“Yes,” she told him. “It was an amazing experience. Can it be that way all the time? Should it be?” Lara wondered.
Reaching up, he pulled her down, and kissed her mouth a long slow kiss. “It will always be that way when you and I make love, my faerie girl.”
“Do not call me that!” Lara cried. “The Foresters called me that.”
“Then I shall never call you that again,” he promised.
“The mattress?” She quickly changed the subject.
He laughed. “I have some magic, although I do not practice my skills as much as I should. When I knew we would make love I quickly conjured us a soft place to lie.”
“In a most public place,” she murmured. “What if someone had come upon us? Comes upon us?” She looked anxiously for her kaftan.
He laughed softly. “They will not,” he told her. “My servants know me well, and knew what watching my stallion with the mares in the company of a beautiful girl would lead to this afternoon. No one will disturb us.”
“I should get back to the village,” Lara said.
“Stay with me,” he said to her.
“I am not ready to give you that much of myself quite yet,” Lara told him honestly. “I am only beginning to get used to the idea that I am a free woman. Og says that the Foresters can not reclaim me here, or ever again if I can manage to keep out of their sight for a full year. Is that true?”
“Yes,” he replied. “Remain with me for a year, and I will protect you from them, Lara. You will never give them what they want, but I think they would not believe you even if you told them so. They are brutish men with little intellect.”
“Swear you will not fall in love with me,” she said to him.
“Why?” he demanded, smiling at her, his hand caressing her face.
“I have told you. I do not believe in love. But you do, and you are a kind man. I would not hurt you, my lord Kaliq,” Lara said quietly.
“The decision is mine to make,” he told her, “and who knows? I may teach you to love. But whether I can or not, say you will remain at least a year with me that you may be truly free, Lara. I can teach you many things other than love.”
“You would share your magic with me?” she asked him.
“You should have magic at your disposal, Lara, for you are half faerie,” he said.
“I think Ethne would approve,” Lara replied. She held up the thin gold chain, and dangled the star crystal before his eyes. “Do you see the flame within it? That is Ethne, my guardian. My mother put this chain about my neck, my father once told me.”
“Ask Ethne then if Maeve is your grandmother,” the prince advised her. “If it is so you should meet her before she fades away entirely.”
“She has other grandchildren, I am sure,” Lara said almost bitterly.
“But no child of Ilona’s,” he told her. “If that Ilona is indeed your mother she never bore another child for human or faerie man.”
“I will ask Ethne,” Lara responded. Then she arose from the mattress, and picked up her kaftan from the floor of the wide corridor. “If I do not return Og will worry,” she said. “Where are my clothes?”
“You are not to wear those ugly garments again,” he told her.
“I do not want the villagers seeing me as I truly am, nor do I wish to be the cause of undue notice,” Lara told him. “You know that gossip travels on the wind, and the north wind will enter the Forest now that winter is there. If I am seen, word might reach Enda and Durga. Despite their misgivings they will come into the Desert seeking me. And if they find me, Hetarian law or no, they will take me back with them. I must remain covered and veiled at all times.”
“Then remain with me, and be safe,” he said.
“What of Og? I cannot leave him, for without him I would have never escaped the Forest,” Lara replied. “He is my friend. I will not desert him.”
“He may come into the palace and be with you,” the prince suggested. “He is not the largest giant I have ever seen. I suppose it comes from his mother’s time in hiding, and a lack of food in his early years.”
“He is six cubits tall,” Lara defended Og. “And he has his own magic. His boots can go a league with each step he takes!”
“Nonetheless he is a small giant,” Kaliq said, and standing, he drew on his own kaftan. “My palace ceilings will be high enough to sustain him. I will send a servant to the village to fetch him.”
“What of my sewing?” Lara said. “The villagers have come to depend upon me.”
“Yes, you have made yourself quite useful to them,” the prince noted. “The women will have to do their own mending again, I fear. There are other things you must learn, Lara. You are intelligent, and have a certain wisdom. You need to know more about Hetar and its peoples if you are to eventually continue on your journey.”
“What do you know of my journey?” Lara asked him, curious about his words.
“I know nothing of it but that you will remain with me no longer than a year,” he told her. “Once you can be assured of your safety you will go. I see it when I look at you.” He caressed her cheek again. “Do not look sad, Lara. I am but a stop on your journey. We will not waste our time together, however. There is much I can teach you. You asked me how old I was before, and I said I was older than you. I am much older. I have been here since the beginning of time, as have all my kind. You see no society of women and children among us, for there are none. There never have been. Our kind came from the purple shadows, and one day we will return into those shadows. We share our pleasure with the women to whom we are attracted, and who find us congenial. We raise and sell our horses, keeping to ourselves as much as we can. Hetar is changing more each day. Soon the time will come when the people have to choose between the light and the darkness. It will not be an easy choice to make, but make it they must.”
“What has this all to do with me?” Lara queried him.
“I do not know, but it does,” he told her. Then he clapped his hands together, and at once a servant appeared. “Send servants into the village to escort the giant, Og, to the palace. See they pack up all his and the lady Lara’s possessions.”
