Читать книгу The Twilight Lord - Bertrice Small - Страница 10

Chapter Two

THE chamber was a square one. Its walls were black marble veined with silver. Tall silver censers burning fragrant oils lined the room, their flickering flames casting shadows upon the walls. The floors were wide boards of ebony edged in strips of pure silver. At one end of the room, a square throne of gray and silver marble had been placed upon a matching marble dais beneath a silk canopy of purple and silver stripes. To the right of the throne, a colonnade of shining, veined black marble offered a view of the surrounding mountains between its pillars. The sky beyond was reddish-dun colored. On the wall opposite the throne were great double doors of silver. And directly in the center of the chamber had been set a footed silver tripod holding a wide black onyx bowl filled with crystal clear water.

Kol, Twilight Lord of the Dark Lands, waved a languid hand over the vessel. The water roiled for a moment, grew dark and then cleared once again. “Ahh,” Kol said, staring down at the beautiful woman revealed to him in the water. “Soon, Lara. Soon you will belong to me and I shall have your magic combined with mine. I shall take both Hetar and Terah, and our worlds will be one.” He smiled a dazzling smile.

He was a very tall man, his skin very pale, his hair midnight-black, his eyes a dark gray that sometimes seemed almost black. His face was a very masculine one, yet he could almost be called beautiful rather than handsome. His cheekbones were high, his nose long and straight, his mouth wide and sensual. He had thick, bushy dark eyebrows and long, dark eyelashes that were tipped with silver. He wore a simple dark robe with a round neck and long sleeves embroidered with silver at his wrists.

“Will it be soon, my lord?” asked the man who stood by Kol. He was a dwarf with the wrinkled brown visage of an old man. His back was slightly crooked, his fingers gnarled with age, but his brown eyes were sharp with curiosity.

“Aye, Alfrigg, soon, for I feel the mating lust beginning to rise within me,” Kol answered his chancellor’s question. “The Book of Rule says when that happenstance occurs, I must take the faerie woman for my mate. She is destined to give me my son.”

“She will not come willingly, for she has a mate whom she loves,” Alfrigg said. “And faerie women will not give children to those they do not love.”

“I have summoned the Munin,” Kol replied.

“The Munin? My lord, that is dangerous. What do you want of them?” Alfrigg looked concerned by his master’s news. “The Munin are not easy creatures and can be treacherous if provoked.”

“If I steal the faerie woman from her world she will resist me. But what if I have the Munin steal her memories before I take her?”

“What good is she without her knowledge of magic, my lord?” the chancellor asked. “No matter that she is the woman fated to birth the next Twilight Lord, you need her magic, as well. If she has no memory of her magic then she is of little use to you other than as a life bearer.”

“The Munin will place her memories in an alabaster jar and restore them to her as I require, but first I must convince her to trust me so completely that when I return her knowledge of magic to her she will be only too glad to aid me in my conquests. Her recollections of her husband and her children, I will not restore to her. She will have no need of them. For Lara her life will begin with me and me alone, Alfrigg.”

“She is light, my lord,” Alfrigg reminded him. “You are dark.”

“She will have no memory of the light,” he said with a smile. “And when her fears have been calmed, she will believe everything that I tell her. I will not show myself to be a threat to her in any manner. Indeed, I will be her savior.” He gazed down into the bowl. “Is she not beautiful, Alfrigg? Is she not perfection?”

The dwarf stood on his tiptoes and gazed down into the water. “Aye, my lord, she is an excellent specimen of female loveliness,” he agreed. “But once you restore her magic to her she may not be as easy to manage as previously. Women should not be allowed to have magic. They are emotional and unstable beings!”

The Twilight Lord laughed at this. “Women do have a certain intelligence, Alfrigg. In Hetar and in Terah they manage commerce and even speak their minds,” he told his chancellor who looked properly shocked.

“It is obvious there is no order in Hetar and Terah,” Alfrigg replied sourly. “Women of high caste are for breeding purposes only. Women of low caste are meant to be servants but can also be bred if the serving class is to be perpetuated. Only men of high caste can be considered fit to serve the Twilight Lord. As for the others, they serve as they are told to serve. The appropriate order must be kept, and those who would defy it must be punished so others not be encouraged to disobedience.”

“You are a hard man, Alfrigg,” his master told him with a small smile.

“Thank you, my lord,” the chancellor said with a short bow to his master.

The Twilight Lord returned his gaze to the surface of the water. Krell, Lord of Darkness, he thought to himself, I can hardly wait to have her! He felt his rod twitch beneath his robes, and fought back down the feelings of desire that threatened to overwhelm him. Just a little while longer, he reminded himself.

“My lord.” A serving man was bowing before him. “They have come.”

The Twilight Lord nodded. “Let them enter,” he said and then turned to Alfrigg. “Secrete yourself behind my throne and listen, but do not reveal yourself.”

Alfrigg nodded and did as he had been bid.

The doors to the chamber opened again; suddenly the room was cold. Kol sat motionless watching the Munin as they drifted to the foot of his throne. He had never before seen them and he was amazed by their appearance. They were spectral creatures, almost like shadows. They seemed to have no legs, but he was able to distinguish the arms, hands and faces of the Munin, who ranged in color from the palest to the darkest gray. They traveled toward him in a cluster.

