The Sorceress of Belmair (47 page)

“Lara is a little of both,” Kaliq told the ancient. “But the softness is the small bit of mortal blood that flows within her.”

The next morning they met in Dillon’s library, and spread a great map of Belmair upon a large table. The largest province, Belmair itself, appeared to sit in the very center of the great sea, surrounded by the three smaller provinces of Belia, Beldane and Beltran each set equidistant from each other, and Belmair province itself. To have fit a new province between the others would have destroyed the balance. It was decided to put it in the southern part of the sea away from the others. This way it could be said the Yafir had discovered the place, and had been living there for centuries. No one need ever know about their world beneath the sea if they chose not to speak of it.

The following morning the two Shadow Princes settled themselves upon Nidhug’s back, and she flew to the spot where together they would create this new province, which would be called Belbuoy. The dragon hovered over the area as Dillon called forth land from the deep. He stood upon Nidhug’s back near the graceful curve of her neck.

Heed me waters of the sea. Spread yourselves, give way to me. At the calling of my hand, slowly, slowly raise new land. Gentle hills and meadows fair; beaches wide, and harbors there. Soil that’s rich and air that’s sweet; a place for magic folk to meet. Give way, oh waters of the sea. I ask it of you humbly.

Dillon raised his hand over the waters, and they began to part. As they did land rose up from beneath the waves lapping at the newly formed shoreline. While he drew the steaming land up both Kaliq and Cronan worked to form hills, and smooth fields and bring golden sands to cover the beaches that surrounded the new land.

I thank you waters of the sea for your generosity,
Dillon said when it was done.

The trio then set about to make it all fertile. Trees of all kinds sprang up. The meadows were filled with grasses and other growth. And then came animals and birds.

Three large fresh water rivers appeared, along with many brooks and streams. When they had finished Nidhug hovered above it all, marveling at their work.

“It’s beautiful,” she said.

“Take us home,” Dillon said in a weak voice. “We are exhausted.”

The dragon flew with them back to the royal castle. The two Shadow Princes, and the young king came down from her back and she was shocked to see how tired and drawn they were. “Are you all right?” she asked them, concerned. “Shall I call someone?”

“Nay,” Dillon told her. “We are just worn from our hard work this day.”

“We must rest,” Kaliq said. He put an arm about Cronan, who could scarcely stand. “Come, old friend. It has been quite a while since we did such work together, and we were both much younger then.”

The three men slowly entered the stairwell that would take them back into the castle. The dragon watched them go, and then she rose up and flew across the gardens to her own castle. She found Cirillo awaiting her in her Great Hall. He hurried forward, and taking her paws in his beautiful hands, kissed them tenderly.

“They have done it?” he asked.

“It was the most amazing thing to watch,” Nidhug told him as they sat together at the high board, waiting for the servants to bring their meal. “Dillon actually got the seas to part, and give forth new land. They fashioned hills and valleys, conjured up creatures of the air and land, green growth. I have never seen such incredible and strong magic, Cirillo. What little talents I possess pale in comparison. Having seen what I saw today I am almost ashamed to call myself a member of the magic world.”

“Do not be, my love,” he told her. “You, and your antecedents have kept Belmair safe throughout the aeons. That is great magic. The magic my nephew has is simply different. With his natural talents, and the blood of both faerie and Shadow running in his veins, he should be a strong sorcerer.”

“Old Cronan was quite overcome,” Nidhug said, her tone concerned.

“It will take more than helping to create a new province in Belmair to send him off into the next life,” Cirillo noted. “While you were gone I popped home to tell mother what was happening. She told me Cronan’s history. Even among the Shadow Princes he was considered eccentric, she says. She thinks he may be the last of the original Shadow lords, but is not certain. She believes Kaliq would know the answer to that.”

“I imagine when the king and his companions are recovered he will want to meet to discuss the next steps we must take,” Nidhug observed.

Cirillo nodded. “I expect Cinnia will have to go to the Dream Plain again,” he said. “It will be easier for her this time, I imagine. She will not be afraid.”