“At once, my lord,” the servant said, bowing, and he hurried off.
“How do you know?” she demanded.
He laughed. “I just do. Now come, I will show you where you will live.” He brought her to a suite of beautiful rooms that all opened out into a cool, green garden. “My apartment is across the garden,” he told her. “We will always be near one another, Lara. How many servants would you like?”
“I am capable of taking care of myself,” she told him.
“You are my chosen,” he replied. “You must be served.”
“Og will serve me,” Lara said.
“No. I want Og to work with my horses. Forest giants are extraordinarily good with animals. You must have a serving girl, and I think I have someone who would do well. I bought her off the last Taubyl Trader who came through several months back. She is young, and was very frightened, but she has learned well, my head serving man tells me. She will be as much a companion to you as a servant. Her name is Noss.”
“Noss!” Lara cried. “That is the girl the Foresters would not have! Yes, she will suit me admirably, my lord Kaliq.”
“Then I will send her to you,” he said. “For now, explore your quarters. They were conceived with you in mind.” He turned, and was quickly gone in a swirl of his white robes.
Alone, Lara reached down and raised the crystal to her gaze. Am I safe with him?
The flame flickered. That is a question to which you already know the answer, Ethne said. Ask what it is that you really desire to know from me.
Is Maeve, queen of the Forest Faeries, my grandmother?
Yes.
And her daughter, Ilona, the faerie woman who bore me?
Yes.
Why did you not tell me before, Lara demanded?
You did not ask, and it was not time for you to know until you
did, Ethne replied.
Why?
Ethne gave a watery chuckle. Because it is, she responded.
Do not be smug, Lara said, irritated. It ill becomes you. I do not know if I like all this mystery and magic that seems to surround me these days. Why did my life have to become so damned complicated? I liked living in the City. I liked being nothing more than my father’s daughter. Now I am not certain what or who I am.
Be patient, Lara, Ethne’s gentle voice soothed. You have a destiny, and it must be played out. But for now you are safe with the Shadow Prince. He is one of the wisest of them, and will impart much knowledge to you. Learn from him.
“Lara!”
She turned, and then held out her arms to Noss. “Noss! How glad I am that you are now safe. Rolf Fairplay kept his promise to me.” She hugged the young girl.
“I am to be your servant and companion, the prince has told me,” Noss said. “How did you get here, Lara? I cried so hard when I saw you being taken away by the Forest Lords. My eyes got all swollen with the salt of my tears.”
“I escaped the Forest at Winterfest,” Lara said, and then she explained all to Noss. “Og will be here shortly. You will like him. I could have never done it without him. He is the kindest and gentlest fellow I have ever known. Now, tell me how you have fared since we were last together.”
“There is little to tell,” Noss replied. “We crossed the Desert for several days, and when we reached this palace the trader brought forth all manner of goods. The headman here told Rolf Fairplay that he need a young serving woman. Rolf explained he had but one slave, very young, and inexperienced. The headman said he wished to see me, and when he had he asked me if I could be content as a servant to his prince. He said I would be taught what I needed to know-that the prince did not beat his servants, and I should not be a slave, but free. Rolf protested that I was a slave, but the headman smiled, and said while he would buy a slave, he would free the slave once it became the prince’s property. It was their custom. Shunnar is a pleasant place, Lara. I have been treated well. But until today I have done little. When I have spoken to the headman he has simply said that my time had not arrived. Now I know why. It is as if they were waiting for you to come here,” Noss finished.
“Perhaps they were,” Lara agreed.
“Are you the prince’s lover?” Noss asked ingenuously.
“Yes, it would seem I am now,” Lara admitted aloud.
“He is so handsome,” Noss sighed. Then she grew serious. “What of the others? What happened to them? Were the Forest Lords cruel?”
“The other five are all with child by their masters,” Lara said. “Truda by the Head Forester himself. His name is Durga. He and his younger brother, Enda, were my masters. They sought to get me with child, but faerie women, even half faerie women as myself, will not give children to men they do not love. I did not know that, but when Og told me I knew I must flee or be slain for my failures.”
“How horrible!” Noss exclaimed.
“If I can remain free for a year and a day the Forest Lords will have no claim on me. Prince Kaliq wishes me to stay with him. He says he will keep me safe.”
Noss sighed. “He is so romantic,” she said. “Sometimes I wish I were old enough and beautiful enough to attract the attention of a man like that.”
“You are a very pretty girl, Noss,” Lara told her. “But I think if you believe in love you must let it come to you. One day it will.”
“If I believe in love?” Noss cried. “Everyone believes in love, Lara.”
“I don’t,” was the answer, “but we must not get into a discussion over it. Come and help me explore these beautiful rooms that the prince has said are mine. They seem even finer than my father’s new house in the Garden District.”
