by L. M. Roth
Chapter XXV
The Alexandrians
It was not a prince, but merely Lucius Maximus to whom Maelys was speaking, in company with his sister Felicia. Nolwenn’s pendant had given her only partial knowledge and did not reveal the other person in the picture the amulet had shown to her.
Lucius was actually somewhat amused at the first sight of their visitor. He had never seen any maiden clothed in such primitive garments, his own experience being limited to the daughters of the wealthy with whom his family mingled. And even among the Alexandrians in Valerium where the poor numbered among their company of believers their robes were of a better quality than that of the young girl who was presently a guest in their home. Her cropped hair was also a novelty when the fashion was a mane of long and flowing locks held back by a bandeau.
That she was also beautiful was the next thing that Lucius noted about her. This fact raised her in his estimation of her person, but at the same time he could not help noticing that she appeared to be completely unimpressed with him, something that he could not recall every having happened with any maiden of his acquaintance. He did not know whether to be amused or annoyed at her indifference; then decided that, as he was not particularly impressed with her appearance, he did not greatly care that she was likewise not impressed with his.
He affected a studied air of indifference so that she would realize he did not find her especially attractive.
“And Maelys shall stay with us for a few days so that she can rest after her journey,” Felicia was telling him.
“It is so kind of your parents,” Maelys murmured as she bestowed a glance of gratitude on Felicia.
“Oh, but they are delighted to have you! Mother especially since this is her first opportunity to meet one of Dag’s children. And of course Father knows you already and regards you as family. Really, it is kind of you to visit us.”
The two young women exchanged smiles that revealed how much of a bond of kinship was between them already. Lucius knew that Felicia did not particularly make friends easily, being somewhat bored with the typical female product of Valerian society, and therefore the Eirini girl was a novelty. But there was more beyond that superficiality he realized, something deeper that connected the two of them in sisterhood.
He vaguely wondered what that might be, then decided he was not really interested enough to hazard a guess.
He realized with a start that his sister was addressing him. He snapped to attention and affected interest.
“Hmm?” he inquired.
Felicia gave an exaggerated sigh of genuine exasperation.
“Lucius, you must pay attention when people are speaking to you,” she said as she clamped her lips tightly together and shook her head.
“I am listening,” he said with a huff. “What did you say?”
Felicia rolled her eyes and gave him the look that he knew so well and usually amused him. Today in front of the strange foreign girl, it embarrassed him, as it must give her the impression that his sister did not greatly respect him. That he knew that impression to be correct only made his embarrassment deeper, and he felt his cheeks flame with mortification.
“I told you that the persecution in Valerium appears to be getting worse. Maelys’ father Dag set out a few months ago to obtain news of what was happening with the believers there, as the reports in Eirinia were evil indeed. But he has not been seen or heard from since; that is why Maelys came to Lycenium because she thought her brother might be coming here to visit. She had to disguise herself as a boy for part of the journey because she was alone and unprotected.”
Suddenly Lucius felt like someone had hit him in the stomach, and he felt as small as a fly sitting on the head of a lion in order to annoy it. Here he was pretending indifference to this girl, who had left everything behind her to travel alone and unprotected in search of the father who had disappeared. Shame flooded him; Felicia was right to be exasperated with him.
“Oh, I am sorry,” he addressed Maelys, for the first time since they had been introduced.
Her disguise as a boy explained the cropped hair; she must have chopped it off to hide her true identity.
“Please let me know if I can be of service to you in any way,” he said, and rose to his feet and bowed deeply before the girl from Eirinia.
She rewarded him with a smile that was both shy and grateful, before she ducked her head modestly.
It was little wonder she was indifferent to him, Lucius thought. She only has one man on her mind at this time.
As for her, the mere thought of her courage and resolve in setting out to find her father caused her to soar in the estimation of Lucius, who thought to himself that not one of the maidens he had known in Valerium or Lycenium would have dared to do the same.
It was on the third day since Maelys arrived that a message came for Marcus. It was from Justus Lucius, and had been held up the messenger said, by a great storm that had blown the ship it had traveled on off course and cost a delay of a month’s time.
Marcus was eager to hear from his old friend and did not even wait to take the message to the library to read it as was his custom. He had been sitting with his wife, children, Kyrene, Antonius, and Maelys in the atrium, enjoying the morning sun together when the missive arrived. He quickly opened the scroll and scanned its contents.
He abruptly sat down on the nearest chair, and clasped a hand to his forehead. A moan escaped his lips before he could stifle it, and he cradled his head in his hands. He sat thus for a very long moment, unable to speak or to look at the others.
Kyrene’s eyes took on the far-seeing gaze that Felicia knew so well from her days at the school when her mentor had prophesied over others.
She knows, Felicia thought. Whatever is in that missive, she knows it already.
Finally, Tullia rose and sank to her knees before him. She gently removed his hands from his eyes and looked deeply into them. When she addressed him her voice was but a whisper.
“What is it, Marcus?”
