A Distant Tomorrow (25 page)

“Sirvat has chosen the man she desires, and I am not marrying you,” Lara responded.

“Yes, you are,” he said calmly. Then, “How is it that my sister has chosen a man she wishes to wed, and yet I know not who he is?”

“Must you tell him?” Sirvat cried, distressed. “What if he disapproves?”

“Sirvat fears you will not approve her choice, but I know you will,” Lara told the Dominus. “It is Corrado.”

Magnus Hauk turned to his sister. “I approve your choice, little sister. He is a good man, and our blood kin. When this matter is settled I will approach him. There is no other in his life, for his duties have kept him from all but casual women.”

Delighted, Sirvat threw her arms about her brother and kissed him on both cheeks.

“I believe she is thanking you, Magnus,” Lara said dryly.

He laughed. “I believe she is,” he agreed. “Go to bed now, Sirvat. I would speak with Lara privily.”

Sirvat released her hold on her brother and ran from the room.

“Come and sit with me,” he said, and took her two hands in his as they sat. “I do not like the idea of you being with another man. This Shadow Prince, was he your lover?”

“Yes,” she answered him honestly. “Once Kaliq and I were lovers. It is he who taught me to give and receive pleasures, for the Forest Lords surely did not. Since you are the recipient of his teaching, my lord Dominus, you should be grateful to him,” she teased him gently. “I owe much to Kaliq, Magnus, but you need not fear him. He is my mentor, nothing more, and he knows that. I need his counsel. I do not believe I can do what needs to be done without it. But if you prefer that the men of Terah continue on as you have been these five centuries past, Magnus, I will cease my efforts on your behalf.”

“And when this is over you will become my wife,” he said stubbornly.

“I have no desire to marry again,” she said. “And my children reside in the Outlands, Magnus.”

“We will bring them here,” he said.

“They are Fiacre, and my son may one day lead his people. I cannot take them from what is their destiny,” Lara said.

“Then I will give you other children,” he insisted.

“That choice is not yours to make, Magnus. You well know that faerie women only give children to those they love,” Lara said.

“You speak of your destiny, yet you are here in Terah. What if this is your destiny, Lara? I will not push you into marriage, but eventually you
will
marry me. I am your destiny. Terah is your destiny. Once we can hear the voices of our women again, who knows what we may accomplish? When this is finished, I want you to consider my words.”

“I will,” she said. “I promise you I will.” She leaned over and kissed him softly. “Good night, Magnus.” Then rising from the pillows, she left him. But she was already considering his words. What if it had all been leading to Terah? What if her destiny was to come here, and lift the curse from the men of Terah? Was it not a good destiny to do such a thing, and have the gratitude of a people for the rest of your life? Where could she go from here? Back to Hetar? To what? She had not lied when she said her children belonged to the Fiacre. They did. They had never been hers. They had been Vartan’s. Entering her chamber she mixed the sleeping potion she had brewed earlier into a cup of wine, and drank it. Then she lay down in her lonely bed to sleep. And to dream.

Chapter 9

S
HE
WAS
SURROUNDED
at first
by a soft silver-and-mauve haze. The ground beneath her bare feet was solid. Lara sensed something near her, but it was not Kaliq. Then she saw a wraith of dark smoke before her, and froze.

“You will not defeat me, faerie woman,” a malevolent voice snarled.

“Who are you?” Lara asked the dark umbra.

“You know who I am, faerie woman.”

“If you are Usi who cursed the Terahn men, I will do my best to subdue you!” Lara cried, but her heart was hammering fiercely in her chest. “I am Lara, daughter of Swiftsword and Queen Ilona of the Forest Faeries.” Her throat ached as she forced the defiant words from them.

“I will conquer you, faerie woman, and you will do my bidding,” Usi’s voice whispered. “Under my guidance your magic can restore me to life. If you do, I will reward you as you have never been rewarded. You will know the secret of life, and pleasure such as no mortal man can offer you. That knowledge alone can make you the most powerful woman in the world of Hetar. Even Gaius Prospero will be in fear of you. Does that not appeal to you, faerie woman? Does not the idea of destroying Gaius Prospero tempt you, Lara, daughter of Queen Ilona and Swiftsword of Hetar?”

“You have no powers left,” Lara mocked him, feeling the courage seeping back into her veins. “You are naught but a specter, Usi, who can live only in the dream world. Be gone from me!” She raised a single hand, pointing at the shade, and to her surprise a small flash of lightning sprang forth from her finger. The bolt exploded with a roar as it touched the darkness.

With a horrific shriek Usi disappeared from the dream plane, his mumbled curses ringing in her ears as he fled.

“Very nicely done, Lara,” she heard Kaliq say, and then she sensed him by her side, but she could not see him.

“I was afraid at first,” she admitted. “He startled me, and the evil emanating from him was quite terrifying. Now show yourself to me, you wretched Shadow Prince!”

He laughed, and as he did he materialized before her eyes. “Greetings, my love. You are as beautiful as ever. What think you of Terah?”

“It’s beautiful, and I have never seen a land so green. What lies beyond it?”

