The Twilight Lord (22 page)

“You never change,” she said. “You are as handsome as ever.”

“And you, my love, do not change, either,” he told her. “You are as beautiful as the first time I brought you to Shunnar.”

“I feel cleansed of the Dark Lands now,” she told him. “The baths there were dark and over-humid. I did not have the lovely soaps, creams and oils, or even the thick drying cloths that a civilized house would have. I’m afraid I am a very spoiled faerie woman, Kaliq,” Lara said with a little laugh.

“There is one more thing we must do, my love, to complete your transformation,” he told her. “Come, stand in the center of the pool with me.” And when he had her there he took her arms and raised them up, bringing her wrists together.

Suddenly Lara found her wrists bound with silk padding and her body was raised up just slightly above the water. She was not afraid, for she had perfect trust in Kaliq, and was more curious as to what he was up to now. Her curiosity was quickly assuaged as he took each of her feet in turn and began to kiss them, his tongue pushing between her toes. Then his hands slipped up her wet body, sliding around to clasp her buttocks. He drew her toward him and kissed her newly smooth mons, his tongue slowly following the shadowed slit separating her nether lips. Pushing his tongue between those lips, he sought and found her love bud, teasing it until it grew swollen and tingled.

“Ahhh,” Lara said as a frisson of delight raced down her spine. “Oh, Kaliq, that is lovely! Don’t stop.” She closed her eyes and enjoyed the sensations he was engendering within her heated body as she hung above the bathing pool.

The prince snapped his fingers and she was lowered just slightly. Lifting his head from her sweetness he sought her breasts, laving them with slow strokes of his tongue. One hand freed itself from her buttocks. The other repositioned itself to hold her steady as he began to nibble and suck upon her nipples. His free hand moved to push between her nether lips. One finger. Two fingers. Three fingers thrust into her love sheath, swirling about, moving in a leisurely fashion.

Lara murmured. “I want more of you,” and as the fingers withdrew from her she was lowered back into the bathing pool and the padded manacles about her delicate wrists dissolved. Lara put her arms about the prince’s neck. She wrapped her legs about his torso and felt his talented manhood sliding into her love sheath. “Ah, yes, my lord Kaliq,” she purred in his ear as they caught the rhythm and pleasured each other until they were both drained.

Her golden head then fell upon his shoulder, and he carried her from the bathing pool, and laid her down upon a thick drying cloth that had been spread upon a high bench. Patting her dry, Kaliq then poured a dollop of fragrant oil of lilies into his palm and rubbing his palms together he began to massage her as she sighed with delight. “I want to do you next,” she said, “as we used to do.”

“Not tonight,” he told her. “Tonight I will erase all the suffering you endured at the hands of the Twilight Lord. Tonight I will teach you the joys of passion once again.

“There will be nothing left burrowing in the deepest corner of your mind, Lara, that will ever niggle at you with a questioning. You will never wonder if something happened that you cannot recall. You will only remember that love between two people who genuinely care for one another is a blessing,” Kaliq said quietly as he continued to massage her.

Lara grew silent and let his strong fingers do their work. Her memories of Kol’s hot and endless lust were indeed beginning to slip away. There was only Kaliq and the sweet passion that they had always shared together. For the briefest moment she thought of Magnus Hauk, but then she realized that now was not the time to think of her husband. When he had taken a faerie woman as his wife he had sworn that he understood what that entailed. But he really did not, Lara knew. Magnus was a mortal with all of a mortal’s strengths and flaws. Soon she would be home again and her memories of the last year would be gone from her. In the meantime, she meant to enjoy this respite from the world.

She had earned it. Soon enough she would pick up her responsibilities as Domina of Terah, as Magnus Hauk’s wife, as a mother and as the daughter of Ilona, queen of the Forest Faeries. But now that she had fulfilled a part of her destiny, did she have any other purpose, Lara wondered? She must remember to ask Kaliq.