Marcus raised his head and took a deep gulp of air; he inhaled it and then slowly released his breath. He shook his head and looked at Tullia with the helpless air of a small boy who tries to express something he does not yet have the words to express. But perhaps there were no words for the news he had to relate.
The others waited anxiously, each aware that they were not going to like what he had to share…
At last he spoke, first rising to his feet and crossing the room to Maelys. He took her hands between his own and rubbed them as soothingly and gently as if she had been his own child. She raised a bewildered gaze to him, as her eyes grew wide with apprehension.
“Maelys,” Marcus spoke at last. “I have news of your father.”
Felicia’s first thought was that she was grateful that Maelys had been with them instead of the Archippos family when she received the news of her father’s imprisonment. Although she had grown close to that family on the voyage, they did not know Dag, and the fact that he was a dear friend of the Maximus family was an incalculable relief to the young girl, who felt their genuine love and concern for him as well as herself.
She had borne it bravely and with dignity, Lucius thought. She did not cry or faint or do any of the other things that other young ladies might have done in her position. Instead, she had paled and swayed on her feet, before straightening her spine and standing as erectly as a young goddess. He felt a surge of admiration and rushed to her side. He caught one of her hands just as his sister caught the other. The three of them stood together, and he and Felicia led her to a chair where they insisted she sit down.
Tullia placed a stool in front of her, and placed her feet upon it. Then she stroked back the copper curls from her brow and kissed the top of her head. And for the first time, Maelys cried. Whether it was that the news finally smote her with an agony of comprehension, or the tenderness of a mother’s love that she received from Tullia no one was certain. She stifled her tears and dried them quickly, turning her face away so no
ne could see her pain.
And it was in that moment that Lucius fell in love. He gave his heart to her completely, whether she would ever want it or not. For the first time he saw past the coarse garments of a primitive people and even the beauty of her face to the simple nobility and majesty of her soul.
He also knew in that moment that he must hide his love for her if he were ever to gain hers.
He was roused from his thoughts by the sound of his father’s voice, addressing them with further news.
“Justus states that the persecution in Valerium is increasing,” Marcus informed them. “He writes that there have been confiscations of property, tortures, and exiles, even more than there were in the last days of Emperor Urbanus.”
There was silence in the room as they digested the horrible tidings. No one looked at anyone else; all eyes seemed fixed on a distant point that was visible only to oneself.
Ultimately Marcus voiced the thought that was uppermost in everyone’s mind.
“I do not know what shall become of Dag.”
Chapter XXVI
The Pledge
The next afternoon Felicia and Antonius invited Maelys and Lucius along with Kyrene to their villa. The October day was cool and rainy, so they sat together in the family sitting room in front of the brazier that gave warmth to the room. Felicia glanced around the room and noted the pale gold walls festooned with frescoes that primarily depicted scenes of war and battle heroes. Their color schemes of red, bronze and black complemented the ivory walls and blended in beautifully; yet she hated those frescoes and wished she could tear them down and replace them with something cheerful.
Today the frescoes seemed to her to depict the horrors that were taking place in Valerium among the Alexandrians, inflicting death, pain, and calamity on those she loved. She wondered if she would ever see Valerium again and her family home, the place that was still dearest in all the world to her. She wondered if Maelys would ever see her father…
She heard a clap of thunder in the distance and knew that one of the late afternoon storms that frequently brewed in the Mountains of Moldiva was about to let loose its fury. She drew slightly closer to Antonius, who glanced at her in surprise, but put an arm around her.
Without preamble, Antonius spoke to their guests regarding the reason for the invitation.
“What shall we do?” he asked, turning his gaze to each person in the room. “There is dire need in Valerium with our fellow brethren. Do we sit here in safety and do nothing? Or do we risk ourselves to go to their aid?”
Lucius felt his heart thump uncomfortably, wondering what Antonius meant about going to their aid. Did he mean that literally? If so, Lucius was not sure that he would want to risk his life or encounter physical danger…
Kyrene did not speak but studied the young people with a gaze both thoughtful and intense.
It was as if she were assessing them somehow, Felicia thought, taking their measure in order to determine their value. She felt a little uncomfortable, and found herself hoping that she passed muster. With that thought uppermost in her mind she ventured to speak first.
“I think we should go to their aid,” she stated boldly. “Antonius, you and I are in a position to help because your father is the Minister of State. Surely he would be sympathetic to the Alexandrian’s cause, as you are one yourself. He could then perhaps persuade Emperor Urbanus that he has nothing to fear from the Alexandrians.”
Kyrene was suddenly overcome with a fit of coughing, one so violent that it brought tears to her eyes and reddened her face. It was several minutes before she recovered and could speak, and when she did her voice was ragged with hoarseness.
“It is nothing, nothing at all,” she hastily replied in answer to their concerned queries.
And yet the tears streamed down her face and her voice choked on a sob.
Felicia hastened to her side and turned Kyrene round to face her. As she did so she peered into her eyes to determine whether she was truly alright, only to be met with a strange vision. She stared intently into the eyes of her former mentor, and as the strange vision took shape before her own eyes she gasped and clutched at her stomach.
