“His surprise probably outweighed his curiosity,” Kaliq noted. “What of his loyalty to the Twilight Lord?”
“I sense he feels more gratitude to Lord Kol for sheltering the surviving Forest giants than any deep loyalty to him,” Og said thoughtfully. “The many questions I posed to my father seemed to confuse him, but I believe when he has time to consider them he will think harder on those issues. He told me that while I was small of stature I was big of intellect.” Og chuckled. “It is the first time I have ever been accused of being wise.”
“But you are wise, dear Og,” Lara told him.
“My lord prince,” the giant said, “I have challenged my father to meet me on the edge of the Sea of Obscura that he may see I am not simply a dream creature but his flesh and blood son. Will you use your magic to transport me there?”
Kaliq nodded. “I will go with you, but I will remain in the shadows unless you need me.”
“Why does this giant lord wish to see Og in the flesh?” Ilona asked irritably.
“Because he is a father who has only just learned he has a son, Ilona,” the prince dryly answered her. “Surely you understand a parent long separated from a child wanting to see that child, to touch that child, to embrace that child.”
The faerie queen flushed. “Aye,” she said softly, reaching out to take her daughter’s hand. “I understand.”
“When is this meeting to take place?” Lara wanted to know.
“I expect he will come in the next day or two,” Kaliq said slowly. “He will be curious.” He turned to Og. “We will depart today. Go and tell your wife that the prince needs your company for the next few days. You do not want her worrying.”
Og arose from the grass. “Very good, my prince,” he said and hurried off.
“What good does this face-to-face meeting do when it is Lara we are attempting to protect?” Ilona said impatiently. “I do not care a whit for Hetar or Terah. It is my child I would have protected.”
“If Kol cannot leave Kolbyr,” Lara said, “but can direct his armies nonetheless, Mother, it is important that we weaken his alliances before he begins this conflagration. Gaius Prospero has no idea what he could be up against. And even with strong magic it will be difficult for Terah to defend itself against Kol’s creatures. If Kol took Hetar, it would be difficult for Terah to defend itself on two fronts. We must prevent this war and that means we must destroy the bonds the Twilight Lord has forged with his allies.”
“It would be far simpler if we just saw that this dark spirit slept for the next thousand years,” Ilona said.
“The balance, my queen,” Kaliq reminded her. “The balance.”
“Do not lecture me, oh Prince,” Ilona said, sniffing irritably. “But tell me, what would be so dreadful if the balance was tilted far to the light and toward the good for the next thousand years? Would it really be that awful?”
“Before a true balance might then be restored,” Kaliq said, “we would be forced to live through an equal period of evil and darkness, my queen. Would you visit that upon us all? For now the balance is shifted just slightly to the good and to the light. It is the way it should be for we shall never be able to eradicate the darkness entirely. It will always lurk about the edges of our world. Even the fabled world of Belmair which glows like a great star in our skies struggles to keep perfect order. Light and dark. Good and evil. It is a never-ending battle, Ilona, and I know you know it.”
The faerie queen sighed. “This Twilight Lord is just so difficult a conundrum, and I fear for my daughter.”
“Your daughter has only begun to fulfill her destiny,” Kaliq said quietly.
Og returned at that moment. “I have spoken with my wife. She will take the time I am away to visit her family in the desert below,” he said. “I am ready whenever you are, my prince.”
And then to their surprise Prince Kaliq began to grow in height until he was as tall as Og. Flinging his cloak about himself and the giant they disappeared.
“I did not know he could do that,” Lara said, amazed.
Ilona laughed. “He can do anything,” she said admiringly.
“Why, Mother,” Lara teased her parent, “I am surprised. Was Kaliq ever your lover? Do you know how old he is?”
“Whether he was ever one of my lovers,” the faerie queen said, “is not a matter for discussion. As for his age, he is just slightly younger than time itself.”
“Yet he never changes,” Lara murmured softly.
Ilona made no reply.
