“Too late,” she warned him and the door opened wider as her uncle joined her there.
“Honest sweat from honest work is nothing to be ashamed of, young man, come on in,” her uncle said. He was a thin man with thinning hair that made his forehead look high and wide, apparently in late middle age. “We’ll go sit in the breeze on the porch out back and watch the bay.”
Alec entered the house and was led to a large marble porch on the bayside, where ships could be seen sailing out to sea. It reminded him of the veranda of Natha’s stately home.
“How did you and Noranda meet again?” her uncle asked as they all sat down.
Alec looked at his friend, who gave a helpless shrug and an apologetic smile.
“I knew her as Natalie when we met in the circus caravan,” Alec began, and he recounted many of the details of their adventure in the mountains, omitting the story about the cave, and about their words of commitment to one another, going right up to their separation at Walnut Creek.
“It’s an extraordinary tale,” the uncle commented. “I’ve heard some parts from Noranda, and some parts from others, but you’ve added a great deal to it. It’s amazing you’re both alive after so much happened.
“I know everything in your story up to when we separated at Walnut Creek. What has happened to you since then?” Noranda asked.
“Do you remember when we were in Walnut Creek I saw a pregnant lady when we were in Suellen’s shop?” Alec asked.
“I vaguely remember,” she said uncertainly.
“I met her in the forest when I went to search for herbs. We saw a troop of lacertii go by, so we ran down river away from the town. We hid there, saw you and the others go by on the boat, and that gave us the idea to build a raft,” he explained.
“Leah and I sailed all the way down to Goldenfields. I set up a shop there to work as a healer, and did that until the ingenaire there thought I might do better with training here up on the Hill,” he gestured to the ingenaire center that was hidden behind the bulk of the house.
“You and that woman sailed alone together all the way to Goldenfields?” Noranda asked with a cocked eyebrow.
“There’s a good trader out of Goldenfields named Natha,” her uncle Lapine said at the same time.
“I’ve met him, Natha Millershome. I treated his daughter Annalea once,” Alec said, deciding not to give away any more.
“Are you going to stay here permanently?” Noranda asked.
“I plan to go back to Goldenfields in a couple of months probably,” Alec said. “But what about you? What’s your story since fleeing from Walnut Creek? When we got to Goldenfields, everyone was talking about the news of lacertii attacks brought by the boatload of Walnut Creek refugees. How was your journey? We saw a load of goods your boat had abandoned at the top of the sand bars on the river,” he added.
“I have to think back to the very beginning,” Noranda began. “After you went to find supplies in the mountains, Ari and I went to get passage on the boat and some supplies. We had no more than secured passage than the attack began.
“It took the village completely by surprise, and there were lacertii in the center of town before folks even knew they were coming. The fighting was awful. Ari told me to get on the boat and wait, while he’d try to buy time for us to get away. It was the only escape at that point. We didn’t know where you were or how to save you; Ari was in tears at the thought of abandoning you, but he had to get word of the lacertii to the Dominion.”
“He went up to the top of the pier even as refugees were pouring in, some trying to bring cartloads of stuff with them. The captain just pushed away from dock as the lacertii were practically there, and we floated away. Ari was still there burning and killing lacertii in greater numbers than all the men of the town put together, I’d say. He caused a mighty explosion as we were rounding the bend in the river. We couldn’t see the town any more, but we saw the smoke for a long time.”
After that it was just a long, long trip until we got to Goldenfields. I told the authorities who I really was and the word spread about what had happened.”
A sudden spark of intuition fired in Alec’s brain. “You left Goldenfields in a swift rowing boat with the king’s court physician, Aerley, didn’t you? Two mornings after we got to the city I saw him leaving and there was a person standing next to him, with a hood pulled up hiding the face,” Alec told her.
“Oh Alec, were we that close? I wish we had seen one another.”
