Free Empress Aurora Trilogy Quest For the Kingdom Parts I, II, and III Revised With Index (Quest For the Kingdom Set) by L. M. Roth Page A

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