Kemina laughed. She was a woman with strong striking features, and eyes as blue as the Sea of Sagitta. Her hair was snow-white, but her face was youthful. She did not demur at his compliment, but rather asked, “What brings you here, and who is your companion? A faerie woman, my lord Dominus?”
“I am Lara of Hetar, half mortal, half faerie,” Lara introduced herself. “My mother is Ilona, queen of the Forest Faeries, my lady Kemina.”
“I plan to wed her shortly,” Magnus told the High Priestess.
“It is time you were married,” Kemina scolded him gently. “Past time. But then it was obviously not meant to be until this fair creature came into your world. But come! Let us not stand in the courtyard gossiping like old women.” With a warm smile she led them into the building from which she had exited. “This is my house,” she told Lara as they entered a spacious room with a fountain in its center. “Sit,” she invited them clapping her hands, and instructing the attending priestess to bring refreshments. Then she joined them in a comfortable chair constructed of leather and wood. “You do not visit often, my lord Dominus, and so I must conclude there is a purpose to this visit,” Kemina said candidly. “Is it too soon for me to ask if you will share it?”
Magnus Hauk chuckled. “Direct as ever,” he said. “Aye, there is a reason. It seems in our pride we men of Terah believed our women had been cursed into silence when in truth our ears had been stopped up.”
“There has been a great deal of rumor flying about the countryside,” Kemina said.
“Lara banished the ghost of Usi who still inhabited his tower. The cursed place was destroyed as was his book of spells so that none could ever use them again,” Magnus explained. “I decided to go to the Temple of the Great Creator last, and I want you to come with us. My uncle, the High Priest, knew what Lara was attempting, but you know that many of the priests still hold to Aslak’s belief that all magic is evil. Lara must remove the curse from them, and you must be there to convince them that they can once more hear the voices of females.”
Kemina laughed heartily. “I will gladly go with you,” she said. “I cannot wait to see the look upon the faces of some of those sour old men when they have been freed of the curse Usi placed on Terah all those centuries back. Let us enjoy some wine first, and then we must go at once. I cannot wait until the morrow, and the sun will not set for several hours yet. It is but a short distance to the Temple of the Great Creator.” She picked up a goblet of wine that had been placed by her hand. “I cannot say I was sorry to learn of Aslak’s death. It was time. I never knew a mind so narrow or so closed.”
“It was the sound of my voice, I fear, that caused his death,” Lara said softly.
Kemina looked astounded, and then she chuckled. “Let us hope a few more of those old dogs keel over at the sound of it,” she said, and then drank down her wine.
“As your Dominus I must reprimand you, High Priestess,” Magnus said with a wicked grin. “I am shocked by your lack of sympathy.”
“Do not tell me you were sorry to see Aslak go,” she cackled. “Praise the Great Creator that your uncle had already been elected to follow him. Arik is a man of vision. He will shake them all up, and move the priesthood into a more modern age.”
“We can but hope,” Magnus said.
When they had finished their refreshment they departed for the larger Temple of the Great Creator, Dasras again carrying two passengers. The High Priestess rode upon a small roan mare that the stallion eyed with interest. Arriving, they were greeted by a young priest and shown into the High Priest’s privy chamber.
“Nephew, welcome back!” Arik greeted them. “Kemina, I greet you. Lara, I greet you,” he said.
Lara smiled at Magnus’s uncle and recited, “Ears that once heeded woman’s call, shall open again and hear them all.”
“I greet you, Arik,” the High Priestess said quietly.
“I can hear her!” Arik almost shouted. He looked to Lara. “You have done the impossible, my lovely faerie woman. Thank you! Thank you!”
“Gather your priests together, my lord Arik, and I will unstop their ears, as well,” Lara said to him.
The High Priest called to one of his minions and gave him quick instructions. The young priest hurried out, and shortly the sound of the temple bells ringing was heard. “I’ve summoned them all to the temple itself. It seems a fitting setting in which to lift the curse of Usi,” Arik said. “Come along!”
They followed the excited high priest from his dwelling and into the temple. It was a large building with an open portico on all four sides. Inside, however, it was simple, and plain in decor. The roof of the temple had a great dome through which sunlight poured. The High Priest led his visitors up two wide stairs to stand before the modest marble altar. Below and around them the temple was filled with priests.
“Are all gathered here now?” Arik asked, looking about.
There was a short silence, then a voice said, “All but the sick in the infirmary, my lord Arik.”
Arik turned to Lara. “Will you visit them, and free them?” he asked.
She nodded. “I will.”
The High Priest turned back to the crowd, and began to speak. “Priests of the Great Creator, a miracle is about to be visited upon you.” He drew Lara forward. “This is Lara of Hetar, daughter of a mortal man and a faerie queen.”
A murmur began below them.
The High Priest held up his hand. “She has discovered that it was not the women of Terah who were cursed into silence by the sorcerer. It was the men of Hetar whose ears were stopped up because they listened to a woman, and let her destroy Usi.”
“She lies!” a voice from the crowd said.
“Nay, she does not lie, and she has come today to lift the curse from you as she has lifted it from all the men of Terah. I could hear her from the first moment we met, for she is Hetarian. Tell them, Lara.”
“I can free you, good priests of the Great Creator,” Lara told them.
Surprise showed on the faces below them.
“This is magic!” came the cry.
“Magic is evil. Did not Aslak teach us that?” another voice spoke.
“There is both good and wicked magic,” Arik told them. “This lady is good, and her magic is good. She will speak her spell, and lift the curse from you.”
Lara stepped quickly forward. “Ears that once heeded woman’s call, shall open again and hear them all!” she cried in a loud voice.
Now it was Kemina who stepped forward. “And now, priests of the Great Creator, hear the voice of your High Priestess, that you may be convinced at what good has been done you this day.”
Shocked and upturned faces greeted her proclamation, and then the voices began to exclaim with astonishment as the priests admitted to being able to hear Kemina.
Arik gave them a moment to recover from the shock of what had happened. Then he said, “There is good magic in this world, my brothers.”
“Where are the sick?” Lara asked him. “I would remove the curse from them as well.”
The High Priest led them from the temple area to a small house where Lara once again spoke the spell, and freed the remaining men from Usi’s curse. When they were settled again in his house Arik asked her, “The book of spells?”
“Destroyed,” she told him. Then she related her adventure in Usi’s tower. “I dispatched the book myself within a magical clay jar. The Shadow Prince Kaliq disposed of the ashes in various places so that no one will ever again use Usi’s book of spells.”
Kemina had listened in rapt awe to Lara’s tale. “You are a brave woman,” she said when the story had come to its conclusion.
“I only did what needed to be done,” Lara answered her.
“You are too modest,” Kemina replied.
“You must marry her, Magnus,” the High Priest said.
“I would certainly agree,” Kemina murmured.
“We will wed,” the Dominus answered them.
“But first we have other things that must be accomplished,” Lara told them. “And Sirvat is to be married to Captain Corrado.”
“What is it that is so important to you both that you would wait to wed?” the High Priest wanted to know. “I could marry you both now, and it would be done with, Nephew.”
