Authors: Bertrice Small
Lara had returned to her privy chamber in the Dominus’s castle. The windowless chamber was quiet, and she was able to think without distraction. She considered carefully what Cam had told her. The Darkling had told her nephew that Anoush was hidden in the one place that Lara would not consider looking. Where was it? Where would she not consider looking? And then it came to her in a burst of certain clarity.
“No!” She heard herself say the word aloud.
You must go,
Ethne, her crystal spirit guardian, said.
I cannot!
Lara answered her in the same silent magic.
Would you leave your daughter in
that
dark place?
I barely escaped with my sanity and my soul last time,
Lara cried.
Perhaps she is not there. I am surely mistaken.
You cannot know for certain unless you go there yourself,
Ethne said.
The Dark Lands. The castle of the Twilight Lord. Lara had spent many months a prisoner in that terrifying place. Memories of Kol assailed her, and she struggled to push them back. Kol had been handsome and he had been seductive. His rapacious appetite for pleasures had been legendary. He had stolen her memories and stolen her to be his mate. Lara shuddered. She remembered every moment of the time she had spent with him, even those minutes when she had no memory of who she was, and he had fabricated lies to make up for the loss.
And then Kaliq had gotten her memories restored, and Lara learned that everything that had happened had been carefully planned by those in the magic realm of light, including Kaliq and her own mother. Planned so that she would birth twin sons, causing chaos in a line of rulers who traditionally only birthed one male a generation. And it had all come about as they had planned it.
She was pregnant with her husband’s son when the Twilight Lord had caught her upon the Dream Plain. He had taken the powers of a succubus, and he had violated Lara, planting his seed in her to grow along with Magnus Hauk’s son so that when her time came, she birthed that boy, and she had birthed a daughter, Marzina. No one knew Marzina’s true sire but Kaliq, Lara and Ilona. Kol had been imprisoned in a hidden place for a thousand years. And her life had once again moved in a straight line.
Until now.
She couldn’t go back.
She couldn’t!
But if Anoush was imprisoned in the castle of the Twilight Lord as she once had been, Lara knew she would have to go back. She couldn’t leave her oldest daughter helpless to…to… Lara gasped. What if they had awakened Anoush? What if Kolgrim and Kolbein had told her who they were? What if despite their blood tie they had violated Anoush? Kolbein thought nothing of taking pleasures with his Darkling half sister, Ciarda.
She had to know if Anoush was in the Dark Lands. And Lara knew that she could trust no one else to learn the truth of the matter but herself. She began to weep, and hated herself for the weakness. When the shock of what she must do had subsided, she bathed her face in a basin of lavender water that she conjured. Then she poured herself a cup of bobble-berry Frine. Finally she stood, and, going to a small cupboard, she drew out fresh clothing, rebraided her hair and stripped off her pale green silk robe.
She would wear the garments in which she had always felt the strongest. She donned an ivory silk shirt, tucking it into the soft cinnamon-colored leather pants she loved best. Next came a pair of silk and wool foot coverings, and the well-worn but comfortable brown leather boots that came to just over her knees. Lara wrapped a dark green sash about her waist. It contained several hidden pockets filled with herbs and special small stones. She tucked an ivory-handled dirk into a leather-lined knife case within the heavy green silk.
Andraste! To me!
Lara called, and her famed sword appeared already settled within its leather sheath. Lara buckled the belted sheath about her chest so that Andraste might rest snugly against her back. The sword was already humming softly as Lara drew on her soft dark green leather gloves. It had been some time since she and Andraste had journeyed together.
Fear not, my child,
Ethne said to her.
You journey to the Dark Lands, but the light surrounds and is within you. You are protected.
Lara sat a moment, drawing a small piece of parchment from a drawer in her table. Picking up a quill, she scrawled a quick message to Kaliq. Then, calling a faerie-post messenger to her, she entrusted the tiny faerie with its delivery to Shunnar.
“At once, Domina!” her messenger said, and was gone from Lara’s privy chamber in a flash of light.
Lara drew several long, calming breaths. And then she spoke aloud.
“Into the darkness I must go. Keep me safe from harm and woe. Return me back when I would. And let me do only good.”
