by L. M. Roth
Chapter X
The Quest Begins
They set out with the rising of the sun, as the first light of a pastel dawn stole slowly over the gray eastern sky. The sun did little to warm the frosty winter day; it merely lightened the darkness of their path. They left with the blessings of their fathers, the tender tears and comforting kisses of Felix’s mother, and one final warning from the Empress.
“Remember, Marcus,” she menaced in a low voice. “Bring me the Pearl or your parents are imprisoned forever. In fact, you will join them if you fail. The only reason you are free now is because I want that Pearl.”
Having already seen what the Empress was capable of, Marcus did not doubt that she meant what she said and would keep her word if he failed to accomplish the task she had given him. Were it not for her greed he would no doubt be dead already!
Marcus mounted his horse with a leap over the saddle, and settled in for a long ride before touching ground again. He despised using the stirrups, preferring to show off the strength in his legs. Despite his misgivings at the magnitude of the task assigned to him, he realized that it was good to mount a horse once more!
The horses were a loan from the Empress to speed them on their way. They were to be left, however, at the fort on the border to the northern boundary, where they would then be returned to the Empress. So greedy was she for the Pearl that she permitted them to be used for the journey north to expedite their progress in the heart of winter. But the risk of taking them into foreign lands was too great for her to permit their leaving the boundaries of Valerium.
Now he glanced at Felix, and wondered how he felt at being forced to go on this quest. For Aurora did not trust Marcus to go alone. So greedy was she for the Pearl that she imagined Marcus might find it and keep it for himself. So she sent Felix with him, warning him that if Marcus found the Pearl and withheld it from her, Felix’s life would be forfeit.
And now they were to begin their journey, on a cold winter’s day, at the dawn of the year. They had been forced to wait the start of their journey until the Feast day of Regat had come and gone. Regat was the god of war whom the Valeriun Empire honored above all others, giving him homage for transforming Valerium from a humble nation to a mighty Empire. This annual celebration lasted from the third week of December until the second week of January. Travel was forbidden, it being considered insulting to the patron god of the Empire to have any activity other than the worship of him distract the attention of Valerian citizens.
For those three weeks every year, all Valerians must venerate the god who had protected the founder of the Empire, who had established him as a mighty ruler, and granted him success in battle, provided him with wealth and bestowed on him gifts that ordinary men envied. It was during this very season over seven hundred years ago that Regat had blessed the statesman Valerianus in his attempts to wrest the throne from the weak king Egnatius. He whipped up discontent with the king’s rule among the upper class and led an uprising among the common people against the royal taxes, and after a revolt that lasted three weeks, he succeeded in casting down the throne of Egnatius and taking it for himself.
Valerianus renamed the capital city Potentus, and declared that the Valeriun Empire was born. Henceforth, every good citizen must keep the feast of Regat and honor him or suffer his displeasure. Even the Empress must keep this feast, or feign to do so. To not keep it was to court disaster from the wrath of Regat, who had made their Empire the most powerful in the known world.
“A good day to set out,” Marcus declared. “Plenty of sun, and no wind. A mild day for mid-January.”
“Ah, yes. Nothing delights me more than traveling in the heart of winter, with the wind biting my toes, and a hungry wolf hoping to nibble my nose! What joys are in store for us to be sure!”
“Felix!”
Marcus laughed despite the gravity of the quest. How good it was to have the company of this faithful friend for the journey! Surely with Felix by his side the task appeared less a daunting impossibility, and more of an adventure to be seized and savored for the thrill of exploits and heroic deeds that awaited them!
“Seriously though, Marcus; do you believe this Pearl actually exists? Can we possibly find it? Or will it be some wild chase that bears no fruit and results only in our ruin?”
“I do not know, Felix. Yet the Empress told me she heard of it many times while in the land of Gaudereaux. So there we must begin our search.”
“Did the Empress permit you to see your mother before you left? My mother inquired about that as she is very concerned about her.”
Marcus frowned and bit his lip. A nagging worry troubled his heart at the omission of seeing Honoria.
“No, she did not. Aurora said she was afraid my mother could not bear the strain of fearing what might lie ahead for me on the journey. Most considerate of her, taking into account that she had no such concern for her health when she imprisoned her!”
“Now, Marcus, getting angry will not help. Not in this instance anyway. Aurora is not a man that you could fight to release your mother. She is our Empress, and to challenge her means to bring about your own death. And that will do your mother no good.”
“I suppose you are right, most excellent Felix. How often you have prevented me from acting in a rash and hasty manner! Where would I be at times were it not for your prudence and good sense!”
“Well, yes, all right, Marcus,” Felix stammered and blushed. “But you need not get sentimental about it!”
They laughed together and prodded their horses, sending them galloping along the road. Forgetting for a moment the life and death solemnity of the task placed upon them, they reveled in the beauty of the frosty morning, the crunch of snow under the hooves of the horses, and that they were young and strong and entering the full vigor of their manhood.
And so they began.