The largest of them now detached from the assemblage, bowed politely and asked in a high, wispy voice, “How may my brethren and I serve you, great Twilight Lord? Your kind has never before called upon us.”

“Thank you for coming, and welcome,” Kol greeted them politely. “I would ask a great favor of you, lords of the Munin.”

“And what will you give us in return for this favor, Twilight Lord?” the Munin murmured.

“You have no home,” Kol replied. “You wander the worlds with no place to call your own. Help me and I will give you the valley we call Penumbras for your own. It is set between two of our tallest mountains where the sun’s rays never reach. It is a cold, dark and secret place. It will be yours for all time.”

“Will you build us a castle there?” the Munin lord demanded.

“A castle and a place beneath the earth where you may store your treasures,” Kol promised them.

“The favor you seek from us must be great. Tell me what you desire of us that you would be willing to part with some of your own lands?” the Munin lord said.

“Do you know of the faerie woman, Lara of Hetar, who was first wed to Vartan of the Fiacre and is now the wife of Magnus Hauk, the Dominus of Terah?”

“The daughter of Ilona of the Forest Faeries and the mortal man John Swiftsword? She who undid the curse of Usi upon the men of Terah?”

“The same,” Kol replied. “I want you to steal her memories and store them here in this jar that sits by my throne.”

A humming sound erupted from among the Munin and then the Munin lord said but one word. “Why?”

“You are aware that the Twilight Lords possess the Book of Rule, brought to us centuries ago by our common ancestress, Jorunn. With each new Twilight Lord, the words and instructions within the book change. It has been predicted since the days of Jorunn that the twelfth generation after Khalfani would take for his mate a woman, half-human, half-faerie, with great powers. Her powers combined with his would allow him to rule over all the lands. Lara is that woman,” Kol said.

“Lara of Hetar is wife to Magnus Hauk and Domina over Terah,” the Munin lord said. “She is allied with and almost worshiped by the eight Outland clan families. Her mother is the most powerful of all the faerie queens. Kaliq of the Shadow Princes is her mentor. Even Hetar’s emperor fears her. Do you mean to steal her, Twilight Lord? She will not come willingly to you. You had best examine your Book of Rule again.”

“The book is clear. Lara is to be the mother of the next Twilight Lord. And I know she will not come willingly. That is why I need you to steal her memories and store them in my jar. I will ask you to restore certain of those memories as she comes to trust me. But one memory I would bid you leave her—her memory of how much she enjoys pleasures, for it is not my intent to frighten her when we mate.”

“Then, when we have taken her memories, you will steal her and bring her here to your castle of Kolbyr,” the Munin lord said slowly. “Her disappearance will cause an uproar throughout both Terah and Hetar, though for different reasons. A search will be mounted and the Shadow Princes will become involved. And Ilona will not sit by quietly with her daughter missing. There must be no chance of them discovering that we have been involved in your treachery, Twilight Lord. Our powers are small compared to yours and those whom you will go up against. Sooner or later it will be discovered that you have stolen the faerie woman. Magnus Hauk will not restrain himself if you mate with his beloved wife to gain a son. If we agree to help you, Twilight Lord, you must first build us our refuge, for when we have done your bidding we will hide ourselves away there until the matter is finally settled between the Dark Lands, Terah and Hetar. If.”

“My powers can build you your castle in seven days’ time,” Kol told them.

An excited murmur arose again from the cluster of Munin as the Munin lord turned back to them to discuss the matter. Some were eager to accept the Twilight Lord’s offer. Others considered his plan too dangerous and worried about being blamed publicly for their involvement in Kol’s perfidy. But the offer of a castle built for them in a secret valley far from all, with their own vault in which to hoard the memories they stole, was too tempting for them to resist. Even if their participation in Kol’s plan was finally discovered, no one would be able to find them. Those belonging to Hetar and Terah did not venture into the Dark Lands. Not even the magic folk.

“Then we are agreed,” the Munin lord said to his companions in their own tongue.

“We are,” they murmured back.

The Munin lord turned to Kol. “Very well, Twilight Lord. Build us our home. We will give you the specifications as to what will suit us. When it is done you will tell us where to find Lara and then we will do your bidding. But not before.”

“I shall start tomorrow,” Kol told them. “When it is finished and you have approved it, we will speak again and I will tell you how and when.” He stood up and bowed from his waist.

“You have but to call us when you are ready,” the Munin lord said, and then the Munin faded away before the Twilight Lord’s dark eyes. “You may come out now,” he said to his chancellor and Alfrigg crept from behind the throne. “You heard it all?”

“It is a bold plan, my lord,” Alfrigg answered him. “How clever of you to know what it was that the Munin wanted. And the Penumbras is a perfect spot for them.”

“Aye,” Kol said, a small smile touching his lips. “And as they have said, Alfrigg, my power is greater than theirs. Once they have done my bidding, once they have settled in my kingdom, the Munin are mine forever. No longer will they be able to wander at will. I will cast a spell on the valley of Penumbras, so they will not be able to leave it without my authority.” He chuckled darkly. “How simple they are. Their weakness is their desire for their own home. That is the trick, Alfrigg, when dealing with others. You learn their deepest desire, and then you use it against them.”

