Without further question a note was passed to a messenger boy who left the gate, and five minutes later Alec saw Tarkas approaching, along with his sister Annalea.
“See! I told you it must be him!” Annalea squealed. She raced in front of her brother and tackled Alec with a running hug that sent him staggering back three steps. “Oh Angel! You’re alive and you’re here! We heard such stories!
“I had a baby! You and your friend healed me so well last year! Rand and I have a little brother for Leah!”
Alec kissed her with joy in his heart at her welcome news, held her at arm’s length, and without thinking, he engaged his ingenairii healing vision to inspect her health.
The use of his healing vision was so thoroughly a part of his powers that Alec was never aware of the actual process involved in accessing the energy of the ingenairii realm. Even before he had known he had powers, before he had trained and learned the cumbersome lessons needed to find and grasp those energies, Alec had been able to call upon his vision to see the state of health of others. The acquisition of his healing powers from the Cave of John Mark had seamlessly incorporated the ability to heal as a part of Alec’s talent and personality.
But now, as he began to look at Annalea, the automatic transmission of his powers from the ingenairii realm went astray. Alec felt an incomprehensibly seductive lure, a call to use the powers more strongly, and to succumb to the temptation to plunge deeper into the energy realm. He thought of the memory of Merle again, describing the danger of plunging into the energy, intoxicated by its lethal promise of pleasure, and he remembered hearing of those who never came back out alive.
He fell to the ground and his eyes rolled back into his head as his soul began to wander away from his body. But his consciousness detected a faint, foul contamination in the energy realm, and he pushed mightily to sever the connection to it.
The contamination was familiar, but he could not identify the evil presence that existed like the faint shadow cast by a bright star on a moonless night. Even as he knew he should resist, tendrils of the energy remained engaged within his soul, and he felt himself tempted to give in to the lure of the mystical realm of power, where the spirit could feast on potential in a way that was more satisfying than the real world.
He happened to think again of Bethany, and imagined her lying unconscious in Oyster Bay, waiting for him to revive her. It was the motivation he needed to reject the temptation of the power. Alec succeeded in breaking the bond, perhaps because his Cave-established connection to the energy was different from the typical bond, and he felt his spirit within his body again. He was aware of voices and sensations, before he managed to open his eyes. He looked without focusing, sensing a ceiling above him. “His eyes are open! Stand back everyone; give him space,” Helen’s voice said.
Alec blinked his eyes and raised a hand to rub his forehead, where a terrible headache pounded. “Mother Helen? Is that you? Where are we?” he asked, beginning to regain his senses.
Natha’s face suddenly appeared above him next to Helen’s. “You’re in my office Alec,” Natha responded. “We carried you in right away when you fainted. What a relief to see you awake, my boy!”
There was a noise to Alec’s right, and he recognized Colonel Ryder’s voice. With an effort, he pushed himself upright and looked around. Tarkas, Annalea, Ryder, Helen, Natha, and another unknown person were in the room around him. “Colonel,” Alec said in surprise. “How’d you get here so fast? How long was I unconscious?”
Tarkas shouldered his way in closer. “You passed out about 20 minutes ago, Alec. I immediately sent for the colonel, and for mother, then had you brought up here to Dad’s office. How do you feel?”
“I’m alright, thank you everyone, except for this headache,” Alec answered. “When I saw Annie I tried to use my healer vision, without even thinking. There’s an infection in the ingenairii power, I think. I don’t really know what it is,” he said, starting to think out loud as he considered what he had experienced.
“You woke up, Alec,” Colonel Ryder said. “Why have you, and none of the others?”
“I don’t know,” Alec responded. He spoke aloud as he tried to recollect exactly what had happened. “I started to engage my vision, but the potential of the power seemed so great. It tempted me with the promise that I would be stronger, able to see the answers to all the great mysteries, and to heal just by looking. All I had to do was descend deeper into the energy realm.
“And then I realized; I remembered Merle’s tales of apprentices who never awoke. I’d just been thinking about it when I was with Ellison, so it was fresh in my mind. I pulled myself away because it felt impure. There was something like an odor or stain or something about the power that wasn’t right, so I disengaged, and then I started to wake up here.”
