Lara (14 page)

“You know as well as I do, brother, that a faerie having spent a day shape-shifting as that one did would be weakened when she took her own form once more, and unable to act in her own defense. So did our men. Did we not in those days rule the Forest along with the faeries, and the giants? We knew each other well once. But now we have driven our allies away and are cursed for it,” Enda said.

“The faerie girl could help us regain our purity, Enda, I am certain of it,” Durga insisted. “And our children would have faerie blood in their veins. The girl would help to bring her queen to us to remove Maeve’s curse on the Forest Lords. Each generation born to our breeders grows less pure, no matter they are raised in our traditions. Our women are also of impure lineage now. Only two of the pure blood remain among our clans, Enda. We must reverse the tide of our destruction before it is too late. Mayhap the half faerie girl will not be the answer, but she suddenly has been placed in our midst, and so we must try. It is surely good fortune that has brought her to us, brother!”

“She is consigned to a Coastal King,” Enda said. “We do not want difficulties with the coast, Durga. We are no longer as strong as we used to be. If the faerie girl has been paid for we must let her go on with the caravan, and we will seek another half faerie girl for our purposes. But if this girl is to be paid for upon her delivery, which I suspect is the case, then we must pay Rolf Fairplay the amount agreed upon ourselves. As long as Gaius Prospero receives his monies he will not care, and another girl can be found for the son of that Coastal King. First, however, we must learn her price. And if it is as high as I suspect it is, where is the coin to come from, Durga?”

“We have wealth,” the Head Forester said. “Our hidden wealth, Enda.”

“But will it be enough?” the younger man asked.

“You and I will pool our resources,” Durga responded.

“Agreed!” Enda replied. “But you must agree to allow me first rights with the girl. You are too rough, and lack finesse to deal with so delicate a creature as a half faerie girl. If you didn’t kill her outright with your wooing, you would likely frighten her to death. She will be a virgin without a doubt, else her price would not be so high.”

“Our mother always said you were too greedy,” Durga grumbled.

“You are impatient with virgins, brother. I have seen it before. We do not want to ruin our investment. I will woo her gently, and when she finally enters your bed she will be well trained and eager,” Enda tempted his elder.

“What if you get her with child right away?” Durga asked.

“When she has spawned her child then you will have her next,” Enda said reasonably. “Besides, I saw you looking at that big breasted wench among the new slave women, the one who spoke up in an effort to gain your favor. Don’t tell me you didn’t intend getting between her legs tonight,” he chuckled. “She’s a healthy-looking wench, and will give you a good ride. She could breed you up a healthy son before you dispose of her.”

Durga grinned. “Aye, I could see immediately that she’s a hot-tempered one. I imagine I’ll be beating her as much as I’ll be fucking her, and I’ll enjoy both. Very well, ’tis agreed. We will purchase the faerie girl together, and you will have her first.”

“Shall we call the trader back into the hall?” Enda asked.

“Nay, we shall go down to his encampment, and settle the details of the matter,” Durga said. “If we meet his price he’ll not refuse us.”

Outside the hall the two brothers found Rolf Fairplay waiting beneath the treed portico. He looked up as they came forward. “Do you want your monies refunded, or shall I send back to the City for another woman to complete your consignment?”

“We want to buy the faerie girl,” Durga said. “Come, and let us descend to your camp so I may examine her, and see if she is worth the outrageous sum you say you can obtain for her on the coast.”

The trader swore silently to himself. Not only did Durga resemble a wild boar, he had the intellect of one. Well, there was nothing for it but to tell him the price, and end it here. His cousin had wanted a minimum of twenty thousand gold coins which he knew the Head Forester would not be able to pay, but to make it entirely impossible he said, “The king’s son is paying twenty-five thousand gold pieces for the girl, my lord.”

There was an audible and sharp intake of breath from both of his companions, but then Durga said, “We’ll want to see her. She is a virgin? Guaranteed?”

“Of course,” Rolf Fairplay answered. There was no chance that the Head Forester could meet his price, but he would show them Lara to torture them a little bit, as Durga had given him so much difficulty this evening.

