Buch lesen: «The Twilight Lord»

Chapter One

THE great winged horse galloped across the skies above the Emerald Mountains, a single rider on his back. Strapped to the animal’s side was a woven basket in which a sleeping child lay. Lara glanced now and again at her daughter Zagiri to make certain she remained asleep. She was a beautiful little child with her father’s dark gold hair; her golden eyelashes fanned out over her pale pink cheeks. She looks like him, Lara thought. The only bit of me in her are her green eyes.

“We’re almost there,” Dasras said as they left the mountains behind them. “I can see the fields of the Blathma below us, and just beyond and to my left are the meadows of the Aghy. I wonder if Roan has any pretty new mares.”

Lara chuckled. “You are as lusty as a Shadow Prince,” she told him.

Dasras chortled. “Well, I was born and raised among them,” he said drolly. Then he asked, “Is the princess still sleeping?”

“Aye,” Lara responded. “She’ll be delighted to see Dillon again—and he her. I hope Anoush has gotten over her jealousy by now. She doesn’t even understand that I am her mother and her invidiousness toward Zagiri is hurtful.”

“She is too young to have developed that attitude without help,” Dasras remarked.

“Who can have planted the seed of envy in Anoush? Certainly not your good Noss. She has always been a fine foster mother to your children.”

“Vartan’s mother,” Lara said sadly and with certainty. “She grows madder with each passing day. I have asked Noss to limit my children’s visits to Bera but she is their grandmother. Of course there is Cam, as well. Adon’s son is Anoush’s cousin. And Bera is raising him. I have never found him to be a pleasant child.”

“You should investigate the situation and see that it is corrected,” Dasras advised. “It does not matter that your children are blood kin to Bera and Cam. If they pose a danger to Dillon and Anoush, you must do what you must to keep Vartan’s younglings safe. Bera’s feelings cannot matter to you, and Cam has no sensibilities at all to consider that I can see. The safety of your children must come first and foremost.”

“I am fortunate to have such wise advisers as you, Verica and Andraste,” Lara told the great stallion.

“And the Dominus?” Dasras teased her.

“Villain!” Lara laughed. “My husband is a good man and a wonderful lover, but he does not understand humanity as well as he thinks he does. However, we shall not tell him that, shall we, Dasras?”

The horse shook his head, then began his descent to the lands below him, which were possessed by the Fiacre Clan. He preferred galloping the last few miles into the main village, New Camdene, rather than just descending into its midst. The cattle in his path scattered as his hooves touched the ground. There was no one this bright summer morning to see their arrival until they drew close to the dwellings. To Lara’s delight it was her son, Dillon, who first saw them coming and ran toward Dasras to welcome his mother. The horse came to a stop.

“Mother! Welcome!” Dillon said. “Have you brought Zagiri?” Standing on his toes he peeped into the basket. “Ahh, Zigi, wake up now,” he cooed.

The little girl slowly opened her eyes and, seeing Dillon, smiled and held out her arms to him. “D,” she said excitedly. “Uppy, D!”

Dillon lifted her from the basket and set her on her feet. Zagiri slipped her hand into his and together they began to walk. Lara slid down from her saddle to join them as Dasras followed. Lara smiled as she watched Zagiri toddle along beside Dillon on her fat little legs. Her son carefully matched his steps to his younger sibling.

“Where is Anoush?” Lara asked the boy.

He stopped and turned a serious face to her. “We must speak on Anoush, Mother,” he said quietly.

“Did you know I would come today?” she asked, nodding.

He smiled at her now. “Aye, I awoke and felt you drawing near. That is why I came out to meet you. I know Dasras’s habit of landing several miles outside the village and then taking a leisurely gallop. My instincts are growing stronger.”

“You will go to your grandmother and Prince Kaliq one day for training,” Lara said. “Not yet, but one day, my son.”

“When?” he asked eagerly.

“When you are twelve,” she answered.

“I should go sooner,” he protested. “That is almost three years away.”

“The fact that you cannot accept my decision in the matter but proves to me that you are not yet mature enough,” Lara told him.

“Ah, you are too clever, Mother,” he said with a chuckle.

