The Shadow Queen (46 page)

“And we will wed when this is over?”

“If Anoush wishes it,” Lara told him.

“You must protect me from Ciarda, for she is certain to learn what I have done,” he said. Cam was beginning to realize it was Lara who had the greater power.

“You will be safe, for as I have told you her magic is little. Her anger is another thing, Cam, but you are clever enough to defuse it, I am certain,” Lara murmured.

“If I offer her pleasures she is generally content,” he admitted.

“Then do what you must,” Lara said. “We battle to keep the darkness from engulfing us all, Nephew. Farewell for now!” And Lara vanished from his sight.

Cam sat down and considered what he had done this day. Ciarda would not be happy, of course, but when he explained that his small act had gained the trust of his aunt she would understand. He didn’t believe Lara when she said that Ciarda had only small magic. Had he not seen her magic for himself when she first came to him? Surely that was not small magic. Although his inability now to transport from place to place was suspicious.

Still, Ciarda had promised him that he would rule Hetar. His aunt offered him a bit of land and some cattle. Cam laughed to himself. It mattered little to him if Ciarda was his overlord. He would still control Hetar for her and that was, he had decided, a lot better than being a propertied Fiacre herdsman. As for Anoush, he would have her eventually despite her mother. Had not Jonah gotten Zagiri for himself?

Yet if by chance his aunt were more truthful than Ciarda then his deeds today will have gained him her trust. If he were clever he could, at least for the interim, convince both Ciarda and Lara that he was doing their bidding. He would watch carefully to see which one of them was the real power, and then ally himself with that power. The more he saw of Hetar the more he wanted it. But then, being a propertied man in his own land was not the worst fate he could have. And there again he would have Anoush with her mother’s blessing. Cam had never felt more fortunate in his entire life. Whichever way he turned he would win and no one would be the wiser.

No one except the young Shadow Prince called Baram who had been assigned to accompany the unsuspecting Cam wherever he went, now listening to his thoughts. And reporting all he heard to Prince Kaliq. Baram smiled as he listened to the foolish young mortal who thought himself clever enough to play both sides against the middle. Baram saw an unfortunate end for Cam of the Fiacre, and said so as he reported what he had heard before Cam sought sleep.

“He is twisted, for all the Fiacre’s attempts to make a good man of him,” Kaliq said. “I am sorry, Lara. I know Anoush loves him, and this will cause her pain.”

“He is like both of his parents, envious and foolish,” Lara replied fatalistically.

“If he chooses our side in the end, will you keep your promise to him?” Kaliq asked.

“Of course,” Lara answered him. “He shall have his land and his cattle.”

“And Anoush?” the prince queried.

“When Anoush awakens,” Lara said, “she will have forgotten that she was enamored of her cousin. And so will the rest of the Fiacre clan family. He may try to woo her, but she will rebuff him. Remember, Kaliq, I said I would give my consent if it was what Anoush wanted. She will no longer want it, however. And there will be several other young men who will seek to court her. Perhaps from among one of them she will find a man she truly loves, the one who will be perfect for her. Cam has always had a dark side, and he will never be completely free of the darkness even if he does turn toward the light. But having heard his duplicitous thoughts, I wonder if that will happen.”

“He will never forgive you,” Kaliq said.

“He has never forgiven me for slaying his parents despite the rightness of my cause,” she answered. “Each time he calls me
Aunt
I hear the scorn in his voice. But enough of this talk of Cam. What of the Darkling? Has she been able to reach out to Kol again, or have we prevented it entirely?”

“Eskil has managed to get next to her. He tells us that she is confused, that she calls out to Kol, and he does not answer her. Of course, he is too busy battling the flies I set upon him. Weakened as he is by his years of imprisonment, he cannot concentrate on more than one thing at a time, and I have distracted him quite nicely. Eventually, of course, Ciarda will find a way to reach out to him, but there is next to nothing left of his magic now. In time it may return, but for now he is nicely defanged.”

“So now we continue to keep Hetar on its path to salvation while watching for what Ciarda will do next,” Lara said.

Kaliq nodded, but he wondered as he did if they had really stopped Ciarda in her tracks. The Darkling was cleverer than most of her kind. He considered that she might attempt to use the power of three once more in order to reach her father’s magic.

