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"I've often `wondered' about the Priestesses," she admitted. "There were
`rumors' about them that seemed hard to believe too."
"They are `mistresses of time and space', allied with alien beings
throughout the Universe called the `Guardians'," I smiled. I recalled some of
the comments that Aurora had once made there when I'd first visited Mars.
About their "mumbo jumbo" they did. How little she'd known of their true
nature! I missed Aurora, a "friend" who I often thought about these days now.
The thought going through my mind that by now Tais had no doubt approached
both Aurora and Raspa about transporting a portion of the human race to Mars.
Something I was sure would delight neither either!
"The Huntress has returned from your estate," Jon said then.
"I am planning an expedition into the `ruins'," I said, June giving me
the sort of a look she might have given me had I said I was planning an
expedition to the Moon. Although I'd told her of how Hope and I had crossed
the ruins in 2365, I don't think she really believed that I'd ever attempt
entering them again here...
"The dogs and wolves that Huntress brought," she breathed.
"I am known as being a `Warlady'," I pointed out to her.
"Only `you' would attempt it," she grinned back at me.
"Something to get my mind off `politics'," I now smiled.
"The `old couple'?" she asked, referring to Bob and Carol.
"I'm sure they'll be safe with us," I said. Carol was still "lucid" most
of the time, her "problems" being mostly at night... Bob was healthy enough,
as long as he didn't "stress" himself. I knew they would appreciate sharing
this "last adventure" with me. I wondered "why" Tais hadn't taken them to
Dularn instead, but I supposed that she had her reasons here. In any case I
planned to give them the best "vacation" that I could as Queen of Trelandar!
"Has been getting a bit `boring' around here," June smiled.
"We will take my flamethrowers too," I smiled back at her.
"I think in the entire history of Humanity there has been but one true
`Warlady', and you are `her'," Bob said to me then as he looked over the
weapons that I planned to take with us into the ruins there in the morning.
The guardswomen well aware too of the sort of "dangers" that we might face
here in such a place!
"We did `beat' her once," Carol now pointed out to him then. She tended
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at times to speak without thinking, and Bob admitted that at times she could
get rather "snappy", even with him now...
"That was `luck'," Bob quickly pointed out to his wife. I felt sorry for
them both, especially knowing what laid ahead now. They had enjoyed so many
GOOD years together, so many years that it was almost tragic that it had to
"end" like this. On the oth- er hand I supposed they each had their memories,
Bob having said that Carol still could remember what happened fifty years ago
even if she couldn't remember now what she ate for breakfast that morning! The
disease she was afflicted with being one that was "unknown" both here on Earth
and on Mars, from what Tais told me. There had been some research carried on
in the early 21st Century before Janet Rogers put an "end" to such things, but
I supposed I was as much to "blame" here as Janet, as I'd maintained back then
that attempting to extend the lives of the "non productive" was a waste of
money, something for which I had good cause to regret. Especially as it was
always possible I could end up like Carol...
"I sometimes speak without thinking," Carol said to me.
"You did `win' against me," I now smiled, remembering.
"The North Star was a good ship," Bob said to me then.
"And you commanded her well," I said, Carol nodding.
"Dinner time," Jon interrupted, walking over to us.
"I've got just over half the Assembly on our `side'," Sanda said to me
as we ate, Amethysta giving her a smile from across the table, Bob and Carol
there beside my lovely Prime Minister. Jon beside me watching Yvette reaching
across the table to Sanda. The slave girl's attire such that much could be
seen of her bare breasts beneath her clothing when she bent over like she was
now.
"Those `Amendments' will have to be voted on by the people," I said.
That probably wouldn't be too "difficult", although I was well aware that
someone like Les Hawkins could make trouble!
"If we can get them through the Assembly," Sanda explained. She'd been
trying to "sell" them on the basis of more "freedom" for everyone once the
"government" was prohibited by "law" from "interference" in the economy or in
relationships between people.
"Be `better' if they were both in one," Bob said to Sanda.
"You might `have' something there," she admitted in turn.
"We could phone..." Carol breathed, then blushing a bit.
"She doesn't live in this time," Bob said, touching her.
"God Damn This Disease!" Carol wept, tears in her eyes!
"Come with me," I said, getting up from the table then.
"I'm afraid," Carol said, standing there, my hands in hers. The roof top
of the palace was "private", the view one that I've always enjoyed, Trella
spreading out there below us, the ocean in the distance, the ships there in
the harbor bobbing like corks in a swift breeze from the west. A dark row of
clouds on the hori- zon over the ocean leaving no doubts that a storm was
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coming in.
"It is the `separation' you fear, isn't it?" I said to her.
"The knowledge that our lives are at an `end'," she replied.
"I may some day be `like' you," I said. "And I hope I can face my own
death as bravely as you have," I said, Carol nodding. Such things are I think
"different" from facing death in battle. I have no "doubts" about the reality
of reincarnation, of the "fact" that I've lived before, and that I will live
once again... It is, I think, more the thought of "separation" here that
hurts.
"I remember Maris telling me about Queen Tulis," Carol said. "At that
time I couldn't `understand' why she did it, now I do."
"We all wish to die with a bit of dignity left," I said.
"We still did `beat' you back there once," she smiled.
"Yes, I believe you did," I spoke, the tears now flowing.
"Funny how `unimportant' it all seems now," she said to me.
"You are weeping," I said, seeing the tears running down her cheeks
despite the blurring of my own vision from the same cause.
Chapter Thirty Eight
I settled myself on my wolf's back, the animal moving a bit beneath me.
He was the largest of the gigantic wolves I'd had brought back from the
territories once "ruled" by Queen Valeris. That "Queen of the North" who had
given her own soul to the demo- ness from HELL called "The Queen of Darkness"
in the BOOK OF LYS. The great furry body hot beneath the leather of my riding
saddle. My own attire silk and leather, the attire of a Queen of Trelan- dar,
a broad brimmed hat shading my eyes from the sun's glare...
"Going to be like riding into an oven," June said to me, her unicorn's
ears laid back as she rode next to my fearsome mount. Her helmet and chain
mail glistening there in the hot sunlight. Jon giving me a smile as he sat
astride his pure white unicorn.
"There's no `need' for armor," I said, making a "decision". I supposed I
was putting my hundred Warrioresses at more "risk", but on the other hand a [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]