The Twilight Lord

by Bertrice Small

  “You are asking me to raise my voice against Gaius Prospero,” Gillian said. “Perhaps I could but then shortly my power and authority would be given to someone else. And speaking out against this emperor may prove to be an exercise in futility.”

  “Why?” Lara wanted to know.

  “The truth?” Gillian smiled as Lara nodded. “Lord Jonah is planning to overthrow Gaius Prospero. The emperor is one of the few not to have divined that fact. Of course none of us would voice such thoughts. But already the magnates secretly align themselves with Jonah. It is his mother, Lady Farah, who will soon sit in my seat. He will then have unspoken control of the Pleasure Guild.”

  “The majority of whom are women,” Lara reminded her.

  “Jonah wants a war,” Gillian said. “He knows it will be a disaster and when it is, Gaius Prospero will once more be blamed and easier to remove from his throne.”

  “I cannot believe that Gaius Prospero does not see what is going on beneath his nose. He was always extremely clever,” Lara remarked.

  “The emperor is besotted with his young empress,” Gillian said. “He sees nothing but Shifra. And now there is a rumor that she might be with child. Gaius Prospero envisions creating a dynasty that will rule forever.”

  “What of Aubin?” Lara wanted to know.

  “Aubin renounced any claim to his father’s throne when the emperor divorced Vilia. He is a member of the Merchants’ Guild,” Lady Gillian said. “Vilia is very duplicitous, Domina. And dangerous, as well. I believe, though I have no proof of it, that she seduced Lord Jonah long before her divorce. She is extremely ambitious for her new husband and the truth is that he is a better prospect for her ambitions, for his own ambition is equal to hers. They make a dangerous pair, I fear.”

  “Are there those among your Pleasure Mistresses or other women whom you can trust with your life?” Lara asked the headmistress of the Pleasure Guild.

  “Aye,” she answered slowly, her blue eyes wary.

  “Meet with them. Discuss with them the possibility of joining with other Hetarian women to speak up with a single voice to make the emperor cease in his plans for another war. I will create a spell that I will weave about you to protect you so that no one can overhear the dangerous words you will speak to others,” Lara said.

  “And are these women to be the only voice decrying this proposed war of Gaius Prospero’s?” Gillian asked Lara.

  Lara smiled, certain now that she had won the headmistress to her side. “Nay, there will be others who will speak up after you do, but you must lead the way, for you are deeply respected among the women of Hetar. And that knowledge will also save you in the early days of your rebellion from any retribution, for the emperor, Jonah and the magnates will be very surprised by what is happening. They will have to decide if they dare to silence you,” Lara told her.

  “And will they?” Gillian wanted to know.

  “I cannot answer that,” Lara replied candidly.

  “You do not lie,” Gillian responded, an amused smile touching her lips.

  “Not often,” Lara said. “I can tell you that this revolt of Hetar’s women will also cause many men of the lower orders to rally to your side. The farmers cannot plant and bring in crops without help.”

  “The women who ordinarily might help in the fields will not,” Gillian said and now she was smiling in earnest. “And the small merchants will not like a war. They cannot earn a living if their sons are gone fighting. There will be no cubits to purchase their foodstuffs or other goods. You are a clever woman, Lara, Domina of Terah.”

  “Then you will help me to prevent this war?” She felt her spell beginning to weaken.

  Lady Gillian nodded. “Will we speak again?”

  “Soon,” Lara promised and then she let herself fade away into sleep as her companion disappeared, as well.

  Over the next few weeks Lara burned the magic powder she had formulated and slipped onto the Dream Plain during the night to speak with other women in Hetar. By observing Hetar in her reflecting bowl she was able to find women of intellect and backbone who were not at all content with the status quo. Many were located in the quarter where the wives, mothers, sisters and daughters of the Mercenaries were housed. Others she found, to her surprise, among the women who lived in the Garden District, the area inhabited by the Crusader Knights. Her stepmother, Susanna, was not among those, however; Susanna would speak up only in defense of her husband and sons.

