Empress Aurora Trilogy Quest For the Kingdom Parts I, II, and III Revised With Index (Quest For the Kingdom Set) (41 page)
Authors: L. M. Roth
The People of
the Forgotten Tongue
Confrontation
On the Mountaintop
A Warm Welcome
and A Hostile Encounter
It Was She and
She Alone I Sought
The Old Ones
A fine mist
had settled on the water during the night. As they stored their baggage into
their trim little boat, the group of faithful companions paused to prepare
themselves for the rigors of the journey ahead.
An impossible
task was what the Empress Aurora had assigned to him, reflected Marcus. To
bring back the Fountain of Youth, a star from the Heavens, the Rays of the Sun,
and the secret of life, she had said. And how, he asked himself, could he
possibly accomplish that? Where would he even begin to search?
I hope this
quest is more successful than the last, Felix thought to himself. For surely
the Empress will not pardon Marcus for a second failure. To fall short would
make not only the life of Marcus forfeit, but would mean leaving his father and
mother to suffer in their imprisonment as well.
Felix
reproached himself for his own part in the tragedy of the Maximus family. If
only he had not been so blinded by his own desire for Tullia, he thought. A
fool he was, mistaken in what he perceived as her love for him. Yet, she
rejected Marcus as well. But for his folly both Marcus and his parents would be
safe from the wrath of Aurora. Felix shook his head in sorrow and glanced
ruefully at his friend. But Marcus was lost in thoughts of his own and did not
see.
Kyrene also
noticed the absorption of Marcus and pondered on the enormity and impossibility
of their task as well. We cannot accomplish it without the help of Dominio, she
thought. Oh, how we need You, Dominio, she silently prayed.
Dag wasted no
time on reflection or meditation: he spent his energy in packing the boat with
their bundles. Cort assisted him in this endeavor, being careful to do all that
Dag requested of him.
Elena watched
the Trekur Lenders load the small yet sleek craft, and then inquired of Marcus
how soon they would embark. Marcus started at the question and roused himself
from his reverie. He looked at his companions as one dazed. He blinked his eyes
and brought his focus back to the present.
“Is everything
ready?” he asked Dag.
The great man
nodded his burly head.
“Then,” said
Marcus, “we will depart at once.”
The River Zoe
lapped at the boat.
“Zoe,” Marcus
implored as they set out, “carry us to where You will. Take us to the lands
where we will find the objects of the Empress Aurora’s desires. Come to our aid
that we may fulfill this quest.”
As if in
answer to his prayer, the boat moved as though gently nudged by an unseen hand.
It glided on the quiet river, and then moved more rapidly as it entered the
current. Away from the harbor it sped, leaving behind the magnificent city of
Potentus, capital of the Valeriun Empire, and its marble bridges and ringing
bells. Rapidly the narrow river harbor of the city opened out into broader
channels, then gave onto the open sea. Soon civilization was but a memory, as
they found themselves on the blue expanse of the ocean, with nothing to
obstruct the view of the horizon as far as the eye could see.
As they
started to pick up pace, each one pulled their cloaks more tightly about their
throats. For the January morning was brisk, and the sailing on the open sea
stirred the air around them, causing them to shiver.
Kyrene and
Elena drew their hoods over their heads and blew on their hands to warm them.
Felix shuddered, and huddled down into his cloak. Dag and Cort seemed
impervious to the cold, accustomed to the frozen forests of their northern
homeland. Indeed, Dag chuckled at the feeble attempt of Felix to warm himself.
Felix scowled, but was too miserable to offer one of his usual witty retorts.
Marcus was too
preoccupied to take notice of the sudden chill. It was January when last I set
out on a task, and now it is January once more. Shall I find success on this
journey that eluded me on the other, he wondered. Shall I fulfill this quest
and thus be able to free my parents from their long imprisonment?
They glided
through the mist. Marcus could not recall when he had encountered a wall of
silence such as met them now. Not a breath of wind stirred; the current alone
carried them away by the will of Zoe.
It was now
five days since they had departed from Valerium with the admonition of the
Empress Aurora upon them. A bitter journey it was in the full grip of winter’s
ruthless claws.
The River had
widened and they were on open sea once more, with Zoe staying them on the
course it had set for them.
“Where are we
going, I wonder?” Marcus mused aloud. “Dag, we are heading on a northward
course. Are you familiar with these lands?”
Dag shook his
head.
“Cort?”
“No, I have
not seen these lands,” Cort replied with a shrug of his shoulders. “Or know of
them.”
Felix glanced
a question at Marcus.
“Are you
troubled, my friend?” he asked.
Marcus paused
before answering.
“I am not
troubled,” he replied. “Yet there is a sense of caution in my spirit. I feel we
must proceed with care in the land we are about to enter.”
Kyrene nodded
her head emphatically.
“You are
right, Marcus,” she said with a catch in her voice. “I sense we may well be
heading into danger. Does no one else feel it? For there is some spirit in this
country that is hostile to Dominio and will give us no welcome.”
The others
looked around uneasily; then glanced at one another.
“Yah,” Dag
muttered. “You are right. Now I feel it as well.”
“What, Dag?
What do you feel?” Cort questioned him, as his blue eyes opened wide in his
anxious young face.
“One of the
Old Ones,” Dag answered in a hushed monotone.
“Old Ones?”
Felix inquired. “What are they?”
He looked
around him on the open expanse of water, alert for any danger hidden in the mist.
