Behrooz and Sohrab. They were cautious, but open to her tale of meeting the young queen of Belmair upon the Dream Plain.
“We will not betray our father,” they said as one.
“Neither will I,” Arlais answered them, “but he will not change. There have been peoples throughout history who have split and gone in different directions when they could no longer live beneath a single rule. Belmair sent those who changed to Hetar. But before any decision is made, before you even speak with your families and adherents, we must learn if we can still survive upon the land. The sorceress has not called me again, but she will when the time is right. We must wait.”
It was a difficult time for those looking to change the world. While he studied the small book on time manipulation Dillon also made it his business to speak with the ordinary folk regarding the Yafir. In his own district of Belmair he found the attitudes were mixed. Some were not averse to sharing Belmair with the Yafir again. Others were strongly opposed to it. The citizens of Belia, like their duke, were more than willing to share their province with the magic folk. The people living in the Beldane sector like those of the Belmair sector were divided while Dreng of Beltran and his people were diametrically opposed to the Yafir.
“This will take longer than I had anticipated,” Dillon said to Kaliq and Cronan one evening as they sat together in the little hall. The ancient Shadow Prince had taken to joining them, and the young king enjoyed his company. It was interesting to see the great Kaliq deferring to another.
“What will you do then?” Cinnia asked her husband.
“If I cannot scatter the Yafir among all four of our provinces, what else can I do but raise another mass of land up from the sea for them?” Dillon replied.
“A most ambitious undertaking,” Cronan noted drily. “But will it not defeat your original purpose to bring Belmairan and Yafir together as one people?”
“Perhaps in the beginning,” Dillon agreed, “but the most important first step in my plan is to bring them out of hiding. Some will assimilate into Belmairan society immediately. And Belmairans will get to know them through trade between the provinces. There will be more intermarriages between the young people, but these marriages will be negotiated between the families. We will have no more stolen brides.”
“First you must solve the problem of stabilizing their ages so all the Yafir may continue on with reasonable life expectancies,” Kaliq said.
“It will not be easy,” Dillon said. “I am not certain a mass spell will suffice, and I would do no harm. I believe it may have to be done one by one.”
“That is time-consuming,” Cronan’s ancient voice said.
“You have far greater knowledge than I in this matter,” Dillon replied.
“Why do you think that?” Cronan responded.
“You are sympathetic to the Yafir,” Dillon said. “Why else would you remain here in Belmair all these centuries? I suspect you have guarded them for all this time. They are magic folk, but of the lower orders, Cronan. They had not the knowledge or power to create the world below the sea in which they live. I think you did that for them.”
“You are right, Kaliq. He is very intuitive and clever,” the old Shadow Prince said. “Aye, I have been protecting them, but like many races they have become their own worst enemy, and unless something is done they will become Belmair’s, as well. Another king in the mold of the previous rulers here would have surely spelled Belmair’s doom.”
“Then help me to help the Yafir,” Dillon replied. “If I raise a new land mass from the sea, can we three together enchant it so that the Yafir may live in safety? I will devise a spell that can be used individually to ply time to our will so some may be dispersed to the other provinces, except Beltran. I have no time to argue with Dreng at this moment. I will deal with him later.”
“And what of Ahura Mazda?” Cronan asked.
“I will deal with him later, as well,” Dillon said grimly. “First the land must be brought up from the sea. Then it must be made habitable. When that is done then we will approach those among the Yafir who would come up from the sea.”
“It is a good plan,” Cronan said.
“May I speak to Arlais about it?” Cinnia asked her husband. “That way she can prepare her sons, and their adherents. I think knowing they need not face the immediate hostility of we Belmairans may make their decision an easy one.”
“Aye,” Kaliq agreed. “It is clever.”
“Do I not always achieve my purposes, my lord?” Dillon asked his father.
Cronan chuckled. “He has your ego, I see, old friend. I should like to meet his mother one day. She must be strong to have withstood you, Kaliq, and yet birthed you such a fine son. There is no in-between with these faerie women. They can be either as hard as iron, or soft as butter.”
“Lara is a little of both,” Kaliq told the ancient. “But the softness is the small bit of mortal blood that flows within her.”
The next morning they met in Dillon’s library, and spread a great map of Belmair upon a large table. The largest province, Belmair itself, appeared to sit in the very center of the great sea, surrounded by the three smaller provinces of Belia, Beldane and Beltran each set equidistant from each other, and Belmair province itself. To have fit a new province between the others would have destroyed the balance. It was decided to put it in the southern part of the sea away from the others. This way it could be said the Yafir had discovered the place, and had been living there for centuries. No one need ever know about their world beneath the sea if they chose not to speak of it.
The following morning the two Shadow Princes settled themselves upon Nidhug’s back, and she flew to the spot where together they would create this new province, which would be called Belbuoy. The dragon hovered over the area as Dillon called forth land from the deep. He stood upon Nidhug’s back near the graceful curve of her neck.
Dillon raised his hand over the waters, and they began to part. As they did land rose up from beneath the waves lapping at the newly formed shoreline. While he drew the steaming land up both Kaliq and Cronan worked to form hills, and smooth fields and bring golden sands to cover the beaches that surrounded the new land.
The trio then set about to make it all fertile. Trees of all kinds sprang up. The meadows were filled with grasses and other growth. And then came animals and birds.
Three large fresh water rivers appeared, along with many brooks and streams. When they had finished Nidhug hovered above it all, marveling at their work.
“It’s beautiful,” she said.
“Take us home,” Dillon said in a weak voice. “We are exhausted.”
The dragon flew with them back to the royal castle. The two Shadow Princes, and the young king came down from her back and she was shocked to see how tired and drawn they were. “Are you all right?” she asked them, concerned. “Shall I call someone?”
“Nay,” Dillon told her. “We are just worn from our hard work this day.”
“We must rest,” Kaliq said. He put an arm about Cronan, who could scarcely stand. “Come, old friend. It has been quite a while since we did such work together, and we were both much younger then.”
The three men slowly entered the stairwell that would take them back into the castle. The dragon watched them go, and then she rose up and flew across the gardens to her own castle. She found Cirillo awaiting her in her Great Hall. He hurried forward, and taking her paws in his beautiful hands, kissed them tenderly.
“They have done it?” he asked.
“It was the most amazing thing to watch,” Nidhug told him as they sat together at the high board, waiting for the servants to bring their meal. “Dillon actually got the seas to part, and give forth new land. They fashioned hills and valleys, conjured up creatures of the air and land, green growth. I have never seen such incredible and strong magic, Cirillo. What little talents I possess pale in comparison. Having seen what I saw today I am almost ashamed to call myself a member of the magic world.”
“Do not be, my love,” he told her. “You, and your antecedents have kept Belmair safe throughout the aeons.