“I suppose,” Lara finally said, “that I should go home now. Magnus will probably already be beginning to fret.”
“Not yet,” Ilona replied. “There is still the matter of your approaching the Twilight Lord on the Dream Plain. I think it too dangerous, my daughter.”
“It is dangerous,” Lara agreed, “but he will not stop seeking to bring me back to him unless he can be convinced that I do not love him enough to go with him.”
“Do not tell me that you came to love him?” Ilona exclaimed, horrified.
“Kol is a lonely man, Mother. He was never cruel to me. I believe that is what made it easy for me to deceive him once Kaliq regained my memories for me.”
“You must harden your heart, Lara,” Ilona said. “That bit of humanity within you will cause your downfall if you are not careful. The Twilight Lord stole you away from your husband and your children. He caused them and the clan families much grief. He set Gaius Prospero to making plans to war with Terah. The Twilight Lord is evil, my daughter, and evil sometimes disguises itself so that it appears almost palatable. But it is not! Kol thought only of himself, his desires, his needs. His kindness toward you was for a purpose. To convince you that he was your mate, your lover. To cajole you into depending upon him and him alone. Do not be fooled, Lara. And do not allow him to draw you back into his dark web. His heart is black to its core.”
Lara sighed. “I know you are right, Mother,” she agreed. “But if I am to protect Magnus and the children, if I am to prevent this war that Gaius Prospero is attempting to foist upon Terah, I must be completely free of the Twilight Lord. I cannot banish him as I did his ancestor, Usi. I must convince him that what we had was false. That I cannot ever love him as he would have me do. I will not venture into the Dark Lands again, but I will summon Kol to the Dream Plain. I am safe there, am I not?”
Ilona nodded reluctantly. “Aye, you are safe there, but be certain before you go that you protect yourself, for Kol will try to trick you.”
“I must go now,” Lara said, rising from the table where they had been eating. “Let me know when Kaliq is back and what has transpired for Og.”
“I will,” Ilona replied. And then she opened the golden tunnel for her daughter.
Lara saw at its end the small room in her own home, the candle on the table almost burned down to a stump. She stepped into the tunnel’s entrance. “Farewell, Mother,” she said and then she walked through back into her own castle even as the tunnel closed behind her.
13
“I CANNOT FORGET her,” the Twilight Lord groaned.
“But you must, my lord,” Alfrigg said.
“Never! She is mine and I want her back!” Kol roared angrily.
“My lord, she was naught but the female vessel needed to give the Dark Lands its next lord, but she could not even do that right. She gave you identical twins instead of one son. Thus we are thrown into chaos.”
“The Book of Rule said my mate would be a faerie woman and Lara is a faerie woman,” Kol said irritably. He longed to strike out at his chancellor, who was becoming very annoying, but he could not relieve the dwarf of his position for Alfrigg had been named specifically in the Book of Rule as his chancellor. Still, the thought of taking his head from his shoulders and pickling it was enticing. Kol ground his teeth.
“I would never gainsay the Book of Rule,” Alfrigg said. “I merely question if the female vessel you chose was the correct one.”
“Of course she was the co
rrect one, you blithering old fool,” Kol shouted. “I saw her in the reflecting bowl when I asked to see my mate. Would the bowl have lied?”
“Perhaps you were shown what you were supposed to see,” Alfrigg said quietly.
“Of course I was supposed to see her!” Kol’s normally pale skin was growing crimson with his outrage and frustration. “Why else would the reflecting bowl have revealed her to me?”
“My lord, we both know the power of the magic world. And we both know that the balance between the light and the dark must be maintained—” Alfrigg began.
“Why?” Kol interrupted. “Why should there be any balance between good and evil? Why cannot one overcome the other? Show me where it is written that there must be balance, you imbecile! It is not in the Book of Rule. Show me!”