L
ARA REMAINED
in Kaliq’s palace at Shunnar for several days. The desert sun warmed the chill of the Dark Lands from her bones, her mind and her heart. She spent the days being pampered by Kaliq and his servants. She and Og enjoyed several hours renewing their acquaintance. Lara told him of the giants who lived in the Dark Lands. “I did not see them a great deal, but Kol spoke of them, for they are bound to him in fealty. I recall he told me the name of the giant lord was Skrymir.”

When she said this Og grew pale. “Did you say Skrymir?” he said.

“Aye. The giant lord was Skrymir,” Lara repeated. “Kol told me that the giant race was a small group of about fifty—and more men than women. Why?”

“Where do they live in the Dark Lands?” Og asked.

“One mountain with its forests belongs to them,” Lara explained.

“My father’s name was Skrymir,” Og said. “He was not there the day the Forest Lords came to slaughter my kind. He and a party of hunters, both male and female, had gone hunting several days prior. My mother, although she was a fine huntress, did not accompany them that day, for her belly had begun to show. They never returned to the forest or my mother would have been saved. Or if they did return, they did not come near where my mother hid herself and so she did not know.” Og sighed. “Skrymir is not a common name among giants and is only used among the Forest Giants. How odd that in a forest so far from Hetar there should be another giant race and a lord who is called Skrymir as my father once was.”

“If your father and some of your people were not there the day the Forest Lords came, perhaps this giant lord who is called Skrymir is your father, Og. If your mother told you that the hunting party did not return, then perhaps they did, saw the murder done and fled Hetar. Giants can possess magic, too, Og. Who knows how they reached the Dark Lands? But it is possible these giants are your own race.”

“I shall never know,” Og replied sadly. “I would not go there, Lara. It is too dangerous and I am a small giant who is not very brave. I will live out my days here in the desert of the Shadow Princes with the horses I care for, and with my wife and my children. It is a better fate than I ever anticipated,” he said with a little smile. “I never knew the Skrymir who fathered me on my mother. I know of him only through what my mother told me. She always said he was a good man. It is a better memory to hold on to to than that of a giant lord who gives his loyalty to the Twilight Lord of the Dark Lands.”

“I never met him, so other than a name I can offer you no information,” Lara said. Nay, she had met none of Kol’s people but for the servants. Alfrigg, Skrymir, Dain and Hrolleif were but names to her. She had never seen them except at the Completion Ceremony. Lara shuddered at the potent memory and understood why Kaliq was keeping her in Shunnar and had become her lover once again. He wanted to soften those memories for her before he had them entirely erased from her mind and her heart. Lara doubted that she would ever truly forget. But to her surprise, as the next few days passed, the trauma of her sojourn in the Dark Lands did begin to fade.

“It will soon be time for you to return home to Terah,” Kaliq told her one evening as they sat together across a game board playing Herder. “Your husband grows anxious for you.”

“How will you erase what has happened, Kaliq? You can let the Munin take those memories away from me but what of the rest of Terah?”

“It is as simple as I have already told you,” he began. “For all of you, all of Terah, there will be no definitive memories held by anyone of the year that has just passed. There will be nothing you can quite put your finger upon and say, ‘last month when we went to…’ Nothing will seem out of the ordinary, Lara, for any of you. You will pick up your life where you left off. As for Hetar their memories of your disappearance will be taken from them, too. It was never public knowledge to begin with.”

“And what of the threat Hetar poses to Terah?” Lara wanted to know. “What reason will Gaius Prospero give his subjects for wanting to invade Terah?”

“You are still the reason,” Kaliq said with an amused smile. “Your magic has grown to such an extent that Terah now poses a danger to Hetar. You must be captured and stopped before you can conquer or destroy Hetar’s independence.”

“That’s ridiculous!” Lara cried. “Terah wants nothing to do with Hetar, and nor do I. They are a decadent and decaying society whose legendary greed has brought them to the brink of their own destruction. How can Hetarians believe such babble?”

