“Can you refuse to transport them?” the Dominus asked.

“The more you refuse Gaius Prospero the more he will want to come,” Lara said. “We cannot hazard that they discover the Sea of Obscura on the edge of this desert. Hetarians are not explorers by nature, but we cannot take the chance. You do not want them coming at us through the new Outlands.”

“What do you suggest?” the Shadow Prince asked her.

Lara turned to her husband. “This is your decision, Magnus, but now that they know more than we were willing to tell them, they will come. But we are still in a position to control their coming.”

The Dominus considered for several long minutes. Then turning to Kaliq he said, “What if you told them we knew that they were coming in the next year, but that we wanted them to come across the sea? To send word to us through the Coastal Kings when their ambassador was ready so we might meet his vessel, and escort it with due honor to Terah. Do you think Gaius Prospero would honor our request?”

“Aye, he very well might,” Kaliq responded. “For now he cannot go to war with you, for he is too busy in the Outlands. And he has also discovered how much land is unused within the Coastal province. He intends confiscating it for his own cultivation, I have not a doubt. That way he can control the price of food in the markets.”

“And by controlling the price of food he can control the people,” Lara murmured.

“So his only interest in Terah for the interim is to open a negotiation with us,” the Dominus said. “He’s a wily fellow, and in the end we shall have to deal with him.”

“But for now,” the Shadow Prince said, “you have time to prepare your people and your defenses against Hetar.”

“Could we not create a vacuum within the leadership of Hetar if Gaius Prospero were no longer there?” Lara wondered aloud.

“The difficulty with Gaius Prospero’s ambitions is that they have roused the ambitions of others as well,” Kaliq responded. “As long as each province was governed by its leaders and all had an equal say in the High Council, Hetar could remain at peace. But nothing remains the same forever, my friends. Ambition rises with the changing times. Hetar is overpopulated in the City and the Midlands. The rest of us have remained isolated, the Foresters because of their foolish insistence for their racial purity, the Coastal Kings because of their great distance. And we because of our magical abilities, which are not for the common folk. But all that is changing now, and we must change with it. Hetar believes it is the only world here, but it is not. And it will soon learn otherwise. Terah has known better for centuries, but there is even more here than Terah can imagine,” Kaliq told them. “It is Lara who is bringing about these changes, whether she realizes it or not. Your wife, Magnus Hauk, is very important in the scheme of things.”

“What is she to do?” the Dominus asked curious.

“Exactly what she is doing,” Kaliq replied, and Magnus looked confused.

Lara laughed. “It is the Prince’s duty to be oblique, Husband,” she told him.

“My destiny seems to unfold slowly like a bolt of heavy rich cloth. If you have told us all we need to know, Kaliq, then perhaps it is time for Magnus and me to go home to Terah.”

The Shadow Prince turned to the Dominus. “When we are requested to transport Hetar’s emissary to Terah we will refuse, and suggest the more formal route you have presented to us. The emperor will be impatient and irritated by the delay, but we will see he acquiesces for if the truth be known he has no other choice. And we will warn you well in advance of their request and their coming,” he told them.

“Keep them from your desert, Kaliq,” Lara said. “They have already encroached along its scrublands, I am told.”

“No longer,” he replied. “They found it too inhospitable, and besides now they have the Outlands in which to expand. It is a far more pleasant land,” Kaliq chuckled. “We seemed to have an unusual number of sandstorms and ferocious heat waves in the scrubland in recent months. Those poor Midlanders could not take it. They fled back to the overcrowded farms of their families very quickly. The emperor then sent a delegation at the request of the Squire. They came back declaring the scrubland useless and uninhabitable even for goats and scorpions. The emperor will not intrude upon us again. He sees no profit in our desert, and believes we spend all our time tending to the horses we sell into Hetar. He told me himself it must be difficult work, given the sandstorms and the lack of useful vegetation.”

“Does he not know of your palaces, and that magnificent fertile valley between the cliffs?” Magnus Hauk asked, surprised. “Where does he imagine you live?”

“Few in Hetar know of our valley,” the prince said. “Those who have traveled our province believe we reside in the tent encampments they see scattered about the desert.”

“What of the Taubyl Traders?” Lara wondered.