Cinnia was already preparing herself for another visit to the Dream Plain. Dillon had returned tired, but enthusiastic over their day’s work. He had taken a reflecting bowl and filled it with water. Then with a soft word and a wave of his hand he had shown her the new province of Belbuoy.

“You have made it more like this land than like the others,” Cinnia noted. “I shall tell Arlais, and she can tell her sons. It will be a good place for the Yafir, and allow our own Belmairans to grow used to them again especially if some of them settle among us to begin with rather than living on Belbuoy. There is so little physical difference between us, Dillon. The males still seem to possess the silvery hair and aquamarine-blue eyes no matter their bloodlines, but few among the women have such coloring.”

“Have you seen enough?” he asked, and when she nodded that she had, he emptied the reflecting bowl of its water, and returned it to its place upon a shelf. “Do not go to the Dream Plain tonight,” he told her. “I would be near when you do, and I need to rest now to restore my own strength. Come and lie with me, Cinnia. Tomorrow we will speak with Kaliq and Cronan. The plans we make must be foolproof if we are to succeed.”

Cinnia took her husband by the hand, and together they lay upon their bed. She wrapped her arms about him, cradling him tenderly, and they slept the night through. When the new day dawned Dillon was refreshed, and his strength had returned. He ate a hearty breakfast, and then in the company of his wife they met with the others.

The great map of Belmair was spread again upon the library table, and with a flick of a finger the new province of Belbuoy appeared upon the parchment. It was then agreed that Cinnia would meet again upon the Dream Plain with Arlais this coming night. Nothing else could be accomplished until then.

“What of dwellings for the Yafir?” Cinnia asked.

“We could do what Lara did when she removed the clan families from the Outlands into the New Outlands,” Kaliq suggested.

“I think it too dangerous to move people and dwellings through the sea that same way,” Dillon said.

“Move the entire bubble,” Cronan told them. “It will protect them, and all within it. Then once it is upon Belbuoy I will remove the bubble.”

“But what if all within the bubble do not wish to come?” Cinnia said.

“That is a problem that must be decided among the Yafir,” Cronan replied.

Dillon nodded. “If we wish to break Ahura Mazda’s hold upon the Yafir they must be given a choice, something they have not had in centuries.”

“Then I will go to the Dream Plain tonight,” Cinnia told them.

“Take this for Arlais and her sons,” Kaliq said, and reaching into his robes he drew forth a small crystal globe. “Tell Arlais that the crystal will show Belbuoy to any who request to see it.” He handed the globe to Cinnia.

“But how…?” she began.

“Hold it in your hand as you fall into sleep, Cinnia,” Kaliq instructed her. “Because it is magic it will come with you as you journey, and Arlais will be able to carry it back with her when she awakens. That way she can show it to her sons.”

Cinnia took the globe, and slipped it into the pocket of her own robes.

“Now we must wait,” Dillon said, “and see what will transpire after tonight.”

“Then I shall sleep until I am needed again,” Cronan said.

“And I will return to Shunnar,” Kaliq announced.

“And I will return to my mother’s realm then,” Cirillo said. “When it is time to act, call me.” He turned to the dragon. “Come, my dear,” he said to her. “We must talk before I leave you.”

“Of course, my lord,” Nidhug said, and she fluttered her heavy eyelashes at him as together they left the hall, and began to stroll slowly across the garden.

“There is more between us than just pleasures and passion,” the faerie prince said to the dragon as they walked.

“There can be nothing more,” Nidhug told him. “You are faerie. I am dragon.”

“Knowing the calling of your own heart, do you truly believe that?” Cirillo asked her quietly. “I know that I love you, my lady dragon.”

“You are young, Cirillo. You have not even lived a half century yet. I have lived for several centuries now,” she told him.

“Age means nothing to those of us in the magic realm, Nidhug. It is nought but a number.
I love you.
If you can tell me that you do not love me then when this matter between Belmair and the Yafir is concluded I will go and never return,” Cirillo replied.

“No!”
the dragon cried, the word slipping from between her lips unbidden. Then she said, “You are cruel, Cirillo.”

“Aye, I am cruel. I have a cold faerie heart, and yet it seems to warm for you, and only you. Tell me that you do not love me, Nidhug.”