“I didn’t know it was you then, though. I was looking for a carnival dancer, and he was taking away a trading house’s daughter. And I’ve been thinking about you a great deal ever since,” he added hesitantly. “How were you treated when you arrived here?”
“Fortunately my uncle knew I was here within a day of my arrival,” Noranda said, smiling at Lapine. “He made contact and I was released immediately. The ingenairii didn’t treat me badly in any way. They just asked lots of questions, especially about Ari.
“We never knew, did we, who he was when he was in the carnival with us,” she reminisced.
“I always thought he was special. He took good care of me. But no, I had no idea he was so special. Then again, I had no idea you were so special,” he smiled at her.
“And what about you? Training to be an ingenaire, already a healer, becoming a swordsman. Look at yourself Alec,” she said gently. “You’re not the lowly carnival worker who picks up after others any more, are you?”
Alec shook his head modestly, and looked at the setting sun. “It’s time for me to be going,” he said. He put down the glass of water the servant had brought.
“Already? But Elgin will be here soon, and I know he wanted to hear more about you, didn’t he dear?” Uncle Lapine said. “He quizzed poor Noranda about you throughout dinner last night, to the point of obsession almost.”
“I’d like to come sometime to see you again, perhaps when I can be cleaned up in advance,” Alec said and made a deprecatory gesture towards his clothes. “I’ve really enjoyed seeing you. Thank you, sir, for your hospitality,” he said to Lapine.
“Let me walk you to the door. Stay still, uncle. I’ll be right back,” she gestured Lapine down, and quickly guided Alec down the hall.
“I’m sorry,” she said, smiling, but with tears brimming in her eyes. “I wish we could have really talked, but they don’t trust me. I’ve got a record for running away from arrangements I suppose, so it’s my own fault.”
“What kind of arrangements?” Alec asked, even though he didn’t want to hear.
“Alec, I’m betrothed to Elgin. My family just signed the papers last week. We’re going to be married next spring.”
Chapter 8 – Alec’s Heartbreak
Alec felt numbed by the news. “What about us? What about the things we said to each other back in the mountains?” he asked, feeling a frantic sense of panic.
“I remember,” she said. “You were so special, Alec. But I thought you were dead. I’ve been mourning for you for months. Seeing you now makes me wish I’d known last week,” she hesitated. “You’re still special. But my family strongly expects to marry me off now, especially because there’s, well, someone I’m fond of back home. But I know I’ll never see him again. And Elgin is an improvement over the last one they tried to put me in the chapel with. My aunt back in Stronghold has plans for everyone; we’re all tools for her to use to build up the Locksfort Empire, with her sitting on top of the heap.”
A footstep sounded behind her and her uncle’s shadow stretched down the hallway towards them.
“I want to talk to you more. I’ll be back soon,” Alec whispered, and the door slowly closed in his face.
Alec walked up the hill towards Rubicon’s house as dusk descended over Oyster Bay. He paid little attention to where he was going or who he passed. His stomach was still tied up in knots over the notion that Noranda was going to be married in the springtime. He had thought of her for so long, and he realized he had fixed his plans for the future on re
gaining her companionship. If he had come to Oyster Bay sooner, he could have prevented the betrothal, he was sure, and he mentally flagellated himself as he moped along, even as a fragment of his consciousness told him that Noranda in Oyster Bay was not the same person he had known in the mountains, and perhaps not the girl who could bring him happiness.
As he walked up the hillside path, the pops of powers were regularly occurring all around him, and he paid no attention until he heard a sound, then felt a pop, then was drenched with another bucket of water. Angrily he looked around. “Why do this all the time?” he raised his voice towards the shrubbery around him. “You know, if it was the summertime, I’d appreciate getting cooled off! I don’t deserve this!” he added, then stomped upward without another glance around.
He made it to his room without further incident, and without any appetite. As he dried with hair, Alec pondered all that Noranda had told him in those few hurried confessions as they were parting; had she left a real love behind in Stronghold? Did her domineering aunt have strings tied to the lives of the Locksforts? He thought long and hard about Noranda, and about himself.
