"2566-15" - читать интересную книгу автора (Bigge Jerome - Warlady 4 - 2566 Ad)2566 A.D.! A TALE OF ADVENTURE IN THE SECOND DARK AGE OF MAN By Jerome B. Bigge Chapter Fifteen I glanced up at the sails, gave brief curt orders that were instantly obeyed. My sword was in my hand, shining in the bright sunlight. The seasickness I had suffered from earlier now gone. The North Star now perhaps no more than a mile off now, its own battle flags hoisted, including that of the Queen of Dularn. I had my own, the famous double barred Cross of Lorraine I favored. Two ships, two leaders of their own countries, faced each other. Maris Jord of Dularn now verus Lorraine Richards of Trelandar. "I can see what you are doing, but I don't understand," Ja- nice said to me as she stood there at my side. Her first officer staring through a telescope at the rapidly approaching Dularnian. He was blond haired, a rather "dashing looking" fellow. The sec- ond now at the forecastle, commanding things from there. It is best to place your officers thusly so when going into a battle. "I am using the `vector of forces' to our best advantage," I smiled. It is hard to explain. It is a "talent" that few have. I knew that Maris possessed the same abilities as did my husband. I had posted the best men at the spanker and the jib. One can turn a ship far faster with the sails than with the rudder. It is a skill that I have worked on ever since I got my first ship. I am "better" at it than Jon. Better too I suspected than Maris. "I do not `envy' her," Janice said to me. "Her" being of course Maris herself. She was capable, but inexperienced in such matters as this. I did not doubt her abilities to sail her ship, but would she continue to possess such abilities in the heat of battle? Maris was young, and I suspected also "terrified" of me. "Which ship would you rather command in battle?" I smiled. "Huntress is a good ship, capable," she smiled back at me. "I would personally prefer my own Squala," I smiled back, stepping down from the quarterdeck, speaking softly to the men and women of the crew as they stood ready with their weapons. In a battle like this there would be many deaths. Many would "pass" to their next reincarnation today. I might be one of them. I saw the North Star's sails tower up into azure blue of the sky. The coastline of California a dark haze on the horizon beyond it. "We have the wind with us," a man said, giving me a smile. I nodded, forced a smile back. I preferred it the other way. It makes the ship easier to maneuver than if the wind is behind you. On the other hand it makes it easier to close and board an enemy. I had considered such an "option", but I doubted that the crew of the Huntress would be a "match" for those aboard the North Star. The missile weapons of the 26th Century, at least those car- ried aboard ships, are only "effective" against the crews as a rule. It is true that a well aimed catapult ball can do consid- erable damage if it strikes in the right place, but there is not much way that you can knock a hole in the enemy's hull except by ramming. I did possess "fire weapons", as did Maris doubtlessly, but such tend to be looked upon with considerable disfavor by the men and women who crew wooden ships as fire is a "doomsday weap- on" from which there can be no "winners". It could be for this reason that fire was never used much as a weapon in the days of the old square riggers back in the Seventeenth and Eighteen Cen- turies. Sort of like the use of atomic weapons in the last half of the 20th Century. There is little sense in fighting wars from which there can be no "winners". Such applied here in this case. "Less than half a mile now," I heard someone breathe, star- ing at the rapidly approaching set of sails that was the enemy. Despite the coolness of the day I was already wet with sweat now. My dress clinging to my body, sticking to my back, to my breasts. "Prepare to fire to starboard!" I snapped a number of sur- prised faces greeting me as the North Star was actually to port! "Let fly the jib, haul in on the spanker!" I cried, the man at the helm rapidly spinning the wheel. Huntress turning like the lithe ship she was, swinging, the North Star coming around to our starboard side about a quarter of a mile away now. I wanted us to get to within two hundred yards if possible. Long bow shot. Our compound bows having an effective range of about two fifty. ***************************************************************** "She's up to something!" Maris breathed, standing there by her helmsman. With my now having the "wind gauge"" there really wasn't too much that she could "do" just then without suffering the risk of having her ship rammed by the now onrushing Huntress. "Stand by to fire to port!" the first officer snapped, men rushing to their weapons, the warrioresses nocking arrows on their bows. The crossbowmen taking their places at the rails. A cold chill going through Maris' heart as she saw the Huntress continue to swing about there in front of her own onrushing ship! ***************************************************************** "Fire as your weapons bear!" I cried, seeing the North Star rushing towards us. The ship shaking as our weapons fired! The Huntress still wheeling about, Maris' own return fire now being nothing but a few crossbow bolts in reply as we crossed her path. She was turning her own ship now, trying to run parallel to us so that she could get her own weapons into play. Her heavier ship slower to respond, although I