by L. M. Roth
She waited to hear his response; it was vital that she hear his true feelings about the young woman before she gave him the news she had to disclose.
“Hmpf! Quite an experience, I am sure,” Cort huffed.
He had tensed immediately at the mention of the young woman’s name, a fact which Kyrene noted with displeasure.
“She is your sister-in-law, Cort, and therefore is entitled to your respect,” she warned in a voice he had never heard before.
Indeed, it was so stern that he turned to her with a sense of shock.
“Kyrene? What is the matter?” he asked in genuine bewilderment.
“You have been unkind to her, Cort,” Kyrene pronounced, a note of authority in her voice that was new to him.
“Unkind? She tricked my brother into marriage without revealing anything of her history, and tried to kill Dag! Why should I be kind to her?” he questioned in all sincerity, certain he was in the right.
“That does not give you the right to be cruel, Cort. Have you forgotten what Xenon told us to beware of: it is not flesh and blood that is our enemy, but those who are deceived by the Astra? And Melisande is indeed deceived by the Astra, so much so that I begin to wonder whether one of them hides within her, so great is her propensity for evil. But remember, Cort, she has been deeply wounded by the loss of her mother, and is convinced that Dag was to blame. I spoke to her and told her what really happened; she listened as though hearing this for the first time. And she told me that she could listen to me because I did not judge her as you did.”
He was startled to realize that his old friend had grown indeed to speak to him in such a manner. It was with surprise that he remembered suddenly that she had been a mere girl when he knew her, and now had reached the pinnacle of her gifting. He found himself scrambling to justify his behavior.
“But she is evil, Kyrene! If you only knew what she has put my family through you would understand…”
Kyrene cut off the flow of words.
“Cort! There is nothing to understand except this: did you deserve the mercy that Dominio gave you in sending His Son to take your place for treason? Did you deserve the mercy that Dag showed you in forgiving you after you lied to him, hiding your identity so that he did not fulfill his vow to his kin and kill you? And did you not hide your family background from Dag even as Melisande hid hers?”
Cort squirmed under her words; he knew she was right, but his dislike and mistrust of Melisande was engrained in him. Still, it was true that he would be held accountable for the way he treated others; that he well knew.
“No,” he said reluctantly, shaking his head slowly for emphasis. “I did not deserve such mercy.”
“None do! But Dominio is merciful, and even though you can not like Melisande you must still treat her with courtesy and the respect due a sister-in-law. Remember that she is to be pitied, as she is bound up by her own bitterness and will never know happiness until she forgives Dag and lets go of the past. That is the key to her release, but I do not know whether she will ever find it.”
Kyrene sighed and looked wistfully at the tree line ahead of them. They were in the woods but had reached a small clearing. About a half a mile ahead of them the trees clustered together as if sharing secrets about their visitors, not a thought that brought comfort when considering the history of this land and its reputation for strange creatures that inhabited the trees and the hills.
Abruptly she looked away from the trees and back to Cort.
“However, I have other news to share with you regarding Melisande,” she said briefly. “But first, allow me to ask you a question: where did she spend the first month of her stay in Eirinia? And where did she live when Brenus was courting her before the family met her?”
She was astonished at the reaction of her young friend. Cort’s breath left his lungs in an explosive gasp that seemed loud in the quiet of the woods.
“I have wondered on that myself, especially after meeting with Pascal and Gaelle in Gaudereaux,” he said eagerly.
“You have seen Pascal and Gaelle?”
“Yes, I have only recently come from there.”
And Cort hastened to fill Kyrene in on the details of his meeting with the grandparents of Melisande.
“And Gaelle said that Melisande left for Eirinia much sooner than I had thought, and I have wondered where she spent that month that is unaccounted for. Do you mean to tell me that you know?”
Kyrene nodded her head slowly and looked Cort steadily in the eye.
“I do indeed; I know exactly where she spent that month, and how she spent it.”
“Where? Do not keep me in suspense, for I feel it is of vital importance to know what her movements were.”
Kyrene laughed slightly but with a twist of her lips, Cort noted.
“Before she met Brenus Melisande spent a month in the village of Annick, where she lived with Enora, and learned the history of the Adalbarts, Eirinia and its legends and the old ways of the gods and goddesses, and displayed quite a curiosity regarding sorcery, a gift for which she exhibited quite a talent.”
Chapter V
An Evil Day
Felicia fretted in her luxurious rooms in the grand villa allotted to the Minister of State and his family. She paced back and forth, distraught by the news that emerged each day from the Imperial Palace, news that convinced her that an evil day had arisen not only for the Valeriun Empire, but for the Kingdom as well.
It was clear that the reign of Iacomus Cornelius would be one of terror. Already the numbers on the roll call of martyrs had escalated, and she found herself weeping as the atrocities against the innocent were revealed. It was horrifying enough when Iacomus had persecuted the Alexandrians, sending many into exile, death, or imprisonment. But now it was far worse.