“We conduct our negotiations with them from magnificent tents below the cliffs,” he told them. “Few strangers have ever entered our palaces, or seen our valley. And those few who have are relieved of the memory of it before we send them back. And to those to whom we have given sanctuary, like the Mercenary, Wilmot, and his old mother, Dame Mildred, they do not go out into the world again. It would not be safe for them.”

“How are they?” Lara asked him.

“Wilmot was a bit restless until your giant, Og, asked him for his aid with the horses. As for Dame Mildred she is most content, and spends her time with Og’s wife and children. You did not see them, did you?”

Lara shook her head. “Nay. I did not want to answer all the questions that Wilmot would surely have for me.”

“Then it is time for you to go,” Kaliq said.

“Transport me to the new Outlands,” Lara said.

“Wife!” the Dominus protested.

“It is easier,” Lara told him, “if I go now. It is the time of the Gathering, Magnus. I will be able to see them all, hear and soothe complaints and see my children. And Dasras is there. I shall ride him home to you within just a few weeks’ time. Please let me do this. Come if you will, but let me go.”

“I need to get back to the castle,” he said. Then he sighed. “Very well, Lara, go to that great fertile plain you call the new Outlands, and reassure yourself that all is well, but then return to me.”

“Before I do I would have you come to your new subjects so that they may render their tribute to you for the year,” she said.

He nodded. “I will come when you want me, my faerie love.”

She smiled at him, and then going to Kaliq, put her arms about his neck and kissed his cheek. “Thank you, dear friend,” she said.

The Shadow Prince saw the fire blaze up in Magnus Hauk’s eyes. He returned Lara’s kiss and then set her back. “I shall set you down in the middle of Rendor’s hall,” he said, and with a quick wave of his hand he transported her.

Rendor of the Felan started as Lara materialized before his high board. Rahil, his wife gave a little scream of surprise.

“Greetings, old friends,” Lara said to them.

Rendor stood up, and coming forward embraced Lara. “I know I should not be so startled, but your method of entrance always amazes me. Welcome, Lara! Come up to the board, and have some wine.”

“It is morning in the palace of Prince Kaliq,” Lara said. She accepted the goblet he offered her, and drank deeply of it. “Rahil, you are looking well. Now tell me how has this relocation gone for the clan families?”

“Many find it difficult to believe we are no longer on the borders of Hetar,” Rendor began. “Do they now possess our old lands?”

“Aye, and they are totally confused to have found an empty land, barren of villages or creatures, when they were promised it all including the clan families as a new source of slaves. Gaius Prospero is most distressed that there are no mines to be had in the mountains. He has been forced to seek the wealth he knows is there if he can but find it,” Lara chuckled. “I came for the Gathering, and to speak with all the clan families so I might see for myself that they have all settled in well. I have been with the Shadow Princes.”

“Where is your husband?” Rendor wanted to know.

“Kaliq sent him back to Terah,” Lara said. “He will join us at the Gathering so you may all render him the tribute due him.”

“Why did you not transport to Liam’s hall?” Rendor wanted to know.

“I do you honor as head of the Outlands High Council,” Lara told him. “Liam is only the Lord of the Fiacre. I will see him soon enough. How soon do we leave?”

“Tomorrow,” Rendor said. “You came just in time. It is amazing, Lara. Each clan family sought out the place of the Gathering this summer past, and it was there exactly where it should be. We did not know if it would be.”

“The Princes and I transported everything. And we closed up the mines in the mountains, and put trees and bushes back in their stead,” she told him. “Hetar’s emperor has been very disappointed by what he found.”

“I am sorry that Gaius Prospero did not find a scorched land,” Rendor muttered.

“If he had he would have had a rebellion on his hands, and we cannot tolerate a rebellion in Hetar, old friend,” Lara told him. “They would have been forced to look elsewhere for growing land. As it is they have confiscated all the empty acreage that belonged to the Coastal Kings, and they have forced the secret of Terah from Arcas.”

“Then we are not safe after all,” Rendor said.

“The new Outlands is safe, and so is Terah. The Sea of Obscura can only be found by crossing the desert, and Hetar has decided that the desert is an unfriendly place. They have already left the small bit they attempted to settle last year. And the Emerald Mountains separate the new Outlands from Terah proper, and another sea separates it from Hetar,” Lara explained. “The clan families are safe, Rendor.”