“How do you get into it?” Lara asked.

“Come, I’ll show you,” Sirvat said leading Lara across the great gardens. “The tower appears to be part of the castle, but it really isn’t,” she explained. “There is no entrance into it but from here in the garden.” They had reached the tower, and Sirvat’s hand searched along the stones of the structure until she found what she sought. The small door to the tower opened slowly. “There is no key,” she told her companion. “The door opens by pressing a small lever beneath this stone. Mark it well.”

Lara peered carefully at the location of the wall stone. “I have it,” she said.

“Come then,” Sirvat invited her, and together the two young women stepped into the tower. “I can still climb stairs, albeit more slowly now,” she chuckled.

On the first landing was a lovely sunny small chamber. It was empty. They found identical chambers on the second and top landing of the tower. Lara was delighted.

“This will be perfect for them!” she exclaimed.

“For who?” Sirvat inquired.

“My mother is giving Terah faeriepost messengers,” Lara explained. “I wanted to find a safe shelter for them here at the castle.”

“Faeriepost messengers?” Sirvat looked confused.

“They are tiny members of the faerie race, and their purpose is to deliver messages,” Lara said. “Terah faeries are hidden, so you have no faeriepost.”

“Why do we need them?” Sirvat asked as they descended back down the tower stairs, and exited out into the garden. Behind them the door closed.

“How much has Corrado told you?” Lara wanted to know.

“He has told me nothing, which is why I came looking for you this morning,” Sirvat said. “He says I must be protected since I am carrying his child.”

The two women reentered the castle, and going to the royal apartments made themselves comfortable in the Domina’s day room.

“See we are not disturbed,” Lara told her serving woman, Mila. Then she turned to Sirvat. “I do not know how much you know of the trade between Hetar and Terah.”

“I know we have a trade with the Coastal Kings,” Sirvat said.

“They are but one of Hetar’s regions,” Lara said. “For centuries they have traded with you for the luxury goods Terah makes. The rest of Hetar believed they manufactured these goods themselves, and the Coastal Kings never said they did not. Now, however, the emperor of Hetar has learned otherwise. Sooner or later he will send someone to Terah. Their purpose will ostensibly be to trade directly with Terah, and not get their goods through the Coastal Kings. But they will also be looking to see if Terah can be conquered by Hetar. Hetar is overpopulated and needs to expand its borders. This past spring it invaded the Outlands where the clan families live. Fortunately we had warning of this betrayal of the ancient treaties. The clan families, along with their homes, goods and chattel were removed from the Outlands, and resettled here in Terah.”

Sirvat gasped. “Did you use your magic to bring them here? I assumed you did when Corrado told me of these Outlanders.”

Lara laughed. Sirvat’s fascination with magic always amused her. “Yes. The clan families were brought to the far side of the Emerald Mountains where the land is much like the land they left. This has been a secret, but soon we will confide in the headmen of the fjord villages. They will be led to believe that the clan families have existed on the other side of the mountains for centuries, and only the ruling family knew of it.

“Hetar has now extended its borders, but all that the emperor promised his Mercenaries was not there. No villages, or herds, or slaves to be taken. The Shadow Princes even used their powers to close the hillsides where the mines had been. Only the land existed in fact for the invaders. Gaius Prospero, Hetar’s emperor, has had to expend his own monies helping to make the Outlands habitable. It is going to take them years. But he will want to recoup his losses as quickly as possible, and so he will look to Terah.”

“He will want to see if we are weak, if we can be conquered, too,” Sirvat said.

“Exactly!” Lara agreed.

“So we have to show this Hetarian who comes that we are not weak,” Sirvat responded. “We have to build an army, Lara.”

“Aye, we do, and we are going to build one,” Lara replied. “Corrado is in charge of rebuilding the coastal watchtowers. The headmen of the fjord villages will soon meet with the Dominus. Magnus will explain the situation, and then we will prepare to mount our defenses for Terah. And that is why we need the faeriepost. They will aid us in communicating quickly with each other. Each headman’s village will be given a pair of faeries.”

“I want to help!” Sirvat said.

“And so you shall,” Lara promised her. “But I must assign you a task that will not distress Corrado. At least until after you have delivered his child.”

The two women giggled conspiratorially.

“I plan to use your grandmother’s south tower to house the faeriepost messengers who will live here in the castle before some of them are disbursed to the villages. There are certain things these little creatures need for their comfort, and when I have told you, and shown you, I will leave you, Sirvat, to prepare for our guests.”

“I will gladly prepare for these faeries who will be the first of their kind in Terah. It is an honor to be able to serve the faerie kingdom,” Sirvat said. “Tell me what I must do, and I will begin at once.”

“Excellent!” Lara exclaimed. “We must work quickly, for I know now that my mother has promised us these tiny helpers they will be coming quickly.”

“I’ll call you when I have completed my task,” Sirvat said getting up, and hurrying away. “And I’ll keep our secrets,” she called out softly.

Lara smiled. It would go well. When Hetar came to investigate Terah they would discover not only a prosperous land, but a strong one. But the dark land to the north had begun to prey on her mind, intrude into her thoughts. The unknown was always the most frightening thing of all. But she shook off her fears. One thing at a time, and for now the defense of Terah must occupy them.

The tiny faeriepost messengers arrived two days later. They had flown across the Sagitta, and were exhausted. Delighted with the accommodation made for them in the south tower they settled in to rest themselves for several days. Sirvat had taken it upon herself to personally serve them, which pleased the faeries greatly, for Lara had explained she was the Dominus’s sister. That the Terahn ruler’s sister would see to their comfort convinced the faeries that they were welcome, and would be content in Terah.

