Crown of Destiny

by Bertrice Small

  Lara smiled a wicked smile. “Do not bother to deny it, grandson,” she told him. “Have I not said that I learn what I choose to learn? Know what I wish to know? I am more than well versed in Hetar’s foibles and vices for I was born there, and lived my early years in The City. Did you know that your great-grandfather Swiftsword gained the regalia he needed to compete in the tournament that earned him his place in the Crusader Knights by selling me into slavery?

  “Gaius Prospero, who later ruled as Hetar’s emperor, bought me. He planned a private auction with the owners of the Pleasure Houses for he expected to earn a great profit from me. But alas, I was considered too beautiful, and the Guilds feared I would cause more trouble than I was worth. So instead I was sent with a caravan of Taubyl Traders to be sold outside The City. It was from there I began to follow my destiny, and learned who and what I am, Amren. Oh yes, I know Hetar well. Very well.”

  “I did not know any of this,” Amren said slowly. He was surprised by her revelations. “You did tell me of Swiftsword before I first went to Hetar. And his memory is still honored. He died in some battle, didn’t he?”

  “Aye, it was a great battle,” Lara said. “I fought in it myself.”

  Amren’s mouth fell open in shock. “But you are a woman,” he gasped.

  Lara smiled a brief smile. Andraste! To my hand! She called to her sword in the silent language. The sword leapt from its place over her tall stone hearth, and into her grasp. It was a beautiful weapon. Its broad blade a smooth polished steel. The gold hilt of the broadsword had a woman’s head at its tip. The head possessed ruby eyes.

  “I am Andraste, and I sing of victory,” the sword said. “Greetings, grandson of the Great Magnus Hauk.”

  “It speaks!” Amren said. “What trickery is this?”

  “Surely you knew my sword spoke, grandson,” Lara said, amused.

  “It was but a child’s tale,” he said slowly.

  “Most children’s tales such as this one come from fact, my lord,” Lara told him. “Certainly you believe I am magic. Can you deny the evidence of your own eyes?”

  Amren shook his head. “Nay, I cannot. Is it all truth, Grandmother?”

  “I do not know all you have heard, but probably it is,” Lara said. “But let me tell you about the Battle of The City before I reveal to you what I want. The Twilight Lord Kol, who ruled the Dark Lands in those days, brought together a great army made up mostly of Wolfyn, but other dark entities, as well. They sought to conquer Hetar and had already ravaged the Midlands. Now they stood before The City. Their battering rams could not even dent the great gates nor could their fire machines pierce the protection that the Shadow Princes had put about The City. Hetar’s soldiers stood upon The City’s walls and laughed the Wolfyn to scorn. And then, when we were ready, we opened the gates ourselves. As our army had marched forth to face the enemy’s, a platform moved to fill the gate. It was from there that the Emperor Gaius Prospero and Hetar’s dignitaries watched the ensuing battle. I personally killed the Wolfyn high commander of Kol’s armies, Hrolleif. And when the other Wolfyn saw it they howled their grief, but then the battle resumed. The ground before The City was awash with blood. And when our mutual enemies had all been slain the skies opened up and a heavy rain poured down, cleansing the earth. When it had ceased, all evidence of the battle was gone, for both blood and bodies had disappeared. As many, if not more, Terahns were killed that day, and so Hetar was considered to owe us a great debt. Remember that, Amren. Terah helped to save Hetar once long ago. I will wager such a thing is not taught to the youth of Hetar, but then neither is that same history taught in Terah any longer.

  “And once again over a hundred years ago, soon after your grandfather, Magnus Hauk, was killed in an accident, the magic world saved Hetar once more from its own folly when one of Kol’s daughters attempted to subvert a mortal man to her own purposes, and bring both Hetar and Terah into the Darkness. Your father was but a child then, and I ruled as a shadow queen until he was old enough to take the reins of power himself. Both kingdoms have been involved with one another for decades.

  “But now what is it I want from you, my lord? In return for what I have told you this day, I would have you be my eyes and ears to the court of the Lord High Ruler. The new position I will see you gain in order to keep your status in Hetar will still allow you entrée to that court. I would know all the gossip you hear even if you believe it to be inconsequential. I will make that decision, Amren.”

