“Foolish girl!” Ilona said. “I see Swiftsword has not changed a great deal since his youth. He was a charming fellow, a wonderful lover and a brilliant swordsman, but his will was easily led, and obviously still is. Yet it is what makes him a good Crusader Knight. He is a man who will always follow the orders of a superior. He will never question anything. Put him, his jealous mortal of a wife and their mortal offspring from your mind, Lara. It is unlikely you will ever have anything to do with them again. They have nothing to offer you. Neither love, nor loyalty, daughter. It was your father’s strong seed that helped create you, Lara, but you are my child before you are his, as you have discovered in the last months. Cirilo and I love you. And your great brute of a husband loves you. You do seem to like them extra large,” she noted wryly.

“I know you are right, Mother,” Lara replied. “And yet…”

“Put it from you!” Ilona said impatiently. “We have important matters to discuss, my daughter. Kaliq has told me what you did to Gaius Prospero. It was very, very foolish.” She shook her golden head with her disapproval.

“But wonderfully clever,” Cirilo piped up, and then quickly lowered his head to his breakfast at his mother’s angry and silent reprimand. His cheeks were red with her admonishment, but Lara caught his eye and winked at him. Cirilo felt much better at his sister’s encouragement.

Ilona hid her smile. She was pleased to see her eldest born bonding with her youngest. That bond would one day be important to them both. Then she spoke to her daughter. “The powers that grow in you are more than most half faerie, half mortal beings have. This was foretold before your birth. Mortal blood runs in your veins, Lara, but you will have full faerie powers before long. But with those powers comes responsibility. You must exercise your powers only for good. If you do not you will be lured into the darkness, and your powers corrupted. The sorcerer you vanquished was like you, Lara, half mortal and half faerie. He was to bring greatness to the Brotherhood of the Great Creator. Instead he was drawn into the darkness, and Terah suffered cruelly under his rule. Only a creature like you, Lara, could have lifted the curse of Usi, and freed the Terahn people of his influence.”

“Is that why I was brought to Terah?” Lara asked her parent.

“Partly,” Ilona said. “Now promise me, my daughter, that you will never again use your powers for evil as you did the other night. I do not say Gaius Prospero doesn’t deserve to be punished, for he does, but time will take care of him, I promise you. You are meant for other and greater things. You must not be corrupted as Usi was.”

“Every time we meet you refer to a destiny for me,” Lara said impatiently.

“First your promise, daughter,” Ilona said refusing to be turned from her point.

“Of course I will promise you, Mother. I will never again allow my anger to rule my magic. Now let us get back to my destiny.” Lara looked directly at her mother.

“It is unfolding in its own time and manner,” Ilona said sweetly.

Lara laughed. “You will tell me no more, will you?” she said.

“To tell you would change your destiny, my dearest daughter,” Ilona replied with indisputable logic.

“Very well, Mother, I shall not quarrel with you over it,” Lara responded.

Ilona lowered her voice. “Your place will always be in Terah,” she told Lara.

“That does not mean you will not be gone from there now and again, but Terah is your home, my daughter. Remember that. You will draw more strength from that land than from anywhere else.”

“And Magnus? Will he meet Vartan’s end, Mother?”

“Nay, he will not,” Ilona said softly. “Now be satisfied, Lara. I have said all I came to say, and Cirilo and I must return to the forest – or what remains of it.”

“What do you mean?” Lara wanted to know.

“The forest is being cut down section by section to supply wood for building. The area around the villages of the Forest Lords is being left, but bit by bit they are destroying the woodlands. It was suggested by the Head Forester that the government replant where they take trees, but the emperor has decided that it would take from his profit so he will not do it. They have not yet reached the deepest part of the forest where we live, but in a few years they will,” Ilona said.

“There are forests in Terah,” Magnus Hauk said. “Bring your faerie folk and live with us,” he invited.

“You have your own faerie clans,” Ilona said.

“If we do, we do not know them,” the Dominus replied, “and they cannot have all of our forests. Can you not negotiate with them? The Tormod and the Piaras clan families have done so with the mountain gnomes for mining rights in the Emerald Mountains.”

“We have always been a part of Hetar,” Ilona replied slowly.

“But if your forest is gone can you still exist there?” Lara asked her mother. “Are not the trees and growing things a part of your strength and your heritage, Mother? If they are gone, then you will die. Please come to Terah.”

“I will speak with my faerie folk,” Ilona said, “but we are yet safe, my daughter.”

“Do not wait too long, Ilona,” the Dominus advised. “At least visit us, see what we can offer you and meet with your Terahn kindred.”

“Terah is a very green land, Mother.”

“I shall think on it,” Ilona said. Then she asked, “Do your forests turn colors in the autumn season, Magnus Hauk?”

“They do,” he responded.

“There are no cities?”

He shook his head. “My lands are so vast, and divided by the mountains that the people of the fjords have no knowledge of what lies beyond those mountains on the lands now inhabited by the Outland clans. Eventually the two will meet, but not yet.”

Ilona nodded. “A vast green land,” she said. “It is tempting, Magnus Hauk.”

“Laaaaraaaa!” A great voice boomed through the palace.

“Oh,” Cirilo said. “I told Og I would tell you he was waiting in the valley for you, Sister. I’m sorry I forgot.”

Lara stood up. “I will go and greet my old friend then,” she said. “Will you remain, Mother?” she asked her parent.

Ilona shook her head. “Nay, Cirilo and I must go home shortly. We will say our goodbyes now, my daughter.” The two women embraced, and then Ilona said, “And you, Magnus Hauk, you have my blessing. Treat my daughter well.”