  Lara sought discontent among the women of the Midlands, and there she found a hotbed of anger to serve her purpose. In the Coastal Kingdom the women were feeling like second-class citizens as Hetar’s magnates took their lands and polluted the air with their factories. Even in the forest the concubines of the Forest Lords were becoming more and more unhappy with their lot in life. The women in the Outlands, however, were too beaten down to be appealed to. They would have to see women in the other provinces of Hetar rise up before they would join their own voices to those already protesting.

  Having found these women and seen their unhappiness, Lara began bringing them to the Dream Plain to speak with them. Winterfest had come and gone and it was but another month to spring. Now Lara brought not just one woman at a time, but groups of women whom she encouraged to speak up before their lives and those of their families were completely destroyed by the greed of their emperor and his cronies. But having found their voice, the women of Hetar were not certain what to do with it.

  “You must march to the emperor’s palace,” Lara told them.

  “In the Golden District?” one woman said. “The guards will stop us.”

  “Nay, they will not. They will be so surprised by a great mob of women that they will be confused and not certain what to do. And Gaius Prospero’s greatest fear will be for his empress, Shifra the Fair,” Lara told them.

  “We must have a list of demands drawn up,” Lady Gillian said.

  “And if all we seek at first is to put those demands in the emperor’s hands,” another woman from the Midlands spoke up, “who can fault us?”

  “But you must be certain that you see the emperor. Do not let Lord Jonah intercede for him,” Lara said. “He will attempt to prevent Gaius Prospero from hearing your voices. Remember that the war is to his advantage,” she reminded them. “It is rumored that he seeks to take Gaius Prospero’s place.”

  “A wily snake in exchange for a fat rat?” the wife of a Coastal King said. “’Tis not a good trade, I’m thinking.”

  And the other women laughed.

  “Do not be distracted by that rumor,” Lara told them. “Your single purpose is to stop a futile war, to force Hetar to deal with Terah diplomatically. I have told each of you individually and I tell you as a group, I mean no harm to my native land, and my husband, the Dominus of Terah means no harm to you or to Hetar. He is a man of peace and loves his own land. To be honest, he does not like Hetar,” she concluded with a small smile. “I don’t think he’d have you even if you offered yourselves to him.”

  To her relief the women clustered about her on the Dream Plain laughed aloud.

  “How can you live in Terah when you have known the glory of Hetar?” a mercenary’s wife asked frankly.

  “I love my husband,” Lara told them simply, allowing them to believe that she was making a great sacrifice.

  There was much nodding among the group, but Lady Gillian caught Lara’s eye with her own, a small smile touching her lips. She had come to like Lara over the past weeks on the Dream Plain and realized now that, while she once might have made a magnificent Pleasure Woman, her true talents would have been wasted. Perhaps it was fortunate that Lara’s beauty had caused such dissent among the Pleasure Guilds that they had had to forbid the sale in an effort to keep the peace. If women could indeed rule as men ruled, Lara would make a great leader, Gillian thought.

  IN THE CITY THE TIME was drawing near for war with Terah. There were parades every day. Crusader Knights in their armor on their great war horses, squires and pag
es going before them with flags and music. The Guild of Mercenaries marched wearing their leather breastplates and helmets, carrying their weapons. But oddly, there seemed to be little enthusiasm for these displays of military might.

  And then upon a bright and sunny spring morning an enormous crowd of women left their homes and their hovels to march through the streets of The City. They were women of all classes and ages, done up in their very best clothing. They were led by the lady Gillian, and the fact that they were silent as they marched was just the tiniest bit menacing. Only the stamp-stamp of their feet could be heard echoing through the narrow streets and across the open market spaces. When they reached the gates of the Golden District the guards, as Lara had predicted, fell back in the face of their might and allowed them through.

