The Sorceress of Belmair

eyes were red with apparent weeping. “Majesty! Majesty!” he cried, and he flung himself at Dillon’s feet sobbing.

“What is the matter?” Dillon demanded to know.

“The Yafir have taken the queen!” his steward sobbed.

“How do you know this?” Dillon asked the man.

“We were here in the little hall last night,” Britto began. “After the evening meal the queen had gone to her apothecary to do some work. I went to tell her that we would need a new serving girl in the kitchens, and to ask her permission to hire one. Then he appeared. He caught the queen’s hand, and they argued but he said, ‘Come, Cinnia. You are mine now, for I marked you from your birth.’ And before she could protest they were gone, Your Majesty. There was naught we could do. I swear it!”

“This is all my fault!” the dragon cried, distraught. “I should not have left her!”

“Nay, it is not your fault. Even surrounded by servants, the Yafir were able to take Cinnia. What little magic you taught my queen, my sorceress, was not enough, for your gifts lie in protecting Belmair, Nidhug,” Dillon comforted the dragon.

Still the dragon wept large tears in her sorrow.

“Light the fires in both halls, Britto,” Dillon said. “Nidhug, cease your caterwauling. It does not help matters. Sit down! The fire is being rebuilt.” Dillon drew in several long, deep breaths. This did not bode well for a peaceful solution to the problems between the Belmairans and the Yafir. He watched while the fire sprang up, and soon it was blazing merrily. The room was warming.

“What are we going to do?” Nidhug, who had finally recovered herself, asked.

“I intend to summon that bold Yafir. He has no choice but to answer my call for I am stronger than he. Ahura Mazda, hear me well. A Shadow-faerie weaves this spell. Come to me! You must obey! Or see your powers melt away.”

“What do you want, Dillon of the Shadows?” the Yafir’s voice asked irritably. But he did not show himself.

“Reveal yourself, sly one!” Dillon commanded him. “Or are you afraid to face me, Ahura Mazda?”

The Yafir laughed. “Why should I be afraid of you?” he said, still cloaked.

“Your childishness wearies me,” Dillon replied, and pointing with a single finger he tore away the Yafir’s cloak of invisibility.

Revealed, the Yafir looked annoyed. “What do you want of me, king of Belmair?” he said.

“Return my wife immediately,” Dillon told him.

“Nay! She was marked from her birth for me,” was the surprising reply. “Each female child born in Belmair is marked at birth by one of our own. Then when they are grown if that Yafir wishes to take that female he does. Cinnia was selected to be mine,” Ahura Mazda said. “I took only what belonged to me.”

“Cinnia and I were joined under the ancient laws of Belmair,” Dillon responded.

“The laws of Belmair mean nothing to the Yafir. We have our own codes of honor and behavior to live by,” Ahura Mazda said.

“Resign yourself to the fact that you will never again see Cinnia.”

“Do not force me to destroy the Yafir,” Dillon said grimly.

“If you could destroy us you already would have,” Ahura Mazda answered him.

“That is where you are wrong, Yafir,” Dillon spat. “I prefer the ways of peace to those of war. I would make a long-lasting peace between the Yafir and the Belmairans. I would right the wrongs done to you by that Belmairan king so long ago.”

“Do you think I do not know what you have been doing, what you plan?” Ahura Mazda said angrily. “You seek a spell to keep our women from us! Without the women our race will die. I will not let you do that, king of Belmair!”

“You have grown greedy in your desires, Yafir,” Dillon replied. “The women are Belmairan, and without them our race will die. I will not let you do that!”

“You cannot stop me, son of Kaliq! Soon we will outnumber you, and when we do we will take this world and drive you from it as the Belmairans once tried to drive us! You do not even know where we hide ourselves. We come and we go as we choose.” He sneered. “You must find us before you can accomplish that which you seek to do. But you will not find us. No one ever has. Force me to face you as many times as you want, king of Belmair. My presence will do naught for you. Cinnia is mine. Soon she will whimper beneath me, begging me for my favors. And if she pleases me I will grant her ecstasy such as she has never known. I have waited long to mate with her. Now let me go! There is no purpose in my remaining here with you, is there?” And Ahura Mazda was gone in a puff of scarlet smoke.