They encountered their first difficulty almost at the onset of their journey. As they traveled north of Valerium, a fierce snowstorm blew up without warning, hurling snow at them, blinding their eyes, and freezing the breath in their lungs.
They dismounted from their horses, as the poor creatures struggled for footing on the road that grew suddenly slick with ice, and led them by their reigns. Marcus and Felix buried their faces into the hoods of their cloaks as much as was possible, but an occasional icy blast of wind blew the hoods off of their heads and down their backs.
Realizing they would perish if they stayed out in the storm, they searched for shelter. It was Felix who spotted an old house on the horizon, that of a humble farmer. Surely they would take them in to protect them from the ferocity of the storm!
They went to the door and knocked gently. No one answered. They knocked again, this time with more urgency. Still no answer. Finally, on the third knock the door opened slightly to reveal an old woman who peered out at them with a suspicious gaze.
“What do you want?” she asked in a gruff voice, as a strand of gray hair slipped from the bandeau that was wound around her head.
“Please, my good woman, we need shelter for ourselves and stabling for our horses,” Marcus explained.
Seeing that she continued to look with suspicion upon them, he tried another tactic.
“We will pay you handsomely,” he smiled at her.
“Go away, I don’t take care of strangers,” the old woman huffed, preparing to shut the door.
“Oh, please,” Marcus begged, “the storm is ferocious and we will perish if we do not find shelter.”
“No!” the old woman exclaimed and shut the door with finality.
They looked in unbelief at the door in front of them.
“Do you believe it, Marcus?” Felix wondered. “I have never heard of anyone refusing shelter in a storm like this!”
“Well, there is nothing that can be done about it, Felix, so we may as well try to find another solution,” Marcus stated, but with bitter disappointment in his heart.
He also was stunned that anyone could shut someone out in
a storm to take their chances of life or death. But there was nothing they could do.
They traveled on taking their horses with them, at times doubling over from the frigid blasts of wind. It was Marcus who at last came up with the idea.
“Felix! I cannot believe how obtuse I am!” he exclaimed.
Felix looked at him with eyes staring blankly from misery, and teeth chattering with cold. He did not respond to Marcus’ exclamation.
“We need to find some trees and a hill, and quickly!” he urged.
They surveyed the landscape around them, and spied a small hillock surrounded by a few trees not far away. They made for it rapidly, and after slogging about fifteen minutes in the relentless storm, came to it at last.
Marcus crowed in triumph, and motioned for Felix to help him tear down some low-lying branches from the pine trees that encircled the hill. After they had gathered several, Marcus struggled up the slope of the small embankment and started pushing snow down the hill with the aid of the branches. Felix caught on to his plan and eagerly assisted.
When they had scooped the hilltop nearly bare, they descended to the bottom and began packing the snow that they sent to the bottom into hard blocks that they placed firmly against the hill on either side of it until they had formed a small semi-circle, large enough to encompass them and their two horses. They created a primitive roof by gathering more branches and weaving the limbs together until they interlocked and could be placed atop the blocks of snow. Over the limbs they threw some woolen hangings they had brought to be used for tenting, which they held in place by winding rope over the roof and down the blocks to entwine around pegs which they drove into the ground.
In this manner they soon had a little hut that blocked them from the worst brunt of the wind. Marcus told Felix that his father had told him of this crude form of cover that his troops fashioned when faced with an unexpected snowstorm while campaigning. He was delighted to discover that it actually protected them, and blessed his father as he lay down within its confines to shelter from the storm.
Chapter XI
The Land of the Long Spears
“In order to reach Gaudereaux, you must first travel through Trekur Lende. It is a rugged, harsh country with long winters that see deep snow, where the rivers freeze so hard that an entire troop may cross walking abreast without any fear that the ice will give way beneath them. The forests are dense, where the trees grow so closely together that a man may walk through it for days and not see the light of the sun.
“That is why the natives call it Trekur Lende, which means Tree Land in their tongue. The winter nights are long in Trekur Lende, with only a few hours of daylight, because it is said to be right at the top of the world, and does not face the sun in the days of cold and snow. By this token, the summer days are as long as the winter nights, because it faces the sun in the days of warmth and light, and sometimes the sun never truly sets at all.
“When that happens the inhabitants dance under the midnight sun and hold great feasts of bear and wild boar and other game such as we do not eat in Valerium. And it is said that they have strange celebrations to their gods at those times, celebrations that are primitive and alien to such as us, for they are a barbarian and uncultured people.
“Most of all to be feared in Trekur Lende are the inhabitants. They are tall, much taller than other men, and broad because of their heavy muscles. They are savage, fierce, and barely able to read or write. And they are quick to kill any intruders with their mighty weapons which they use to slay the boar and the bear. It is for those weapons that the Valerians name the country. For we call it Terra Diuferrum, or The Land of the Long Spears.”
Thus Marcus and Felix had been warned by the Empress Aurora. To cross through that country they must be cautious, almost unseen. To be seen was to risk the chance of being killed on sight. It was not advice that was likely to instill them with confidence at the very start of their journey.