“On its far side is another great salt sea,” he told her.

“And on the other side of that sea?” she wanted to know.

“Our desert,” he said with a small smile.

“The land of the Shadow Princes?” Lara was astounded. “How is that possible? I had heard of the Sea of Sagitta that lay between Hetar and Terah, but never another sea between Terah and your desert.”

“You know the Hetarians, Lara. They know what they know, and seek to know no more than that. The Taubyl Traders crossing our desert never travel near that sea, which is called the Obscura. And the Terahns never venture beyond their villages and their fjords. They sail only into the middle of Sagitta, and no farther.”

“There is a great deal of empty land here, isn’t there, Kaliq?” Lara questioned.

He smiled. “Aye. Far more than the peoples of these two worlds could inhabit, my love. You are considering a scheme of great proportions, aren’t you?”

“Not yet, Kaliq. First I need to find the sorcerer’s book of spells. But to do so I must enter his apartments in the northwest tower of the Dominus’s castle. It was obviously sealed after he was killed,” Lara told the Shadow Prince. “Here on the dream plane his aura was dark but weak. Will it not be darker and stronger in the place he once inhabited? I need your help and your protection if I am to succeed, Kaliq.”

The prince nodded. “Aye, you will need my aid.”

“His private place was at the top of the tower, but the window in that chamber has been sealed shut. It must be opened quickly to allow the light in,” Lara said. “Then I must search the room for the book of spells, and take it from the tower to study it. When I have found the spell Usi used to stop up the ears of the Terahn men, then I must work a spell that will reverse the curse that they may hear again,” Lara explained.

“What says your Dominus regarding the situation?” Kaliq asked.

“He is not
my
Dominus,” she replied.

Kaliq laughed knowingly. “Perhaps you are not ready to accept him as such, but he is. Is he not a satisfactory lover, Lara?”

“He is a most excellent lover,” she admitted, blushing, “but I do not want another husband, Kaliq. Remember my destiny.”

“Why did you come to Terah?” he asked her.

“Because it was meant that I come,” she answered without hesitation.

“Why?” he persisted.

“Obviously I was meant to help the Terahns, Kaliq,” Lara replied.

“Help them what?” he demanded.

“Be freed from Usi’s curse. When both men and women here could communicate the Terahns did great things. But since the men have been unable to hear their women they have remained stuck in place. By reversing the spell Usi placed upon them I will be able to free them,” she concluded.

“And then what?” Kaliq asked her. “Will you return to Hetar, to the Outlands? Perhaps to my palace of Shunnar?”

“No,” Lara said slowly, “I do not believe Hetar will ever again be my home.”

“So you will remain here in Terah. Doing what? As what? The Dominus’s lover, and the Wise Woman of this land?” Kaliq said.

“I do not know,” Lara admitted. “But please do not insult me by telling me that my destiny is as wife to the Dominus and mother to his children, Kaliq.”

“Why should becoming his wife mean an end to your destiny?” Kaliq asked her.

“This man is not easy as was Vartan,” Lara told him. “When the call comes, I shall not be able to leave him as I did my lord of the Fiacre.”

Kaliq chuckled. “So,” he said, almost gloating, “you have met your match, Lara.”

“He is a man, nothing more,” Lara insisted. “Well,” she amended, “perhaps more stubborn and set in his ways than others I have encountered.”

Kaliq roared with laugher. Then he grew more sober. “We cannot have you going astray, Lara, and so I will tell you this much. Your destiny will play itself out from Terah. And the Dominus will not stand in your way even if you are his wife. And as his wife, you will gain the power you need to do what you must.”

“He will want an heir right away,” Lara said.

“Not if you tell him the price of marrying you is to wait, but eventually guarantee him the son he desires of you,” Kaliq replied. “He will agree, my love, for he recognizes in you the Domina he must have, that he needs. And he loves you, Lara.”

She sighed. “But first things first, Kaliq. I need to get in and out of that tower safely. Usi’s ghost will be there lying in wait for me, you may be sure.”

“But I will be there too, guiding you,” Kaliq promised. “Do not, however, allow the Dominus to enter the tower with you. He is too human, and could be harmed—or worse, Usi might try to inhabit him in order to regain a body.”

“I will warn him,” Lara promised. “And so our visit is done, Kaliq.”

“Stay a while with me, and I will tell you what is happening in Hetar,” he tempted her, and Lara succumbed without protest to his invitation.

“How are my children?” she asked him.

Reaching into his white robes the Shadow Prince brought forth a crystal sphere and invited Lara to peer into it.

There was Dillon. He had surely grown taller, Lara thought. And there was Noss, chasing after a laughing girl with tumbling dark mahogany curls who toddled away from Lara’s former companion as fast as her little legs would carry her.
Anoush!
Lara felt her heart contract at the sight of her daughter. It had been easier to leave her son, for Dillon was old enough to know who she was. “Put your crystal away,” Lara said with a sigh. “I have seen what I needed to see. My children are well and safe.”

“The loss of your daughter pains you most,” Kaliq said quietly.

