“And Gaius Prospero is not?” Magnus was curious.
“The Master of the Merchants, or I suppose I should now say, the emperor, is more interested in acquisition and pleasure than anything else. But Jonah, I believe, seeks power.”
“Look, up ahead the avenue opens into a square, and I see kiosks and awnings. It is a market!” Magnus said, well pleased.
“I must buy a basket if we are to make other purchases,” Lara said, and with one or two queries they found their way to a basket weaver’s awning. Looking carefully Lara finally selected an open container woven from willow wands. She bargained with the basket weaver until a suitable price was agreed upon by them both. Then she turned to her husband who wordlessly brought forth the proper coin. They walked onward.
“I see here in the marketplace you are free to speak up,” he noted.
“Yes, this is a woman’s province. It is not odd for her man to accompany her here, but she is the one who makes the purchases, and bargains where suitable,” Lara explained. She next purchased a small fresh loaf of bread, some cooked meat, a wedge of cheese that she first tasted and approved. It was all more expensive than she had remembered, and it had been Lara who marketed for her family. An old woman vendor was displaying apples, pears and grapes of a much better quality than they had been offered at the inn this morning. Lara was further shocked by the price the old lady asked.
“Why are they so expensive?” she asked.
“The spring was wet, and the blossoms did not set properly. The harvest has been a poor one,” the fruit seller explained. “The trees and the vines are all old now. But when we take back the land the barbarians stole from us it will be different. We will plant new trees and vines. Food is scarce this year. It is the same all over Hetar.”
“Not quite so much in the Coastal province where we come from,” Lara told her. Then turning the subject she said, “I will take two apples, two pears and a small bunch of your lovely green grapes. As it is my husband will complain at me for the cost.” She held out her hand to Magnus who, glowering as he was supposed to, counted out the coins for the fruit, grumbling beneath his breath as he did so. Lara handed the fruit seller the coins, and received in return the fruit she had requested. Seeing a third apple she looked at the woman questioningly.
“It’s small,” the old lady said. “I won’t be able to sell it anyway. You might as well have it.”
“Thank you,” Lara said, and gave the vendor a smile.
“Well,” Magnus said as the moved away, “there is one person in Hetar not interested in a great profit.”
“The people are good, my lord,” Lara told him. “It is those in power who are overcome by their greed.” And then she stopped suddenly, for directly in her path was her stepmother, and she was staring with shock and surprise directly at Lara.
Sensing something wrong Magnus asked, “What is it, Lara?”
Lara drew a long breath, and then she said, “Susanna. You are looking well.”
Her stepmother swallowed hard, and then she practically whispered, “What are you doing here, Lara?” There was a young boy at her side.
“Is this Mikhail?” Lara asked, smiling at the child.
“Yes,” Susanna said. “You have not answered my question.”
“I do not think a public street is the place for this conversation, Susanna,” Lara replied. “We are near the Garden District. Will you not invite my husband and me there so we may speak together? Perhaps I might even see my father, if he is not preparing for the Outlands invasion.” Her tone was pleasant. She took Susanna’s arm and drew her out of the center of the walkway.
“No one can enter the Garden District now except those living there. You would need a special permit, and I do not see how you could get one,” Susanna protested.
“My magic has increased in the years I have been gone from Hetar, Stepmother,” Lara told her. “I can render my husband and me invisible. We will follow you home, and no one will be the wiser,” she said.
“Our servants will see you!” Susanna protested.
“And will they be bold enough to question you about your guests?” Lara asked her scornfully. “We will be discreet, Susanna. I have no wish to draw attention to us.”
“You will do it whether I say yes or not,” Susanna responded. Then she turned, and taking her son by the hand, moved quickly off back into the pathway between the kiosks and open shops.
“She has not always been so fearful,” Lara said as they moved to follow Susanna. “Be careful not to bump anyone, Magnus. We are quite invisible now.”
“Thank you for telling me,” he said wryly as he avoided a rather plump matron.
