Empress Aurora Trilogy Quest For the Kingdom Parts I, II, and III Revised With Index (Quest For the Kingdom Set) (58 page)

Elena hung on
the words of Marcus, but alas! too late for her own good. The guards took
advantage of her sudden docility to grab her arms and tie her hands behind her
back.

Seeing finally
that there was no escape, she suddenly moaned and tears rolled down her face.
Sobbing she implored the guards to release her, but they ignored her pathetic
cries.

She turned to
Marcus, imploring for his aid, but there was no aid he could give her, nothing
to be done. Their last sight of Elena was her tear-stained face as the guards
led her away to her execution.

Marcus could
not persuade Felix and Kyrene to permit him to travel alone to Lycenium. For he
could not withhold the truth from Felix. He had contemplated leaving and saying
nothing of his mission, but in the end he decided it was not right to keep
Felix in the dark regarding Tullia’s fate.

Two weeks had
passed since the day Aurora had accidentally killed Valerius, only to meet her
own death at the hands of Elena. She had died without heirs, and as Urbanus was
a cousin and therefore next of kin, he had been called from Gaudereaux to
assume the reign of the Empire. He and Renata arrived on a quick little galley
that sailed much faster than a passenger boat and were in Valerium within a
week of Aurora’s demise.

The first
official act he executed was to restore the estate of his father to Marcus. To
Marcus, who had been homeless for more than two years, it was a tremendous
comfort, although he would long mourn his parents. At least he no longer had to
impose on the kindness of the Lucius family.

Marcus
remained in Valerium just long enough to settle back into the villa and to
reinstate his father’s loyal retainers to their old duties before setting out
for Lycenium. Abandoning their little boat in favor of a larger and faster
ship, he and his friends along with Silvia Lucius traveled quickly and arrived
in Lycenium on a late October day just as the first leaves were beginning to
fall.

They quickly
disembarked and hired a chariot to convey them to the residence of Tullia’s
mother Drusilla, who remained in Lycenium hoping for news of her daughter. As
they entered the gates of the estate, it seemed to Marcus that the long row of
crimson maple trees with slim black trunks that lined either side of the drive
stood like sentinels on duty, challenging all who entered in.

Drusilla was
nearly pathetic in her relief at seeing familiar faces, and she clung to her
old friend Silvia with a child-like desire for comfort.

There was no
news of Tullia, she told them sadly. One day passed into another, and her
friends from Valerium had come for the summer and gone, but none heard anything
of Tullia’s whereabouts. She began to fear that some grave misfortune had
befallen her, and that her daughter was dead.

Marcus and
Felix exchanged fearful glances at this statement.

It could not
be, Marcus said to himself. I cannot have at last gained her love only to lose
her!

“What of
Decimus?” he asked Drusilla abruptly. “Was not Tullia on her way to meet him,
before she vanished? What does he say about it?”

Drusilla
dabbed at her eyes with a delicate linen kerchief before she answered.

“He knows
nothing more than anyone else,” she said. “Tullia did not keep their
appointment.”

Marcus weighed
this statement, but found he did not believe it. All his instincts cried out
that Decimus was the last person to see Tullia before she vanished.

“Did he search
their meeting place?” he asked. “Has he come to you with any further search
reports?”

Drusilla did
not answer immediately but pondered for a long moment.

“No,” she said
the word slowly. “That is, yes, he searched their meeting place, but he has not
attempted any further search efforts. Indeed, I have hardly seen him since
Tullia disappeared, and before that he called on me every day as a courtesy.”

“Did you not
find that rather strange?” Marcus asked her.

“In truth, I
had not thought of it before, so worried have I been about my daughter.”

“Which is
entirely understandable,” Felix soothed, as he placed his hands over hers.

“Where is
Decimus to be found these days? At the Governor’s residence?” Marcus inquired,
determined not to be deterred in his questioning.