They reached the ground and walked across the clearing to where his caravan was settled for the night. A mercenary guarded the wagon where Lara was housed. He had not ordered it, but they all knew who she was. They would consider her one of them, and watch over her with great and tender care, the trader realized.

“I will go in and speak with Lara before bringing her out,” Rolf Fairplay said, and then he climbed into the cart. Noss gazed at him, startled. He put his finger to his lips warning her to silence, and turned to Lara. “Listen to me, Lara,” he began, “thanks to Truda, the Head Forester would see you. I have told him that you are promised to the son of a Coastal Province king who is paying twenty-five thousand gold pieces for you. I know Durga cannot afford such a price, but he must still see you now in order to preserve his dignity. He will find fault with you, and then the incident will be concluded.”

“I understand,” Lara said.

“Good, then let us go out. Do not speak unless spoken to, girl.” Climbing back out of the cart, the trader lifted Lara down, and brought her over to where the two men waited. “Her name is Lara,” he said.

“I would see her naked,” Durga said leering. “I want to know that this treasure you have is worth the outrageous price.”

Reaching up, Lara unfastened her gown at its shoulders, and let it fall to the ground. She said absolutely nothing, but turned slowly that the two men might look their fill. The younger, handsome man reached up and pulled the pins from her hair so that it fell like a swath of silk down her back. He rubbed a coil between his fingers and smiled slowly into Lara’s green eyes. It was a cruel smile, and his brown eyes remained cold even as his mouth turned up at its corners. He reached out and fondled one of her breasts. She wanted to slap his hand away, but she remained motionless.

“Spread your legs, girl!” His command startled her, and she looked anxiously to Rolf Fairplay.

The trader nodded.

The young man knelt before Lara, and opening her nether lips with the fingers of one hand, he slowly pushed a thick finger from his other hand into her body. “She’s a virgin without a doubt, Durga,” he said in a hard voice. He withdrew the finger sucking it as he stood up. “And sweet as honey.”

“We will take her,” the Head Forester said.

“My lord, she is twenty-five thousand pieces of gold, and she is promised to the Coastal King’s son, Arcas,” Rolf Fairplay said nervously.

“Is she paid for?” Enda demanded to know.

“Well, no, but the order was given me last time I was in his domain. I promised that I would bring him just such a girl as this one. He wanted a half faerie lass for a wife. He does not have one among his wives. My cousin, Gaius Prospero, found the girl, and not without difficulty I can assure you. I simply cannot let her go, my lord Durga.” Rolf Fairplay was growing nervous. These Foresters were cruel men.

Lara was still half in shock from having had her body invaded in such a startling manner by the younger of the two Forest Lords. Although he looked calm and in complete charge, she could sense that the trader was growing frightened.

“We will pay you thirty thousand gold pieces, Rolf Fairplay,” Enda said. “Such a sum should make it easier for you to overcome your qualms. If Arcas has not paid you, you can tell him you have not yet found a girl to suit his requirements. He will not doubt you for you are a man of the highest repute. My brother and I want this girl.” He smiled his cold smile at the trader, showing his teeth and reminding Rolf of a feral animal. Then he heard Lara’s soft voice murmuring in his ear.

“Say yes.”

“It is not my custom to bargain in the open like some common trader,” Rolf said to the two men. “I will put the girl back in the wagon, and then we will speak on it. Shall I return to your hall, my lord Durga, so we may seal the bargain with a goblet of your fine wine?” He drew Lara’s gown up and fastened it at the shoulders.

“Agreed!” the Head Forester said, jovial once more. “Come, Enda!” He turned and began climbing the steps to his hall again, his brother behind him.

Rolf helped Lara back into the wagon. “Are you mad?” he asked her. “These are brutal men. They will not treat you kindly, and they are as likely to steal back their gold as look at me once they possess you. May the Celestial Actuary help us all now!”

“Listen to me, my lord,” Lara said. “From the moment I knew I was to leave my family something strange happened to me. Instincts I never knew I had began to boil up within me. That is why I have been so composed. While I do not believe I possess any real faerie magic, I think these new feelings may be due to my faerie blood. These two men, whatever their reasons, want me for some purpose I cannot yet divine, but they will indeed consider violence if you refuse them.

