Marcellus dropped to one knee and lowered his eyes. "It is my honor to serve my king, and Kaerleon."
Lucretius gripped his black, lion-emblazoned mantle as he stood. He kept Majestis crooked in his arm as he clasped Marcellus on the shoulder. The grip was shockingly frail.
Lucretius smiled as if reading Marcellus' thoughts. "Rise, Sir Admorran. You know there are no formalities in private. I must speak to you of matters that concern the future of not only Kaerleon but the entire kingdom of Leodia."
Marcellus stood, looking his king in the eye. "Majesty, you speak in riddles. I heard you recalled the guard from the Bruallian borders. What plot have you uncovered that you cannot speak of?"
Lucretius dropped his gaze and sighed. "No plot, Marcellus. A threat. It is a threat against my last living heir."
Marcellus stopped cold. "Majesty?"
The king walked slowly beneath heavily engraved portraits of kings who gazed from the past with wise and knowing eyes. "I know you are confused. You know what happened in the Assassin Wars, when the cowardly Shoreland lords arranged the deaths of princely Alanos along with his mother, the noble queen. Yet what you do not know is there was another child, born from a common woman before my arranged marriage. The story is long, and I have neither the time nor strength to tell it. My heart grows heavy when I speak of Cantrelle, the first love of my life."
Marcellus felt a swell of curiosity at the revelation he had never imagined. True, kings were no strangers to illegitimate children, having sired bastards since the dawn of kingship. But somehow Marcellus never imagined Lucretius stepping outside of the moral lines he stressed so often. Yet no man was above temptation, a fact Marcellus knew well.
"What became of her?"
Lucretius paused to hang Majestis in its place beneath the ornately designed coat of arms that framed the throne. "In time she came to be with child. She fled after the announcement of my engagement, and I failed to find her in time. She died in childbirth, leaving me a bastard child who would never be able to claim the throne. So in secret, I had him sent away to the great learning houses in Komura, where he could be raised free from peril and learn the ways of nobility and chivalry."
Marcellus glanced questioningly. "Komura?"
Lucretius nodded. "I know it is not a godly land, but their ways are of peace, not of viciousness like their Bruallian neighbors. They aid in curtailing the Bruallians, earning them the gratitude of Leodia. Our kingdoms have long aided one another."
"You have not seen him since?"
Lucretius wearily shook his head. "I dared not. Lyanne, my wifely queen, knew nothing of him, and in time she bore Alanos, the princely heir to my throne. I felt both her and my bastard child were better off without the burden of…unnecessary revelations. He knows he is a son of Kaerleon, for his retainers are men I chose myself to tend to him and protect him with their lives. Komura is the only civilized kingdom in Bruallia. The nobles there are fine men, grateful for the protective shadow of Kaerleon, for they are in the midst of many enemies.
"But they are now engulfed in war, my sources tell me. Bruallia has grown restless. Their warlord, Valdemar Basilis, has fanned this flame to a raging fire. He has his eyes set upon Komura and is intent on conquering that nation. I cannot save Komura without breaking the peace we have with the Bruallian Empire. But I can save my son. He is the hope of Leodia, Marcellus. The seed of the future must be returned to me safely. That is what you must do. That is why I have summoned you here."
Marcellus stood in shocked silence, aware of Lucretius' expectant gaze. Even at the quickest route, it would still take over a month to get to Komura. When was the last time he had ridden that long? Not since the Bruallian rebels had crossed the Dragonspine, and that was nearly a decade ago.
You have grown soft. Too accustomed to the longest jaunt being a ride to the Keep, only a one-day trip. The thought of being on the long trail through wilderness and dust, sleeping on the ground, rationing food and water…
He thought of his daughter Alexia. What would he do if she were in the same position as this bastard prince? You would already be on Shadowdancer, intent only on reaching her in time.
Marcellus quickly dropped to one knee again. "Majesty, to bring your son back safely is an honor, and I accept the task gladly. By my sword under the Light of Deis, I swear I will return with your princely heir, or not at all."
Lucretius sighed heavily and placed his hand on one of the lion statues as if for support. His eyes glistened when he raised his head. "It is as I knew it would be. You have always been the paragon of knighthood, my friend. Time and again you have risked life and shed blood for my sake. Does this yoke grow heavy upon you? Do you ever dream of something more for yourself?"
Marcellus kept his eyes downward, thinking of Evelina and Alexia. To leave them behind for the whole of the journey was something he dreaded as much as the look on Evelina's face when he would have to tell her. She knew him better than to plead for him to stay, but he knew he wounded her anew every time he broke his promise never to leave her again.
"Dreams are common to all men, your Majesty. Duty has made me a better knight. That is what holds me steady. Dreams are pleasant thoughts that fade when the day breaks, nothing more."
Lucretius turned to the window, viewing the distant mountains as if for the first time. His voice was a mere whisper. "Is life then naught but a dream? Here for a moment, then fading with the dawn? My dreams keep me awake at nights of late, for they swell with darkness and creeping things. I fear time is against us all, Marcellus. I feel it following me like a shadow, waiting for a chance to spring."
Marcellus paused, unsure of how to respond. "It should not take me long to prepare—"
"Seven morrows from now you must pick a hundred of your most trusted Companions and set forth. Until then, spend time with your family. Time is precious." The morning light bathed Lucretius' face, turning his hair into silver cords. "The end is upon us before we know it." He stood silent, as though no longer aware of his company.
Marcellus paused at the door. "Majesty, who are these strangers that visit you at night?"
When Lucretius turned, he was an indecipherable shadow silhouetted against the window's eye. "That is not a matter to concern you, Lord Admorran. All that should concern you are the commands I have given you. Let that be your focus until the task ends. You will leave me now, for I have much to contemplate upon."
He again turned his back, leaving Marcellus with no choice but to bow his way out.
"As His Majesty commands…"
Chapter 4: Nyori
Four days had passed since the ordeal at the Pools. It had taken a group of the Sha to heal her, the only reason she still drew breath instead of lying still as stone while her consciousness dissipated like morning mist.
"You have to tell me everything, Nyori. Every smell, every movement, every possible detail you can remember."
Mistress Ayna was only a few years older than Nyori's five and twenty, yet the small age gap was a wide divide when one was as talented as Ayna was. Her amber-colored eyes focused as if she was determined to solve the mystery by sheer willpower. Nyori's small room seemed extremely cramped with Ayna and her daunting presence crowding in.
Though Nyori earned high praise for her progress, Ayna had stunned her mentors at a far earlier age. Although still considered young, she served as one of their most gifted leaders. It was said Ayna learned to translate Glyphs before she learned how to walk. A slight exaggeration, but not by much.