Tritos immediately agreed, and Alec and his Goldenfields friends left the Hill, walking through the streets of the city to the military base on the far east side of the city. An hour later they passed through the section of bars and rough apartments across from the walls of the army base.
"I'd like to meet General Hewlett," Alec told the guards at the gate, who held lances instead of swords. "Please tell him Alec the crown protector has returned."
The guards looked at Alec and his companions suspiciously. "We don't intend to waste the general's time. Do you have some proof of who you are?" the leader asked.
Alec rolled up his sleeve to reveal his ingenairii marks. "These are genuine," Alec said. "I'm almost the only ingenairii left walking in the Dominion."
"Go ask Colonel Greene to join us at the gate," the guard leader, a sergeant, asked another guard. "Please wait here and we'll ask an officer to verify your identity," he said to Alec.
Alec shrugged to his friends. "That's how I'd handle it too," Lewis told him.
Five minutes later, a man in an officer’s uniform walked towards the gate. "I recognize him," Colonel Greene said as soon as he arrived and saw Alec. "I saw you several times in the past, your Grace," the colonel said. He surprised his soldiers by bowing on one knee before Alec. “We are pledged to help you protect the crown and the Dominion.” He stood upright again. "I'll take you to the General immediately. He'll be delighted to know of your return.”
Minutes later they were in the headquarters building. "May I know who your companions are?” Hewlett asked Alec after he saluted. Amid the explanations and introductions, Alec learned about the actual availability of soldiers around Oyster Bay.
“We don’t have nearly the number of soldiers now that we did last year, or in years past, but we will put everything we have into the streets and around the palace for you,” General Hewlett told Alec. “And every former soldier who is in the area would come back to join us in support of you.”
“Thank you General,” Alec told him. “I hope we don’t have to send our soldiers into the streets and fight a battle in the palace. I’m not ready to do that yet, anyway. Before anything else, my first priority is to find the cure to save the ingenairii.”
“What exactly is happening to them?” the general asked. “We hear that something is going on, that none of them are seen or coming out, but there’s no explanation of why. Why hasn’t it affected you?”
“We don’t know precisely what it is, but I have a message that tells me where to look to find a solution. I’ll need to go to the Pale Mountains in search of the answer. The ingenairii need an answer quickly, or it will be too late,” Alec responded. “They are my friends and more. I have to save them,” he added in a gentler voice.
“Alec hasn’t fallen victim to the ingenairii disease because he hasn’t tried to use his powers,” Lewis added, the first time he had spoken since the General’s arrival. “We’ll go with him to the mountains to provide protection.”
“He can hardly go with just Goldenfields to protect him, good as you are,” the General challenged. “Surely you’ll want some of your own men to go with you; maybe some of the men from the 19th?”
Alec considered for a moment. “I will take along some of the 19th in support, because they were with me in the lacertii battles, and I owe them that. But I’ll only take a couple of men. I need to travel swiftly, and a large group will bog us down.”
“There’s one other person who you will want to have with you,” Hewlett added. “I’ll send for her immediately.”
“Is it Armilla?” Alec asked immediately, instinctively, feeling a yearning to see his personal bodyguard. “Please send for her at once!” he laughed, as Hewlett motioned to an aide.
“Where is Rander? I’d like to see him before I go,” Alec said next. “I want to leave before sunset today, so if you’ll have someone lead me to Rander and select a couple of men to travel with me, we can begin the journey all the quicker.”
“And when you’re done, you’ll come back and you’ll clean out the palace?” the General asked. “If I can’t tell our officers and men that better days are coming, the army is going to fall apart. The men who are left aren’t going to stay to serve people like those who hold the palace now.”
“I will come back, and we’ll clean the usurpers out of the palace, again, so that I can take the throne with Bethany as my queen,” Alec pledged.
“That’s what I needed to hear,” the General said with a smile. “We’ll be here waiting for you. Lieutenant, please show the Protector to the infirmary. We’ll have the others meet you there. You’ll need supplies, I assume?”