“It is alright, Felicia,” Kyrene said in a tone of voice that warned as well as assured. “Say nothing of what you saw.”
Felicia’s eyes clung to Kyrene’s and she nodded her head obediently, her face as white as a new blanket of snow that covers an ugly landscape with a pristine loveliness. Against the whiteness of her face her lips flamed as red as blood…
Lucius realized that he did not want to know what they saw; Felicia’s face was proof enough that it must be horrible. Antonius cast a look of concern on his wife, but Maelys was frankly curious.
“You must be seers,” she commented thoughtfully. “We do not have a seer in Eirinia. There used to be women with the gift of sight who consulted crystals before my father arrived and cast down all of the idols, but we have no seer among the Alexandrians. It would be a great benefit to us to have one with such a gift.”
Lucius took the opportunity to speak to her and to divert attention away from his sister and Kyrene at the same time.
“Do you have any with special gifts among your people?” he inquired, surprised to discover that he was genuinely curious, as he had never before been greatly interested in what the Alexandrians did.
“Well, my father at times seems to have miraculous things happen when he speaks,” she replied. “I recall once when a ferocious gale blew up once and wreaked havoc, uprooting trees and destroying homes, and my father strode right to the center of the green, held up his hand, and commanded the wind to cease. And it did! And my brother Cort has been known to cast out evil spirits, although we do not have much of that in Eirinia, at least, not in our village of Leith. Apart from them we have an occasional healing take place, but not much more. My mother says there was more of it in the old days after my father came to the village, but for the past year or two there has not been as much.
“I sometimes wonder if it is because of Niamh and Enora,” she said, more to herself than the others.
Felicia raised an enquiring eyebrow at her.
“Who are they?” she asked.
“They are women who seem determined to take us back to the old ways and the old gods,” Maelys answered with a sigh. “During this past year they have tried to bring back the worship of the old gods and goddesses at our seasonal festivals. My father and Cort were there at Spring Festival and opposed them, but they were gone during the Summer Festival, and most of the villagers joined them.”
She shook her head mournfully and stared at the floor. Kyrene gasped and gave the girl her full attention.
“But that is terrible!” she exclaimed. “I was there when your father and Marcus drove out the old gods, the Tuadan the Eirini called them. The Alexandrians call them the Astra, which is their true identity; those who were cast out of Heaven in the Great Rebellion. How can someone call on them again after all these years?”
“It would seem that Enora never stopped worshiping them and she has prevailed on her sister Niamh to return to them. I could no longer bear it after the Summer Festival, and that is when I set out in search of my father, who would have done something to stop them had he been there,” Maelys replied.
A tear traveled slowly down her cheek, but this time Maelys did not stop it. This time the tear was for the wayward hearts of her people, and not a sign of personal pain that she wished to keep private from the gaze of others.
Kyrene rose to her feet and began to pace the room, her eyes looking elsewhere in a manner that would have been familiar to Marcus Maximus had he been present. The others watched her and waited for her to speak.
She at last stopped and nodded her head.
“A return to idolatry in Eirinia; and persecution in Valerium,” she stated simply. “Why? Why at the same time, do you think?”
The others pondered on her question for several minutes. Felicia spoke first.
“The
persecution began in Valerium when Emperor Urbanus still lived.”
“And why was that?” Kyrene pounced on her words like a lioness springing from its hiding place. “Why did that good man turn against the Alexandrians when he had always shown them kindness and permitted them to meet openly?”
“It is because he was befriended by Iacomus Cornelius, who told him that we pledge allegiance to another Kingdom than the Empire,” Lucius chimed in. “He told the Emperor that after first infiltrating our ranks and spying on us so that he might betray us.”
Felicia cried out in protest, but her brother refused to be merciful. It was true, and her marriage to the son of his Minister of State would not soften that stance no matter how hard she wished it to be so. Antonius hung his head and simply looked at the floor and kept silent.
Kyrene nodded and also studied Felicia before she continued.
“And what happened in Eirinia before the events at the Spring Festival?” she asked Maelys.
Maelys did not hesitate to answer or soften her words when she did so.
“My brother Brenus married a strange woman who would not give her history or the name of her homeland. She is not a follower of Dominio although she told him she was. He was foolish and refused to see how evil she is. She has brought nothing but trouble and discord to our family. And it was she who insisted on Niamh reconciling with Enora. And out of that reconciliation came their rebellion, and their attempts to turn the Eirini back to the old ways and the old gods.”
Kyrene digested this information in silence. She resumed her pacing as she meditated on the significance of these events. At last she turned to the young people.
“I recall our mentor Xenon warning your fathers and me to beware of false brethren who come in unawares. He said they are like wolves in sheep’s clothing that will devour the flock, seeking what they can for their own gain. It would appear that this is exactly what took place in both Valerium and Eirinia.
“And they have wrought great damage indeed. Let us hope they have not brought utter ruin to the Alexandrians.”
