Bertrice Small - A Distant Tomorrow

Dillon held out his small hand, and taking it Magnus Hauk was surprised by the strength he found in the boy’s grasp. “I greet you, my lord Dominus.”

“I greet you, Dillon, son of Vartan,” the Dominus said. And then he smiled down at the boy. “Aye, I can see it in your eyes, lad. We will be friends.”

“Indeed we will, my lord, for we love the same woman,” Dillon responded.

The Dominus laughed heartily at the boy’s words. “You are clever like your mother,” he told Dillon. “One day if your people do not need you I will find a place for you myself in Terah.”

“And I will come when you call,” was the strangely adult reply.

Deep blue eyes met turquoise ones, and Magnus Hauk had the oddest sensation that one day Dillon, son of Vartan, would indeed be of help to him.

THEY REMAINED in the new Outlands until the Gathering had concluded. Magnus Hauk realized over the next few days, as he grew to know the clan families, that he had been right to heed his wife’s plea and bring them to Terah. In time, of course, the clan families and those Terahn born on the other side of the Emerald Mountains would come to know one another. If their coming together were carefully managed there should be no difficulty.

But Lara cautioned patience. “First we must see what Hetar does,” she said.

“Why will they do anything?” the Dominus said. “They are across the sea.”

“Gaius Prospero is already wondering where Terah is. He has forced that information from Arcas, who betrayed his own people to save his miserable life. Arcas has always been a bully and a coward. And once the emperor learns that it is not the people of the Coastal Kingdom who produce the luxury goods Hetar loves so dearly, we are in danger, Magnus. Even King Archeron will not be able to stem the tide of Gaius Prospero’s greed and ambition. I was foolish to take you to Hetar.”

“From what I saw of this emperor he is a careful man, Lara,” Magnus said. “By emptying the old Outlands of everything, and sealing up the mines, all he thought to gain is gone. There were no easy pickings for Hetar. No new supply of slaves. Gaius Prospero will have to spend some of his own ill-gotten gains to keep the peace and resettle the old Outlands. He will be too busy maintaining his own position to be bothered with us.”

“Perhaps in the short term, but not the long,” Lara answered. “Terah must begin to build an army so that when the time comes we can protect ourselves, and our lands.”

“An army?” he exclaimed. “We have never had an army. We have never needed one. If I tell our people we need one now I will frighten them.”

“Better they be frightened now when we are safe, and can overcome that fear while we raise a force to protect us in the future from any foreign incursion into Terah,” Lara responded. “Magnus, it is not just Hetar. The day I came to the new Outlands Dasras and I went for a ride. He wanted me to see the sea creatures in the Obscura, and I did. But I saw something else as well. The desert of the Shadow Princes lies across the sea, and curves around the water to the south. But to the north is yet another land. It is neither Terah nor Hetar. As Hetar knew nothing of us, there is a land of which neither of us has any knowledge. We are vulnerable from at least two sides.

“Because Terah has never been approached by foreigners does not mean we will not be in the future. The land I saw looked dark, Magnus. The sorcerer Usi represented true evil, my husband. From where did he learn that evil? Indeed, from where did Usi originate? The magic that grows within me can only protect Terah to a small extent. Terah must learn to protect itself in future. Call the headmen from the fjord villages to our castle, and tell them what we know. Then tell them we must raise a military force, and sustain it at their expense for the day when Hetar, or the lords of the dark land, will come upon us for wickedness’ sake,” Lara pleaded.

“I must think on it,” he told her.

Lara bowed her head with acceptance of his words. Once again she was surprised by the nature of men. Her counsel was good, but he would not take it immediately. He would consider it, and then he would argue the point with her once or twice. Then if she were clever, and could manage to keep from shrieking at him for being so stubborn, he would take her advice, and make it his own. What was the matter with men that they could not accept a woman’s word in serious matters such as this? Her hand went to the crystal star between her breasts. Is there time? she asked Ethne.

There is some, Ethne replied.

“It is good to be home,” the Dominus said.

“Aye, it is,” Lara agreed. They had ridden Dasras together over the plain, and then the mountains, leaving when the great torch of the Gathering had been extinguished that last morning. She had bid Dillon farewell, hugging her son to her chest, forcing back the tears that threatened to overwhelm her. Noss had brought Anoush to say goodbye, but Anoush was at that age when she was shy of strangers. She hid her small heart-shaped face in Noss’s sturdy shoulder. “Take care of them,” Lara said quietly, her hand caressing Anoush’s hair.