saw her loosen up her spanker to try to swing about. I wondered how much "damage" we had done! "Cross her bow!" I cried, "Keep up the fire on her crew!" I knew that once Maris got over her surprise she would prove to be a worthy foe. She had the bigger ship, the larger crew, and the heavier armament. She also had the famous Dularnian compound crossbow, which we did not, although our compound bows were in my own opinion probably the more "effective" of the two weapons. The jib being used to swing us about again seemingly right in front of Maris' own ship. Our continuous fire no doubt hampering her own efforts to bring her ship under control to return fire! I could see the effects of our fire on her ship, the holes in her sails where a couple of our catapult balls had torn holes. A crossbowman on the forecastle taking aim at me, then dropping his weapon to clutch at an arrow from one of our own archers. I had armed our "ship's girls", everyone who could pull a string!!! Janice with drawn sword directing our fire, while keeping another eye out for the sails, her "first" standing there on the quarterdeck next to the helmsman. Her golden haired counterpart on the North Star doing much the same. Her own lack of battle experience showing here. Before she had fought a poorly handled, poorly fought clumsy first rate, and while she had taken a heavy beating, she had shown considerable "mettle" in the battle. Here however she was fighting a different sort of battle, and her own lack of battle experience and skill at ship handling was showing! While she was a skillful sailor, as she had already shown, Maris lacked experience "under fire", and she had so far been mostly on the "receiving end" of my own fire without being able to do much in return. A state of affairs I did not expect would continue!!! "She's swinging around with us!" someone yelled, although I could see that for myself. Maris using her jib effectively to get her ship turned about almost in its own length, it seemed now as the North Star now for the first time was able to get its own broadside into action! And there was nothing that I could do now to prevent it! We had done considerable "damage" but not enough! "May Lys Be Merciful To Us!" a man breathed beside me, wind- ing up the windlass on a ballistae. The North Star now coming into position to fire its first broadside into us. I could see Maris standing there, her sword gleaming in the bright sunlight. "Let fly the jib! Helm hard to port!" I cried. We would have to receive Maris' "blessings", but perhaps we could make it just a bit "harder" for her own marksmen! The Huntress slowing beneath us as she came up into the wind, The North Star firing as she went by, a javelin transfixing a woman, pining her to the mast. A man, his head a bloody mass, lying there on the deck, a pool of blood staining the white planking! Something whipping by my face, a blurred streak. Perhaps a crossbow bolt. A man there on the deck, clutching at one stuck in his thigh. Janice at my side, her dark eyes wild, grabbing at my arm. Something stung my side, a spent bolt perhaps as I turned. I saw a man fall, a bal- listae javelin piercing him! The ship still was turning, but with the first officer at the helm, the helmsman lying dead at his feet. The North Star falling back, the crew at the ballistae beside me firing a bolt. A catapult ball smashing the rail. The enemy's marksmanship left nothing to be desired, I noticed then. "We can't stand a broadside to broadside battle!" she cried, although that was something I was doing my best to avoid as long as long as I could! Maris now taking the wisest course and let- ting fly her own spanker to swing about her own ship to star- board. Thus to bring our ships back into their original configu- ration that they had been when this battle had started! Men run- ning across her deck as they were across mine to follow orders! "I'm not running away from this!" I snapped. She nodded. Like me she bore the brand of the Warrioress there on her arm. Maris herself was of the same caste. She would not "run" either! "It will be an honor to die at your side," she said to me. "To `fight' at my side," I corrected her. I fully intended to win this fight against Maris! To put "finished" to her ca- reer! I would see that bitch either naked in chains or dead at my feet! Or we'd "stand together" before SHE for our judgement! Huntress was swinging up into the wind, crossing its "eye", while the North Star came about in the other direction, the dis- tance now separating the ships a good quarter mile if not more. We had taken "losses", but I suspected that Maris had taken more. Now that she was "wise" to my own fighting style, she would be even more dangerous. She had the heavier ship, the larger crew, and superior firepower. I on the other hand had the "handier" ship, and the advantage of having some "experience" in battle! ***************************************************************** "How bad?" Maris asked, the second officer dead from an ar- row fired from the Huntress. The Imperial compound bows had been an unexpected weapon. Shorter ranged than her own crossbows, but with a rate of fire that it took several crossbowmen to "match"! "She's got an entirely `unorthodox' battle pattern, but we'll get alongside that damm Imperial `witch' and teach her what for, your majesty!" the first officer exclaimed as he stepped up beside his beautiful golden haired Queen. Maris had remained up on the quarterdeck during the battle, calmly directing her