Empress Aurora Trilogy Quest For the Kingdom Parts I, II, and III Revised With Index (Quest For the Kingdom Set) (7 page)

At first sight
of the Empress, he truly
was
impressed. A flaming cascade of curls
framed a face of ivory as fragile as the blossoms in his father’s rose garden.
A dainty nose and sweet bow-shaped mouth accentuated the flower-like allusion.                

But on closer
inspection Marcus could not help but notice that the ivory skin was undeniably
lined, and threads of silver wound through the flaming red locks. Still, there
remained the mysterious beauty of her unfathomable eyes, the color accentuated
by the robe of green satin she wore, with curious hanging sleeves that added to
her air of mystery. Yet, the remarkable eyes were encircled in a network of
fine wrinkles.

After her
initial shock that Marcus had somehow escaped his bondage, Aurora clearly
waited for some acknowledgment of her beauty. But Marcus remained silent.

“Does
something ail you, young man? Some malady of the tongue, perhaps? You are
strangely silent!”

Aurora pursed
her lips in a pout. She veiled her eyes, then looked up from under her lids at
Marcus. Not once did she move her head, but kept it absolutely still upon her
long, slender neck.

Perhaps, Marcus
thought, it would have been difficult to move her head at all under the weight
of the golden diadem bedecked with rubies that Aurora bore. Strange, that the
flame of her hair did not clash with the red rubies. Rubies as red as blood…

“No, Your
Grace, I am not ill. At least, not with a physical malady. Yet I do ail with a
longing for my home and my parents!”

Aurora’s eyes
flashed without warning as suddenly as a thunderbolt in a clear summer sky.

“Take heed
young man or you may
join
your parents! It amazes me that you are even
here in this place. How did you escape from the Eirini? For they are a fierce
and savage people. Did you fight many men in your escape? Tell me all!”

Aurora leaned
slightly toward Marcus, a gleam of interest in her eyes, despite her pique at
the affront to her vanity.

“I did not
fight any one. I saved the life of my master and he freed me, as befitted an
honorable man.”

“And you,
Marcus, are
you
an honorable man?”

He made an
attempt to curb the anger suddenly roused by the question she had put to him.

“Am I an
honorable man?” he asked, softly at first.

“Am I an
honorable man?” he repeated.

Then his voice
gained intensity.

“
Yes
, I
am
an honorable man. So honorable that I wish to know why I was sent to
Eirinia in the first place!”

“Take care,
Marcus! I am warning you. Though I look a frail woman I am of an uncertain
temper. Take heed that you do not rouse it!”

“I have
already seen your temper roused. Indeed, I endured months of bondage at your
hands, and have seen my home fettered in chains as well. I ask again, why? What
quarrel do you have with the family of Maximus to merit such punishment?”

Aurora glared
at Marcus. Her jade eyes hardened and narrowed, like the eyes of a snake about
to strike, and the flame of her hair seemed to surround her very being as
though she was engulfed by her own rage. She made an effort to control herself.

“What my
quarrel is does not concern you; it is no business of yours. But as for sending
you to Eirinia, I thought it a fitting punishment as it was your great-great-grandfather
Ovidius Maximus, who brought about the surrender of the Eirini to Valerium!”

“What do you
mean, punishment? My great-great-grandfather was a valiant soldier. He was a
hero.”

“Yes,
certainly, a hero of Valerium. But he is not loved by the Eirini. For many
years we attempted to subdue them, but they fought on. It was Ovidius,  after a
long, fruitless campaign, who suggested that we starve them out by burning the
grass their sheep fed on, by setting fire to the forests where they hunted game
and found nuts and berries. And it was Ovidius, who suggested we torch their
villages where their women and children died, their screams for mercy piercing
the night, unheeded by their gods.”

Marcus had
once, as a small child, fallen from his pony and hit the ground, hard. As he
lay on his back looking at the puffy clouds in a clear blue sky, they seemed to
swirl in a mad dance. Now, he felt the same sensation. The face of the Empress
seemed to dance before him, her words ringing repeatedly through his head,
“their screams for mercy piercing the night, screams for mercy piercing the
night, piercing the night..”

“No!”

Forgetting
himself he leapt to his feet. He knew he could not stand until the Empress did
but he forgot protocol in his shock and horror.

The Empress
sprang to her feet with the swiftness of an arrow shot from a bow.

“Sit down, I
have not released you!” she spat out.

Marcus
recovered his sanity and did as ordered.

“Pardon, Your
Grace, but you
must
be mistaken. My great-great-grandfather was a noble
warrior. He would never have ordered the murder of innocent women and children.
Never!”