  “Will not the fact that the Lord High Ruler of Hetar is my blood kin allow me entry to the court no matter my position,” Amren asked. Then he answered his own question. “Of course not. How foolish of me to think it. You ask little for what you give, Grandmother. Why is that?”

  Lara laughed once more. “I am magic, Amren.”

  “I do not understand magic,” he said candidly.

  “Nay, I suppose you do not,” she sighed. “Can you not believe the evidence of your own eyes, grandson?” Lara asked him. “My sword speaks for there is a powerful battle spirit within it. Verica, to me,” she called aloud, and her staff flew to her outstretched hand. She turned it so her grandson might see the ancient bearded face carved within it. “Verica, please greet my grandson, Prince Amren of Terah.”

  “I know who he is,” Verica said. “He is the only one among Dominus Taj’s children to speak at any length with you, and then only because he needs your knowledge.” Verica’s sharp eyes glared at Amren. “Is that not so, Terahn prince?”

  Amren nodded, a little less startled now than when Andraste had spoken in her deep, forbidding voice. Then he looked to Lara. “The sword speaks, the staff speaks, but this magic was in them. It is not yours.”

  “You must see to believe then.” Lara chuckled. “Aral change!” And suddenly a small bright bird was flying about the chamber. “Do you believe now?”

  Amren ignored the bird. “Where are you?” he demanded of her. He swatted lightly at the quick avian who dived at his head.

  “Aral change!” He heard her voice again, and suddenly a large golden cat sat before him. Amren jumped back, genuinely terrified, his eyes wide as the cat raised a massive paw and placed it on his shoulder. He could not move and considered himself already dead. He struggled to speak but could push no words forth from his tight throat. Then in his fear he saw that the cat had green eyes. Faerie green eyes! He gasped with a mixture of both surprise and shock.

  “Lara change,” he heard his grandmother’s voice again, and she was suddenly before him, her hand still resting upon his shoulder. “Now do you believe, Amren?”

  “You can shape-shift,” he said, his voice returning. “I had heard of it.”

  “Come!” Lara said, taking his hand while with her other she opened a Golden tunnel for them and led him into it.

  “Where are we going?” he asked her nervously. “What is this place?”

  “It’s a passageway to wherever we magic beings choose to go,” she said as they exited the tunnel onto the oasis. “This is Zeroun. Within a day’s ride are the palaces of the Shadow Princes, Amren. Have you ever been to the desert kingdom.”

  “Nay, just to The City, the Midlands and the New Outlands,” he said slowly. “How can I be certain this isn’t all a hoax you have designed?” Amren queried.

  “Shall I return you home to The City, grandson? Are you ready to return?”

  “You can’t. I have yet to see the Dominus.” Then a sly look came into his eye.

  “But if I do not see him he cannot dismiss me, can he?”

  “Of course he can,” Lara said. “He will simply send word to you with your replacement, Amren. But if I return you to The City now, you will have time to prepare your wife, Clarinda, for the changes to come. Tell her only what you need tell her. Trust no one but the Shadow Princes who are there to aid you, and me. But do not attempt to betray me, Amren. I can, and I will turn your life into a horrific disorder if you do.”

  He nodded. “I understand, Grandmother. I will ke
ep faith with you for you have always been more than fair with me despite my…” He hesitated.

  “Your ignorance?” Lara suggested.

  Amren chuckled. “Aye, my ignorance.”

  “Then you shall go now,” Lara said.

  “Wait! How will I contact you?” he asked her.

  “Commit these words to memory, Amren. Grandmother, Grandmother, heed my plea. Cease all else and come to me. Say these words, and I will come to you.”

  “I will remember them,” he said.

  “Very well then. Farewell, my lord Amren,” Lara said. Then she magicked him away with these words. Amren, return to The City from whence you came. I’ll call when you must come again.