Felicia had doubted her own hearing when she first heard that Iacomus had died, been raised from the dead, and made the incredible proclamation that Dominio must be worshiped by all citizens of the Empire or suffer death as a heretic. And she recalled the prophetic word she had given to her parents: it was the miraculous raising of the dead it referred to, and not the man who had erroneously been assumed to have died. The prophecy pertained to the future and not the past, as she had thought. And it was not of the persecution of the Alexandrians that it foretold of, but the forced worship of Dominio and the burning of the heretics.
And with that realization came fear. It was now evident to her that the Emperor had crossed the line from a ruthless despot into a madman who attempted to play God. For what could be more frightening than that?
It was the custom for her and Antonius to share meals with his parents, as they were staying as their guests. But Felicia was not happy with this arrangement, and her young husband soon shared that discontent. The more that they witnessed of the Emperor’s cruelty, the harder it was to remain in an official residence as a guest of the Empire.
“We must seek another arrangement if we are to stay here,” Felicia told her husband. “I can not bear to partake of the hospitality of such a man.”
Antonius nodded his head in agreement, albeit with a distracted air. She realized that something weighed on his mind.
“What is the matter, Antonius?”
“I am trying to determine what would be the best way to approach the Emperor about his misguided beliefs,” he answered as he sighed heavily.
Antonius slouched his shoulders slightly and rubbed the back of his neck in a gesture of weariness that wrung Felicia’s heart. She reached out a hand to stroke the line that suddenly appeared between his eyes as his frown of concentration deepened. How could Antonius believe that anyone could reach the Emperor at this point? He seemed truly beyond reason as far as Felicia could observe.
“Surely there must be some way to reason with him, to make him see the error of his beliefs,” Antonius assured her. “Yet I am at a loss to know how to proceed. If only I had something to stand on, a way to back up my words to him, then I could be assured of victory.”
Felicia smiled at him tenderly. How like her gentle and innocent Antonius! She stroked his cheek gently before placing it against her own.
“If you had Logos you could perhaps persuade him. But you can not do that because Logos is now in the Emperor’s hands, and who knows to what evil purposes he will use it against the citizens of Valerium!”
The frown returned to Antonius’ young face. He remembered the words of Tullia Maximus last summer; that Logos had been stolen from Marcus through the carelessness of Lucius, and was now in the hands of violent men. Why had she said men, referring to more than one man, when the Emperor was in sole possession of it? It was a question over which he had puzzled occasionally since the incident occurred.
It was a question that he at last put to his wife.
“Felicia, I have been puzzled over something since last summer,” he began, hesitantly feeling for words. “Your mother said that Logos was taken through the carelessness of Lucius, and was now in the hands of violent men. And I have wondered: how was Logos stolen, and who took it? And how did it fall into the hands of Emperor Iacomus?”
But to his questions Felicia had no answers, except the unspoken fears that had begun to fill her heart, and which must never be spoken aloud to her husband.
It was her father-in-law that worried her, she admitted to herself. There was some mystery about Decimus Hadrianus, something that she had never been told. Not until she had seen the vision in the eyes of Kyrene had she known that he killed a man, and before Kyrene left for Eirinia Felicia got the truth out of her.
Yes, it was true, Kyrene said. Decimus had killed Felix Lucius, but it was an accident.
Kyrene did not tell Felicia that his intended target had been her mother Tullia, or that Decimus had abducted her when she refused his marriage proposal and held her captive in a ruthless attempt to make her change her mind. Kyrene sensed that Marcus and Tullia would not wish their daughter to know this information in light of the fact that Decimus was now her father-in-law, and such knowledge would put an unbearable strain upon her marriage.
So it was from Decimus himself that she had extracted what she needed to know when she persuaded him to release Felix’ father from prison…
“You killed his son, Felix, for whom I am named,” she had stated in a calm manner that hid her own astonishment that one she knew and who was now related to her by marriage could have perpetrated so violent a crime.
Upon hearing her words Decimus had turned red, but not with anger. She perceived his mortification that she knew of this wicked deed buried in the distant past, now come back to haunt him. For a moment he looked at her in silence, and took a deep breath before he addressed her.
“Who told you?” he asked brusquely. “Was it your father when you told him you were married to my son?”
Felicia shook her head slowly and never took her eyes from his face. She perceived suddenly that there was some animosity between this man and her father, something that she had never been told, the knowledge of which was now of vital importance to her future.
“No,” she said. “My father never said a word to me about you. I know nothing about you or your past. It was only when I saw a vision of you stabbing a man in the eyes of a seer that I discovered this deed. I demanded the truth from her, and all she gave me was the name of the man. She said it had been an accident, and if you tell me that I will believe you, Father. Perhaps you should tell me in your own words what happened.”
She stared at him and waited for him to regain his composure, for it was evident that he was startled at her statement.
“A seer?” he questioned. “I do not believe in such things. However, I know that you can not lie, daughter, so I will accept your explanation.”
Decimus closed his eyes suddenly, and paused before continuing. He appeared to be revisiting that long ago day when he had snuffed out the life of another…
At last he opened his eyes, and looked into Felicia’s with a sadness she had not expected from one who had been capable of taking a life.
