Empress Aurora Trilogy Quest For the Kingdom Parts I, II, and III Revised With Index (Quest For the Kingdom Set) (57 page)

With a jaunty
stride Marcus entered the Imperial Palace. The now familiar stone of black
veined with blood-red did not appear so intimidating today. Marcus had faced
too many angry natives howling for his blood this year to fear these walls. Now
he had fulfilled his quest, and his own life would be spared, and he would at
last behold the faces of his beloved parents and win their release from their long
captivity.

Before he left
for his audience he consulted Logos in preparation for whatever might happen.
He knew well the volatile nature of the Empress Aurora, and thought it best to
be prepared. It would be just like her to change her mind on a whim or send him
out on another quest if she was pleased with the success of this one!

He drew the
Sword from its scabbard. He prayed a brief thanksgiving prayer to Dominio for
His help in his task, and then asked Logos for a word to prepare him for the
audience.

“Vengeance is
Mine. I will repay,” were the words that appeared on the blade that seemed
filled with a light of its own.

Vengeance?
Marcus thought. Vengeance for what? Why? His quest was successful this time,
and the release of his parents assured, the restoration of their estate all but
a certainty. Why would he want vengeance
now
?

Marcus
pondered over these words while he and his friends waited. For they had
insisted on accompanying him, saying they had been involved in the task as
well. Marcus could not refute such logic and therefore relented.

In truth, it
was with eagerness he waited, so exhilarated was he at the prospect of reunion
with his beloved parents, his return home, and then on to Lycenium to search
for Tullia.

The Empress
Aurora greeted Marcus with green eyes glittering in greedy anticipation.

“What have you
brought me, young Marcus?” she all but salivated as she ran a small tongue over
her full red lips.

“Show me the
objects I sent you to procure for me!”

“First,”
Marcus demanded with an assurance borne of success, “I wish to see my parents;
for I long to see them both again!”

Aurora frowned
and made a grimace with puckered lips. She hesitated a moment, then her face
brightened.

“I shall bring
your father up from his prison chamber,” she smiled. “Then you will show me
what you have found.”

“What of my
mother?” Marcus inquired. “She shall be brought also!”

Aurora ignored
him and clapped her hands. An attendant was quickly dispatched to fetch
Valerius, who promptly appeared and was ordered to stand before the Empress.
Aurora gazed at him with eyes that were almost tender, if that characteristic
could possibly have been applied to one of her nature.

“Hail Valerius
Maximus,” she said softly, and looked at him as though the two of them were
alone with none to hear her words. “How like you my hospitality? Will you
regret leaving these walls? Will you regret leaving my company?”

Her voice
broke, and in it Marcus heard all the longing he himself felt for Tullia. Was
it possible that the Empress truly loved his father still?

Valerius stood
before the Empress in silence. He ignored both her words and the presence of
his son. It hurt Marcus that he would not look at him. The Empress, rebuffed,
turned her attention back to Marcus.

“I am
waiting,” she warned him.

Marcus knew
that tone of voice and knew to put her off longer would be folly. He turned to
Felix, who handed him one by one the precious objects.

Marcus held up
a vial filled with clear water.

“As requested,
the Fountain of Youth. For it was taken from a stream where those who bathe in
it find healing from the infirmities of age.”

Aurora’s eyes
gleamed with a hard light, and her delicate face gloated over the vial.

“Give it to
me!” she ordered.

Marcus handed
it to her and continued.

“The Rays of
the Sun,” he announced as he cradled in his hand the clear orange nugget taken
from the cave.

Aurora
snatched it from his hand and held it to her throat, obviously picturing a
pendant from the stone.

“Next,” Marcus
said, well pleased with Aurora’s satisfaction, “is a star from the sky; for it
fell on a night when many stars fell from the heavens.”

Aurora looked
at the cold gray lump in Marcus’ hand. Clearly, she was not as pleased with
this offering.

“That is not a
star!” she pouted. “Stars are shiny and flash like diamonds. That is a mere
lump of rock!”

“No, my lady,”
Marcus insisted. “I witnessed its fall. It was hot when it fell, but cooled in
good time.”

Aurora did not
answer, but looked at Marcus with an expression that did not bode well for the
outcome of this audience.

With some
trepidation he presented the final object.

“And last of
all,” he announced, “the secret of Life.”

Aurora
examined it.

“A seed? A
seed
!”

She rose to
her feet so rapidly that Marcus involuntarily jumped back.

“What kind of
fool do you take me for?” she screamed in a voice that pierced him to the soul.

Marcus stood
his ground.

“Yes! A seed;
for whatever a man sows that is what he shall reap. Even as a maple seed
becomes a maple tree and not an oak tree, so too a man’s deeds whether for good
or evil will reward or punish him.”

“Well,
your
deeds shall punish
you
!” Aurora screamed at him, stomping one foot for
emphasis.

But Marcus did
not flinch.

“Where is my
mother, Empress? You promised the release of
both
of my parents. Where
is she?”

Aurora looked
at him blankly for a moment; a wary look crept into her eyes, then a slow smile
spread across her face.

“Honoria? Hmm,
what did I do with Honoria?” she appeared to ask herself, tapping a finger on
her teeth, a frown of concentration on her face.

“Oh, yes! I
remember now.”

She
straightened up and smoothed her robe about her and looked at Marcus with the
wide eyed gaze of a little girl.

“Honoria,” she
said, as she twisted a tendril of flame colored hair about her finger, “is
dead. Yes, she is dead.”

Marcus could
not breathe. He clutched his abdomen. Valerius also was shocked out of his
silence and a gasp escaped his lips.

“Dead,” Aurora
repeated.

“But how, you
said, I thought,” Marcus stammered.

