“He actually gambled on it?” Alec asked in astonishment.
“Alec,” Noranda said with some exasperation in her voice, “there are scads of bets starting to circulate on your matches. In less than a week you’ve become the hottest thing going since the horse-racing season ended.”
“They all expect you to win everything. It’s usually a bet on how fast you’ll end it,” she said confidently. “Today the three on one match did even the table, but other than that you’re always the favorite.”
“I didn’t even know it was going to be three opponents, how did the bettors?” Alec asked.
“Handis, the show-off noble son, told people that he was going to bring along an extra friend. With his connections, the man who runs the armory really didn’t have much of a chance to say no to him,” she replied.
“Handis is a friend of Elgin’s, who told me about it this morning,” Noranda continued. “I don’t think he realized that the ingenaire apprentice who is a swordsman is also my friend from the carnival. Be careful about Handis. You just cost him a great deal of money, not to mention his pride. He may try to get revenge on you.”
“I need to go clean up but I’d like to talk to you again sometime. Can you come to tomorrow’s practice and we can sit and talk afterwards?” Alec asked her.
“Perhaps,” she equivocated. “If it works out, I’ll be back tomorrow, and we can go somewhere to talk. I’ll see you then, Alec,” she said, then leaned up and gave him a peck on the cheek. “You made me proud today.”
Alec watched her walk away. “Natalie, I still think of you a lot,” he called out to her, and he meant it.
She stopped for a moment. “Let’s talk tomorrow. You know I can’t say I think about you too,” she said and then left the building.
Alec walked to the training room to put his equipment away feeling hopeful about the meaning of Noranda’s words, and found the room mostly deserted. He saw Bannis and walked over to him. “Did you know there were going to be three of them?”
“Not until I saw them step onto the mat, Alec. My apologies. That was an officer who pulled that stunt, sad to say,” the armsman replied. “The nobility has apparently decided you make quite a spectacle to see. This old building hasn’t seen the likes of that crowd ever before. You gave them a show to watch, too. That was such good work out there!”
Despite his anger over the situation, Alec thanked the blameless Bannis and finished cleaning up, then took his leave. Moriah and Nathaniel had apparently decided to leave without him, so he began the walk home alone. As he strolled through the narrow streets of the city a rider on a fast horse rode straight at him, forcing him to jump into a narrow alley to avoid the collision. He landed on his hands and knees in a puddle of dirty water, and looked up. No one else was visible in the alley, but he remembered Noranda’s warning, and he looked carefully around him.
Although he wasn’t sure why he felt so skittish, Alec decided to call upon his warrior powers, and obtained the narrow band of access to the energy he had been training to use for the past few days. He felt an exaggerated awareness of the world around him, much more so than he had anticipated from the calm exercises on the balcony of Rubicon’s house. Within the walls of the building next to him he could hear the sounds of people talking and he noticed the shadow of a bird flying past the sun.
He retained his power and stepped back out of the alley and onto the street, and proceeded to resume his journey towards the ingenairii’ hill. There was a whisper in the air, and he suddenly dove flat on the ground, while a split second later an arrow made sparks on the cobblestones next to him. Alec instantly rose and ran towards the entrance of the building whose roof had hosted the archer. He ran to the door, which was locked, and then passed along the side of the building looking for another entrance. None was in sight.
Alec turned and ran to the building next door, and finding a hall with a stairway, climbed rapidly to that roof, which was a story lower than the one the arrow came from. Alec took a run and gave a leap, grabbing hold of the edge of the roof and pulling his head up to look across the flat surface. The roof was empty. The assassin had escaped.
Alec looked in all directions, trying to find where the bowman might have gone, and to see if any other threats were visible. Seeing nothing, he let go of the roof and slid back down onto the roof below, sitting there to think about what to do next.
Alec went back downstairs and out onto the street. He checked again at the door of the building the arrow had come from, and found that this time the door was unlocked. Cautiously he pushed it open, and listened intently, but heard no sound.
