Freedom Fighters of Trelandar
A Tale of Adventure in the Second Dark Age
Book Nine of the Warlady Series
By Jerome B. Bigge
Chapter Sixteen
     
"There's some of `them' now!" Carl "hissed", taking aim, the
clatter of hooves behind us making me turn in terror, thinking we
were under attack by the enemy from the rear before I realized it
would have been impossible for Darlanis to have landed cavalry...
     
"They're Our Warrioresses!!" I cried with relief, seeing the
glitter of their armor, their leader in gleaming gold, the crest
to her helmet glorious as she pointed with drawn sword to where
the enemy now stood awed by this sudden unexpected attack by us!!
And the force following her now splitting up, racing out into the
darkness to engage the Imperials in a deadly battle where quarter
would be neither asked or given! Men dismounting from their own
unicorns to "reinforce" those at the battery, to add their arrows
and crossbow bolts to the missiles now falling upon the Imperial
threat from out there! Their leader sitting there in her golden
armor now barking sharp orders to her officers as men and women
dashed off to reinforce those who were already engaging the foe!!
Another Warrioress, a high ranking officer, older, now joining as
the two spoke to each other, their own escorts guarding them now.
     
"Who in the Holy Name of Lys is `SHE'?" Carl breathed to me!
The woman obviously capable, competent, although she was wearing
a face shield that concealed her identity, made her seem martial.
I knew most of the commanders, although not all of them by face.
     
"It can't be..." I breathed, knowing "WHO" it had to be now!
     
"Sanda!" Carl cried as I stepped out of the darkness, rais-
ing my arms as an escort turned with drawn bow to "challenge" me!
Aware that under such circumstances I could be shot for an enemy!
The commander of the force, the woman in golden armor, raising up
her face shield, giving me a smile as I saw it was Queen Paula!
The other woman now raising her own shield, it being our Warlady!
     
"In the `thick of battle' again, Sanda?" Paula smiled to me.
Carl following, the Queen's escort moving away, giving us space.
The sounds of battle dying away as the last of the enemy died at
the points of our weapons, while others of Paula's force now did
what they could to keep the fires from spreading on further here.
Lady Tirana sitting there on her unicorn regarding me strangely.
     
"You `came'!" I breathed, stunned at the "change" in Paula!
     
"You said certain `things' to me the other night," she said,
her stallion shifting a bit under her as she drew on the reins, a
blaze of fire out at sea indicating that we'd put our recaptured
catapult batteries to good use, having hit one of the Imperials.
This was one time when Darlanis would NOT be victorious here now!
I could see the ships were firing upon the batteries, but due to
the darkness it would have difficult for them to score any hits.
     
"I was angry," I said, remembering what I'd said to her then
after Carl had left so that we might speak privately together...
The comparisons I'd made between Darlanis and her, the fact that
Darlanis was a "leader" in a way that my sister certainly wasn't!
     
"As Queen I have the ability to make laws," Paula said to me
as she sat there on her unicorn looking down at me, "And I have
just introduced a law of military conscription just now, drafting
YOU as Warlady of Trelandar to fight for us against the Empire."
     
"I will advise you, but command will be yours," Lady Tirana
said to me, her dark eyes beneath her helmet glowing into mine...
     
"And I have not forgotten everything I learned at the Acade-
my," Paula said to me, it being obvious here that my sister was
not quite as "incompetent" as I'd made her out to be that night!!
The burning Imperial ship now being abandoned while the others
now moved in, picking up what survivors they could from it then.
These vessels all being equipped with both oars and sails here.
I had no doubts that it would be some time before Darlanis tried
anything like this again, especially after a "licking" like this!
     
"I am not of the Warrioresses..." I pointed out. Legally I
had no authority to command under the caste codes, a fact I'd had
tossed in my face a few times here ever since the invasion here.
     
"I have made you a Warrioress by Royal Decree," Paula said.
"Whether or not you accept the caste mark is up to you," she now
added, Paula as Queen of Trelandar having the authority to make a
person of any caste that she wished, something she'd done before.
I was a "graduate" of the Warrioress Academy, I was trained as a
Warrioress, and I did have an established history of leadership.
My objections here to being a Warrioress had to do with the "code
of honor", the idea of dueling, which I was strongly opposed to.
The concept of sword duels being reintroduced by Janet Rogers in
the 21st Century along with all the trappings of the NEW ORDER of
that time, which looked back to a social order that never existed
save but in the imagination of a woman who died in the year 1988.
     
