The Twilight Lord

Whatever was troubling her, Ilona would know, for she and the Shadow Prince were hand in glove. Reaching down, her fingers touched the crystal star that hung between her breasts. Ethne, she called out with her mind to the protective spirit her mother had given her.

I am here, my child.

I have lost something, Ethne.

For a brief moment Ethne was silent and then she said, I know.

What is it? Lara begged her spirit protector.

’Tis not for me to enlighten you, if indeed you should be enlightened at all, Ethne responded quietly.

Kaliq will not answer me, Lara said.

Ethne laughed softly. He is a man for all he is a great and magical lord, my child. He wishes to protect you, for he loves you dearly.

Then I must go to my mother and learn what I need to know, Lara replied. My dreams are restless. Haunted. I go to the Dream Plain, and I can see no one though I sense someone is there. I do not know whether to be frightened or not, Ethne.

The golden flame in the crystal star flickered and then Ethne spoke again. Then you must certainly go to Queen Ilona and learn what it is that troubles you, my child. But do not tell the Dominus why you are going to visit her. Use whatever excuse you must to justify your decision.

Joining her family for the evening meal Lara was quick to notice how happy the three children were to see her and the Dominus. They had been so involved in preventing this war with Hetar that the children had taken second place in their lives. Lara felt badly about it, but this was important to the future of her offspring. She and Magnus needed to know they were safe. And she needed a peaceful time in which to give her husband a son. She was pleased to see how close Vartan’s children were to their stepfather. Dillon was growing faster in his wisdom. She had always been able to speak to him as an equal. She would miss him when he went to study with the Shadow Princes. Anoush, having no memory of Vartan, adored Magnus as any daughter would her father. She and her little sister, Zagiri, had be come very close. It had been the right decision to bring the children to the castle of the Dominus. Their meal together was a happy one. After tucking the three children into their beds Lara and Magnus sat together in their dayroom.

“I want to visit my mother,” Lara told her husband. “I will not stay long.”

“You have been away so much of late,” he complained. “I missed you. The children have missed you. Did you not see how happy they were tonight?”

“I will stay only a few hours,” she promised, “while they are all at their studies and you are going about the business of running your kingdom.”

“Ask your mother to come here,” he suggested.

“Nay,” Lara told him. “I need her advice on the Hetar dilemma and it is only polite that I go to her to seek it, Magnus. Besides, I have never seen her palace and am curious. I will go tomorrow. While I am gone you will write to Rendor and update him on our situation.”

“I suppose I cannot stop you,” he grumbled.

“Nay, you cannot,” she agreed cheerfully with a mischievous grin. “I will bring you back faerie sweets,” Lara promised. “You have never tasted their like.”

When morning came, and the children were settled with Master Bashkar, Lara went to the hidden private chamber she used for summoning. “Ilona, queen of the Forest Faeries, I would come to you,” she said three times. Then she waited and almost immediately the wall before her opened to reveal a short golden tunnel beyond which a green forest beckoned. Lara stepped through, walking the length of the tunnel and as she stepped forth into the late winter woodland, she found herself within a room with invisible walls that shimmered in the moonlight of evening.

Ilona came forward smiling. “Daughter! To what do I owe the honor of your visit?” The queen took her into her arms and kissed her. “Are you well? Is Magnus well? And the children?”

“I need your counsel, mother,” Lara said.

“Come,” the queen replied, leading Lara to a comfortable seating area. “It must be serious, for never before have you come into my realm.” The two women sat and reaching out, Ilona took a cup that had appeared in midair and gave it to Lara before taking one for herself. “Sip your faerie wine slowly,” Ilona said. “It is very potent, my daughter. Then tell me what it is that has brought you to me.”

Lara sipped the liquid in her cup. It was delicious, and tasted of raspberries. “Of late, Mother, my sleep is troubled,” she began. “I hear a deep and dark voice calling my name. I am brought to the Dream Plain, but though I sense someone, I can see no one. There is something that has been taken from me, but I know not what it is.”

Ilona had grown pale. Tears sprang up in her beautiful emerald eyes. “You are more faerie than even I had realized,” she said. “You must have faerie blood from your father that we did not know about. This is why you are as you are, Lara.” The queen sighed. “You were born, my daughter, for several purposes. You have a destiny. You have fulfilled part of that destiny, but because it was such a difficult task, Kaliq and I called the Munin lords to remove your memories of those months.”

“What was the task?” Lara asked.

“I fear to tell you, my daughter,” Ilona responded. “There is still enough mortal blood in you that you will react with loathing, guilt and shame. Kaliq and I want to protect you, Lara. You still have much to do to bring peace to Terah and Hetar. We cannot have you discouraged and deterred by what was necessary and is now past. We need you to be strong.”

“If you took my memories from me, Mother, then why does my mind seek for them?” Lara asked quietly.

“The memories of faerie folk should not be stolen. Because we believed your blood was half-mortal and half- faerie, we believed we could take those memories and hide them away where they could not harm you anymore. But it would seem your blood is more than half-faerie, my daughter. It might not have sought to regain your memories were he not calling out to you.”

“My memories must be returned to me, Mother, and who is he that seeks me?”

“There must always, as you know, be a balance between the light and the dark,” Ilona began. “But sometimes the dark grows stronger and stronger, threatening to overcome the light and all that is good. Part of the reason for your birth was to push back that darkness and the evil that it brings. To do this it was necessary that you go to the Dark Lands and mate with its lord.”

Lara shrank back, horrified, but then her faerie nature took control. “Tell me,” she said.

“The Dark Lands is ruled by the Twilight Lord, and each Twilight Lord’s path is dictated by the Book of Rule which has been handed down to them for five hundred years. The masters of this realm can only produce one son in each generation. The book speaks differently to each Twilight Lord. In this case it told its master that you were the wife he must take and that the son you bore him would conquer both Hetar and Terah, bringing them into the darkness.”

“Why did you not protect me from this creature?” Lara demanded. She was not certain if she should be angry or just sad at being manipulated.

“Because it was necessary for you to fulfill the Twilight Lord’s destiny as laid out in the Book of Rule. He is a cruel creature and he stole you away, Lara, after having the Munin remove the memories of who you were. When you awoke with no memory, he convinced you that you were his wife and that you had been ill. Little by little he returned the knowledge to you that you needed, everything but who you were and your family. He impregnated you, and because you believed you loved him, you carried his child. And then Kaliq came to you and restored all of your memories, explaining why we had allowed you to be used in this manner. You cast a spell creating two sons from the one child. And when you gave birth to identical twin sons, the Twilight Lord was horrified, but the Book of Rule would not permit the spilling of one child’s blood in favor of the other. These children are chaos personified and they have already set the Dark Lands against itself. Factions have formed around each of these boys, for who knows which of them will be the next lord? This is what was meant to be in order to defeat the darkness for the next hundred years, Lara. And only you could do this for us all. I am sorry,” the queen concluded.

“Why take my memories of this, Mother? Did you think me so weak that I could not do what needed to be done?” Lara demanded to know.

“You were gone a year, Lara. The clan families were in despair that you had disappeared while there. They felt