Authors: L. M. Roth
Marcus stared
at his old friend in bewilderment. Strange tidings were these; certainly not
what he had expected on his arrival in Eirinia after so long an absence.
“The Astra?”
he repeated, his brow furrowed as he gave Dag his full concentration. “How can
this be? The Astra were driven out more than twenty years ago!”
Dag shook his
head and took Marcus aside to a secluded corner of the hut. He glanced back at
his family, and noting their preoccupation, confided in his old friend.
“Yah, they
were driven out. Yet Brenus was found just beyond that old mound where the
Eirini held their rites in the old days, the days before we came here. And
there was no mark on him, no sign of injury, just a look of fear on his face.
Laig said he looked like something frightened him to death.”
Marcus felt a
chill come over him at the words, yet he found them hard to believe.
Could
a man be frightened to death? Was such a thing possible?
Noting that
Marcus listened to him soberly without any of the mockery that had so often
marred his discourse with their friend Felix, Dag proceeded with his
extraordinary tale.
“Laig told me
that he had an encounter with the Astra when he was a boy. He heard them, but
did not see them. Do you remember what Xenon told us of them? They can take any
form they wish; but it is perhaps the most to be feared when they take no form
at all!”
Marcus
listened patiently with growing incredulity to Dag, yet he felt there was
something amiss that he could not quite grasp. He pondered for a very long
moment until what had eluded him was suddenly remembered.
“But, Dag,” he
began, his voice lowered so as not to disturb the grieving family. “The Astra
were driven out, their high places torn down, and every trace of them erased
from the land. How could they come back, for they must have something to attach
themselves to in order to lay claim to the land. And the entire village
assisted in their eviction, for all were ardent for Dominio and dedicated this
place to the advancement of His Kingdom.”
Dag cast a
furtive glance over his shoulder and moved closer to Marcus.
“There was
still the mound,” he whispered. “We did not tear down the mound; we did not
think to do that!”
Marcus’ mouth
fell open so abruptly there was an audible snap. The mound! How could they have
overlooked the very place where the rites had been enacted!
And then he
recalled what had eluded him earlier.
“No, Dag,” he
insisted as he drew closer to the great man. “It is not just the mound. Do you
remember what charge we laid on the Eirini? We told them to keep sacred trust
with Dominio, for if they did not but fell back into their old ways, the Astra
would return. Someone must have turned back to their idols, and that is why the
Astra are back!”
Dag groaned
and slapped a hand to his forehead. For a moment he swayed on his feet, and
Marcus put out a hand to steady him. Dag recovered quickly and took Marcus by
the arm as he pulled him back to the furthest end of the hut.
“You are
right, my friend. There was some trouble at the Spring Festival. I did not like
it, but I did not connect it with what happened to Brenus.”
He paused and
shook his head ruefully. Marcus waited for him to recover and resume his story.
Dag at last lifted his head and stared off into the distance, as if pondering
the events of the previous weeks.
“Some of the
villagers,” he continued in a tone so low that Marcus had to strain to hear
him, “wished to give thanks to Eoghan for the Return. I did not know what that
was and had to ask them. They said it was tradition to give thanks to Eoghan
for the end of winter and the return of spring.
“I forbade
them to give their thanks to Eoghan and questioned their wish to do so as they
had all pledged themselves to Alexandros and to serve Dominio. I was told they
saw no harm in serving Dominio and thanking Eoghan. They said it was done in
other places in the world; why not here?”
Marcus was
stunned at the effrontery of the desire to return to idol worship. What had
come over them to even consider such a blasphemy?
Dag, however,
was not finished.
“At the Spring
Festival, all seemed well until the end. And then Niamh walked to the center of
the Common and praised Dominio and gave thanks to Eoghan. And when I looked at
the villagers, I knew it had been planned without my knowledge, even by the
councilmen.
“I spoke out
against the statement and reminded them who they had pledged to serve. Laig
said that they had not forgotten the gods who blessed these lands long before
we arrived here and told them they were wrong to honor them. They said they
would serve them and Dominio, for they were all the same.”
Dag paused for
breath, and passed a hand over his face as if to erase the pain of that memory.
Marcus felt compassion stir within him; how agonizing it must have been to be
challenged by those with whom he had lived for the past twenty years.
“It divided
even my family,” Dag murmured. “Some of them stood with me, and some with the
villagers.”
The sudden
intake of Marcus’ breath caught Dag’s attention and he interrupted his account
to glance at his friend. Just then Dag’s eyes widened and he gasped also. He
blinked his eyes rapidly and picked up the thread of his narrative, but slowly
as a revelation smote him.
“Laig also
said that though they had forgotten the old gods, they had cried out to them of
late and reminded them of who the Eirini were, and what they owed to the old
gods.”
Dag stopped
and shed a puzzled glance on Marcus before he continued.
“How can the
old gods have cried out to them, I wonder, as we had destroyed their high
places and drove them out? Is it because we did not destroy the mound?”
Marcus mutely
shook his head in bewilderment. He had to admit that he shared Dag’s confusion.
