Empress Aurora Trilogy Quest For the Kingdom Parts I, II, and III Revised With Index (Quest For the Kingdom Set) (36 page)

“For love is
stronger than hatred, Marcus. And Dag already loved Cort so it was easy to
spare his life, although he had to break the pledge to his blood kin. His anger
with Cort was born out of a sense of betrayal: he trusted Cort and discovered
that he lied to him about his identity. But his decision to choose Dominio over
Fanchon demonstrated his trust in Dominio for his future happiness. And that
was the greatest test.”

Kyrene paused.

“And that, no
doubt, was the reason for Fanchon’s defection. It was not merely the desire for
merriment; she knew when Dag adopted Cort as a son that she did not have full
possession of Dag’s heart. And that is something she will never tolerate in a
husband. She will not share her place on the throne of his heart.

“For Dag, it
is Dominio who occupies the throne of his heart. One day he will see it. And
when he does, the kingdom of darkness will shudder when they hear the approach
of his steps.”

Marcus
pondered on Kyrene’s words. Yes, he thought, she is right. It was harder for
Dag to give up Fanchon than it was to spare Cort’s life once he knew his true
identity. In truth, he already loved the boy as his own son, and Marcus doubted
that Dag would ever have been able to kill him, even if he had not pledged his
own life to Dominio. The tie of affection between them was too strong to sever
with such violence.

Marcus also
acknowledged to himself the truth of Kyrene’s statement regarding Fanchon. Dag
had loved her dearly, and having lost one love in the past, letting go of
another must have wrenched his soul. Yet he had done so. Marcus surmised that
the break with Fanchon would have come even if Dag had not chosen Dominio over
her. For Kyrene had spoken correctly: Fanchon was not happy about the bond
between Dag and Cort, and at some future date would have demanded that Dag
decide between them.

“As for these mysterious
stones,” Kyrene returned to the original course of their conversation, and
brought it back from the branching tributaries, “I do not like the look of them,
or the feel of this island. Something broods here, a menace that threatens us
all.”

“Yes, I feel exactly
the same,” Marcus agreed. “But I confess I have felt an uneasiness even before
we landed here, even before the storm. Something is amiss, Kyrene: it is not as
it should be. I have felt it for some time now.”

Kyrene
meditated on his statement with lowered head. She raised her eyes and looked at
him gravely.

“I also feel
that something is not right. It began, I think, when we boarded the ship. But
what is the source? Were we not to take it, but continue our journey by boat?
Was it due to Fanchon’s defection after pledging to serve Dominio and to advance
His Kingdom? Who knows? Still, I too, sense that somehow, somewhere we have
gone off course.”

Marcus
silently concurred. They must pray and inquire of Dominio where they had erred.

Just at that
moment, Felix jerked in his sleep and sat up with a start. His sudden movement
disturbed the sleep of both Cort, who lay next to Felix, and Elena on Cort’s
other side.

Cort was not
happy at being torn so rudely from his slumbers.

“Felix!” he
chided, as he sat up and rubbed the sleep out of his eyes. “Have a heart for
those who want to rest!”

“I cannot help
it,” Felix defended himself. “Who can possibly sleep with that rumbling in
one’s ear?” he said as he gestured at the oblivious Dag.

Elena had
never before been subjected to the sound of Dag’s snores, the sojourn on the
island being the first time they made open camp since embarking on the ship.
She glanced at Dag first with surprise, then with a sense of bewildered wonder
as though beholding a new species for the first time.

“He is loud,
yes?” she asked uncertainly.

“Yes, but wait
until he wakes,” Felix continued. “His snore is as nothing compared to his
yawn.”

As if he had
heard Felix, Dag’s snores cut off abruptly as he slowly emerged from his nap.
He turned on one side, then rolled to the other. He slowly rose up and extended
both arms into a stretch over his head. As he did so, his mouth opened wide,
and from his lips issued a yawn so deep and loud that it startled a gull flying
nearby. The bird ceased flapping its wings and dropped onto the beach. After a
quick glance in Dag’s direction, it took to flight once more.

Elena,
meanwhile, sat frozen as she observed Dag’s ritual of wakening. Felix burst
into laughter.