“Why, Marcus,
who said anything about murder? Your great-great-grandfather won a mighty
victory for Valerium. He subdued a proud and savage tribe who refused to submit
to our great Empire. And for that he was promoted to the head of the Imperial
Army.”

“But you said
I was punished by being sold to the Eirini.”

“No, Marcus,
your
father
was punished. I simply felt it a fitting sentence that you
slave for the Eirini, since it was your great-great-grandfather who brought
them under our yoke. Do not waste your pity on them, Marcus. They should not
have resisted us in the first place.”

Aurora’s lips
stretched in a cold smile that didn’t reach her eyes. They were hard, and
glinted like a frozen pond touched by the first icy rays of the morning sun on
a winter morn.

“Now, as for
you, young man, as you have escaped your captors, I must devise another
sentence for you. I have thought on this since the news was brought to me of
your return. And I have found a way that you can serve me and buy your freedom
if you are successful.”

Marcus tensed.
He sensed whatever the Empress was going to say was not going to be to his
liking. He raised an eyebrow inquiringly.

Aurora picked
up the thread of her thought and continued.

“I have not
always lived in Valerium, Marcus. When I was first married, and indeed until
the news of my father’s death was brought to me, my husband and I lived in one
of the outposts of our mighty Empire, where my father the Emperor felt it
necessary to send a show of his presence to keep the peace. That was in the
province of Gaudereaux, a most delightful country, full of deep forests,
rolling green hillsides, and water so clear it refreshed one to drink from the springs.

“We lived
there many years, and over the course of time, I heard of a legend, one I have
never forgotten. It was said that there is a great Pearl, a gem of marvelous
and terrible beauty. It was said that it is more costly than gold, more
precious than silver, more glorious than any other jewel to be found in all the
world. And it was said that any one could buy it, but the price of it cost all
that one possessed. Have you ever heard of this Pearl, Marcus?”

“No, Your
Grace, I have never heard of it.”

“I have been
obsessed with the thought of possessing that Pearl since first I heard of it. I
sent messengers far and wide for further news of it, of where it might be
found. But no one could tell me more. Yet I know it exists; of that I am
certain.”

Aurora leaned
toward Marcus, gripping tightly the arms of her throne. Her jade eyes glittered
with a greedy light in their green depths.

“I want that Pearl,
Marcus. I will never rest until I possess it. And I want you to find it and bring
it back to me.”

“But, but…I
would not know how to find it, Your Grace. Indeed, I would not know where to
begin.”

“Why, you just
simply start in the land of Gaudereaux, and go from there. You are a
resourceful young man. Anyone who could escape from the Eirini could surely
find a way to the Pearl.”

“What of my
parents? My journey may be a long one. What of them? How long must they be your
prisoners?”

Aurora lifted
her head slightly and shot Marcus a dazzling smile. Then she laughed a tinkling
laugh like the jingle of silver bells.

“Oh, did I not
make it clear to you? The release of your parents depends upon the success of
your quest. No Pearl, no parents.”

Marcus
struggled for breath. He stared at Aurora blindly, the room spinning around him
once more.

“I want that Pearl.
You go and get it for me. Then we will talk about releasing your parents. But,
Marcus, you bring me that Pearl.”

He would never
forget that door. Of sturdy oak six inches thick it was carved, with iron bars
bolted across it, heavy nails studded from top to bottom holding the planks
together. Set in a wall of cold gray stone, the door was the most forbidding
sight he had ever laid eyes on. Behind that door was his father.

Marcus inhaled
slowly. What lay behind that door? Would his father be as he had always been,
strong, dignified, and stately? Or would he be weak, cowed, and stooped from
the months of imprisonment?

The guard
poked his side roughly.

“A quarter of
an hour. That’s all the Empress allows you. I will be right outside this door,
so I would not attempt an escape if I were you!”

He snarled and
spat on the floor, then pushed Marcus into the room. The door creaked as he
slammed it shut behind him.

It was dark in
the cell, lit only by a torch held in an iron bracket in the corner of the high
ceiling. This shed only a meager light, and it took a full moment for Marcus to
adjust to the darkness. Somewhere he heard a steady dripping from some leak in
the outer wall. Drip, drip. Drip, drip.

Then he saw
slumped on a cot the figure of a man. He was bent over, his head in his hands.

“Father! Oh,
Father, how I have longed for a sight of your face!”

Marcus hurried
to him and knelt at his feet. He removed his father’s hands from his head and
placed them on his own cheeks so that they cupped his face between them. It was
an old gesture of endearment between himself and his father, one that Marcus
remembered from his earliest childhood days. His father used to say to him as
he cupped his face, “In these hands I hold the dearest treasure I possess save
for my beloved wife.”