She felt herself being drawn into a whirling black vortex where about her the winds howled and blew icily. Lara bit her lip till she drew blood to keep from screaming. The spinning slowed, slowed, and finally stopped. And she was standing in the throne room of Kol’s castle. It was a place she had never thought to see again. Lara shivered, but then iron seemed to enter her veins.
I am faerie and I am stronger than anything here,
she thought.
“Why, Mother, how nice of you to pay us a visit.” She heard Kolgrim’s familiar mocking voice, and Lara turned to face him.
“But for the color of your hair you look just like your father, standing there upon the steps to his throne,” she said to him as she walked toward him.
“Would you like to see my sister?” Kolgrim queried her pleasantly.
“Where is she?” Lara asked him. Her heart had now returned to a normal beat.
“We put her in your old room. The place our father conceived us, and you bore us,” Kolgrim said. And he smiled at her.
“If you have harmed her in any way,” Lara began.
Kolgrim held his hand up. “She sleeps,” he said. “She has no idea where she is.”
Lara felt a rush of relief.
Seeing it upon her face, he laughed. “Is she so precious to you, then? Unlike us, of course. Did you love her father?”
“Her father is a great hero of his people. Your father was a villian who stole me from my husband, and begat you upon me,” Lara responded.
“Yet faeries do not give children to those they hate,” Kolgrim said.
“You do not know the whole tale?” She was surprised, but then why would anyone associated with the Dark Lands have told him? “Your father had the Munin steal my memories. He convinced me I was his wife, and had been ill. Kol could be very kind when he chose, and because he needed me to conceive his heir, he was indeed kind to me. Of course, when my memories were restored and I learned what had happened, I did what was required of me. I used my magic to make two of the one, thus bringing chaos to the Dark Lands,” Lara told Kolgrim.
He nodded, and his dark gray eyes held an admiring light. “Perhaps it is from you I gained my cleverness,” he said to her.
“There is nothing of me in you or your brother!” Lara replied.
“I have your golden hair,
Mother,
” he murmured.
“I am taking Anoush back with me,” Lara told him.
He shook his head. “I cannot allow you to do that,” he said. “I’m afraid it would anger our Darkling sister greatly. Ciarda is particularly nasty when crossed.”
“You cannot allow?”
Lara burst out laughing. “You have no real powers yet, and when your powers are eventually realized they will only be half of what they should be because there are two of you.”
“We have taken our captive by using the power of three,” Kolgrim told her. “There was a spell in the Book of Rule for it.”
“There are few spells I cannot overcome,” Lara said. “Listen to me, foolish boy. The Darkling uses both you and your brother for her own ends. She means to take the worlds into darkness, and rule it all from this castle. And she favors your brother over you, for she knows she can control him, but she cannot control you. Where is Kolbein now? Do you even know?”
“He is in the House of Women,” Kolgrim replied.
“And where is the Darkling? Probably with her mortal lover, whom she will eventually kill when he is no longer of use to her. As she will kill you,” Lara told him.
“She cannot kill me,” Kolgrim said. “It is forbidden.”
“Aye, it is, but why would that stop her?” Lara responded. “In this kingdom women are taught subservience. But Ciarda is not subservient. In this kingdom women do not rule. Yet Ciarda would rule not just the Dark Lands, but all the worlds, as well. And if she would do that, why would you think she would even hesitate to kill both you and your brother?” Lara smiled a wicked smile at him.
“The people of this kingdom would not tolerate a woman attempting to rule them,” Kolgrim said.
“The people of Terah do not permit women sovereigns, either,” Lara said, “and yet I rule in Terah even as Ciarda will rule in the Dark Lands. She will be a Shadow Queen for her son, and she will see he is too weak to overcome her.”
“She has no son! And if she did he would have to be from the direct line of Jorunn and Usi to rule the Dark Lands,” Kolgrim said. “I have never lain with her, nor will I ever lie with her.”
“For now the Darkling is content to leave things as they are, for she has other matters concerning her,” Lara told him bluntly. “But when she is ready it is Kolbein’s son she will conceive, and she will have no hesitation in killing you and your brother when she chooses to do so and you are no longer of any use to her. Now take me to Anoush.”
