Jerome Bigge Warlady 4 2566 Ad

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golden haired Queen thought. Her "bulldog tenacity" well known!!
"We must return to the city!" another of her warrioresses spoke, seeing
the ships. Maris smiled, shook her head in the ne- gative. She doubted if it
would do any good now. Lorraine was establishing her "command" of the seas
surrounding Dularn. The awesome Warlady of the Empire proving to those of
Dularn that as long as she was in "command" no Dularnian ship would be
"safe"!!!
"It is in the hands of Lys now," the Queen answered her.
Chapter Thirty One
"A demonstration of swordsmanship while we wait," I said, the crew of
the Corsica, both male and female, gathered below on the main deck. Valerie
didn't look too "delighted" at what was "planned" for their "entertainment".
The city of Arsana visible there to port, the Squala following close behind,
Seahawk next, with Huntress now somewhat ahead of us, the small schooner from
Talon bringing up the rear. The Tarls were now only specks there in the sky as
the rising sun beamed down on us, a fresh and rath- er chilly breeze coming
off the ocean nicely filling our sails.
"Your leg's still bad," Valerie spoke softly, perhaps think- ing that I
might "hurt" myself fencing with her. That wasn't too likely. Valerie Dunn was
tall, with fiery hair like the rising sun. Her ancestry was Dularnian. Her
parents having come from this land that we were now attacking. I wondered what
she thought of that. Whether or not it really "mattered" to her now.
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"I'll go `easy' with you," I smiled, "teasing" her a bit. I have a
reputation, well deserved I supposed, of being the "best". I am tall, agile,
with incredibly fast reaction times. Perhaps the finest swordswoman who has
ever lived, although I don't have any way of really knowing that. I suspect,
however, it is true.
"Oh, very well!" Valerie snapped, coming at me. I parried her thrust
with ease, just standing there, not even moving a bit! Only my arm and the
foil I held in my right hand then moving! Valerie tried again, with the exact
same results. I made no at- tempt to attack. I let her "try" again. Again the
same results!
"Damn!" Valerie breathed. She was said to be "good". Such can take the
"heart" of any Warrioress to face me. To realize just how "awesome" I can be
when I wish to be. I am the world's best. Some say the "best" that ever lived.
It is possible too.
"You can `do' better than that," I said. Valerie tried, at- tempting a
whirling thrusting attack to throw me "off balance". It was of course a
failure. My reaction times were quicker than hers. She was "good", but I faced
a number who were "better".
"I don't believe it!" Valerie breathed out, standing there.
"I've spent my entire lifetime developing the skills I have," I said.
Swordsmanship has been my favorite form of "exer- cise" since I was but a girl
in my early teens. It is usually the only form of exercise that I take.
Recently, however, due to my injured thigh, I had been doing other forms of
exercise to keep myself "fit" such as pushups. Such is important for a mem-
ber of the Warrioress Caste. The sword however is my favorite weapon, my
favorite form of exercise. I am not a "beautiful" woman, I don't have a "good
figure", nor am I really that "good" an archer despite the practice that I've
had. Darlanis is better at that than I am. I am a good military commander, but
I suspect that there are others who do as well if not perhaps better still. I
do have one outstanding quality, and that is my swordsmanship!
"Let me try," her first officer suggested, eying me. I ex- pected he had
a "surprise" waiting in store for him. He thrust at me, his foil slipping on
past my shoulder as I deflected it, a small rounded bit of metal suddenly
touching his exposed throat!
"You were `careless'," I smiled. In real swordplay he would have of
course been dead. I suspected that he knew it too now!!!
"I always thought no woman could be `that good'," he gasped.
"A woman can be as `good' as any man," I smiled back at him.
"There is only one `Lorraine'," he breathed, stepping back.
"Don't `underestimate' any woman you face," I smiled back.
"There is `smoke'," Valerie spoke, looking through the tele- scope. At
least one of our bird girls had made her "bombing run" successfully. We were
now perhaps three or four miles from Arsa- na. The city there ahead of us
making me think of other cities. Ones now only history more legend than fact.
Walled cities built in an era before the invention of gunpowder. Arsana was
such.
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"If Darlanis had possessed Tarls......," Valerie breathed. The outcome
of the war against Dularn might have turned out a lot differently, although I
suspected that the birds wouldn't be all that "effective" against a city built [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]

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