As Marcus now
cupped his face between his father’s hands, Valerius stirred and fixed his gaze
on the figure who knelt before him.

“Marcus?
Marcus, my son! Is that truly you? I never thought to see you again!”

A stifled sob
racked his body and he doubled over as if in pain.

“Father! Do
not weep or distress yourself! For truly I am alive and well.”

Marcus slid
his father’s hands from his face and placed them upon his shoulders. He placed
his own hands on his father’s shoulders. Valerius straightened his back and
looked Marcus steadily in the eye. It was the closest to an embrace that they
shared, for the Valerians were of a stoic nature and did not believe in
demonstrating their feelings.

“But, Marcus,
I was told you were dead these many months. Long have I lain here and grieved
for my son.”

“No, Father. I
was taken captive and sold into slavery, but I am most certainly not dead!”

And Marcus
informed his father of all that had happened since that far-off morning in June
when his world was destroyed and all hope nearly snuffed out, like the waning
of a candle whose wick is nearly spent. He told him of the journey by sea to
Eirinia, of the bondage to Cadeyrn, and his release as a debt of gratitude.
Valerius listened in anguish at the suffering of his son, then with visible
pride as he spoke of slaying the wolf. He held his breath as Marcus related how
Cadeyrn had freed him in debt for saving his life.

“Who would
have ever thought that an Eirini could have acted so nobly? For truly, my son,
they are some of the most savage people I have ever seen.”

“Savage, yes,
but…Father, Empress Aurora told me that it was my great-great-grandfather who
brought the Eirini under subjugation to Valerium. Is that true?”

“Why, yes, of
course, it is true. He was given great honor and promoted to the head of the
Imperial Army. And I now hold that position just as he did. Or I
did
hold that position.”

His face
darkened and he tightened his lips. He clenched his fist impotently in the
gloom.

“Is it also
true that my great-great-grandfather ordered the grass and the forests to be
burned, to starve the Eirini? Is it true that he ordered their villages to be
put to the torch? For their women and children to be burned alive?”

Valerius sat
in silence. He appeared to hesitate, then to come to a decision.

“Marcus, you
have always wanted to be a soldier. From the time you were able to walk you
delighted in playing at drill, in marching proudly with a toy sword at your
side. But, truly I say to you, that you do not know what war is like. You have
never known the heat of battle, the clashing of metal, the screaming of the
wounded and dying. You have never faced a foe with the knowledge, even in the
horror of the revelation of that knowledge, that it is a matter of your life or
his.

“Yes, your great-great-grandfather
was the one who devised the torching of the grasslands, the forest, and the
villages. But he was a Valerian soldier, a
great
Valerian soldier. And
the Valerians have never been known for weakness.”

“Weakness? No,
for it was utterly ruthless!” Marcus burst out.

“Ruthless, I
grant you,” Valerius agreed. “Yet if one wants power, one must seize it. It
will not come to you; you must grasp it. That is what has made Valerium a great
Empire, the greatest empire the world has ever known.”

Marcus felt
suddenly a heavy weight descend on his shoulders. He admired and esteemed his
father dearly. All of his life he had been proud to be his son, to be a citizen
of Valerium. He loved to hear his name whispered in the marketplace, to be
greeted with awe by the humble plebs who saluted the son of the great Valerius
Maximus. But now he felt a taste in his mouth as bitter as an orange not yet
fully ripe.

He decided in
deference to his father to not disagree with him. He did not wish the parting
from him to be an acrimonious one, to be spent in useless words that could only
bring pain to both their hearts.

For Aurora had
granted him this one wish: to be permitted to take leave of his father before
venturing on his quest. He wanted proof that his father was still alive, and to
also assure him of his safe return. The thought of Aurora brought another
question to his mind.

“Father, what
quarrel does the Empress have with you that she should imprison you? What harm
have you ever done to the Empire?”

Valerius
flinched and turned his gaze from Marcus. His hawk-like profile was presented
to his son as he stared at the floor as though deep in thought. Then he cleared
his throat and faced his son. He squared his shoulders and lifted his chin.

“To the
Empire, I have done no harm. I have ever served it faithfully, honorably,
always proud to be a soldier of Valerium.

“But between
Empress Aurora and myself there is another matter, one that lies in the past,
in the days of our youth. For we knew each other then, knew each other quite
well. My father was esteemed by the Emperor Beatus, her father, and I was one
of the young men he favored for his daughter’s hand.”

Valerius
paused and glanced questioningly at Marcus, who was astonished at his father’s
revelation.

“You, but, my
mother,” Marcus blurted.

