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broadside to us. Her eighteen bal- listae and six catapults aimed squarely at
us. I thought of what old-time sailors must have thought when they faced a row
of grin- ning black muzzles back in the time of the old square-riggers.
Sarnian Lady's armament looked just as deadly if more primitive.
"What will happen to them?" I asked Janis in low tones as the former
slave girls gathered at the rail to stand and look at Sarnian Lady. The women
silent as they regarded the end to their hopes of freedom now floating a
hundred yards off. They too had lost much. Some wept bitterly as they stared
at the blue-green battleship there broadside to them. Others shook their fists
in futile hatred. "Freedom" had been so close for all of us! A boat being
lowered, no doubt to send a "prize crew" to take com- mand of the Ronda. The
Imperials standing there waving at us!
"The `collar', no doubt when we reach Sarn," Janis answered. Starting a
bit as we both saw Darlanis climbing down carefully into the boat there beside
Sarnian Lady. Leaping down into the arms of a young officer ready to catch her
should she slip and fall. Janis clutching at my arm as if she could not
believe her eyes. The two having been separated for six years by the warfare
between their two countries. The bright sun glittering off her attire as
Darlanis seated herself beside the young officer, the thought going through my
mind that she had more courage than I would under similar circumstances!
Darlanis being just too easy a target for any crossbowman willing to die for
his or rather "her" freedom! And the Ronda was filled with desperate women!
"Where's Sharon?" I hissed as Lana joined Janis and I on the deck to
greet the ruler of California. I had to admit that there was certainly nothing
wrong with the Empress' courage considering the situation and the "risk" that
she was taking that someone might just be willing to give their life if only
they could take Darlanis' first! "The bitch has BALLS!" I muttered to myself,
now utterly fascinated by Darlanis and her incredible courage to come like
this to us when one shot from a crossbow could have put a swift end to her
entire life and career as the Empress of Cali- fornia! This being my first
"glimpse" of the "DARLANIS LEGEND"!
"I don't know," Lana answered in a low voice as the boat hooked on and I
heard a woman's voice snap something in tones too low to be understood on deck
over the creaking of the Ronda's hull in the swell. The voice doubtlessly that
of Darlanis her- self as she was the only woman there in the craft! The
assembled feminine "crew" of the Ronda silent behind us as many now showed
their displeasure at the turn of events with teary eyes. Shirl had done her
best to restore order. We would greet Darlanis as a free people, as proud
freedom loving Dularnians greeting a enemy.
Then suddenly SHE was there before us! Stepping up onto our deck! Tall,
standing well over six feet in her boots, her hair of the most lovely light
gold, her eyes a beautiful azure sky- blue that seemed to glow like precious
jewels. A halter of pure gold mesh covered her high firm breasts, a matching
short gold mesh mini glittering there in the sunlight around the flare of her
hips. High golden leather boots on her feet. The precious jewels covering her
trappings sparkled with hundreds of brilliant points of light. She seemed to
tower over us all, almost like she was something "alien", not human. A
"goddess" that could blast us all with a thunderbolt! So beautiful that she
took your breath away, although by 20th Century standards she would have been
too tall, a bit too muscular. The dagger, the long slim sword at her hip
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marked her as being of the Warrioresses. I saw the muscles moving there
beneath that flawless lightly tanned skin as she swayed with the roll of the
ship, saw the flatness of that perfect belly, the strength of her thighs, the
swell of the biceps in her arms and knew that she had physical strength even
beyond my own. She was so incredibly beautiful that I felt that I was in the
presence of something not completely totally human, not something truly ever
born of Woman. It is, I believe, a ma- jor part of her power over the hearts
and minds of others, al- though I should mention here that she is highly
intelligent, very well educated by 26th Century terms, and on good relations
with the Lorr, which is unusual given the usual sort of relations be- tween
Mankind and the ant-like inhabitants of Mars. There is of course a very good
reason for all this as you will see later on.
I felt Janis tremble with emotion beside me as Darlanis lifted her arms,
her eyes seeming to suddenly glow as she perhaps for the first time recognized
her sister, the red lips moving, but only a soft whisper escaping as I saw how
this beautiful god- dess of a woman could feel human emotions. Lana suddenly
trem- bling at my side, although whether from excitement or something else I
didn't know as she jerked at me, her eyes wide with horror as I saw it too! A
gasp going up from the assembled women as they too now saw what stood on the
Ronda's quarterdeck, a cocked and loaded crossbow in her young trembling
hands! SHARON!!!!!!!!
"DARLANIS!" I heard Sharon sob, "I WON'T LET YOU HANG LOR- RAINE AS A
PIRATE WHEN WE WERE ONLY DEFENDING OURSELVES!" I HAD NO DOUBT THAT SHARON
FULLY INTENDED TO KILL DARLANIS RIGHT WHERE SHE STOOD! The crossbow one of the
Dularnian types that would hurl an steel shafted bolt over three hundred
yards. Darlanis had made a fatal miscalculation in coming aboard as she had.
The power of her beauty, of her provocative attire which had served to almost
"stupefy" the rest of us, had absolutely no effect on Sharon! I could hear the
yells from Sarnian Lady, see men at the ballistae, turning, aiming them, all [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]