As if reading his thoughts, she spoke. “Right now I don’t have a care in the world. I could sit here like this and relax all afternoon, then take a nap, healer. How about you?” she languidly opened her eyes and looked at him. He nodded agreement, closed his eyes, then let his head sink below the surface.
He vaguely heard a noise in the room penetrate the water to is ears, and then his eyes flew open as a voice spoke. “Where is he, your master? Where’s the Indige swordsman who won the tournament yesterday, the one who healed the princess Waines?”
Thinking quickly, Rief replied, “He’s not here. He saw another girl he thought was pretty. He went down the hall to visit her.”
“Well, we’ll just wait here for him to come back and get his robes and sword. In the meantime, it seems like a waste of a room and a pretty girl not to do something. Climb up out of the tub,” the voice said.
Alec’s warrior powers were fully engaged, and as Rief started to climb out of the water he squatted down to the floor of the tub, then propelled himself upward. He shot from the water and landed on the floor and surveyed the room. He discovered four men wearing imperial gold cloth with swords drawn, caught off guard by his appearance. He rolled into the legs of the closest man. As he knocked him down he lashed out a punch to the face, then rolled towards his own sword. He stood up with the blade in hand, virtually naked and dripping, and looked at the other three men. “You can leave now and survive, or you can stay and be killed,” he heard Rief threaten the men from behind him, voicing the precise thoughts he had.
The three men made no move to leave, but instead spread out with their swords held defensively. Alec reached down and picked up the beautiful imperial dagger, then threw it at the man in the middle, sinking it in his chest. As the other two looked in astonishment, Alec ran at the one on the left and stabbed his stomach, then swung his blade across the throat of the man on the right. He too crumpled to the floor, and the battle was over.
“Oh my God, healer! You just killed four men, and it took you less time than it took me to say it!” Rief was standing beside the pool. He felt shaky as he picked up a towel from the floor and tossed it to her, then laid his blade down and picked up his own towel, knowing that everything had just changed. She walked over to him as he dried his hair. “Why did the emperor’s men come to get you? You’re his favorite!”
One of the men groaned, the one Alec had hit first. Alec bent down to look at him, and the man’s eye’s fluttered open. “Why did you come to seek the healer?” Rief asked him.
“Where are my men?” he responded.
“They’re all dead,” Rief told him harshly, and motioned around the room, tears welling in her eyes. Alec walked over to pull the dagger from the chest of a dead man, the blade rasping against the bone as he withdrew it.
“They’re dead?” he asked uncomprehendingly as he turned his head to see the three bloody bodies in close proximately.
“Yes, and you will be too if you don’t tell us why you’re here,” Rief said flatly.
“The Dominion Lady Mooreen told the emperor’s sister that she recognized Taurum the healer, that he was a great warrior and lord from the Dominion. She said that he would have marks on his arms because he had their powers, the ingenairii powers she called them, to bring great evil into the world.” He looked at Alec’s uncovered arms and saw the flashing ingenaire marks of his various powers.
Alec looked at Rief, and caught her looking down at his marks, and then her eyes came up and met his, looking at him with an expression different from any other he’d seen.
Alec held his dagger up, then cut a piece of material from one of the dead men’s robes, and used it to tie the hands of their captive. He cut more strips, and tied his feet and gagged his mouth. He stood up, prepared to take whatever action he planned to take in the Michian empire.
Chapter 29 – Parting with Rief
He lifted up his robe. “Is it true, healer? Are you a lord and warrior from the Dominion?” He looked at her face and nodded. He saw her shock and heard a sob in her throat. “Do you have the power to bring great evil into the world?” she asked. He held out his hand towards her, and she tentatively placed her hand in his; he sensed sadness, fear and betrayal. He shook his head negatively, then released her hand, and showed her his robe. “You’re going to get dressed?” he nodded.
He realized that he absolutely needed the capability to communicate more clearly, and he focused his mind, considering the exercise of power he would use. He stripped off his wet underclothes, then raised his robe over his head, and shrugged into it as he released his healing powers with an inward focus, causing the muscles and flesh in his mouth to squirm as he grew a tongue in his mouth so that he could once again speak. As the robe slid over his head he heard the muffled sounds of another question from Rief.
He stood for a moment, rolling his new tongue around in his mouth, feeling it touch the backs of his teeth, the roof of his mouth, the sides of his cheeks. It felt strange, and yet such a relief to have a tongue again. He turned towards Rief, prepared to say something to her, when he realized the imperial guard was still in the room. Instead, he picked up her robe and held it out to her. “Did you hear my question? What are you going to do now, Tarnum?” she asked, using the name with a tone she had never used before.
He felt great sadness in his heart, and he pointed to the door. Then he pointed at her, and moved his finger back towards himself. “Will I come with you?” she repeated his implied question, and he nodded. Instead of answering, she pulled on her underclothes in a slow and deliberate manner, then pulled her own robes on.
