The Twilight Lord (31 page)

“I am intrigued, my lord,” Vilia said.

Their food was quickly brought and the servants sent away. They sat eating and Jonah told his wife of what had transpired over the last several days at the palace when he had not come home to her. Then he explained how he had had Arcas brought to him. “The fool kept hearing things, but thought it just women’s talk, and did not report it,” Jonah grumbled irritably.

“A few women complaining before Gaius’s palace,” Vilia said. “Why are you so upset?”

“It was not a few women, Vilia. There were well over a thousand women there. Did you not hear them chanting ‘no war’?” he asked her.

“I spend a great deal of time in our gardens by the waterfall,” Vilia told him. “Perhaps I heard some sounds when I was in the house, but they did not seem threatening so I dismissed them. Women have virtually no real power in Hetar, Husband. Why do you fret about the wives of farmers, mercenaries and merchants?”

“Aye, there were many farmers’ wives there, but there were also Pleasure Women, including the lady Gillian who is obviously one of the leaders. And I saw wives of Crusader Knights, as well. This is a serious movement, Vilia, and now I must decide how to use this to our best advantage. You know as well as I do that there is no need to pursue this war with Terah.”

“You still believe that the faerie Lara is no danger to us?” Vilia asked.

“Nay, I do not,” Jonah replied. “Do not make the mistake, Vilia, of taking seriously the gossip we have been putting out about the Domina Lara.”

“If this movement of women grows,” Vilia now said thoughtfully, “it might prove more of an advantage to us than a war. A war will cost us lives, even fought across the sea. Women do not fight wars. Men do. But without men to seed their women Hetar’s population will not increase and we could be seriously vulnerable to Terah or another predator sometime in the future. If we did not know of Terah, my lord, what else do we not know?”

“Tell me how these women could be used to our advantage?”

“Could we not use them to bring down Gaius?” she asked him. “Then we should not be involved in his demise at all, Husband. A new emperor would have to be chosen and you have been building your alliances for some time now, Jonah, my love,” Vilia said. “Would you not be the logical choice? Especially if you had these women behind you.”

“If I am to gain the influence of these women,” Jonah said slowly, “I will have to be most careful else the emperor learn of it and I am destroyed. I must think on it, Vilia.”

“If I were to secretly aid these women,” Vilia said softly, “it would certainly put you in their favor, my lord. You and I cuckolded Gaius for several years and he never caught us. We can do this as well, Jonah.”

“Trying to stop Gaius Prospero once he has made up his mind is impossible,” Jonah said.

“Don’t try to stop him,” Vilia said.

Jonah smiled. “Aye, let him start his war and we will help the women to quickly stop it before too many are killed. Just enough to put a bad taste in the mouth of every Hetarian wife.”

“He must be killed,” Vilia said. “Gaius and his little empress must die.”

“The High Council will want to hold a trial,” Jonah replied. “But you are right, Vilia. He must be slain quickly—and his lady Shifra with him. If he is not then the few friends he has will seek to free him and restore him to his throne. We could have a civil war in Hetar. That would not do at all, Vilia. We must prevent that at all costs.”

She nodded. “You say the lady Gillian is involved in this movement?”

“Aye,” he replied. “The emperor wants her arrested but I will prevent that. Making her a martyr would be very foolish.”

“I agree,” Vilia said. “Better Gillian become a heroine of Hetarian women.”

“Aye, we do not want to destroy this movement,” Jonah said, “but use it.”

“True. Let me see how strong these women are and if I learn Gillian is truly their leader I will help stoke their passions even hotter, my dear Jonah.”

Vilia sent her most trusted servant to investigate over the next few days. It took time however, for the women were cautious, as was Vilia’s serving woman, Kigva. She visited the kiosk of a famed maker of perfumes in the Grand Marketplace and listened. She went to the public baths and listened. Finally one day she dared to approach a woman she overheard at a Razi kiosk speaking in low urgent tones to her companion. “Please,” she said, “I have heard of this women’s protest. Can you tell me more?”

“I do not know of what you are speaking,” the woman said nervously and moved away from Kigva, who followed after her and tugged on her sleeve.