Dillon looked stunned. Not simply by the Yafir’s words, but by the fact that he felt helpless. Dillon, son of Kaliq of the Shadows and Lara, daughter of Ilona, queen of the Forest Faeries, felt totally helpless for the first time in a very long while. The last time, the only time he could remember this feeling was when his mother had been stolen by the Twilight Lord. He had only been a boy then, and untrained in the ways of magic. But he was a man now, and considered a great sorcerer. Yet he felt powerless to do anything to help himself, or to help Cinnia.

“Call to your father,” Nidhug begged him.

“Nay,” Dillon said as suddenly he felt strength flowing back into his veins. “I am a man now, and not a child, Nidhug. Eventually I will ask my father for his aid, and possibly my mother, as well. But not now. Belmair is mine to care for and rule over. Therefore I must find a solution to this puzzle I have been given to solve. What good are my powers if I cannot use them successfully? Cinnia is safe. The worst that can happen to her is that the Yafir overcomes her reluctance to mate with him. He can only do that by working some sort of enchantment. And I must accept that he will and sooner than later. He thinks that like a mortal I will consider my wife soiled, and no longer worthy of my love. But Ahura Mazda is wrong, Nidhug. Cinnia and I are more than husband and wife. We are soul mates. There will be no golden light and crackling of lightning when the Yafir takes her. Of that I am certain,” Dillon said with a small smile.

“What if she gives him a child?” Nidhug asked.

“She will not,” Dillon said. “I set a silent spell upon her when we were first wed, for I did not want her with child until we had settled this matter. A child might have been used against us in this dispute. Even if the Yafir discovers my spell, he cannot reverse it. Only I can do that. But I need to find an advantage over this bold Yafir lord. I must learn where they dwell, for they know where we dwell. That is their greatest secret, Nidhug.”

“How will you do that?” the dragon asked him.

“It will take time,” he admitted to her. “I will have to cast any number of spells. One will flow into the other, and the next and the next until the answer is revealed. It is very much like peeling an onion, my dear Nidhug. Now go home, and let Sarabeth feed you, my good dragon. I must go to my tower to begin my work.”

“I shall not eat a thing,” Nidhug said sadly as she left him. But when she reached her own castle across the gardens, Tavey and Sarabeth, already privy to the news of Cinnia’s kidnapping and knowing how distraught their mistress would be, were waiting with her favorite foods, and spent a long evening coaxing some of them into the dragon.

“You need your strength, mistress,” Tavey pointed out to her. “Especially if you are to help the young king in his quest.”

Nidhug ate, but in truth her appetite had almost disappeared. When she had finished she went to her apartments alone and called out to Kaliq of the Shadows. “Prince Kaliq, hear my call. Come to me from out yon wall!”

Kaliq appeared before her. Seeing the dragon, he knew at once that something was very wrong. “What is it, old friend?” he asked her.

“Cinnia has been kidnapped by the Yafir!” Nidhug began, and then she told him all that had happened since she had last seen him. She concluded by saying, “I told the king to call upon you, but he would not.”

Kaliq smiled softly. “He is right, Nidhug. This is his problem to solve. He is a man, but would feel less so if his father were to come and make everything all right. He has the intellect and the powers necessary to handle this situation. And Dillon is not a fool. He will call upon me when he needs me. Seeking out the lair of the Yafir is the right first step.” Then with a wave of his hand Kaliq enclosed himself and the dragon in a bubble that, while clear within, appeared deep purple and impenetrable to anyone outside of it. “I do not wish to be overheard, and the Yafir enjoy listening, which is why they knew what we were planning. We should have considered it. Cirillo will be here tomorrow. He has found the perfect spell to prevent the Yafir from stealing any more of the Belmairan women.