Together mistress and servant walked throughout the magnificent apartment. There was the antechamber where they had greeted one another and a small dining room that opened out on the garden and was off a dayroom. There was a little bedchamber, and a large bedchamber. There was even a private tiled bath with its own small bathing pool. The marble floors were covered with beautiful woolen rugs in jeweled tones of ruby, sapphire, amethyst and emerald. Sheer pale gold draperies blew in the soft Desert air from the windows. The furniture was of ebony accented with gold, some of a design Lara had never seen. It was some type of seating, and was plush with cushions and pillows. The bed in her bedroom was set upon a dais, and hanging from a large brass ring in the ceiling were the same pale gold gossamer silks as at the windows. The room itself had walls of pale wood painted with flowers and Desert animals.
“I have never seen anything so beautiful,” Noss breathed slowly.
“Neither have I,” Lara agreed.
“There is a door on my room,” the younger girl told Lara excitedly. “Will you permit me to close it?”
“Of course,” Lara said. “Remember that you are a free servant.”
“And I have a real bed, not a pallet! I have never had a real bed,” Noss told Lara. Then she walked over to a tall wardrobe, and opened its doors. Inside were all manner of gowns and sandals. “Look!” Noss said to Lara excitedly. “Have you ever seen such lovely things? It is as if he were expecting you, Lara.”
“He was,” Lara answered her. But how had he known unless he knew what her destiny was to be? “Who else lives in this palace, Noss?” Lara asked the girl.
“Only the prince and his servants. I have seen others like him, though. They come in the evening, and sometimes dine with him,” Noss said.
“No other women?” She was curious. How could she not be curious?
“Sometimes. They come and they go, but usually when the others are here. In the time I have been here there has been no woman living in this palace, unless she was a servant as I am.”
“How many servants?” Lara probed.
“There is the headman, some who cook, some who clean, some who do the laundry. Most are older women. They have all been kind to me, more so than my own family,” Noss revealed.
“Then the prince is a solitary man,” Lara noted.
“But for his brother princes, yes,” Noss said.
“La-a-a-ra!”
“Gracious, what is that noise?” Noss cried.
“’Tis Og, my giant companion,” Lara replied. “Come quickly before he shouts the palace down.” She hurried through the apartment and out into the public corridor where she found Og standing.
“This is a fine palace, and the prince has asked me to help with his mares,” Og said. He bent down, looking at Noss. “And who is this wee creature?”
“This is Noss,” Lara answered him.
“The one Durga would not have, eh?” Og remarked.
“The very same. Please do not frighten her, Og. She is not used to you as I am,” Lara said. “The prince has set her to wait upon me.”
“Aye, you need another female to be with,” Og agreed. “Now, is it all right with you if I help tend to the prince’s horses? When I was not in the bathhouse at Durga’s village I kept his horses for him. I am good with animals.”
“You are not my slave, Og, you are my friend. You are free to do what you choose, and if the horses please you, then yes, look after them.”
Noss had finally found her voice again. “I never saw anyone as big as you before,” she said.
“I am told I am small for a giant, but six cubits high. There are others far larger than I, little girl,” Og responded with a grin. “Well, I’ll tell the prince we are agreed, Lara. When you decide to leave this place, if you do, I will come with you. We are companions, eh?” He chuckled, and then turning was gone.
“How did you ever meet him?” Noss wanted to know. “I have heard little good about giants, Lara.”
“He was held prisoner in Durga’s village,” Lara said. Og’s history was too complicated a story for the simple Noss. “We decided to escape together, and I could not have done it without him. He is a kind and gentle fellow, Noss. And a good friend to me in my time of t
rial. One day I will tell you why the Forest Lords wanted me, and it is not a happy story. You have no idea the trap you escaped, little one. One day I shall tell all of Hetar the story of the Forest Lords and their duplicity. But for now, I need to bathe and to rest.” She reentered her apartments.
The little bath was wonderful. Pinning up her long hair, she washed herself standing in a marble hollow, rinsed, and then went to soak in the warm scented water. She invited Noss to share her bath, but the girl was still too shy, and Lara thought how fortunate Noss had been to avoid the brief life of a concubine in the Forest. Coming from the pool, she wrapped herself in a large drying cloth and went into her bedroom, where she found the prince sprawled upon her bed awaiting her.
“You look delicious,” he told her, his blue eyes dancing.
“I have only just washed your wicked lust from my body, my lord,” she said.
“As tempting as I find you, Lara, I but came to ask you to join me at supper. Noss knows where, and she knows the time.” He arose from the bed, and drew her slowly into his strong arms looking down into her face. “Og found you?”
“Yes.” Did she sound breathless?
“You are content with his arrangements?” His lips were practically touching hers.
“He will be treated well? And housed comfortably? And fed enough? His appetite is very large, for he is a big man,” Lara said, her voice now a whisper.
“You have my word on it, Lara.” His mouth closed over hers, and as she kissed him back she realized that were he not holding her in his arms she could not stand, for her legs felt very weak. “You taste delicious too, my love,” he said softly, raising his head to look into her green eyes.
“Ethne says you were right,” Lara murmured. “Maeve is my grandmother, and her daughter, Ilona, my mother.”
“I will arrange for you to meet your grandmother, for as I have said she is very, very old, and will soon fade away entirely,” the prince said. Then he kissed her lips lightly one more time, and released his hold on her. “I will see you at the twilight, Lara.”
Lara Page 23