Cirilo slipped his hand into his sister’s. “I wish you lived with us,” he said. “We would have such fun together, Sister. Tell Dillon and Anoush I send them my faerie blessing,” the young faerie prince told her.

“I don’t know when I will see them, Brother, but I will tell them,” Lara said.

“You will see them soon,” Cirilo told her.

Lara nodded, then she bent and kissed his smooth cheek. “I am glad you are my brother,” she said softly. Then straightening up she looked to her husband. “Would you like to meet Og, Magnus?”

The Dominus rose from the table. He kissed Ilona on both of her cheeks, and shook Cirilo’s hand. Then with a friendly smile at them both he went off with Lara.

“A strong man,” Ilona noted.

“He will need to be,” Kaliq answered her.

Ilona nodded. “How dangerous will Gaius Prospero be, my old friend?”

“Not as dangerous as he thinks,” Kaliq answered her. “And there is time for Terah. I have returned King Archeron to full health and sent him home, Ilona. Arcas will not be able to poison his father again. If he wishes power for himself he will have to take it in a more open manner, which could endanger his plans.”

“Can Archeron stop the invasion of the Outlands?” Ilona wanted to know.

“Nay, it is too far gone now, and he has a large army camped on his beaches, ready to depart. I did reassure him that whatever happened, the Outlands clan families would be safe from harm, but asked him to delay the army of Gaius Prospero as much as he could without endangering himself. He trusts me, and will do his best.”

“Arcas will not be happy,” Ilona murmured, rising and beckoning to her son. “Come, Cirilo. I will return, Kaliq.” She departed the dining chamber, and stopped to look over the balcony into the valley below. There she saw Lara and Magnus walking forth to greet Og the Giant. Ilona smiled as Og swung her daughter up, wishing she could hear the conversation.

“PUT ME DOWN, you great hulk,” Lara said laughing, and leaning forward to kiss the giant’s ruddy cheeks. “My husband is a jealous man, Og, and I should like to introduce you two.”

Og set her down, grinning broadly. “You have grown more beautiful, Lara,” he told her. Then he turned, and held out his big hand to Magnus Hauk. “I greet you, my lord. You have my friendship, for Lara’s new beauty surely comes from the love you have for her.”

Magnus Hauk was a very large man, but he felt dwarfed by Og. He put his hand in the giant’s, amazed at how small it suddenly looked. “I also greet you in friendship, Og, for my wife has told me of your great kindness to her, and how you saved her from the Forest Lords.” To his relief the giant did not crush his hand, and the firm pressure was almost immediately released as their hands fell away from each other.

“Are you happy, Og?” Lara asked him. “Remember that where I am there will always be a home for you.”

“I am happy,” he said smiling down at her. “I have a fine wife, Alta. She was the largest girl among Zaki’s people. She was so tall that her family despaired of ever finding her a mate for she stood higher than any man in the encampment. She is the daughter of Zaki’s cousin. She is a good woman and has already given me two children, a son and a daughter. She keeps my house well, and we have come to love one another in the years we have been wed.”

“Then I am content in that knowledge,” Lara told him.

“And you found your destiny?” Og asked her.

“Not yet,” Lara admitted. Then as they walked together in the green valley she told him of her adventures in the time since she had last seen him.

He nodded observing, “You have grown strong. You would have no need of a giant now to protect you. But then I knew that when you left Shunnar six years ago.”

“Is that why you remained behind?” she asked him.

“Partly,” he admitted. “But I am also not a giant who enjoys adventuring. Few of my kind do. We prefer an orderly life. I will be buried here in this valley one day. My master, Prince Kaliq, has promised it. Tell me of little Noss. Is she happy?”

“Yes,” Lara said, and went on to tell him of Noss’s life now.

Finally, as the sun was reaching the midday, Og said, “I must leave you now for I have my horses to look after.” He bowed to the Dominus. “My lord, I do not have to tell you to take care of Lara, for I know you will.”

Magnus Hauk nodded.

“I do not know if I will see you again before you depart,” Og told Lara. He kissed her on both cheeks. “The Celestial Actuary guard and protect you, Lara.” Then he turned and left them.

“I believe he loved you once as a man loves a woman,” Magnus Hauk observed.

“Yes,” Lara replied. “But it has changed now into the love between friends. I always knew, but I never let him know for I would not shame him, or give him false hope.” She took her husband’s hand. “Let us go back now, my lord.”

ARCAS WAS NOT HAPPY. He had returned from the City to discover his father back in his palace, and seemingly in the best of health. And Archeron did not mince words with his only son.

“What have you done, you fool?” Archeron demanded. “You have brought Hetar into the kingdom, Arcas. What were you thinking of when you did that?”

“They are only using our beaches as a path for their invasion,” Arcas said.

“They have eyes, fool! They have ears! What will they see? Our palaces, but no manufactories. Thanks to you, Gaius Prospero will soon ferret out the secret of the Coastal Kingdom. That we trade with a land called Terah. That they are the ones who supply us with the goods we sell to the Taubyl Traders.”

“What difference does it make if they know?” Arcas said sulkily.

“What use will they have for us if they know, you fool? Gaius Prospero will leap upon the chance for new and greater profit. We have stood between Terah and Hetar, selling their goods, taking our profits. Now we will sooner than later lose that advantage to that greedy slug who calls himself emperor of Hetar. Our isolation from the City has been our salvation, Arcas, and you have thrown it away! We will become nothing more than a seaport through which Gaius Prospero builds a greater empire for himself. If I could send back those troops camping on our beaches I would. But I cannot.”

“No, you cannot,” Arcas sneered. “Soon enough they will march into the Outlands, father. Your friend, Rendor of the Felan, will be the first to fall,” he laughed.