Lara nodded. “I have already missed so much of Anoush,” she whispered. Then she asked, “Will the Outlands remain safe, Kaliq?”

He shook his head. “Even our powers cannot hold off the invasion much longer, Lara. Gaius Prospero has been elected emperor of Hetar. He has made many promises that he must keep, or lose his power and his place. Perhaps even his life. He will do whatever he needs to do to survive, my love.”

“I have a plan,” she began.

“I know,” he said. “And you must execute it as soon as you can.”

“I am not sure I can convince Magnus,” Lara told him.

“You must!” the Shadow Prince said forcefully. “Make it a condition of your marriage to him, Lara. It is for our world.”

“Do you still love me, Kaliq?” she asked him cruelly.

“I will always love you, Lara,” he replied sadly. “But I am not your destiny.”

“Is Magnus Hauk?” she countered.

“For now, aye!” he told her. “You know I speak the truth. You bloom within his arms. You flourish with his love for you.”

“How can you know it?” she demanded of him.

“I know everything there is to know about you, Lara. Am I not your mentor and your friend? Did not my brothers and I teach you to know when to trust?”

Lara laughed softly at the remembrance of a single night long ago. “Aye, you taught me well,” she said.

“Then unlock your faerie heart, my love, and give it to Magnus Hauk,” he told her with a small smile. “You know I am right.”

“He says he will tame me,” Lara murmured.

“Rather you will tame each other,” Kaliq said quietly. “Magnus Hauk is a mortal upon whom you may rely, Lara. His heart is good, and he has strong principles. You will find you are much alike.” He took her in his arms, and kissed her brow. “I will be with you when you enter the tower, Lara,” he said to her, and she suddenly found herself slipping from the dream world into a deep sleep. How typical of her Shadow Prince, she thought. He would not say goodbye.

W
HEN
L
ARA
AWOKE
it was a startlingly beautiful day, and she felt more rested than she had in weeks. Slipping from her bed she looked out her window, and watched the sunrise staining the morning skies in a plethora of vibrant colors. The air was warm, and fragrant with the scent of roses. She breathed it in deeply, and realized that she felt strong.
Thank you, Kaliq,
she said silently. Then going to the bath in the Women’s Quarters she bathed slowly and carefully, washing her long golden hair as well. She was drying it in the bath courtyard when Sirvat joined her.

“Did you dream well?”

“I did, and today I will enter Usi’s tower,” Lara told her.

“Will you let Magnus go with you? He wants to, you know,” Sirvat said.

“He must not, cannot come with me,” Lara told the Dominus’s sister. “Kaliq has warned me that Usi could attempt to steal Magnus’s body in an attempt to reincarnate himself.”

“Could he not steal your body?” Sirvat worried.

“Nay. I am well protected—not simply by my heritage, but because Kaliq will be there. Besides, Usi would not want to be a woman, I am quite certain.” She did not tell Sirvat of her encounter with the sorcerer’s shade in the dream world. There was no need to frighten her friend. She arose. “I must dress, and then see your brother.”

“You will need food for strength,” Sirvat fretted.

“I will eat when I have completed my task,” Lara told Sirvat. Then she hurried back to her own chamber. She dressed herself in her leather warrior’s garb, strapping Andraste upon her back, pulling on her boots.

“Am I not to come, too?” Verica demanded in a testy voice.

“No male or male spirit shall enter the tower,” Lara told him. “I met the sorcerer’s specter last night on the dream plane. I fear he might attempt to reincarnate in a male spirit, so you must remain where you are safe, Verica. Andraste is female, and I may need her protection.”

“Be cautious, Mistress,” the staff warned her. “This is a very evil spirit.”

“I will be,” Lara promised, as she left her chamber and hurried to the Dominus’s apartments.

Magnus Hauk looked her over carefully. “You are garbed for battle, Lara,” he said quietly. “You know I would go with you.”

“You must not,” Lara said sternly.

“I know. Your Shadow Prince came to me while I slept, and warned me himself. He said he did not want you wasting your energies in argument with me,” the Dominus chuckled.

Lara laughed. “He is very protective of me,” she answered.

“Should I be jealous?” Magnus asked her.

“Nay. You have no cause, my lord Dominus.” Her hand rested a moment upon his arm. “Let me do this thing, and then we will speak on matters closer to us both. This I promise you, Magnus.” She moved away from him as he reached for her. “You must not kiss me, for your kisses have the oddest effect upon me. They weaken me, and nothing must sap my strength this day, my lord Dominus.”

“How unlike you to admit to a weakness,” he said with a teasing smile.

“I must go,” Lara said, and hurried from his apartments. Just being with him was beginning to drain her. She walked slowly through the gardens overlooking the fjord, the sky reflecting its color into the waters. She took slow deep breaths as she moved. Perhaps Kaliq was right and Magnus was a part of her destiny. She was going to need his cooperation if her unspoken plan was to succeed. And when she reached her destiny would it reveal itself to her? Or must she continue to bumble along, following the voice within and always wondering if she was doing the right thing?