The Twilight Lord

on the other side of the sea which you previously crossed in your flight. You will see I am real. Just be careful in your passing that you do not harm any of the Outland clan families or their livestock who now populate the region. I will await your coming.” He could feel himself fading from the Dream Plain. It was an amazing sensation. “Come to me!” Og called to Skrymir, then he awakened in his large bed. He lay quietly for some long moments. He could see the day beginning to overcome the night outside of his chamber and all was quiet about him. Finally he arose and pulled on his boots.

It had been a wondrous night, although he felt just the tiniest bit tired. He had to have been sleeping for at least six hours. Had it all be real? Or just a dream? The prince would know. Og departed the chamber and went down into the valley, where the horses he tended were grazing placidly in the early light of dawn. He walked among them, for the beautiful beasts soothed him, and he was yet disturbed by his meeting with his father. Skrymir seemed a hard man. But searching his collective memory, he could not find the words hard or cold in relation to his race. Forests giants were known to be gentle creatures. The man he had met in the night did not fit that description. He had looked like a hardened warrior. But that the face that had looked at him had been his own, he would have doubted that Skrymir was his sire. Og sighed, turning back to cross the great meadow back to the prince’s palace. Kaliq would be awake now and he would want to know exactly what had happened when Og traveled upon the Dream Plain. The giant found his master, Lara and Ilona in the garden eating their morning meal.

The prince waved Og to his side, offering him a cup of fresh-squeezed juice. “You look tired, my friend,” Kaliq said. “Can you tell us of your journey?”

Og swallowed down the liquid in his cup. It seemed to restore him. “I met Skrymir,” he began and then he told them everything in careful detail. “I did not once mention Lara by name,” he said. “I do not believe that Skrymir knew that the mate Kol chose was the Domina of Terah. And he did not ask me how I found him, which was curious.”

“His surprise probably outweighed his curiosity,” Kaliq noted. “What of his loyalty to the Twilight Lord?”

“I sense he feels more gratitude to Lord Kol for sheltering the surviving Forest giants than any deep loyalty to him,” Og said thoughtfully. “The many questions I posed to my father seemed to confuse him, but I believe when he has time to consider them he will think harder on those issues. He told me that while I was small of stature I was big of intellect.” Og chuckled. “It is the first time I have ever been accused of being wise.”

“But you are wise, dear Og,” Lara told him.

“My lord prince,” the giant said, “I have challenged my father to meet me on the edge of the Sea of Obscura that he may see I am not simply a dream creature but his flesh and blood son. Will you use your magic to transport me there?”

Kaliq nodded. “I will go with you, but I will remain in the shadows unless you need me.”

“Why does this giant lord wish to see Og in the flesh?” Ilona asked irritably.

“Because he is a father who has only just learned he has a son, Ilona,” the prince dryly answered her. “Surely you understand a parent long separated from a child wanting to see that child, to touch that child, to embrace that child.”

The faerie queen flushed. “Aye,” she said softly, reaching out to take her daughter’s hand. “I understand.”

“When is this meeting to take place?” Lara wanted to know.

“I expect he will come in the next day or two,” Kaliq said slowly. “He will be curious.” He turned to Og. “We will depart today. Go and tell your wife that the prince needs your company for the next few days. You do not want her worrying.”

Og arose from the grass. “Very good, my prince,” he said and hurried off.

“What good does this face-to-face meeting do when it is Lara we are attempting to protect?” Ilona said impatiently. “I do not care a whit for Hetar or Terah. It is my child I would have protected.”

“If Kol cannot leave Kolbyr,” Lara said, “but can direct his armies nonetheless, Mother, it is important that we weaken his alliances before he begins this conflagration. Gaius Prospero has no idea what he could be up against. And even with strong magic it will be difficult for Terah to defend itself against Kol’s creatures. If Kol took Hetar, it would be difficult for Terah to defend itself on two fronts. We must prevent this war and that means we must destroy the bonds the Twilight Lord has forged with his allies.”

“It would be far simpler if we just saw that this dark spirit slept for the next thousand years,” Ilona said.

“The balance, my queen,” Kaliq reminded her. “The balance.”

“Do not lecture me, oh Prince,” Ilona said, sniffing irritably. “But tell me, what would be so dreadful if the balance was tilted far to the light and toward the good for the next thousand years? Would it really be that awful?”

“Before a true balance might then be restored,” Kaliq said, “we would be forced to live through an equal period of evil and darkness, my queen. Would you visit that upon us all? For now the balance is shifted just slightly to the good and to the light. It is the way it should be for we shall never be able to eradicate the darkness entirely. It will always lurk about the edges of our world. Even the fabled world of Belmair which glows like a great star in our skies struggles to keep perfect order. Light and dark. Good and evil. It is a never-ending battle, Ilona, and I know you know it.”

The faerie queen sighed. “This Twilight Lord is just so difficult a conundrum, and I fear for my daughter.”

“Your daughter has only begun to fulfill her destiny,” Kaliq said quietly.

Og returned at that moment. “I have spoken with my wife. She will take the time I am away to visit her family in the desert below,” he said. “I am ready whenever you are, my prince.”

And then to their surprise Prince Kaliq began to grow in height until he was as tall as Og. Flinging his cloak about himself and the giant they disappeared.

“I did not know he could do that,” Lara said, amazed.

Ilona laughed. “He can do anything,” she said admiringly.

“Why, Mother,” Lara teased her parent, “I am surprised. Was Kaliq ever your lover? Do you know how old he is?”

“Whether he was ever one of my lovers,” the faerie queen said, “is not a matter for discussion. As for his age, he is just slightly younger than time itself.”

“Yet he never changes,” Lara murmured softly.

Ilona made no reply.

“I suppose,” Lara finally said, “that I should go home now. Magnus will probably already be beginning to fret.”

“Not yet,” Ilona replied. “There is still the matter of your approaching the Twilight Lord on the Dream Plain. I think it too dangerous, my daughter.”

“It is dangerous,” Lara agreed, “but he will not stop seeking to bring me back to him unless he can be convinced that I do not love him enough to go with him.”

“Do not tell me that you came to love him?” Ilona exclaimed, horrified.

“Kol is a lonely man, Mother. He was never cruel to me. I believe that is what made it easy for me to deceive him once Kaliq regained my memories for me.”

“You must harden your heart, Lara,” Ilona said. “That bit of humanity within you will cause your downfall if you are not careful. The Twilight Lord stole you away from your husband and your children. He caused them and the clan families much grief. He set Gaius Prospero to making plans to war with Terah. The Twilight Lord is evil, my daughter, and evil sometimes disguises itself so that it appears almost palatable. But it is not! Kol thought only of himself, his desires, his needs. His kindness toward you was for a purpose. To convince you that he was your mate, your lover. To cajole you into depending upon him and him alone. Do not be fooled, Lara. And do not allow him to draw you back into his dark web. His heart is black to its core.”

Lara sighed. “I know you are right, Mother,” she agreed. “But if I am to protect Magnus and the children, if I am to prevent this war that Gaius Prospero is attempting to foist upon Terah, I must be completely free of the Twilight Lord. I cannot banish him as I did his ancestor, Usi. I must convince him that what we had was false. That I cannot ever love him as he would have me do. I will not venture into the Dark Lands again, but I will summon Kol to the Dream Plain. I am safe there, am I not?”

Ilona nodded reluctantly. “Aye, you are safe there, but be certain before you go that you protect yourself, for Kol will try to trick you.”

“I must go now,” Lara said, rising from the table where they had been eating. “Let me know when Kaliq is back