“I met Maeve,” Lara told him.
“Did you?” He was impressed.
“She was fading, and has since disappeared entirely. Ilona is now queen of the Forest Faeries. Maeve told me she would never lift the curse, and no one else could. The Foresters are doomed. Whether they admit it or not, the purity of their blood is almost extinct,” Lara said quietly.
“Durga will never accept it,” Og said.
“He has no choice,” Lara replied. “I will send for you when the Foresters arrive, Og. Be ready.” Then taking up his big hand she kissed it, and wrapping her arms about his thick neck she kissed his rough cheek. “Be happy, dear Og. You deserve it.” She stood up. “I must return now. Kaliq was slightly injured, and I am nursing him.”
“What happened?” the giant asked, and Lara quickly explained.
“He taught you to shape-shift?”
“My mother taught me. She was here a few weeks, and passed on certain faerie magic to me so I will be safe in my travels,” Lara explained. “I must go now.” And with a wave of her hand she hurried from the stables, leaving the giant behind.
“WILL OG COME?” Kaliq asked her when she returned to him.
Lara shook her head. “You knew as much, didn’t you?” she said.
“Yes, but it was not for me to tell you,” he replied. “It is better this way, for wherever you go, Lara, you want to travel discreetly, and even a small giant six cubits high could attract unwanted attention to you. There are going to be times when you don’t want attention.”
“I feel the pull of something, Kaliq,” she told him. “What is it?”
“Your destiny,” he said.
“But I cannot go until you are healed,” she said. “Nor until Durga and Enda understand I will not be returning to them. I cannot imagine how I am going to be able to convince them.” She sighed. “And it is my problem, isn’t it?”
“The law of Hetar is on your side, Lara. A slave who remains free for a year and a day is no longer a slave,” he reminded her. “And any slave seeking refuge in the Desert cannot be taken back. They have no rights to you, my love.”
“I suspect they will not see it that way,” Lara remarked.
She was right, of course. Two days later, Durga, Enda and a party of six other Foresters arrived at the cliffs hiding the valley of the Shadow Princes. They were informed by Zaki that they would have to wait until Prince Kaliq and his brothers were willing to see them. Zaki had been warned that these men of the Forests had short tempers, and so were to be fed, watered and avoided until it was time to admit them to the presence of the princes. And at the end of three days, Durga and his companions were growing restless and angry. Not until the fourth morning did Zaki greet them.
“The princes have agreed to see you this afternoon, my lords,” he said. “When it is time I will bring you to them.” He bowed.
“You’ve known the way to them all along?” Durga exploded.
“Of course I know the way to my lord’s palace,” Zaki responded.
“And you have allowed us to remain here roasting in your wicked weather for three days?” Durga snarled. His face was burned with the sun, and he had grown angrier with each minute they had been forced to wait. “Do you know who I am?”
“You are the lord Durga, the Head Forester,” Zaki said in irritated tones, “but it would not have mattered who you were. If my lord was not ready to see you then he was not ready to see you. Nor were the others. I will return at the appointed hour.”
“Calm yourself, brother,” Enda said softly. “This is not the Forest, nor are we the masters here. Remember why we are here. We are here for Lara, and we will regain her. Tonight each man of us here will mount and seed her. She will give us a faerie child, Durga. We will make her, and we will keep using her until she does. We are close to our goal now. Do not despair, brother.”
“You think this Shadow Prince will release her to us willingly?” Durga snapped.
“That is why we went to the Magistrate’s Court in the City, brother. How many have lost slaves to these Desert men over the years, and certainly none as expensive as Lara? The magistrate was yet angry that the Head Mistress of the Pleasure Guild had forbade her sale to any of the Pleasure Houses. He owns one himself, and had hoped to have her. She would have made him a fortune. He told me that when we were finished with her he would purchase her from us. Not for what we paid, but for at least half. By agreeing, we have managed to circumvent the law of the land, brother.”
