Scarlet From Gold (Book 3)
Read Scarlet From Gold (Book 3) Online
Authors: Jeffrey Quyle
“The Lady Iasco is dead!” another woman shouted, as she feinted with her sword.
“I can bring her back to life!” Marco shouted angrily, so loudly that it felt as though his words echoed off the walls of the alley.
He had no idea what made him say anything so extraordinary, but it had clearly shocked the women.
“What do you say?” one of them asked.
“He may be right, my friends. Leave this to me,” a voice at the end of the alley caught the attention of them all.
“Are you Folence?” he asked.
“The Lady Folence to you,” someone in the group nearest him corrected him with a growl.
“Of course I am, boy. Now come to me,” she ordered, and there was a compulsion in her voice that made Marco’s feet involuntarily start.
Marco checked himself from going, and watched carefully as the women around him shuffled into new positions.
“If I go to her, are you going to try to attack me?” he asked the group.
“We won’t try; we’ll either attack or we won’t,” someone said with bravado that made Marco grin in spite of himself.
“I’ll trust you this time,” Marco said.
Folence’s entourage included two women who held blazing torches that provided illumination around her. As Marco approached her, he studied her looks by the flickering light; she looked regal, and determined. He wouldn’t want to be opposed to her in a test of wills he realized, even as he was possibly headed into just such a confrontation.
“Why are you limping Marco?” she asked.
“I want my memories back,” he said at the same time as they came face to face.
“Bow to the Lady,” said one of the attendants, who shoved him down to the ground.
And at that moment, his hand exploded forth a bursting shower of fragments of light.
Alchemy’s Apprentice Series
- The Gorgon’s Blood Solution
- The Echidna’s Scale
- Scarlet from Gold
- The Southern Trail
The Inner Seas Kingdoms Series
- The Healing Spring
- The Yellow Palace
- Road of Shadows
- A Foreign Heart
- Journey to Uniontown
The Ingenairii Series
- Visions of Power
2. At the Seat of Power: Goldenfields and the Dominion
3. The Loss of Power: Goldenfields and Bondell
4. The Lifesaving Power: Goldenfields and Stronghold
5. Against the Empire
6. Preserving the Ingenairii
7. Rescuing the Captive
8. Ajacii and Demons
9. The Caravan Road
10. The Journey Home
Also by Jeffrey Quyle
The Green Plague
For more information, visit the Ingenairii Series on Facebook,
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Scarlet From Gold
Alchemy’s Apprentice Series
Book 3
Jeffrey Quyle
Index
Chapter 1 –The Pilgrimage Begins Page 1
Chapter 2 – A Cathedral Reunion Page 20
Chapter 3 –The Fight at the Inn Page 31
Chapter 4 –The Journey Resumed Page 38
Chapter 5 –The Most Beautiful Woman Page 50
Chapter 6 – Return to Ophiuchus Page 55
Chapter 7 –An Unkind Welcome Page 61
Chapter 8 – Folence’s Report Page 64
Chapter 9 –The Trial Page 70
Chapter 10 –The Journey Begins Page 74
Chapter 11 –Athens Page 84
Chapter 12 – Conversations with the Dead Page 100
Chapter 13 –The Resurrection Page 111
Chapter 14 – Departure from the Underworld Page 115
Chapter 15 –Crossing Iberia Page 126
Chapter 16 –A Wedding at Sant Jeroni Page 149
Chapter 17 –Another Departure Page 162
Chapter 18 –Iasco’s Resumption Page 165
Chapter 19 –An Interrupted Voyage Page 179
Chapter 20 –The Memories Lost Page 187
Chapter 21 – Lion City Return Page 192
Chapter 22 – Joining the Cult Page 217
Chapter 23 – Arrival in Reme Page 236
Chapter 24 – Success in Nappanee Page 250
Chapter 25 – The Gathering at Malta Page 257
List of Characters
Marco, Marquess of Sant Jeroni, alchemist
Mirra, Barcelon daughter of Coosie, mother of Sybele
Glaze, Brother of Mirra
Sweetness, cook at Sant Jeroni castle
Sheafield, huntsman at the castle
Perago, steward of the Sant Jeroni castle
Porenn, acolyte of Ophiuchus
Algornia, alchemist of the Lion City
Teresa, Algornia’s granddaughter
Iasco, high priestess of the Order of Ophiuchus
Folence, Barcelon priestess of Ophiuchus
Siplin, duke of Barcelon
Sybele, infant daughter of Mirra
Sty, alchemist of the Lion City
Ophiuchus, the spirit of the island
Baronet Gustaf, Barcelon nobleman
Kieweeooee, a dolphin princess
Mitment, a former guard of the island
Diotima, a water spring spirit
Iamblichus, a Docleatean sorcerer
Neptin, leader of the merfolk village
Laris, priestess in the Lion City
Penelope, an acolyte of the Lion City temple
Count Colonna, Lion City nobleman
Statbir, a cardinal of the church
Cardinal Savoy, an ambassador of the church
Neapole, Grand Prince of Nappanee
Prologue
Marco was an under-achieving apprentice in a prestigious alchemy shop in the Lion City, one of the most powerful trading metropolises of the cities from the former empire that Clovis had governed. On a fateful day, a strange, unknown elderly woman gave him a coin, and a threatening stranger frightened him into swallowing the coin.
Marco became suddenly proficient in alchemy, rapidly completing a complex formula and showing promise. But before his promise could be realized, he was caught up in an unforeseen raid on the city by a band of brutal Corsairs, aided by a powerful sorcerer who traveled with them.
Together, Marco and Kreewhite the merman escaped the Corsair ship in a storm, and landed on an enchanted island, Ophiuchus. They became separated, and Marco found that the island was a center and a temple for a female cult of healing.
Marco went to a medium-sized city, Barcelon, where he found work in a dying alchemy shop.
Marco healed and helped a young mother, Mirra, and then helped save the city from both a plague and a raid by the Corsairs and their sorcerer-leader.
Afterwards, injured in a fall, Marco was sent to Ophiuchus for healing. From there he was commanded to go in search of a mythical monster, the Echidna, and acquire one of the monster’s scales.
His journey to find the Echidna became an epic winter journey through treacherous mountain heights, accompanied by three companions who bonded with him as their trip was beset by challenges and dangers.
In the far north of the world, they find and battle the Echidna, and escape with a scale in hand, but then travel through the underworld to find a path to freedom. And the path proves to have challenges of its own, so that Marco becomes separated from the others, and emerges from the underworld in a different location, alone, and without his memories.
He only knows that he must travel to see Lady Folence if he wants his memories back.
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Chapter 1 – The Pilgrimage Begins
When the boat from Station Island reached the pier at Lacarona, Marco was one of the first passengers to disembark. The members of the crew watched as the odd but pleasant young man left the ship, and a few called out a sincere farewell as they observed him work his way through the milling crowds along the port’s harbor front and disappear from view. They quickly returned to their duties around the ship, and Marco was forgotten.
Marco had spent his time on the ship listening to the other passengers and asking them questions about the directions to get to Compostela, the site of the great holy cathedral at which so many pilgrims reported having miracles performed and prayers answered. The passengers on the ship included many of the very devout and the fairly wealthy, those who had the motivation and the means to make back-to-back pilgrimages to the monastery of Saint Joseph on Station Island and then to the cathedral at Compostela. They had proven to have a wealth of knowledge that they had been eager to share with Marco over the two days the voyage to Lacarona had lasted.
