Authors: L. M. Roth
Their
conversation was interrupted by the sound of running feet. Marcus whirled
around and saw his daughter running frantically toward him, her hair tumbling
down from her bandeaux and down around her shoulders. Alarmed, he hurried to
her side and they met in the middle of the garden where a fountain with a
marble nymph sent out a spray of water that sparkled in the rays of the sun.
“Father, oh
Father!” Felicia cried out.
“What is it,
Felicia?” he asked, as sudden panic swept through him. “What has happened?”
“It is
Antonius,” she answered as sobs racked her body.
She doubled
over without warning and clutched at her stomach. She was winded from her run
and now emotion threatened to choke off her words altogether. Marcus led her to
a stone bench and sat her down, leaning over her solicitously. Justus had
joined them by now, and stood by silently.
“I shall leave
you,” he said. “Let me know if I can be of any assistance to you.”
“Do not go,”
Felicia implored. “It is nothing you do not already know, and therefore nothing
that needs to be concealed.”
She turned
back to her father.
“It is
Antonius,” she said. “And it is my fault. I invited Justus and Silvia to dine
with us last night, not knowing that my father-in-law had returned to Lycenium.
He came in on us in the family sitting room; he was as stunned to see our
guests as they were to see him. He left us and retired to his room, and I
thought that would be the last of it.
“But Antonius
was disturbed by the encounter, because something in his father’s attitude
alerted him that there was more to the incident than he saw on the surface. He
rose early and confronted his father, who confessed all to him, everything! And
now he is bitter against his father, and the Emperor, and swears he will go to
Valerium and confront the Emperor just as he has his father, and put an end to
this mad man’s dishonoring the name of Dominio.
“I am
frightened, Father. Antonius left me and went immediately to the docks. I did
not follow and did not know where he went because little Valerius awoke and I
needed to tend to him. By the time I had finished feeding and bathing him I
discovered that Antonius booked passage on a ship to Valerium and is already on
his way to Potentus, where he will face the Emperor. And I know if he does so
he will be put to death!”
Marcus pulled
her into his arms and stroked her hair as she wept helplessly. Justus averted
his gaze; it was obvious to Marcus that the account disturbed him. The two men
exchanged glances over the head of the weeping young woman, and Marcus knew
suddenly what he needed to do.
“Felicia,
hurry home and pack a bag and bring little Valerius with you. You and I are
going to see Decimus, and from there we shall all return to Valerium to try to
stop young Antonius in his madness.”
It was a gray
faced Decimus who answered their summons. Paulina had not accompanied him as
his business was of short duration. Her absence gave Marcus and Felicia the
freedom to speak openly of the matter at hand, and Decimus actually seemed
relieved to get everything out in the open.
He embraced
Felicia when she ran to him, and Marcus found himself moved when he saw how
tenderly his old foe kissed the top of his daughter’s head. He pulled away from
her with tears in his eyes, his attempts at bravado for once cast aside. It was
clear even to his old enemy that Decimus Hadrianus was a broken man.
“Father, I
tried to reason with him, but he would not listen to me. I told him how sorry,
how deeply sorry you are at what you did, but he refused to listen. I think he
has had a shock, and therefore can not listen. But we must stop him before he
sees the Emperor, for I know the Emperor will kill him!”
Decimus
straightened and his face took on a look of urgency. He flew into action at
once; he rang for the bell to summon his butler and instructed him to make sure
that a bag was packed for him. He was leaving for Lycenium on the next ship and
could not afford delay.
Only then did
he turn back to Felicia and Marcus.
“Are you
coming also?” he asked Marcus with no trace of emotion.
“Yes, my
daughter may need me,” he answered abruptly. “And Antonius may need prayer
before all is over.”
The gaze
Decimus turned on him was devoid of his usual sneer, and he appeared
thoughtful.