“What is it?” Lara asked him. “You look concerned, my lord.”

He told her his thoughts. “I cannot help but think we have missed something.”

“Does she possess a crystal globe or a magic basin?” Lara wanted to know. “If she does she can seek out her father.”

“That is it!” Kaliq cried. “I forgot to block the cell Kol inhabits from other eyes than ours.” He grasped his own crystal. “Show me Ciarda!” he commanded. The sphere darkened, then lightened to show the Darkling bending over a basin of water, then exclaiming, her face both shocked and surprised. “Too late! Too late!” Kaliq said unhappily. “She has seen, and now will act.”

“Can we not stop her?” Lara wanted to know.

Kaliq looked back into the crystal. He saw Ciarda’s basin still sitting upon a table, but the Darkling was gone. “She’s gone,” he said.

“Gone where?” Lara wanted to know.

“That is what we must learn,” the Shadow Prince said.

“She will have gone for her brothers,” Lara told him.

“Aye, but she will have them by now, and will have transported them all to another place that we must locate,” Kaliq said wearily.

“Another place where they may attempt to once again use the power of three, but to what end I am not certain,” Lara replied. “To help Kol? To give Ciarda powers she would otherwise not have so she may continue to control Cam?”

“We must find her,” Kaliq said. “Hopefully Eskil is with her, and can tell us eventually. But if she moved quickly he will have been caught unawares.”

“Reach out to him,” Lara begged. “We must know what mischief she plots.”

* * *

A
ND
C
IARDA
WAS
indeed plotting. She had transported herself to the castle of the Twilight Lord to find Kolgrim with old Alfrigg. She did not like it that the chancellor seemed to favor Kolgrim. “Come!” she said to her half brother. “We must go. Where is Kolbein? I will need him, as well.”

“My brother is where he always is,” Kolgrim said as his eyes swept over her. She did not have his mother’s great beauty, but she was pretty enough. He thought her high pointed breasts quite fine. Reaching out, he took her hand. “Take us, then, sister,” he said.

“My lord, this is most unorthodox,” Alfrigg complained. “I have not finished the lesson, and there is much for you to learn.”

“When I return, Alfrigg,” Kolgrim promised.

Ciarda managed to transport them with what was left of her few powers to the House of Women, where Kolbein was to be found naked and drunk amid a pile of naked women. Ciarda shrieked in mock outrage. “Are you not supposed to be my lover?” she demanded of him as the women began to scatter away.

“I never see you, bitch,” he growled. “You are too busy fucking your little Hierarch to be bothered with me. These women are here for my pleasure, and I will use them as I see fit.”

“Our father is in difficulties,” Ciarda said. “We need to help him, Kolbein.” Aye, she was going to help Kol. She would direct the power of three to set them all in Kol’s cell, where they would help him deal with the plague of flies. But when they were finished she would see that only she and Kolbein were transported out. She would leave Kolgrim behind, and he had not the power to free himself. She almost laughed with delight at her own cleverness. With only Kolbein left he would become the true Twilight Lord. She would bear his son, and then… Ciarda smiled. Nothing was going to stop her from gaining her goals, from completing what her father started.

“I have no time for you now, bitch sister. Go away! More Frine!” Kolbein shouted loudly. “More Frine for the Twilight Lord!”

“I do not believe that matter has been quite settled, brother,” Kolgrim said, an edge to his voice, but Kolbein just laughed at him.

Ciarda felt her temper rising. Her powers were so weak, and she had used much of herself in transporting them into the House of Women to fetch Kolbein. Now she must render him sober by means of magic. “Get out!” she ordered the few women who remained in the chamber, and when they had fled she put her hand on Kolbein’s head.
Mind clear!
The command was not a gentle one.

Kolbein howled as a bolt of pain shot through his head, but when the pain disappeared he was no longer suffering the effects of the massive amounts of Frine he had been drinking. “That hurt, bitch sister,” he snarled at her. “I am not sorry that you are jealous of my women.”

“We need you, Kolbein,” Ciarda said through gritted teeth. “Join hands now with us so I may summon the power of three. Our father needs our help.” She grasped their hands in hers.