“Since you led the Outlands to their victory over Hetar in the Winter War nothing has really been the same for them. There was already too much poverty and unemployment, not just in The City, but in the surrounding provinces, as well. It was you, Lara, who marshaled the Outland clan families into fighting back. It took Gaius Prospero over five years to regain his people’s favor and another two years to get himself declared emperor, thus weakening the High Council. But even acquiring the territory that had belonged to the Outlands did not solve the problems that beset Hetar. The magnates and merchants have gotten more wealthy. The poor suffer worse than before.

“Until almost two years ago when it was announced that no more mercenaries were required for the interim, every farmer’s son who chose not to farm came to The City to make his fortune. And once they discovered there were no fortunes to be made, each of those young men joined the Mercenaries. Their ranks have grown over the years, but there was no work for them until the Outlands were opened up for settlement. The mercenary ranks thinned a little then. And they are the constabulary of the Outlands which has taken some pressure off Gaius Prospero.

“But there are the Crusader Knights to consider. With no wars to fight there has been no tournament to select new candidates for seven years now. The tournament where your father won his place was the last one held. Their income grows scarce. Too many in their ranks are aging and need care. The upkeep of their homes in the Garden District is not what it once was for there are more important needs to consider now. And the Crusader Knights, like the Mercenaries, sit idle for the most part.

“The City decays around them all, Lara. The wealthy do what little business they can and continue to play. The poor drink Razi from Lord Jonah’s insidious kiosks in order to forget their troubles, and the fact that their bellies are empty and their children are crying. They steal from whoever they can, even each other,” Kaliq said. “The Hetarians are beginning to murmur against their emperor, but even ridding themselves of Gaius Prospero will not solve their problems.”

“People always believe that changing the government will bring them a change of fortune,” Lara pointed out. “Yet it rarely does because it is the people themselves who need to change first.”

“Exactly!” Kaliq declared. “But people don’t want to change, don’t want to make the effort. What they want is the
good old days
back so they may go on as they always have. So to save himself, to save his power and to direct the people away from their miseries, Gaius Prospero must first work on their fears and then offer them a solution to those fears. In this case he has spent months convincing Hetar that Terah poses a great and imminent threat to Hetar because you are the Dominus’s wife.

“It is no secret that your powers have grown over the last few years. Gaius Prospero has most Hetarians believing that unless you are
stopped,
you will use your power to invade Hetar, slaughter and enslave its population, destroy the very fabric of its civilized society. Of course, to slay the daughter of a Hetarian hero and a faerie queen would not be wise. So the emperor wishes to reeducate you in Hetarian ways. But to do that the threat of Terah must be removed,” Kaliq concluded.

“That is the most convoluted reasoning I have ever heard,” Lara responded. “Terah has not threatened Hetar, nor is it a danger to Hetar. The problems facing Hetar have been created by their society and by their emperor. Even taking the Outlands territory has not solved Hetar’s problems, although it might have had it been managed properly. There is more than enough land in the Outlands for generations to come. But Gaius Prospero and his friends were greedy as ever. The poor might have been easily resettled with farms large enough to earn their living and there would still have been much land left for the rich. But of course that wasn’t what happened. And now the poor, growing poorer and even larger in numbers, are beginning to complain more loudly with each passing day. And so another diversion must be planned.”

Kaliq smiled at her analysis. As much as he adored Lara’s delicate beauty and lush body, it was her facile mind that intrigued him most. She was quick like a faerie but also more analytical like a mortal. “So,” he said, “what is the solution, my love?”

“I do not know yet,” Lara told him. “First I must return home. You are right. It is time for me to go, Kaliq. Not,” she said with a wicked grin, “that it has not been delightful being with you again as your lover.” Her green eyes twinkled at him. “I am sorry you must take my memories of this time with you from me but alas, I do not believe my conscience could bear knowing for I do love my husband.”

“I understand,” he replied with an answering grin.

“Do you, I wonder?”

“Oh yes, my faerie love, I
really
do,” he responded. “I know your love for Magnus Hauk is true but I also know that sometimes your faerie nature wants to overcome your mortal nature. But as long as you have your Terahn lord it will not. Forgive me, Lara, for wanting to be in your arms once more.”

