lady Tirana, our Warlady was!
That my tiny little scattered forces were forcing Darlanis to now
devote an entire Legion to protect her rear against me! Forcing
her to provide armed escorts for all her supply trains, and mak-
ing her withdraw forces she badly needed just to defend her rear!
Proving that I was "right", that I knew exactly what I was doing!
     
"I learned too much," I said, looking into the forest as the
night came from the east, the sunset behind us doubtlessly lovely
as we sat there on that log talking... Watching the little brook
before us flow to the ocean perhaps a dozen or more miles away, a
dire wolf howling in the distance making me shudder just a bit at
the thought of being "alone" here in these forests by myself now!
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