“I will,” Noss promised. “Lara, if I should need you…” her voice ceased, but her eyes begged.

“Call my name,” Lara told her. “I will hear you, Noss.”

The Dominus had, along with his wife, bid farewell to each of the clan lords. Roan of the Aghy, however, had made him jealous as Kaliq did, by flirting with Lara as he always did, a final time. Magnus Hauk glowered darkly at the horse lord who pretended not even to notice.

“Take care of your stallion,” Roan said as they mounted Dasras.

“Which one?” Lara teased back, and Dasras chortled.

Roan just grinned at her, and then with a wave turned to join his own people.

As Dasras galloped off, and then soared into the skies above the new Outlands Magnus Hauk seethed angrily.

“I am surprised Vartan did not slay him,” the Dominus said. “Or has he only begun flirting with you of late?”

“He has always done so,” Lara said calmly. “When Vartan died I think he hoped to convince me to be his wife. Roan is amusing, Magnus, and nothing more.”

“Doesn’t he have a wife of his own? A man that age should have a wife,” the Dominus said irritably. So Roan had wanted Lara for his own? Bastard!

“He has several wives,” Lara informed her spouse. “Like a stallion no one mare can satisfy him,” she said with a chuckle.

“And he wanted you, as well?” Magnus Hauk was outraged.

“Stallions always long for the prettiest mares, is that not so, Dasras?”

“Indeed, Mistress, it is,” the big horse replied.

The Dominus was struck silent, and remained so for some time. Finally they reached the castle on the fjord known as the Dominus’s Fjord. Dasras’s hooves touched down in his stableyard, and Jason, his personal groom, ran forth.

“Welcome home, my lord Dominus, my lady Domina. Welcome home, Dasras!” Jason greeted them, taking the stallion’s bridle.

Magnus Hauk leaped from the horse’s back, and lifted his wife down. “Thank you, Jason. See Dasras is well taken care of, if you will.”

“He would tell me if I didn’t take care of him properly,” Jason said with a grin.

“Harumpp!” the stallion responded as the boy led him off.

Lara was eager for a bath and said so as they walked to their apartments. “Bathing is not an option at the Gathering,” she observed with a smile. “I have become used to this more civilized way of living.”

“I have been thinking about what you said,” he told her.

“About what?” Lara pretended it hadn’t been on her mind at all.

“A military force for Terah. We cannot wait until Hetar pays us a visit now, can we? Better to be ready. And I am curious about this dark land you saw to the north. Do you think it is inhabited?”

“Probably, but it is best we not investigate it, Magnus. We do not wish to attract attention. If Usi gained his powers from whoever is there we are better off avoiding the dark land for now. In time I will investigate that place.”

“If you wish to remain unknown you are better served not riding that great golden stallion with his flapping white wings into the region,” the Dominus said.

“Ahh, husband, there is still much you have to learn about me,” Lara told him.

“What?” he demanded to know.

“In time, Magnus,” she promised him.

“Why not now?” he asked her. They stood at the entrance to their apartments.

“You are not ready,” she answered simply. She stepped into the entry chamber, and greeted the serving woman who came forth smiling her welcome. “Ahh, Mila, your Domina wishes a bath.” Turning she kissed her husband lightly on his lips. “Do you want a bath, Magnus?” she purred at him, and her hand caressed his face.

All other thoughts fled him as she had anticipated. They had not been together as man and wife in several weeks now, and he was hungry for her. “Will you give me a child, my faerie wife?” he asked her, his arm wrapped about her waist.

“Have I not promised you that I will in time?” she answered him.

“That is not an answer,” he told her quietly.

“It is all the answer I can give you, Magnus. There are for now matters of greater importance to Terah than a child,” Lara said.

“An heir of my body and blood is paramount to Terah. You are a good mother, Lara. I saw you with your children, Dillon in particular, but even the shy little Anoush who knows not who you are. Your love for that wee girly surmounts your own need for your daughter, my faerie love. Your sacrifice is magnificent,” he told her.

“Because of my destiny I have deserted my daughter even as my own mother deserted me, Magnus. My sacrifice is a selfish one for all the nobility of my destiny,” Lara said bitterly. “I was happy with Vartan, with our children. And then with his murder, my destiny called once again. I will always wonder if I had not stayed with him, let him make me his wife, if he might not be alive today. He was a great leader of his people, and they needed him. I am happier with you, my love, than I have ever been. But when my destiny calls again and I must leave you behind, I do not want to leave another child as well. There are perilous times coming, Magnus. I sense it.”