The old dwarf looked up admiringly at his master. “Your wisdom is great, my lord,” he said. “You will surely be the greatest of the Twilight Lords.”

Kol smiled at his chancellor’s words and walked across the chamber to stand between the black marble pillars so he might look out over his kingdom. The reddish sky was now turning purple and black. Bolts of silver lightning leapt from cloud to cloud; his ears caught the distant growl of thunder. Kolbyr, his castle, was built into the highest mountain of the Dark Lands. From its turrets and colonnaded porches you could see nothing but mountains and sky. But beyond those mountains lay Terah and Hetar. Rich kingdoms ripe for the taking. And he would master them all.

Hetar would be first, for its emperor, Gaius Prospero, had already been caught by the lure of the dark and the power it could offer him. But he was a fat simpleton who thought himself more clever than anyone else and who sought only more power, more pleasures and more wealth. I will replace him, Kol decided. He cannot be trusted. But the man known as the emperor’s right hand, Jonah, was a different thing altogether. His heart was already dark, but he was very intelligent. Though he, too, sought power, he knew well how to serve a strong master. He could be content as my governor, Kol thought. And he is clever. Clever enough to have made Gaius Prospero’s number one wife, Vilia, his mistress without that pompous little man knowing. Kol chuckled. Aye, Jonah would be his governor in Hetar. The Forest Lords, the Coastal Kings and the Midlands would fall into line. Only the Shadow Princes could not be conquered, but the Shadow Princes were not known to be aggressive. Left to themselves they were unlikely to thwart his plans for conquest, for they did not involve themselves willingly with others.

Kol watched as the rain began to pour down in thick gray sheets of water. His thoughts turned back to the faerie woman and he drew a deep breath to calm his beating heart. He had already built a luxurious and large apartment to house her and a wardrobe filled with silks and gauzes and furs. She would have views of the mountains from three sides of her rooms. Lara would lack for nothing while in his care. And he would care for her as no man ever had. His chancellor might have little use for women but Kol appreciated their beauty and their charm.

I am already in love with her, he thought. Ever since the Book of Rule had revealed her to him, no day passed that he did not use the reflecting bowl to observe her. She fascinated him with her beauty and manner. He particularly enjoyed watching her with the children she had already borne. It was obvious that she was a good mother. He felt no guilt or shame at robbing those children of their mother. She did not belong to them. She belonged to him. He turned and walked back to the bowl, then waved a graceful hand over it so he might see her once more.

* * *

LARA SHIVERED suddenly.

“What is it?” Noss asked her. “Are you all right? You have suddenly gone quite pale, Lara. Are you cold?”

“Nay, but I just had the oddest feeling—as if someone was secretly looking at me. I have had it now and again over this last year. It only lasts a moment or two.” She shrugged her shoulders as if to shake off the sensation. “My faerie senses grow stronger. It is, I suspect, nothing more than that,” she told Noss with a chuckle.

“The summer is almost over,” Noss remarked, “and soon it will be time for the Gathering. I usually look forward to it, but this year I am not. You will leave us after the Gathering concludes. And traveling with a new infant won’t be easy for me.”

“No, it won’t be,” Lara agreed. “I keeping forgetting that your daughter will be born shortly. If my son is right and it is a daughter.”

“Dillon is correct,” Noss said quietly. “When he makes a pronouncement like that he is never wrong, though he is yet a child himself.”

“I will be glad to have the opportunity to observe him more,” Lara said. “I had not planned to send him to Kaliq until he was twelve but if his powers are strengthening I may have to change my mind. Don’t tell him I said so,” Lara finished with a small laugh. “He is so anxious to go.”

“I suspect he wants to be someplace where his talents are not looked upon with suspicion,” Noss remarked. “There are always those who will be frightened of magic, and often he is thought of as more your son than Vartan’s.”

Lara sighed. “If Vartan were still alive that would not be so.”

“I know,” Noss concurred. “It is sad, but there it is and we cannot change it.”

“I suppose not,” Lara agreed. “Has Bera said anything since we sent Cam away with Sholeh? And how is the woman we chose doing?”

“I don’t think Bera realizes how many days have passed since the boy left,” Noss said. “Pakwa does well with her. Bera enjoys her company and she is a marvelous cook. I actually think Bera is putting on a bit of weight. She seems less intense with Cam gone.”

“What a pity we cannot keep Cam from her entirely,” Lara murmured. “I hope Pakwa will remain when he returns. If Cam decides he doesn’t want her in Bera’s house he will make it difficult for her to stay.”

“Pakwa has been warned. She will concentrate all her efforts upon Bera and ignore the boy. He will have his lessons to concentrate upon in the Icy Season,” Noss remarked. “And he will go to Sholeh again next year. Or perhaps to Rendor or Roan.”

“Don’t allow him to become close friends with anyone,” Lara advised. “He must make no allies among the clan families.”

“Lara, he is just a child,” Noss said softly.