“Yes, horses and supplies, please,” Alec agreed. “Send Armilla to meet me at the infirmary,” he requested as he and the Goldenfields guards left the office and followed the lieutenant across the yard towards the infirmary building.
Inside a plain wooden building they entered an interior room, where Rander was sitting next to a bed, holding the hand of Rief as she lay unconscious. Alec’s companion from his adventures in Michian lay just as still and gray as the ingenairii on the Hill, and Alec’s heart broke again at the thought of such a vivacious girl laid so low. Rander didn’t raise his head at first, then only glanced briefly at the group before his head swiveled suddenly to re-examine the visitors. His face was lined and tired looking, but as he recognized Alec the color returned to his cheeks and his eyes widened in amazement.
Several minutes later, after many questions and explanations, Alec persuaded Rander to have Rief taken to Ingenairii Hill to be cared for by the attendants there, along with the other ingenairii. Alec promised to return as quickly as possible to take up the fight for the throne once the secret to healing the ingenairii was discovered.
“There you are, and already planning to go looking for more trouble, I’m told,” a voice from the doorway familiarly spoke in the gruff tones that Alec recognized so well. He turned and saw his no-nonsense bodyguard already prepared to travel. He stood and looked at the massive sword buckled to Armilla’s hip. “Still willing to swing that iron beam around to help me?” he asked.
“Every time you try to get away, I just keep showing up, because I know you’ll need me one of these times,” she responded.
“This time more than ever,” Alec agreed
Two soldiers from the 19th regiment, Thomis and Joahn, arrived as the designated bodyguards to travel with Alec from Oyster Bay, and before long the small group was astride horses and riding east towards the Pale Mountains.
Five days later the eight riders arrived in Frame. Without an ingenairii to provide assured breezes for a river craft, Alec had decided that the steady travel of a horse was slower but more reliable than a boat that might be bound in place for days without wind. In Frame there was a decision to be made.
“Two of you need to leave us to go back to Goldenfields,” Alec told them as they rode into the city at the sunset. He looked at Lewis and Inga. “You two need to return to the Duke to let him know what we learned in Oyster Bay, and to send some assistance to Rander,” he told them. He wanted to keep them with him for the long ride ahead into the Pale Mountains, but he also wanted to protect them from the dangers that would await them in the wilderness. His friends had suffered many injuries in the course of their service to the Duke, and in Alec’s mind they deserved a peaceful interlude together. “Please do this for me,” he asked them.
Lewis looked ready to argue, but Inga placed a hand on his forearm as she looked at Alec.
“Are you sure that you have enough protection?” she asked. “I know you’re doing this with good intentions for us, but don’t discount the need you’ll have in the Pale Mountains for good swordsmen.”
“I want you two to tell Colonel Ryder and the Duke about everything you’ve learned in Oyster Bay,” Alec replied as he pulled his horse next to hers. He looked at Lewis. “Rander needs help, and especially with Rief in a coma. I remember how you looked when Inga was injured. He is in the same stat
e, only it is prolonged for him.
“Please go back and tell the Duke we need to have a strong regiment sent to protect Rander and Bethany and Ingenairii Hill until I find the cure for the ingenairii,” he finished in a voice full of compassion.
“Don’t worry, we’ll protect him,” interjected the young Goldenfields Guard member Patrick, the member of the contingent who usually spoke the least, overawed as he was by the experience and reputation of his companions.
Berlisle looked at him momentarily from the corner of her eyes. “Yes, we’ll take care of him.”
“We’ll be passing though Stronghold, and I imagine the Locksforts will be just as insistent as everyone else that they send some protection with us as well,” Alec added. “We’ll need to stop there to get supplies and horses to cross the plains to the Pale Mountains,” he explained, seeing the look of disdain on the faces of the others at the mention of the Locksforts. “They are my friends, and they will do as much as possible to help us,” he added insistently.
“I’m glad we’ve been with you these past few days,” Lewis said with resignation.