“Prayer? You
mean, pray to this Dominio that he worships?” Decimus asked quietly. “What good
will that do? Will it protect my son from his foolish course of action?”
“It may,”
Marcus answered just as quietly. “But we must also pray for Antonius to see reason
and have a change of heart.”
“Change his
heart about confronting Iacomus, you mean?”
Marcus nodded
slowly and stared into the eyes of the man who had caused him so much
suffering.
“And that he
has a change of heart toward you, and the bitterness he harbors.”
They were on
the sea within an hour. Marcus had informed Tullia of the situation and she
insisted on accompanying them, whether she and Marcus were in danger from the
Emperor or not. With fair weather they might be in Valerium within a fortnight.
Marcus found himself hoping that Antonius’ ship was delayed by bad weather so
they would reach Potentus before him. And he prayed that Dominio would
alleviate the bitterness in the young man’s heart toward his father.
Marcus had
another matter to share with his wife. Before Justus’ visit that morning, he
had read a letter that arrived in the morning post. Lucius was escorting Kyrene
home and then would return to Eirinia where he would settle down with his wife.
“Marcus! You
are not serious! You know I wish Lucius to return to Lycenium and choose a
wife; indeed, if we ever return to Valerium I know just the young lady I have
in mind. How could he possibly settle down in Eirinia with some country maiden?
Why he does not even
like
the country when we leave the city for a
picnic and is always complaining about bugs and grass; how could he live in the
wilds of a province like Eirinia!”
“But Tullia,”
he interrupted with a twinkle in his eyes. “Our son is going to marry Dag’s
daughter. It is Maelys; he adores the maid and if we refuse he will never
return home. That is what he writes.”
“Maelys!” she
exclaimed. “Well, why didn’t you say so? Of course, that is entirely different.
She is a lady of quality as well as a strong young woman. She will help make
him the man I know is hiding behind the spoiled boy.”
Felicia, in
spite of her worry over her husband, could not have been more delighted. Now
Maelys would truly be her sister, and she and Lucius could visit Lycenium
during the winter months when the ground lay idle in Eirinia.
“And just
think of it, Father; if Maelys had not come here looking for her brother, she
and Lucius would most likely have never met. It seems as if the hand of Dominio
led her here, does it not? So, He brought something good out of her father’s imprisonment
after all.”
As for
Decimus, he kept to himself for most of the voyage, coming out of his cabin
only occasionally. He did join Marcus, Tullia, and Felicia for meals, something
he could not avoid as all meals on shipboard were communal. During those meals
he remained silent for the most part, his entire demeanor sober and quiet.
Marcus
encountered him late one night, on the last night of their voyage, and they
talked.
He had come up
on deck to watch the stars, and marveled at their beauty. He recalled the long
ago words of his mother and smiled. Just at that moment he became aware that he
was not alone, and glanced along the rail to discover Decimus striding to the
spot where he stood. When he saw Marcus he stopped and would have retreated.
Marcus waved
him over. They stood in silence for several moments, neither of them knowing
quite what to say. As the waves slapped against the side of the ship, Marcus
saw a spray of water shoot in the air about half a mile ahead of them and
caught his breath in wonder. The sight startled him out of his silence, eager
to share the experience with whoever was present at that moment.
“Look,
Decimus; a whale! It is rare to meet with one in these waters. Indeed, I have
never seen one.”
Decimus nodded
and leaned over the rail for a better view. Then he looked up at the glittering
stars strewn across the night sky.
“You like
stars?” he asked Marcus.
“Yes, I do. I
was just standing here remembering what my mother used to call them; little
lanterns to illumine the darkness was what she said. And it does seem that the
world would be a dark place indeed without the stars to light our way.”
“Yes, I agree.
Do you think of your parents often?” Decimus asked to the amazement of Marcus.
Always Decimus
had taunted him for the disgrace the Empress had brought on his family with her
false accusations against his father, accusations that Decimus chose to believe
out of his hatred for Marcus. Marcus left off his study of the night sky and
turned to face the man beside him.