They trailed after Lara’s stepmother and young brother, following them from the marketplace down several streets, and through the gates into the Garden District. The guardsman at the gate greeted Susanna and her son politely as they walked by him.
Finally Susanna stopped a moment, and then she entered a large marble villa. It was not the house that Lara recalled her father being assigned when he first became a Crusader Knight. Obviously John Swiftsword had come up in the world. But Lara did recognize the slave man who hurried forth to welcome his mistress home.
“I shall be in my privy chamber, Nels,” Susanna said. “I do not wish to be disturbed. Please take Master Mikhail to the nursery. Where is my husband?”
“He has only just arrived home himself, Mistress,” Nels replied.
“Would you ask him to join me?” Susanna told the slave. Then she turned and hurried off.
Lara and Magnus followed behind her.
Susanna waited long enough to be certain they had entered her small privy chamber where she came to sit and meditate. “Are you both here now?” she asked them.
“We are,” said Lara, reappearing, and rendering Magnus visible again, too.
Susanna jumped to find Lara directly next to her. “When your father comes you will tell us why you are here. Then I want you to go as you came,” she said. “Your very presence endangers my family. I don’t want you here.”
The door to the small chamber opened, then closed, and John Swiftsword entered the room. He stared disbelieving at first, and then a wariness crept into his face. “Lara.”
“I greet you, my father,” she replied.
John Swiftsword looked to his wife questioningly.
“I saw them in the open market three streets over,” Susanna said. “She insisted on coming with me, but no one knows she is here. Her magic made her invisible to the guards at the gate and to the house slaves. John, make her go! If she is discovered we will be dishonored, and everything you have worked for will be taken from us.”
“Sit down, Wife,” John Swiftsword said. Then he turned to his daughter. “Who is this man with you, Lara?”
“He is my husband, the ruler of a great land, Father,” Lara answered.
John Swiftsword look confused. “We heard you murdered your Forest Lord master, and fled to the Outlands. Then it is said you helped lead a rebellion that caused the deaths of several hundred of our Mercenaries. I saw the death carts myself. Mistress Mildred’s hovel was discovered empty and covered in blood. She and her son, Wilmot, were never seen alive again. It was said you were responsible, for Wilmot denounced you before the High Council of Hetar.”
Lara shook her head. “Gaius Prospero has been quite busy defaming my reputation in order to rebuild his own,” she said. “May we sit, Father? The tale I have to tell is a long one. My husband is called Magnus Hauk, which means Hawk. He is the Dominus of a land called Terah.”
“Is this some area of the Outlands?” her father asked.
“No,” Lara said. “Terah is not the Outlands. Now as to the stories you have been told, there is truth in all of them. I did indeed flee the Forest Lords, for they were brutal masters with a penchant for murdering their slaves. I was aided in my escape by the last living Forest Giant who was also mistreated by them. We went into the desert and were taken in by one of the Shadow Prince
s. It was the Shadow Princes who opened my mind to my faerie blood, reunited me with my mother and schooled me to be the warrior I have become.
“I have a sword, father.” Shrugging off the long enveloping cloak she had been wearing, Lara drew her weapon from the scabbard upon her back. “This is Andraste,” she said. “This is my father, John Swiftsword,” she told the sword.
Andraste’s emerald eyes opened and she surveyed the surprised man. “He is a great warrior, Mistress, but you are surely his equal,” she said.
Susanna screamed softly as the weapon spoke, and her husband took a step back.
“I am considered a great warrior, Father,” Lara told him. “I slew the Forest Lord who tried to reclaim me in defiance of our own Hetarian laws. Then the princes paid his brother a generous indemnity. Afterwards, I journeyed into the Outlands where I wed their greatest leader and lord, Vartan of the Fiacre. When Hetar invaded two of the clan families’ territory and enslaved the people, Vartan led a force to drive them out, and we were successful. The Outlanders are peaceful folk. It was Hetar who broke the ancient treaties.” She resheathed her sword.
“Nay,” her father said. “They infringed upon Hetar, and we had no choice but to protect ourselves. Those territories were annexed to prevent further encroachment.”