“I cannot,” she replied, several large tears slipping down her snout. “I do love you, and it is a most impossible situation, my beautiful faerie prince.”

“Nay, it is not. We are magic, Nidhug. If it pleased you I would be that blue-and-gold dragon for as long as we both live,” he declared passionately.

“Foolish prince,” the dragon replied. “You cannot. You are your mother’s only heir. You will one day rule the Forest Faeries, and you must take a faerie wife so you may have an heir to follow you. That is why this is so impossible, Cirillo.”

“That time is far in the future, and when that time comes I will do my duty, but my mother has barely reached her prime,” Cirillo said. “You are the mate I would have. I will not always be true to you for that is my faerie nature, but I will love no other, Nidhug, but you. You are the keeper of my heart, my darling dragon.”

And then the faerie prince took his dragon’s form, and together the two soared into the skies above the twin castles. They flew over the sparkling afternoon sea to Belia where they took pleasures together in Nidhug’s cave high above the province. Their cries of satisfaction as they mated were so loud that their roars sounded like thunder, and Belia’s folk looking to the skies were puzzled by the lack of rain clouds or rain. Finally the two dragons slept until the early evening when they returned to Nidhug’s castle. It was there that Cirillo took leave of his lover and returned to Hetar’s forests where his mother was awaiting him.

“The scent of lust is upon you,” Ilona greeted her son.

Cirillo laughed, but said nothing.

“How goes it in Belmair?” she asked him.

Cirillo told his mother in careful detail, for detail was important to the faerie kingdoms. Detail helped with spells, and other magic to be performed.

“And old Cronan is still useful?” Ilona sounded amazed.

“Did you ever meet him?” Cirillo asked her.

Ilona shook her head. “I know him only by reputation. I wonder what the Shadow Princes will think when Kaliq tells them that he lives.”

“I do not know if he will,” Cirillo said.

“Aha! Clever creature that he is, aye! Kaliq would keep such information for his own advantage. Well, let him. Had Cronan ever picked a successor it would have undoubtedly been Kaliq or so rumor would have it,” Ilona said. Then she turned to her son. “When this is over there will be no need for you to return to Belmair.”

“I will always return to Belmair,” Cirillo told his mother.

“I think it is time for me to pick a proper faerie bride for you,” Ilona told her son.

“Do not, Mother, or you will doom some poor faerie maid to disappointment,” he warned her. “My cold faerie heart belongs to the dragon. It is she who warms it. One day I will do as you wish, briefly love another and father an heir or an heiress upon one of our kind. But I love Nidhug, and I will not deny it. Nor will I lie to you about it,” Cirillo said.

“You have your father’s straightforward manner,” Ilona said grudgingly. “Very well, Cirillo, for now I will leave you to your little amusement. If you tell me you will one day take a faerie wife and father an heir then I will trust you to know when the time is right. A dragon! What kind of a son did I raise that he would fall in love with a dragon? I liked it better when you were more like me, flitting from lover to lover.”

“I will still take a lover now and again, Mother. I am faerie. Nidhug knows that, and she understands it is my nature,” Cirillo said.

Ilona shook her beautiful golden head. “You do know she is older than you?”

“Centuries older.” He chuckled, agreeing.

“I shall blame Kaliq for this,” Ilona decided. “I should have never let you study with him for all those years. He has been a bad influence.”

“I suspect he would be delighted to know that you think so, Mother,” Cirillo teased her, grinning. “Now, if you will excuse me, I shall go and find Father.”

She waved him off and, watching him go, she smiled. She had birthed but two children, and each in their way was extraordinary. She was very proud of her daughter, Lara, who while mating with mortals had done her heritage proud. And while she adored her son, the fates were obviously tempting Ilona of the Forest Faeries. A dragon? How had Cirillo lost his faerie heart to a dragon? She wondered if she would ever know.

Chapter 17

“I
WILL
REMAIN
with you while you journey,” Dillon told Cinnia as she prepared for her second trip to the Dream Plain. They had gone to the dream chamber, and he handed her the cup of sweet frine that he had prepared. Cinnia drank it down, kissed his lips and then lay down upon the comfortable bed, Kaliq’s crystal globe in her hand.

