“They were told to leave aeons ago,” Dreng said belligerently.

“They have remained in defiance of our laws. The Yafir need to be wiped from the face of Belmair!”

“If my ancestor, Napier IX, had let them have one hundred women to help them survive, none of this would have happened. As I understand it, the Yafir were good neighbors, Dreng,” Alban said. He enjoyed reminding the duke of Beltran that his ancestor had been a king of Belmair, for Dreng could make no such claim. No king of Belmair had ever come from Beltran, and Alban couldn’t resist reminding his fellow duke of that.

“It is true,” Tullio said thoughtfully, “that they lived peaceably here for many years, but they were also called the wicked ones, for they loved playing tricks on those who offended them. Still, Dreng, if we may come to an understanding with the Yafir it would be better for us all. Since being visited by our king I have considered this matter most carefully. I do not want to see our young men lost to war.”

“If we are not firm with the Yafir,” Dreng said, “they will think us weak!”

“We need not fight a war to convince them of our strength,” Dillon told the trio of dukes. “First we find them. Then we deliver a single hard blow that will gain their attention, and bring them to the bargaining table. With the decline in population that has occurred on both sides perhaps living together peaceably is better than perishing. But make no mistake about it, I can and I will win this struggle.”

“I still think we should find them and wipe them out like a nest of hornets,” Dreng said. “But I will obey your directive, Your Majesty. I will return home, and set my people to seeking out the place where the Yafir hide.”

Dillon nodded. “I appreciate your cooperation,” he told Duke Dreng. But, he thought, I do not trust you, Dreng of Beltran. I will be watching you to make certain you stir up no more trouble than we already have. He turned to the others. “Will you also return to your homes and send your people out to search for the Yafir?”

“I will, Your Majesty,” Alban said.

“And I also, Your Majesty,” Tullio promised. “I am comforted that you would seek peace over war. The people of Hetar are not usually a peaceable folk.”

“Indeed, in the land called Hetar, there has been much war until ten years ago,” Dillon said. “But there has been peace ever since.”

“We will return you to your homes by means of our magic,” Kaliq said, and then before the dukes might speak further he did just that.

“You have said nothing while we met,” Dillon said to Nidhug.

“I had naught to say,” the dragon answered him.

“You do not like Dreng, do you?” Cirillo said to her.

“It was all I could do not to scorch him with my fire,” the dragon admitted, and her nostrils glowed a dark red. “How dare he say my precious Cinnia is a tainted woman! We will find her, bring her back and all will be as it was. She is queen of Belmair. Does Dreng not realize that I know he has two granddaughters of marriageable age? He will set neither of them in my Cinnia’s place!”

“Nay, he will not,” Dillon told her. “For now she is safe, and I have already set our own people to searching every nook and cranny of Belmair province for answers as to where the Yafir have hidden their world.”

In Belmair the trees remained full and bright with color for two full months. And then on the morning of the new year Belmairans would awaken to find the leaves gone, and the trees bare. During those two months the people of Belmair’s world searched and searched and searched for the hiding place of the Yafir, but they could not find it. Finally the icy season was upon them with its heavy snows, bitter winds and brutal cold. The search had to be suspended until the spring.

Both Kaliq and Cirillo remained in Belmair. Queen Ilona had departed soon after she had helped her grandson and his companions set the spell about Belmair’s young women. She said nothing of her son’s obvious affection for the dragon. In time it would pass, and it would pass quicker if she did not disapprove it.

“Send for your mother,” was her last bit of advice to Dillon before she hurried through the glowing tunnel back to her own forest home.

But Dillon did not send for Lara. Instead he grew sadder and sadder as each day passed without finding Cinnia. Cirillo was little help. It was obvious to all but the most foolish of fools that the faerie prince and the dragon were besotted with one another.

Kaliq finally took it upon himself to seek out Lara’s help. One night while Dillon sat staring silently into the flames of the hearth in the little hall, the Shadow Prince took himself to Lara’s home in Terah, appearing in her hall on a winter’s afternoon.

“Kaliq!” It was Lara’s husband, Magnus Hauk, who saw him first. “It has been some time since you have visited us. Welcome to Terah!” The tall, golden-haired man came forward, smiling, his hand held out in friendship, his turquoise eyes warm.

“Thank you, my lord Dominus,” Kaliq responded, grasping the hand with his own. “I have come to bring Lara word of Dillon, in Belmair.”

“Send for the Domina,” Magnus Hauk said to a servant. “Bring wine for our guest. Come, old friend, and sit with me by the fire.”

Kaliq murmured his thanks, thinking that his absence from Terah these last years had mellowed Magnus Hauk’s attitude toward him. He took the wine offered him, and sat with the Dominus of Terah. “It is a complicated tale I have to tell,” he said pleasantly, “and so I hope you will forgive me if I wait until Lara comes so I need tell it but once. How are the children? Have you found a husband yet for Anoush?”

Magnus Hauk rolled his eyes at the mention of his stepdaughter. “Nay. She has been quite outspoken in that matter. It seems she does not wish to wed, or so she says. Lara has suggested, and I agree, that we leave her be for now. One day she may meet a man she can love. Her mystical sight becomes stronger and stronger. Her healing powers are wonderful and other than in the matter of marriage she is a good daughter to us.”

“You are wise to let her be,” Kaliq said. “And the others?”

“Zagiri is interested in the young men, but she is still too young for me to consider matching. As for Taj and Marzina, they are yet children, thank the Great Creator! We took your advice, and turned down the proposed marriage alliance between Marzina and the son of Hetar’s rulers. They have not accepted our refusal, however, and say they will ask again in two more years. That in itself disturbs me.”