Kolgrim had grown oddly silent as he absorbed her words. Then he said, “Come!” and led Lara from the throne room through a familiar corridor to the beautiful apartments that had once been hers. There upon her bed lay Anoush, sleeping soundly and totally unaware of anything about her. “She looks like her sire, doesn’t she?” he said, gazing down at the dark-haired girl.
Lara nodded. “Aye, she does.”
“And she is my blood through you,” he said.
“Aye, she is,” Lara admitted.
“Ciarda is my blood, too, through our father,” he remarked. “She says it was the power of three that allowed us to bring her here.” He looked directly at Lara.
“Yes,” Lara said. “The protective spell had already been accidentally broken.”
“By whom?” Kolgrim asked, both fascinated and curious.
There was no point in lying or being mysterious, Lara decided. “My youngest daughter, who seems to have been born with a great talent for magic like her mother and eldest brother. She did not mean to do it, became frightened by what she had done and hid herself away. It was several days before she was found, and admitted to her error in judgment. By that time Ciarda had discovered the spell broken, and, using the power of three, was able to bring Anoush here. She could not have done it otherwise, for most of her powers are currently channeled into aiding the Hierarch.”
Lara continued as Kolgrim eyed her thoughtfully.
“She needed Anoush, for, you see, the mortal she chose to serve as the Hierarch is in love with my child. As long as Ciarda holds Anoush captive, Kolgrim, the Hierarch will do her bidding. Without Anoush she has been left with little to control him, for the Hierarch is beginning to believe that perhaps he is really who they say he is, and that he actually has the power.”
“He doesn’t?” Kolgrim said.
Lara shook her head. “No man could be more mortal than Cam of the Fiacre. Without him, however, Ciarda cannot bring Hetar into the darkness, for she has invested much in him now. But why should you care about what this Darkling wants? Should you not be more concerned about your own kingdom? The one you share with your twin? The Dark Lands are but a means to an end for Ciarda. An end in which neither you nor your brother have any place. Will you allow her to steal your heritage, and defile its traditions? If you do then know that Kol would not be proud of you.”
“Would he be proud of Ciarda?” Kolgrim asked Lara.
“He would be admiring of her, and amused by her, but he would never permit her to do what she is doing. He would give her to his personal guard for pleasures first,” Lara said bluntly. “Then he would have killed her himself, for although she carries his blood she is but a female. It is the direct male line that rules in the Dark Lands.”
“What am I to do with Kolbein, Mother? I cannot kill him,” Kolgrim said.
“Unfortunately you cannot, according to your own Book of Rule,” Lara agreed. “Let him be, for if women and wine are his pleasures, as long as he has as much of them as he wants you can keep him content.” She turned away from Kolgrim briefly, and, holding her hands over the sleeping Anoush, she said in the silent language,
Return my child from whence you came. Never come this way again.
And immediately Anoush disappeared.
“I heard you!” Kolgrim cried excitedly.
She couldn’t help but smile. “Then the magic is beginning to awaken fully in you, Kolgrim. Tell the Darkling when she returns that I will destroy her should she attempt to harm any of my children again. And warn her that she will not win.”
“Would you include my brother and me in that august grouping?” he asked her, mockingly cocking a thick bushy black eyebrow, for though his hair was as golden as hers he had the heavy black eyebrows that his father had possessed.
Lara laughed. She could not help it. Eventually Kolgrim would personify all the darkness in the worlds, but for now he was merely a wicked boy. She considered if he might be saved as she would save Marzina, but then she shrugged in answer to his question. “I must go,” she told him.
“If you had to choose, Mother, which one of us would you pick?” he asked her provocatively, and then watched as she disappeared before his eyes, leaving the unanswered question hanging heavily in the air.
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
L
ARA
HAD
TRANSPORTED
the slumbering Anoush not back to her own house in the New Outlands, but rather to Prince Kaliq’s desert palace. No one unwelcome by the Shadow Princes could penetrate into Shunnar. Anoush would be safe. Having seen to her eldest daughter’s comfort, she went to find her youngest daughter. Looking out over the open marble porch colonnade down into the horse meadow, Lara saw her with Og. Marzina was sitting upon the giant’s shoulder as he walked through the fields allowing the young girl to pick herself a horse. Satisfied, Lara turned away to find Kaliq behind her.