“Well, with so
many matters to attend to my servants simply forgot to feed her,” Aurora
replied, and shrugged her shoulders with a casual air. “What can one expect
with such a vast Empire to rule over? Mistakes
can
be made and some
things are overlooked. Fortunately she did not suffer long; she only lasted
about a month of her imprisonment,” Aurora stated in mock regret.

“A
month
?”
Marcus repeated, in a voice barely above a whisper. “You led me to believe that
both
of my parents were alive when you
twice
sent me out on a
quest! And all this time my mother was actually dead?”

“Yes! And you
failed
me on
both
of those quests!” Aurora spat the words out at him. “And
after the fool you have made of me on this one I have a mind to send you to
join her!”

Marcus saw one
long green sleeve fly up in the air like the wing of a dragon, and a flash of
silver blazed in the air. The Empress lunged at him with the knife, but before
he could move Valerius leaped between him and the crazed Aurora. Marcus heard
the groan from his father’s lips, and saw him fall under Aurora’s hand.

When Aurora
saw what she had done she screamed and flung herself on Valerius, who lay in
agony on the floor.

“Valerius!
Valerius, speak to me! I did not intend to harm you! For truly you are the only
person I have ever loved.”

And Aurora
burst into a passion of weeping. She pulled the dagger from Valerius’ wound,
and flung it aside and cradled him in her arms, his crimson blood staining her
emerald robe.

“Aurora,”
Valerius whispered.

“Yes,
Valerius,” she sobbed.

“I loved only
one woman all my life. You know that, don‘t you?” he said to the weeping
Empress.

“And who is
that, Valerius? Who might that be?” she whispered as she smiled at him through
her tears.

Valerius
struggled to speak, his breathing labored now. He raised his head and looked
Aurora in the eyes.

“My wife,” he
stated, with the last of his strength. “My gentle Honoria. May you suffer as
she did. May your life be cut short, even as hers was.”

Aurora
stiffened and drew herself back. Valerius fought for breath and reached up a
hand toward Marcus.

“My son,” he
moaned. “All is well with us, my beloved son.”

“Father!”
Marcus wailed. “Father, do not give up!”

But Valerius
smiled softly at Marcus and moved no more.

For a moment
Marcus could do nothing, nothing except stare at the body of his adored father.
Then a cold anger burned in his heart, as cold and implacable as the blade of
steel which had pierced the heart of his father. He turned to Aurora, who still
gazed on the body of Valerius with blank, unseeing eyes.

“You,” he
began in a low tone savage in its hostility. “You! You took my home, my mother,
and my father! Were it not for Dominio and the grief it would cause His heart I
would slay you on this spot. As it is, I pray that Dominio grants you mercy,
for I feel
none
for you!”

“Nor do I!” a
voice suddenly shouted behind Aurora. A scream erupted from her lips, and she
fell forward over the body of Valerius and lay still.

Behind them,
Elena stood gloating with a savagery that stunned those who beheld it. She
removed the dagger from Aurora’s back and wiped the blood on her own robe. She
smiled at Marcus with the smile of a triumphant warrior vanquishing a long
detested foe.

“That was for
my
home,
my
mother, and
my
father!” she exulted. “I did what you
could
not
do, you in your spineless beliefs!”

“Elena,”
Marcus tried to speak, but his voice failed him.

Felix and
Kyrene clustered around him, both of them weeping in anguish at the death of
Valerius.

“Do not
admonish me!” Elena scorned. “I knew you would never satisfy this wicked woman.
I only accompanied you to take my vengeance for what her husband did to me!”

Vengeance.
Marcus remembered the words of Logos that morning. Dominio already knew that
Honoria was dead. And Marcus in a flash recalled the vision he had of her in
the cave the previous summer, how she had sunk into the ground and did not rise
again…

Marcus
suddenly remembered also Elena’s story, of how the Prince had abandoned her to
the slave market when he had to return home to his wife, who was jealous and
would not tolerate Elena’s presence; and remembered also the sense of
uneasiness he and Kyrene both felt when they departed from Gaudereaux. Why did
he not ask Elena where the Prince and his wife lived?

How could he
have been so blind, when he knew this girl had always mystified him and caused
him at times to wonder at her motives? He had always wondered why, having
witnessed so many miracles at the hand of Dominio, she had not pledged herself
to him. Now he knew why: her desire for revenge had consumed her, blinding her
to all else, leaving within her no room for repentance.

Now the guards
were alerted and seized Elena, who spat at them, kicking and screaming. She
cursed them in a ragged voice that none present had ever heard her use: her
tone had always been as dulcet as a dove’s. But now like a hoarse, croaking
raven she abused the guards in words terrible in their meaning.

Suddenly, she
broke away from them and whirled defiantly to face them.

“You cannot
hold me!” she sneered.

“Elena!” Felix
cried. “What have you done? You have taken the life of another, and now your
life is forfeit!”

Elena suddenly
ceased her cursing, and panting hard for breath, turned dazed eyes upon Felix.

“It is true,”
he told her gently. “What Aurora did to Marcus and his family, and what her
husband did to you and yours was wrong, evil, but you did not right it by
killing her. You have only harmed yourself.”                     

“No,” Elena
whispered, as she shook her head, bewildered at the words of Felix.

“Yes, Elena,”
Marcus rued, as he looked with sadness on the confusion of the former slave
girl. “Do you not remember the word that was given to you in Grete’s Land? ‘It
is time to choose: light or darkness, life or death. If you turn from your own
way, Dominio will bless and keep you. But if you go your own way, He cannot
protect you from the decisions you make, that may bring their own evil
consequences.’ You were given a choice Elena: but you chose darkness and it
will bring about your own death.”