  Silently the women marched on toward the emperor’s palace, tramping down the graveled paths of the Golden District beneath the budding trees with their new yellow-green leaves. And when Gaius Prospero’s enlarged house, which was now a palace, came into view, the women stopped briefly, amazed, for few of them had ever even seen it. Then as one they moved toward it, and the men guarding the entrance to the palace gaped in surprise to see the huge crowd of women approaching. But the women were quiet and, while menacing, did not seem violent.

  “Halt!” One of the guards said as the women stopped before them, “Why has this mob assembled?”

  “I am Lady Gillian, headmistress of the Pleasure Guilds,” Gillian said. “We wish to see the emperor. Tell him the women of Hetar are not pleased with him. We are not pleased at all.” She waved her hand at the guardsman. “Go! Hurry!” And she almost laughed, as did many of the women, as the guard scampered away, leaving his mate to protect the entrance to the palace.

  After many long minutes, as Lara had predicted, an official appeared from inside the palace. He glared at them—as if his look could quell them. “What is it you want?” he demanded in a high-pitched voice.

  “We wish to see the emperor,” Lady Gillian replied.

  “The emperor cannot take time from his day to see a bunch of noisy women,” the official said to them. “Be gone back to your husbands and masters!”

  “We wish to see the fat slug who calls himself our emperor and who would lead us once again into misfortune,” Lady Gillian said firmly. “We will wait until he completes his important business.”

  The official’s mouth fell open in surprise. He recognized Lady Gillian and was horrified to see her a part of what appeared to be a undisciplined rabble.

  And then Lady Gillian raised her hand and pointed a single finger at him. “Go!” she said in a stern voice, and the official turned and hurried off.

  Seeking out the emperor’s right hand, the official told Lord Jonah of the women now waiting before the gates of the palace.

  “Who are they?” Jonah asked the man. What mischief was this? he wondered.

  “They seem to be women of all classes, my lord,” the official said.

  “Do you recognize any?”

  “The headmistress of the Pleasure Guild,” the man replied. “There are other women of high caste, as well as those who are poor. I even thought I saw Maeve Scarlet.”

  “And exactly what do they want?” Jonah asked.

  “They say to see the emperor. I told them the emperor was busy but they refused to leave. My lord, it is as if they are all bewitched. I have never seen women behave as they are behaving. It is quite shocking,” the official said.

  Jonah considered for several long minutes during which the official shifted his weight from one foot to the other. Finally he said, “I will speak with them myself,” and hurried from the chamber. He moved swiftly through the palace, exiting through the atrium where all guests entered. And then he gasped audibly at the great crowd of women standing before the building. Catching himself up again he stalked forward, looked at them with what he hoped was icy hauteur, and said, “How dare you cause a disturbance before the palace of Hetar’s emperor?”

  “We dare because the women of Hetar have had enough!” Lady Gillian shouted back at the vulpine creature before her. She knew Jonah well enough to realize his mind was even now considering ways of punishing her for this breach of etiquette. “We wish to see the emperor, my lord.”

  “The emperor cannot see you,” Jonah said, as those before him had said.

  “Then we will wait,” Gillian replied.

  “It will be a long wait,” Jonah retorted.

  “What is he so busy at?” a faceless voice in the crowd called out. “Taking pleasures with his beautiful and vapid empress, who surely is young enough to be his daughter? Shame! Shame!”

  Jonah found himself completely stymied. The group numbered at least a thousand women. Where had they all come from? Why were they here? “What is it you desire from the emperor?” he finally asked them. “Perhaps I can help you.” He had softened his tone and was making every effort to sound sympathetic to the women.

  “We will speak only with the emperor,” Lady Gillian said implacably.

  Jonah shrugged and walked back into the palace.

  The spring sun grew warm as the day passed, beating down upon the heads of the women who waited. The day ended and still the women remained, though seated now. Wisely they had brought water with them but there was little food. They carefully rationed what they had. The night was damp and chilly as the dew fell, but they waited on until finally the dawn of a new day broke and the sun rose to warm them once again.