“No,” Drusilla
replied. “At this time of year he stays in his hunting lodge, which is quite
secluded in the forest above Lycenium. It lies along the river and is quite
lovely.”

Marcus asked
for more detailed directions, and then bade her good night.

He took Felix
aside.

“Tomorrow,” he
whispered, “we hunt for that lodge, and track Decimus to his lair.”

A mist had stolen
in with the dawn’s first rays, giving an eerie appearance to the river as they
moved quietly along it. On either shore the trees reflected gold, russet, and
green in the water below. The first fallen leaves carpeted the river, and seen
through the vapor gave the illusion of a forest in the water as well as above
it.

The sun shone
but dimly through the dense fog, making the banks difficult to see. They
whispered along the river like ghosts themselves, saying nothing, the oars of
the boat they hired barely stirring the water as they glided on.

Drusilla had
told them it was the custom of Decimus to hunt in the early morning, so Marcus
was certain he would be absent from the lodge. He strained his eyes for a
glimpse of it. A white stone building, round in shape, Drusilla had said.

They hurried
on the river, sharing it only with an occasional swan or family of ducks. They
spied a deer on the shore, which quickly fled from sight. Deep within the
forest they heard the grunt of a wild boar as it crashed through the woods.

It was a beam
of sunlight that at last revealed the lodge to their sight. It loomed up from
the mist, a white cylindrical tower in lonely isolation. It appeared deserted,
and no sound could be heard within its walls.

Marcus,
however, was certain that Tullia was imprisoned there. He ordered the others to
stop rowing, and they hastily pulled into shore and hid the boat in a small
cluster of pine trees that grew close to the river’s edge.

Marcus put a
finger to his lips and motioned for Felix and Kyrene to follow him through the
copse of trees and thereby come upon the lodge from behind it, out of the range
of curious or watchful eyes. They crept up to the nearest window and peered
within.

They saw no
one. They listened for several minutes but heard nothing. They walked the
circumference of the lodge and peered in at every window, and listened for
signs of life. But their search only met with disappointment.

Just as they
were about to admit they were mistaken in their premise, a gusty breeze blew off
the lake, and disturbed the leaves at their feet. And then Marcus spied it: a
pile of leaves partially concealed a barred window covered in glass, half of
which lay beneath the level of the ground. The breeze had dislodged enough
leaves to reveal what they had passed by in their search.

Eagerly he
scooped the leaves aside, clearing the obstruction and peered within. What he
saw filled him with fear and outrage, for there was Tullia, bound to a wall.
Her legs were in some sort of mud up to her knees, and she wearily hung her
head beneath her outstretched arms, which were tied securely to metal rings in
the wall behind her.

Marcus threw
all caution aside. He picked up a large rock and smashed the glass, sending
shards crashing into the room below.

“Tullia!” he
cried into the barred window. “It is I, Marcus!”

The girl
lifted her head.

“Marcus?” she
called. “Is that really you, Marcus?”

“Yes! Where is
Decimus?”

“He is
hunting, but will soon return,” she quavered, and looked about the room as if
already fearing his return.

“I shall be
with you in just a moment,” Marcus assured her.

He found a
nearby rock and with the help of Felix hoisted it and broke a window on the
ground floor. They smashed all of the remaining glass out of the window then
rolled into the room.

“I will go
after Tullia; you stand guard until I return,” Marcus told Felix.

Felix’s eyes
darkened and his lips tightened.

“I am going
with you,” he fumed.

Marcus saw the
uselessness of argument and shrugged his shoulders. They located a door that
led to a lower level and clambered down a staircase where they found Tullia.
Marcus nearly fell headlong into a pool of mire, but Felix saw it first and
pulled him back.

There was a
broad stone ledge that ran along the outer edges of the room and they carefully
stepped along it to where Tullia was bound. In the short time they had spied
her through the window she had sunk further and was now up to her waist in the
mud. Marcus and Felix together undid her bonds and tried to extricate her from
the mire.