When he had been in Goldenfields, he had felt his desire to find this girl diminish. He had gotten caught up in the excitement of his adventures in the Guard. He had relied on Leah for companionship. And he had thought about Inga as someone who filled a void in his life, even though he had respected her marriage vows and her husband too much to ever see her in the light of a deeper relationship. Considering the uncertainty of Inga combined with the confusion of Noranda, he knew in a brief moment of honest introspection, that his heart didn’t seem truly committed to just one girl yet. And now that Noranda was apparently beyond his reach, perhaps he should be glad. With a long sigh, Alec went to bed and slept a depressed sleep without dreams.
The next morning he went to training with Nathaniel, and practiced calling the power forward. Although his mind was distracted by his thoughts of Noranda, he continued to improve.
Alec was in no mood to talk that morning, while Nathaniel was conversely more talkative than the previous two days. “So you’re absolutely sure you’re going to open up the healers’ house and stay there? We can’t talk you into becoming a warrior ingenaire with Moriah and I?” he asked.
Alec gave short answers or no answers, and Nathaniel subsided in his questions.
At breakfast time, Moriah arrived, while Nathaniel left. Before the new teacher could resume the lesson though, Rubicon showed up. “Alright, let’s see how you’re doing. I’d be surprised if you haven’t gotten yourself to a point of reaching your energy immediately,” he said.
Alec demonstrated that he had nearly mastered the task, if not quite as instantaneously as the other warriors did, though Rubicon assured him that would happen with time.
“Very well. What you and Moriah are going to work on is learning how to control the flow of power that you are using. As you know, the more you use, the faster you tire out. So what you need to do is learn to cut the flow of power to a trickle when you have expectations of an extended energy use. If you were in a battle, you might need to be able to fight opponents, and to survive attacks, for hours at a time,” the warrior told him.
“Moriah will start the process of working with you today to learn how to both stretch the energy connection extremely thin so that you can draw power for a longer time, and to build up the stamina to manage that. She knows all the exercises, don’t you dear?” he asked her.
“You only made me go through them ceaselessly for six months; I should know them in my sleep,” she retorted.
“I just enjoyed working with you so much I couldn’t let you go,” Rubicon said, laughing.
“By the by, Alec, after your sword work, would you stop by Aristotle’s house? He has some papers for you regarding the Healers House,” Rubicon said, and left the balcony.
“All right, time to refocus. Just don’t worry about the healer house for now; you’ll deal with it later. Let’s go over the basic concept of extended-time use of power,” Moriah said in a businesslike voice. “Your process will be the same as the usual when you go to seize the energy, but as you return to our realm, you need to imagine that you’ve only got a straw extended out behind you bringing you a sip of the energy. Then you go ahead and use that energy, but at such a level that it feels more like you’ve had a good night’s sleep and drank several cups of tea to start the day. You will hear and see more, and be able to move faster and stronger, but only at a slightly elevated level,” she explained. “You will not feel the weight of the energy connection crushing you.”
“Now, let’s begin. First, picture a narrow reed….” Moriah led the exercise. They worked throughout the morning, and Alec was intrigued and challenged enough that he put Noranda and his impending meeting with Aristotle in the back of his mind as he focused on the notion of taking the small, steady sips of power.
At lunchtime they broke, and waited for Nathaniel to reappear. When he did, they walked together down to the palace for practice. This time Alec saw that while Bannis had approximately the same number of students ready for training as had been there yesterday, there were several more present in the room as spectators.
Bannis set them to training as before, running a number of duels simultaneously. As before, Alec had a relatively tough opponent the first match, and then an easier one the second match, and two opponents again for the third match. He won all three matches again.
After practice the apprentices walked back to the hill together. “Alec, you seem quiet today,” Moriah observed as Nathaniel carried on the bulk of the conversation.