  Terah’s ambassador suddenly found himself standing in his privy chamber within his own house in The City’s Golden District. He was astounded, and to be certain he was not dreaming he pinched himself hard. “Ouch!” he exclaimed. He was not dreaming! What an amazing thing had just happened to him. He had actually seen magic. He could no longer deny that it existed, but he would never admit such a thing aloud. He would be considered a fool, and his stature diminished if he did. But magic was real. Who knew what rewards it could bring him from his grandmother if he cooperated with her. And she asked little. Report on the gossip within the court and The City itself. And Ambassador Amren of Terah always heard the gossip first.

  3

  LARA RETURNED TO THE CASTLE OF THE DOMINUS. Cadi was waiting for her.

  “What do you want to take, mistress?” she asked.

  Lara looked about her. “Just my personal possessions,” she said.

  “The portrait of Magnus Hauk?” Cadi inquired.

  Lara shook her head. “Nay. I have his face painted within a small oval. I shall give the large portrait in my day room to Dominus Cadarn. Find me some guardsmen to carry it to him.”

  The serving woman sought out two strong young men-at-arms, bringing them to her mistress. “You will carry a large portrait of the Dominus Magnus Hauk to Dominus Cadarn,” she told them.

  Lara pointed at the big painting upon the wall. She motioned her hand up, and the picture in its ornate, carved gold wood frame rose off the wall. She beckoned the image forward with a single finger until it hung in the air directly in front of her. Then, turning her hand over, she signaled the painting down. “There,” she said to the two openmouthed guards. “You may take it now to the Dominus with my compliments.”

  “Well, don’t stand there slack-jawed,” Cadi said. “Do as you are bid.”

  Almost bemused, the two men-at-arms picked up the portrait between them and removed it from Lara’s apartments.

  “You might have just placed it on the wall you wanted instead of letting those two clods struggle through the castle with it,” Cadi said.

  “You saw how those two young men reacted when I removed the picture from the wall. They have grown up believing there is no magic. Imagine if I had simply magicked the portrait onto another wall. It’s unlikely anyone would have noticed it. I wanted those two to see my magic. Now I will seek out my great-grandson and set the painting on a wall of his choice so he may be forced to acknowledge magic,” Lara told her servant.

  Cadi laughed. “This generation of mortal Terahns has really rankled you, mistress, haven’t they?”

  Lara smiled ruefully. “Their refusal to believe in magic is very irritating,” she admitted. “After Taj came of age and began to rule himself, I seemed to lose interest for a while in everything. I spent time with my mother, with Kaliq, at Zeroun, even back in The City for a brief time when Zagiri needed me. I became complacent, and when I did, Magnus’s family managed to bring Terah back into its past. They did not shun me for they were too afraid of me. They simply included me as little as possible, and my travels made it all the more easy for them.” She sighed. “I let the magic die here, and they are the worse for it. I cannot change what is past, but before I leave I shall give my great-grandson a good dose of magic so that even if he chooses to ignore magic in the future, he knows that it exists whether he acknowledges it or not.” She looked about her apartments. “Nay, there is nothing to take but that which I have instructed you. Magick it all to Shunnar, Cadi. Then follow it. I shall come after I have spoken with the Dominus.”

  “Very good, mistress, but one thing before I go,” Cadi said. She gestured with her hand and suddenly Lara was clothed all in gold and silver. “Mortals believe that first impressions are important, but I believe the last impression is equally important. The Dominus has not rendered you the respect that you deserve, my lady. Today he will.” Lara walked across the chamber to the long glass mirror she possessed. She viewed her servant’s handiwork. The gown was a mixture of both silver and gold, hammered as fine as the best watered silk. The bodice was sleeveless and bejeweled with multicolored small stones in red, blue, green, yellow, lavender, pink and some that were clear. Its V neckline allowed for Lara’s gold chain with the crystal housing her guardian spirit, Ethne, to be well and fully displayed. Below her breasts a skirt of tiny, narrow pleats hung gracefully. A cape of pure gold was fastened to each of her shoulders by delicate gold epaulets studded with emeralds. It would trail behind her when she walked. Her long golden hair hung loose, held by a gold circlet with a large emerald directly in its center. Upon her feet were silver slippers.

  Lara smiled, well pleased by what she saw. Her own image seemed to give her new strength. It had been many years since she had allowed herself to be the faerie woman she really was. She nodded her thanks to Cadi then said, “The mirror.” With a final look about these rooms in which she had spent so many years, Lara walked through the doors into the corridor. It was unlikely she would ever return here.

