Sapphira’s cries as the Yafir lord plied his rod across her back and her buttocks. When he had finished with her punishment he flung the Chastizer aside, and taking Tyne by the hand led her to her bedchamber, closing the door behind them.
Sapphira was sobbing with the pain that had been inflicted upon her person. “I hate him! I hate him!” she whimpered.
“Best he not hear you say it,” Arlais remarked as she helped Sapphira up. “You are fortunate he did not kill you, stupid girl. His delight in you was that you were the wife of Belmair’s king, and he had stolen you thereby besting that king. Now he knows he did not triumph over Dillon, and he will be looking for a way to get back at him. There are two things of supreme worth to every man, Sapphira. One is his self-esteem, and the other his cock. You have hurt our husband’s self-worth. Be glad you still appeal to his cock. It is what has saved you. Any of us could have raised little Gemma.”
Sapphira grew even paler than she normally was.
“Just keep telling him how much you love him, and how fine a lover he is,” Minau advised.
“Let us get you cleaned up now, and put some salve on your welts,” Arlais said. “Volupia, take the baby to her nursemaid. Then let us all retire for the night. Who knows what the morrow will bring us.”
“It will bring the same thing every new day brings,” Minau said drily.
But Minau was wrong. She awoke the following day to bright sunlight streaming in through her bedchamber windows. Startled, she arose and went to peer outside. She could see the walls of the bubble but beyond it there were…trees! Hills! Fields! Sights she had not seen in centuries. Was she dreaming? If she was she had not had such dreams in years because she had long given up hope of ever living upon the land again.
But they were certainly upon the land now! Minau ran to her door, and opening it saw Arlais and Orea were awake, as well.
“What has happened?” she asked them.
They shook their heads.
Volupia came sleepily from her chamber. “What is going on?” she asked.
“Someone fetch Sapphira,” Arlais said, and Orea ran off returning a few minutes later with the girl. “Where is our husband?”
“Still with Tyne,” came the answer.
“Fetch Tyne,” Arlais said, “but if he is not awake do not waken him yet.”
Tyne came. She looked worn. “He exhausted himself, and will sleep long,” she told them. “What has happened?”
“Show yourselves,” Arlais called softly.
Her companions gasped as suddenly Cinnia and Nidhug appeared.
“This is the queen of Belmair,” Arlais said, “and our Great Dragon. They will explain, but first the queen has a gift for each of us.”
“Magic has created a new province to be named Belbuoy,” Cinnia began. “It is here that the Yafir will make their home. Some of you may decide to return to the other provinces, and that is permissible. Belmairan and Yafir are to be one now. As soon as we have protected all within your castle we will dissolve the bubble. Please step forward one by one,” she told them.
“From what do you protect us?” Minau asked.
“You have lived beneath the sea for aeons, and there you have been protected from time. Without magical protection you would all die but for Sapphira and her child, and any other who has been in Yafirdom too long,” Cinnia said.
“I will go first,” Arlais said.
“Bare your shoulder for me,” the young queen said.
Arlais did as she was bid, watching as Cinnia drew forth from a velvet bag held by the dragon a small red-gold star. The young queen pressed the star against the front of Arlais’s shoulder, and Arlais felt the cool metal melting into her skin as Cinnia intoned the spell that had been devised.
“This magic star will keep you free,
From your years beneath the sea.
Time be twisted, turn away,
From the Yafir from this day.
Age from now as you will,
Let none this spell turn ill.
This Shadow-faerie lord has spoken,
And this spell shall ne’er be broken.”
Cinnia stepped back. “There,” she said. “Who will be next?”
Each of Ahura Mazda’s wives came and received the star with its magic spell. Sapphira, however, did not need such protection for the time in which she now stood was her own. Standing before Cinnia, she asked her, “Does my uncle know the truth of all of this?”
“Nay,” Cinnia replied. “Do you want him to know?”
Sapphira considered, and then she said, “How will it affect you?”
“In very much the same way it will affect you,” Cinnia replied. “The law has been changed, but changing a law and changing peoples hearts and minds are two different things, Sapphira. But we have both been wronged. I, by Ahura Mazda, and you by King Dillon. I will gladly do whatever you want me to do.”
Sapphira was silent, and then she said, “For the sake of Belmair and its people I think it best we leave things as they are. As I have lived among those who are called Yafir, I can see no real differences among us. But it will take time for all of Belmair to come to that same conclusion.” She glanced at their surprised faces. “I am sure you are all surprised by this change that has overcome me.” She smiled wryly. “Circumstances and my fellow wives are the good influences my poor mother never was.”
“Be warned,” Arlais told Cinnia, “that Ahura Mazda now knows the truth, for Sapphira told him last night. If I know our husband, and I do, he will eventually seek revenge although when he awakens to find us now on dry land once more that will be his main concern, and take most of his thoughts and energy.”
“I understand,” Cinnia responded. “Now, will you come with me so I may protect the rest of the castle’s inhabitants? Those others living within this bubble, the villagers, the servants who live away from the castle have already been given their star and their enchantment.”
“What of Ahura Mazda?” Arlais asked softly as she led Cinnia and Nidhug from the common room. “Will he be given a star to protect him?”
“Your husband is pure Yafir. He is magic, and does not need our protection,” Cinnia said. “That is why his coming and going from our world never affected him. There were not many Yafir of pure blood left when they fled to their world beneath the sea. Those centuries there will not have aged them any more than if they had been here.”
Arlais nodded, and took Cinnia and the dragon to the Great Hall where all the servants and other inhabitants in the castle had been assembled. There the young Belmairan queen and Nidhug worked the magic of Dillon’s spell and Cinnia’s stars for each person in the room. Many wept with joy to be once again in Belmair, upon the land. They kissed Cinnia’s hands, and bowed to the Great Dragon, thanking them.
Then Arlais went outside with her guests, and Cinnia looked up and said, “
To Arlais’s amazement and delight, the bubble that had shielded them for so many centuries slowly dissolved in a final rainbow burst of color. A soft breeze touched her rosy cheek, and Ahura Mazda’s first wife herself wept as the warm air caressed her face. “Ah,” she said softly, “never did I think to feel the wind again. Thank you, my queen!” And catching Cinnia’s two hands up in her own she kissed them reverently.
“Your queen, aye,” Cinnia replied, “but your friend, too, Arlais. In the time I spent in your household you were kind, and thoughtful. And when you realized the deception played upon the Yafir lord, you did not expose it. I have had time and peace with my own beloved husband, and for that I thank you.”
“I was protecting Ahura,” Arlais admitted.
Cinnia nodded. “I understand,” she told the woman.
Dillon, Kaliq, Cronan and Cirillo were suddenly coming toward them, and Cinnia smiled. She drew Arlais forward and introduced her to the magical quartet.