“I’m just thinking about things,” Alec said, not wanting to talk about his disappointment over Noranda’s betrothal and his confusion about his feelings for the girl. He suspected that he disliked the betrothal as much because he had lost some undefined competition as for the companionship of the girl.
“All right. I’m just checking. You’ll let us know if something’s wrong, won’t you?” she asked.
Alec assured her he would, then parted ways with the other two to go to Aristotle’s house.
Willis announced his arrival to Ari, who welcomed him in. “Willis has helped me do some research while we had you tucked away up in the warriors house. I think that between the two of us we have the information we need about the Healers House to allow you to attempt to qualify for it and re-open it,” Ari told him.
“I want you to take this file and read everything in here thoroughly, then come back in two days and tell me what you’ve discovered,” he instructed as he handed over a portfolio with a thin, dark leather cover. “If you have the same reading that Willis and I have, and if you think you meet the qualifications and have the required skills, then in one week we will have the test to see if you qualify as a healer.”
“Thank you for stopping by,” Ari said as a dismissal.
Alec stood by the desk for a minute longer.
“Was there something else, Alec?” Ari said, looking up at him with mild surprise in his eyes.
“I talked to Noranda. She told me she became betrothed last week. Why did you never tell her I was still alive?” Alec asked the question that had haunted him for the past two days.
Ari leaned back and removed the spectacles from his eyes. “Alec, Noranda’s family was distraught over her flight from the last engagement they arranged. They started working on this one the moment she was back among them, and her Uncle Lapine worked with a much more subtle and graceful hand than her Aunt Mooreen did; Lapine knows better than Mooreen how to fix up political advantages, but he doesn’t pursue it as relentlessly as she does, to the disadvantage of the family, in my opinion. The announcement last week was just a formality; her fate was arranged many weeks ago. By the time I knew you were alive, I could not undo what they had underway. Even if she knew that you were alive, she would have been powerless to prevent her uncle from making an arrangement on her behalf. And if she had hypothetically known you were alive, he would not
have ended his efforts regarding Elgin simply because Noranda told him there was a vagabond boy from the carnival she liked. Elgin is a Duke’s son, and an extremely good alliance for the Locksfort clan to cement.
“I sense something strange about your future with women. You’re certainly not the lech the Goldenfields rumors make you out to be; I know you’ve got a good heart and would not do harm to a woman’s heart deliberately. You will find someone who is right for you; in fact, you may have already have found the girl, without realizing what her worth will be to you someday.
“That’s no answer, but it’s all I have for you right now. I’m sorry,” Ari said in a tone that denoted an end to the visit.
Alec gathered up the papers regarding the healer house, turned and left the room, completely disappointed by the answer he had received. He had always relied on Ari to treat him like a son, and for the first time he realized that there were limitations to what the master ingenaire could achieve, and that ingenaire leader might also view Alec as one of the chess pieces that were in motion in the dynamics of Dominion politics.
Alec went up the hill to Rubicon’s house and treated his dried fish glands, then steeped the dried brothersfoot leaves in hot water for an hour to produce the next item he needed for his cure. While we waited for the tea to steep, Alec opened up the file Ari had given him, and started reading. The pages were selected from a number of different documents, judging by their varying handwritings, colors, sizes, and apparent ages.
The oldest ones spoke of a thriving house of healers, and the routine of introducing new ones to the order. Most of the documents discussed the training exercises the apprentices practiced and the tests they used to establish a healer was ready to be approved. There were three tests available: one was to take a person who the elder healer ingenairii agreed was fatally diseased, and cure the person using four tools – vision, knowledge, power and prayer; the second test was to heal three people who were widely acknowledged to be ill, if not fatally; and the third test was the recognition of a healer’s mark on the forearm, and acceptance by the head of the house.
At the Seat of Power: Goldenfields and the Dominion Page 8