“Remember the first time you looked down into that meadow?” he asked her.
She smiled up at him. “Aye, I do. Your stallion was cutting mares from the herd with which to mate.” Then she grew serious again. “I must go to Hetar, and see what I can do to embolden the Lord High Ruler to finally act, and to get our Hierarch to help him. Lady Gillian will have spoken with the women by now.”
“Do you want me to come?” he asked her.
“Could I stop you?” She chuckled. “But you must let me be the one to control Cam. He is not yet quite certain that my powers are greater than the Darkling’s. She has hinted that without you I would have no powers so you cannot appear by my side, Kaliq.”
“Ciarda is young, and very full of herself,” the prince said. “Because until now she has not been outside of the Dark Lands, her frame of reference is very small. She has not been educated, and consequently knows nothing of what has gone on before her, but she is dangerous because she is ambitious. What did you learn in the Dark Lands when you went to fetch Anoush?”
“I learned what I already knew. That Kolgrim is the more intelligent twin. That Kolbein spends his days and nights in the House of Women taking pleasures. The Wolfyn certainly raised him as one of their own. He seeks out only what delights him. I expect he will die sooner than later of his excesses. No one will stop him, or protect him from himself, Kaliq, and he is too stupid to see the error of what he does. Unless the Darkling interferes it is Kolgrim who will take his father’s throne one day. We must keep her now from being impregnated by Kolbein.”
“Among the other things we must keep her from doing,” Kaliq teased Lara, and she laughed.
Then she asked him, “Do you know who Ciarda’s mother was? Was she magic?”
“Kol’s women were ordinary but for you,” he replied. “His vanity was such that he wanted only pleasures, their admiration and their complete devotion from them. The only magic the Darkling has comes from her father, and giving her Hierarch the ability to create his miracles is pretty much the extent of her powers, although she might have a trick or two up her sleeve that we do not yet know about. I cannot help but admire her confidence in her abilities, but then as I have previously said she is young, and ignorant of the power of serious magic. Her ability to keep us from getting too close to her, however, still puzzles me, my love.”
“Perhaps you should consult with the oldest of the Shadow Princes,” Lara suggested.
“You think Cronan may have the answer to that conundrum?” Kaliq was intrigued by Lara’s suggestion.
“No one else seems to,” Lara gently pointed out. “Does he yet make his home in Belmair, my lord?”
Kaliq nodded. “I will go and visit with him,” the Shadow Prince said.
“Then I will go to Hetar while you are gone,” Lara said.
They both disappeared from Shunnar in the same minute as they spoke the words.
Kaliq tossed back his cloak to find himself in the tower where Cronan, the most ancient of the Shadow Princes, made his home. It was evening, and Cronan was dozing in a chair by his hearth. Outside, a persistent rain poured down. Kaliq looked at the old one, wondering if he should look like that one day, and if he would survive as long as Cronan. Walking across the small chamber, Kaliq gently shook Cronan awake.
The bright blue eyes opened, and lit with surprise. “Kaliq!” Cronan sat up. “What brings you to visit me, and so late at night, too?”
“It is not late night in Shunnar,” Kaliq reminded Cronan, “but I apologize for not considering the time here. I very much need the benefit of your wisdom.” And then he went on to report to the ancient Shadow Prince all the news from Hetar. He concluded by telling Cronan of Ciarda. “She confounds us, for though her personal powers are small she is still able to keep us from getting close to her. She seems to sense when we are near, and is able to block her thoughts from us. We cannot fathom how she can do this.”
Cronan did not hesitate. “She is being helped by someone,” he said logically.
“But who? Her brothers’ powers are only beginning to exhibit themselves, and even using the power of three she could not keep herself from us all the time as she is doing. Who has powers strong enough to aid the Darkling?”
“Her father, of course,” Cronan said.
