“What are you wearing about your neck?” he asked her sharply.

“Just an amulet,” she replied.

“Show me!” he demanded.

“It is just an amulet,” she protested.

Dillon’s hand moved swiftly to his sister’s neck and he tore the gold chain from it. “Where in the name of the Great Creator did you get this?” he shouted. “It is Mother’s star! The one that holds Ethne. Where did you get this?”

Anoush began to cry. “When I woke up yesterday I found it in Mother’s bed,” she sobbed. “I have always wanted one like it and she was not wearing it. Give it back!”

Dillon held the chain with its perfect crystal star high for all to see. “Have any of you ever known my mother not to have this about her neck?” he shouted. “I told you yesterday that something was wrong but you would not listen to me! My mother has surely been stolen away! I must fetch Magnus Hauk!” And still carrying Lara’s chain and star, Dillon ran from Liam’s hall out into the evening.

He ran through the village and into the meadow where he called to Dasras. Quickly he explained all that had happened. Then swinging himself onto the great stallion’s back, he said, “Please, Dasras, take me to the Dominus!”

Dasras galloped across the field, his great wings suddenly unfurling and flapping as he rose up into the night sky. The miles beneath dissolved as they flew. The moons of Hetar began to rise one by one as they traveled. After several hours they reached the castle of the Dominus of Terah. Dasras put them down in the middle of the stable yard. It was almost dawn in Terah and Jason, Dasras’s personal groom, came stumbling sleepily from the stables.

“My lord Dasras, I was not expecting you,” he told the stallion.

“Nor was I expecting to be here today,” Dasras replied. “This is the Domina’s son. Show him the way to the Dominus’s apartments and then return to me.”

“At once, my lord,” Jason replied. “Come, young master, and I will take you to your stepfather. Is this your first visit to the castle?”

“It is,” Dillon replied as he followed the older boy into the castle, then down several corridors and up two flights of stairs.

As they passed each of the guardsmen in the hallways, Jason stopped a moment to say, “This is the Domina’s son come from the New Outlands with an important message for his stepfather,” and the guardsmen would pass them through.

Finally they reached the apartments of the Dominus and Jason repeated his message to the guardsmen, one of whom asked them to wait while the Dominus was awakened. But Magnus Hauk was already awake. He had not slept well for the past three nights.

“Dillon, what is it?” he asked as he came to the door and ushered his stepson into his dayroom. “Thank you, Jason,” he called as he shut the door behind them. “What has happened? Is your mother all right? I have been restless the past few nights.”

“My mother has gone missing, my lord,” Dillon said quietly. Seeing the look of concern in his stepfather’s eyes Dillon liked him better than he ever had.

“What do you mean gone missing?” he asked in a tight voice. He was suddenly terrified at the thought he might lose Lara, but he couldn’t let the boy know that. Dillon had obviously come to him for help and for reassurance.

“We had been out on the hillside-Mother, Anoush and me-watching the Night of the Flying Stars. Zagiri is too little to stay up so late,” he explained lest his stepfather think they were unfairly excluding his daughter. “We returned and went to bed, but when I awoke in the morning, Mother was gone. At first I was not concerned, for more often than not she arises early to watch the sunrise. But she was not outside and no one had seen her that morning. Dasras and I searched for several hours, but we could not find her. I wanted to come to you that night, but Liam insisted upon wasting another day searching with all the men of Camdene. Then last night in the hall I discovered Anoush wearing Mother’s star and chain. She said she found it in Mother’s bed. I have never known Mother not to wear that star, my lord, have you?” He drew it from his pocket and held it out to Magnus Hauk.

“Nay, I have not,” the Dominus said. His chest felt suddenly tight.

“My lord,” Dillon started to continue, but Magnus Hauk held up his hand.

“We have discussed this before,” he said quietly. “When we are in private you are to address me by my given name. I am your stepfather, but I know you cannot call me Father, for you knew Vartan. Still, ‘my lord’ seems so formal and your mother had written me that you and Anoush would be coming to live with us after the Gathering. Now, Dillon, my stepson, continue.” He put a comforting arm about the boy.

“My lord stepfather, there is magic here. I know there is. You must come to the New Outlands and you must call for Prince Kaliq to come, as well. My mother is gone, I know it. I feel it! Further searching will not find her there.”

Magnus Hauk knew that Dillon favored his mother for she had often enough marveled that he did. “What do you know?” he asked his stepson.

“I can only speak before Prince Kaliq,” Dillon replied. “I tried to tell Liam and the others but they would not listen to me. They do not understand!”

Magnus Hauk nodded. “No,” he said quietly. “They would not.” He did not argue with Dillon. Instead he called out in a firm voice, “Kaliq of the Shadows, I need your aid. Please come to me.”

And then suddenly Prince Kaliq stepped from a hazy corner of the chamber. He bowed to the Dominus; an eyebrow raised curiously as he saw Dillon. “How may I help you, Magnus Hauk?” he asked. “Good morning, Dillon.”

“Lara has disappeared from the New Outlands,” Magnus Hauk said without any preamble. He then quickly explained what Dillon had told him. “There is more, but Dillon will only speak of it to you.”

“Let us sit down,” the Shadow Prince said. “I can feel your fear, your concern and your exhaustion, Dillon. Sit by me and tell me what you could not tell the others.”

The three sat together upon a silken couch that had been placed before a large hearth. The prince raised a hand and snapped his fingers; a fire sprang up in the fireplace, crackling and snapping, its warmth spreading out to touch the boy’s thin, chilled frame. Almost immediately, a goblet appeared in the prince’s hand and he offered it to Dillon who sipped thirstily. “Now, tell me,” Kaliq said gently.