Lara placed a safety spell upon the faeriepost band, and seven were dispatched to the headman of each named fjord. All returned unharmed with tales of the Terahns’ surprise at seeing them. But all spoke of the courtesy they had been rendered. The headmen of each named fjord had then sent to each of the village leaders to come with their wives for they were called to the castle. They would come, the faeriepost messengers reported, with all due haste. Messengers were then sent to Arik, the High Priest, at the Temple of the Great Creator; to Kemina, the High Priestess of the Daughters of the Great Creator, and to the leaders of the mountain gnomes inviting them to the castle meeting. Dasras was dispatched to bring Rendor from the new Outlands.

And when all had been assembled Magnus Hauk, Dominus of Terah, told these leaders of his land everything that had transpired. Then he surprised them by introducing Rendor, lord of the Felan, to them. The fjord dwellers were astounded to learn that there were people dwelling beyond the Emerald Mountains. Fulcrum and Gulltopp, the two gnome leaders, understood the Dominus’s reasoning for telling the fjord dwellers that the clan families had always been there. They kept their own counsel and listened.

“My captain of captains, Lord Corrado, has been seeing to the rebuilding of the coastal watchtowers in recent weeks. These towers must be manned at all times from now on,” the Dominus said. “And we must build a defense force to keep Terah safe.”

“We are craftsmen, my lord Dominus,” the leader of the Jewel Fjord said. “What do we know of weapons, and war?”

“If we are strong there will be no war,” Magnus Hauk answered. “And you can learn to wield weapons as skillfully as you wield your jeweler’s tools. Our armies are for defensive purposes only. They are to deter any invasion by indicating our great strength.”

“May I speak, my lord Dominus?” Lara asked him.

“The Domina would speak,” Magnus Hauk said nodding to his wife.

“My lords, I was born in the faerie realm, but raised in Hetar. My father, a mortal man as yourself, was a Mercenary before he became a Crusader Knight. He is a great warrior. There are many great warriors in Hetar. If they come to Terah they will overwhelm you if you cannot defend yourselves. If we show the emissary – who Hetar will surely send us sooner than later – that we are capable of defending our homeland, they will think better of invading Terah. It is likely we will never have to fight them, but it is better to be well prepared. Each of your villages must raise a fighting force. You have no other choice, I fear. It is not a bad thing for a man to know how to defend himself and what is his,” Lara told them.

“It is easy for you, Domina, for you are a woman,” the headman from the Jewel Fjord said. “You do not have to fight.”

“My lords, like my father, I am a warrior. I have slain men in battle,” Lara told them. And she silently called Andraste to come to her.

They looked disbelieving at her, but then gasped at the sword that instantly appeared in her hand.

“This is Andraste, my weapon,” Lara explained. She raised the sheathed sword above her head, holding it by the protected blade.

There was another gasp as those gathered for the meeting spied the face in the sword, and Andraste opened her jeweled eyes to look out at them.

“I am Andraste,” the sword’s deep voice echoed across the counsel chamber. “I drink the blood of the wicked and the unjust. I serve my mistress, the swordswoman Lara, daughter of Swiftsword. Together we have slain many. Who would doubt my word?” Andraste demanded of them.

The chamber was silent.

“Then heed my mistress’s words, men and women of Terah. She walks in the light.” Andraste now fell silent, and her eyes closed once more.

“Women, not all women, but some, are capable of defending Terah. I will teach those who would come to me,” Lara said.

Magnus Hauk put his arm about his wife. The look on his face was one of great pride. “I will now tell you how together we can accomplish what we need to do for our own protection,” he said to them. And over the next few hours he, Corrado and Lara did.

After several days, the headmen of each named fjord, the headmen of the fjord villages and their wives departed back to their own homes. Two faeriepost messengers went with each ship sailing from the Dominus’s Fjord. And just as the Icy Season began, ships from each named fjord – the Silk, the Jewel, the Ocean, the Star, the Green and the Light – arrived filled with men, both old and young, who had volunteered to be trained for the new Terahn army. And Lara, using her magic, brought seven hundred young men from the seven clan families to join the others. She and Magnus had decided that this would be a good beginning toward uniting all their people.

Throughout the winter those men who had served for years as men-at-arms for the castle, and some of the older new Outlanders, taught the younger men their fighting skills. But Lara taught them swordsmanship. And she called upon her old teacher, Lothair, of the Shadow Princes, to help her. He had gladly come. By the time the spring began to show evidence of coming Terah had the beginning of its first army. The fjord dwellers and the new Outlanders integrated well. The fact that there were seven named fjords and seven clan families seemed to draw them together.

Spring came, and the hills around them grew greener. Sirvat easily delivered a son, named Hali. The Sagitta welcomed ships again, and the Terahn trading fleet set out for the season. As Lara had predicted, one of their captains returned with a request from Hetar to send a ship to visit the Dominus. The answer was sent back: no. Any Hetarian ship entering Terahn waters would be sunk. Lara laughed when her husband wrote it, sealing it with the Dominus’s ring seal in the hot wax.

“You are going to intrigue Gaius Prospero even more with such a fierce reply,” she giggled. “He knows so little of Terah, and he so desperately wants to know more.”

Several weeks passed, and then a second message was brought to Magnus Hauk. “He wants to send an emissary. Hetar and Terah will meet at the trading place, and the emissary will transfer to the Terahn vessel with my guarantee he will not be harmed,” the Dominus told his wife.