The Sorceress of Belmair (23 page)

“Then you must trust my uncle, as well, my lord, for I would trust him with my life,” Dillon told the duke.

“I will follow your instructions to the letter, Majesty,” Duke Tullio responded.

“I would think so,” Nidhug said irritably. She was hungry now, and knew that she had a long flight ahead of her if they were to be home tonight.

“I thank you,” Dillon said.

They repaired to the Great Hall of the manor house, and were offered a midday meal. Then, thanking Duke Tullio and his sister, the lady Margisia, they departed Beldane for home. The sun was setting as they finally arrived at Belmair’s royal castle. Nidhug dropped down onto the flat roof of the battlements, her great wings coming slowly to a stop and folding themselves against her sides. Nidhug immediately shrank herself down.

“I have had enough of flying, Majesty, and will walk the distance between our homes,” she said. “Sarabeth will have a most excellent meal for me. The woman is a treasure. But first let me pay my respect to Cinnia, and we shall tell her of our visits to the three dukes.”

Together dragon and king descended from the battlements down a staircase into the Great Hall of the castle. Reaching it, they saw there was no fire in the fireplaces, which Dillon thought odd. Even when there was no one in the hall the fires were kept going. There were no servants in sight, either.

“Cinnia will be in the family hall,” Dillon said.

But when they reached it the hearth was also cold, and there was no one in sight.

Nidhug experienced a shiver down her back.

“Britto!” Dillon called out. “To me!” His senses were tingling.

Britto came running at the sound of his master’s voice. His fat cheeks were pink with the exertion. His blue eyes were red with apparent weeping. “Majesty! Majesty!” he cried, and he flung himself at Dillon’s feet sobbing.

“What is the matter?” Dillon demanded to know.

“The Yafir have taken the queen!” his steward sobbed.

“How do you know this?” Dillon asked the man.

“We were here in the little hall last night,” Britto began. “After the evening meal the queen had gone to her apothecary to do some work. I went to tell her that we would need a new serving girl in the kitchens, and to ask her permission to hire one. Then
he
appeared. He caught the queen’s hand, and they argued but he said,
‘Come, Cinnia. You are mine now, for I marked you from your birth.’
And before she could protest they were gone, Your Majesty. There was naught we could do. I swear it!”

“This is all my fault!” the dragon cried, distraught. “I should not have left her!”

“Nay, it is not your fault. Even surrounded by servants, the Yafir were able to take Cinnia. What little magic you taught my queen, my sorceress, was not enough, for your gifts lie in protecting Belmair, Nidhug,” Dillon comforted the dragon.

Still the dragon wept large tears in her sorrow.

“Light the fires in both halls, Britto,” Dillon said. “Nidhug, cease your caterwauling. It does not help matters. Sit down! The fire is being rebuilt.” Dillon drew in several long, deep breaths. This did not bode well for a peaceful solution to the problems between the Belmairans and the Yafir. He watched while the fire sprang up, and soon it was blazing merrily. The room was warming.

“What are we going to do?” Nidhug, who had finally recovered herself, asked.

“I intend to summon that bold Yafir. He has no choice but to answer my call for I am stronger than he.
Ahura Mazda, hear me well. A Shadow-faerie weaves this spell. Come to me! You must obey! Or see your powers melt away.
”

“What do you want, Dillon of the Shadows?” the Yafir’s voice asked irritably. But he did not show himself.

“Reveal yourself, sly one!” Dillon commanded him. “Or are you afraid to face me, Ahura Mazda?”

The Yafir laughed. “Why should I be afraid of you?” he said, still cloaked.

“Your childishness wearies me,” Dillon replied, and pointing with a single finger he tore away the Yafir’s cloak of invisibility.

Revealed, the Yafir looked annoyed. “What do you want of me, king of Belmair?” he said.

“Return my wife immediately,” Dillon told him.

“Nay! She was marked from her birth for me,” was the surprising reply. “Each female child born in Belmair is marked at birth by one of our own. Then when they are grown if that Yafir wishes to take that female he does. Cinnia was selected to be mine,” Ahura Mazda said. “I took only what belonged to me.”

“Cinnia and I were joined under the ancient laws of Belmair,” Dillon responded.

“The laws of Belmair mean nothing to the Yafir. We have our own codes of honor and behavior to live by,” Ahura Mazda said. “Resign yourself to the fact that you will never again see Cinnia.”