  The emperor had finally been informed by Tania, for no one else dared to tell him, of the crowd of women waiting outside his palace.

  “What do they want?” Gaius Prospero asked.

  “They will not say, my lord, to any but you,” Tania answered.

  “Are they armed?” His voice quavered nervously and he put a protective arm around the lady Shifra.

  “They do not appear to be, my lord,” Tania said.

  “How many of them are there?”

  “Hundreds, my lord.”

  “And they waited all night?” Gaius Prospero was surprised.

  “You must see them, my lord,” Tania told him. “They will not go away otherwise, I fear. They are women, nothing more.”

  “Has Jonah spoken to them?” Gaius Prospero wanted to know.

  “He has, my lord, but they want you,” Tania responded. “You must go then, my dear lord,” Lady Shifra said. “I will come with you.”

  “Nay,” he protested. “I do not want you in danger.”

  “We will garb ourselves in our finest robes, and your trumpeters will proceed us as we go,” Shrifa said. “It will charm the women to see that both their emperor and empress have come before them. They probably want nothing more than for you to release some grain from your storehouses so the price of bread may be lowered. They are thinking of their children and their oldsters, my lord. Let us go and treat them with courtesy and with kindness.”

  The emperor looked first to his wife and then to Tania.

  “The empress is wise. You should follow her advice, my lord,” Tania said.

  Gaius Prospero nodded and immediately Tania called to the servants to fetch the royal garments. The emperor and his wife were garbed in cloth of gold embroidered with rubies, sapphires, diamonds and emeralds. Shifra’s long red-gold hair was topped with a small crown while her husband wore a larger headpiece. And while they were being dressed Tania found the imperial trumpeters, who hastily gathered up their instruments.

  Jonah saw the preparations and attempted to dissuade the emperor from his course of action. “If you give in to this rabble of women, then other groups will come with an endless stream of complaints they want you to correct. And when you cannot they will be angered, mylord. I but try to protect you and the empress.”

  “It is the empress’s suggestion that we greet these women and treat them with courtesy,” Gaius Prospero said. “You have not, despite the authority I have given you, been able to disperse these women. If seeing me will do so then they shall see
me and my gentle empress. And arrest a half dozen of them when they go back through the gates of the Golden District.”

  “Lady Gillian is among them,” Jonah said. “She has, so far, done much of the talking.”

  “Indeed,” Gaius Prospero replied. He made a tching sound of disapproval. “Arrest her first,” he told Jonah. “Her term of office ends at Summerfest and Lady Farah is already prepared to take over the business of the Pleasure Guild. What do a few weeks matter, eh? We cannot have Hetarian women behaving badly and they will ape their betters, won’t they? If Gillian is not stopped immediately and publicly punished then others could easily grow bold. I cannot permit such a thing to disturb the order of Hetar, Jonah. The women must follow the example of my obedient Shifra, who thinks only of my welfare. Her womanly behavior is to be commended, don’t you agree, my lord?” Then turning to his beautiful wife the emperor offered her his arm. “Come, my dear, and let us greet our subjects.”

  They walked together through the wide gates of the palace. Gaius Prospero’s eyes widened momentarily as he viewed the great crowd of women before him. But then, Shifra on his arm, they stepped forth into the late morning sunshine. The women were silent as they had been all along. It was eerie. The emperor held up his hand in greeting to the assembled. Then he spoke.

  “Women of Hetar, what is it you desire of your emperor that you would put all manners aside and besiege my palace?”

  And they answered him with one great voice. “No war! No war! No war!”

  11

  GAIUS PROSPERO FELL back, aghast at the great sound the voices of the women made. Did they not understand? he wondered silently to himself. But then he realized that of course they could not possibly understand. They were only women. A paternal rush welled up in him. He held up his hand to still them and they did indeed grow silent.