“
Who
are they,” Dag corrected him. “They are those who came first. They own the
land. They do not like men.”
Felix
reflected on this answer.
“They do not
like men, you tell us. What of women? Children? Do they like them?” he asked
with a glint of mischief in his brown eyes.
“
No
one,” Dag said with finality in his deep voice.
As this
terrible information was digested by those in the boat they all looked at Dag
in the earnest hope he was simply teasing them. But there was no twinkle in his
eye to lighten his words; no smile relieved his furrowed brow.
It was Felix
who at last broke the silence.
“Well,” he
said. “Well, well.”
For many hours
their boat carried them along the course set by Zoe. The cold grew more
intense, and their hands and feet felt like blocks of ice attached to their
cloak clad torsos. Dag and Cort alone felt little discomfort, accustomed as
they were to a northern climate. Their fur lined boots kept their feet warm and
dry, and their kapakes of bear pelts insulated them well from the frigid air.
Kyrene and
Elena shivered miserably in the bitter cold, used as they were to the balmy
breezes of warmer lands. Felix, seeing their discomfort, pulled a woolen
blanket out of his bundle and wound it around them as they nestled together for
warmth. Kyrene smiled her thanks and Elena whispered hers through chattering
teeth.
Marcus looked
straight ahead and saw what looked like a lump on the horizon. He peered into
the distance.
“I do believe
I see land ahead,” he announced to the others.
“How wonderful!”
Kyrene cried out. “It will be wise to find shelter before nightfall.”
“Yes,” Felix
agreed. “I would not want to be caught on this icy sea after the sun sets, for
it is giving us the only warmth to be had.”
They sailed
along as the land grew nearer. Each fastened his or her gaze on it as though
willing it to draw closer. One hour passed, then another, but the land seemed
no nearer than it had an hour before.
At last they
saw what appeared to be mountains right on the water’s edge. Marcus had never
seen mountains of this shape before; for they were not the usual rocky peaks
that one thinks of when one mentions mountains. These were neither of a great
height, nor were they jagged; but they were smooth granite that rose steeply
and were rounded at the top, rather like a hill. Not a flake of snow clung to
their peaks nor coated their sides, for the smooth surface made the snow
cascade off, leaving it curiously bare.
Zoe carried
their boat into an inland cove. They entered it, the looming peaks surrounding
them on every side, as if threatening them with an ominous warning for daring
to enter their domain.
Still, Marcus
and Dag decided it would be a good place to shelter for the night, as the
mountains blocked any icy blasts that the night might bring in its wake. They
brought the boat ashore, and found a primitive sort of cave formed by a rocky
overhang covering a corner formed by two adjoining rock walls. They decided the
cave was large enough to shelter them all, so after making a small fire to warm
them, there they made camp and huddled down to await the break of day.
They woke to
the sound of the wind. Like some wounded beast it howled in the black of the
icy night, of the morning that had not yet dawned.
Marcus and
Felix had grown familiar with the eerie sound when they journeyed through
Trekur Lende the previous winter. But for Kyrene and Elena the wail of the wind
made them clutch first their furs, then one another in alarm.
“Is it
wolves?” Elena stammered with widened eyes.
Kyrene paled,
yet faced the eerie sound with her customary serenity.
“No, it is but
the wind,” Felix reassured them with a merry gleam in his eye.
“The wind?”
Elena questioned. “Why, it sounds like a thousand devils unleashed from the pit
of Hell!”
Felix
chuckled.
“I quite like
it!” he commented. “It has an air of mystery, as if the voice of Dominio
Himself were calling me to the light of another day.
“Therefore,”
he stated as he rose somewhat abruptly, “I intend to rise, and begin that day.”
After they
broke their fast they ventured out of the rough-hewn cave and journeyed on into
the interior of the land. The sun had not yet fully risen, but in the pre-dawn
they could still see well enough to travel. They quickly left the coast behind
and saw before them a vast forest that stretched in every direction. A footpath
was visible although covered with snow, and this they took as they warily
entered the forest.
They felt a
faint wetness on their faces. Looking up, they saw minute flakes of shimmering
ice fall from the darkened sky. As it continued it joined the blanket of white
on the ground and overlaid it with a silver shine.
Marcus
recalled the rocks of quartz he used to gather as a young boy. The earth
beneath his feet shimmered with the same sparkle, as though hundreds of quartz
rocks had been pulverized, and flung in the air, only to fall to earth in a
carpet of crystal.
When the sun
rose, it revealed a world of glittering beauty, as they saw young trees clad in
icy limbs, each one dazzling in its splendor, their branches clinking together
in the wind made a tinkling sound like rain falling on silver.
Through the
wood they wandered. The towering pines were brushed with white on their boughs.
The frigid air made their eyes water and their fingers tingle. Here and there
sprouted weeds encased in ice that caught the rays of the morning sun, turning
the mundane growths into objects of unusual beauty.
A squirrel
leaped in the branches of a tree directly overhead, shaking down a powder of
white on their heads. The sudden shower of icy cold was shocking, yet
invigorating.
Marcus was
none too pleased with the rivulets of frozen water that trickled down the back
of his neck, sending a shiver through his body.
Dag stamped a
foot where the splash of snow had landed in a furry boot. He abruptly stopped
in his tracks, and leaning on a nearby tree, removed the boot and shook out the
invading stream. Felix laughed, only to stop and cough when the great man
flashed a scowl at him. Felix hummed a little tune under his breath and looked
straight ahead at the path before them.