The papers also made mention of some healers who visited the Cave of John Mark, and were given expedited entry into the healers’ house after a cursory apprenticeship.
The later papers talked about a decline in the number of healers, and the changes that occurred. At one point there was only one aged healer left, before two apprentices arrived. The elderly healer felt it was inappropriate for him to act alone to approve the raising of the apprentices to full ingenaire level, so he asked the ingenaire’s council to approve the promotion by the test of healing three people who were clearly acknowledged to be ill, by use of the four tools, as the apprentices described them to the council while carrying out the cures.
The last paper was the last entry for the journal of the house. The last healer, a woman who died over six hundred years ago, mourned the passing of her house and the loss of the great healing arts it had shared with mankind. For years she had awaited the arrival of apprentices, but none came, and as an old woman she knew none were coming. Alec closed the file and sat in the growing gloom of the dusk. He had not imagined how sad it would have been to watch the demise of such a noble profession.
He considered what the information from the files revealed, that the ingenaire’s council had already been used in the past to approve the elevation of new healers to full ingenaire status, and the test of the four tools. He realized that he possessed and had clearly used three tools as part of his treatments of patients in the past, and the fourth tool, the one he was least sure of, was the use of his powers to cure. He’d not known he had powers to use for a long time, but felt that he could in some fashion use his ingenaire powers to actively be part of the healing process. He wistfully pulled his sleeve up and looked at the single mark of the sword, unaccompanied by the healer’s insignia; if he had it as well, he was confident he would be passed by the council.
Alec went to check on the tea, and decided that it was strong enough for use. He strained it through a piece of cloth, then poured the tea into a stone jar, and dumped the dried glands into the jar, and set it in a corner of the closet of the room he had been using for the process. Tomorrow the glands would be done soaking, and ready to dry again, before being ground into the fine powder that would be baked to take their final form.
Alec wondered what other restorative cures and remedies he might find from the sea. While he had all this knowledge locked up inside his head, some of it only came out when triggered by something such as the sight of a useful fish or plant, or the recognition of a particular injury that needed healing. He thought about the many things he hadn’t written yet in his manual of the healing arts, and resolved to learn more and write down more.
Feeling lonely, Alec went to the balcony and sat there, watching the sunset across the ocean, before finally going to bed.
Meanwhile, further down the hill, where the sun was setting more rapidly, two girls sat in an upstairs room of the Water house. Bethany, the blond water apprentice who was among the leaders in pulling pranks on Alec, was of tall height and medium build, with a lovely face that made her stand out in a crowd, and especially among the women on Ingenaire Hill. She seemed destined to be assigned to help with water projects in a powerful noble’s court someday after she mastered her skills. Bethany was chatting with her friend Allisma about the pranks they were pulling. “I think that Aristotle’s new pet is growing frustrated,” Bethany laughed. I dumped water on him this afternoon, and he blew his temper. That’s the first time he’s reacted to any of the things that have happened.”
“Why are you picking on him so much?” Allisma asked.
“I saw his face today for the first time. He’s cuter than I thought. And he wasn’t happy about all the pranks; I actually almost felt a little sorry for him,” Bethany said, not answering her friend’s question at first. “We heard that Aristotle had brought him in as a special apprentice, and that he was going to be given lots of easy treatment while the rest of us slog away at the work we have to do. None of the Warrior ingenaire apprentices have even met him besides Rubicon’s two, but he’s staying at a Warrior compound.”
“Aristotle seems like a very smart man, Bethany,” Allisma cautioned. “Don’t you think he knows what he’s doing? He wouldn’t try to cause any trouble on the Hill. He’s been here longer than most of us have been alive.”
“This isn’t about Aristotle, it’s about fair and equal treatment for all apprentices,” Bethany replied loftily. “I know I had an easy life outside the hill, but I’ve been treated like everyone else here. And so have you, Allie. How many times have you complained about having to water the plants and force the fountains to work, besides doing your training? He’s only training for half a day then going into town.”
“Maybe there’s a reason for his schedule. If you got to know him a little first, you might find out what the facts are,” Allisma suggested. “You might find out there’s a purpose to his schedule, and that he’s a nice boy, and he will be enchanted with you like every other boy on the Hill, and dance with you at the Apprentice’s Ball.”
“Have you seen how short his pants are? They don’t even fit him! He won’t be on my dance card! I’ll have plenty of partners for all the dances at the Ball,” Bethany replied airily, and their conversation moved on to new topics.
The following day was the third of Alec’s training routine at the palace guard armory following his morning of ingenaire training. He noticed that the crowd that watched the practice had increased again. He also noticed this time that the quality of swordsmanship he encountered seemed better. In his battle against two swords he eventually accepted an agreement to quit without a winner, although he still won both of his single combatant tests without injury. He left Moriah and Nathaniel early along their return route again and went straight to the fishing village. Plad was there working on his boat. “Could you take me out sailing with you sometime?” Alec asked the fisherman. “I’d love to see the creatures of the sea and find some other things that might be good for medicine.”