“So said Gaius Prospero and his minions,” Lara replied scornfully. “The Tormod and Piaras territories were invaded in order to rob and pillage their gold, silver and gemstone mines. Gaius Prospero made himself quite rich in those few months before we drove Hetar back behind their own borders. I saved Wilmot in that battle, and sent him to Gaius Prospero first, and then to the High Council where he was protected by the Shadow Princes and the Coastal Kings. He and his mother were transported to the desert, where they live in the palace of a prince even to this day.
“And peace was restored in the Outlands. I bore Vartan two children. But then he was assassinated at the behest of Gaius Prospero, who hoped by depriving the Outlands of their strongest leader they would be weakened. But the clan families have not been weakened. They elected a new leader and grew stronger. But I have a destiny, and it called to me once again. I traveled to the Coastal Kingdom, and from there to Terah, where I lifted a great curse from the men of the land.”
“Why have you returned to Hetar?” her father asked her candidly.
“Magnus wanted to see the City,” Lara replied.
“Why?” John Swiftsword demanded.
“Because,” the Dominus of Terah said, “if you will invade peaceful neighbors and violate ancient treaties, it is possible that one day you may decide to invade my lands on some pretext or another.”
“Hetar is not an aggressor!” John Swiftsword declared vehemently. “We are a peaceful people. We seek only what is ours, and the Outlands belong to Hetar. For centuries we have left its indigenous folk to wander its steppes, but now we need those lands back. The City is overcrowded. The Midlands can no longer feed us. We must resettle our own Hetarians in the Outlands.”
“And what will happen to its people?” Magnus Hauk asked him.
“They are savages, and must be civilized to Hetarian ways. This will be best accomplished by absorbing them into our society as slaves,” John Swiftsword replied.
“I can hardly believe what I am hearing from your mouth, Father,” Lara said. “I was the wife of an Outlands lord. These are not wandering tribesmen. These are people with villages, flocks, herds, ancient customs and a civilized way of life. Gaius Prospero and his minions have not lived among the Outlands clan families, but I have. Whose word is more valid in this instance?”
“Lara, you were always a difficult girl,” her father replied. “Only your great beauty saved you. You could have been a famed Pleasure Woman in the City but for your intransigence. The emperor was very disappointed in you and your behavior. Whatever fate you have suffered has been your own fault.”
“Difficult?” She was astounded. “When grandmother died I was still a child, but I cooked, and cleaned and mended your clothes for you, Father. When after several years you took Susanna to wife I welcomed her as a dutiful daughter should. I taught her how to bargain in the marketplace, and deal with the tradespeople. I helped with my baby brother Mikhail. I soothed your conscience when you sold me to Gaius Prospero. I was never difficult, and for you to accuse me of it now is despicable. As a Mercenary you were an honorable man, but I see that you have now become a true Hetarian in every sense of the word. You rewrite history to suit your ideas and actions. You are only interested in what you can acquire. I see you have gained a larger house than the one that was originally assigned to you. What service did you perform for Hetar to merit it?
“I should not have attempted to see you but that Susanna recognized me in the market, and I realized it was my little brother Mikhail by her side. He looks like you, Father. But your wife did not even bother to introduce me to my brother. I was foolish for wanting to know him even briefly. I have a faerie brother, you know. His name is Cirilo, and he is just a bit younger than Mikhail. He will one day be king of the Forest Faeries. My mother welcomed me as you have not. I shall not forget it.”
“Mikhail doesn’t even know he has an older sister,” Susanna said suddenly. “He was still an infant when you left. He believes he is the eldest of your father’s children. Why would we tell him of you? A traitor to Hetar! A murderess!”
“You have other children,” Lara said. It wasn’t a question.
“I have given your father four sons. Mikhail, Haemon, Vili and Anyon,” Susanna said proudly. “Four sons for the order of the Crusader Knights. And each child I have borne is healthy and strong. You asked what your father did to merit this house? It was not your father. It was me! Successful breeders of sons who are wives to the men of this order are rewarded with larger homes and more servants. Even now another son grows in my belly, and Anyon is not yet a year!” she said proudly.