“Good old
Dag!” he exclaimed. “I can always depend on him to lighten my heart!”

Felix’s
laughter was suddenly and unceremoniously quenched by a shell that flew at him
courtesy of Dag. There were many of them lying on the beach, and Dag found them
the nearest missile at hand. He gathered a few more, but Felix raised his hand.

“Mercy, have
mercy!” he begged through his laughter. “I was only teasing, my friend. My
pardon, if you please.”

Dag glowered
darkly at Felix, then beamed a wide smile in acceptance of his apology, and the
little band decided to explore the island in search of food.

It did not
take long to take stock of the island’s food supply. They found a stream not
far from the beach and filled their water skins, after each had drunk greedily.
Although there was grass in abundance, the only edible thing they turned up
were wild berries on some bushes. They were disheartened, not having eaten
since before the storm the day before.

Then Dag
surprised everyone with a chuckle.

“Look!” he
cried as he waved his arms wide. “What do you see?”

Nothing caught
the eye of anyone. Kyrene waited, Marcus frowned, but Felix grinned in
anticipation of yet another evidence of the Trekur Lender’s ability to keep him
amused.

No one said
anything.

Dag looked
from one to another in marked exasperation. He threw up his arms again.

“The Sea!” he
exclaimed. “It is full of food, yah?”

This said, he
threw down his arms and strode jauntily toward the sea.

“I go fish,”
he stated.

Cort’s face
lit up.

“I will help
you, Dag!” he cried in his excitement at the thought of a meal. “I love to fish
and I am hungry. Oh, how hungry I am!”

Together they
waded into the shallow water near the shore. As Dag said, the sea teemed with
life, and they quickly caught a dozen or so fish, which they killed by bashing
their heads on the nearby rocks. Elena grimaced in disgust, but Kyrene shrugged
her shoulders and gathered branches from some of the bushes to start a fire.

Felix leaped
to assist her, and Marcus lit the fire by sparking two rocks together. Soon
they had a fire heartily crackling and snapping.

Dag and Cort
returned with the fish as well as some crabs that had come to investigate their
doings. Kyrene dug in their packs for the small cooking pot that Dag carried on
his expeditions, and announced she would fetch some water to boil the crabs in.
Felix stopped her and grabbed the pot from her hand.

“Allow me, my
lady,” he grinned as he bowed to her.

“You are too
kind, sir,” Kyrene smiled and fluttered her lashes at Felix in mock coquetry.

The two
friends laughed, but Marcus was astonished to notice Elena purse her lips and
flash a look of hostility at Kyrene. Why did she do that, he wondered. Was it
possible that Elena had taken a fancy to Felix?

But the
impression was only fleeting, as Elena quickly lowered her lids over her eyes
and shuttered her face with its usual impassivity. Still, Marcus wondered…

After they had
indulged themselves in a feast of fish and crabs with berries for dessert, they
decided it was of no use to continue their journey by night with only a few
hours of sleep since the day before. They decided to make camp on the island
for the night. Marcus set himself, Felix, and Dag as guards while the others
slept undisturbed. Each was to take a turn for three hours, then be relieved by
the next one on the watch. Felix and Dag agreed, then all settled down for the
night.

The night
passed without incident for Felix and Dag: all was quiet, and no movement of
man or beast did they see. For Marcus, the night watch gave a different
adventure.

When he took
over from Felix at the end of the second watch all was serene: Felix reported
nothing untoward. Felix quickly fell asleep, and Marcus settled down for what
promised to be a dull stretch of duty, when he longed to continue his sleep.

He was soon
struck by the beauty of the night. The heat had abated when the sun went down,
but it was still warm enough to prickle his skin, and to leave his robe
uncovered by a cloak. The full moon had risen, and glowed like a silver sphere
as if infused by a light of its own. He saw myriads of stars, clustered in
belts of brilliance the like of which he had never seen on land. They twinkled
here and there in the ebon canopy of night, and the sight reminded him of the
quartz crystals in the black granite of his father’s villa. Would he ever see
it again, ever enter the gates and be welcomed home by those who loved him the
most?

