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the Codes. (LR)
"Then Darlanis would have `everything." Maris retorted back.
"It would be to your advantage to `consider it'," I replied.
"I also understand that you possess certain `weapons' of your own,"
Maris smiled, her azure eyes glowing into mine as she sipped at her wine. She
is a beautiful woman, but a "whore" too. The sort of a woman who would marry a
man just to enrich herself! That is why Jon once said to me that she
"belonged" in a collar! Maris having rejected him to go to bed with Darl Jord
just in the hopes that he might someday marry her and make her a Princess!* *
Maris of course has a different "viewpoint" of all this. (LR)
"I could have destroyed the North Star," I answered her. I felt a tinge
of pain in my thigh as I shifted my position. I do not have "good legs" and I
thus prefer to wear my skirts "long". My leather trappings went well with the
long flowing black silk. The cane that I was forced to use now close at hand
on the bench.
"The `Caste Codes'?" Maris ventured, crossing her legs. Nude, chained,
locked in a slave girl's collar she'd bring about fifty gold crowns I
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"estimated". Perhaps sixty in a good market. She wore the tunic and hose of
the Dularnian woman in deep blue. She is as I have said a beautiful woman, but
with the "morals" of an "alley cat". Sort of a "blonde Princess Tara", but not
cruel like Tara was. She is a popular Queen, and a good public speaker
although I think Darlanis is "better" when it comes to doing it. A woman who
considers herself "smarter" than she actually is too.
"I consider them worth `keeping'," I answered her in reply. I found this
"game" of "mental chess" delightful, especially as Maris was no match for me
mentally. I may not be "beautiful", I suppose, but I do have a "good head on
my shoulders" as they say! My I.Q. when tested back in the 20th Century was
almost equal to that of Janet Rogers herself. That is probably why Aurora
wants one of my ovums too. I would like to have a daughter, but I am not sure
if I want her to be a perfect "duplicate" of me or not!
"And my sister Gayle, how is she?" Maris then ventured now, changing the
subject again. I was tired of arguing "politics".
"Married to the Prince of Talon," I smiled back at Maris.
"She will make him a good wife," Maris then smiled back.
"I think it important that you write her," I said then.
"You do `love' Gayle, don't you?" Maris smiled at me.
"As much as if I had given birth to her," I smiled.
"Perhaps she can come to Dularn," Maris ventured.
"That is something to be discussed," I answered.
Chapter Twenty
"I don't `like' you and I'm sure the feeling is `mutual'," Maris said to
me as we came up on deck, the sun now considerably lower there in the west.
"But I do think we `understand' each other considerably better than we did,"
the young Queen smiled. Maris had agreed to a "cease-fire", to negotiations
between Du- larn and California. Now it would be up to Darlanis to make the
next move. I wondered what Darlanis would do! I recalled our "talk". The
"opinions" that Darlanis had expressed to me then. I wondered if Darlanis
really "understood" the situation anymore.
"Don't try to `exploit' Darlanis' feelings for you," I warned Maris, "Or
you could find yourself in even worse trouble." Darlanis' hesitation in
reacting to Dularn's attacks having made the Empress quite unpopular among
certain "segments" of society! There had even been those who spoke out now
that a certain Queen of Trelandar might make a better "Empress" for California
than Darlanis. I feared what the consequences of "that" could be now! All of
California could now be torn apart in a bloody civil war!
*****************************************************************
Darlanis stood tall and golden in her famous mesh before the Senators
and Representatives, the precious jewels of her crown sparkling in the light
from the many lamps. Her words ringing out clearly in that great assembly hall
as she said that Califor- nia had "turned the other cheek" long enough and
that it was now time to put an end to Dularnian plundering of innocent
Imperial vessels! The cheers that echoed in that great room at her words
leaving no doubts that Imperial California would soon be taking "action" both
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at land and at sea against Dularnian "aggression". The tears that filled her
azure eyes as they cheered none noted. Once again brave men and women would
die for their golden ruler!
*****************************************************************
"Darlanis has asked for a declaration of war against Dularn," the woman
spoke, stepping through the "Portal" that al- lowed one to "step" from one
world to another as easily as one might travel from one room to another.
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