“And do your sisters envy you now, Susanna?” Lara asked her stepmother softly.
Susanna giggled, and for a moment Lara saw the girl she had once been. “You remembered,” she said. “Aye, they do envy me.”
“Then you have everything you ever wanted,” Lara murmured.
A knock sounded upon the door.
“I said I was not to be disturbed!” Susanna cried.
“Mistress, a messenger from the emperor is at our door,” Nels called to her.
“What does he want?” Susanna asked.
“He will only speak with you, or Sir John,” Nels responded.
Susanna looked to her husband, who appeared unsure of what to do.
“We will be invisible to the messenger,” Lara said to her father.
“Show the messenger in, Nels,” John Swiftsword called to his slave.
Several moments later the door to Susanna’s privy chamber was opened, and a smartly uniformed messenger stepped through into the room. Lara and Magnus were no longer visible. They had just faded away before Susanna’s eyes.
“Sir John Swiftsword?”
John nodded, and the messenger handed him a tightly rolled parchment.
“From the emperor, sir. I am to await a return message.” He stood at attention while John unrolled the scroll, and perused it slowly.
“The emperor invites us to join him for dinner,” John Swiftsword said. “And we are to bring our guests.” He grew pale, and suddenly silent. Then he heard Lara whisper in his ear.
“Say, yes, Father! And say it now before the messenger wonders why you are near to shaking with your fear,” Lara said in a hard voice that only he could hear.
“Tell the emperor we will be delighted to join him,” John Swiftsword answered the messenger, regaining his courage.
“Two litters will be here at sunset to take you to the emperor’s home,” the messenger said, bowing again, and then turning he left the room.
Lara and Magnus returned to their view, and seeing them her father’s face grew tight with his anxiety. His daughter’s magic was, he found, v
ery unnerving.
Susanna began to moan. “We are ruined! You could not be satisfied unless you brought ruin upon us, could you? My poor children! What will become of them?”
“How did he know?” John Swiftsword wondered aloud.
Lara laughed. “His spy system is even better than I would have given him credit for,” she said admiringly. “I see the fine hand of his slave, Jonah, in this.”
“Jonah is no longer a slave, but a freed man. He is the emperor’s closest advisor,” her father told them. “He is called the right hand of the emperor.”
“Yes,” Lara said slowly. “He could accomplish much more as a free man than as a slave. I certainly did,” she concluded with a chuckle.
“You will get us all killed!” Susanna sobbed. “Why did you have to come back?”
“A proven breeder such as yourself would not be killed, Stepmother,” Lara said scornfully. “Gaius Prospero has somehow found out I am in the City. If murder were on his mind we should already be dead. No. He wants something, and he is willing to be charming in order to obtain it. Magnus and I must return to our lodging. I am certain that your emperor’s litter will be waiting for us there at the appointed hour, and not here.” And then she and Magnus were gone from John and Susanna’s sight.
“Whatever the emperor wants we will agree to,” Susanna said nervously.
“He desires nothing of us but an assurance of our loyalty,” her husband said. “We would not even be asked to dine with him but that he wants Lara there. I wonder if she will go, or if she will disappear from the City. I thought she looked like her mother when she was a girl, but now the resemblance is even stronger. And she has gained much magic, it would seem. She is more faerie than mortal now,” he said almost regretfully.
“This man she was with,” Susanna said. “Do you think he is really her husband?”
“If it were not so she would not have said it,” John replied. “Lara was never a liar, but where is the place she calls Terah? And what of the children she mentioned? Did she tell you if they were sons or daughters?”
“I know nothing more than you do, husband,” Susanna responded. “Oh, what shall I wear tonight? It must be perfect if we are to dine with the emperor. Wait until I write to my sisters about that!” she cried excitedly, and hurried from her little privy chamber.
A Distant Tomorrow Page 34