Unable to find any trail to follow, Alec decided to continue on his way back to Rubicon’s house, moving swiftly and staying alert, keeping his embrace of the power attuned so that he was ready for further activity. When he reached the gate of the hill he finally released his power, feeling secure back in the safety of the ingenaire community, as the sense of ingenaire energy enveloped him, and for the first time, made him comfortable.
Alec felt no wave of exhaustion sweep over him from his release of the power. He had successfully used the low level of energy for an extended period, and suffered no consequences, just as was supposed to be the case. He no more than released the power than a stream of water materialized and squirted him in the seat of his pants. He jumped in surprise and looked around. There was no movement of sign of the perpetrator anywhere, and after standing uncertainly for a moment of frustration, he decided to remember one more item to try to payback.
When he climbed the hill to get to Rubicon’s house he met Nathaniel coming back down the hill. “Alec, are you just now getting back from the armory?” the older apprentice asked. “One of the guardsmen told us you left right away, so we hurried out of there to try to catch you, but never did.”
Alec told him what Noranda had told him about Handis’s gambling, without mentioning her name, and then the attempt on his life while he was coming home.
Nathaniel looked incredulous. “You weren’t hurt in any way? Even trying to attack an ingenaire is a serious offense. I know we weren’t wearing the armbands to denote our affiliation with the ingenairii, but that bowman must have known who you were. You can report this to Rubicon and the Ingenairii Council can start an investigation. The spiritual ingenairii can put this Handis to the question and find out if he is guilty or not. It’s been done to protect ingenairii before, though not in a long time. Nobody attacks us anymore.”
Alec and Nathaniel walked back up the hill. “I’ll go find Moriah and tell her you’re back, so she can stop searching. You should go tell Rubicon,” Nathaniel told him and they parted.
When Alec got back to his room he found a piece of paper slid under his door. Looking at it, he saw that it was from the head cook for the ingenairii’ hall, and was a list of fish that would be needed on the day of the ball.
Alec, looking for something to do to release some tension, decided to go down to the fishing village to give the list to Plad. He took his sword as precaution, but did not feel he had to engage his power to visit the relatively overlooked villagers. On the spur of the moment though he decided to take his healer bag with him and offer to treat the children of the village.
Down the hill he found Plad already back in the village from his day on the water. Alec greeted him, showing him the list of required fish. “Can you provide all these?” Alec asked.
Plad pulled on his chin with his right hand, looking at the list. “I’ll need three other boats from the village to join me, but it is something I’m reasonably sure we can do. No, I’ll take four other boats just to make sure. We’ll go out for the early morning catch and have this lot ready by early afternoon the day you need it, Alec. Tell your cook this will be taken care of, and thank you again for trying to do this for us.”
“Plad,” Alec said, “I have my medical kit here, and since I am in training to be a healer, I wondered if the village would mind me checking over the children for practice?”
>
A smile formed on the fisherman’s face. “We’ll get them lined up. Heaven knows few of us ever see a doctor. You set up right here, and we’ll have some children running to you in just a few minutes,” Plad assured him.
Approximately two dozen children traipsed over to Alec in the next two hours, keeping him at the village until night fell. He found no significant problems beyond childhood cuts and scrapes and bruises, some small infections and one minor parasite. As he packed up to leave, Plad came to see him. “Thank you Alec, that was very kind.”
“I’m glad to do it, Plad. Maybe I’ll take a look at you adults next time, eh? There aren’t any small ones here I’ve missed, are there?” Alec asked.
“Well, my sister Irene’s daughter can’t come of course. She was born with poor legs and hasn’t ever left her cabin that I can recall,” Plad said in an offhand manner. “Other than her, you saw everyone in the village who’s not an adult.”
“Why don’t you take me to look at the girl while I’m here?” Alec suggested, picking up his bag. “I’m sure it won’t take long.”
Plad looked at him doubtfully, then shrugged. “Follow me,” he said, his uncomfortable manner suggesting something about the girl that Alec realized wasn’t being said.