Kaliq nodded, and then sensing her entry into the hall he turned to see Lara coming toward them. He rose and went forward to greet her, taking her hands in his and kissing them. Their eyes met quickly, briefly. “You are lovely as always.”

“Thank you, my lord,” she said in even tones, withdrawing her hands from him.

Together they rejoined Magnus Hauk, who said, “Kaliq brings us word of Dillon.”

“Tell me.” Lara said the two words sharply.

“He is totally in love with his wife, Cinnia, but Belmair is beset by an enemy who must be made into a friend,” Kaliq began. “Unfortunately this Yafir has escalated the problem.” He continued on, telling them everything that had happened to date.

“The Yafir haven’t been heard of in centuries,” Lara said.

“Because they had hidden themselves somewhere in Belmair,” Kaliq responded. “Dillon planned to negotiate with their leader, Ahura Mazda, in order to bring the Yafir back into Belmair’s society. It would have allowed Belmairan and Yafir to mingle once more on a daily basis, in a normal fashion. There would have been no need to steal women away. But Ahura Mazda believes he can shortly claim Belmair for the Yafir as his numbers grow while Belmair’s do not due to the lack of females. And just to emphasize the strength of his position he has stolen Cinnia away.”

“Dillon is all right?” Lara asked the Shadow Prince.

“Yes and no,” Kaliq answered her. “While he knows with his intellect that Cinnia is safe with the Yafir lord, and that he will regain her, he misses her terribly. His heart pines for her in the midst of a dark and cold winter.”

“Do you know where the Yafir secret themselves?” Lara asked.

Kaliq shook his head. “The strongest of my powers are confined to the world of Hetar,” he told her. “I retain certain other powers when I am in Belmair, but I cannot tell Dillon where the Yafir hide. And if I could I would not for this is his puzzle to unravel. Belmair is his world now, and as its ruler he must use his own powers to see to his people, their safety and their well-being. He has the skills, Lara, to do it.”

“Then why have you come to me?” she asked candidly.

“I think a visit from his mother might ease the sadness he is feeling right now,” Kaliq told her.

“He has not invited me to come to this new world of his,” Lara said, and there was just the hint of anger in her voice. “Dillon is my eldest child, and we have always had a closeness that others envied. But you took him to Belmair, Kaliq. You saw him wed to a girl I have not even seen yet, let alone met. It has been almost a year now since he was gone, and I have not seen him since that last visit to Shunnar well over a year ago. After you told me of his marriage I expected him to wait a short while in order to become better acquainted with his new wife, his new responsibilities. But after several months had past, he had still not invited me. Now you say he wants me to come?”

“Nay,” Kaliq told her bluntly. “I did not say he wanted you to come. I said-”

“I know what you said!” Lara answered. “Then he has not asked for me.”

“Lara, my love, you cannot possibly believe that Dillon would call out for his mama in his difficulties,” Magnus Hauk said. “In the name of the Great Creator, my stepson is a grown man! He has his pride, as does his mother. If I know Dillon, he will sink into the darkest depths of his sorrow and die before he will ask anyone for help.”

“He could have invited me, invited us, to visit Belmair,” Lara said.

“Woman, be reasonable!” Magnus Hauk said and he turned to Kaliq. “Is the bride beautiful, my lord? Does she please him?” And when Kaliq nodded with a smile, the Dominus said to his wife, “Were either of us eager to have our in-laws as guests in the earliest days of our marriage?” he asked her. “Even now, do we seek out visitors?”

“You and your mother have never had the closeness that Dillon and I share,” Lara replied stubbornly. But there was just the faintest smile playing at the corners of her mouth. They had built the Dominus’s mother, the Lady Persis, a home near their own rather than have her living with them.

“There was no time for the niceties from what Kaliq has said,” Magnus Hauk said, defending the stepson with whom he had become friends. “Ruling is never easy, Lara, and well you know it. Dillon had little time to settle in before this difficulty with the Yafir arose. Why is it that I never heard you mention them?”

“They have been thought to be extinct,” Lara said. “They haven’t been seen here in our world for thousands of years. Do you really think Dillon needs me, Kaliq?”

“I think it would boost his spirits, Lara,” the Shadow lord answered her. “Did your mother tell you that she helped us when we cast the spell protecting Belmair’s remaining women from the Yafir?”

“Aye, she did, which is another reason for my irritation. Why did not Dillon call upon me instead of my mother?” Lara wanted to know. Then she sighed. “Of course. He didn’t want to ask his mother, did he? And he didn’t ask you, either, Kaliq, did he?”

“Nay, he didn’t. Just your brother, your mother and the dragon aided in casting the spell. It was quite masterfully done I must say. The timing was precise and perfect.”

“Speaking of my brother, what is this I hear from Ilona? My brother is courting a dragon? To what purpose?” Lara laughed at her own question. “He has always been adventurous in the lists of love, hasn’t he? My mother thinks it will come to nothing.”

“What is in Cirillo’s mind and heart I cannot tell you,” Kaliq answered her. “Nidhug, for that is the dragon’s name, is beautiful, clever and a female of great common sense. She understands duty, but she is, I fear, a little bit in love with Cirillo.”

“You like her,” Lara said.

“You will like her, too, when you meet her, and you will meet her if you will return to Belmair with me,” Kaliq said.

Lara looked to her husband, and Magnus Hauk laughed.

“Go,” he said. “It has been quite a while since you left my side for very long. Remain as long as you need to remain. When you were gone from me all those years ago it was Dillon who stayed by my side and kept my courage up, Lara. I owe him an equal courtesy.”