For a moment they stared into one another’s eyes, each looking for an answer
that the other could not give. And then comprehension smote him.
“Or,” Marcus
said in a voice that quivered in alarm, “someone else was crying out to the old
gods. And they heard and answered back.”
Tullia did not
believe Ursula. She stared into her face and did not give her ground.
“I do not
believe you, Ursula,” she stated in a voice that rang with steel. “You have
seen the Sword, and you took it from my household. And the reason you did so
was to help Decimus Hadrianus with some evil scheme!”
At the mention
of Decimus, Ursula became enraged, her face turning from pink to red to purple.
She raised her hand to strike Tullia, all pretense of ladylike courtesy
forgotten in the sudden savagery of her rage, but Tullia saw it and grabbed
Ursula’s wrist and twisted it. Ursula cried out and, withdrawing her wrist from
Tullia’s grasp, backed away from her carefully.
“You vixen!”
she exclaimed, so furious that spittle flew out of her mouth at her words. “How
dare you mention his name to me!”
Tullia saw
with satisfaction that her accusation had hit its mark. She was certain now
that Decimus was somehow behind the theft of Logos, and Ursula had been his
accomplice, with or without the knowledge of her husband Maurus.
She decided to
move in for the kill.
“I would have
thought,” she began in a voice that was silvery in its smoothness, “that you
would have had more pride than to help the man who spurned you after making a
fool of you so many years ago. Ah, well; it is clear that you love Decimus
still. A fact that would break the heart of your husband Maurus, were he to
know it!”
And Tullia
flung a challenging smile at Ursula. She did not mean to hurt her, but she had
a plan that she meant to follow, and her taunts were part of the scheme.
Ursula was now
livid with wrath at her unwelcome guest. She lost what remained of her
composure and erupted at Tullia, who had taken Decimus from her so long ago.
“How dare
you!” she screamed, heedless of any servants who might be in range of her
voice. “I will kill you myself if you do not leave at once!”
Tullia looked
at the enraged woman coolly before setting the trap.
“Well, it is
clear that Maurus is in the dark about your true feelings. How shocked he would
be to know that you assisted the man you never forgot in the theft of a
valuable heirloom, simply because you pine for him still.”
And Tullia
shook her head from side to side as though overcome with sadness and disbelief
at the fickleness of human nature.
Ursula ceased
her screaming and turned pale as she stared at Tullia.
“What do you
mean?” she whispered. “Why would I assist Decimus in stealing Logos? I hate the
man; I have for years!”
Ursula shouted
these last words and Tullia saw that she had taken the bait.
“Well, it is
interesting that you have denied helping Decimus with the theft of Logos, when
a moment ago you denied ever having seen the Sword. Which of your lies am I
expected to believe, Ursula: that you did not help to steal Logos, which I had
not named, or that you have never seen the Sword?”
Tullia never
blinked her eyes as she waited for Ursula’s response to her charges.
Ursula blinked
her eyes rapidly and stared frantically at Tullia like an animal looking for a
way of escape; then crumpled when she realized she was trapped. She fell into a
nearby chair, and motioned for Tullia to be seated. Ursula did not speak
immediately, but closed her eyes and breathed deeply, exhaling slowly before
she addressed Tullia’s charges.
At last she
raised her eyes to Tullia’s.
“It is true,”
she admitted. “I helped Decimus. And Maurus knows nothing of it.”
Tullia said
nothing, but waited for Ursula to continue. Ursula searched the face of her old
rival to gauge her reaction; noting Tullia’s air of calm patience she continued.
“It is also
true that I hate Decimus Hadrianus,” she suddenly spat out the words. “Oh, how
I
hate
him!”
Ursula ground
her teeth together at these last words. Tullia saw that she was sincere at
last, having the look of hatred in her eyes that only a woman who has loved a
man and been rejected by him can betray.
“I helped him
to hurt you,” Ursula said, as she bestowed a baleful glance upon Tullia.
“And Decimus
wanted to hurt Marcus. Both of us for the same reason: you stood in my way with
Decimus, and Marcus stood in Decimus’ way with you. It does not matter how long
ago it has been. We both of us still long for someone we can never have.”
Ursula sighed
and a wistfulness crept over her face. To the amazement of Tullia, tears sprang
into her eyes as well. Ursula felt Tullia’s stare and quickly turned her face
away before resuming her account.
“Decimus came
to call on me one day when I was visiting my family in Lycenium,” she
explained. “He dared to ask if I remembered him. Remember him; how could I
forget him! He had sought me out in the days before you arrived in Lycenium,
and I had every reason to believe that he was paying court to me. My friends
told me I was assuming too much, that as the daughter of a mere merchant
Decimus could not possibly have honorable intentions toward me, and that I had
best send him away.
“But I did not
listen, and continued to meet him in secret. How he wooed me, kissing my hand,
whispering softly in my ear little endearments such as no one had ever spoken
to me, bringing me small gifts as a token of his regard for me. I fell in love,
and I fell completely. I was beyond reason: I merely wanted to be with Decimus
all the days of my life.”
Here Ursula
shot a venomous glance at her guest.
