by L. M. Roth
“What shall we do, Marcus? How shall we find her? Where do we even begin to look?” Tullia wailed openly now as tears began to stream down her face.
He pulled her into his arms and soothed her. Slowly she relaxed against him and sighed slightly. Gradually she stopped her weeping and lifted her face to his to search his eyes for answers.
“I can not think of where she may have gone,” he answered her. “And Kyrene said that she has no idea either. But when she made inquiries at the docks, she was informed that a young lady fitting Felicia’s description boarded a ship that was enroute to Valerium. Yet she would not be safe there, so she must have some other plan in mind and will continue her journey on foot or take another ship.”
He shook his head in anguish. His daughter had always had a special place in his heart, and now that his initial anger was passing, he entertained his concern for her welfare.
“Valerium,” Tullia mused. “No, she would not be heading to Valerium itself. But would she wish to visit somewhere near Valerium? Or did she take the ship to prevent us tracking her route and her destination is somewhere different altogether?”
They looked at one another in growing puzzlement: where could Felicia possibly head for if Valerium was not safe? For she was a maiden traveling alone and with her shyness would not wish to live among strangers.
The thought struck them both at the same moment, and their eyes widened as the tension was released from their bodies.
“Eirinia,” Tullia stated firmly. “Felicia is heading for Eirinia!”
Marcus nodded his head in agreement.
“I must write Dag to expect her arrival. And I will leave at once to intercept her there.”
Chapter XXXV
An Alarming Loss
Lucius pulled the Sword out of its sheath. He paused for a moment to marvel at the sheer beauty of it, glistening with the silvery sheen of a moon in autumn. Truly it was a thing of glory!
Then he presented it to Antonius, who lay in his sickbed. The other boy shared his sense of awe as he looked upon Logos.
“Oh, how beautiful!” he whispered. “I have never in my life seen anything so lovely! Never! It is a marvel, Lucius; truly a marvel!”
“Yes, and one day it shall be mine,” Lucius boasted.
He took the Sword and swished it through the air as if in battle. It flashed as it whooshed! in an arc around him.
Antonius suddenly grew uncomfortable.
“But, didn’t you tell me that Logos must never be used in violence, Lucius? So why are you pretending to use it as a weapon in warfare?”
Lucius stopped suddenly and lowered the Sword.
“Yes, that is true, but the thought of using it as a weapon is exciting you must admit, Antonius. Did you ever see another sword as magnificent as Logos?”
“No, never,” Antonius agreed. “But it must be treated with reverence, if everything you tell me about it is true.”
“Of course, it’s true!” Lucius huffed. “Do you think I would make up such a story: Logos has unusual gifts, I tell you.”
“Show me,” Antonius said eagerly. “I would love to behold the marvel of its gifts!”
“Alright,” Lucius agreed. “Ask Logos a question. And watch the blade very closely.”
Antonius pondered for a long moment. He wanted to ask something profound and not treat the sacred object as some plaything. In truth, Lucius’ treatment of the Sword made him distinctly uncomfortable.
At last he thought of something.
He opened his mouth to inquire, only to close it abruptly. After all, how did one address an inanimate object?
He took a deep breath to steady himself.
“Logos,” he asked in a hushed tone. “What is Dominio’s purpose for my life?”
The Sword lay inert in the hands of Lucius. Then a faint gleam slowly began to emanate from its blade, banishing all shadows from the room. Words appeared in a silver script.
“You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, strength and mind,” it stated.
Both of the young men gasped. Antonius glowed with excitement and Lucius abandoned his usual offhand indifference to share in his friend’s enthusiasm.
“It is a miracle!” Antonius breathed.
“Ask it another question,” Lucius urged him.
“Logos, what is the wisest advice you would give us to live by?” Antonius addressed the Sword.
Words appeared once again on the blade.
“God is not mocked.”
Suddenly the game was no longer amusing, and Lucius hastened to shove the Sword back into its sheath. Antonius breathed hard as his eyes widened in fear.
“We should not have played such a game with the Sword, Lucius. It is a holy object and we have treated it as an amusement!”
Lucius would not admit even to himself that he felt a twinge of fear when those last words appeared on the blade. He shrugged his shoulders as though unconcerned.
“Not to worry, Antonius,” he assured his friend.
A thought struck him that he thought would placate the other boy.
“I say: why don’t you keep Logos with you tonight? As I am staying with you for a few days, I see no harm in it. And its presence might even heal you of your ailment.”
It was true that Antonius’ illness had not abated, but continued to plague him and confined him to bed.
“It is tempting,” Antonius admitted. “But how did you take the Sword without your father noticing that it was missing?”
Lucius laughed.
“Father and Mother are both too upset right now to notice much of what goes on around them. Ever since Felicia ran away she is their one thought and concern. I was able to take Logos from his room when they were in one of their councils in the library.”