"I trust however that you will take an old woman's advice,"
Lady Tirana said to me as she sat there on her unicorn beside the
Queen of Trelandar. "And not waste lives as Darlanis has done."
A Warrioress officer riding up, informing Paula that the last of
the enemy had been "dealt with", her words leaving few doubts...

     
"She `is' of Darlanis' own personal guards," Paula said, the
woman, stripped, chained, kneeling there before us as I now came
into the bar room of the tavern that the Queen had taken over as
her command headquarters until we hunted down the last of the Im-
perials who had we believed scattered into the woods around here.
"Undoubtedly she is `knowledgeable' of matters that she does not
wish to share with us," Paula said, her words making me shudder!
The captive was blonde, blue eyed, many of Darlanis' being so...
     
"How much do you tell your women of what you plan?" I asked,
seeing the woman's eyes, the "terror" there in their depths here.
I recalled what was "done" to me by Tara, and Tara hadn't really
known "who" I was either, although Darlanis had of course known.
Paula's dark eyes meeting mine as she now nodded back in reply.
     
"She's worth fifty crowns in a good market," Carl added now
as he stood at my side, the captured Imperial being a true beauty
by our standards, "blonde" women being rather rare in Trelandar.
     
"There are `marks' about her neck where a chain was worn," I
said, looking more closely at the kneeling woman, the side of her
head bruised where the flat of a sword had struck her down here.
She had been married, perhaps had a husband, children who it was
likely she'd never see again. I supposed she was aware of that.
     
"Her name is Janis Mara," Paula said, "She's a lieutenant of
Warrioresses of Darlanis' Imperial Guard..." the Queen now added.
     
"I am the Lady Sanda Talen, Warlady of Trelandar," I said to
the luckless captive. "If you serve me well I will see that you
are returned to your people once this war is over," I promised.
     
"Our Empress has spoken of you," she breathed softly now.
     
"We have a higher opinion of Sanda than you," Paula smiled.
     
"The Empress said Sanda should have been your Warlady," the
captive "offered", the thought going through my mind that perhaps
Darlanis had said just that, knowing just "who" I was here now...
     
"Hair like gold, a silver tongue," Carl grinned at me then.
No doubt believing that the woman was trying to butter me up now.
     
"How many were in this invasion, and was Darlanis with you?"
I asked swiftly, wondering if Janis Mara would obey me here. I'd
better mention here that it is common to name children after the
royal family of your country, Dularn having a Princess Janis, the
older sister of Darlanis. There are also a few "Janets", al-
though it is not a "popular" name, and I've even met a "Lorraine"
once, some luckless girl having gotten that name "stuck" on her!*

* This was my opinion at the time these events occurred. It is
often the practice of parents to name their newborns after some
historical figure of the past, especially girls. I once knew a
cadet who had the "name" of "Marcella", who was the head of Janet
Rogers' Ministry of Communications in the 21st Century and left a
book after her death telling much of "life" in the 21st Century.
"Marcella Domino" herself being born in 1991 and dying in 2049 of
cancer caused by her exposure to radiation from The War. (Sanda)

     
"We were three hundred, under the `command' of the Empress,"
she answered me, looking at my booted feet as I stood beside the
Queen of Trelandar. "Darlanis said it would be `easy'..." Janis'
voice now trailing off here, leaving the rest for me to fill in.
I realized had it not been for what I'd "said" to Paula, Darlanis
would have won another "victory", and established her beachhead!
The thought going through my mind too that Darlanis' forces might
be a little less likely in the future to follow her after this...
We'd put a "whupping" on the Queen of Sarn like none before now!
She'd lost before, but not like she had this time, not losing all
to us like she had, escaping us with only a small fraction of the
force she'd brought, and losing one of her heavy galleys now too!
True, we hadn't gotten her, but we'd certainly chased her off in
a way that left no doubts that she wasn't invincible here either!
Knocking a big hole in the "legend" that had been carefully built
up about her, proving that she could be beaten by Trelandarians!!
"Darlanis said that you weren't any `good' as a Queen..." she now
added to Paula, I think suddenly aware that her beloved mistress
hadn't been right on any of this here, that we were not the push-
overs that Darlanis had been telling her people. Paula nodding,
giving me a smile, the implications of this not lost here either.
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