How fared his
father and mother? Did they still live, or had they succumbed to their
imprisonment? How long since he had seen them? He saw his father last in
January before he set out on his quest; now it was August. What of his gentle
mother? Was she treated well, or did the Empress Aurora revel in the
opportunity to spite her rival with a jealous vindictiveness? Marcus trembled
at the thought of his mother at the mercy of the Empress…

About half an
hour after taking the watch, Marcus found his attention caught by a movement at
sea. At first, it appeared as a wave rising from the placid waters of the quiet
ocean. Then it took shape as the form of a giant eagle ascended with a flap of
its mighty wings. Marcus watched as it mounted the heavens and glided in the
currents of the air. It circled in a great spiral; then slowly descended back
to the waters.

But Marcus did
not see the waves… A tree with barren branches had sprung up while his
attention was riveted on the eagle. The great bird alit on a branch where a
nest contained five little eaglets. The eaglets were lifted one by one on the
back of the eagle, which flew over the waters once again. The eagle released
them one by one to loose it to fly. But as each one was released a snake that
had lain hidden in a knothole of the tree lunged at it and attempted to bite
it. Each time the great eagle beat the snake back, and the little eaglet rose
higher to escape the reach of the snake. Finally, the snake lost its grip on
the branches and fell into the sea and was still…

Marcus blinked
as the vision suddenly faded and he was faced once again with the expanse of
ocean. The vision troubled him; what did it portend? Was the little band in
danger? What was the source of disquiet that disturbed him and Kyrene?

The sun rose
with an emerald flash at its ascendancy at about the end of the third watch.
Marcus watched the huge red ball rise with a rapidity that astonished him as
the great orb filled the horizon. As if a lighted lamp in a darkened room had
dispelled the shadows of twilight, all night visions fled away from him.

The radiance
of the morning soon woke the others, and each rose one by one with various
blinking of the eyes, stretching of the limbs, and one mighty ursine yawn from
Dag. They spent the first hour in morning prayer together, all except Elena who
took herself off to gather branches for the morning fire. She alone did not
know Dominio, and in the weeks since they left Gaudereaux the right opportunity
to give testimony of Alexandros had not presented itself. Marcus wondered if
she served any god at all, and what the religion of her native land might be.
He sensed a bitterness from her captivity in the former slave girl, and waited
for the right moment to share with her the love of the Father for His children.

After prayer
they repeated the ritual of the night before: the building of a fire, the
catching of fish, and the picking of berries. Dag and Cort soon had a good
catch, and Kyrene suggested they boil water from the ocean to burn off the
water, leaving salt they could use to preserve more fish to take on their
journey. This met with hearty approval from Dag, who clearly appreciated
Kyrene’s fortitude and resourcefulness.

After all had
taken their fill of breakfast, they decided to explore the island thoroughly. A
cursory foray for food yesterday had met their immediate need, but all agreed
that they wished to examine more thoroughly the mysterious stones that dotted
the island.

They began
with those nearest the beach. The tallest of them towered by at least five feet
over Dag, who stood a full head over Marcus. Felix estimated that the stones
were as tall as two grown men. The width was about four feet in circumference.
None of the stones were carved of a single piece, but were hewn and precisely
placed one on top of the other to form a stack.

They were not
like any pillars that Marcus or Felix had ever seen, yet it appeared the stones
had some kind of ritual symbolism. The ones nearest the shore bore the signs of
erosion from the sea. Some had even toppled from the stack and lay strewn about
the beach. Marcus wondered if a great storm had at some time struck the little
island and sent the sea ashore in a tidal wave. It would account for the
dislodging of the stones, and their wearing away as if by salt water.

Felix
suggested they return to the interior where they had observed another cluster
on the previous day. This was met with hearty approval, as now that they had
partaken of food and sleep, they were rested and ready to take whatever
adventure they might meet with.

After
journeying some two miles inland, they spotted the groupings of stones. Here
the pillars were perfectly preserved in placement and form. These towers of
stone were larger than the group on the shore, and somehow more menacing. Some
were set into a green hillside, with a ring of stones around it as if placed
like the wall of a fortress.