“I feel secure knowing you are there,” Cinnia told him. Her head touched the pillow, and it cradled her neck and shoulders. “I love you,” she told him, and then she closed her eyes. Slowly, slowly she sank into a deep sleep, and by the look that suddenly touched her face he knew she had reached her destination.

The silvery-gray mists were very thick. Aware of everything about her, Cinnia stood very still. “Arlais,” she called softly, and then more insistently, “Arlais! Where are you?” She began to walk through the mists, and then they grew thinner, and she could see Arlais coming toward her.

“I was beginning to think that you had either forgotten or that our first meeting was nothing more than a dream,” Arlais said as they met and embraced warmly.

“Nay, but there has been so much to do,” Cinnia said. “My husband and others have created a new province they have named Belbuoy. He drew the land from the sea, and it is beautiful and fertile. It is to be the Yafir’s new home.” She went on to explain everything to Arlais, who listened intently. And then Cinnia reached into her robes and brought out the crystal globe. “Kaliq of the Shadows has sent this to you,” she said. “You, or whoever holds it has but to ask to see Belbuoy, and they will.” She handed the globe to Arlais. “It is yours to keep. When you awaken it will be with you, and proof of what is happening between us. Have you spoken with your sons?”

“I have. They are cautious, for to trust a Belmairan is not something they have been taught to do,” Arlais said candidly. “But they are also hopeful for a future that will take them back to live upon the land.”

“They are men grown, and yet you are but twenty-seven,” Cinnia said. “Such a thing defies logic, but Dillon says time has been manipulated for the Yafir. Is it not odd to have sons who look your age?”

Arlais laughed. “At first as they grew and grew and I remained the same it did seem strange. But one grows used to such things. Now, however, there are so many of us. Ahura Mazda kept insisting our men keep stealing Belmairan women, and the women kept having sons, and few daughters.” She sighed. “A society peopled mostly by men is not an easy place in which to exist. The men have little to do, and where once we had land beneath the sea where we farmed, now most of that land is taken up with homes for our burgeoning population. The bubbles cannot expand it seems. I have asked Ahura Mazda about this, but he waves my questions away, and will not answer.”

“It is not his magic that created the bubbles, or that keeps them safe,” Cinnia told Arlais. “The Yafir were saved by an ancient Shadow Prince named Cronan who makes his home on Belmair. I do not know how he became acquainted with Ahura Mazda, but he did. He took pity on the Yafir, for they are considered the lowliest of the magic folk.”

Arlais’s mouth dropped open in surprise, and then she laughed. “That wicked Yafir,” she said softly. “The Yafir had no real lord until Ahura Mazda. When that old Belmairan king banished them from Belmair, they were ready to wander once again. But Ahura Mazda told them he could save them, and they would never have to wander again. With a wave of his hand he took them to the bubbles, dispersing the various families among them. Those who remember that time say that the cottages were already there. In fact everything was there for them. And Ahura Mazda made it possible for them to return to the land to take the women they sought when they wanted them.”

“The magic to transport themselves and others is a magic that belongs to the pure-blooded Yafir, but the magic for creating and sustaining the bubbles is not theirs. That is great magic, and only a Shadow Prince has that kind of magic,” Cinnia told Arlais.

“So my husband is a fraud.” Arlais chuckled wickedly. Then she grew serious. “He will not leave his castle, or his bubble,” she told Cinnia.

“In the end he may have to,” Cinnia replied. “Cronan is very, very old, Arlais. His strength is waning with each day. Soon he will not be able to sustain the Yafir in their hidden world. He is, I suspect, partly responsible for bringing Dillon to Belmair. He himself has said that none of us, Belmairan or Yafir, could survive with another narrow-minded king. We needed fresh blood. Fresh eyes to see.”

Arlais nodded. “I agree,” she said.

“You must speak to your sons, and they must speak to their adherents. If the Yafir are to be saved again—if they are to be eventually integrated into Belmairan society, and become one with us—we must move to accomplish this soon,” Cinnia told her companion.

“I will speak to them this day,” Arlais said.

“Very well,” Cinnia replied. “And in two nights time we will meet again here upon the Dream Plain.”

