Authors: Bertrice Small
It is now Jonah’s,
Kaliq answered her.
But wait, someone comes.
The door to the room opened and a man stepped inside. He was tall and slender with a long, scholarly face that was neither young nor old. His close-cropped dark hair was lightly sprinkled with silver. He was not a handsome man, but neither would he be considered homely.
Reveal me to him, Kaliq. You will know when I wish to not be seen again.
The prince touched Lara’s shoulder, and she became visible to the Lord High Ruler of Hetar, who was now seated at his desk.
Jonah blinked once, then again as if trying to clear his sight.
“You are not imagining it, my lord Jonah,” Lara said. “I am here.” She drew the elegant vellum invitation from her robe and handed it to him. “You are invited to the formal coronation of my son Taj, Dominus of Terah, in eight days’ time. You may bring your wife if you choose.”
“You did not come to just deliver an invitation,” Jonah responded. “You know what is happening here. Your kind know everything.”
Lara smiled a wicked smile. “Aye, my lord, we do. Do not think you have gotten an advantage over me, over Terah, by stealing Zagiri and marrying her. You have not. If you wish to save your worthless hide,
my lord,
you will have to do as we say. And it will pain you greatly, I am certain.”
“You can defeat and destroy the Hierarch?” Jonah leaned across the large table that served him as a desk. “
How?
He preaches to the people about returning Hetar to its days of glory, but he does not say how he will do it.”
“Nay, he does not,” Lara replied. “Because no kingdom flourishes by returning to the past. You can only flourish by moving forward, my lord Jonah. This man who calls himself the Hierarch is being controlled by a Darkling named Ciarda. Aye! I see from the look upon your face that you know of whom I speak. It was she who aided you in stealing my daughter from Terah. And since then you have had no contact with her, have you?”
Jonah looked abashed.
“Ciarda is a daughter of Kol, the Twilight Lord. She loves her father, and wishes to complete his plans to bring the darkness to our worlds.”
“But we defeated him!” Jonah said.
“Aye, we did, but one defeat cannot keep the darkness from attempting to encompass us again. You are no fool. You know that. This is a never-ending battle,” Lara said. “Your late wife descended from a powerful sorcerer named Usi. Her ancestress, Ulla, was his concubine, and bore him a daughter here in Hetar. His other concubine, Jorunn, bore him a son who became the Twilight Lord, and from whom all subsequent Twilight Lords descend. In each generation of Ulla’s descendants there is but one female able to touch the darkness should it be necessary. The Lady Vilia was the one in her generation, which is why Ciarda could reach out to her.
“It was the Darkling who put your son’s life in danger, and then bargained with Vilia for his life. It was the Darkling who convinced her to choose Zagiri for your next wife. The darkness does not just want Hetar. It wants Terah, too. By attempting to set us against one another she weakens us both.”
“But would Terah not have aided us in our time of troubles?” Jonah asked.
“Terah wishes no congress with Hetar, and never has. I am beginning to realize, however, that perhaps that can no longer be possible. Even if you had not married Zagiri against my will. It seems our worlds are becoming bound together, my lord Jonah.”
His black eyes narrowed a moment, and Lara almost laughed to see him considering the possibilities in her words.
“Whatever is to be, my lord, it cannot be. Our only goal together at this time is to defeat the powers of darkness once again. To this end the magic world will aid you,” Lara told him. “But in exchange for our help you must alter your ways.”
“What do you want of us?” he asked her.
“Hetar does need to return to its traditions, but not in the same way as this Hierarch suggests. He would have you go back to the past. Your traditions need to be made more modern to suit the time in which you live. Hetar always gave those who worked hard the opportunity to improve themselves. Yet today your people have no such opportunities. You have become a society of the wealthy magnates and the poor. Everything has stood still in Hetar. This must change,” Lara told him.
“The Hierarch wants women to take a more traditional and subservient position in society again,” Jonah said. “He wants them off the High Council.”
“Ah, of course. He would tempt the magnates with the offer of more wealth, he would present the women as a scapegoat for those who seek someone to blame, but you cannot allow that to happen, my lord. You have always been a man of action, Jonah of Hetar, yet suddenly you demur to make decisions for fear of offending one voting block or another, of losing your position,” Lara said. “You must show Hetar that you are a strong leader again if you are to prevail.”