men. Giving her orders in a clear ringing voice, directing their fire. "Her ship is `handier' than ours," Maris answered in reply, "And better commanded," she thought to herself with a grim smile. "We took eight dead, four wounded, two of whom probably won't ever see Dularn again," the officer then added, looking at the golden haired beauty there before him. Wondering as he had before what it would be like to make love to a woman like Maris! He could see the sweat there on her forehead, the way that the Queen's clothing now "clung" to her, well "outlining" her figure. "The `butcher's bill' will be a lot bigger than that before we are done," Maris answered in level tones. And she could very well be one of them too. Tossed over the side with a catapult shot at her feet to speed her descent to the bottom many fathoms below! Her young life snuffed out like some candle flame. And who would care? Her faithless lecher of a husband would find himself another woman, one perhaps more "submissive" than her, to sit on the throne of Dularn while he "sported" with his slaves! ***************************************************************** "She won't `fall' for your `tricks' again." Janice warned. We had lost a total of six to the enemy's missiles. In a broad- side to broadside battle we couldn't match the heavier ship, but I had no intention of fighting the sort of a battle that Maris no doubt wanted me to fight. Nor did I wish to attempt to "board". To fight it out with swords and pikes against superior numbers. "Then I will just have to `supply' one that she will," I smiled back. I was well aware of the fact that the North Star was the "faster" of the two ships, although I did not think that there was really that "much" of a difference. Maris being a more capable commander of her ship than Janice was of hers, I thought. The differences in speed in any case being less than half a knot at the most, which gave me the "option" of trying to draw Maris in towards the coast, where I might just get "lucky" and meet up with an Imperial warship capable of dealing with the North Star! Darlanis having a couple of schooners similar to the North Star. Light three masters of a design I had once "considered" for mine. Hopefully one of them might be at sea instead of sitting in port! "I plan to let her have the `wind gage' this time," I smiled. I suspected that if I "baited" a trap Maris might be just willing to "sail into it" for me if I did it just right too! "Dangerous," Janice warned, her dark eyes glowing into mine. "If I `fall', do the best you can to `cripple' her," I said. Janice nodded, her expression leaving no doubt as to her feelings about the matter. "Including boarding if nothing else `works'." "It has been a pleasure to serve with you," she smiled. 2566 A.D.! A TALE OF ADVENTURE IN THE SECOND DARK AGE OF MAN By Jerome B. Bigge Chapter Fifteen I glanced up at the sails, gave brief curt orders that were instantly obeyed. My sword was in my hand, shining in the bright sunlight. The seasickness I had suffered from earlier now gone. The North Star now perhaps no more than a mile off now, its own battle flags hoisted, including that of the Queen of Dularn. I had my own, the famous double barred Cross of Lorraine I favored. Two ships, two leaders of their own countries, faced each other. Maris Jord of Dularn now verus Lorraine Richards of Trelandar. "I can see what you are doing, but I don't understand," Ja- nice said to me as she stood there at my side. Her first officer staring through a telescope at the rapidly approaching Dularnian. He was blond haired, a rather "dashing looking" fellow. The sec- ond now at the forecastle, commanding things from there. It is best to place your officers thusly so when going into a battle. "I am using the `vector of forces' to our best advantage," I smiled. It is hard to explain. It is a "talent" that few have. I knew that Maris possessed the same abilities as did my husband. I had posted the best men at the spanker and the jib. One can turn a ship far faster with the sails than with the rudder. It is a skill that I have worked on ever since I got my first ship. I am "better" at it than Jon. Better too I suspected than Maris. "I do not `envy' her," Janice said to me. "Her" being of course Maris herself. She was capable, but inexperienced in such matters as this. I did not doubt her abilities to sail her ship, but would she continue to possess such abilities in the heat of battle? Maris was young, and I suspected also "terrified" of me. "Which ship would you rather command in battle?" I smiled. "Huntress is a good ship, capable," she smiled back at me. "I would personally prefer my own Squala," I smiled back, stepping down from the quarterdeck, speaking softly to the men and women of the crew as they stood ready with their weapons. In a battle like this there would be many deaths. Many would "pass" to their next reincarnation today. I might be one of them. I saw the North Star's sails tower up into azure blue of the sky. The coastline of California a dark haze on the horizon beyond it. "We have the wind with us," a man said, giving me a smile. I nodded, forced a smile back. I preferred it the other way. It makes the ship easier to maneuver than if the wind is behind you. On the other hand it makes it easier to close and board an enemy. I had considered such an "option", but I doubted that the crew of the Huntress would be a "match" for those aboard the North Star. The missile weapons of the 26th Century, at least those car- ried