“But we imprisoned Kol, and made it impossible for him to communicate with anyone,” Kaliq said. “He is blinded, chained and his vocal cords frozen. He lies in the deepest, darkest part of Kolbyr, his castle, and even the old dwarf who serves as his chancellor does not know where he is, or that he even still exists. How can he have helped his daughter to shield herself from us?”
“Kaliq, Kaliq,” the ancient Shadow Prince said. “You have forgotten the one variable that cannot be overcome by even the strongest magic. Love.”
“Love? Kol doesn’t know the meaning of the word,” Kaliq said angrily.
“But Ciarda does love her father with her entire being,” Cronan reminded his companion. “And I am quite certain that that love has managed to allow Kol to aid her in this small way. You have frozen his vocal cords, but not his mind-speak, Kaliq. This is how he has communicated with her, has instructed her what to do, has given her the small shreds of what is left of his power. Even those vestiges are more than she has ever had on her own. He has probably bargained with her to free him when she triumphs.”
“I am a fool!” the younger Shadow Prince cried. “I believed I had buried him so deep that no one would ever hear any sound he could make. How could this have happened? And why did he reach out to one of his daughters, and not one of his sons?” He paused. “But of course! His sons might not have helped him. They have virtually no memory of him, and they are too busy squabbling with each other for supremacy of the Dark Lands. But Ciarda was a little girl when we imprisoned Kol. She had strong memories of him. And Kol never had difficulty in cajoling women to his will.”
“Exactly!” Cronan said. “He probably remembered Ciarda as being lively and intelligent, recalled how she loved him and decided to use her if he could reach out to her in our silent language.”
“Which he obviously could,” Kaliq replied, irritated at himself for being taken unawares. He had never considered that there was actually someone who loved the Twilight Lord. Kol used those around him, but his subjects were nothing more than conveniences. Even the devoted and loyal Alfrigg.
“Kol will have brought himself near death with the effort it has taken him to reach out to his daughter, and especially to shield her from our brothers,” Cronan said.
“Is he fool enough to kill himself with his effort?” Kaliq wondered aloud.
“I do not think so,” Cronan decided. “I suspect he still hopes against hope to regain his full powers. It would be in his nature to believe it.”
“Then perhaps we could incite one of his children to dispatch him,” Kaliq said. “It will not be Ciarda, for despite her ambition she loves her father. And Kolgrim is too wily to break the law of the land though he wants his father’s throne. But the other twin, Kolbein, is a brute, and foolish enough to be tempted to patricide.”
“Put such a thought from you, Kaliq,” Cronan advised. “We of the Shadows value life too much to sully our spirits by enticing another to murder. To punish is one thing, but to kill is an entirely different matter.”
Kaliq sighed deeply. “I know,” he said. “Yet when I think of all the evil Kol has sent into our worlds, Cronan…” He sighed again. “But if Kol continues to shield his daughter’s thoughts from us he may kill himself.”
“Then that will be his decision, his choice that decides his fate, not ours,” Cronan said. “But I do not believe he will do it no matter how much she begs him. Have you looked at your prisoner recently?”
“I have not looked at him since I placed him in his prison,” Kaliq said. “I despise him. Looking at him reminds me of what Lara had to suffer to accomplish our ends.”
“Ah, the beauteous faerie woman. She is your weakness, Kaliq,” Cronan warned.
“I love her,” Kaliq said. “I know she is my weakness, but there it is, Cronan.”
“Shadow Princes can love truly, Kaliq,” Cronan told him. “But it is a rare thing. However, you must not allow your love to destroy either of you. Now, hand me the crystal globe on the shelf there. Yes, the large one. Place it here on the table, and let us see what we can see. Show us the imprisoned Kol,” he said to the crystal.
The two Shadow Princes stared into the clear ball. It grew cloudy, and then cleared to reveal a small dark stone prison cell. The chamber was square. There was no door, nor window, nor grating visible. There was no candle to light it, or brazier to warm it, but magic gave them the view of the cell and the prisoner. Kol sat cross-legged in the direct center of the little room. He remained perfectly still, his blinded eyes closed. The conditions of his prison were such that nothing about him had changed since the day he had been placed there. He had no beard. His hair remained its same length. His garment remained whole.