“He will not always be a child and Bera has put it in his head, you may be certain, that he should one day be lord of the Fiacre. Liam will live long, Noss. I know it. But you do not want Cam causing trouble among the Fiacre as your husband grows older.”

Noss nodded reluctantly. “I cannot help but feel if we had been raising Cam it would have been different,” she said.

Lara shook her head. “Nay, there is wickedness in him,” she replied. “He will need to be kept under control all his life.”

* * *

NOSS GAVE BIRTH to her daughter in very late summer. Mildri was a pretty baby and gentle of temperament. The time of the Gathering was drawing near. Magnus Hauk would join Lara and the clan families as he had done every year since they had come to the New Outlands. It was at the Gathering that they rendered him their tribute as their overlord. Lara had sent a faerie post to her husband telling him that Dillon and Anoush would be coming home with them. The Dominus wrote back that his sister, Sirvat, had come to help. She was already preparing rooms for the children despite the fact she was great with a second child to be born in late autumn.

Anoush had grown closer to her mother now that she was not in Cam’s or Bera’s company. Having learned from Dillon of Anoush’s proclivities for plants, Lara had started a small herb garden with her daughter. They would transplant Anoush’s plants to a new garden in Terah, Lara promised. She also taught the little girl small facts such as lavender being an excellent agent for those troubled by sleeplessness and chamomile tea being good for the nerves. One day she took the child up on Dasras with her. They traveled to the Obscura, where they watched the sea creatures playing in the waves. Anoush was fascinated by it all. The angry look had left her eyes, to Lara’s relief.

Then, on a perfect late-summer’s night, Lara and her two children lay upon a gentle hillock almost all of the evening and watched the flying stars streaking across the black skies before the moonrise. The earth beneath them smelled green and fresh with the early dew. Then with Dillon by her side Lara walked home carrying Anoush, who had fallen asleep.

“It was a perfect magical moment,” Dillon told his mother. “Why do the stars fly, Mother? But for this night they seem to be still in the heavens.”

“I don’t know,” Lara admitted. “That is a question we must ask Kaliq when we see him again, my son.”

“And when will that be?” Dillon wanted to know.

Lara laughed. “Oh, how you long to go to the Shadow Princes!” she teased. “But this will be the first time you have lived with me in several years. Let me have a little time with you, Dillon. I am certain Kaliq would agree with that.”

“You grown folk, magical or mortal, all stick together,” Dillon complained.

“’Tis the only way we can survive our young long enough to teach them,” Lara told him with a chuckle.

They entered the lord’s house, then the servant who had waited up for them barred the doors. Reaching the chamber she shared with her children each time she visited, Lara lay Anoush down in her bed with Zagiri, who was already sleeping, and drew the coverlet over them. She kissed her daughters and then she kissed her son who had already climbed into his own bed.

“Good night, Dillon. Sleep well.”

“I don’t know if I can,” Dillon replied. “It was such a wonderful evening, Mother.”

Lara ruffled his hair. “You will sleep,” she told him. Then she lay down in her own bed to rest. It had been a perfect summer. In another two weeks, Magnus would join them and they would all go to the Gathering together. She was anxious to see the other clan lords and learn how they were now faring after several years in the New Outlands. Liam said that everyone was content, but she needed to hear it from their own lips. When she had arrived two months ago, the fields below her had certainly looked fertile and green. And the horses belonging to the Aghy had looked fat. But what of the others? Were Rendor’s sheep thriving? Were the dwarfs in the Emerald Mountains still getting along with the Piaras and the Tormod? Having brought them all here she would always worry about them, Lara thought. But then her eyes began to droop and she fell into a contented sleep.

In the morning when Dillon awoke, he lay quietly considering the odd dream he had had in the night. It had seemed so very real, yet he was certain he had been sleeping. Yawning and stretching, he saw that his mother was already up. He knew she enjoyed viewing the sunrise and was usually awake before her children. Turning his head, Dillon noted his sisters were still sleeping. He smiled at them. They were both his mother’s daughters, and yet they were so very different. Zagiri was adventurous and absolutely sure of herself, which probably came from having a father in her life. Anoush, on the other hand was cautious and defensive, having lost her father before she ever knew him.

Dillon remembered Vartan well and he made it a point to tell Anoush often of how the great Outland lord had taken her up on his saddle and ridden about his meadows with her. He told his sister of how their father had adored his little girl, that he loved both his children with all of his heart. But unfortunately Cam and Bera had told Anoush a different tale of Vartan and confused her. Dillon had to admit that he was glad Cam had been sent away this summer. He was glad that they were returning with Lara to her castle on the Terahn coast. Sadly, without her father, the New Outlands were not good for Anoush. She needed to begin anew. She needed both a mother and a father. Dillon knew that Magnus would love them because they were Lara’s children. The Dominus would treat them well.

Dillon arose from his bed and dressed himself. His sisters would awaken soon. He filled the chamber ewer with water and quickly washed his face and hands. He scrubbed his teeth with a small brush dipped in fine pumice stone that his mother had taught him to use. After rinsing his mouth, he ran his fingers through his dark locks, then emptied the little basin and refilled it for his sisters. The sun was just edging over the horizon. If he was quick he could join his mother.

