Darkling?”
“Her father, of course,” Cronan said.
“But we imprisoned Kol, and made it impossible for him to communicate with anyone,” Kaliq said. “He is blinded, chained and his vocal cords frozen. He lies in the deepest, darkest part of Kolbyr, his castle, and even the old dwarf who serves as his chancellor does not know where he is, or that he even still exists. How can he have helped his daughter to shield herself from us?”
“Kaliq, Kaliq,” the ancient Shadow Prince said. “You have forgotten the one variable that cannot be overcome by even the strongest magic. Love.”
“Love? Kol doesn’t know the meaning of the word,” Kaliq said angrily.
“But Ciarda does love her father with her entire being,” Cronan reminded his companion. “And I am quite certain that that love has managed to allow Kol to aid her in this small way. You have frozen his vocal cords, but not his mind-speak, Kaliq. This is how he has communicated with her, has instructed her what to do, has given her the small shreds of what is left of his power. Even those vestiges are more than she has ever had on her own. He has probably bargained with her to free him when she triumphs.”
“I am a fool!” the younger Shadow Prince cried. “I believed I had buried him so deep that no one would ever hear any sound he could make. How could this have happened? And why did he reach out to one of his daughters, and not one of his sons?” He paused. “But of course! His sons might not have helped him. They have virtually no memory of him, and they are too busy squabbling with each other for supremacy of the Dark Lands. But Ciarda was a little girl when we imprisoned Kol. She had strong memories of him. And Kol never had difficulty in cajoling women to his will.”
“Exactly!” Cronan said. “He probably remembered Ciarda as being lively and intelligent, recalled how she loved him and decided to use her if he could reach out to her in our silent language.”
“Which he obviously could,” Kaliq replied, irritated at himself for being taken unawares. He had never considered that there was actually someone who loved the Twilight Lord. Kol used those around him, but his subjects were nothing more than conveniences. Even the devoted and loyal Alfrigg.
“Kol will have brought himself near death with the effort it has taken him to reach out to his daughter, and especially to shield her from our brothers,” Cronan said.
“Is he fool enough to kill himself with his effort?” Kaliq wondered aloud.
“I do not think so,” Cronan decided. “I suspect he still hopes against hope to regain his full powers. It would be in his nature to believe it.”
“Then perhaps we could incite one of his children to dispatch him,” Kaliq said. “It will not be Ciarda, for despite her ambition she loves her father. And Kolgrim is too wily to break the law of the land though he wants his father’s throne. But the other twin, Kolbein, is a brute, and foolish enough to be tempted to patricide.”
“Put such a thought from you, Kaliq,” Cronan advised. “We of the Shadows value life too much to sully our spirits by enticing another to murder. To punish is one thing, but to kill is an entirely different matter.”
Kaliq sighed deeply. “I know,” he said. “Yet when I think of all the evil Kol has sent into our worlds, Cronan…” He sighed again. “But if Kol continues to shield his daughter’s thoughts from us he may kill himself.”
“Then that will be his decision, his choice that decides his fate, not ours,” Cronan said. “But I do not believe he will do it no matter how much she begs him. Have you looked at your prisoner recently?”
“I have not looked at him since I placed him in his prison,” Kaliq said. “I despise him. Looking at him reminds me of what Lara had to suffer to accomplish our ends.”
“Ah, the beauteous faerie woman. She is your weakness, Kaliq,” Cronan warned.
“I love her,” Kaliq said. “I know she is my weakness, but there it is, Cronan.”
“Shadow Princes can love truly, Kaliq,” Cronan told him. “But it is a rare thing. However, you must not allow your love to destroy either of you. Now, hand me the crystal globe on the shelf there. Yes, the large one. Place it here on the table, and let us see what we can see. Show us the imprisoned Kol,” he said to the crystal.
The two Shadow Princes stared into the clear ball. It grew cloudy, and then cleared to reveal a small dark stone prison cell. The chamber was square. There was no door, nor window, nor grating visible. There was no candle to light it, or brazier to warm it, but magic gave them the view of the cell and the prisoner. Kol sat cross-legged in the direct center of the little room. He remained perfectly still, his blinded eyes closed. The conditions of his prison were such that nothing about him had changed since the day he had been placed there. He had no beard. His hair remained its same length. His garment remained whole.
“He sits still because he needs to concentrate upon giving her what he can,” Cronan said slowly.
“Then he needs to be distracted,” Kaliq said. He looked into the crystal, and snapped his fingers once. Immediately a small black fly appeared in Kol’s cell, and began to buzz about.
At first Kol did not hear it, but then as it flew near his ear, buzzing, the Twilight Lord became flustered. He flailed about swatting at the insect he could hear, but not see. His concentration was broken, but then he grew still again. The fly buzzed near him, and with unerring aim his hearing, sharpened by his blindness, allowed him to pinpoint and kill the fly. He smiled triumphantly, but then his cell was suddenly filled with not just one fly, but dozens of the pesky creatures. Kol opened his mouth to express his outrage, but no sound could be heard as his vocal cords were frozen. Realizing what was happening, Kol sought to ignore the creatures, but they began to bite at him. He had no choice but to swat at them as they buzzed about him. His attention now diverted, he could no longer help his daughter. When she felt her powers beginning to weaken, she would be in his head quickly enough, demanding his help. Until then he would continue to swat at the flies.
“Nicely done.” Cronan chuckled.
“Ciarda will have to get rid of the flies that torment Kol before her father can once again concentrate. She will not find it either easy or simple. Lara will now have time to approach the Hierarch without interference,” Kaliq said. “Thank you for your help, Cronan. I am glad you yet live, for you are certainly the wisest of us all. Are you certain that you do not want to return to Shunnar? The desert heat would soothe your old bones.”
“For now I am content here in Belmair,” Cronan said. “Remain always in the light, Kaliq of the Shadows.” His blue eyes closed as he settled back in his chair.
“Then I bid you farewell, great prince,” Kaliq said, and, standing, he disappeared from the white-haired old lord’s chambers. Returning himself to Shunnar, he looked about for Lara, but she was not there. Of course! She would be in Hetar. But would she be with Cam or with Jonah? Kaliq poured himself a goblet of apricot Frine, and sat down. He would rest briefly and then join her. Wherever the Darkling was she would shortly discover that her powers were almost gone, and would seek to learn the reason why.
“What of the Hierarch?” Jonah wanted to know.
“It is possible he may stand by your side, but if not in this matter, there will be others, my lord,” Lara told him.
“You never ask for your daughter,” he suddenly said.
“Hetar’s decline and fall and eventual rebirth does not concern my daughter,” Lara told him coldly. “I am told she has become the model of a wealthy Hetarian wife.”
He laughed. “Aye. Never did I think I would have such a wife.”
“And you would not had you respected the wishes of her brother, Dominus Taj,” Lara said sharply. “You stole her, corrupted her to your ways, and you wonder why I do not ask for her, my lord?”
“Zagiri was more than ready and eager to be
“Are you actually able to love, my lord? I did not think so. Be careful your lust for my daughter does not turn you into Gaius Prospero and his beloved Shifra,” Lara said cruelly. “We all recall how that ended.”
“You are cruel, Domina,” the Lord High Ruler of Hetar said to Lara.
“I am faerie,” she reminded him. “Now if you wish to save your skin, Jonah of Hetar, you had best enter your