“We cannot sell her to anyone, for she will surely learn our secret if we allow her to live. And if she escaped once, she can again,” Durga replied.
“Og helped her,” Enda said. “Remember, brother, they both disappeared at Winterfest. They had to go together, and they must be here, for they are nowhere else we have searched over this year. The giant may remain here if he chooses, for he has been gone more than a year and a day. But Lara must be returned to us, and the law is on our side, Durga. Remember that.”
Zaki came at the appointed hour, and telling the Head Forester’s men they must remain behind, listened to Durga’s long-winded protest, and then said, “I have my orders, my lord. You and your brother. No one else. Will you come, or shall I return to my prince and tell him you have refused his invitation?”
“Their hospitality is legend,” Enda murmured. “I have never heard of them murdering a guest. Come, brother.”
Grumbling, Durga followed Zaki. When they reached the cliff’s entrance they were offered horses to ride. Mounting, they followed Zaki up the wide, winding path until they reached the entry to the colonnaded corridor. They dismounted, and now followed Zaki on foot, gaping at the tall marble columns, peering wide-eyed over the balustrade into the great green valley below. Here the breezes blew cooler than in the village. Then Zaki led them into a great room where Kaliq awaited them. By his side were both Lara and Og. Lara was clad in leather trousers and a silken shirt. A jeweled leather belt encompassed her narrow waist.
“I told you she was here!” Durga said triumphantly. “First I am going to beat her. We were too soft on her last time. She needs to know who her master is, Enda. Look at how proudly the bitch stands. Soon, very soon, she will beg for our mercy!”
“Greet the prince, brother!” Enda hissed. The sight of Lara, more beautiful than he recalled, set his pulses racing. He could scarcely wait to put his manroot into her again. He wanted to punish her, too, but in a far different fashion than his brother.
“Hail, Kaliq, Prince of the Shadows,” Durga said.
Kaliq nodded in acknowledgement, but did not speak.
“You have my property, and I want it back,” Durga spoke boldly.
Kaliq now stood up from his chair which had been set upon a raised dais. “Lara has been gone from your tender care more than a year and a day, Head Forester. She is free now under Hetarian law.”
“I have gone to the courts,” Durga responded angrily. “The magistrate has ordered that such a law cannot apply to a slave of such great value. The giant is free, but Lara belongs to us.” He waved a parchment at the prince.
Kaliq laughed scornfully. “And how can I be certain the paper you waggle before me is genuine, Durga of the Forest?”
“Do you doubt my word?” The Head Forester’s face grew florid.
“Why should I believe a man who would attempt to circumvent our Hetarian laws?” the prince demanded. “The law says a slave free for a year and a day remains free. Yet you come with your paper to tell me otherwise? Do you take me for a fool, Durga of the Forest? I know you paid a small fortune for Lara. I think you seek to regain her in a most unlawful manner.”
Durga glanced at the Shadow Prince, his slow wits digesting his words. Finally he said, “Look at the paper yourself, my lord.” He shoved the parchment toward Kaliq. “Look and see if I lie. I will restrain my outrage at your questions, for I can understand you but wish to retain this valuable slave for yourself, and I cannot blame you.”
The prince’s elegan
t hand reached out to take the proffered deed. He glanced at it in a bored, cursory fashion, and then let it drop from his fingers. “If there is an actual magistrate of this name, and he actually signed such a breach of our laws, I can but wonder how much you paid him, Durga of the Forest,” Kaliq murmured insultingly.
“Do you…do you…dare to accuse us of bribery?” Durga spluttered, his face bright red now with his anger.
“Aye,” the prince replied, “but mostly I accuse you of stupidity in believing that you could invade our kingdom, attempt to thwart our laws and believe we would let you do it.”
Durga’s hand went to his dagger. He was almost foaming at the mouth, and shook off Enda’s restraining hand.
“I know your secret,” Og’s deep voice suddenly spoke.
Durga paled. Then he said, “I do not know to what you refer, Og.”