But he could not find Lara outside and while he pushed back thoughts of his dream he began to wonder if it had been real after all. He had been awakened by what sounded like whispering, yet he could not make out the words. Turning over, he saw a cluster of filmy, almost transparent beings, gray-white in color, hovering over his mother. They drew gauzy golden strands from her head, which one of them wrapped carefully about a large spool. Then the creatures, whatever they were, disappeared into the air itself. Dillon blinked with surprise and when he looked again, his mother was no longer in her bed. I am dreaming, he thought, and fell back asleep. But had he been dreaming? It was so very, very odd. It would have had to be magic. He was aware there were magical beings in their world other than his mother, but Dillon knew instinctively that none of her associates would have been involved with what he had seen in the night. Perhaps Lara left because some emergency had called her. But she would not have done so without telling someone. Dillon made his way back to Liam’s hall from the hillock where he had gone to watch the sunrise with Lara.

Entering through the kitchen door he bid the servants a good morning, and smiling took the thick slice of freshly baked bread the cook offered him. After a time, Noss came into the kitchens, Mildri in a woven sling about her mother’s body.

Noss sat down wearily. “Good morning,” she said.

Dillon smiled at his foster mother. “Has Mildri not yet fathomed the difference between night and day, dear Noss?” He touched the baby’s reddish head with a gentle finger. “She is such a pretty thing. She will be a great beauty one day and will bring a good bride price to you and Liam.”

Noss smiled weakly. “She is also very stubborn,” she said. “The boys were so easy compared to this longed-for daughter of mine.”

“I cannot find my mother,” Dillon replied casually. Please, he thought silently, let Noss say she knows where my mother is. Please let it have been only a strange dream.

“Did she not go out to watch the sunrise as always?” Noss responded.

“She was gone when I awoke and she was not on the hill when I got there. I have not seen her since we went to bed last night.” Well, that wasn’t entirely true, but he couldn’t believe what he had seen was real.

“Oh, she is about somewhere,” Noss answered him. “Perhaps she took Dasras and went to visit Rendor.”

“But she never said anything,” Dillon persisted. “She would have told us if she was going off somewhere.”

“Then she hasn’t gone off,” Noss told him, then turned her attention to Mildri who was now whimpering and demanding to nurse.

Dillon got up and left the kitchens. He headed out into the meadow where he knew Dasras would be with his mate, Sakiri, and their foal, Feroz. Reaching the greensward he immediately saw his mother’s stallion and went to him. Politely, for manners were most important to horses, he bid Dasras and his family a good morning. Then he told the great stallion that his mother was gone and he could not find her.

“Climb on my back, young Dillon,” Dasras told him. “We will search together.”

Dillon grabbed a handful of the golden horse’s cream-colored mane and swung himself up on the animal’s back. Together the two set off to explore the surrounding land. There was no need for Dasras to spread his great white wings, for on foot Lara could not have gotten very far. But when after a time no trace of her could be found, Dasras did indeed take wing. Yet even from above they could not find her. They searched for hours.

I should tell Liam and Noss what I saw, Dillon thought. But despite their long association with my mother they will be inclined not to believe me. They will say again that I am a fanciful boy. I need to speak with Prince Kaliq. Dillon sighed.

“What is it?” Dasras asked.

“Nothing,” Dillon replied. “I am just disturbed that we cannot find Mother.”

“Something is amiss,” Dasras said. “Last night in the meadows the other horses were all unnaturally restless for a brief while.”

“I think we should go for the Dominus,” Dillon answered him.

“Perhaps,” Dasras agreed. “But we are guests of the Fiacre and must let them make that decision. Let us return and see if your mother has appeared from wherever she had been.”

Back in the meadow, Dasras let Dillon climb down from his back and watched as the boy hurried back toward Liam’s hall.

Dillon sought out his foster father and asked if Lara had been found.

“I was not aware she was missing,” Liam said, looking startled.

“Did Noss not tell you?” Dillon exclaimed. “I spoke with her early this morning.”

“I have only seen Noss in passing today,” Liam admitted. “We are getting ready for the Gathering and there is much to do before we make the trek. I could have used your help today, Dillon.”

“Dasras and I have been searching all day for Mother,” Dillon defended himself.

Noss came into the hall and Liam called to her, “Where is Lara?”

Seeing Dillon with her husband, Noss flushed. Then she said, “I have not seen her today. I have been so busy with Mildri. Did you not find her, Dillon?”

“Dasras and I rode for miles around. We even went skyward but we can find no trace of her. I think I should take Dasras and ride to the Dominus’s castle to inform him that Mother is missing, Liam. The night sky will be bright enough, and if I go now I can be halfway there before sunset,” Dillon said.

“There is no need to worry your stepfather,” Noss said sharply. “She might even have gone to the castle on some mission or another. I am certain there is a reasonable explanation for your mother’s disappearance. She doesn’t need Dasras to travel. She may have gone to your grandmother in the forest or to the Shadow Princes. Your mother does not answer to anyone, Dillon.”

“If she had planned to go anywhere she would have told someone,” Dillon said stubbornly. He had to tell them. “I had an odd dream last night and now I fear it may not have been a dream.”