“Yes, I do
miss them; I miss them greatly. I wish they could have watched Lucius and
Felicia grow up; I wish they could see little Valerius. It is a sore thing to
lose one’s family, especially when one is very young, as I was.”
He was
suddenly overcome with emotion as he thought back on those long ago days, and
he left off his comments. He could not imagine what had come over him, that he
should express his feelings so openly to a man who hated him no less than he
hated him. But to his surprise, Decimus did not jeer or call him the son of a
traitor, as was his usual bent.
“Yes, that
would be a sore thing,” Decimus agreed. “And I have learned that lesson myself
now: I have lost my son. I know it, and there is nothing I can do to change
it.”
“Oh, but
Antonius is a good young man,” Marcus said hastily. “I am sure that time is all
he needs. Time, and honesty from you. I suppose I can understand why you chose
to hide the past from him and Paulina, but you must understand the shock he has
suffered.”
“At first I
thought you had told him, or Felicia had,” Decimus blurted out. “But it was my
own guilt that gave me away, he said. He saw it in my face when I saw…that
woman. Silvia Lucius. He saw the guilt in my face and he knew something was
wrong.”
He turned to
Marcus with troubled eyes.
“But I could
not lie to him, Maximus. I could not! I never wanted him to know what happened,
but I could not lie. Why could I not lie?”
A sob tore at
his throat, and Decimus clenched a fist to his mouth. He struggled for control,
humiliated that he should cry in front of his enemy. But Marcus felt a sudden
pity for the man who had killed his best friend and not been punished for it.
Now he saw that he was wrong, and that Decimus had indeed lived with the guilt
behind his bravado all these years, and the punishment had been terrible.
He found words
that he never thought he could say to Decimus falling from his lips.
“Perhaps it is
because you want relief from the guilt, Decimus. Perhaps you are weary of the
pain of hiding what happened. Perhaps, you have grown up.”
Decimus stared
at him, and then slowly nodded his head.
“Perhaps,” he
said softly, “you are right.”
Dag unrolled
the scroll that had come in the morning post and read it voraciously. How good
it was to hear from Cort at last! He had thought of him often and still missed
him deeply; his sense of humor had always leavened the emotion of the other
members of the Adalbart family, their inheritance of Trekur Lender calm and
stoicism at constant war with their Eirini passion and quick tempers.
Cort’s words
flew up at him like a bird’s wings, and brought back vivid memories of the
sense of adventure of the small boy who had adopted him more than twenty years
ago.
“Greetings
Father and Mother, and all the lesser stars of the Adalbart family:
“Siv and I are
well, and we have made it to Darian, the land to which we felt so strangely
drawn on our previous voyage. To our astonishment, the people here expected us
and it was only a matter of time before we could share the Good News with them,
and we have already founded a colony of believers. My blond hair and blue eyes
have found favor among them, for they have waited for someone who looks like me
for centuries, it seems.
“They have a
tale of one who brought ruin on their people after he wed the daughter of their
reigning chieftain, and then sired children with many of the village women.
They had never permitted outsiders to remain on their island and only married
among their own people. They felt they were of divine origin, and his wicked
blood tainted the strain and diminished them to the status of mortal men.
“They had a
prophecy that another man with blond hair and blue eyes would come to them one
day and restore them to their former glory. When I shared with them the love of
Dominio and how He sent His Son Alexandros to reconcile them to Him and become
His beloved children once more, they saw the connection with their own supposed
heritage and Dominio’s desire to bring us back into our divine connection with
Him. Every one of them accepted this truth, and they are all believers, wishing
to spread the Kingdom right here on their own island.
“It
is strange, but I recalled later, and so did Siv, that there was a story among
the people of our own village about a man named Tyr who was wicked and sent
away by his own father. And it was said that he never returned. I can not help
but wonder if this Tyr and the Tyr the people of Darian speak of are one and
the same. Can it be that Dominio sent me here to atone for what he did? Would
He do such a thing; send someone from the same village to make amends for the
wrong of another?