“Aye, you do,” Og said descending from the dais where he had been standing. “I know of the curse Maeve placed upon your people.”
“You cannot!” Durga replied. “You were not even born then.”
“Giant memory is exchanged in the womb, Durga of the Forest. Our memories were our history, and my mother passed them all on to me before my birth. I know!”
“It makes no difference,” Durga cried. “Lara will change all that. That is why we must have her back. She will help us regain ourselves.”
“Nay, I will not.” Now it was Lara who spoke. “The daughters of faerie women inherit certain traits from their mothers. Like faeries, they give no children to those they do not love. Since I despise you both, I will never give either of you a child. Any of you, my lord Durga. And my grandmother swore on her fading that she would never remove the curse from you, nor could anyone else.”
Durga looked stunned. It was his brother who now spoke.
“Your grandmother?”
“Maeve was my grandmother, although until recently I did not know it,” Lara said.
Durga began to moan. “We had Maeve’s own kin beneath us in our beds, and yet we could get no child on her, brother.” Then his small eyes turned on Lara. “Come back with us, and we will make you a queen,” he pleaded, all thoughts of violence against her gone from his head. “Give us sons to free us from your grandmother’s curse, faerie girl!”
“Even if I were willing, and I am not, it could not be. Maeve said it before her fading. The curse can never be lifted. Your purity is gone, my lords. Your father was but half Forester, and your blood is thinned by a quarter more. You live a lie, and no faerie will ever help you, could not help you. And it is all your own fault. If your grandfather had but punished those who killed the faerie woman, Nixa, if he had returned her torque willingly thereby preventing his own pregnant wife’s death, Maeve would have forgiven the sin, angry as she was. But your grandfather’s pride was overwhelming. He is responsible for the destruction of your race.”
Durga, whose head had fallen to his chest with her first words, now looked up. His eyes had become enflamed with his desperation and madness. “You will return with us, faerie girl. And you will give us the children we need to restore our race,” he snarled, reaching out for her. “You will come back!”
A deep feral sound arose from Og’s throat. He would have moved forward but that Lara stayed him with her hand.
“The girl is ours,” Enda said, attempting to sound reasonable. “Surely you can understand that, my lord prince. We have the magistrate’s order. And the Shadow Princes are men who respect the law, and keep order themselves among the Desert folk.”
“You bribed the magistrate, I have not a doubt,” Kaliq replied in amused tones. “What did you promise him in return? Lara, when you had finished with her? Your brother would not allow Lara to live, or do you not understand that, my lord Enda?”
At that Durga leapt forward, his big clumsy hands stretching out for Lara. The girl stepped back but a pace, her arm reaching up to draw her broadsword from the scabbard on her back. She found herself filled to bursting with a ferocious anger. This beast of a man would not have her. She would never again be victimized by the Head Forester Durga, or any of his clan. Then, to even her own surprise, she jumped forward and with a single stroke decapitated the Head Forester as the sword sang loudly.
I am Andraste. I sing of Victory and I drink the blood of the unjust!
Durga’s head rolled across the marble floor, his eyes wide, his mouth open in complete and utter shock. Crimson blood spurted from his severed neck and flowed over the marble floors. The head settled at Enda’s booted feet. He looked down, and then up again. His eyes were filled with fear as he stared at Lara. A hesitant hand went to his own weapon, but Kaliq quickly spoke.
“Lara tells me you paid thirty thousand pieces of gold for her. I will give it to you, and ten thousand more in blood money for your brother’s death. Under the law Lara was legally free of you several days ago. You have attempted to regain her by fraudulent means. We both know it, my lord Enda. Take the gold, and leave Shunnar. If I must bring this unfortunate matter to the attention of the High Council, how do you think they would rule? Lara’s destiny is not with you. Nor is it even with me, I regret to say. And it occurs to me that if your brother had no son, then it is you who are now the Head Forester. Did Durga have a son?” A small smile played about the prince’s mouth.