“This is no time for one of your magical tales, Dillon,” Noss said impatiently.

“But what if it wasn’t a dream?” Dillon persisted.

Both Noss and Liam glared at him and Liam said, “Enough, lad!”

Dillon swallowed back his anger. Mortals! he thought furiously. “What about my mother?” he demanded of them. “I have not seen her since last night and neither has anyone else. You have to admit it is strange for her to go off and not tell anyone.”

“It is odd,” Noss admitted. “But she could have.”

“If she has not returned by tomorrow,” Liam said, “we will mount a search for her, Dillon, but I am certain this is just a misunderstanding. Besides, Lara has always been protected by her magic and by Ethne.”

Something is wrong, Dillon thought to himself. I feel it. I sense it. Something is not right about this. My mother is nowhere near. I would know it if she were. Do I not always know when she is approaching? But they will not listen to me. They do not understand. In blood I am more mortal than faerie, but my senses are all magical. “Very well,” Dillon agreed reluctantly.

But by the following day, Lara was nowhere to be found, nor had anyone in the village seen her. Over Dillon’s objections that he and Dasras had searched thoroughly the previous day, Liam nonetheless mounted a great search that spread out for miles about the village yet at day’s end no trace of Lara could be found at all.

The men of Camdene met in their lord’s hall that night to discuss the matter. Now even they were becoming worried. It was not like Lara to disappear and not let someone know. Noss, the serving women and Anoush served the men seated at the trestle tables below the high board. Even little Zagiri toddled about offering the men fresh fruit. And then Dillon saw something glitter from beneath the high neckline of his older sister’s gown. He caught Anoush by the arm.

“What are you wearing about your neck?” he asked her sharply.

“Just an amulet,” she replied.

“Show me!” he demanded.

“It is just an amulet,” she protested.

Dillon’s hand moved swiftly to his sister’s neck and he tore the gold chain from it. “Where in the name of the Great Creator did you get this?” he shouted. “It is Mother’s star! The one that holds Ethne. Where did you get this?”

Anoush began to cry. “When I woke up yesterday I found it in Mother’s bed,” she sobbed. “I have always wanted one like it and she was not wearing it. Give it back!”

Dillon held the chain with its perfect crystal star high for all to see. “Have any of you ever known my mother not to have this about her neck?” he shouted. “I told you yesterday that something was wrong but you would not listen to me! My mother has surely been stolen away! I must fetch Magnus Hauk!” And still carrying Lara’s chain and star, Dillon ran from Liam’s hall out into the evening.

He ran through the village and into the meadow where he called to Dasras. Quickly he explained all that had happened. Then swinging himself onto the great stallion’s back, he said, “Please, Dasras, take me to the Dominus!”

Dasras galloped across the field, his great wings suddenly unfurling and flapping as he rose up into the night sky. The miles beneath dissolved as they flew. The moons of Hetar began to rise one by one as they traveled. After several hours they reached the castle of the Dominus of Terah. Dasras put them down in the middle of the stable yard. It was almost dawn in Terah and Jason, Dasras’s personal groom, came stumbling sleepily from the stables.

“My lord Dasras, I was not expecting you,” he told the stallion.

“Nor was I expecting to be here today,” Dasras replied. “This is the Domina’s son. Show him the way to the Dominus’s apartments and then return to me.”

“At once, my lord,” Jason replied. “Come, young master, and I will take you to your stepfather. Is this your first visit to the castle?”

“It is,” Dillon replied as he followed the older boy into the castle, then down several corridors and up two flights of stairs.

As they passed each of the guardsmen in the hallways, Jason stopped a moment to say, “This is the Domina’s son come from the New Outlands with an important message for his stepfather,” and the guardsmen would pass them through.

Finally they reached the apartments of the Dominus and Jason repeated his message to the guardsmen, one of whom asked them to wait while the Dominus was awakened. But Magnus Hauk was already awake. He had not slept well for the past three nights.

“Dillon, what is it?” he asked as he came to the door and ushered his stepson into his dayroom. “Thank you, Jason,” he called as he shut the door behind them. “What has happened? Is your mother all right? I have been restless the past few nights.”

“My mother has gone missing, my lord,” Dillon said quietly. Seeing the look of concern in his stepfather’s eyes Dillon liked him better than he ever had.

“What do you mean gone missing?” he asked in a tight voice. He was suddenly terrified at the thought he might lose Lara, but he couldn’t let the boy know that. Dillon had obviously come to him for help and for reassurance.

“We had been out on the hillside—Mother, Anoush and me—watching the Night of the Flying Stars. Zagiri is too little to stay up so late,” he explained lest his stepfather think they were unfairly excluding his daughter. “We returned and went to bed, but when I awoke in the morning, Mother was gone. At first I was not concerned, for more often than not she arises early to watch the sunrise. But she was not outside and no one had seen her that morning. Dasras and I searched for several hours, but we could not find her. I wanted to come to you that night, but Liam insisted upon wasting another day searching with all the men of Camdene. Then last night in the hall I discovered Anoush wearing Mother’s star and chain. She said she found it in Mother’s bed. I have never known Mother not to wear that star, my lord, have you?” He drew it from his pocket and held it out to Magnus Hauk.

