The Quest (The Hidden Realm Book 5) by A. Giannetti Page A

arrived from Silanus, Merula rode from Niveaus, Orianus at his side and a picked company of several hundred knights, lightly armed and wearing leather armor following behind. Riding like the wind, accompanied by the thunder of hundreds of beating hooves, the Tarsi sped down the east road that led from Niveaus. Two days later, on the same morning that Dacien arrived at the pass into Iulius, they rode into the eastern half of Silanus before sunrise. Acting on the information the king had received from the false Ancharian sent by Torquatus, they crossed the river on barges, landing on a deserted part of the west bank that was about ten miles south of the western portion of Silanus that was in Goblin hands. Barely a mile to the west, as the Ancharian’s message had promised, they found a small camp guarded by a force of Mordi and mutare numbering barely a hundred. After they were quickly overrun by the stronger Tarsi force, Merula was the first to enter and search the encampment, which consisted only of a few black tents. Inside of one of them, he discovered a woman bound hand and foot. In face and form she resembled Anthea so exactly that Merula never suspected she was not what she seemed.
    “You have come for me, Merula!” Lepida shouted gladly when he cut her restraints with his dagger. Overcome with delight at this change in the woman he supposed to be Anthea, Merula did not see the sly look in Lepida’s eyes as she embraced him and laid her head on his chest.
    “Have your feelings for me changed?” Merula could not help asking.
    The false Anthea at once pretended to wipe away tears. “I see you in a different light now, Merula, for Elerian is dead, slain by the Goblins. When my grief and the distress caused by my abduction fade who knows what may happen between us.” Pleased with this response, Merula stepped aside as Orianus entered the tent and embraced his supposed daughter. Surrounded by Orianus’s riders, Lepida was quickly brought across the Arvina. On the ride east to Niveaus, she sought out the company of Merula who rode a little behind her and Orianus.
    “It is good to be home again Merula. I owe you more than I can ever repay,” she said softly when she rode by his side, her voice full of false gratitude.
    “You owe me nothing Anthea,” replied Merula affecting a courteous air now that she appeared to favor him. “I am happy to serve you in any way that I can, hoping only for your affection in return.”
    “That will come in time,” promised Lepida. “In the meantime, I require something else from you,” she said softly. “My memory seems strangely affected by my abduction. Many names and faces have slipped away from me, therefore, I may require your help from time to time in identifying those around me.”
    “That I will gladly do until all becomes familiar to you again,” replied Merula graciously. As he and Lepida continued their conversation, Orianus, who rode ahead of them, observed them with a glad heart when he cast a look at them over his right shoulder.
    “If they grow in affection then at least one good thing will come from Elerian’s untimely passing,” thought Orianus to himself, for Merula had informed him straightaway that Elerian was dead. The king’s pleasure in rescuing his daughter was somewhat spoiled upon returning to Niveaus when he learned that Dacien’s stallion and his spare mounts had been discovered on the northern plains unaccompanied by any rider.
    “I fear that I have gained a daughter but may have lost a son,” he mused to himself. He had tracked Dacien’s progress in his bowl as far as the pass into Iulius, but at that point Dacien had disappeared from view. When no messages came out of the west across the Arvina, Orianus gained some hope that Dacien was still alive. “If the Goblins had captured or killed him, Torquatus would have wasted no time in informing me of that fact,” he reasoned to himself. “He may have released his horses on purpose,