“He has the masses in the palm of his hand, Domina,” Jonah said.
“And many of those people are female,” Lara pointed out. “Refuse to disenfranchise the women. Say Hetar needs their aid to return to its greatness. Be they wives or Pleasure Women, Hetar needs their best efforts, and if females are considered unequal then why would they give their best? Say Hetarian women are entitled to help fashion the future of Hetar every bit as much as the men are. Men have ruled Hetar for centuries, and look where it has gotten you. There are other things you can do that I know will go against your need for profit, but for now profit must be sacrificed if you are to save Hetar. You must see laws passed preventing profiteering from all this misery. You must fix prices of staples such as wheat, rice, bread. You must keep your promise to repair the hovels in The Quarter. Put your Mercenaries to work doing that, and to rebuilding the roads and bridges leading to the other provinces. In exchange for their services see that their hovels are given to them, to their families to own. And it is past time the Crusader Knights rebuilt their own Garden District. Zagiri wrote her sister that it is very shabby. And announce that in a year’s time they will again hold a tournament to pick new candidates for their ranks. Retire the eldest of them and send them to good homes in the Outlands. Hetar needs hope. It has become stagnant.”
“And the magic kingdoms will stand behind me in these efforts?” Jonah asked her. “What you are suggesting will cost a small fortune.”
“You and the magnates have the coin to spare. And what of the taxes you have collected? I will assume the government has its monies in a safe place. As for the magic world, my lord Jonah, you cannot say we are behind you lest you alert the Darkling and her minions,” Lara told him. “She must not know that you are fighting her efforts.”
“Do you know who the Hierarch is, Domina?” Jonah asked her.
“We know,” she said, “but until the Darkling is defeated no one would believe you if you told them. We will marshall our efforts against the darkness. You must gird your loins, and fight for Hetar’s survival. If you do not, prepare to die, and my daughter with you, Jonah of Hetar.”
“You must keep Zagiri safe!” he said, and Lara suddenly saw the fear in his face for his young wife.
Her tone toward him softened. “I had heard it said that you love her.”
Jonah’s normally cold black eyes were suddenly warm. He said nothing, but he nodded.
“Then do what you must to prevent the darkness from spreading, my lord,” she told him. “My daughter linked her fate with yours, and so it shall be to the end.” And then she disappeared before his very eyes.
“Domina!”
he cried after whirling about as if he might see her in another part of the room, but Lara was gone from his sight.
’Twas well done, my love,
Kaliq said.
If he has the courage to act. I have never really known if he was cowardly or brave. Clever, aye! Diabolically so. He outplayed Gaius Prospero and claimed his throne, but has he the fortitude to go against the magnates? Does he have the nerve to stand up to the Hierarch? He will need allies. Let us go and see the Lady Gillian, my lord Kaliq. If she knows we are helping she will gather the strongest of her kind, and they will marshal the women of Hetar, most of whom will not want to return to the good old days.
Prince Kaliq wrapped them once again in the folds of his cloak, and when he threw back the white silk they found themselves in the privy chamber of the former Headmistress of the Pleasure Guilds.
Lady Gillian looked up, surprised, from a tapestry she was weaving. “Lara!” She smiled a welcoming smile, and then her eyes went to Prince Kaliq. Rising, she performed a deep curtsey. “My lord, and welcome to my home.”
Kaliq took both of Gillian’s hands in his own, kissing them respectfully. “I thank you, lady. To my delight the stories of your beauty have hardly done you justice.”
Lady Gillian laughed softly, and bowed her head in acknowledgment. “And you, my lord Prince.”
It was rare that Kaliq conversed with mortals, but Lara was always amazed by the ease he displayed when he did. She coughed softly. “We are going to need your aid, my lady Gillian,” she said.
“Of course,” Gillian answered, and with a graceful gesture invited them to sit. “May I call for refreshment?” she asked.
“Best not to,” Kaliq answered. “We prefer that our presence in Hetar be discreet.”
“How may I help you, then?” Gillian queried them.