aboard ships, are only "effective" against the crews as a rule. It is true that a well aimed catapult ball can do consid- erable damage if it strikes in the right place, but there is not much way that you can knock a hole in the enemy's hull except by ramming. I did possess "fire weapons", as did Maris doubtlessly, but such tend to be looked upon with considerable disfavor by the men and women who crew wooden ships as fire is a "doomsday weap- on" from which there can be no "winners". It could be for this reason that fire was never used much as a weapon in the days of the old square riggers back in the Seventeenth and Eighteen Cen- turies. Sort of like the use of atomic weapons in the last half of the 20th Century. There is little sense in fighting wars from which there can be no "winners". Such applied here in this case. "Less than half a mile now," I heard someone breathe, star- ing at the rapidly approaching set of sails that was the enemy. Despite the coolness of the day I was already wet with sweat now. My dress clinging to my body, sticking to my back, to my breasts. "Prepare to fire to starboard!" I snapped a number of sur- prised faces greeting me as the North Star was actually to port! "Let fly the jib, haul in on the spanker!" I cried, the man at the helm rapidly spinning the wheel. Huntress turning like the lithe ship she was, swinging, the North Star coming around to our starboard side about a quarter of a mile away now. I wanted us to get to within two hundred yards if possible. Long bow shot. Our compound bows having an effective range of about two fifty. ***************************************************************** "She's up to something!" Maris breathed, standing there by her helmsman. With my now having the "wind gauge"" there really wasn't too much that she could "do" just then without suffering the risk of having her ship rammed by the now onrushing Huntress. "Stand by to fire to port!" the first officer snapped, men rushing to their weapons, the warrioresses nocking arrows on their bows. The crossbowmen taking their places at the rails. A cold chill going through Maris' heart as she saw the Huntress continue to swing about there in front of her own onrushing ship! ***************************************************************** "Fire as your weapons bear!" I cried, seeing the North Star rushing towards us. The ship shaking as our weapons fired! The Huntress still wheeling about, Maris' own return fire now being nothing but a few crossbow bolts in reply as we crossed her path. She was turning her own ship now, trying to run parallel to us so that she could get her own weapons into play. Her heavier ship slower to respond, although I saw her loosen up her spanker to try to swing about. I wondered how much "damage" we had done! "Cross her bow!" I cried, "Keep up the fire on her crew!" I knew that once Maris got over her surprise she would prove to be a worthy foe. She had the bigger ship, the larger crew, and the heavier armament. She also had the famous Dularnian compound crossbow, which we did not, although our compound bows were in my own opinion probably the more "effective" of the two weapons. The jib being used to swing us about again seemingly right in front of Maris' own ship. Our continuous fire no doubt hampering her own efforts to bring her ship under control to return fire! I could see the effects of our fire on her ship, the holes in her sails where a couple of our catapult balls had torn holes. A crossbowman on the forecastle taking aim at me, then dropping his weapon to clutch at an arrow from one of our own archers. I had armed our "ship's girls", everyone who could pull a string!!! Janice with drawn sword directing our fire, while keeping another eye out for the sails, her "first" standing there on the quarterdeck next to the helmsman. Her golden haired counterpart on the North Star doing much the same. Her own lack of battle experience showing here. Before she had fought a poorly handled, poorly fought clumsy first rate, and while she had taken a heavy beating, she had shown considerable "mettle" in the battle. Here however she was fighting a different sort of battle, and her own lack of battle experience and skill at ship handling was showing! While she was a skillful sailor, as she had already shown, Maris lacked experience "under fire", and she had so far been mostly on the "receiving end" of my own fire without being able to do much in return. A state of affairs I did not expect would continue!!! "She's swinging around with us!" someone yelled, although I could see that for myself. Maris using her jib effectively to get her ship turned about almost in its own length, it seemed now as the North Star now for the first time was able to get its own broadside into action! And there was nothing that I could do now to prevent it! We had done considerable "damage" but not enough! "May Lys Be Merciful To Us!" a man breathed beside me, wind- ing up the windlass on a ballistae. The North Star now coming into position to fire its first broadside into us. I could see Maris standing there, her sword gleaming in the bright sunlight. "Let fly the jib! Helm hard to port!" I cried. We would have to receive Maris' "blessings", but perhaps we could make it just a bit "harder" for her own marksmen! The Huntress slowing beneath us as she came up into the wind, The North Star firing as she went by, a javelin transfixing a woman, pining her to the mast. A man, his head a bloody mass, lying there on the deck, a pool of blood