Now as they stood at the border of this wild country, they paused in preparation for what lay ahead.
They had traveled for more than a fortnight from the capital of Valerium through her northern provinces and had just crossed her border. Now they were to enter Trekur Lende, and the prospect was daunting.
Behind them in Valerium lay cultivated fields and gently rolling hills. Before them lay terrain that might be difficult to traverse, or a delight to behold. They had left a civilization both mighty in power and great in dignity to seek lands unknown, and to encounter inhabitants who might be fierce or friendly.
They had come to the great stone wall that was the border for Valerium with her neighbors. This wall housed a legion of soldiers whose duty it was to guard Valerium from any invaders. Since Valerium was the most powerful nation in the known world, it would have been a foolhardy people indeed who thought to challenge her.
For the garrison on duty at the wall it proved to be a lonely assignment, miles from the nearest settlement with no one but each other for company, no amusement but the same card games endlessly repeated. Fights were frequent as nerves frayed raw with the boredom of monotony snapped at the slightest provocation. Months would elapse for each soldier before he could have leave to visit family and friends, and any distraction from duty was welcome.
Marcus and Felix had spent three nights here before departing for Trekur Lende. Travelers were infrequent and relived the boredom for the garrison, and Marcus thrived in the company of soldiers. For their part, they were impressed when they realized that he was the son of the great Valerius Maximus and voiced their concern at his imprisonment. Marcus was touched by their wishes for a hasty release from his bondage. When some expressed their astonishment at his own escape from the Eirini, Marcus did not elaborate on what had actually transpired, but basked in the admiration. Felix bit his lip and scowled, but said nothing.
But not a word of his mission did Marcus breathe to them. Aurora had extracted from both boys an oath of silence concerning the Pearl until they were in Gaudereaux. She feared that the Pearl might be stolen from them in Trekur Lende or Valerium on the return journey.
“Ask only enough questions to obtain more information. But tell no one of your wish to buy it until you have actually found it.”
For this purpose Aurora had provided them with a letter of credit, on which they could draw in her name any sum which the seller desired. To finalize the transaction she gave Marcus a copy of her signet ring. Once its emblem had been set in the wax seal, Marcus’ word was as good as if Aurora had said it herself.
On the second night of their stay, Marcus and Felix were roused from their sleep by the sound of running feet outside their door, and the shouts of men giving orders. They scrambled to dress and hurriedly made their way to the wall, where the posted lookout stood in his booth. There were many soldiers making their way to the wall also. Marcus inquired of one of them what the commotion was about: he was informed that a horde of barbarians from the north had been spotted by a scout who had surveyed the woods earlier that afternoon for any sign of invaders.
Marcus and Felix were thrilled; a battle, and they were about to see it firsthand! The sentinel bade them to get behind the parapet and take cover. Marcus begged to be allowed to fight, but the commanding officer had now arrived and told him that was impossible, as he had not completed the training necessary for every soldier of Valerium.
Marcus fretted, but knew he had to obey. Still, the view from the tower was unparalleled, and he and Felix watched the ensuing battle with excitement, scarcely daring to breathe so intent were they on watching the scene that lay below them.
A troop of barbarians, dressed in the most outlandish clothes Marcus had ever seen marched over the horizon; their gear of fur-trimmed caps that hugged their heads and covered their ears, and boots made of fur taken from the pelt of some wild beast was alien to the patrician young Valerian, accustomed to soldiers wearing armor over short tunics with only a woolen cloak to cover them in wintry weather, and long boots made of leather to
warm their feet.
It was clear that the barbarians had expected to surprise the garrison in the dead of night. But the soldiers were at the ready, and sent a volley of arrows raining down on the invaders. Taken unawares, they lost many in the first volley. They dispatched arrows of their own upon the garrison, but the Valerians had the advantage, as they could duck below the shelter of the wall.
The battle was soon over, with the barbarian force fleeing from the arrows that persisted in haunting their steps. They took their dead with them and headed back from whence they came. Their retreat was accompanied by hoots and catcalls from the Valerian soldiers who mocked them in their defeat.
Marcus recalled the skirmish with relish, his only regret that he had not been permitted to take part in the battle. And he knew that this was no real battle such as his father had engaged in so often. Nay, this was a mere scuffle with an invader who had not come prepared to wage war on a seasoned army. It had been a display of arrogance on their part, which quickly resulted in their downfall.
With reluctance Marcus bade farewell to his new friends. With their blessings for safe travel ringing in his ears, he and Felix took leave of them to journey on their way, now on foot as they left the horses of the Empress at the garrison.
The gate to the stone wall of the garrison had shut firmly behind them. Before them, in every direction for as far as they could see, stood a wall of trees, trees unlike any they had ever seen. Accustomed to gently spreading boughs of elm and maple, their eyes were not prepared for the towering ranks of pine, fir, and spruce that lay in their path. They seemed to shoot up to the sky as straight as sentinels on duty. Patrolling the borders of Trekur Lende they gave warning to the unwary, “Keep out!” they proclaimed.
Felix edged closer to Marcus.