Plad looked at him. “I’ll take you out tomorrow if you’d like. Would you expect to come around this time of day?” Alec agreed to return the following afternoon. On his way back to Rubicon’s home a gout of fire from nowhere nearly singed his eyebrows, leaving him further exasperated and trying to think of ways to wreak revenge on his pranksters.
The next day, when he did arrive after practice, Plad and Ned had the boat ready for him. They offered him a small net on a long wooden handle, suitable for picking things out of the sea that he wished to examine.
They rowed out to a point, then put up the sails and traveled until land was no longer in sight. They showed him the locations where certain fish were likely to be found, and described the times, tides, weather, and other factors that seemed to affect the bounty of the harvest of fish, and plied their nets catching their afternoon load.
Alec kept his small net going constantly, bringing in samples of creatures and even seaweeds, to learn the names. He kept some that he thought were valuable for remedies, and released the others. After two hours the boat returned to shore. Alec gathered up his new acquisitions and returned to Rubicon’s house, his legs complaining again about the climb up the long hillside to get there. He laid out the specimens to be dried and cut open the ones from which he wanted to harvest some particular item. Afterwards he took the shovel he had learned was needed to bury his oceanic excesses; the smell from the rotting blue bellies had been horrible until he covered them with earth.
Alec pulled out the folder of healer house papers, and sat down to review the early pages again, learning about the exercises the apprentices had practiced while learning their craft. Those apprentices had spent much time learning to do things that Alec didn’t even think about as he accomplished them, some things that just happened for him, and others he hadn’t considered, such as how to use his powers to change and heal flesh, and it puzzled him greatly. He looked the papers over, wondering if there was more that had to be done, something that he had mi
ssed, but like before, he found nothing new.
That afternoon, as evening was starting to fall, Alec went to the shops in the city and purchased paper, a pen and ink. After dinner he sat down and wrote a letter to Leah, telling her that he had met Aristotle and Noranda, who was betrothed, and that he was training in the warriors’ house but hoped to soon be in the Healers House. But there was much he did not tell her, things he could not put into words, especially his sorrow over Noranda’s status and Aristotle’s failure to inform her that he was alive, although he accepted deep inside that Aristotle was right, and that such knowledge by Noranda would not have stopped her uncle’s negotiations.
A knock at the door interrupted him. “Come in,” he called, and was mildly surprised when Rubicon entered the room.
“Aristotle suggested that I might be of assistance to you as a scholar if I went over the papers from the Healers House with you,” he said. “I’m no scholar, but I’ve been around ingenaire ceremonies and activities long enough to have some idea of how your lot may mesh with modern protocols. Would you like to go over what you’ve found?” he asked.
For Alec, the chance to hear another person interpret the healer papers was a blessing. “Yes, let me put this away and we’ll begin,” he eagerly replied, and for the next two hours they shared ideas about the ancient records, until Alec’s yawning sent Rubicon out the door.
The following morning Alec started with his usual training exercises with Nathaniel, trying to learn to develop and maintain the thread-thin flow of energy that could be sustained for hours. While Alec had learned to create the narrow flow, he found it difficult to maintain for any length of time. This morning he was practicing how to anticipate certain problems and how to build in protections. He had just managed to maintain a tap to the energy for half an hour when the regular breakfast tray arrived.
“Before you leave, can I ask a question, a favor?” Alec hesitantly requested. Nathaniel looked at him with a moment of curiosity.
“Sure Alec, what do you want to ask?” Nathaniel responded as he sat back down.
“What do Warriors do to pull pranks on newcomers?” Alec asked. “Is there something I could do that wouldn’t harm anyone but would send them a message to stop what they’re doing to me?”
Nathaniel looked at Alec with a blank stare, then grinned. “Well, I don’t think you’ve got the control yet needed for that, but let’s just suppose hypothetically you were at the stage to pull some easy stuff, the most common thing to do is to throw a knife or two.”
Alec drew back in horror. “That seems awfully drastic,” he said. “I don’t want to hurt anyone. Much,” He added with a grin.
“None of us want to hurt them! We throw to do something like shave the hair off their head, or cut a ponytail,” Nathaniel explained with a laugh. “Some of the slower warriors have done things like just tie a person up with ropes, but that seems so obvious, they get more abuse for that that the apprentice who got tied up.”
Alec contemplated Nathaniel’s information as his friend excused himself and Rubicon arrived.
“I’ve given Moriah the morning off so that I could come work with you myself,” he told Alec as he took a seat at the table. “Also, I wanted to deliver this to you,” he said as he dropped on the table a folded and sealed piece of thick cream-colored paper. “Go ahead and open it.”
Alec took the unexpected document and broke the seal. Inside was a proclamation that the Ingenaire’s Council would hold an extraordinary session four days hence to consider the right of an apprentice to be raised to the status of healer ingenaire. The test would be carried out according to ancient rituals as described in the records of the ingenairii, and held in the great hall at noon.
He sat back in surprise, then smiled, cheered up and pleased, already thinking about the supplies he would take to the hall with him, and the materials he would have prepared.