Alec followed him to a small wooden shack on the outskirts of the opposite side of the village. Plad went inside for a minute, and returned. “Come on in,” he said after a few low murmurs.
Alec went inside and found a teenage girl curled up on a pile of cushions in the corner. She had long, straight brown hair that fell below her shoulders; Alec could make out few other details in the dim hut. “Hello, my name is Alec. What’s your name?” he asked.
“My name is Cassie,” she replied quietly.
“As Plad probably told you, I’m training to be a healer, and am checking all the kids in the village to see how healthy everyone is. Do you mind if I check you for a few minutes?” he asked.
“No go right ahead. It’s nice to have some company for a change,” she answered, although she didn’t try to chat as if she enjoyed company.
Alec squatted down next to her. Evidently she didn’t get to move out of her corner very often, because he smelled a strong odor that almost made him wrinkle his nose. He looked at her carefully, examining her with his health vision, just as he had all the other children. When he released the vision he took a deep breath. He was both tired from using the vision so much, and suffering the draining power it provoked, and he also was depressed by the many things he saw the girl needed.
She had head lice, open sores, poor nutrition from a bad diet and weak bones from a lack of sunlight. Most obvious of all, she had legs in which the bones had failed to form properly. Alec sat back and thought about what to say, and what to do. Finally he decided. Standing up, he called Plad into the hut. “I think there are some things I can do to help Cassie a little. I’m going to go up the hill tonight, and either tomorrow or the day after I’ll bring some things back to help her.”
“Cassie, it’s been nice to meet you. I’ll come back and visit you again soon,” he said as he left the shack.
Outside he turned to Plad. “She’s not well cared for, is she?” he asked quietly.
“My sister had her without getting married, and resents what that did to her life. It’s not right, and I try to do what I can to help the girl from time to time,” Plad said defensively, his face clearly strained from not wanting to admit the fault that had been exposed.
“I’ll be back,” Alec said. He started to go then stopped and turned, “If I was able to take her to a place to treat her, no one would really care, would they?” he asked in a low voice.
“Alec, if you took her someplace where she could have some friendly attention, no one here would care and you’d be doing her a favor,” Plad said, placing a gentle hand on Alec’s back.
With that, Alec left the village in darkness and walked up the hill to his room. In Rubicon’s house he placed his sack in the spare room where his supplies were now kept, then visited the kitchen for some food, and returned to his own room to think.
He knew that he could easily treat all the small problems the girl had. He pondered if he could treat her legs. He thought of the work he had done with Lewis’s skull, rebuilding it, and he felt certain there must be a way to help her leg bones and muscles grow longer and stronger and correctly aligned, with strength enough to carry her about.
A knock at the door interrupted his thoughts. “Come in,” he called, and Nathaniel entered, carrying a candle into the dark room.
“Why are you here in the dark, Alec?” he asked. “Surely a little light is a good thing,” he said as he sat down on Alec’s chair beside him, placing the candle on the desk.
“What should I do about what happened today?” Alec asked, as his mind returned to the assassination attempt.
“Have you told Rubicon yet?” the older apprentice replied.
“No, I went to the fishing village instead,” he told his friend, and described his visit to the village and his thoughts about Cassie.
“Put Cassie aside for now Alec. You’ve had a lot on your mind lately, and I’m worried about you,” Nathaniel said. “You need to do something about this arrow that was shot today.
“I’m sorry we weren’t with you after the practice. I’m worried that we were misled to believe you’d left,” Nathaniel spoke what was on his mind. “I think it was a set up to separate you from us.”
“Yes, that’s disturbing. All right,” Alec said, “I’ll tell Rubicon in the morning and see if he thinks anything needs to be done.”
“That’s a step in the right direction. Good, I feel better, and I hope you do too,” Nathaniel said with a smile. “Now what else is on your mind?”