Kolbein yanked his hand away from Ciarda and his brother. “
Our father?
That fellow who put me to be raised by Wolfyn, and my brother by giants? I thought he was long dead, bitch sister. Why would I want to help him?”

“Our father was imprisoned by the Shadow Princes and their allies,” she answered him. “But he has been transferring his powers to me so I might aid the Hierarch. Recently I have noticed he stopped and when I looked into my reflecting basin I saw he was being distracted by a plague of flies. He is weak, and cannot concentrate on more than one thing at a time. The flies bite at him and buzz at him. He needs us to destroy them so he may return to helping us.”

“Why is he transferring his powers to you instead of us?” Kolbein asked her now, totally sober. “Why would he give his powers to a mere woman, bitch sister?”

“Aye, indeed, why?” Kolgrim said. From what he knew of his father, Kol would never willingly give even the smallest of his powers to a female. Ciarda was lying. “I think, sister, that I do not trust you,” he murmured. “How have you forced our father into giving you powers you should not have?”

“I merely promised him his freedom when we bring the darkness into the worlds,” Ciarda told her two half brothers. “In exchange he is aiding me.”

“What a dangerous little Darkling you are, sister,” Kolgrim said softly.

“We should kill her!” Kolbein snarled.

“It is against the laws of the Dark Lands for any in this family to kill another of his or her blood,” Kolgrim told his brother. “If you spent your time studying with Alfrigg as I have been doing you would know that, brother.”

“We should not be arguing,” Ciarda said in what she hoped passed for a reasonable tone of voice. “The power of three can bring us to our father, and he will help us, brothers. Please!”

“Our father can rot for all eternity,” Kolbein said. “I don’t want to see him.”

“I, on the other hand, am most curious to see him,” Kolgrim admitted.

“Kolbein, please.” Ciarda gave her voice a pleading sound.

“I will want something in return,” he told her.

“I will give you whatever you desire,” Ciarda said.

“I want to watch while my women sexually torture you,” Kolbein said. “Then when they are finished I want to whip you first, then fuck you the night long. If you will agree to that then I help you now so we may use the power of three,” Kolbein said to her. He grinned evilly at her, his gray eyes more black than gray now.

Kolgrim looked to his twin brother. “I had not realized how creative you are, brother,” he said admiringly. “’Tis a delightfully thought-out entertainment.”

Kolbein grinned back at his twin. Then he turned to Ciarda.
“Well?”
he said.

Ciarda said, “I agree.”

“Good!” Kolbein said. “I will call my women back now.”

“Brother, if you could restrain yourself,” Kolgrim said in a pleasant tone, “time is very important in this matter. Let us do what must be done, and then you may spend a delightful evening with our dear sister as she is taught her place in our world. And you will not be restrained by time if you wait until later.”

Kolbein looked as if he would refuse, but then he said, “You are probably right, brother. I want my women to have all the time they need with her, and then I want my time with our bitch sister to be leisurely and not hurried.” He took Ciarda’s hand. Kolgrim took her other hand.

“By the power of three I command we be taken to our father’s presense,”
Ciarda said, and there was a crack of thunder as they were transported into Kol’s prison. The chamber was fetid, and the swarm of biting black flies was intolerable. Kol now crouched down in a corner in an effort to avoid the flies.

Ciarda waved her hand, unfreezing Kol’s vocal chords. “Who is there?” he demanded in a surprisingly strong voice.

“It is I, Father. Ciarda.”

“Who is with you?” he asked her. The long chains confining him rattled.

“I am alone,” Ciarda said.

“You lie!” Kol said. “I may be blind but my other senses are sharp. There are two others in this room with you, daughter.”

Kolgrim stepped forward, and, bending down, he took his father’s hand. “I am Kolgrim, my lord,” he said. “My brother, Kolbein, is with me.”

“You are my son?” Kol said incredulously. “My sons are here with me?”

“Aye, we are,” Kolgrim said. The crouching creature was pitiful. He could not believe that this was the great Twilight Lord of legend. He drew back when Kol stood up and looked directly at him. His eyes, which should have been black, were white.

“We have used the power of three to reach you, Father,” Ciarda said. “Without you I cannot control the Hierarch. If you do not continue to give me your powers everything I have done so far will be for naught,” Ciarda told him.