A shadow touched his face: Lucius was genuinely fond of his younger sister and was tremendously worried about her safety himself. Was she alright?
“Keep it with you tonight and perhaps you shall be restored to full health in the morning!”
Antonius agreed, and they parted for the night.
The next day Antonius did feel stronger when he woke, and they decided to take a turn around the garden so he could breathe some fresh air. Before they left his room Lucius returned Logos to his knapsack and they strode outdoors.
Antonius exulted in the scent of the fresh blooms and the song of the birds and his heart lightened. He laughed frequently and for no reason as he reveled in the beauty of the spring day. The mere return of sunshine and fair skies was enough to banish all care, he declared.
It was two nights later that Lucius returned home. As he entered his Grandmother’s house he was met by his mother who informed him that Marcus had booked passage on a ship to Eirinia. They were certain they would find Felicia there and he would drag her back bodily if necessary to Lycenium.
Lucius was relieved that there was some inkling at least of where to search for his sister. He spent an hour with Tullia listening to her frustrations with her wayward daughter before they adjourned to the dining room for the evening meal.
They had some guests that night who joined them for dinner, Maurus Fabius and his wife Ursula, a couple who was unknown to Lucius. They were acquaintances that Drusilla had made and she considered them important people for the Maximus family to know.
Here we go again, Lucius rolled his eyes. Two more of Grandmother’s pet people to cultivate in her climb up the social ladder. The Fabius’ did not particularly interest him, Maurus being an aristocrat whose indulgence at the table betrayed itself in a portly build and reddened complexion. Ursula was slim and elegant, with a voice as smooth as satin that relayed the latest scandals of Lycenium society for Drusilla’s entertainment.
The weather turned suddenly and a storm blew up as was not unusual in the Mountains of Moldiva. So fierce was it that Drusilla suggested her guests spend the night rather than venturing into the torrent of rain and the blistering gales of wind. They gratefully accepted her gracious off
er of hospitality and the household retired to bed for the night.
The next morning Lucius decided to go for an early morning walk and ambled around the garden for an hour or so before returning to the villa for breakfast. As he roamed among the roses and carnations that were now in full bloom he paused to savor the wonder of spring. What a miracle, its return every year, refreshing the heart after the long bleakness of winter.
Their guests had already left without breaking their fast, Tullia informed him when he inquired of their whereabouts. Some pressing business did not permit them to remain and they left about ten minutes ago. They were not remaining in Lycenium but heading for Golida, they had said.
Lucius shrugged indifferently and talked of nothing of consequence throughout the meal. Drusilla joined them and he was amused at her breathless account of how clever their new friends were, and how flattered she was at their attention. Close friends of the Hadrianus family, she said, and therefore highly respectable.
He did not miss the way his mother’s face flinched when Drusilla mentioned the Hadrianus family. Still, he kept his peace and just nodded here and there to fool his grandmother into thinking he was actually listening.
After the meal was over, he went to his room. He had just remembered that he had not unpacked his knapsack from his return of the day before, and he wanted to return Logos to his father’s hiding place at the first opportunity, preferably when his mother went to call on friends for the day.
He opened the door of his room and took the knapsack from the table where he had flung it down after his arrival the day before. He opened it and pulled his robes off of the top of the stack where he had placed them to hide the sheath where Logos lay hidden.
Lucius stared in disbelief. He wondered if he was still asleep and having a terrible dream.
It could not be, he thought in dismay. It can not be!
The robes were pulled aside. But there was no sheath.
And Logos, the fabulous Sword given to his father that must never be used in violence, was missing.
Quest For the Kingdom
Part V
Rise of the Time of Evil
By L. M. Roth
Copyright 2013 © L. M. Roth
All Rights Reserved
Preface
Laig appeared uncomfortable suddenly and hesitated. He threw a glance over his shoulder; seeing that they had not been followed he continued.
“I mean this: no one has ever been found with an expression like was found on his face, with no mark on them, no explanation for what took the life of them. For though some have left the path and not returned, none have been found off the path dead, and with no reason for their demise.”
He lowered his voice and glanced at the ground to avoid the question in Dag’s eyes.
“And?” Dag prompted him to go on.
“The Tuadan: he must have encountered the Tuadan. For it is clear that something frightened him to death, and that mound had once been one of the sites of their rituals.”
“The Tuadan were cast out of their places long ago,” Dag reminded Laig in a voice so stern that it startled him.
“Yes, yes, I know: I said the same to myself when I found his body. But the smell of evil was in that place where we found him. An evil I remembered as a boy. For I know; I had an encounter myself once, in that very spot. Long ago it was, yet I remember it well. Indeed, it would be impossible to forget!”
And Laig shuddered and passed his face across his hand. He closed his eyes for a moment, and then raised his head to look at Dag.
“I was seventeen, and walking in the woods one May evening, very much like this one. I had gone to visit a friend in Annick and cut through the woods for a shortcut. It had been a fine day, and the air was full of birdsong, something I always missed in the winter months and noticed in the spring.