“You will be allowed to depart their hall, and your caravan will begin its trek again, but then something will happen, and whether you are ever heard from again is another matter altogether. They will claim they have no knowledge of what has happened. Take their gold, my lord, but refuse to consummate the sale until you stand on the border between the Forest and the Desert. Only then will you turn me over to them. My grandmother, Ina, taught me the history of this land, and I know that the Forest Lords will not dishonor themselves publicly. It is the only way to save yourself, and I would not have it said that Lara, daughter of Swiftsword, brought you ill fortune.”

The trader shook his head. “It must indeed be some faerie magic that gives you such wisdom, Lara. I shall do exactly as you have suggested, and I am grateful to you for your advice. I am sorry I must leave you with these people. You deserve a better fate than this.”

“This is only the beginning of my journey, Rolf Fairplay,” Lara told him, and he climbed from the wagon.

“This is all my fault.” Noss began to weep.

“Nay, it is the fault of the trader who purchased you for this consignment despite knowing better, which I am certain he did,” Lara said soothingly to the girl. “Some traders are good and honest men. Others are not. The one who bought you thought to gain a few more coins in his pocket. I do not doubt Rolf Fairplay will have them from him eventually.”

“What will happen to me now?” Noss asked Lara.

“Rolf will sell you to one of the Desert people, or you will have a master from the coast. He is a kind man, and will see you are placed with a good master, I am certain,” Lara reassured the frightened girl.

“I will be alone now,” Noss said.

“I would have been alone if you remained here,” Lara replied. “I will ask my mercenary friend to look after you.”

“You are very important, Lara, aren’t you?” Noss asked, her eyes wide.

Lara laughed. “No, I am not important at all. The mercenaries watch over me because my father was a mercenary once. Now he is a Crusader Knight. They are proud of him for being able to gain such heights. I am, too.”

“But if your father is a Crusader Knight, why were you sold?” Noss wondered.

“To become a member of the Crusader Knights one must enter the tournament which is only held every three years. An applicant must be beautifully garbed to offer his applications, and he must be outfitted with the finest armor, and the best weapons. All of this costs much gold. My father is a great swordsman, but he was also a poor man. My stepmother suggested I was the only possession he had of any value, and she was right. So I was sold to Gaius Prospero for a great price. My da was able to enter the tournament and win one of the five places available to the applicants. And that is my story,” Lara explained.

“But you are very beautiful,” Noss responded, “and beauty always wins a place of importance in the world. And you are half faerie, it is said.”

“My faerie mother deserted me when I was an infant,” Lara said. “I know naught of faerie magic.”

“But you gave me a faerie blessing,” Noss reminded the older girl, her lip beginning to quiver.

“I did, and I meant it.” Lara smiled. Then reaching out she ruffled Noss’s brown-gold hair. “Go to sleep, youngling. We leave tomorrow for the Desert.”

Noss obediently lay down, and was soon asleep.

Lara touched her star pendant. The flame flickered within the crystal.
This is my fate?
she asked it silently.

Nay, but you have a task to complete here,
the voice responded.

What is it?

You will know soon enough,
the voice of her magical guardian, Ethne, replied.
You will have to sacrifice yourself, but we will help you. Be brave!

Lara closed her eyes.
Be brave.
She would have to be. She had been horrified when the Forest Lord pushed his finger into her body, but she had somehow managed to remain silent and still. Soon, she knew, he would push his manroot into her as well. She had seen the look in his eyes as he probed her innocence so boldly. And the other man, The Head Forester. He had licked his lips in open anticipation as the younger one examined her with rough hands. What purpose was there in all of this? Ethne, her guide, said this was meant to be so it must be. The flame within the pendant had always been with her, and she couldn’t even recall when it had first spoken with her, so familiar had the voice become. She wondered how Rolf Fairplay was doing in his negotiations with the Forest Lords. They wouldn’t be happy with his decision, she knew.