“Will there be any after-effects?” Helen asked, as she handed him a cup. “Go ahead and drink it; it came from your fountain.”
He took a long swallow from the mug, emptying it and setting it down. He felt slightly better already, a relief he appreciated.
“I hope that if I keep from using the power, there won’t be any further effects,” Alec answered. He looked at Ryder. “I don’t know why I was able to return and the others haven’t. I just don’t know how to explain it.” He shook his head slightly, unable to imagine how he had escaped the malady while someone as knowledgeable as Merle could have fallen as a casualty. “I think the best thing to do is to hurry down to Oyster Bay as rapidly as possible to see what the ingenairii there think.” Now that he had survived, he held out hope that some at least had not suffered unconsciousness yet.
“Natha, Tarkas, how fast can you get me to Ingenairii Hill?” he asked, looking at his friends.
Tarkas picked up a sheaf of papers from his father’s desk and flipped a couple of pages. “We can have a small fast river clipper ready to go in three hours,” he proclaimed, looking at his father for confirmation. Natha nodded his head.
“Would you like a guard to go with you?” Colonel Ryder asked. “It doesn’t seem prudent to let the healer of the ingenairii and the next king travel around the Dominion without some protection. Especially if you can’t use your own powers to be a warrior ingenaire.”
“Angel, are you going to be the king?” Annalea asked the question all the members of the Millershome family wanted to ask upon hearing Ryder’s indiscreet comment.
Alec looked around the room, and paused as he considered. “Yes,” he admitted in a low voice, unable to lie to this family of close friends and allies. “I am the grandson of King Gildevny, and I will proclaim myself as the heir to the throne when the time is right.”
“You know you can count on us to support you in any way possible,” Natha said immediately, as the rest of the astonished room digested Alec’s proclamation.
Helen curtsied, as did Annalea, then the men in the room bowed. “Why don’t you give us a guard or two for his ship?” Natha said to Colonel Ryder. “There will be room in the clipper for some extra hands.”
Ryder agreed before Alec could object, and the officer left the room to return to the palace and assign bodyguards to Alec.
Tarkas stared at Alec. “Have you been preparing to be king all this time? I never would have guessed,” he commented.
“I didn’t know myself until last year,” Alec admitted. “And I’m not sure I’m ready for the throne, but Bethany is there trying to hold the realm together, and I believe the Dominion needs someone to restore stability.”
“You’ll do a good job,” Tarkas assured him quickly. “What do you need to take down river?”
“I don’t have anything with me,” Alec said, not having considered the matter. “I’ve been traveling light since I left the Pale Mountains.”
“You’ve got time to go find some clothes and necessities,” Natha said. “I don’t suppose you have any money?”
Alec shook his head negatively.
“Annie, take Alec out shopping,” Natha told his daughte
r, giving her a handful of coins. “And have him back here is two hours.”
“Come along Angel, or should I say King Angel?” Annalea said as she placed her hand on Alec’s arm and pulled him from the room. “Down there is a shop where Rand buys his clothes,” she pointed down a busy street a minute later as they left the yard. “We can get you something there, and then we can go to daddy’s shop to get something finer for you to wear when you arrive in Oyster Bay.”
“I’ll trust your judgment,” Alec said complacently, realizing that he should have something suitable for his arrival in Oyster Bay. “And if we have time, I’d like to buy some medical supplies, and a sword.”
“We can do that. Is there anything else you want? Anything you want to buy for that pretty girl who stayed at my parents’ home?” she asked with a coy smile.
Alec thought for a moment, and then verbally admitted his fear. “Bethany is an ingenaire back in Oyster Bay now, and I’m afraid she may be unconscious, the way the ingenairii are here in Goldenfields.”
“Why don’t you buy her something as a gift, so that if she’s awake, you can give it to her, and if she’s not, you can give it to her when you discover how to awaken her?” Annalea suggested. When Alec agreed, she asked further questions. “How serious are you as a couple? What colors does she like? Does she like clothes, and do you know what size to buy?”