“Aye, I am clever but I am also wise, Dillon. Anoush has no magic in her I can yet see and I cannot yet tell if Zagiri will have magic. But you, my son, from the beginning I could see the magic in you, but I said nothing and let you discover it for yourself. With the proper training you will be a great sorcerer one day. But you also need time to be the little boy you are now. You need long summer days feeling the sun on your back, picking berries and eating them until your tongue is blue, swimming in the lake, riding your horse and lying on a hillside at night looking up at the stars. Your summers must feel as if they would go on forever and ever. For now, you must be taken unawares by the summer’s end and your return to lessons,” Lara told him. “When you feel the summers going quickly, then I will know you are growing up and we will begin to discover how much magic is in you. Then and only then will you go to study with Prince Kaliq and your grandmother. You will be old for far more years than you are young, Dillon. Enjoy these years.”

“Mother, you are wise and I know your words are truth,” he told her.

Lara smiled. “Tell me of your sister now,” she said. They began to walk again.

“Our grandmother infects her with discontent,” Dillon said.

“And your cousin?”

“Cam is cunning and sly,” Dillon replied. “He panders to Anoush’s every whim, and he does it, I believe, to bind her close to him.”

Lara nodded. “That is unlikely to change even if I forbid them contact,” she said. “I have left you and your sister with the Fiacre because you are Vartan’s children, as well as mine. Perhaps it is now time for you both to come and live with me. You could come this year after the Gathering, and then return each summer staying until after the Gathering. This would allow you to remain close to the Fiacre, too. Once, I thought you would follow in your father’s footsteps, Dillon, and lead the clan one day. But I see now that your fate will not be among your father’s people. You have a different path to follow.”

“I am glad that you finally see that, Mother,” he said.

“You are so old for one so young,” Lara remarked as her attention was drawn to her little daughter. “No, Zagiri, do not eat that.” She pulled the flower from her daughter’s mouth and picked her up. “Noss will have a treat for you, I am certain.”

And Noss, Lara’s old friend, did indeed have a nibble for little Zagiri. She sat the child at a wooden table outside of her kitchen, beneath a pergola thick with grape vines, and gave her a cup of fresh-squeezed juice and a slice of newly baked bread with butter and honey. Then she hugged Lara, and brought them two cups of frine. They sat beneath the pergola sipping the fruit and wine mixture while Noss told Lara what had transpired with the Fiacre over the past months since they had seen each other.

Lara listened and then she asked after her elder daughter.

“She has probably gone to Bera’s house,” Noss said. “Of late she has been spending too much time there. With three rambunctious boys and another child in my belly, I sometimes lose track of her these days. She has become most disobedient, Lara, and I do not know what to do about it. Of late she does not call me Mama.”

“What does she call you?” Lara asked, curious.

“She calls me lady,” Noss said sadly. “I do not understand it or even who might tell her such a thing.”

Lara nodded. “I would not hurt you, dearest Noss, but with three sons and another child on the way, perhaps it is time that Anoush and Dillon came home with me to the Dominus’s castle. You and Liam have been so good to my children, but now I have a home and husband once again. Even if I must leave Magnus for a time, the children will be safe with him. Would you mind if I took Dillon and Anoush with me when I return?”

Noss sighed. “No,” she said candidly. “Dillon is no trouble at all. He is always willing to help me even without my asking and he is a wonderful influence on Tearlach, Alroy and Val. But Anoush has become difficult. I love her dearly, as you know. I have always thought of her as a daughter and we were close with one another. But suddenly she is secretive and rude. I am afraid for her and I don’t even know why,” Noss said. Then she lowered her voice. “I never believed I should have a daughter of my own, but Dillon says this child I carry is a female. Given how Anoush has behaved toward Zagiri, I am afraid now for this child I carry, Lara. I think Bera has told Anoush who you are. She will not have spoken favorably of you, I fear. Anoush needs to be with you now. She needs to know her mother and not take the slanders Bera spews as truth.”

Lara sipped her frine thoughtfully as Noss spoke. “Aye,” she said. “Anoush is six now, and very impressionable like all little girls her age. The only way I can expunge Bera’s venom is to take her back to the castle with Dillon.”

“How long will you be with us? Your rooms are ready, for Dillon told us this morning that you were coming,” Noss said with a smile.

“A few weeks,” Lara replied. “Magnus is now more concerned with the trading season than anything else. The emperor’s representative, Jonah, has gone home to Hetar—he does not like to leave Gaius Prospero alone too long, for he prefers to be the emperor’s only influence. I convinced Kaliq to allow Jonah the use of magical transport instead of having to sail across the Sea of Sagitta each time he needed to confer with his master. I send him when he desires to return to The City and one of the princes returns him to us.”

“Why does Gaius Prospero insist on keeping him in Terah?” Noss wondered. “It should be obvious to him that the Dominus is not interested in furthering ties with Hetar.”