Arlais nodded. “I will be here,” she said.

And then the two women found themselves being surrounded by the mists of the Dream Plain as they slid away back into consciousness.

Cinnia awoke suddenly to find Dillon dozing in the chair by her side. Looking at her husband, she smiled. He looked so young for a man with such great responsibilities. Rolling onto her side, she reached out and touched his hand. “I’m awake,” she said softly, and smiled as his eyes opened. “It is done. We will meet again in two nights’ time and hopefully then we will be able to begin to affect the transfer of the Yafir to Belbuoy.”

“You are amazing,” he told her, and his eyes were filled with his love.

“I could not do this without you,” Cinnia responded.

“You are truly my other half,” Dillon said. “Where I am weak you are strong. Where you are weak I am strong. I am always amazed that such a perfect match between male and female can be made.” He smiled at her. “It is not yet dawn. Let us go to our own bed, my love.” He helped her up, and together they departed the dream chamber for their own bedchamber where they slept until past the sunrise.

Beneath the sea, Arlais awoke in her own bedchamber. Ahura Mazda had been with Volupia the previous night but was now gone from her chamber. After she had washed and dressed, Arlais went into the common room, where Minau was already breakfasting. “Good morning,” she greeted the second wife, and joined her. “I think today I shall go and visit my sons,” Arlais said. “Do you want to come?”

“Nay, Cinnia is nearing her time, and one of us should be with her,” Minau replied. “She is very unpleasant of late, and the others do not want to be near her.”

“I am sorry,” Arlais replied. “Would you like me to remain instead of visiting?”

“Nay,” Minau responded. “You are always taking the heaviest burdens upon yourself. If you wish to see your sons today then go. I can manage Cinnia. She is so difficult of late that even our husband does not wish to be near her.” Minau chuckled.

The bubbles of the world called Yafirdom were connected by passageways fashioned from clear crystal quartz. Leaving the small castle Arlais made her way through the corridor that would take her to the bubble community where her sons lived.

She found them in the dwelling that they shared for neither yet had taken a wife.

“Good morning, my sons,” she greeted them as she stepped through the door of their cottage. They came forward, kissing her cheeks and leading her to a seat by the stone hearth. “I have brought you a small gift,” Arlais said. “But it is delicate, and you must be careful when you handle it.” She drew forth the small crystal sphere from the pocket of her robe and held it out. “Take it, Behrooz,” she said to her eldest son, “and say aloud,
Show me Belbuoy.
”

Behrooz, a tall young man with the silvery hair and aquamarine eyes of all the Yafir males, took the sphere from his mother. It sat in the palm of his hand. Looking down at it he said,
“Show me Belbuoy, oh sphere.”
And then his eyes widened, and a soft gasp of surprise escaped his lips. “What is this, Mother? What is this place?”

“King Dillon and his Shadow Prince companions created this province for us,” Arlais said quietly. “He would welcome the Yafir unlike his predecessors.”

Her two other sons, Sohrab and Nasim, crowded about their eldest brother, peering down into the crystal in Behrooz’s hand.

“Is this a trick?” Sohrab asked his mother.

“It is so beautiful!” Nasim, the artist, murmured.

“Have you and Behrooz not spoken on leaving this world in which we are trapped?” Arlais asked her two elder sons.

“Where would we go? The Belmairans hate and distrust us,” Sohrab answered her. “There is no world that will accept the Yafir. Has not our father told us that many times? Is that not why he created this place for us?”

“King Dillon would have us inhabit Belbuoy. And some of our folk may even live in the other provinces except Beltran, for its duke does not want us. Our race is dying. And so are the Belmairans. We need each other to survive. We need to be one people, my sons. At last Belmair has a king, a powerful king, who understands this, and would welcome us. I know that you want to go, for you have said it to me. As for Yafirdom, your father did not create it. Nor does he maintain it. I have learned that the Yafir were saved by a Shadow Prince who took pity on us. It is he who gave us all of this, and keeps it for us. But this great Shadow Prince will not be able to sustain us much longer. He grows weak with the great effort he has been expending for us. We must return to the land, or we will die,” Arlais told her three sons.

