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the water we'd have to fish out poor Sela Dai before she drowned in these
almost icy cold waters!
"Your airplane would have made more sense," Valerie smiled.
"I'd like have the Starfire under my command," I smiled.
"I'd like to be in Tarth making love," Valerie smiled back.
Chapter Twenty Eight
Sela Dai's now rapidly beating heart seemed to leap into her throat as
the great bird finally leaped into the air in response to her kicks and the
sting of her riding whip. The mighty wings flapping as the Tarl swooped down
towards the sea below, almost as if it so wished to die there in the waves!
Then it struggled back aloft, her hands in its feathers as she held the reins,
the great flap of the wings bringing back once again memories of oth- er
times. Of her own teenage years when she had first been taught to fly the
great birds! To become a "bird girl" of Talon!
The saddle was small, more just a set of leather straps that served to
keep her on the bird's back between its neck and wings, a "bird girl" usually
carrying only a small blade and her short composite bow and a quiver of
arrows. The birds themselves were by no means "tireless", and one wished to
"spare" the bird as much as possible. Riding a bird was far different than
flying in an airplane, the play of the muscles between one's thighs leaving no
doubts that one was riding on a living being, not in some de- vice developed
by a technology now mostly legends few really be- lieved anymore. The "ride"
was also quite "swoopy", with a quite "noticeable" up and down motion from the
wings that took a good "stomach" to tolerate for long. One could easily become
airsick.
Ahead of her the misty dark haze that was Dularn, a land in which she
could expect to find only enemies should anything hap- pen to her bird. Below
her now only rolling ocean, a cold chok- ing death should her bird falter in
its flight. And not expect- ing to be "riding", she had allowed herself to put
on unnecessary weight over the past few months, which meant a greater burden
yet for her bird to carry, Sela's hundred and ten pounds being heavi- er than
was usual for a "bird girl" of Talon, most of whom usual- ly held their
weights down in the hundred pound range. Mark may have "enjoyed" his "heavier"
Sela, but the bird certainly didn't!
Well behind her now was the Corsica, all its sails set, with Squala and
the Huntress somewhat further back along with the small swift schooner that
had brought the birds from Trelandar. A seagull squawking in terror as the
Tarl flew by it. Sela hav- ing no doubts that the Tarls would be "usable"
outside of Talon! While their military "effectiveness" had been "overrated" by
Dar- lanis and others, the great birds did offer a way of gaining military
"intelligence" that nothing else could equal. And Sela knew just how
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"important" that could be to someone like Lorraine!
Overhead a watery sun gleamed in a hazy sky, the shoreline ahead now
spotted with patches of fog. The fog blowing back against her face like a wet
mist as the bird flew thought them. Sela navigating pretty much by landmarks
and what she recalled of the map that Lorraine had showed her earlier. Ahead
somewhere was Arsana, her objective, where she would observe for herself what
preparations had been made for possible attack from Imperial California. Such
would also determine whether or not it might be possible as Lorraine thought
for her ships to steal on past the Dularnian defenses. Sela doubted it, but it
would save consider- able time if it was "possible", Lorraine had pointed out
to her.
Flying at about a thousand feet, the great bird carried her through now
growing patches of fog, the trees sticking up through the haze there beneath
her. She could feel the bird's breathing, the beat of its multiple hearts,
Tarls having two, unlike other creatures. The leather of her form fitting
attire wet, damp now from the fog as ahead of her now she saw the outskirts of
Arsana spreading out before her almost half hidden by the growing fog.
The city was walled, the walls about fifty feet high. Such could be
scaled, but with difficulty, especially if defended. It had proved impossible
for Imperial troops to do so in any case! Darlanis had tried it, but with
little success for her "trouble".
Sela swooped down low, feeling as I have felt while flying Black Lady
that I had "nothing to fear" from those below. Darla- nis too made the same
"mistake" flying out over the plains as she has narrated in her own story. The
little Princess experiencing a "thrill" as she saw the people flee in terror
there below her!
Suddenly there was a blurred streak as something whizzed by her, the
beautiful young Princess of Talon realizing that she was being fired upon by [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]

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