“The emperor thinks that in time Magnus will change his mind. What he really wants is to conquer Terah so he may add it to his little empire,” Lara replied. “I understand he is attempting to duplicate some of the goods we make for Hetar in an effort to get our attention through economics. Unfortunately, Hetar has not the proper materials, and we will not trade with them for those materials. Their efforts so far have produced an array of shoddy goods that despite their cheap prices sit in the market stalls unsold. It is an interesting standoff between us.”

“But what do you think of all of this?” Noss probed, curious.

Lara laughed. “Terah and Hetar must eventually come to an understanding,” she said. “I think we may have a more dangerous enemy in the Dark Lands.”

“Well, whoever they are they have caused no troubles so far,” Noss noted.

“I would be happier if I knew who they were and what they want,” Lara responded. “I do not like mystery, as you know. My destiny has been calling to me for some months now, but for the first time I do not know exactly what it wants or where I am to go. Nor has my spirit protector Ethne had anything to say on the matter though I have asked her. All she will say is ‘you will know in time.’ ’Tis most annoying. Kaliq says I must wait for my path to be made clearer to me before I act.”

“Well,” Noss said in her practical way, “I suppose you must wait then. Now let me send Dillon to fetch Anoush for you.”

“Thank you,” Lara replied. “I am not in the mood to face Bera right now. She grows no better, Noss? Can no one help her? Vartan and Adon have been dead now for over five years.”

“Sholeh and her sister, my own mother-in-law, have tried. After you left, Sholeh would come from her village every few weeks to be with Bera, but when we moved from the Outlands to the New Outlands she stopped because the distance from New Rivalen to New Camdene is greater. And it did no good anyway. It is as if something evil has gotten a hold of Bera’s heart and spirit,” Noss said.

“And Cam?” Lara wanted to know.

“He makes my skin crawl,” Noss admitted frankly. “He is as beautiful as his parents and is all kindness where his grandmother is concerned. At least publicly. But even I can sense the wickedness in him, Lara. And of late he has devoted himself to Anoush. Whatever she wants, he gives her. If she is angry at Dillon or me, he encourages her anger. He is working very hard to draw her away from us and he is close to succeeding. Such deviousness in so young a boy is frightening.”

Lara nodded. “Dillon,” she called to her son who was amusing Zagiri. “Go and fetch your sister to me, please.”

Dillon arose, kissing Zagiri’s little fingers as he did to make her giggle. “At once, Mother,” he said and hurried off. Reaching his grandmother’s house he entered and greeted Bera who sat at her loom weaving. “Good morning, Grandmother. I have come to fetch my sister. She is needed at home.”

“This should be her home,” Bera said. “And yours. You are my grandchildren. You do not belong to Liam and Noss and their ilk. You are the children of my beloved son Vartan. Tell them you would come and be with your old grandmother.”

“You are kind to want us, Grandmother,” Dillon said quietly, “but we are where our mother would have us be. And we are content there.”

“The faerie witch! She who murdered in cold blood the son of my heart,” Bera muttered darkly. “She will regret it! She will regret it! Send her back to Hetar where she belongs. She should be among her own kind, not here among us.”

Dillon ignored the old woman’s outburst. He had heard it all before. He left Bera and went out to the garden where he found his sister with their cousin. They were seated in the grass, and Cam had his hand on Anoush’s own. He quickly pulled it away when he saw Dillon. Dillon’s eyes narrowed speculatively, then he spoke quietly to his little sister. “You are needed at home.”

“No,” Anoush said. “I don’t want to go. Cam and I are having fun. He is teaching me a new game.” She did not look directly at her brother.

Dillon did not argue. He reached down and pulled his sister up roughly. “I am sure it is not a game that a maid of six should learn,” he told her harshly. “Now come, Anoush, we are needed at home.” He began to pull her away.

“I should rather live with Grandmother and Cam than with the usurper and his alien wife,” Anoush said rudely.

“Say farewell to our cousin,” Dillon told her through gritted teeth. His dark, threatening look met Cam’s, but their cousin merely smiled at him. Dillon did not wait any longer. He dragged his sister from their grandmother’s garden, back through her house and out into the town’s square as he made their way home. “You ought to be ashamed of yourself,” he scolded Anoush as they went. “What has come over you, Little Sister? You have always loved Noss and your recent coldness has hurt her greatly.”

“She is Hetarian like the bitch who bore us,” Anoush said coldly.