staining the white planking! Something whipping by my face, a blurred streak. Perhaps a crossbow bolt. A man there on the deck, clutching at one stuck in his thigh. Janice at my side, her dark eyes wild, grabbing at my arm. Something stung my side, a spent bolt perhaps as I turned. I saw a man fall, a bal- listae javelin piercing him! The ship still was turning, but with the first officer at the helm, the helmsman lying dead at his feet. The North Star falling back, the crew at the ballistae beside me firing a bolt. A catapult ball smashing the rail. The enemy's marksmanship left nothing to be desired, I noticed then. "We can't stand a broadside to broadside battle!" she cried, although that was something I was doing my best to avoid as long as long as I could! Maris now taking the wisest course and let- ting fly her own spanker to swing about her own ship to star- board. Thus to bring our ships back into their original configu- ration that they had been when this battle had started! Men run- ning across her deck as they were across mine to follow orders! "I'm not running away from this!" I snapped. She nodded. Like me she bore the brand of the Warrioress there on her arm. Maris herself was of the same caste. She would not "run" either! "It will be an honor to die at your side," she said to me. "To `fight' at my side," I corrected her. I fully intended to win this fight against Maris! To put "finished" to her ca- reer! I would see that bitch either naked in chains or dead at my feet! Or we'd "stand together" before SHE for our judgement! Huntress was swinging up into the wind, crossing its "eye", while the North Star came about in the other direction, the dis- tance now separating the ships a good quarter mile if not more. We had taken "losses", but I suspected that Maris had taken more. Now that she was "wise" to my own fighting style, she would be even more dangerous. She had the heavier ship, the larger crew, and superior firepower. I on the other hand had the "handier" ship, and the advantage of having some "experience" in battle! ***************************************************************** "How bad?" Maris asked, the second officer dead from an ar- row fired from the Huntress. The Imperial compound bows had been an unexpected weapon. Shorter ranged than her own crossbows, but with a rate of fire that it took several crossbowmen to "match"! "She's got an entirely `unorthodox' battle pattern, but we'll get alongside that damm Imperial `witch' and teach her what for, your majesty!" the first officer exclaimed as he stepped up beside his beautiful golden haired Queen. Maris had remained up on the quarterdeck during the battle, calmly directing her men. Giving her orders in a clear ringing voice, directing their fire. "Her ship is `handier' than ours," Maris answered in reply, "And better commanded," she thought to herself with a grim smile. "We took eight dead, four wounded, two of whom probably won't ever see Dularn again," the officer then added, looking at the golden haired beauty there before him. Wondering as he had before what it would be like to make love to a woman like Maris! He could see the sweat there on her forehead, the way that the Queen's clothing now "clung" to her, well "outlining" her figure. "The `butcher's bill' will be a lot bigger than that before we are done," Maris answered in level tones. And she could very well be one of them too. Tossed over the side with a catapult shot at her feet to speed her descent to the bottom many fathoms below! Her young life snuffed out like some candle flame. And who would care? Her faithless lecher of a husband would find himself another woman, one perhaps more "submissive" than her, to sit on the throne of Dularn while he "sported" with his slaves! ***************************************************************** "She won't `fall' for your `tricks' again." Janice warned. We had lost a total of six to the enemy's missiles. In a broad- side to broadside battle we couldn't match the heavier ship, but I had no intention of fighting the sort of a battle that Maris no doubt wanted me to fight. Nor did I wish to attempt to "board". To fight it out with swords and pikes against superior numbers. "Then I will just have to `supply' one that she will," I smiled back. I was well aware of the fact that the North Star was the "faster" of the two ships, although I did not think that there was really that "much" of a difference. Maris being a more capable commander of her ship than Janice was of hers, I thought. The differences in speed in any case being less than half a knot at the most, which gave me the "option" of trying to draw Maris in towards the coast, where I might just get "lucky" and meet up with an Imperial warship capable of dealing with the North Star! Darlanis having a couple of schooners similar to the North Star. Light three masters of a design I had once "considered" for mine. Hopefully one of them might be at sea instead of sitting in port! "I plan to let her have the `wind gage' this time," I smiled. I suspected that if I "baited" a trap Maris might be just willing to "sail into it" for me if I did it just right too! "Dangerous," Janice warned, her dark eyes glowing into mine. "If I `fall', do the best you can to `cripple' her," I said. Janice nodded, her expression leaving no doubt as to her feelings about the matter. "Including boarding if nothing else `works'." "It has been a pleasure to serve with you," she smiled. |
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