“And then
you
arrived from Valerium, and all my hopes were dashed. I was told that Decimus
was paying court to the daughter of his father’s old friend Tullios Octavius,
and that she was the most sought after maiden in all of Lycenium, and Valerium
as well. I did not believe it at first, and continued to meet Decimus
secretly.”
Here Ursula
was interrupted by a shocked gasp from Tullia, who stared at her in open
mouthed bewilderment. Ursula snickered and nodded her head in satisfaction.
“Oh, yes,
Decimus continued to meet me even when he was wooing you,” she gloated. “He
could not keep away from me, you see! He still made me believe he loved me, and
I could not understand why everyone said he was courting you. My friends told
me that Decimus would never stoop to marrying beneath his station, and I was
definitely beneath him. Also, that he would look higher for a bride, and you
were the daughter of his old friend and more suitable as a wife for the House
of Hadrianus.”
Her lips
hardened as memory smote her, and for a moment she did not go on. After
collecting her thoughts she related the rest of the story that Tullia had not
heard before.
“He continued
to seek me out, and willingly I met him. Until I saw you one day in the
marketplace. And I knew that I had been made the fool. One look at your face
and form and I knew he was making sport of me, with the intention of seducing
me. Yes, I had heard that he was capable of
that
, but did not believe it
until I saw you.
“I wished with
all of my heart that you would return to Valerium where you belonged and leave
Decimus to me. But it did not happen. I continued to see Decimus, with the
intention of ending it as soon as I could find an excuse without causing
further damage to my pride.
“Before I
could find an excuse, however, I heard of your disappearance. And shortly after
that, that Decimus had somehow been responsible for it. Then you married Marcus
and the Hadrianus family eventually left Lycenium under a cloud of scandal, the
extent of which I never heard.
“But I blamed
you for robbing me of Decimus. And I still do.”
The sheer
hatred which darted from Ursula’s eyes chilled Tullia to the marrow of her
bones, and she involuntarily shivered. Truly it was frightening to be the object
of such ill will and malice! She decided, however, that it was time to complete
for Ursula the blanks in her history with Decimus.
She cleared
her throat somewhat hesitantly, not certain how Ursula would receive what she
was about to say. The sound caught the attention of Ursula and she peered at
Tullia with sudden curiosity.
“Ursula,” she
began softly, “there is something you should know. I do not speak of this
matter except to the members of my family who were witness to these events. But
I feel you should know, and then perhaps you can lay your feelings for Decimus
to rest at last.”
Ursula turned
a puzzled look upon her, but inclined her head at Tullia.
“Go on,” she
said. “I am listening.”
“Well, it is
true that Decimus was behind my disappearance all those years ago. I met him
one day at his request, without the accompaniment of my attendants. He proposed
marriage to me and I refused it. I refused because I realized that it was
Marcus I loved and always would, regardless of his circumstances or position.
It was he I wanted and no one else.
“My rejection
made Decimus furious. He hit me over the head with something, what I do not
know, and I lost consciousness. When I awoke, I was in a place I had never seen
before. It was his hunting lodge, and he vowed he would keep me hidden there
until I agreed to marry him. I refused, and he kept me a prisoner until I was
rescued at last by Marcus and his friends, Felix and Kyrene.
“They pulled
me out of the cellar where Decimus had hidden me, but before we could escape
Decimus returned. He was beside himself when he saw they had rescued me and
lost all control. He raised a knife to kill me, but Felix stepped in between us
and was stabbed instead. Felix died right there in that lodge; he died saving
me.
“All of this was
witnessed by Decimus’ own father and Felix’s mother who led them there after
she discovered our plans. Felix died in her arms, and Governor Hadrianus saw
with his own eyes the evil his son had perpetrated. And though some of the
leading men of Lycenium came with him to the lodge and witnessed the slaying,
they did not punish Decimus because he was the Governor’s son.
“The scandal
refused to die down, however, and the Governor was forced to resign. The
Hadrianus family left Lycenium for a few years. When they returned, Decimus was
married to Paulina, a woman slightly beneath his station who is afraid of him.”
Tullia paused
for breath and shuddered at the remembered horror of those terrible events.
Even now she grieved for Felix and treasured the memory of his valor in saving
her.
When she
recovered herself, she noticed that Ursula was staring at her with the same
sense of horror that she felt in reliving those incidents. She gazed at Tullia
with a face so pale that Tullia was afraid she would faint. But Ursula did not
faint; she moaned and extended a hand to Tullia in a gesture that seemed
conciliatory, although Tullia would not have thought her capable of it.
“Tullia,” she
murmured, “I did not know any of this. I heard rumors of some scandal, but not
this. Now all of the pieces I have puzzled over have fallen into place. How you
must have suffered! Abducted, locked up, and your friend slain trying to save
you.”
She suddenly
rose from her chair and sank to her knees before Tullia. Almost shyly she
smiled through tear misted eyes, and took Tullia’s hands between her own.
“I am sorry,”
she stated simply. “Is there any way you can forgive me, and I can atone for
what I have done?”