“I know there won’t ever be any more good old days like we had in Goldenfields,” Inga added, “so I look forward to seeing you soon, ready to wear a crown, with a pretty ingenaire queen at your side!”
They looked fondly at one another, then Lewis and Inga parted to head to the ferry that would take them across the Carmen River.
The next morning, Alec visited a bank for more funds, which he used to purchase fresh horses and supplies, then he led his remaining five companions on the long ride up the Carmen to Stronghold.
Chapter 8 – The Visit to Stronghold
Two hot weeks later, Alec and the others rode up to the city gates of Stronghold. The journey had been long and hard, with little rest, and much sleeping in the saddle. The horses were clearly worn by the exercise. They had ridden without incident, or recognition, as their worn and scruffy appearance elicited no attention from the people they had passed en route.
Inside the city they rode to the gates of the Locksfort compound, where Alec dismounted as he prepared to speak to the guards. “We are visitors from Oyster Bay, who would like to speak to Brandeis or Noranda,” he told the man who stepped out into the gateway.
“They’re not available,” the guard responded curtly.
“Is Johanna available, or Durer, or Circh?” Alec next asked. “Or please let me speak to Delle; he and I were in the lacertii battles together.”
The guard seemed to relax slightly at the mention of the military service. “I’ll send a message up to Delle, if he is available. I can’t promise that he’ll receive it right away,” the guard told Alec.
“We’ll go to an inn and clean up in the meantime. Is there one you can recommend where we can tell Delle to find us?” Alec answered, knowing that there wasn’t likely to be a quick response.
“Try the Cold Tankard, if you’ve got coins to pay in advance,” the guard answered. “Who shall I say is seeking Delle’s attention?” he asked with a pencil poised over a piece of note paper.
“Tell him it’s Alec, the healer,” Alec said, then asked for directions to the Cold Tankard, and turned his horse in that direction.
He paid for three rooms at the desk of the Tankard, and paid to have large tubs and buckets of hot water brought up to all three rooms for baths. He and Patrick shared a room, placing Armilla and Berlisle in a room, while Thomis and Joahn shared the third room. Alec took the first bath, and he sighed deeply as he settled into the hot tub to soak away two weeks’ worth of sore muscles. He missed the ability to use his healing power to smooth away the little aches and pains of life, as he had done so frequently before.
The door vibrated from a solid knock shortly after Alec had climbed out of the tub to allow Patrick his turn to soak. Still damp, Alec opened the door to see Delle and Brandeis standing expectantly in the hallway, with a pair of guards behind them. “Good Lord! He is here!” Brandeis shouted first. “We haven’t heard a thing about you in months! It’s so good to see you,” Delle said, deeply moved by the sight of Alec. He grabbed his hand in a fierce clasp. The two Locksfort cousins dismissed their guards upon confirmation of their visitor’s identity, and they abandoned Patrick to finish his bath as they went down to the public room to grab a table. Alec knocked on the doors of his companions’ rooms as he passed, and soon they had filled a stout wooden table in the public room of the inn’s bar, which was mostly empty in mid-afternoon.
“We went to the stables first, and I saw your horse there, with the black patch on his shoulder. He’s still a beautiful animal,” Brandeis observed. “He looked like he’d been ridden pretty hard recently,” he added.
“He has been. We’re on a mission,” Alec replied, jumping right to the heart of the matter. Delle and Armilla were on one side of Alec, renewing their acquaintance, while Brandeis and the Oyster Bay guards were across the table and Berlisle was on Alec’s left hand.
“How is Noranda?” Alec asked intently.
“I’m glad to see you for your own sake of course,” Brandeis answered, “but as soon as Delle said you might be here, I was more glad for her sake.
“She’s fallen unconscious these past few days. She needs your touch to revive her,” he added, looking and sounding confident that Alec could heal her of her mysterious malady.
Alec had expected to hear that Noranda had fallen unconscious as well. He had pulled energy from his farthest depths to heal her when he had brought her back to life in her tomb, and he knew that Cassie and Imelda had gained healer abilities after similarly extraordinary healing experiences. He paused before giving Brandeis the explanation about the seriousness of Noranda’s situation.