  She closed her eyes briefly so she might see where the Dominus was. She smiled. He was in his Throne Room at this moment, surrounded by his small court, his wife, the Domina Paulina by his side. Lara decided as she walked toward the Throne Room to make a simple entry. “Announce me,” she said to the dignified, elderly majordomo at the door. “The Domina Lara.”

  The majordomo walked silently forward. He pounded the silver-knobbed staff of his office upon the floor of the chamber. “The Domina Lara, widow of Dominus Magnus Hauk, daughter of a queen, enters this chamber now,” the majordomo said in stentorian tones. Then he murmured in a voice only she could hear, “I am the grandson of Ampyx, great lady. I remember what others choose not to recall.” With a small courtly bow he stepped aside so Lara might enter the great chamber.

  His words almost brought her to tears. “Faerie blessings on you, grandson of Ampyx,” she murmured as she passed him by. Ampyx had been Taj’s personal secretary. The crowded throne room parted to let Lara pass through. Her cape shimmered as it moved behind her. She saw the stares and heard the whispers as she moved by these Terahn mortals. Finally reaching the foot of the throne, she bowed low to her great-grandson. “Greetings, Dominus Cadarn, son of Amhar, grandson of Taj, great-grandson of Magnus Hauk,” Lara said in her beautiful voice.

  “Greetings, Great-grandmother,” he replied. He was uncomfortable addressing her in this manner, for she was so young and so beautiful that she appeared to be no more than in her late twenties. His great-grandmother should be ancient and bent. Nay! She should be long dead.

  “I have come to congratulate you, my lord Cadarn,” she responded.

  “Congratulate me?” Cadarn Hauk looked genuinely puzzled. “What have I done to deserve your praise, my lady?”

  “Why your decision to send your younger brother, Cadoc, to Hetar as its new ambassador is brilliant, as is your determination to elevate your uncle, the lord prince Amren, to the new position of Lord High Trade Commissioner for Terah. Your cleverness has brought great status to Terah within Hetar, my lord. And so I hope you will accept my congratulations. I feel comfortable now at long last in my own decision to leave Terah.” She smiled up at him.

  He was astounded. Looking out over his court, he saw that they were all frozen in place. “What have you done?” he a
sked her nervously.

  “Given us an opportunity to speak privately. No one will hear us, and when we are through none of them will even realize this small interlude happened,” Lara told Cadarn Hauk quietly.

  The Dominus sat down heavily upon his throne. “I told no one of my decision to send Cadoc to Hetar,” he said. “How could you know?”

  “You have never believed in me, my powers or my world, Cadarn. But that does not mean we, it, do not exist. We do. You are right to replace Amren. He has lived in Hetar for most of his life and is more Hetarian than Terahn. He has reached an age where he would garner some wealth, for wealth is all-important in Hetar. Nonetheless he has served you faithfully and honestly. That is why you will give him this new position. He maintains his status in Hetar, brings more stature to Terah and can do no harm as a trade emissary.”

  “And he can collect his bribes,” Cadarn said with a small smile. Then the smile was gone. “I do not like being told what to do, my lady. I do not like a mere female making my decisions for me. But you are damnably clever. You have gained your own way while making it all appear as if I have done this. Very well, I agree.”

  “Thank you,” Lara said softly.

  “You say you are leaving Terah? Why? And where will you go?” the Dominus Cadarn asked her. “I know that you and I have no close relationship, but you are my blood. For the sake of Magnus Hauk I need to know you are safe and cared for, my lady.” Turquoise-blue eyes, so like her late husband’s, looked directly at her.

  “I am going to Shunnar, the palace of the Shadow Prince Kaliq. I should have departed Terah years ago, but I could not seem to make myself go despite all the changes that I despised happening about me. Kaliq is my life mate, and I have always had a home at Shunnar. I will be more than safe in my own magical world, Cadarn. But I am touched that you would consider my welfare.”

  “I have heard you speak of this Shadow Prince before, my lady, but Shadow Princes are but legend. They do not exist now, indeed if they ever did,” Cadarn said.