“No. Just daughters.” Enda had now found his voice again, and lied easily to the Shadow Prince. The bitch Truda had whelped a boy, but he was weak, and had been sickly since his birth. His brother had beaten Truda badly for it, as he blamed the woman. No one would consider it odd if the boy died suddenly. And no one would be sorry to have Truda gone from their midst. She had been a troublemaker from the very beginning. Durga was dead of his own stupidity. Enda would tell no one how his brother died. He would say Durga had a fit when he could not regain Lara. Of course there was the matter of his brother’s head and body being separated.
“Then we shall consider this matter settled between us? And between Lara, and your family?” the prince purred. “If you would like we will bury your brother. His body would decay too badly if you attempted to take it with you back to your Forest realm.”
Enda nodded. Had the prince read his mind, he wondered uncomfortably? “When I have the gold in my possession,” he said, and then his eyes went to Lara. If only he could have gotten a son on her, he thought regretfully, but he had understood her words.
“Let me kill him, too, my lord Kaliq,” Lara said, and was pleased to see the Forester grow pale beneath his sunburnt skin.
Kaliq laughed. “So, my love, the warrior’s blood now sings in your veins. But nay. We will not start a war over you, as flattering as I am certain you would find it. Hetar must remain at peace for now. Soon enough the clouds will gather.”
“Very well,” Lara agreed. She smiled at Enda. “I will not kill you, though it is tempting, my lord Enda, and your neck is not quite as thick as your brother’s was.”
To her surprise he answered her, “I am sorry you could not love me, Lara. Even though I understand what you have said is the truth. The purity of the Forester’s blood is a thing gone, yet I would have liked to have had a son by you.”
“Go home, my lord,” she told him. “Be thankful that my lord Kaliq has stayed my hand. Never again will anyone use me for their own advantage.” She bent, picking up Durga’s head by its hair. She stared into his face briefly, saying as she handed it to Enda, “And take this with you.”
He recoiled, forcing back the bile that rose in his throat as he was forced to stare into his brother’s dead face. His legs felt weak, and he slipped on the bloody floor.
“Lara, my love, do put the head down. We will dispose of it. You really are frightening the new Head Forester. My lord Enda-” he now directed his speech to the Forester “-Zaki will lead you back to the village where you will find the gold already waiting for you. Use the lemax your brother rode to carry it. You will depart this evening. Our moon is now full, and you will find traveling at night is more comfort
able in the Desert. I bid you a safe journey.”
Enda nodded, bowed, and turned about to follow the headman. His last glimpse of Lara caused an icy shiver to ripple down his spine. She was industriously cleaning his brother’s blood from her sword. Once he wanted nothing more than to possess her totally. Now he prayed to the Celestial Actuary that he never had to see her again.
Chapter 12
“I CANNOT BELIEVE that I killed him,” Lara said afterward as they ate their evening meal in the private garden that separated their individual quarters. “I don’t know what happened, but I was suddenly filled with an anger such as I have never known, my lord.”
“Blood lust,” he said dryly. “And now perhaps you are beginning to understand, Lara. In your life you have been a good daughter. Then you were to be a Pleasure Woman, but that is not the destiny fate meant for you to follow. It is not written that your beauty be used just for the gratification of others. You are meant to be strong. To lead.”
“But women are subservient, my lord. It has always been that way,” she replied.
“Not everywhere,” he told her. “Only in the provinces.”
She looked puzzled, and he further explained.
“In the provinces, women have been kept obeisant for a reason. It is believed women cause disorder, for they are known to question, protest and dispute if permitted. Men, however, accept what is told them, if it is told to them by someone they respect and trust. The High Council wants no difficulties. They want peace. They want industry and trade to continue as they always have. They want profit, and profit does not necessarily come with social change. The High Council wants everyone to keep their place, and those who are allowed up the social ladder come only in the prescribed way, as did your father. But change is coming, Lara. It must come if Hetar is to survive. The old ways are coming to an end, and you are to be part of that change.”
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