“I
find myself wondering of late if everything that has happened in my life has
led me to this moment: my father’s plan to sell me to the Tribal Chief which led
to my running away from home, meeting you and our hearing of Dominio and
committing our lives into His service, you adopting me as your son and raising
me with your own children, and even leaving home because of Melisande and
Dominio leading me to Darian. Is it possible that Dominio orchestrated all of
the events in my life to lead me to my destiny?
“I
can not help but wonder: were it not for my father’s debts he would not have
been willing to sell me as a slave, were it not for that I would never have run
away from home, and would most likely have remained in Trekur Lende all of my
days, just as all of my people always have. And it is the sovereignty of
Dominio that led me to Darian after the course of these events.
“I
saw Gunnar in Grete’s Land; it is sad what has happened there due to their
letting the outside world in after all their history of isolating themselves.
And I have determined that we shall not do so in Darian. If they are to remain
pure, they must stay set apart. We shall even leave the settlement, and
establish a colony on the heights, among the cliffs and the rooks where the
foot of man shall not ascend without great peril to himself. And up here we
shall seek God.
“Give
my love to my mothers; I hold them equally close in my heart. And to all of my
brothers and sisters, may they be well and grow to be the men and women that
Dominio desires them to be. I do not know when I shall see you again, as Siv
and I feel we are to remain here indefinitely to teach and to train the people
of Darian. It may be that Dominio will send us elsewhere when our task here is
completed.
“But
know this: no matter where we may be sent, no matter how long before we see one
another again, you are my family, and always shall be, to the end of our days
on this earth together.
“Cort”
As
he read the letter, Dag’s eyes filled with tears of longing for his adopted
son. But he knew that Cort was right: he had a task to do, and now Dirk was
becoming to Dag what Cort had always been, his eldest son. And yet, he thought,
was it not true that in Dominio we are all adopted? What is the difference then
between an adopted son and one born to a man?
Was
there any difference?
Thoughts
of family turned Dag’s thoughts in another direction. Whether the family liked
her or not, Melisande was part of the family, Brenus’ widow, the mother of his
child. And he felt prompted that she must not be excluded, as his daughters had
been so determined to do, even Nolwenn, now that she understood Melisande’s
true intentions in befriending her.
As
he had always been a man of action, he set about at once to make amends. He
found himself on a warm day in early September knocking on the door of the hut
of the woman who had attempted to kill him, with the intention of asking her to
dine with the family that night.
Melisande
blinked when she saw her visitor and stood holding the door ajar for endless
minutes. Dag waited patiently, but when waiting brought only continued staring
from his daughter-in-law he prompted an invitation himself.
“May
I come in?” he asked calmly.
Melisande
recovered from her surprise and opened the door wider to admit him. He entered
and was greeted by Gwenaelle, who limped over to hug him. He swung her around
in the air, which evoked delighted squeals from the child. Melisande watched
them but said nothing: she motioned for Dag to be seated.
He
did not hesitate but plunged into the purpose of the visit.
“What
are your plans, Melisande?”
“Plans?
What do you mean, Dag? Am I supposed to have plans?”
He
nodded his head and continued.
“All
men have plans, they just do not think about them perhaps. It may be plans for
a day, whether they will hunt or fish to provide for the evening meal, or it
may be whether to take a journey to transact business. Or it may be long term
plans, such as where one will live and spend their days.
“And
I ask you: what are your plans? Where do you intend to live and raise
Gwenaelle?”
Melisande
shook her head slowly. She sighed softly and picked up her daughter and kissed
her cheek.
“I
do not know; I have not really considered it. I had planned to stay here, but I
think your family would love nothing more than to see me leave and never
return. That is right, isn’t it, Dag?”