“Are you going to kill me?” she asked. His heart gave another heave. He bent on one knee to her as she stood still with dignity in what she feared was her moment of death. He raised his hands and took both of hers, then shook his head negatively. He motioned again from himself to her, then to the door.
“You are not who I dreamed you were, Tarnum. But you have been kind to me, and I know that my fate rests completely with yours now. I will come with you, if you promise there will be no evil done,” she solemnly addressed him.
Alec placed his hands on his heart and nodded, then stood. He placed his sword and dagger in his belt and placed his medicinal bag over his head. He held out his hand to Rief, who looked at it, then walked out into the hallway and waited for him to follow. He stepped out with her, and pulled the broken door closed behind to hide the scene, then the two of them walked to the front desk and dropped off the key. They walked out the front door and to the stables, where they remounted their horse and left the bath house.
“Do you still want to go to the market?” Rief asked.
“Yes,” Alec answered simply.
“What have you done?” she screeched so loudly that Alec’s left ear rang, and a couple strolling on the side of the road looked up in surprise.
“How can you talk? Stop this horse! Let me see your mouth!” she demanded, reaching forward to place her hand on the reins as Alec pulled up.
Alec turned his torso to face her, and opened his mouth wide, then darted his tongue out at her as her fingered gripped his cheeks tightly.
“Are you going to turn into a demon from Raigg next? You told me your worshipped the slave’s god, the savior?” she told him.
“I do worship Jesus Christ, our savior,” he answered. “I am a healer ingenaire, with the ability to heal wounds and cure illnesses; that is the great power Mooreen tried to make sound so bad. You know some of what I can do. The time came when I realized I needed to talk to you, so I used my power and caused my tongue to grow. If Mooreen has given me away, I have to act in a hurry, and leave Michian. She bears me no love; this scar here,” he ran a finger down the scar near his eye, “was one she gave me personally when I was in her dungeon.”
“Speak slowly; such a strange accent! What do you plan to do next?” Rief asked.
Alec set the horse in motion again and turned to face forward.
“I plan to go to the
market, and buy new robes for us, first,” he told her. “We’ll be recognized in these Indige colors by anyone searching for us. Then I want to buy a certain herb in the market place. Then I want to go visit the restorers the emperor is using.”
“Are you going to kill them? Is that why you’re here?” she asked.
“I didn’t know why I was sent here at first, to Michian,” Alec admitted to her. “I was in one of the holy places in my land, and the ghost of a saint told me he would send me on a journey to learn something about how to protect my land from an invasion. The next thing I knew I was watching Cander sprawled out on the ground, and you know everything that has happened since.
“I’m not evil. I don’t want to hurt anyone. I just want my own land to be protected and safe,” he added.
“And I have warrior powers too,” he explained. He raised his arm and lowered his sleeve. “This sword shows that I can call upon the ability to battle with great powers. And this symbol,” he raised the other arm as he shifted the reins, “shows I have the ability to heal”
“What does that mark on your shoulder mean?” Rief asked.
Alec chuckled as he thought about it. “It means I got drunk one time, and got a tattoo,” and he raised a laugh from Rief, the first friendly sign since the imperial guard had spoken.
“I am who I always have been, Rief. The person you’ve known for the past few days is who I am. I wasn’t born into a great clan leader’s family. I was an orphan, but strange things have happened, and I seem to have duties I must perform,” he tried to explain his unlikely situation to her.
“The guard said you were a leader from the Dominion, not just a warrior, Tarnum,” Rief rebutted.
“There is no king currently in our land, so the crown is mine to protect until a new king is found,” he simplified the story as best he could.
“Oh Tarnum, your story is too fantastic to believe,” Rief told him.
They had reached the market place, and Alec hitched the horse to a rail. “Where do you want to go to get new clothes?” he asked.
“Will you let me walk away from you whenever I want to?” she replied.
“Rief, you can leave me any time you want, and go with all my best wishes. But I am afraid that anything that is planned for me is going to happen to you as well now. I want to protect you as much as I want to do anything else,” he said in all seriousness.
Her face softened slightly for a moment. “Until you go back to your own land, you mean?”
He realized what his heart had already decided. “If you so choose, I will take you back with me and protect you there as well. You will forever be under my protection if you want to be. In the past few days you have been my voice, my advocate, my servant and my best friend, and I will not forget that.”
Her eyes searched his face intently. “Those are the words I would expect from the boy I’ve known these past days, but it doesn’t ring true with what has happened in the past few minutes, Tarnum. Give me time to think. Let’s go find new clothes, over there,” she pointed to a shop on the edge of the market square, as her idle hand nervously twitched at the seam of her robe.
Alec hoped that her heart was softening. They walked to the shop and Alec watched her try on two robes, before selecting a third that was a simple tan fabric. He selected a similar robe, a slightly darker shade, and they headed out the door.
