Chronicles of Logos Quest For the Kingdom Parts IV, V, VI, and VII Revised With Index (Quest For the Kingdom Set) by L. M. Roth Page A
Authors: L. M. Roth
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worse.”
He did not
elaborate on this last statement, and the girl wrinkled her forehead in
puzzlement.
“I am Brenus
Adalbart,” he said suddenly. “Please forgive me for not introducing myself, but
this is not the customary way to meet strangers and I simply forgot.”
The girl
blinked her eyes, and turned a little pale. Brenus thought that his words
brought back a momentary return of her terror and thought nothing of it. But
her next words proved him wrong.
“What did you
mean when you said “worse” could have happened,” she asked. “I have heard
strange tales of this land; don’t expect me to believe that they are actually
true. For that I’ll not believe!”
“Tales? What
tales,” he asked her.
Yet he already
knew.
“Tales of
strange beings that walk by night, who are so terrifying that the inhabitants
lock themselves in and refuse to venture out after nightfall. That can not be true!”
Brenus decided
this was not the time to refute or confirm the wild tales that had always
circulated about his native land. Instead he felt it would be a good time to
get better acquainted with the pretty young woman.
“And where do
you hail from, Miss…”
“I am from far
away, a land you will not have heard of,” she said in haste. “And my name is
Melisande. Melisande de Camille.”
Chapter
VI
Brenus Takes A Bride
They would not
understand, Brenus told himself. Neither his mother, nor Dag, nor even Cort
would have been able to comprehend the passion that swept through him and
exhilarated his waking moments. So he did not share his new love with them.
He kept it
secret, as he did the fact that he met Melisande in the woods every day when he
roamed them to hunt. He was older than she, being already thirty-two years old,
but in Eirinia men often deferred marriage until they were established on their
own land and able to support a wife. Brenus still lived in the hut where he
grew up, as he had no real desire to farm his own land.
Judoc
despaired of that fact, and he knew that in his heart his step-father Dag
regarded him as lazy. Cort teased him about it, yet under the banter he sensed
that he was serious. Cort himself had built his own small hut and bought a few
acres of land which he tilled diligently, yet still helped Dag on his larger
property. Brenus convinced himself that he was still needed at home, where his
four younger siblings, the children of Dag and Judoc, kept their mother on the
run from the time she rose in the morning until the time she sank into grateful
sleep at night.
Yet the truth
was that Brenus had no desire to work his own acres and was happiest in the
woods where he could roam freely and hunt for game, his own contribution to the
family dinner, he told himself. And until now, he had met not a single maiden
that induced him to give up his freedom to support her.
But now
everything was changed. For a fortnight he and Melisande met secretly in the
woods. And his heart was taken as it had never been by any other. He rejoiced
in the smile that lit her face when she caught sight of him, the demure glances
from under lowered lids that she shot up at him from her modestly bowed head,
the husky laugh so unlike the high-pitched giggles typical of the maidens of
his homeland. In his eyes, she was the ideal of womanhood, and it was not long
before he asked her to share his life with him.
He would never
forget the day she agreed to become his. They had walked in companionable
silence together, listening to the few remaining birds that had not yet flown
south for the coming of winter, and enjoying the effect of brilliant sunshine
on the leaves now turning gloriously in the mild October air. The forest looked
like a shimmering jewel, and as he turned to comment on it to Melisande, he saw
that her eyes were slightly closed and she breathed deeply of the scent of
leaves beneath their feet. She too, he thought, felt the beauty of this moment,
and he found the courage to speak to her of what was
He did not
elaborate on this last statement, and the girl wrinkled her forehead in
puzzlement.
“I am Brenus
Adalbart,” he said suddenly. “Please forgive me for not introducing myself, but
this is not the customary way to meet strangers and I simply forgot.”
The girl
blinked her eyes, and turned a little pale. Brenus thought that his words
brought back a momentary return of her terror and thought nothing of it. But
her next words proved him wrong.
“What did you
mean when you said “worse” could have happened,” she asked. “I have heard
strange tales of this land; don’t expect me to believe that they are actually
true. For that I’ll not believe!”
“Tales? What
tales,” he asked her.
Yet he already
knew.
“Tales of
strange beings that walk by night, who are so terrifying that the inhabitants
lock themselves in and refuse to venture out after nightfall. That can not be true!”
Brenus decided
this was not the time to refute or confirm the wild tales that had always
circulated about his native land. Instead he felt it would be a good time to
get better acquainted with the pretty young woman.
“And where do
you hail from, Miss…”
“I am from far
away, a land you will not have heard of,” she said in haste. “And my name is
Melisande. Melisande de Camille.”
Chapter
VI
Brenus Takes A Bride
They would not
understand, Brenus told himself. Neither his mother, nor Dag, nor even Cort
would have been able to comprehend the passion that swept through him and
exhilarated his waking moments. So he did not share his new love with them.
He kept it
secret, as he did the fact that he met Melisande in the woods every day when he
roamed them to hunt. He was older than she, being already thirty-two years old,
but in Eirinia men often deferred marriage until they were established on their
own land and able to support a wife. Brenus still lived in the hut where he
grew up, as he had no real desire to farm his own land.
Judoc
despaired of that fact, and he knew that in his heart his step-father Dag
regarded him as lazy. Cort teased him about it, yet under the banter he sensed
that he was serious. Cort himself had built his own small hut and bought a few
acres of land which he tilled diligently, yet still helped Dag on his larger
property. Brenus convinced himself that he was still needed at home, where his
four younger siblings, the children of Dag and Judoc, kept their mother on the
run from the time she rose in the morning until the time she sank into grateful
sleep at night.
Yet the truth
was that Brenus had no desire to work his own acres and was happiest in the
woods where he could roam freely and hunt for game, his own contribution to the
family dinner, he told himself. And until now, he had met not a single maiden
that induced him to give up his freedom to support her.
But now
everything was changed. For a fortnight he and Melisande met secretly in the
woods. And his heart was taken as it had never been by any other. He rejoiced
in the smile that lit her face when she caught sight of him, the demure glances
from under lowered lids that she shot up at him from her modestly bowed head,
the husky laugh so unlike the high-pitched giggles typical of the maidens of
his homeland. In his eyes, she was the ideal of womanhood, and it was not long
before he asked her to share his life with him.
He would never
forget the day she agreed to become his. They had walked in companionable
silence together, listening to the few remaining birds that had not yet flown
south for the coming of winter, and enjoying the effect of brilliant sunshine
on the leaves now turning gloriously in the mild October air. The forest looked
like a shimmering jewel, and as he turned to comment on it to Melisande, he saw
that her eyes were slightly closed and she breathed deeply of the scent of
leaves beneath their feet. She too, he thought, felt the beauty of this moment,
and he found the courage to speak to her of what was
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