“I’m still thinking about Noranda. She and I should have had a chance to find out if there could be an understanding between us. My heart is confused; my head is confused; I think my fingers and toes are confused for that matter!” he added with a rueful grin at his friend. “To end up crossing the length of the Dominion and meet again, but too late to make anything of it, that just tears me,” he admitted. “I think she regrets it too, but she seems to be able to move on better than I am.”
“Alec, she’s been raised in a family where she always had a good idea she’d be married for family politics. She knows she has to accept that and go forward. I know this doesn’t begin to help, but you are the kind of boy, or man, I should say, who can have any of a thousand wonderful girls. You’re not like me; somehow I was lucky enough to have a wonderful and pretty girl accept me. You, with your looks and skills and friends, you’ll have the choice of girls that will be the envy of every other fellow around. Don’t get stuck on one you can’t have. Accept that it must be over and wait for something new to come along,” Nathaniel told him, trying to provide wise counsel. “I know it’s hard, but remember that this pain will pass.”
“Thanks Nathaniel,” Alec told him. “I’m sure it will pass. Right now, absent the chance to have Noranda, or to feel this confusion pass, I feel like I just want to do as much good as possible here while I’m around. I’m glad to have met you and Moriah and Rubicon, but I’d like to leave Oyster Bay as soon as possible, once I get this training done; having pranks occurring everyday doesn’t exactly thrill me. But you know,” he contemplated out loud, “when I go back to Goldenfields I’m going to return to problems there as well. I don’t feel like I have a home where there aren’t problems, and then Aristotle has the lacertii problem and other big problems hanging over our heads as well. For now, I need to find the small successes to make this all seem worthwhile.”
“You used your power all the way home today. That’s a success, isn’t it?” Nathaniel said. “If that’s the case, tomorrow or sometime soon you’ll be able to start learning the next step, altering the energy as needed. That’s very interesting stuff. It’s fun; hard, but fun.”
“You have a good night’s sleep, and let me know if you want to talk,” Nat
haniel said, standing up.
“Nathaniel, thank you for caring,” Alec said with a smile. His friend smiled back at him and left the room, and soon Alec was asleep.
Chapter 9 – Stopping the Gamblers
Alec awoke the next morning feeling more anxiety than he had felt since leaving Goldenfields. He worried about talking to Rubicon. He worried about another potential assassination attempt. He worried about pranks befalling him, and meeting Noranda and how it would go. He worried about how to treat Cassie.
All the same, he went to practice his warrior power skills and did well, which surprised him. Time after time he was able to develop and maintain a small, steady connection to the source of energy.
When the breakfast tray arrived, Moriah arrived and Nathaniel left. Shortly after than Rubicon showed up.
“Rubicon, yesterday I had an arrow shot at me from a rooftop in the city,” Alec said, figuring that he might as well wade right into it.
The portly figure looked straight at him. “Tell me what happened,” he said quietly.
Alec explained about the sword bout in the armory, and his victory, then learning that people were wagering on the outcome, and his walk back to the hill that was marred by the horse rider and the arrow.
“So do you believe that this Handis was the one who tried to have you killed?” Rubicon asked.
“He seems like the only one who would have a reason to,” Alec replied. “There’s no reason I know for anyone else to try to kill me.”
“You haven’t been toying with the affections of any ladies have you, luring them away from their husbands or lovers?” Rubicon asked.
Alec hesitated. He looked at Moriah, and blushed. “Well, I did meet a girl I used to know. When Nathaniel and I met Noranda and Elgin, Nathaniel said he thought Elgin was jealous. I’ve talked to her twice since then, and that’s all. She’s told me she’s betrothed to him.”
“Well, that hardly seems threatening, and besides, Elgin comes from too prominent a family to dirty his hands over something like that. He’s supposed to be the stable one in the family, compared to his wastrel brother,” Rubicon said. “Of course, you on the other hand should know better than to try to toy with the woman of the son of your own Duke.
At the Seat of Power: Goldenfields and the Dominion Page 10