“My mistress is the wife of an important man,” Kigva said low. “She wants to help, but dares not do so publicly. I know there are women of importance involved in this for I saw them marching in the streets that day you went to the emperor’s palace. My mistress has sent me to learn more and to aid you.”

“Who is your mistress?” the woman wanted to know, but Kigva shook her head.

“I dare not say her name for her well-being, but you would be surprised if you knew it.”

“Say nothing,” the woman’s younger female companion said, trying to draw her friend away. “This could be an attempt to harm us all.”

“Please,” Kigva pleaded, “I mean you no evil.”

Turning, the two women hurried away from her.

Sighing, Kigva was about to move away from the Razi kiosk when another woman there murmured, “There is a meeting tonight in the house of the widow of the feather merchant, Aja.”

“When?” Kigva asked without even reversing herself.

“At sunset,” came the reply.

“Thank you,” Kigva said, but the woman had already moved off. She found the feather merchant’s house by watching in the street for the cloaked women hurrying into one particular dwelling. She joined a small party of them, pulling her hood up over her head to shield her face as they were all doing.

The meeting began. Kigva was surprised to see the headmistress of the Pleasure Guild step forward, throw back her hood and address the gathering.

“Women of Hetar,” Gillian said, “it is past time that our voices were heard. For too long have we been silent and docile while our leaders have brought the people of Hetar to poverty. Meanwhile, they have grown richer. Now Gaius Prospero, whom I well know, claims that this land across the Sagitta is a danger to us. That we must attack them before they attack us. He lies! And we all know he has lied to us before. This is not to protect Hetar. It is to enrich the emperor and his friends. We must resist this latest assault on Hetarian families that will only weaken us.

“Terah is a peaceful land. For centuries the Coastal Kings have traded with them, but never have the Terahns allowed any Hetarian to put a foot on their soil or even sail within sight of their coast. And yet Gaius Prospero claims they are a danger to us? How? He would risk the lives of our men for a war that need not be fought. But the Crusader Knights and the Mercenary Guild grow restless and he fears them.

“Our emperor is also a greedy man. He seeks the wealth of Terah. Not for Hetar and its folk, but for himself and his cronies. Look how we were told that the Outlands posed a danger to Hetar. That if we would conquer it, its lands would be divided among our citizens and its people would give us cheap labor as slaves. Its herds, its flocks, its mountain wealth would be ours. But they are not ours. The clan families of the Outlands were gone. Their herds and flocks were gone. And Gaius Prospero and the magnates have taken the majority of the land for themselves.

“Now this emperor tells us that Terah is a threat to us, but we will conquer it and its lands, its people, and its wealth will be ours. I do not believe Terah is a threat to us, nor do I believe that its lands and wealth be ours if we conquer it. They will be Gaius Prospero’s and the magnates’.

“Many men will die in this attempt and there is no guarantee that Hetar will prevail over Terah. Our men must sail across the Sagitta, and they do not know what awaits them when they get to the other side. We know so little of Terah, my sisters. But I
do
know that if we attack this peaceful place they will resist. Whether we take it or not matters little. Our men will be killed. Who will take care of us when that happens?

“The other provinces are divided in this matter. The Shadow Princes will not aid us, nor will the Forest Lords. The Coastal Kings do not like Gaius Prospero, especially now he has taken their lands for himself and his friends and their vessels for this ill-advised venture. They cannot defy him openly, but they will do their best to thwart him. Only Squire Darah, the governor of the Midlands, sits in the emperor’s pocket.”

A woman stood up. “I am from the Midlands. Most of our sons have been conscripted to work in the factories of the Coastal Kingdom or as servants to the Mercenaries or the Crusader Knights. Our farms are old and the land tired. We were promised new lands, but few have been forthcoming for us. My brother and his family died last winter in the Outlands because they could not afford to keep the little house they built warm. Now my two oldest sons slave in the factories for the magnates and my younger one was recently taken to serve the Guild of Mercenaries as a servant lad. My daughters and I are left to work our land with my crippled husband. They would have taken him, too, but for his infirmity. Where is the justice in that?”

“There is no justice in Hetar any longer,” another woman said sadly.