“She is the girl I want to marry,” Alec said softly, and Annalea looked at him affectionately as she saw the expression on his face. “She likes blue – it’s her favorite color, and she likes clothes,” he said, remembering watching her impromptu fashion shows in the past.
Annie guided him into a doorway just then, where he picked out clothes for himself. They went to the marketplace where he hurriedly collected the essential medical ingredients for basic cures and pain relievers, then they went to a pawnshop where he bought an adequate sword and scabbard. “Now, let’s look in here,” Annalea pulled him off the street into a shop.
“How about something like this?” Annalea asked, holding up a long length of blue silk, which she deftly wrapped around herself in quick motions that converted the piece of material into an elegant dress.
“It’s beautiful,” Alec said enthusiastically. “I’ve never seen anyone wear something like that before.”
“I hope not,” Annalea said with a giggle. “This is what a bride wears to bed on her wedding night! Her groom gets to unwrap her like a gift!
“Alec, you’re blushing!” she laughed again as she paid the shop keeper for the cloth. “Let’s hurry to meet your shipmates. Can you carry this, and this?” she asked as they bustled out the door and down the street. With Annalea’s presence, they walked through the gate unchallenged, and on the docks they spotted the slim ship that Annalea assured Alec was his cutter. At the gangway were two Goldenfields Guards, one of who he recognized as a former companion.
“Berlisle, are we going to be riding cavalry on board the ship?” he greeted a young woman who wore a cavalry sash across her uniform. Berlisle and Alec had ridden together from Goldenfields to Bondell, and then again out to the ambush bluffs along the Giffey River. Alec knew that the girl was a distant kinsman of Imelda, from the same grassland village, and was a steady and reliable soldier. “I’m glad to have you along,” he told her. “Who’s your companion?” he asked, looking at a boy wearing a uniform, and looking very fresh-faced.
“This is Patrick, one of our more recent Guard recruits,” Berlisle answered. Alec introduced Annalea as they boarded the ship and were shown the small cabins, where they stowed their gear. “There are two other Guard members who will be coming on board as well,” Berlisle said. “They needed a little more time to pack.”
Back on the deck, Alec saw the other two green jackets had arrived. They were Lewis and Inga, a married pair of Guards who were Alec’s very first acquaintances among the Guards. And despite nasty rumors that had falsely tarnished Alec and Inga, the three were good friends and on good terms, although they had spent little time together since Alec’s departure from Goldenfields.
“Colonel Ryder wanted someone on this trip who could put you in your place if you started to act too regal,” Inga said as she saluted, then hugged Alec. Lewis shook his head as he shook Alec’s hand and smiled indulgently. “We coerced the colonel into letting us be part of your contingent. With all the rumors we’ve heard of unrest in Oyster Bay, we thought you should have a little extra support, and Goldenfields feels positively dull these past couple of months without a war to worry about!”
“I think I’m over-protected, but I’m so glad to have you both coming on this trip,” Alec said sincerely. “There’s so much to talk about.”
Natha, Tarkas and Helen arrived minutes later. “You’re about to leave, Alec,” Tarkas said.
“You’ve got our support in any way you need,” Natha interjected.
“And you’ve always got our love,” Helen added as she hugged Alec tightly.
“Send a note when you arrive. Let us know what you need,” Tarkas added as he and his family left the deck at the polite urging of the nervous captain of the vessel, the Pentia.
Annalea stood in front of the rest and waved affectionately as the ship was pushed away from the dock and began to pick up speed as it left the shore and entered the current. Alec felt particularly moved by the small group of well-wishers. “It’s tough to leave your family, isn’t it?” Berlisle asked as she came to stand behind him.
“They do feel like my family,” Alec said, realizing it as he said it. “They’ve been good to me. Where’s your family from?”
“My dad runs a small shop in a village near Boston Palace,” Berlisle explained. “If we pass the village in daylight I’ll be able to show you his shop.”
