enslaved in some secret location.
He nodded. “I would be grateful, and so, I suspect, will Britto.”
Lara settled into her son’s home. She was given a lovely apartment of rooms facing both south and west. Anke was happy to serve her, and Britto relieved to have a woman once again in charge of the household. The day after her arrival Lara met Nidhug, and the two females became friends immediately. Cirillo was not certain he wanted his older sister being friends with his lover. His passion for the dragon was far greater than any he had ever felt for any female before. He did not like sharing her. But it would seem he had no choice, and when he discovered that Lara had no prejudice as he sensed in his mother, he became less distrustful of the relationship Nidhug and Lara had forged.
The winter passed, and spring came quickly to Belmair. Having his mother in the castle seemed to balance his emotions, and Dillon felt his strength returning. The search for the Yafir began again. One afternoon a small procession wound its way up the hillside to the royal castle. Their horses clumped across the drawbridge, coming to a stop in the cobbled courtyard.
Dismounting, Duke Dreng said to the servant who came from the castle, “Inform King Dillon that Duke Dreng is here with family.”
Britto, looking out from the main door, recognized the duke, and turning, ran back into the family hall where Lara sat weaving. “My lady, Duke Dreng has just arrived unannounced. I recognized his wife with him, and two young women, as well as several servants. What shall I do? Where shall I put them?”
“Have the servants prepare one of the larger apartments. We will put him and his family, for the young women will be his granddaughters, I suspect, in a single suite. Then run and warn the king. Duke Dreng should not be left waiting in the courtyard. I will go and greet him, and lead him into the Great Hall,” Lara said.
Britto dashed off as Lara arose, smoothing her long sky-blue gown, and tucking a stray lock beneath her gold caul. Leaving the hall, she hurried out into the courtyard.
“My lord duke,” she said as she approached Dreng and his family.
“I am Lara, Domina of Terah in the world of Hetar. I am the king’s mother. Welcome to Belmair. Would that you had warned us of your coming your welcome would certainly have been a more gracious one.” She smiled at him, and then turned to his wife. “You will be the lady Amata. My son remembers your hospitality fondly.” She hooked her arms through Amata’s. “Come along. We shall go into the hall. I have sent word to the king of your arrival. Is there some purpose to this visit?”
She led them from the courtyard and into the Great Hall of the castle, where the servants came immediately bearing trays holding goblets of sweet wine.
“You are aware of the tragedy that has befallen Belmair’s queen, Domina,” Duke Dreng began, and as Lara turned and fixed him with a cold gaze, he stopped.
“My lord, I can only hope you have not come to attempt to persuade my son to reject Cinnia when she returns. It would be a dreadful mistake on your part,” Lara said.
“Domina, the king cannot take her back. She is defiled by the Yafir. Belmair’s queen must be above reproach. Sooner or later he must choose another queen,” Dreng responded. “I have brought two of my granddaughters, Lina and Panya, for his consideration. He need not choose now, but sooner than later he must.”
Lara shook her head. “Are you so dense that you do not understand what this is really about, my lord? It is not that the Yafir stole Cinnia. Or that the Yafir have been stopped from stealing more of Belmair’s females. This is about the survival of both Belmair and the Yafir. You are at war, my lord, but you refuse to recognize it!”
The duke of Beltran was very surprised by Lara’s words. He stared at her as if attempting to see through her. She was very beautiful, and looked far too young to be the king’s mother, he thought.
“You are too ambitious, my lord,” Lara remarked “and it is unfortunate.”
The young king entered the hall. Coming up to his mother, he kissed her cheek.
“Two of my granddaughters,” Dreng said pridefully. “This is Lina.” He pulled the girl forward. She had dark gold hair and light blue eyes. “And this is Panya.” The second girl had rich auburn hair and gray eyes.
“My ladies.” Dillon bowed politely, but touched neither of the girls.
There was a long silence that Lara mercifully broke, feeling sorry for the women. “Let us sit by the fire. It is spring, I know, but the late afternoons grow chill. Was your trip pleasant? You have sailed from Beltran, I assume.”
“You know our geography then, Domina,” Lady Amata said.
“I have been with my son for much of the winter, and have spent my time learning all I could of Belmair,” Lara told them.
“You will remain?” Dreng asked.
“Until my daughter-in-law is found and brought safely home,” Lara replied. “We have narrowed the search as you know.” She smiled.
“To some place shaded and dim?” Dreng said scornfully. “It is hardly a clue that will lead to any success, I fear.”
“I must differ with you, my lord duke,” Lara said. “It eliminates the interior of the hills. The caves will be searched more carefully, especially those with access to light.”
“How goes the search on Beltran?” Dillon asked the duke.
“We’ve finished searching. There is nothing to be found,” the duke said brusquely. “We had fields to plant and deer herds to cull. We have done what we could. Why do you persist in seeking Fflergant’s daughter, Majesty? She is gone. The Yafir have, thanks to you and your allies, been stopped in their tracks. They can steal no more of our women. Our women are protected.”
“Only those who were in the halls that day,” Dillon told them. “Those born after that day are not protected. The danger is far from over.”
“Oh, gracious!” the lady Amata said.
Duke Dreng shot his wife a ferocious look.
“What is it?” Lara asked the woman.
“Be silent!” the duke ordered Amata.
“Nay, lady, you will tell me what it is that has distressed you, and you, my lord, will be the one remaining silent,” Dillon said.
Amata shook her head in distress, looking from her husband to the king. But then she sighed deeply and said, “Several female infants born this winter on Beltran have disappeared from their cradles in the night over the last few weeks. And my brother has written to me that the same thing has happened on Belia.”
“They are stealing the unprotected infants,” Lara said softly, “to raise within their own world. This is a clever and ruthless enemy.”
“I don’t want to destroy the Yafir,” Dillon said.
“You may have to destroy Ahura Mazda,” Lara replied. “He has spent centuries simmering his hate for Belmair and its people. It is unlikely you will be able to save him from himself. I cannot believe that all Yafir think as he does. There have to be others who are more reasonable, and with whom you can deal.”
“They have to be wiped out!” Duke Dreng said. “They are a dangerous race, and have taken every opportunity to do us wrong. Why do you persist in believing they can be saved, Majesty? They are ravening beasts! Destroy them! Destroy all that is theirs! Belmair is ours. Our world is for Belmairans, not strangers.”
Lara was amazed by her son’s response to this tirade.
“If it takes me a century, Dreng, I will teach you that nothing remains stagnant in any world. Belmair is not a perfect world despite the efforts your past kings have made to excise all that did not conform to their thinking. Hetar is not perfect, either. Nor my mother’s domain of Terah. Life is vibrant, my lord, and constantly changing, evolving. Sometimes those changes come slowly, so slowly that we barely notice them, if we notice them at all. And other times changes comes so swiftly that we cannot keep up with them, and it frightens us. The only magic native to Belmair is that which the dragon possesses. But once when the Yafir lived peaceably among you there was magic both good and bad in Belmair, for there must always be balance in life. You have forgotten that, Dreng, if indeed you ever knew it. But I am going to educate you in spite of yourself,” Dillon, king of Belmair said. “Perhaps