“I need some more herbs,” he said as he started walking toward the tables around the square. At one table he found the particular plant he sought, a leafy yellow bunch that he bought the full supply of, and did the same at two more tables, then bought a bag of sugar.
“I’ve got what I need now,” he told Rief. She had silently followed him around the square. “Rief,” he said abruptly when they were nearly in the center of the square, where the crowds were walking by them at a rapid pace. “There are five imperial guards very near our horse. If you want to stay with me, I’m going to leave here on foot and try to evade them, and you’ll need to stick with me. If you want to part from me and go your own way, you can do it now. Or if you want to try to seek forgiveness from the emperor and the Indige clan, unlikely though it is, you can go to the guards and tell them I am leaving the square,” he placed his hands on her shoulders. “And I will accept whatever course you chose.”
“Tarnum, healer, whatever your name is,” she took a deep breath. “I want to believe you. I wish I believed you were the boy you tell me you are and the boy you seemed to be these past few days. But so much is different now. I don’t want to leave Michian to go to your foreign place. Please know,” she paused. “Please know how much you have meant to me. I would have worshipped you and been your extension forever. But this is so strange now.”
He bent low and placed his lips on hers, silencing her with a kiss. “You may do what you feel is best Rief. I will leave you here, and you can return to the Indige clan. I hope so much that it is the right thing, the best thing for you. I won’t forget you,” he stepped back. “But the guards are here and I have to do what God intended me to do to protect my people.” he looked at her face, then turned and walked away, weaving through the milling crowd. When he nearly reached the far side of the square he turned and looked, and saw her approaching the Indige clan horse that was still tied to a rail. As she reached the horse men swarmed around her. Not only the five Alec had seen, but three others besides. They spoke to her urgently, one holding her arm, but no violence appeared to occur. She listened, and motioned her arms as she spoke back, then pointed off to her left. Immediately, five of the guards began trotting in that direction, away from Alec.
The others stayed with her, and let her mount the horse, then began to lead it peacefully away from the square. “Dear Lord, please let her be safe and happy. I pray that she will open her heart to you. Look over her and protect her John Mark. She is very dear to me, and her heart is good.” He finished his prayer and raised his head, but the horse, rider and escort were all out of sight.
Alec debated whether to use his powers at low precautionary level, to protect himself from the guards that must be searching for him. Not yet, he told himself. He didn’t have the capacity to carry power for as long as he used to; the way he had worn out yesterday had shown him how his abilities were diminished, and he could only hope that in the future practice would restore his former abilities.
Staying on crowded and busy streets, Alec tried to hide in the crowd as he walked towards the imperial palace. He wasn’t really sure it was the right place to find the restorers, but he resolved to start there and search until he found them. The emperor had ridden one from his palace to the tournament yesterday, so the odds seemed good to find them there.
Eventually he found his way to the palace grounds. The high walls surrounding the palace were high – far too high for him to jump. Guards were at the gates, and some were even walking along the exterior, causing Alec to cross the street. He continued his circumnavigation, and as he finally rounded a distant corner, the smell of stables wafted over the wall.
He felt relief that he had at least found the part of the palace grounds most likely to be the home of the restorers. And as he watched a wagon full of bales of hay roll steadily behind a pair of oxen, he saw his way to get inside the palace. He ran to the back of the wagon and jumped in, then wormed his way inside and pulled hay over top to hide him as the wagon turned into a gateway.
“I can’t say it’s exciting to bring this hay in every day, but it’s better than having to haul the manure out,” the elderly wagoneer told the guard as they rolled into the palace grounds. Alec waited several seconds, then cautiously raised his head and looked around. The wagon appeared to be in a small farm, with pastures on each side and trees lining the lane, which led to a large collection of the imperial barns and stables. Not seeing anyone watching, Alec jumped out of the wagon and ran to a tree trunk, jumping up and climbing rapidly into the concealing leaves above.
He watched the wagon rumble away, then he started to look around, try
ing to figure out where the restorers might be. The sun was starting to set, and as he had no luck in locating the herd of precious animals, he sat still and considered his options. He decided to wait until sundown, and to then take advantage of the evening darkness to cover his exploration of the grounds.
Two more wagons entered as he sat in the tree, and all three wagons departed before nightfall. Alec felt his stomach grumble, and he thought of lunch, hours ago. He wished he hadn’t brought up the bath so soon; they might have eaten dessert otherwise, as Rief had so desperately looked forward to. He had promised her to treat her to that dessert someday. It was a promise he knew now he’d never be able to keep, no matter how earnestly meant it had been.
The sun was falling below the horizon, and all the western sky was a brilliant red shell, glorious to behold. Alec lowered himself down a branch, and then down another, then dropped to the ground. He crouched on the grass as the top of the fiery ball fell out of sight, and true darkness began to assert its rule.
Against the Empire: The Dominion and Michian Page 21