“Nay, I have not,” the Dominus said. His chest felt suddenly tight.

“My lord,” Dillon started to continue, but Magnus Hauk held up his hand.

“We have discussed this before,” he said quietly. “When we are in private you are to address me by my given name. I am your stepfather, but I know you cannot call me Father, for you knew Vartan. Still, ‘my lord’ seems so formal and your mother had written me that you and Anoush would be coming to live with us after the Gathering. Now, Dillon, my stepson, continue.” He put a comforting arm about the boy.

“My lord stepfather, there is magic here. I know there is. You must come to the New Outlands and you must call for Prince Kaliq to come, as well. My mother is gone, I know it. I feel it! Further searching will not find her there.”

Magnus Hauk knew that Dillon favored his mother for she had often enough marveled that he did. “What do you know?” he asked his stepson.

“I can only speak before Prince Kaliq,” Dillon replied. “I tried to tell Liam and the others but they would not listen to me. They do not understand!”

Magnus Hauk nodded. “No,” he said quietly. “They would not.” He did not argue with Dillon. Instead he called out in a firm voice, “Kaliq of the Shadows, I need your aid. Please come to me.”

And then suddenly Prince Kaliq stepped from a hazy corner of the chamber. He bowed to the Dominus; an eyebrow raised curiously as he saw Dillon. “How may I help you, Magnus Hauk?” he asked. “Good morning, Dillon.”

“Lara has disappeared from the New Outlands,” Magnus Hauk said without any preamble. He then quickly explained what Dillon had told him. “There is more, but Dillon will only speak of it to you.”

“Let us sit down,” the Shadow Prince said. “I can feel your fear, your concern and your exhaustion, Dillon. Sit by me and tell me what you could not tell the others.”

The three sat together upon a silken couch that had been placed before a large hearth. The prince raised a hand and snapped his fingers; a fire sprang up in the fireplace, crackling and snapping, its warmth spreading out to touch the boy’s thin, chilled frame. Almost immediately, a goblet appeared in the prince’s hand and he offered it to Dillon who sipped thirstily. “Now, tell me,” Kaliq said gently.

Dillon explained how they had watched the flying stars and then gone to bed. “I awoke because I thought I heard a noise,” he said. “I opened my eyes and saw filmy creatures hovering over Mother. They were almost silent but for the tiniest of murmurs. My hearing is very acute. I am able to hear the beetles in the grass and the rabbits in the field,” he explained shyly.

“Did they have faces or hands?” Kaliq asked the boy. A small smile played about the corners of Kaliq’s mouth. What powers Dillon exhibited and he was yet untrained. One day, the Shadow Prince thought, he will be a great sorcerer.

“I didn’t dare look too closely for I was very afraid,” Dillon admitted. “I thought I might be dreaming, although something within me knew I wasn’t. Aye, they did have faces. Long, somber visages. And thin hands with long slender fingers that they waved over Mother as they floated over her. And then, my lord Kaliq, they were gone. Evaporated into the air, it would appear.

“I stared hard, for I was not even sure I had seen what my eyes were so certain they had seen,” Dillon said. “And then as I watched over my mother lest they return—and had they, I would have tried to repel them—my mother seemed to disappear into the very darkness that encompassed our bedchamber. I got up immediately and went to her bed. It was yet warm with the heat of her body, but she was gone.” He sighed. “I went back to bed, sure I was in a dreamlike state, but when I awoke in the morning she truly was gone. Dasras and I searched for her the day long. We could not find her. The Fiacre searched for her the following day. That second night I saw Anoush wearing Mother’s crystal star! Mother is never without Ethne. Anoush said she found it in the tangled coverlet of Mother’s bed. I realized then my dream had not been a dream, but when I tried to explain to Liam and the others they would not listen to me. So Dasras and I came to Terah.”

“You were wise to call me,” Kaliq said to Magnus Hauk.

“It was Dillon who asked me to do so. My mind seems not to be functioning,” the Dominus replied. “Who has taken her, Kaliq? And why have they taken her?”

“This is a mystery even to me,” the Shadow Prince replied. “I must speak with my brothers. After we have conferred I will return to you.” But he knew the creatures Dillon had seen were the Munin, although he did not say it.

“I must go to the New Outlands and reassure the clan families that I do not hold them responsible for my wife’s disappearance. And then I will return with Dillon, Anoush and Zagiri. I suspect the children are safer here in my castle than anywhere else.”

The Shadow Prince nodded. “Aye. I know for a fact that Lara placed a spell I taught her about the castle to repel evil and the darkness. Her children will be very safe with you. Wherever she is, I know that would please her.”

“Thank you, Kaliq, for your reassurances,” the Dominus said.

“Farewell, my lord. I will find you in the New Outlands. Go to the Gathering, for it will comfort the clan families. Together we will get to the bottom of this mystery.” Then the Shadow Prince disappeared into the umbra as easily as he had come from it.

“I cannot wait to study with him,” Dillon said admiringly.

“And you will one day,” the Dominus assured his stepson. “Has your mother not promised you that you would?”

“Will we find her, Magnus?” the boy asked.