“This Hierarch is more than likely a fraud,” Kaliq began. “He is being controlled by a Darkling who wishes to bring Hetar into the darkness as did her father, Kol. I will let Lara explain the particulars to you.”
Lara began to speak, explaining the history behind Ciarda, her desire to complete what her father had not, how she had apparently chosen this young mortal man to be her cat’s paw. “He has no powers to create these miracles he is believed to perform. Invisible beside him, it is she who makes the magic the people see,” Lara explained. “If he is allowed to overthrow the Lord High Ruler this Hierarch will bring the darkness upon Hetar. As much as I despise Jonah and his ilk, the Hierarch must not be allowed to do this, Gillian.”
Then Lara went on to explain her visit to Jonah and the reforms she had suggested he would have to make if he was to hold on to his throne. “We will soon learn if his ambition or his greed is the greater,” she said. “Wealth is easier to recoup than power, however, and I think Jonah understands that.”
Lady Gillian nodded her agreement. “What can I do?” she said.
“You will have to gather the important women together quickly so they may each speak with other women in The City. When Jonah says that he will defend the rights of women to be heard and participate we need a vocal majority to back him. This will throw off the Darkling, who expects the women to capitulate easily. Why should the Pleasure Houses be returned to the ownership of men only? Or the new houses that cater to women be closed down? The Pleasure Guild pays a great deal of taxes, and that is due to the women who own the houses and those who work in them. You do not cheat the council as the men used to do when they owned these lucrative businesses.”
“But the taxes have not been used as they should have been,” Gillian pointed out.
“I suspect they will be in the future,” Lara said dryly.
“How can you be certain of this?” Gillian wanted to know.
“Because the women on the council are going to see to it,” Lara told her. “The council is made up of twenty members, with the Lord High Ruler voting only to break a tie. Only five are women. And men like the Forest Lords and the Midlanders are unlikely to ever see women as anything but subservient. But they are only four. There are eleven other votes you can work to sway. You won’t get them all, of course, but you need only six. My half brother is a reasonable man. Make a point of speaking with the wives of the representatives from the Mercenaries and the Crusader Knights. These women can influence their husbands on matters that concern their families and their children. And my daughter can sway her husband.”
“Hetar’s
First Lady
is interested only in her own enjoyments,” Gillian said candidly. “Her lust for pleasures is said to be prodigious and inexhaustible. They say it is her faerie blood run wild. Jonah is the envy of his companions, and is so jealous of her that he will only share her with their household sex slaves. They possess three. Two males and a female. Once I would not permit you to be sold into one of The City’s Pleasure Houses because your beauty would have destroyed us all. It is fortunate that your daughter is not a Pleasure Woman, though there are some who wish she could be.”
“Unlike other girls in Terah who at fourteen are permitted to take lovers, Zagiri never wanted a lover,” Lara said. “When her pent-up desires are fulfilled she will be less aggressive in her needs. Speak to her, Gillian. Ask her to use her influence with her husband for the betterment of Hetar.”
“Why will you not speak with her?” the retired Pleasure Mistress asked.
“My own anger at what happened has still not cooled,” Lara admitted frankly.
“Yet you spoke to Jonah,” Lady Gillian observed.
“I had no choice in that matter,” Lara said. “I do where Zagiri is concerned. If I speak with her, and she angers me as she can so easily do, then the breach between us widens. I don’t want that. In time I will overcome my reluctance, and my repulsion.”
“You are repelled? Why?” Lady Gillian asked.
“Because of her choice of a husband. My beautiful young daughter has shackled herself to a man who could be her father. He will be old when she is still young!” Lara cried. “As a faerie woman I know the pain you can suffer watching your mortal lover grow older. That is why faeries never linger long with their mortal partners. Yet my mortal daughter has picked an all-too-mortal man to love who is many years her senior.”
“I cannot convince Lara that this is Zagiri’s fate,” Prince Kaliq said softly.
“What kind of a fate is that for my beautiful child?” Lara said angrily.
“Her fate,”
Kaliq said in a stern voice. “Not what you would wish for her, my love, for rarely does what you desire for your children come to pass. Each mortal born has its own fate to follow.”