Dillon stopped dead in his tracks. “Look at me!” he said fiercely. His tone was so dire that Anoush turned startled eyes up to him. “So you understand that Noss is our foster mother, do you? It is true. The mother who gave us life and who loves us beyond measure is Lara, the Domina of Terah. She was born in Hetar of a mortal father and a faerie mother. She was our father’s wife. She is a great lady and she has a destiny to follow. She did not choose to have a destiny. She would have been content to remain our father’s widow and our mother, but such is not her fate, Anoush. Our mother knows she has no choice but to follow until she meets and claims her destiny. She saw to our comfort and our safety before she left us. She saved the clan families from Hetar when she and the Shadow Princes transported us from the Outlands here to the New Outlands. You will speak of her with respect, Sister.” Then, taking Anoush’s hand again, Dillon half dragged her to the lord’s hall where their mother was awaiting them.

Noss saw them first. “Anoush, come! We have a visitor,” she said.

Seeing Lara, Anoush stopped. Then she said, “Good morrow, Mother.”

Noss paled.

“Good morrow, Anoush,” Lara replied quietly.

Tread carefully. She heard Ethne murmur silently.

“You grow prettier each time I see you,” Lara said.

“And how often is that, Mother?” Anoush asked sarcastically.

Lara was surprised, although she did not show it, at the bitterness in the little girl’s question. Noss was right. Someone—Bera? Cam?—was working hard to separate Anoush from her family and her heritage. And it was going to stop as of today, she decided. “I have not seen you often enough in the past few years,” Lara answered, “but that is all going to change now, my daughter.”

“What?” Anoush responded. “Has your latest lover thrown you out, and you are returning to the Outlands once again to cause trouble?”

“Anoush!” Noss gasped, almost faint with shock at the girl’s words.

But Lara remained calm with the child. “Did your grandmother tell you that? Or was it your cousin, Cam?” she asked pleasantly. “No matter. Nothing they have told you is true, I suspect. And Anoush, you are no longer in the Outlands. These are the New Outlands. The clan families were brought here several years ago.”

“That is a lie!” Anoush said. “Grandmother says you told us that to confuse us and make us vulnerable to Hetar’s conquest. Nothing has changed. Nothing!”

“Oh, dear,” Lara sighed patiently. “I can see there is much you must learn and unlearn before I take you and your brother home with me.” She smiled at Anoush and then said, “Come and greet your baby sister, Zagiri.”

“Your bastard, you mean,” Anoush answered her mother.

Noss clutched at the table’s edge, her fingers digging into the wood.

“Zagiri is a princess of Terah as you are a noblewoman of the Fiacre Clan, although I must say your language is more that of a peasant child than the daughter of Vartan,” Lara remarked. “Come here to me, Anoush.”

Reluctantly Anoush moved to stand before Lara. “What?” she said.

“Noss, would you take Zagiri and Dillon? I think I must speak with Anoush alone.”

“I think I should stay,” Dillon said.

“Thank you, my son, but no. Anoush and I must speak alone. If she becomes too difficult I shall simply turn her into a warty toad until she learns reason.” Lara could not conceal the twinkle in her eye for she saw Anoush’s eyes dart about nervously at her words.

Dillon grinned at his mother, picked up Zagiri and followed after Noss.

“Sit down, Anoush,” Lara said.

“I wish to stand,” Anoush replied.

“But I prefer that you sit,” Lara answered quietly, pointing a finger at the little girl who suddenly sat down, a surprised look on her face. “There,” Lara said, “that’s much better, isn’t it? Now, you will ask your questions and I will answer them. What is it you wish to know of me, Anoush?”

Anoush looked defiantly at her mother and then burst out, “Why did you kill our father? Grandmother says you wanted his power and that you killed Cam’s father and mother when they came to my father’s defense.”

The shock on Lara’s face was evident. Then drawing a long deep breath she said, “I did not kill your father, Anoush. His brother, Adon, Cam’s father, killed Vartan with a poisoned dagger that Cam’s mother had obtained from Hetar. Adon’s wife, Elin, had been suborned by the Hetarians and was convinced that if your father were dead, her husband would be made lord of the Fiacre. Even if Vartan had died of natural causes, Adon would have never been selected to lead the Fiacre. He was a weak, foolish and vain man who wasted his life and his energies in envy of your father. Whoever told you that I killed your father lied to you, Anoush, and a wicked lie it is.”