“There are many who would go, Mother,” Behrooz admitted. “But they are afraid of father, and they are afraid of the future. I need more than a crystal sphere that shows me beautiful pictures to convince them.”

“And how would we get there?” Sohrab said. “We will drown if we leave the bubbles. We need to know more. How is it that you know these things?”

Arlais smiled. “I have visited with Belmair’s queen upon the Dream Plain twice now. Last night was our second meeting, and she gave me the crystal sphere to bring to you so you might see. I will meet with her again in two nights’ time.”

“We must come with you,” Behrooz said. “We must meet this queen and speak with her ourselves. How can we attain the Dream Plain?”

“I do not know,” Arlais admitted. “All I can tell you is that I sleep, and the queen calls to me. I follow the sound of her voice through the mists in order to find her. Then we meet face-to-face and speak.”

“Ask her to call to us, as well,” Sohrab begged his mother. “Before we dare to beard our father we must know more, be certain of these things you tell us and we see.”

“If Father has not the magic to have created the bubbles and sustain them, then what magic has he?” Behrooz wanted to know.

“The queen tells me that the Yafir are considered the lowliest of the magic folk. Your father has the power to come and go as he will, to mix potions and to make himself invisible, but that is all he can do. These things I have seen myself. But never have I seen him do great things as he claims he can.”

“How can we be certain that this King Dillon is all that he says he is?” Behrooz asked. “Is his magic truly greater than our father’s? Remember that our father stole King Dillon’s wife away, and has put a child in her belly.”

Arlais hesitated a long moment, and then she said, “Your father knows it not, my sons, but King Dillon’s magic is so great that he himself came to take his wife back. The girl who will bear your father’s child is Queen Cinnia’s double, Sapphira of Beldane, who King Dillon took briefly as his mistress. Once King Dillon learned where the Yafir hid themselves he acted immediately to reclaim his wife. But he wanted no direct confrontation with your father because the king is a man of peace. He would solve the problems that exist between us without a war. If the king had taken the queen boldly it would have caused much difficulty between our peoples. You know your father’s great pride. He could not have withstood being bested. The wife he calls Cinnia makes him happy, and I am told the child she carries will be the daughter he so desires. There is no need for him to ever know the truth. And the girl is content, as well. She is a creature who enjoys being wed to a powerful male, and loves all the riches he bestows upon her.”

Behrooz nodded. “If all you have told us is truth, Mother, then it is time for us to leave the sea and return to the land once more. But ask Belmair’s queen to call us to the Dream Plain so we may speak with her, and be reassured.” He turned to his brothers. “Do you agree?” he asked them.

Sohrab and Nasim nodded. “We do,” they said with one voice.

“To be able to paint in the sunlight,” Nasim said softly.

“To be able to farm again,” Sohrab replied.

“But how will we get there?” Behrooz asked.

“I do not know,” Arlais responded. “That is a question you must ask the queen, my sons. And another question would be how did we get here? Even your father will not say how it was affected.”

“Because he does not know,” Behrooz said. “If he did not make this all happen, then it is unlikely he knows how it did. He will not want to go, you know.”

“He is the leader of his people,” Arlais said. “When he sees this is what they want he will relent.”

“He will never relent,” Behrooz answered her. “His hatred of the Belmairans is too great for him to overcome. As for me, I am tired of hating. I want to live in the full sunlight, and feel the air upon my face. I want to take a wife and have a family. I am tired of living this restricted existence beneath the seas. And so are all of our friends. I know this is all we have ever known, but we know there is more, and we want it.”

“You will go even if he forbids it, won’t you?” Arlais asked quietly.

Her three sons nodded.

“But first we must speak with Queen Cinnia,” Behrooz told her.

“Not tonight, but tomorrow night,” Arlais told them. “Drink some wine before you sleep so you will sleep heavily. It is easier to reach the Dream Plain then.”

She spent the day with her sons, seeing that their little cottage was cleaned, washing their garments and hanging them to dry in the breezeless garden. Then she fixed them a good meal, eating with them before she returned to the castle. Entering the common room she found the other wives in an uproar and the false Cinnia weeping.