“He sits still because he needs to concentrate upon giving her what he can,” Cronan said slowly.
“Then he needs to be distracted,” Kaliq said. He looked into the crystal, and snapped his fingers once. Immediately a small black fly appeared in Kol’s cell, and began to buzz about.
At first Kol did not hear it, but then as it flew near his ear, buzzing, the Twilight Lord became flustered. He flailed about swatting at the insect he could hear, but not see. His concentration was broken, but then he grew still again. The fly buzzed near him, and with unerring aim his hearing, sharpened by his blindness, allowed him to pinpoint and kill the fly. He smiled triumphantly, but then his cell was suddenly filled with not just one fly, but dozens of the pesky creatures. Kol opened his mouth to express his outrage, but no sound could be heard as his vocal cords were frozen. Realizing what was happening, Kol sought to ignore the creatures, but they began to bite at him. He had no choice but to swat at them as they buzzed about him. His attention now diverted, he could no longer help his daughter. When she felt her powers beginning to weaken, she would be in his head quickly enough, demanding his help. Until then he would continue to swat at the flies.
“Nicely done.” Cronan chuckled.
“Ciarda will have to get rid of the flies that torment Kol before her father can once again concentrate. She will not find it either easy or simple. Lara will now have time to approach the Hierarch without interference,” Kaliq said. “Thank you for your help, Cronan. I am glad you yet live, for you are certainly the wisest of us all. Are you certain that you do not want to return to Shunnar? The desert heat would soothe your old bones.”
“For now I am content here in Belmair,” Cronan said. “Remain always in the light, Kaliq of the Shadows.” His blue eyes closed as he settled back in his chair.
“Then I bid you farewell, great prince,” Kaliq said, and, standing, he disappeared from the white-haired old lord’s chambers. Returning himself to Shunnar, he looked about for Lara, but she was not there. Of course! She would be in Hetar. But would she be with Cam or with Jonah? Kaliq poured himself a goblet of apricot Frine, and sat down. He would rest briefly and then join her. Wherever the Darkling was she would shortly discover that her powers were almost gone, and would seek to learn the reason why.
Where are you,
Lara?
Kaliq called out to her. He waited a moment and then she answered him.
I am with Jonah.
Shortly, the Darkling will be gone to learn why her few powers are waning. You will have the freedom to speak with Cam. I will join you soon, but will not be visible to anyone but you.
I await you, my lord,
Lara said. Then she turned to Jonah. “I have spoken with the women, and they are ready to stand behind you, my lord. They are not pleased at any attempt to rob them of the few rights they have managed to gain over these past years.”
“What of the Hierarch?” Jonah wanted to know.
“It is possible he may stand by your side, but if not in this matter, there will be others, my lord,” Lara told him.
“You never ask for your daughter,” he suddenly said.
“Hetar’s decline and fall and eventual rebirth does not concern my daughter,” Lara told him coldly. “I am told she has become the model of a wealthy Hetarian wife.”
He laughed. “Aye. Never did I think I would have such a wife.”
“And you would not had you respected the wishes of her brother, Dominus Taj,” Lara said sharply. “You stole her, corrupted her to your ways, and you wonder why I do not ask for her, my lord?”
“Zagiri was more than ready and eager to be
corrupted,
” he said softly. “But if it makes any difference to you I do love her, Domina.”
“Are you actually able to love, my lord? I did not think so. Be careful your lust for my daughter does not turn you into Gaius Prospero and his beloved Shifra,” Lara said cruelly. “We all recall how that ended.”
“You are cruel, Domina,” the Lord High Ruler of Hetar said to Lara.
“I am faerie,” she reminded him. “Now if you wish to save your skin, Jonah of Hetar, you had best enter your council chamber, and defend the women of this kingdom.”
“Will you be there when I do?” he asked her.
“So the others can think I stand behind you? Perhaps. Or perhaps not. You will not see me if I come, my lord. You must stand upon your own feet in this matter. You must be a leader now, not a despot. If you do not display strength you will be defeated. There can only be one ruler of Hetar, my lord. Remember that,” Lara warned him, and then she was gone from his sight.