“As I wandered along I disregarded the warnings to stay to the path. Oh, I had been told many times not to stray from it, but the grass was so green and I took off my shoes to feel it between my toes as I walked through it. I recall laughing for pure joy and spinning around, very silly I know, but I was only a youth.
“As I spun around I suddenly became aware that the birds had stopped singing. Just like that; one minute singing their songs, the next complete silence. I had an eerie feeling come over me, and realized there was no sound of anything else in the spot. Do you know how many sounds are to be heard in the woods, Dag? Birds singing, rabbits rustling through the grass, squirrels leaping through the trees, making the branches creak beneath them, twigs snapping as deer leap and descend. There was nothing, nothing I tell you!
“And then, I heard it. A footstep. And another. Right behind me. I turned and looked. There was no one there. But I saw something that nearly frightened the life out of me. The grass, Dag. The grass suddenly fell beneath an unseen step; the same step that was following me.
“I did not wait to see who was there but ran as fast as I could back to the path. For once I was on the path I would be safe; that is what I had always been told, and to the path I flew. I tore out of that place as fast as I could, never looking behind me to see what followed, all the way until I was safely out of the woods.
“And he was found in that very spot. And even as a boy, he tried to leave the path to explore beyond. And if you were to ask me, it was leaving the path this time that killed him.
“Because in my heart, I know he had an encounter with the Tuadan, and whatever he saw scared the life right out of him.”
Table of Contents
Chapter I
A Confession Most Awful
Chapter II
A Terrible Revelation
Chapter III
A Mystery Most Baffling
Chapter IV
The Widow
Chapter V
The Tuadan
Chapter VI
The Return Home
Chapter VII
An Unexpected Encounter
Chapter VIII
A Love So Right
Chapter IX
Danger In the Forest
Chapter X
Encounter In Golida
Chapter XI
Greetings In Eirinia
Chapter XII
Strange Tidings
Chapter XIII
A Bitterness Remembered
Chapter XIV
The Rulers of the Wild Places
Chapter XV
The Secret of Melisande
Chapter XVI
The Plot
Chapter XVII
Dilemma In Golida
Chapter XVIII
Lucerna
Chapter XIX
Trouble In Eirinia
Chapter XX
Unexpected News
Chapter XXI
Journey Through Valerium
Chapter XXII
Land of Eternal Bliss
Chapter XXIII
A Peril Forgotten
Chapter XXIV
A MAN OF IMPORTANCE
Chapter XXV
News In Lycenium
Chapter XXVI
A GHOST FROM THE PAST
Chapter XXVII
An Alarming Mystery
Chapter XXVIII
Antonius
Chapter XXIX
The Marriage
Chapter XXX
A Journey Together
Chapter XXXI
The Wise Woman
Chapter XXXII
Maiden, Mother, Crone
Chapter XXXIII
Reunion In Lucerna
Chapter XXXIV
Tidings of Woe
Chapter XXXV
The Fate of Logos
Chapter I
A Confession Most Awful
Lucius stared with growing disbelief at his knapsack. It could not be; it was impossible! But alas! it was true: Logos, the fabulous Sword that was his father’s legacy to him, was gone.
So stunned was he at the discovery that for an agonizing moment, he c
ould not even breathe. He swayed on his feet, dizzy from the shock. He sat down abruptly on his bed and put his head between his hands to steady himself.
How could this have happened? Desperately he tried to remember the trail of events of the last few days. He had spent two nights with Antonius before going home. On his return, he had spent an hour with his mother, then joined her and his grandmother for dinner with their guests, Maurus and Ursula Fabius. He had risen early and taken a walk for an hour or so before breaking his fast with his mother, who informed him that their guests had already left due to some pressing business.
Lucius drew in his breath sharply. The thought that just entered his mind was too incredible for belief; yet no other explanation was possible. The Fabius’ were strangers: what did they know of them? Nothing, was the answer. Could it be? Had they taken Logos for some reason unknown to Lucius? There would have been time while he was ambling around in the garden and his mother and grandmother would have been below stairs preparing to break their fast.
But what possible motive would these strangers have for taking Logos?
Lucius steeled himself for the interview with his mother. He toyed with the thought of hiding the theft and solving the mystery himself, but he needed more information about their guests and his questions would most certainly alert Tullia to the fact that something was wrong. He also knew that he would have to leave the villa to follow them and he would have to give a reasonable explanation for his abrupt departure following his return home.
He decided that the sooner he started on his journey the quicker he would find them. Bearing this in mind, he left his room and searched for his mother. He found Tullia at ease in her sitting room, going through some correspondence that needed answering. She glanced up when she heard her son’s footsteps, and a look of alarm crossed her face when she beheld his desperate expression that suddenly aged his face by years.
“Lucius! Whatever is the matter?” she cried out. “You are as pale as a ghost!”