She reached out to caress his smooth tanned cheek. “I suspect, Kaliq, that I am capable of forgiving you almost anything.”

“You will return to the New Outlands exactly when you left it,” he explained. “And your husband will arrive that same day to escort you to the Gathering. Oh, I have forgotten,” and he reached into his robes to draw out the gold chain with its crystal star that she had worn her entire life until Kol had abducted her.

“Ethne!” Lara cried and reaching for the chain slipped it about her neck.

I am relieved to see you safe once again, my child,
Ethne murmured.
We are proud that you have begun to fulfill your destiny.

Hearing the voice of her beloved guardian spirit within her head, Lara felt a tear slip down her cheek.
I am so glad to be with you again, Ethne. Will you remember that I have been away? Or will it also be for you as if naught has happened?

We in the magic realm know the sacrifice you have made, my child, but it is better that you forget it. When Prince Kaliq returns you to your husband, to Terah, all references to your destiny will be forgotten and
gone, Lara. The light has once again triumphed over the darkness, thanks to you,
Ethne told her.

Lara nodded.
I am content that the memories will soon be gone. I do not believe the mortal side of my nature could live with those memories, or having to keep them from Magnus. Will you leave me now that I have completed part of my destiny, Ethne?

I will never leave you, my child. Because you have completed part of the destiny set forth for you by the magical realm does not mean you do not also have a mortal destiny. I was given to you by your mother to be there always to guard, to guide and to protect you. I will not fail in my duty, Lara. I am with you always.

And I am glad for it, Ethne!
Lara told her spirit guardian. Now she turned back to Kaliq. “When?” she asked him.

“Now, if you desire,” he answered her. “It is almost dawn in the New Outlands, my love, and time for you to awaken from your slumbers.” Leaning forward he kissed her lips gently and Lara immediately fell into a somnolent state. He caught her as she fell toward him over the game board, and standing up, carried her into her bedchamber. Placing her gently upon her bed Kaliq called to the Munin lord.
“Lord of the Munin, hear my plea. Cease all else, and come to me.”

The Munin lord appeared in his filmy robes. “I am here, my lord prince.”

“You and your brothers have completed the tasks I set for you?” Kaliq asked.

“It is done, my lord. None in Hetar or Terah will recall this last year as anything special nor will they remember this lady’s absence. Is it time for me to remove those memories we discussed from her? You have the container you wish to store them in, I presume,” the Munin lord said in his whispery tones.

“I do,” the Shadow Prince replied. “And when those memories have been taken from her and sealed away, you will take it with you and store it in your vaults beneath the Sea of Obscura where none will have access to it but you and I.”

“You trust us to hold those memories, my lord?” the Munin said, surprised.

“I do,” Kaliq responded, “for you know that my powers are greater than any, now. You will not betray me.”

“Nay, I will not,” the Munin lord said quietly. “My kind are best at keeping memories stored away. We know how to properly care for them.”

Kaliq languidly swirled his elegant hand and a small round jar fashioned from silver and gold appeared in it. It had a crystal stopper. “The memories are dark,” he said to the Munin lord, “but they will need a little light to survive and they should survive in their captivity. I carved your storage facility from a sea cave and gave it a glass roof. The water reflecting the diffuse light will suffice these memories. Too much light would harm them.” He unstopped the jar and handed it to the Munin lord.

The wraith took the lovely round jar in his palm and then with his other hand thrust carefully into Lara’s head, drawing the memories of her time in the Dark Lands from it. The thin strands were like silver threads but they glittered darkly with tarnish in the light of the chamber, twisting and squirming with an apparent life of their own. The Munin lord slowly pulled them one by one from Lara’s golden head and lowered them with great care into the gold-and-silver jar. The last thread glittered brightly, for it contained Lara’s memories of her recent days with the prince. Kaliq reached out and took that one strand from the Munin, who, when he had completed the task, put the stopper firmly into the mouth of the jar. A faint murmur of protest came from the jar as he did so and then all was silence.