“Do not force me to destroy the Yafir,” Dillon said grimly.

“If you could destroy us you already would have,” Ahura Mazda answered him.

“That is where you are wrong, Yafir,” Dillon spat. “I prefer the ways of peace to those of war. I would make a long-lasting peace between the Yafir and the Belmairans. I would right the wrongs done to you by that Belmairan king so long ago.”

“Do you think I do not know what you have been doing, what you plan?” Ahura Mazda said angrily. “You seek a spell to keep our women from us! Without the women our race will die. I will not let you do that, king of Belmair!”

“You have grown greedy in your desires, Yafir,” Dillon replied. “The women are Belmairan, and without them our race will die. I will not let you do that!”

“You cannot stop me, son of Kaliq! Soon we will outnumber you, and when we do we will take this world and drive you from it as the Belmairans once tried to drive us! You do not even know where we hide ourselves. We come and we go as we choose.” He sneered. “You must find us before you can accomplish that which you seek to do. But you will not find us. No one ever has. Force me to face you as many times as you want, king of Belmair. My presence will do naught for you. Cinnia is mine. Soon she will whimper beneath me, begging me for my favors. And if she pleases me I will grant her ecstasy such as she has never known. I have waited long to mate with her. Now let me go! There is no purpose in my remaining here with you, is there?” And Ahura Mazda was gone in a puff of scarlet smoke.

Dillon looked stunned. Not simply by the Yafir’s words, but by the fact that he felt helpless. Dillon, son of Kaliq of the Shadows and Lara, daughter of Ilona, queen of the Forest Faeries, felt totally helpless for the first time in a very long while. The last time, the only time he could remember this feeling was when his mother had been stolen by the Twilight Lord. He had only been a boy then, and untrained in the ways of magic. But he was a man now, and considered a great sorcerer. Yet he felt powerless to do anything to help himself, or to help Cinnia.

“Call to your father,” Nidhug begged him.

“Nay,” Dillon said as suddenly he felt strength flowing back into his veins. “I am a man now, and not a child, Nidhug. Eventually I will ask my father for his aid, and possibly my mother, as well. But not now. Belmair is mine to care for and rule over. Therefore I must find a solution to this puzzle I have been given to solve. What good are my powers if I cannot use them successfully? Cinnia is safe. The worst that can happen to her is that the Yafir overcomes her reluctance to mate with him. He can only do that by working some sort of enchantment. And I must accept that he will and sooner than later. He thinks that like a mortal I will consider my wife soiled, and no longer worthy of my love. But Ahura Mazda is wrong, Nidhug. Cinnia and I are more than husband and wife. We are soul mates. There will be no golden light and crackling of lightning when the Yafir takes her. Of that I am certain,” Dillon said with a small smile.

“What if she gives him a child?” Nidhug asked.

“She will not,” Dillon said. “I set a silent spell upon her when we were first wed, for I did not want her with child until we had settled this matter. A child might have been used against us in this dispute. Even if the Yafir discovers my spell, he cannot reverse it. Only I can do that. But I need to find an advantage over this bold Yafir lord. I must learn where they dwell, for they know where we dwell. That is their greatest secret, Nidhug.”

“How will you do that?” the dragon asked him.

“It will take time,” he admitted to her. “I will have to cast any number of spells. One will flow into the other, and the next and the next until the answer is revealed. It is very much like peeling an onion, my dear Nidhug. Now go home, and let Sarabeth feed you, my good dragon. I must go to my tower to begin my work.”

“I shall not eat a thing,” Nidhug said sadly as she left him. But when she reached her own castle across the gardens, Tavey and Sarabeth, already privy to the news of Cinnia’s kidnapping and knowing how distraught their mistress would be, were waiting with her favorite foods, and spent a long evening coaxing some of them into the dragon.

“You need your strength, mistress,” Tavey pointed out to her. “Especially if you are to help the young king in his quest.”

Nidhug ate, but in truth her appetite had almost disappeared. When she had finished she went to her apartments alone and called out to Kaliq of the Shadows.
“Prince Kaliq, hear my call. Come to me from out yon wall!”

Kaliq appeared before her. Seeing the dragon, he knew at once that something was very wrong. “What is it, old friend?” he asked her.