Anoush looked confused. She was a child, and the only people who ever spoke of her father were her grandmother and her cousin, Cam. Liam and Noss did not speak of him. And until recently she hadn’t even known that the beautiful woman who appeared now and again in the hall was her mother. Her brother had known and he had confirmed what Cam had told her of their parentage. Why had she not been told? But then recovering somewhat, she said, “Do you deny killing Cam’s parents?”

“No,” Lara said, “I do not. When your uncle murdered your father before our eyes, I had no choice but to revenge him. Fiacre law gave me that right. Adon murdered Vartan in front of their own mother and me. And Elin stood smiling at his side as he did the deed. I silently called to my sword, Andraste, who hung over the hearth, and slew them immediately before either of them might even enjoy the fruits of their treachery, Anoush. You were in the hall that day. You slept in your cradle as Vartan was slain. Now what else have you been told by that sad old woman? You know that she is totally mad, don’t you?”

Anoush said nothing.

“Surely you have more questions for me?” Lara demanded.

Finally Anoush spoke. “Grandmother says you are a faerie witch,” she said.

“I was born in Hetar of a mortal father and a faerie mother. You have met your grandmother, Ilona, queen of the Forest Faeries. Your grandfather is John Swiftsword, a Crusader Knight commander. My instincts are more faerie than mortal, Anoush, and my powers have grown stronger in the last few years. I was born to a destiny I have yet to find or fulfill, but I grow closer to it with each change in my life and I will meet that destiny one day. It is my fate to do so. I cannot escape it.

“I remained in the Outlands the summer your father died and I saw to his cremation and did him honor. I saw that much honor was done to him by the others who had admired and loved Vartan. Dillon will tell you of that time. You have only to ask him. But my destiny called and I had no choice but to follow.”

“Would you have done so if my father were alive?” Anoush asked.

“Aye, I would have and your father understood that. We both knew that one day I would go, but he would be there for you and Dillon. And then he wasn’t. Liam is your father’s blood kin. He is yours and Dillon’s, too. Noss is my best friend. I asked them to take you and your brother—for where I go you cannot always follow. My destiny is not yours. They have been good foster parents to you, Anoush. I journeyed to Terah, where I met Magnus Hauk. We fell in love and married. Much else has happened in the years since your father’s death, but I suspect I have already told you more than enough. You need only know that I love you and your brother. When I return to the castle in a few weeks, you both will return with me. It is time now for you to know your mother and your little sister. Magnus will be a good stepfather to you.”

“Is this place really the New Outlands?” Anoush asked. “Cam says it is not and that you have told us it is so when the Hetarians want us they can enslave us easily, for you are lulling us into a false sense of security.”

“This is a new place,” Lara reassured her daughter. “You are very, very far from Hetar now. Across a wide sea, in fact. The lords of the clan families know it is truth. They will tell you that the land, while similar, is not the same. The Fiacre never had a nearby lake in the Outlands, but you have one here in the New Outlands. When we go to the Dominus’s castle, you will see that Terah sits between two great oceans.”

“How can I see such a thing?” Anoush wanted to know.

“You will sit before me on my saddle as Dasras gallops across the sky,” Lara told her older daughter.

“I don’t want to leave here,” Anoush said. “I want to stay with Cam and Grandmother. Cam says Noss and Liam don’t want Dillon and me any longer because Noss is fat with another baby. Cam says they don’t want to be bothered with your children when they will have four of their own.”

“Noss loves you, and would keep you forever if I would let her, but I will not,” Lara replied. “You are Fiacre, but you are also my children.”

“If Zagiri is a princess why can I not be a princess?” Anoush wanted to know.

“Zagiri is the daughter of the Dominus of Terah,” Lara said. “She was born royal. You and Dillon are of noble birth, but not royal. You will have to wed a prince one day, Anoush, if you desire to be a princess.”

“Could you really turn me into a warty toad?” Anoush asked her mother.

“I could. My magic is very strong, my daughter.”

“I don’t have any magic, do I?”

“It would seem not. You are like your father. The only magic he possessed was his ability to shape-shift. Perhaps when you grow up a bit more we shall see if you, too, have his talents,” Lara told her daughter. “Or perhaps even some of your own.”

“Dillon has magic,” Anoush remarked. “Grandmother says he is a wicked boy.”

“Aye, your brother does indeed have magic, but he is not wicked,” Lara said.

“Does Zagiri have magic?” Anoush wanted to know.

“She is too little for me to know if she does,” Lara replied.

“Mother?”

“Yes, Anoush?”