“Yes, I did kill him. But your seer was right: it was an accident. I did not even know the man, had never seen him before that day.”
Here Decimus paused and to Felicia it seemed that he was reluctant to proceed. Her bewilderment only increased at his statement.
“But if you did not know him, how did you happen to kill him? I do not understand how such a thing is possible.”
She raised confused eyes to his reddened face, and for Decimus it was his undoing. Without warning his façade crumbled and he covered his face as tears crept down his face. The only sound in the room was the sound of his stifled sobs as he attempted to regain his customary bravado. It was a very long moment before he succeeded, and continued with his story.
He looked Felicia directly in the eye and continued, not wavering now until the end.
“I killed him by accident, but that is because he came between me and another. And I would have killed that other in a fit of rage, furious as I was and wanting revenge for the pain in my heart, the pain that other inflicted on me as carelessly as if my heart was only a toy that she had wearied of after playing with it as thoughtlessly as a child plays with a doll. She made me love her and then she rejected me when I asked her to be mine.”
Felicia gasped suddenly, afraid with an unreasoning fear for Decimus to continue. He could not mean…
As if hearing her silent thought, Decimus nodded his head.
“Yes, Felicia,” he said in a weary voice that threatened to bury her beneath its weight, “it is your mother I refer to, and Felix came between us to save her from me.
“Now, can you still look at me with the same affection and call me Father?”
It was not until much later, after Decimus had agreed to help her release Justus from prison, that she began to wonder whether he had stolen Logos to take to the Emperor. For who else had better access to it than he, who would also have the motive of serving Iacomus and hurting her father at the same time?
And for Felicia, both secrets must be hidden from Antonius, for fear that he would turn against the father he thought he knew, and whom he loved so dearly.
Chapter VI
Time To Forget
That Judoc had a difficult decision to make Cort knew only too well. True to his promise to Dag, he had returned to Eirinia to give her the news of his enforced stay in Valerium as a miracle man of sorts to the Emperor. And now she must decide whether to go to him in Valerium at the Emperor’s invitation, or stay in Eirinia at her husband’s command. Cort also felt she would be safer in Eirinia than in Valerium.
He did not know why he felt this way; and yet he did. That the atmosphere in Eirinia had worsened was almost tangible, he felt that he could reach out and touch an evil presence if one stood directly before him. But Judoc was a native of Eirinia and an Alexandrian as well. She would know how to deal with an evil spirit should one be so luckless as to encounter her.
It was Emperor Iacomus that gave Cort grave misgivings, and made him fear for Judoc should she accept his invitation and travel to Potentus to be with her husband. He knew that a woman’s place was by the side of her husband, but knew also that Dag was being held in Potentus against his will and was as much a prisoner now as he had been before. What use could the Emperor make of his family against Dag if they joined him?
A family council was held, and Cort was not surprised when Judoc announced that she would go to Dag and take Brand and Nolwenn with her. She decided that Dirk would be needed on the farm to care for it in his father’s absence and therefore must remain in Leith. She looked hesitantly at Maelys, who was rapidly becoming a woman and might wish to have a say in her own fate. Judoc turned to her and raised an eyebrow in silent question.
“And you, Maelys? What do you wish to do; come with me to Valerium or stay here with Dirk? I leave it to you to decide.”
Maelys flashed a grateful smile at her mother and their eyes clung together in tender affection. Before she could give her an a
nswer, however, Nolwenn erupted in protest.
“But I do not wish to go to Valerium, Mother! I should not like leaving Eirinia and would be lost in a big city. May I not stay here and look after Dirk while you are gone? He will need someone to cook and keep house for him; and I can do that quite well.”
Nolwenn pleaded with her eyes, and Judoc considered her plea. Cort knew that Nolwenn did not really care how Dirk fared in their mother’s absence, but instinct told him to stay out of it and leave it to settle themselves.
It was Maelys, however, who settled it.
“How touching that you should exhibit such a tender concern for your brother, Nolwenn. But I shall be able to fulfill that duty in Mother’s absence. I would advise you to go to Valerium with her and Brand. It will do you good to see the world beyond Eirinia.”
Nolwenn glared openly at Maelys who stared back with an unmistakable air of challenge in her blue eyes. The younger girl was not so easily deterred, and persisted in her chosen course.
She turned back to Judoc.
“But, Mother, I am also concerned about little Gwenaelle. What if Melisande should fall ill while we are away? Who will look after the baby? I feel I must be here, for I promised Melisande that I would take care of Gwenaelle if anything should happen to her. And one must always keep one’s promises; you taught me that.”
Judoc could not argue with that statement, and it was true that a promise must be kept. To break one was a violation of all that was held sacred among the Eirini as well as all civilized people. She had misgivings about leaving her youngest daughter behind, but trusted Dirk to look after her.
“Very well, Nolwenn,” she answered over the protests of Maelys which she cut off with a wave of her hand. “You may stay here with your brother and sister while I go to your father.”
Before she could depart, Cort had a long talk with her in private. He did not know how much longer he could remain in Eirinia, and suddenly he wanted to thank from the heart the woman who had raised him as her own.