“I do not know if it is written, my lord, but that is the way of it,” Alfrigg replied calmly. “The Shadow Princes know everything there is to know. Their magic reaches even into the Dark Lands, my lord. I believe that they arranged for you to see Lara and want her with all your being. And having engaged your lust they allowed you to take her so you might get your heir on her, for she was a faerie woman and met the requirement in the Book of Rule.”
“She loves me. She would not have given me children otherwise. Faerie women will not give children to those they do not love. Now they have stolen her from me.” Kol flung himself upon his throne and looked out into the stormy sky outside. “I want her back, Alfrigg. I want her back, and I shall have her back!” His severe, handsome face bore a look of determination.
“My lord, you must face reality. You robbed this faerie woman of her memories of who she was, of her husband, of her children. Then you convinced her that she was your wife and you loved her. She was frightened and confused. You gained her trust. She did not know she was faerie, therefore you were able to impregnate her. Once her memories were restored she schemed against you, deceived you and with the help of her mentor, the Shadow Prince, she fled the Dark Lands to return to her husband, her children and their home. She does not love you, my lord. She does not love you!”
Kol leapt from his throne, picked up the dwarf and flung him down the length of the long chamber. Alfrigg landed with a loud thunk and for a moment Kol believed he had killed his chancellor. He was torn between a feeling of deep satisfaction and panic, but finally Alfrigg arose from the floor, shaking himself and running his hands over himself as if he were checking for broken bones. Satisfied he was still in one piece he reached up to inspect his head and discovered a trickle of blood. The dwarf turned and bowed stiffly to his angry master.
“I will leave you to yourself, my lord, while I attend to my wounds.”
“Krell damn you to Limbo!” Kol cursed Alfrigg as the doors to his throne room closed. His chancellor was wrong. Lara loved him. He would regain her even if he had to unleash all the powers of the Dark Lands into Terah. The Shadow Prince had enchanted him so he could not leave his castle for a hundred years, but he did not have to leave Kolbyr to get her back. He could send his giants or the Wolfyn after her, after the Dominus of Terah who claimed her as his wife, after her children. But first he had to contact her upon the Dream Plain. Unless she returned to him he would destroy Terah and all that was in it. Her loyalty to the Dominus was only based upon the children they shared. Well she had given him children, too, and his sons needed their mother. He needed her and he would have her.
The Twilight Lord strode from his throne room to his bedchamber, a small, narrow, dark room, its walls and ceiling painted black. He flung himself down upon the bed, and his dark eyes closed as he reached out to her, commanded her to come to the Dream Plain. He had done this for many nights, and while he had sensed Lara’s presence he had never been able to get close enough to her to treat with her. But tonight she appeared to him in a sudden burst of golden light, and he stepped back, surprised, for it hurt his eyes.
“Enough, my lord Kol! I will speak with you this night but after this night nevermore. Why do you call me to the Dream Plain?” Lara demanded but she knew the words he would utter.
“You are shining. Your brightness is making me ill,” Kol complained.
“I am more faerie than you can imagine,” she told him. “I am more faerie than even I knew. I am not a creature of the half light and the darkness like you, Kol. When you had the Munin steal my memories from me you took away the knowledge of who I was and thus dimmed my light. You will not do it again.”
“Come back to me,” he said.
“No,” Lara answered him quietly. “I will never come back to you. To live in the Dark Lands would kill me. I need the light, the flowers and the birds about me.”
The brightness about her had lessened now and he could see her clearly. She was, it seemed to him, even more beautiful than he remembered. He felt his lust rising as he gazed upon her. “I need you,” he said softly. “I love you and our sons need you.”
“If you indeed love me, my lord, then take that love and shower it upon the sons you forced me to give you,” Lara said coldly, her faerie heart hardening. He was a monster! And she could never forgive this creature for what he had done to her. And using his sons, Kolbein and Kolgrim, to attempt to reach out to her was unspeakable.
“You love me,” he told her, his eyes changing from gray to black, glittering as he encompassed her with his burning glance. “You love me!” he repeated.
“I despise you,” Lara answered him.