Dag
shrugged his massive shoulders and nodded his head.
“Yah,
I would say some of them feel that way. After all, you did make a lot of
trouble for us, Melisande. And they know that you did it deliberately; that
does not endear you to them.”
Melisande
sniffed suddenly and visibly bristled.
“Well,
then I see I must take Gwenaelle and return to Gaudereaux at once. But I do not
know how she will like it there; her whole world is here and as you know, Dag,
Gaudereaux will be much different for her. She would be expected to be waited
on by slaves, to have every whim satisfied in an instant, and to never want for
anything. And the whole aim of society is to satisfy one’s own pleasure,
whether it be for music, dancing, dining, whatever one desires. She will not be
used to such, and it will be a tremendous change for her.”
Dag
was taken aback at the young woman’s description of Gaudereaux: it had been his
own belief that Melisande secretly pined for the way of life she had left
behind there, and he was astonished at her very accurate summing up of the
aimless life of pleasure that all of the inhabitants pursued. He and Judoc both
felt that Melisande considered Eirinia a mere rustic province, so her words
surprised him even more.
It
was, however, the opening that he needed.
“Well
it seems to me then, that you have two choices before you: you can return to
Gaudereaux where Gwenaelle can receive an inheritance from your grandparents,
who will die and leave her their estate. But when they die, which can not be
before long as they are advancing in years, you and your child will be alone,
with no kin about you.
“Or,
you can remain in Eirinia, and raise Gwenaelle in Leith among her aunts and
uncles and the cousins they will have for her to know and to play with, to
confide in, and to call her flesh and blood. There may not be anything of material
value for you here in Eirinia, but there is family here, if you want it.”
Melisande
stared at him; his response was not what she had expected either.
“But
your family hates me. Why should I stay where I am not wanted?”
“Time
can heal the wrongs you have done, if you truly repent of what you have done.
If you are truly sorry, they will feel it. If you are not, they will know it is
all a sham on your part and they will never accept you.”
The
young woman’s bewilderment only increased at his words.
“But,
why are you doing this? Why invite me to stay after all that I have done? I do
not understand you, Dag!”
He
looked at her and thought of Brenus whom she had made so unhappy, and of Cort
whom she had driven away. But he thought most of all of a light-hearted maiden
he had so nearly married, and that the young woman who faced him now might
easily have been his own daughter.
“I
invite you because you
do
have family here, and it is up to you whether
you wish to make amends and learn to live among them. It will be hard, because
now they know the extent of the pain you have caused. But Dominio would forgive
you if you ask Him, and therefore they must also.”
“But
why would Dominio forgive me? I tried to turn your own daughter against Him;
why would this God of yours forgive me?”
“Because
He is love.”
“I
do not understand.”
“That
is because, my small one, you do not understand love.”
Two
nights later as the family sat down to eat a knock was heard on the door of the
hut. Judoc sighed wearily, having just sat down after being on her feet most of
the afternoon. Maelys smiled and jumped up to answer it.
There
was the sound of the door creaking open, a sound of surprise from Maelys. They
all glanced up in curiosity, and beheld Melisande, carrying little Gwenaelle in
her arms. She looked about the room uncertainly, almost defiantly, except for
the trembling of her bottom lip.
Nolwenn
flushed and Dirk stiffened; Brand paused in the act of lifting a roll to his
open mouth. Dag waited patiently. But Judoc leapt to her feet and put an arm
around Melisande and led her to the table.
Melisande
looked around the table at the family, her face pale and her eyes wide as she
waited for a response. But the only answer she saw was in the eyes of Dag, and
so she addressed them.
“I
have come to dinner, if that is alright. I think Gwenaelle would like to spend
some time with her aunts and uncles.”
She
paused and took a deep breath.
“So
we shall spend the evening with…our family.”
And
she smiled sweetly into the eyes of Dag, who beamed his satisfaction across the
table.