The Twilight Lord by Bertrice Small Page B

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