Her icy tone discomfited him. Was it possible? Was it just possible that she was speaking the truth? If it was then it would be unbearable. “Tell me that you love me, Lara.” His voice was almost pleading. His lust for her, painful.
His love for her was weakening him, Lara realized in surprise. She had not considered that Kol could be weakened by anything. This was interesting. “I find the very sight of you repellent,” Lara told him. “I do not love you, although perhaps the poor creature you created of me loved you a little. But I do not.”
Black anger rose up to fill Kol’s soul with fury. “Do you believe that because I am sealed within Kolbyr that you can escape me, escape my vengeance? Consider Magnus Hauk and how he would feel if he learned you have given me what you will not give him,” Kol sneered. “And what of your daughters? Perhaps I shall use my magic to bring them to my House of Women, and take them for concubines. Your eldest female child is already half-grown. And then there is your son by the Outlander.” He smiled wickedly at her, but his smile faded as he jumped back to avoid the small ball of fire she threw down at his feet. It singed his robe.
“I would not consider coming after me or mine if I were you,” Lara warned him. “I am capable of killing you, Kol, even as I vanquished your ancestor, Usi. Perhaps I shall just take your sons and drown them instead. I would make you beg for their lives, but in the end I would slay them without mercy,” she told him.
“There is darkness in you yet, my jewel,” he murmured, pleased.
“There is darkness in all of us, Kol, both mortal and faerie, but most of us learn to overcome that darkness and let the light shine within our souls. There can be no wickedness in protecting those you love, my lord.”
“Do you not love our sons?” he asked her.
Lara shook her head. “They are nothing to me, Kol. Only by stealing my memories were you able to convince me that I was who you said I was. Because I did not know I was faerie—nor knew their customs, I gave you the children that you wanted. Be satisfied, Kol, with that, for there is nothing more I can or will give you.”
“If you do not return to Kolbyr to sit by my side I will create havoc in both Hetar and Terah, my gem,” he told her. “That, I can do, even imprisoned as I am.”
“For each blow you strike out at me, I will return two blows,” Lara warned him. “Do not be confused by my beauty, Kol, or your memories of the creature you made me. I am a warrior born and I will destroy you. My sword, Andraste, longs to sip your blood, my lord.”
“You cannot slay me here on the Dream
Plain,” Kol told her. “You must come into the Dark Lands to do that, my jewel. If you come, my creatures will capture you and bring you to me. When they do I will never let you go again.” And suddenly he was by her side. Reaching out, his arm went about her waist. His hot breath touched the fair skin of her neck and he kissed it. “You belong to me, Lara,” he said as he fondled her plump breasts. “Consider what we could do together, my precious one. We could conquer our worlds.” He turned her about, his thumb rubbing across her lips. Then he kissed her in a deep, demanding kiss, his forked tongue snaking into her mouth to hotly caress her tongue while his fingers pinched the nipple of a breast with which he had been playing.
Lara sagged against him, shocked by the sudden weakness that overcame her. She struggled feebly against him as he pulled her gown up and lifting her up impaled her upon his dominant rod. She tried to scream but her throat seemed to be constricted and she could utter no sound. She felt his great dominant rod pumping and pumping within her tight sheath. She tried to awaken, but he would not permit her to do so.
“Feel my strength and my lust for you, my jewel,” he murmured against her ear. “My desire and need for you is every bit as strong as your hate for me. You are yourself now, Lara, not the weak creature I made you. Yet you are about to know pleasure with me again as you did before.”
“Noooo!” Lara insisted, her voice now restored. Desperately she attempted to push him away, to get free of his dark hunger. She could feel him within her. Thick and long and probing deeply. He stretched the walls of her sheath with his fierce burning and throbbing rod. “Noooo!” she cried again. “Noooo!”
His dark laughter echoed, surrounding her, imprisoning her with its evil. “Yes! You will yield yourself to me because you have no choice, Lara. You are mine. Mine alone to command. I am your lord and master, not Magnus Hauk of Terah.”
The Twilight Lord Page 32