“No, there is not,” Lady Gillian agreed. “Our once-proud country with its laws and its customs no longer exists. But why should we stand idly by as Hetar slides further into chaos?”

“We are but women,” came the answer. “It is not our duty to rule or to instruct our men in that manner. It is tradition in Hetar that women are the lesser.”

“Why should we be?” Lady Gillian asked her audience. “We manage the Pleasure Houses. We manage our families. Those of you wed to men of business more often than not are involved with your husbands’ work. We bear the children of Hetar and teach them. A life of pampered and privileged leisure may be fine for some, but even those women will lose all they have if we do not stop Gaius Prospero and his minions from forcing us into a war that need not be fought. Will those men care for Hetar’s widows and orphans? Have they done so in the past?” Lady Gillian looked out at the other women. “You know they have not. How many of you have taken in your sisters and their children? We do not need another war!”

“You say that this Terah is not a threat to us,” a voice came from the crowd. “But how do you know that for certain? Do the men who are our leaders not know better than you?”

“Nay,
they do not,
” came the quick reply. And then Lady Gillian held out her hand to a shrouded figure who had been standing near her. “I bring you proof positive, women of Hetar. I bring you the Domina of Terah herself. Lara, daughter of Swiftsword and Ilona, queen of the Forest Faeries. She is a child of Hetar as are we all.”

Stepping forward, Lara pushed back the hood on her cloak, smiling at the gasp from the large group of women crowded into the feather merchant’s house. “I come in peace, my sisters, and bring you greetings from my husband and dear lord, Magnus Hauk, Dominus of Terah. As Lady Gillian has told you, Terah is a peaceful place. We wish no war with Hetar. If the truth be known the Terahns desire nothing more than to be left alone to pursue their crafts, which have been sold here in Hetar for several centuries. We are not a warlike nation, but we will protect ourselves if we are attacked.”

“You say you are of Hetar, yet you speak for Terah,” said a woman.

“I was born in Hetar and lived my early years here, but I am now the wife of Terah’s ruler, and it is fitting that I take his land for my own.”

“You have magic,” another voice said.

“I do,” Lara replied, “else I should not be here tonight to greet you all and answer your questions. My magic has grown stronger over the years, but I have used it only for good—except once when I used it to punish someone who was most wicked.”

“You say Terah is a peaceful place and means Hetar no harm,” a woman near the front said. “Why should we believe you? It is said you betrayed Hetar.”

“And who tells you that?” Lara said with a small chuckle. “Gaius Prospero? Do you know why he speaks ill of me, my sisters? Because he lusted after me and I refused him. Now he would lead the men of Hetar into a war as he led them into the Winter War. Do you recall the seven carts piled high with the dead that were driven to his door when that debacle concluded? There are surely some of you in this room tonight who lost loved ones then.”

A murmur of assent arose from among the crowd.

“It is said your magic caused those deaths,” a woman finally said.

“I used no magic in the Winter War,” Lara told them quietly. “But I did fight by the side of my then-husband, Vartan of the Fiacre, who was later murdered in a plot fostered by Gaius Prospero. Hetar invaded the Outlands and tried to enslave two of the clan families. Gaius Prospero believed they were weak and disunited, but they were not. The five other clan families came to the aid of their brothers and sisters and drove Hetar from their lands.”

“You fought by your husband’s side?” a voice asked, disbelieving.

“She lies! The clan families are a myth. There was no one in the Outlands when we reclaimed it. It was empty and fertile land,” another voice cried out.

“Land confiscated by Gaius Prospero and his friends,” a third voice said.

Lara shrugged off her long enveloping dark cloak. She was garbed in the leather pants and the cream silk shirt she had once favored. “I do not lie,” she told the gathering. Then reaching back over her shoulder she withdrew Andraste, her sword, from her scabbard and swung it over and around her head. “Sing, Andraste!” she commanded the sword. “Sing for the women of Hetar, I pray you!”

It was then that the women saw in the exquisitely decorated hilt of the sword the head of a woman whose emerald eyes opened and fixed them all with a fierce stare. Then the sword began to sing in a deep and dark voice.
“I am Andraste! I will drink the blood of the invader, and the unjust as is my right! Let Gaius Prospero and those who follow him beware my sting!”