“I had not yet
met your mother. And at the time I
did
find Aurora beautiful and
charming, always light-hearted and quick to laugh. We spent many hours in one
another’s company; walks in the woods where Aurora seemed as free as a spirit
of air come to grace this plodding earth, in moonlit courtyards where her
beauty seemed to eclipse the loveliness of the stars, and at formal banquets
which were but a setting for her glory, like a jewel set in a crown. Oh, yes,
you see her now and she is an aging woman, but in the glory of her youth she
was as radiant as the dawn.

“Yes, I
courted her, knowing that if I won her I would be elevated to the highest
position in the land: the Emperor’s son-in-law, and the husband of the future
Empress. Yet, there was that about her which I found disturbing, not appealing
in a wife, and that boded ill for the future. Aurora had a greedy love of
gifts, almost like a little girl who wanted what she wanted and must have it
at
once
. And woe to the person who possessed what she must have and was loath
to give it up!

“I remember an
occasion of a military parade when the Emperor honored a legion just returned
from a great victory in the Rebellion of Secelia. The whole of the city turned
out to greet them. One of the horses, a black steed with a coat like satin
belonging to one of the soldiers caught Aurora’s eye. How she wanted that
horse! She ordered the solder to give it to her. He respectfully refused,
saying that he and that horse had been through many battles together and he
depended on him as he would a trusted friend.

“No one, but
no
one, ever said “no” to Aurora. Without her father’s knowledge she dispatched
four of her trusted men servants to the soldier’s villa. There they bound him,
took him to his stables and whipped him until his back ran with blood. Then
they seized the horse and took it to Aurora.

“Yes, Aurora
had a temper! She could be as giddy as a little girl one moment, then the
laughter would vanish and rage erupted as violently as a summer thunderstorm
explodes in the mountains. I was troubled by these traits, and held back from
promising any commitment.

“And then one
day, I met your mother, and in her I found all the gentleness and generosity of
spirit that Aurora so sorely lacked. Honoria was so sweet, so selfless, that I
knew without any doubt that in this woman lay my future happiness. By the very
excellence of her nature she exposed all that was false in Aurora.

“Beautiful?
Yes, but only on the surface, no deeper. It was merely a veneer. To contrast
Aurora with Honoria was to compare fool’s gold to the genuine object. No one
who has seen the deep gleam of real gold could ever again be deceived by the
shallow glitter of the counterfeit.”

Here Valerius
paused and shut his eyes as if in remembered rapture of his long ago courtship.
Marcus waited for him to continue. When it appeared as though Valerius were
lost in reverie, he gently nudged him.

“What happened
then, Father?”

“When I
announced the news of my betrothal to Honoria, it unleashed all the mad fury of
which Aurora was capable. Oh, publicly she played the perfect lady, affecting
indifference and even feigning friendly congratulations to Honoria. But
privately, when she begged an audience with me alone, she was a whirlwind of
wrath, striking out at me, throwing any object that was near at hand. She
shrieked at me, saying I was a scoundrel, that I made a fool of her and
insulted the dignity of the Imperial family. She would remember this, she would
not be mocked.

“I emerged
from that interview a shaken man, but grateful for my narrow escape. For to be
hated by Aurora is a terrible thing and even strong men quake at her fury, but
to be loved by her would be more terrible still. She cannot let go of anything
she wants or possesses, but guards it as fiercely as a dragon guards its
treasure hoard. She would destroy any who try to take it from her. And to destroy
any who try to escape from the prison of her love.”

Marcus shook
his head as he pondered on his father’s words.

“So that is
why you were seized, for the insult of refusing her love. But why
now
,
why not long ago?”

“She could not
have done this had her father the Emperor Beatus lived. He was a just man and
would never have left me in this prison. Aurora would have been merely
humiliated if she seized me only to be forced to release me at the command of
her father. If you take note of the timing, I was imprisoned barely two months
after her father’s death, and only one month after the death of her husband.”

An idea
suddenly came to Marcus. A dreadful idea, but one which must be addressed.

“Father, is it
possible that Liberius was murdered? Surely the deaths of Aurora’s father and
husband so closely together is too much of a coincidence to be true!”

“Hush, Marcus!
Watch your words in this place. But, yes,” Valerius lowered his voice. “I have
wondered about that myself.”

A new thought
tore at Marcus’ heart.

“What about
Mother? Do you think Aurora would harm my mother in revenge?”

Valerius
grabbed the hands of his son.

“Marcus, do
not torture yourself with imagination. I have not seen your mother since the
day of my imprisonment. But know this and mark it well: if any harm comes to
Honoria at the hands of Aurora, she will not live long to regret it. For then
it will be her turn to see
my
fury unleashed.”