“Well, I’m glad to see that smile on your face for a change,” Rubicon told him. “Nathaniel says that you’ve hardly said a word and been worse than no company at all these past couple of days.”
“I’ve felt disappointed,” Alec admitted. “The girl I wanted to see told me she is already betrothed through an arrangement her family made. The truth is, I came to Oyster Bay as much to see her as to train in ingenaire powers. I feel let down,” Alec complained. “And yet there’s some part of me that doesn’t mind it. I don’t know how I feel.”
“I understand lad,” Rubicon told him. “But after you stew for a while you either need to do something about your problem, or you need to get over it and move on. You need to tell yourself you’re done stewing, and decide what comes next. And you’ve got lots of irons in the fire, any one of which could be what comes next.
“Now let’s work on your training here,” the warrior said, and they returned to the exercises.
That afternoon, Alec and Moriah and Nathaniel traveled down the hill and into town for their practice. The crowd was already waiting for the exhibitions. Alec recognized that civilians and ladies of the court were starting to attend.
Bannis took Alec aside before they started. “Well, you’ve gotten their attention and hurt their pride. Some of the best guards are asking to be given the chance to spar with you to try to protect the honor of their regiment. Frankly, I don’t believe you’ll have any difficulty working with them in the single blade matches, but in the two on one match you may be bested.”
Alec took up the spot Bannis had arranged for him. Bannis was determined to get as much public interest in his training as possible, and had arranged for Alec to always fight on the training mat closest to where the audience sat. Alec pulled on his training pads and tightened them, then went to his assigned place.
His first opponent was a good fighter, who gave Alec a tough match; she was very similar to Inga in style, but larger and with a longer reach, and Alec had to play defense against her longer than he expected before he saw his opportunity to score decisive blows.
His second opponent was less of a challenge, though still as good as anyone he had faced in previous days. The match against two blades came next, and Alec heard the crowd noise rise in anticipation. Alec saw three challengers arrive together to face him.
He turned and looked at Bannis over by another mat. The arms man saw his glance and grimaced, with a barely perceptible shake of his head that Alec couldn’t interpret.
Alec turned back and tried to judge the men he was up against. The training here had been good for him already, helping him to face a number of opponents and styles. He realized that these three all looked significantly more mature than he was, as if they might be officers. He considered what he had learned in recent days of training, and whether it had prepared him for a match like this. He was sure that he had become more prone to attack instead of waiting to defend, and he concluded that this might be the time when he would have to unleash that attacking tendency.
Alec took his position, choosing the corner of the mat he usually defended, and waited for the match to begin. Bannis came over, and the session started. The three approached him in a temperate manner, not showing any over-confidence, but not displaying any fear. Alec watched their approach. It appeared that the swordsman on the left was straying slightly away from the others, opening a gap between him and the central one. In another few steps though, the narrowing mat would focus the three of them back together. Alec decided to rush out and try to pick off the isolated man while he could, and then carry on to another corner to defend.
He jumped high out towards the man he had singled out, hoping to startle him and take advantage of that. The man was caught off-guard, as planned. Alec began the most aggressive attack he could manage, but the guardsman was extremely good. Alec sensed the others moving towards his back and he retreated back to his defensive corner.
The crowd cheered for his opponents’ apparent success. The man on the right stopped to wave in acknowledgement of the support, and Alec instantly struck at his unprotected ribs, virtua
lly diving as he attacked, then rolling back to his feet in a new location, knocking the show-off out of the match. The audience groaned as the man walked off the mat, and the other two looked at one another in grim determination.
Alec took the initiative after that, his training against two opponents in the past few sessions having taught him how to find any tactical advantage he could gain by tangling the other two men’s limbs with one another. He started to circle them, suddenly the roles were reversed, and they were on the defensive. Alec hastened his circling and when he had them where only one would be able to face him he attacked again, struck another opponent from the match, and then dispatched the last one in quick and effective blade work. Most of the crowd was silent, but he heard one pair of hands clap and a voice loudly call his name. Alec looked and saw Noranda. Despite his misgivings about his feelings for her, his heart gave a jump when he recognized her face.
While most of the audience began to file out of the armory at the end of the day’s competition, Noranda picked her way down the tiers and came to where Alec was standing, watching her approach.
“You were absolutely outstanding Alec,” she said with a genuine smile of pleasure on her face. “I was so worried when your first attack didn’t work, but then that attention-hog gave you the chance you needed, and it was all downhill from there.”
“Thank you for cheering,” he told her, inviting her to take a seat so that he could sit and rest. “Today’s the first day we had audience members who weren’t just from the guard, and the first day we had cheers.”
“The guardsman who was the show-off had invited many of his friends to come watch. He’s a son of the nobility who’s been made officer of the guard, so he knows many folks in the court. He thought that three to one was unbeatable. In fact, I heard he had a considerable amount of money wagered on the outcome,” Noranda told him with a giggle.
At the Seat of Power: Goldenfields and the Dominion Page 9