Dillon explained how they had watched the flying stars and then gone to bed. “I awoke because I thought I heard a noise,” he said. “I opened my eyes and saw filmy creatures hovering over mother. They were almost silent but for the tiniest of murmurs. My hearing is very acute. I am able to hear the beetles in the grass and the rabbits in the field,” he explained shyly.

“Did they have faces or hands?” Kaliq asked the boy. A small smile played about the corners of Kaliq’s mouth. What powers Dillon exhibited and he was yet untrained. One day, the Shadow Prince thought, he will be a great sorcerer.

“I didn’t dare look too closely for I was very afraid,” Dillon admitted. “I thought I might be dreaming, although something within me knew I wasn’t. Aye, they did have faces. Long, somber visages. And thin hands with long slender fingers that they waved over Mother as they floated over her. And then, my lord Kaliq, they were gone. Evaporated into the air, it would appear.

“I stared hard, for I was not even sure I had seen what my eyes were so certain they had seen,” Dillon said. “And then as I watched over my mother lest they return-and had they, I would have tried to repel them-my mother seemed to disappear into the very darkness that encompassed our bedchamber. I got up immediately and went to her bed. It was yet warm with the heat of her body, but she was gone.” He sighed. “I went back to bed, sure I was in a dreamlike state, but when I awoke in the morning she truly was gone. Dasras and I searched for her the day long. We could not find her. The Fiacre searched for her the following day. That second night I saw Anoush wearing Mother’s crystal star! Mother is never without Ethne. Anoush said she found it in the tangled coverlet of Mother’s bed. I realized then my dream had not been a dream, but when I tried to explain to Liam and the others they would not listen to me. So Dasras and I came to Terah.”

“You were wise to call me,” Kaliq said to Magnus Hauk.

“It was Dillon who asked me to do so. My mind seems not to be functioning,” the Dominus replied. “Who has taken her, Kaliq? And why have they taken her?”

“This is a mystery even to me,” the Shadow Prince replied. “I must speak with my brothers. After we have conferred I will return to you.” But he knew the creatures Dillon had seen were the Munin, although he did not say it.

“I must go to the New Outlands and reassure the clan families that I do not hold them responsible for my wife’s disappearance. And then I will return with Dillon, Anoush and Zagiri. I suspect the children are safer here in my castle than anywhere else.”

The Shadow Prince nodded. “Aye. I know for a fact that Lara placed a spell I taught her about the castle to repel evil and the darkness. Her children will be very safe with you. Wherever she is, I know that would please her.”

“Thank you, Kaliq, for your reassurances,” the Dominus said.

“Farewell, my lord. I will find you in the New Outlands. Go to the Gathering, for it will comfort the clan families. Together we will get to the bottom of this mystery.” Then the Shadow Prince disappeared into the umbra as easily as he had come from it.

“I cannot wait to study with him,” Dillon said admiringly.

“And you will one day,” the Dominus assured his stepson. “Has your mother not promised you that you would?”

“Will we find her, Magnus?” the boy asked.

“We will find her,” the Dominus assured his companion. “Now I think you must get some rest. If Dasras is up to it we will travel to the New Outlands later today. Come and sleep in my bed, lad. You look fair worn with your worry of these past few days.”

“If only they had listened to me,” Dillon said sadly.

“Even had they believed you, they could have done nothing. This business is magic and we will need magic to undo it. The Fiacre have no magic, Dillon. You did the right thing. You came to me and we called the Shadow Prince. He and your faerie grandmother will help us.” He helped the boy into his big bed and tucked a coverlet about him. “I will call you in a few hours,” he promised and then left Dillon to sleep.

Sitting back before the fire that Kaliq had started, Magnus Hauk stared into it. Where are you, my love, my beloved? he cried silently. But silence was his only answer. That she had left Ethne behind-or whoever stolen her had-was not a good omen. There was something wicked brewing. He had lived long enough with Lara to sense it.

He needed to speak with his brother-in-law, Corrado, who commanded Terah’s fleet. His vessel had just returned last night from a trading voyage. Corrado would have to manage Terah while he was in the New Outlands because the Great Creator only knew how long he would be away. Corrado and his wife, Sirvat, would have to move into the castle to look after the children while he was gone.

And there was the ambassador from Hetar to consider. Jonah had returned to Hetar with Lara away. There was no one who would tell him where she was, for Hetar had no idea that Lara and the Shadow Princes had removed the clan families from the Outlands and brought them to safety in Terah. If he were here now he would be sniffing about for gossip and information as he always was.

The Dominus almost felt sorry for Jonah. He was an intelligent man but he was every bit as evil as his master, Gaius Prospero. And Magnus Hauk knew he was in Terah for the sole purpose of finding a weakness in Terah that he might exploit to his own benefit or Hetar’s. Now and again he returned to The City to report to his master on the nothing he had been able to learn. And Lara had laughed, knowing how frustrating that must be to Gaius Prospero. It was better he was gone now, the Dominus thought.

The day went quickly and was coming to a close when Magnus Hauk woke his stepson. They ate a hearty meal and then, as Dasras had agreed he was up to returning to the New Outlands, they departed the castle. They reached New Camdene while it was yet night there and Liam, who had been awaiting them, came from his hall to meet them.

Kneeling before the Dominus he begged his forgiveness for Lara’s disappearance.

“It is not the fault of the Fiacre that my wife is gone,” Magnus Hauk said loudly, for all of New Camdene’s population were gathered around them despite the early hour. “This is dark and wicked magic. You could not have prevented what happened. I have spoken with Prince Kaliq and he will join us shortly. In the meantime, keep to your preparations for the Gathering. I will travel there with you.”