“Cinnia has been kidnapped by the Yafir!” Nidhug began, and then she told him all that had happened since she had last seen him. She concluded by saying, “I told the king to call upon you, but he would not.”

Kaliq smiled softly. “He is right, Nidhug. This is his problem to solve. He is a man, but would feel less so if his father were to come and make everything all right. He has the intellect and the powers necessary to handle this situation. And Dillon is not a fool. He will call upon me when he needs me. Seeking out the lair of the Yafir is the right first step.” Then with a wave of his hand Kaliq enclosed himself and the dragon in a bubble that, while clear within, appeared deep purple and impenetrable to anyone outside of it. “I do not wish to be overheard, and the Yafir enjoy listening, which is why they knew what we were planning. We should have considered it. Cirillo will be here tomorrow. He has found the perfect spell to prevent the Yafir from stealing any more of the Belmairan women. Once we will have cut off their supply of wives and lovers we have our first bargaining chip,” Kaliq told the dragon. “Dillon will know just what to do. Now, my dear, I must return to Shunnar. I left a most beautiful lover’s side when you called.” The bubble about them dissolved, and Kaliq was gone.

There was nothing more to be done, Nidhug realized when she found herself alone again. She climbed into bed and slept until well into the next day when Tavey came with a two-gallon cup of sweet hot chocolate to awaken her.

“The king calls, mistress,” her servant said as he handed her the cup.

“I must have a warm oil shower first,” Nidhug said. “The travel winds have dried my scales dreadfully, and they are sore.”

“I will send a message to the king that you will be there within the hour,” Tavey said. “I have already turned on your oil shower, mistress.”

Nidhug sighed. “You are truly perfection, dear Tavey,” she told him as she rose from her bed and handed him back the now-empty cup.

True to her servant’s word the dragon arrived at the royal castle exactly an hour later. To her delight she found Prince Cirillo awaiting her with the king. There was a decidedly lustful look in his eyes as he met her gaze, and she fluttered her purple eyelashes at him playfully. Cirillo grinned as he realized without either of them saying a word that she had missed him as much as he, to his great surprise, had missed her.

“Put a bubble about us while we speak,” Nidhug said softly to the two men.

Dillon nodded and enclosed the three of them. “That was clever of you, Nidhug, and a thought worthy of my father. The Yafir have obviously been lurking and listening. Cirillo has the spell. Now we must decide the best way of reaching all of the Belmairan women in danger from the Yafir.”

“We must bring all the women together at the same time,” Nidhug said. “You have the means to do this. To send me to each duchy will only trumpet our intentions.”

“Agreed,” Dillon replied. “Best to strike quickly.” He looked to his uncle. “The tunnels?”

“Aye, but we will need a fourth person. Nidhug is not strong enough to use my spell. It is woven very tightly, and could injure her if she attempted to use it,” Cirillo said. “We can call upon Kaliq or your mother, or my mother.”

“I would like to leave my parents out of this,” Dillon said.

Cirillo nodded. “I understand,” he said. “Mother would probably do it. She’s been dying to come to Belmair as I have spoken so highly of it.”

“Then I will ask her,” Dillon replied. “But let us first plan it all to the last detail.”

“Agreed!” Cirillo said. “The tunnels must be opened swiftly. To where?”

“The Great Halls of the three dukes,” Nidhug suggested to them.

“Aye,” Dillon said. “They are commodious enough for what we need to do.”

“And then,” Cirillo said, “the spell to bring all the women of childbearing age to each hall must be quickly spoken. They will arrive instantly, and certainly the women will be frightened.”

“We set a soothing spell in each hall as we enter it so the women appearing a moment later will not be alarmed,” Dillon replied.

“And then my spell must be pronounced immediately,” Cirillo responded. “Only then will the women of Belmair be safe. Once they are, dear nephew, we may move on to learning where the Yafir hide themselves.”

“They have taken Cinnia,” Dillon informed his uncle.

“I am sorry, Nephew,” Cirillo answered. “But you must remember that the Yafir believe that they are fighting for their lives. They will do whatever they must to save themselves and their own world.”

“Ahura Mazda said they mark each female born in Belmair, and that Cinnia had been marked for him,” Dillon continued.

“How do you feel about this?” Cirillo asked, curious to learn if any of Dillon’s mortal nature would reveal itself in this particular matter.