“We will find her,” the Dominus assured his companion. “Now I think you must get some rest. If Dasras is up to it we will travel to the New Outlands later today. Come and sleep in my bed, lad. You look fair worn with your worry of these past few days.”

“If only they had listened to me,” Dillon said sadly.

“Even had they believed you, they could have done nothing. This business is magic and we will need magic to undo it. The Fiacre have no magic, Dillon. You did the right thing. You came to me and we called the Shadow Prince. He and your faerie grandmother will help us.” He helped the boy into his big bed and tucked a coverlet about him. “I will call you in a few hours,” he promised and then left Dillon to sleep.

Sitting back before the fire that Kaliq had started, Magnus Hauk stared into it. Where are you, my love, my beloved? he cried silently. But silence was his only answer. That she had left Ethne behind—or whoever stolen her had—was not a good omen. There was something wicked brewing. He had lived long enough with Lara to sense it.

He needed to speak with his brother-in-law, Corrado, who commanded Terah’s fleet. His vessel had just returned last night from a trading voyage. Corrado would have to manage Terah while he was in the New Outlands because the Great Creator only knew how long he would be away. Corrado and his wife, Sirvat, would have to move into the castle to look after the children while he was gone.

And there was the ambassador from Hetar to consider. Jonah had returned to Hetar with Lara away. There was no one who would tell him where she was, for Hetar had no idea that Lara and the Shadow Princes had removed the clan families from the Outlands and brought them to safety in Terah. If he were here now he would be sniffing about for gossip and information as he always was.

The Dominus almost felt sorry for Jonah. He was an intelligent man but he was every bit as evil as his master, Gaius Prospero. And Magnus Hauk knew he was in Terah for the sole purpose of finding a weakness in Terah that he might exploit to his own benefit or Hetar’s. Now and again he returned to The City to report to his master on the nothing he had been able to learn. And Lara had laughed, knowing how frustrating that must be to Gaius Prospero. It was better he was gone now, the Dominus thought.

The day went quickly and was coming to a close when Magnus Hauk woke his stepson. They ate a hearty meal and then, as Dasras had agreed he was up to returning to the New Outlands, they departed the castle. They reached New Camdene while it was yet night there and Liam, who had been awaiting them, came from his hall to meet them.

Kneeling before the Dominus he begged his forgiveness for Lara’s disappearance.

“It is not the fault of the Fiacre that my wife is gone,” Magnus Hauk said loudly, for all of New Camdene’s population were gathered around them despite the early hour. “This is dark and wicked magic. You could not have prevented what happened. I have spoken with Prince Kaliq and he will join us shortly. In the meantime, keep to your preparations for the Gathering. I will travel there with you.”

Liam arose and kissed the Dominus’s hands. “Thank you, my lord. Your words of reassurance are soothing to us. Now come into my hall and refresh yourself after your long ride. The new day will soon begin.”

“See to Dasras,” the Dominus murmured to his stepson, ruffling his hair.

In the hall, Magnus Hauk greeted Noss and admired Mildri. He sat with them before their fire, and told them that before the trek for the Gathering began he would be sending the children back to his castle. “Lara has a spell about it to protect it and its inhabitants. My sister will be there to see the children’s lives continue on uninterrupted. I am waiting for Kaliq, for he can transport them quickly. I may need Dasras.”

“You said dark magic,” Noss half whispered.

“Naught else could have taken Lara. Kaliq will explain it all to you when he arrives. Until then we must carry on as usual.”

“Papa! Papa!” Zagiri came running and climbed into his lap. “Mama is gone.”

The Dominus kissed his little daughter and then, reaching out, drew Anoush, who had been standing nearby, into the curve of his arm. “And how are my two girls?” he asked them. “Zagiri, you are as brown as a little nut! And Anoush, oh my, how lovely you are growing. Come and give me a kiss, too.”

Anoush bent and kissed his cheek. “I am so afraid, stepfather,” she said, shivers racking her slender little body.

Magnus Hauk drew his stepdaughter into his lap with her sister. “I am, too, Anoush,” he told the girl. “But we will find your mother, I promise you. We will find her, and we will bring her home to us.”

Anoush lay her head on his shoulder. “May I call you Papa, too?” she asked him shyly and softly.

The Dominus of Terah could feel a prickle behind his eyelids and he blinked hard. “It would please me so much if you did,” he said as he placed a kiss on her brow. “But only if you want to, Anoush.”

“I have never had a father,” Anoush told him. “Vartan sired me but he was gone before I might remember him. I have always wanted a father.”

“Then you shall have one in me, my daughter,” the Dominus told her. “And I know your mother would be happy with your decision.”

“I do not do it for my mother,” Anoush replied. “I do it for me.”

Magnus Hauk chuckled. “Has the Great Creator given me two headstrong daughters to raise?” he demanded to know in pained tones.

“I am much better at minding than Zagiri,” Anoush said primly.

“I am relieved to learn it,” the Dominus said.

“Will you find our mother, Papa?” Anoush asked him again.

“I will find her, I promise you, my daughters. And I have never broken a promise,” Magnus Hauk told them. “I will find Lara. And I will bring her safely home.”