“Has she been healing people with ingenaire abilities?” Alec asked first.
“Yes, occasionally,” Brandeis answered. “She doesn’t do the big things like you do, or the important things like treating my hangovers, but she does take care of children and other people very often. She’s made people in the city actually like the Locksforts again!”
“Noranda has the same illness that had struck all the other ingenairii. Whenever one tries to use the power, they fall unconscious, and stay that way. Ingenairii Hill is like a hospital right now with rows of beds,” Alec explained. “I haven’t tried to use my powers in a long time, so I haven’t fallen ill, and I don’t dare to try. Right now I’m on my way to the Pale Mountains, to find the cure so we can bring them all back to health.”
“I wondered why you were here so discreetly,” Delle spoke up. “I expected more ceremony, not to mention some advance notice, when you returned to Stronghold.”
“So you’re saying you can’t just heal her right now?” Brandeis clarified the answer he didn’t want to hear. “I thought you had arrived as the answer to my prayers,” he continued after Alec gently shook his head.
Their conversation was interrupted as Patrick arrived. “Are there others in your party, Alec?” Delle asked as he looked around the table at all who had gathered.
“This is our full squad,” Alec answered. “We don’t need a lot of people. We need to move fast to get to the mountains,” he added as he saw the skeptical faces Delle and Brandeis displayed.
“What about the lacertii? What are you going to do about them in the mountains?” Brandeis queried.
“Rather than us quiz you here Alec, why don’t you and all your friends pack up and move into the compound with us?” Delle suggested. “This sounds like something we need to discuss, and Johanna and Durer will skin us alive if we don’t bring you back to see them.”
Alec’s party looked to him. “That’s a good idea,” Alec agreed. “Go get anything you might have left in your rooms, and we’ll meet out at the stables,” he directed them all.
Soon the small entourage was within the Locksfort compound, placing their horses in the stables. “We’ll have you all in rooms in no time,” Delle assured them. “Why don’t you go tell Helma we’ll have special guests
for dinner, and see if she can prepare something suitable?” he suggested to Brandeis as he glanced at the late afternoon sun. “She’s less likely to throw a temper tantrum with you than anyone else,” he added.
Brandeis went one way and Delle led the traveling group in another, through a maze of buildings and paths that were familiar to Alec. “I’m glad you’re friends with the Locksforts, because I’d never be able to find my way out of here if we had to escape,” Thomis whispered sotto voce.
They entered the housing area, and began climbing stairs in a tower. “Are we heading to my old room?” Alec asked.
“Give the man a prize!” Delle replied. “I thought we’d bring you all to the suite until I can talk to a maid to find rooms for everyone else.”
By the time they reached Alec’s former quarters, Brandeis had rejoined them, using a shortcut through the enclave to meet them. “Helma says that she’ll do it since it’s for you,” he patted Alec gently on the cheek. “She assured me there was nothing too good for her hero!
“Of course it will be a little later than usual, so we have time to find rooms for everyone and get you settled in,” he continued. “I’ll go talk to the housekeeper about rooms if you want to go tell Durer and Johanna who has dropped in,” Brandeis told Delle, who agreed.
Upon the departure of the two Locksfort cousins, Alec walked over to throw open the shutters and reveal the view out the windows, drawing his friends around him. “They’re pretty nice folks for being Locksforts,” Patrick said with a sniff, which led Alec to give a short history lesson on the different generations of Locksforts.
A knock at the door was the announcement by a maid that there were three rooms nearby ready and designated for the use of the guests, and all but Alec traipsed after the maid to find their new quarters. Alone in his suite, Alec wandered into the back room to take off his riding clothes, feeling a sense of relief to finally have a familiar and comfortable place to spend the night. He stared out the window, not seeing the cityscape as he thought about Bethany. She was lying unconscious, waiting for him. He had no idea how to help her, other than to ride and have faith.
Preserving the Ingenairii Page 5