Alec stood at the rail, watching the shoreline pass by as Berlisle moved on, and he thought about family. He’d been raised in an orphanage, in the city of Frame, without a family. But the way Natha’s family had taken him in under their wing had made him feel a part of their family while at the docks with them. And the instantly easy familiarity with Inga and Lewis reminded him of the feeling of family support he enjoyed with the Duke’s Guard. He’d come to develop a family all his own in recent years, a family whose ties were not carried in blood, but in the hearts of its members. And at the end of this journey was Bethany, who would become the closest of family for him.
Alec stood and watched the shore pass by for hours, appreciating the time alone. He’d traveled the river alone for weeks, and the sudden burst of socializing during the day had worn him out, even while pleasing him. He thought a great deal about the daunting notion of the ingenairii falling unconscious when calling upon their powers. The more he thought about it, the more he wanted to call upon his own powers. Although he hadn’t used his powers at all during his weeks of travel, knowing that the powers were unavailable made them more tempting.
And he thought of Bethany, probably lying in the same strange coma the other ingenairii were afflicted with, although he hoped not. There was sad irony in the thought that she had waited through months of his unconsciousness while he healed in John Mark’s cave, and now that he was awake and returning, he in turn would find her unconscious. But when she awoke, after he had found a way to solve this crisis, he would be able to give her the gift that Annalea had helped him choose. Bethany would know what it was and what it meant, he was sure. He felt his face grow red at the thought.
“Why are you blushing, oh noble king?” Inga asked him as she sidled along the rail to stand beside him. “Are you worried about how badly you’re going to be beaten when we start practicing swordsmanship here on the deck?” she motioned behind her, when Alec discovered the Guard contingent had somehow managed to configure a portion of the ship’s crowded deck into a small practice platform. Alec’s eyes narrowed and he turned to face her.
“Is that a challenge? Are you sure you want to start this so early in the journey? We’re going to be floating for a week, and that’s going to be
a lot of time for sword work,” he was grinning, glad to have the chance to do something physical, something that would distract his mind. And he knew he needed the practice after months of no swordplay.
“We don’t have full sets of practice padding, so we’ll just use sticks for wooden swords,” Lewis chimed in, holding up a pair of spars the sailors had donated as practice weapons.
By common consent, Inga and Alec were the first pair to take their spots for the practice match. Alec held his stick warily as he looked at Inga, who crouched in an aggressive posture, seeming ready to pounce at any moment. The stick he held felt awkwardly light, and he doubted its ability to inflict any pain if he made contact with Inga. Just then she feinted low, and he reacted slowly, reaching to defend himself, only to see her launch her real blow higher, smacking his shoulder soundly.
The wooden sticks could hurt, he decided.
“Are you sure you’re the real Alec?” Inga taunted, feinting another blow that he scrambled to block.
He was clearly out of practice. This was going to be painful, and humiliating. But it was also necessary, he could tell, and he’d be able to regain his form quickly, he was sure. He decided to try to go on the attack, recollecting the advice Inga had given him when he had first learned sword work. He was too defensive, she had lectured him, and he needed to put more energy into attacking his opponents.
He feinted a stab at her ribs, then flipped the sword from his left to his right hand, hoping to catch her unable to defend. The flip looked like it would work beautifully, but his left hand tossed the blade with a little too much energy, and his right hand fumbled the catch, so that the spar clattered to the ground. Alec looked in Imelda’s eyes, and grinned as he fell to the ground, spread-eagled and feigning surrender.
“It’s been a while, hasn’t it?” Lewis said, standing with the other two Guards and a pair of passing sailors.
“It’s been a while,” Alec agreed. His left hand hurt, he noticed, the first time in days he had thought about the ugly scars on the palm and the back of his hand. It was a wound, more than a wound, that he had suffered in the Cave of John Mark when he had touched the dead body of Christ in his tomb. The injury had been physically agonizing, but had also provided an extraordinary extension of his weak and unpredictable Spiritual ingenairii powers. The wound had given him such an empathetic connection with the soul of a person he touched with his left hand, that he had worn a glove for weeks to prevent the Spiritual energy from coming into play. His last long visit to the cave in the Pale Mountains seemed to have repaired the damaged hand much more thoroughly than before; but now he wondered how it might serve as a means of exploring his ingenairii abilities.
Preserving the Ingenairii Page 3