Tullia was
stuck fast. Further tugging brought only minor release, and they fretted over
how best to release her, until Felix suggested taking the cords that had bound
her and tying them together into one long rope. Then they could tie it about
her waist and pull her out.

It took much
effort and the combined strength of all three of them, but at last they pulled
her out. Tullia burst into tears and clung to Marcus briefly before regaining
her composure. Marcus knew that she would never have forsaken her customary dignity
unless fatigued by her long ordeal.

He noted that
Felix tightened his lips before turning abruptly away. As they mounted the
stairs Tullia informed them briefly how her imprisonment came about.

“It was
Decimus,” she said, her vice catching on a sob. “I refused his proposal; I told
him I loved another and therefore could not marry him. And he became furious.
He berated me, saying I made a fool of him, and that our parents and all our
friends hoped we would wed. Then he hit me over the head with something, I know
not what. Everything went black, and when I awoke I found myself a prisoner
here. Decimus said he would hold me here until I came to my senses and married
him. This morning he placed me here in this mire which seeps in from the river
when the rains are heavy, and warned me I would die if I still refused him.

“But I cannot
marry him! Oh, Marcus, Marcus, thank you for saving me!”

And Tullia
melted against him and he held her close for a brief moment, his lips brushing
her hair. Felix pursed his lips, turned his back on them, and stormed up the
few remaining steps.

The others
followed close behind him and had barely reached the ground floor when they
heard noises. Suddenly, the door to the lodge flew open, and on the threshold
stood Decimus Hadrianus, tall, astonished, and outraged.

Seeing Tullia
free from her bonds, his face turned purple and he clenched his fists and
stomped a foot.

“What are you
doing invading my lodge?” he bellowed, a raging, maddened bull ready to charge.

“And how have
you escaped your bonds?” he roared at Tullia.

Marcus stood
between the trembling girl and the furious young man.

“How dare you?
How dare you lay hands on her and hold her captive like some slave girl you
mean to degrade!”

“Oh, I know
all about
you
, Marcus Maximus!” Decimus sneered. “Your parents were
imprisoned for treason, and you were a slave! You do not even have a home since
yours was confiscated by the Empress!”

Decimus
laughed, though his face was still red with rage.

“Surely you
have heard by now that the Empress has lately died, and Governor Urbanus of
Gaudereaux has assumed command of the Empire, and restored my estates to me.”

Marcus spoke
in measured yet icy tones.

Decimus
abruptly stopped laughing. A scowl exploded across his brow, and his fury found
full vent.

“Is that so?”
he mocked. “You are still, as the son of prisoners and a former slave yourself,
beneath the station of this lady. Get out of my house now and take this rabble
with you!” he said as he gestured contempt at Kyrene in her humble robes.

Kyrene
flinched but said nothing.

Felix,
however, could tolerate no more.

“You have
already abused one lady: I’ll not permit you to insult another!”

Kyrene tugged
at his sleeve, but Felix did not heed her. Marcus decided to put an end to
matters before they grew worse.

“Enough,
Felix. We will be going now. Goodbye, Decimus. If I were you I would leave
Lycenium and never come back. For when we return Tullia to her parents we shall
give a full report of what you did to her. I doubt you will be welcome there
any longer.”

“Come,
Tullia,” he said, as he took her by the arm.

She gave him
her hand and they started for the door, followed by Kyrene.

Decimus stared
at them in disbelief, then pushed Kyrene aside and lunged for Tullia, raising
his right arm as he did so. Marcus turned toward her and saw a bright flash,
and Felix immediately thrust himself between them and shouted to Marcus.

“No, Decimus!
Get her out of here, Marcus! Take her away!”

Then a groan
escaped Felix’s lips and Marcus turned to find his friend face down on the
floor, a pool of blood flowing by his side.

Tullia
screamed.

Marcus stood
uncomprehendingly at the sight of Felix; then saw the dagger in the hand of
Decimus, who grinned at him with an evil menace.