“Will we have time to prepare ourselves?” Corrado wondered.
“Gaius Prospero will want to know more about us before he decides on a course of action,” Lara remarked thoughtfully.
“How will he learn what he needs to know?” Magnus asked her.
“He will send someone,” Lara said. “First he will ask permission for a Hetarian vessel to enter Terah. You must refuse him, my lord. Then he will request permission for his emissary to come to Terah upon one of our ships. You will send back a reply asking why he wants to send an emissary to Terah.”
“Will he not become impatient with all this back and forth?” Corrado wondered.
“Nay, for it is very Hetarian to query and bargain over an important matter such as this. It will not seem odd to the emperor at all. If you simply told him yes or no and refused to negotiate further then he would find himself suspicious. But this Hetarian habit will give us all the time we need to build up a defense against our enemies,” Lara said. “And since the emperor’s emissary will only be allowed to visit the castle on this first sojourn, we can fortify it and the area around it so that we will look very well defended to his eyes. Eventually we will have to allow him to see a village or two, but by then we will be truly well armed and ready.”
“The old watchtowers on the coastal heights,” Corrado said. “They should be rebuilt, and manned. We need an early warning system.”
“I had forgotten about those,” the Dominus replied. “That is an excellent suggestion, Corrado. I will leave that task to you. You may have whatever you need.”
“Would your headmen be frightened of small faeries?” Lara asked her husband. “I could ask my mother for a dozen or more faeriepost messengers. They use them in Hetar, and they are very useful for carrying messages quickly. We could make them a home here in the castle, and for now only we would have them although later on I believe each village headman should possess two of these tiny creatures each. You want to hold your meeting before the Icy Season sets in, and we could call the headmen more quickly if we had faeriepost,” Lara explained.
“I have seen these creatures,” Corrado said with a chuckle. “The Coastal Kings have sometimes used them to communicate with our vessels when we are anchored for trade. They are most efficient, my lord Dominus.”
Magnus Hauk nodded. “We must use whatever advantage we have,” he said. “Do whatever you need to do, Lara, and bring Terah faeriepost.”
Their meeting broke up, and when Lara and her husband were alone once more she turned to him and said, “We must tell the new Outlands of what is transpiring. They should have faeriepost as well.”
“Do you want the clan lords at the meeting of headmen?” he asked her.
“Just Rendor who is head of the Outlands High Council,” Lara replied. “This is an ideal opportunity for us to let the fjord dwellers know there are others beyond the Emerald Mountains. The headmen do not have to know that six months ago the plains beyond the mountains were empty. You said the fjord dwellers have never gone beyond their own village lands. They cannot know who or what lies on the other side of the mountains. I had not thought to bring Terahns and Outlanders together yet, but I think now we have no other choice, Magnus.
“You can tell your headmen that the family of the Dominus has always known they were there, but that the people of the clan families have always been hesitant and reluctant to deal with others, for they are peaceful folk. They pay their yearly tribute and keep to themselves. But now, given the danger facing Terah, they have agreed to send their own high lord to your council to offer what aid they may. Dasras and I will visit the mountain gnomes as a courtesy to inform them of the coming peril, and of the fiction we have woven to protect the Outlanders,” Lara concluded.
“Sometimes,” Magnus Hauk said, “I wonder if you are not too clever for me, Lara.” Then he smiled, and ruffled her hair. “I can hope our children will take after you.”
There it was again. The subject of children. How could he think of children when they were in such jeopardy? He had been very shocked by what he had seen in the City, and yet he still did not quite fathom the deviousness of Hetar. Hetar had to be stopped. She would not allow them to insinuate their guileful and aberrant customs into Terah. There was more than one way to conquer a nation. She understood that. She worried her husband did not. She left him to his planning, and sought a quiet place where she might communicate with Ethne.
Her slender fingers caressed the crystal star hanging between her breasts. Ethne, she called silently to the guardian of the crystal.
I am here, Ethne replied.
Lara explained all that had happened, and what her husband was planning. Then she said, But I need faeriepost messengers. Will you go to my mother, and ask her if I may have some? I will see they are very well taken care of here, I promise.
I will go to her, Ethne responded, but tonight you must meet her on the dream plane and ask for this favor yourself, for it is a great boon you seek. I know you have asked her for little in your lifetime, but Queen Ilona would consider it a great rudeness if you did not speak with her about this yourself, Lara.
I understand, Lara said. Please tell my mother that I should appreciate it if she would see me tonight on the dream plane, Ethne. I will tell my husband, and sleep alone.
Wait, Ethne said, and then after several long minutes she spoke again. It is done, Lara, and your mother will be awaiting you.
Thank you, Lara said. Then she went and told her husband that tonight she must sleep by herself so that nothing impeded her journey to the dream plane, and her meeting with Queen Ilona. He nodded reluctantly, but understood her need. They ate together and played two games of Herder before Lara felt it was time for her to sleep.
And when she slept she was almost immediately swept up to the dream plane. It was as always misty in the beginning, and then Ilona appeared. Mother and daughter embraced.
“What is it you need of me?” the queen of the Forest Faeries asked her eldest child. She smiled at Lara, most happy to see her.
Lara explained slowly all that had happened since she had last seen her mother. She told Ilona of the Terahns’ need for the small faeries who served as faeriepost messengers. “There is little if any magic in Terah that I can see,” she said to Ilona. “They have gnomes in the mountains, but they seem to have no faeries, though you have said there are. I have not found them yet. The sorcerer whose shade I destroyed brought magic to Terah, but it seemed to disappear when he was vanquished, Mother.”
“Nay,” Ilona replied. “His magic is still here, but because it is dark magic it hides itself away from the light. You are light, my daughter, and you shine throughout Terah, so it is you who have kept this magic at bay. I will give you several dozen faeriepost messengers, Lara. I know you will see they are well cared for and protected from harm. You had best cast a safety spell upon them when they arrive so no frightened Terahn can hurt them in their own fear,” the queen advised.
“I will, Mother!” Lara promised. “Thank you. Are you well? And my brother, Cirilo? And your consort, Thanos, too?”
“We are all well, Lara,” her mother replied.
“Mother, I saw a dark land,” Lara told Ilona. “Dasras and I were riding over Obscura, and I saw the desert of the Shadow Princes curving to the south, but to the north there was a dark land. Is Terah in danger from it, Mother?”
“There is always danger from the darkness,” Ilona said, and then she began to fade slowly from the dream plane. “Follow your destiny, my daughter,” she called as she disappeared completely.