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lead as I followed, leaving the throne room where I'd been having another
"audience" with those who were attempting to get me to "support" things that I
had little desire to "support"! More and more it seemed that everyone wanted
ME to "support" this cause or that cause, spend the taxpayers' hard earned
money upon some "pet" project of theirs that I myself saw little value in...
During the first four years of my reign I'd been busy fight- ing one war
or another against first Dularn and then Mexico. I'd let Sanda run things, and
she in turn had deferred things upon a basis of while we were at "war", we
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couldn't "afford" to "do" it. Now that there was no longer a military threat
to concern people, everyone had their own pet project or "cause" they wanted
me to support, usually against some other group who wanted ME to sup- port
them against the first group. As you can see, I was readily starting to see
that perhaps the sort of "policies" that Darlanis used to carry out, that
Amethysta had a couple of centuries ago were perhaps the best way after all. A
sort of "`KILL THEM ALL, LET LYS SORT THEM OUT!'" I've seen on an Imperial
battle flag...
"You are a `popular Queen'," Amethysta said to me as I took her hands
into mine, glad to have her back, even if there wasn't anything she could do
either here to help me with this "matter".
"So were you in your time," I smiled back at the blonde.
"I don't see that Mrs. Talen around," Amethysta smiled.
"She's hard at work on a `project' of mine," I said.
"I think she `needs' a man," Amethysta grinned back.
"I could use a little `advice'," I smiled back at her.
"You have to be `strong'," Amethysta said as we walked along the
corridor, a number of my guardswomen at a discreet distance. "Either you are
in `control', or `they' are," she explained then.
"It is `said' that you had no `living' enemies," I smiled.
"Those who `opposed' me knew the consequences," she nodded.
"I became `Queen' not because I wished it, but because Sanda and others
saw me as a `means to an end'," I said to Amethysta... Like Maris Marn of
Dularn I was not a Queen "born to the throne".
"My late husband saw me in somewhat the same light," she an- swered,
looking up at one of the tapestries that decorated the hallway. "He wanted a
woman `good with a sword'," she grinned.
"Sanda `wanted' the `same'," I said, remembering just "how" I'd become
Queen. Sanda had been awestruck by my "abilities" with a sword, and she'd no
doubt hoped that I might kill Darlanis for her, thus "avenging" her sister's
death at Darlanis' hands!
"She is a woman who `uses' others," Amethysta said to me. I supposed it
was true. Amethysta was a woman who "saw" the truth.
"She could just as well been `Queen' instead of me," I said.
"But you were the `swordswoman' that she was `not'," my com- panion
answered, her eyes like azure gems glowing into mine now. The thought
occurring to me that I actually knew little of Sanda. That she was devoted to
me was something I had no doubts of here. On the other hand did she see me as
a "weapon" to be used against her own political enemies? I had no doubts that
she was aware if pushed far enough that I would become a ruler like Darlanis
had!! And if I did, would Sanda become my own "Princess Tara" here too?
Amethysta giving me a "grin" as I now stood there beside her deep in thought.
She at least was a woman that I could relate to... A woman who I could "trust"
as much as any that I knew here now.
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"Yes," I breathed, recalling the events of five years ago.
Chapter Thirty Seven
"What did you `think' of our society?" I asked Amethysta, Yvette then
pouring a thick brandy into the other Queen's goblet. Amethysta was a
"barbarian" both in her mannerisms and attire. A woman who saw things perhaps
more "clearly" than one more civi- lized might. I'd done some reading about
her, knew something of "what" she'd done. Had not Tais taken her from her own
time I'd had no doubt that Trelandarian history would have been much dif-
ferent than it had been. And Trelandar would not have been the "easy pickings"
that Darlanis found it to be back there in 2553.
"You are a `better' Queen than I `was'," she smiled back.
"That seems hard to believe," I said to the big blonde.
"More `popular' anyway," Amethysta grinned back at me.
"Depends on `who' you listen to," I smiled back at her.
"You `listen' too much to that Prime Minister of yours," the former
Queen of Trelandar smiled back, swirling the brandy there in her goblet. She
was a hard drinking woman, one well "able" I suspected to drink me under the
table if it ever came to it here. Not a "young" woman as such, being almost as
"old" as Tirana was. My "Warlady" having taken the Huntress yesterday back
"home". I thought lovingly of my estate, of enjoying "peace and quiet" for a
while. Of letting Sanda "deal" with these damn "politicians"!!
"I've `relied' upon her for the last five years," I pointed out in
reply. I "trusted" Sanda, knew too she was "loyal" to me. She who wears a
"crown" often tends to trust very "few" people...
"She now `runs' this country," Amethysta spoke to me then.
"We're actually a `Constitutional Monarchy' like Dularn," I said. The
"role" of the Queen in such a society is one more of a "monitor" to keep the
elected officials from getting out of hand. I could "veto" any bill or law the
Assembly tried to pass, al- though I could be overruled by a four fifths
majority, which was unlikely as even my own worst political enemies had to
admit now. On the other hand I couldn't have "legislation" that the Assembly
wouldn't "give" me, a fact that I was well aware of here too now. I could
"stalemate" the Assembly almost as "long" as I wanted, but on the other hand
they could do the "same" to me in return...
"So `they' claimed," Amethysta said, sipping at her brandy. "That Queen
Barbara of theirs wasn't no `democrat'," she smiled. The Dularnian Queen in
question having been a granddaughter of their famous Queen Denise, who had
established the social order. "Hard drinking bitch, could cuss better than any
man could," the Queen of 24th Century Trelandar smiled back as I nodded in
reply. Jon now just then coming into the room with Bob and Carol in tow.
"Where did you get those `two'?" Amethysta breathed in awe!
"We're `friends' of Lorraine's from the 21st Century," Bob answered,
Carol regarding Amethysta curiously, a "puzzled" look on her face. I knew that
last night she'd gotten up, wandered out into the hallway, and asked the
guardswoman on duty where she could find a telephone so that she might make a
call to "Janet"! Bob had come out just then, and had guided his confused wife
back to their room here at the palace, leaving my guardswoman standing there
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stunned, puzzled no doubt at such a strange request here...
"Not one of my `better' days," Carol spoke then, "smiling" a bit at
Amethysta, who "nodded", looking at the old woman in awe.
"Time travelers," Amethysta breathed, giving Carol a smile.
"We played our `role' here in this time for Tais," Bob added then,
perhaps now even confusing poor Amethysta even more here.
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