At the Seat of Power: Goldenfields and the Dominion

by Jeffrey Quyle

  He finally decided to climb up on top of a barrel of spring water left by Natha’s delivery crew, and hoist himself onto the first floor roof above the kitchen. From there he climbed up onto the sloping dormer that rose to the third floor window, and then onto the flat roof of the shop. He found the trap door for entry to the house, opened it, and dropped down into the house. He stopped and listened, trying to identify the noises he heard.

  There was a crying and a moaning, and both sounded stressful to Alec. He hurried down the stairs from the third floor to the second floor, and followed the sounds to the room where lights added illumination to the dawn.

  Ellen was sitting holding a newborn baby, while Leah was lying, very pale, and moaning in severe pain, as a midwife tried to treat her in some manner.

  Ellen saw Alec standing there in his sleepless stupidity and gave a frightened shriek, than realized who it was. “Oh thank God you’re here, Master Alec. We’ve had a long hard time of it. Here, the baby is blue and dying. Can you help her and Miss Leah?”

  Alec walked over and took the baby. He could tell that it was suffering, not getting enough air into its blood. Summoning his healing powers proved tough, difficult in a way he hadn’t experienced since he first began training. He knew that he had run out of energy and would suffer for draining his reserves so far. He looked down at the baby again and began to massage its chest, praying over it as he did so, and after long staggering moments felt his weak abilities begin to expand the lungs and strengthen them so that the air better entered the baby’s blood. The girl’s color slowly grew more pink and her breath less labored.

  Alec felt the power flow away from him. He carried the baby over to Leah, who was lying silently. “She’s going to be fine now,” he told the mother.

  Leah’s eye’s opened and she looked at the pink baby. She smiled a beautiful smile. “Isn’t she gorgeous Alec?” Leah asked. “She’s the most beautiful baby I ever saw. Thank you for making me keep her. It’s all been worth it.”

  Alec took the girl and laid her on Leah’s chest, as the mother placed her arms around the baby. He walked down to the tearful midwife, and recoiled when he saw all the blood Leah had lost. “It’s been a very bad birth. The baby wasn’t positioned right, and I can’t stop the bleeding. She’s in a lot of pain,” the gray-haired woman said quietly.

  Alec tried to use his health vision to see where the bleeding was occurring. A dark curtain flickered across his vision, and he couldn’t establish the energy to view Leah’s health. He knew he had pushed himself too far this night. He placed his hands on Leah’s hips, but no healing powers came forth. He felt powerless as Leah lapsed into unconsciousness.

  “Ellen, take the baby back from her,” Alec said to the woman who watched everything intently. “What can you do for her?” Alec asked the midwife.

  The woman silently shook her head. Alec looked up to the heavens in mute appeal and tried once more with all his might to call upon his powers to help Leah. He felt himself entering the place between the barriers finally as he prepared to call upon his powers, but then everything around him became black, and he lost consciousness.

  Sometime later Alec awoke still wearing his blood-splattered clothes that he had worn for over a day now, lying in his own bed. The sun was shining, and the house was quiet. Alec started to rise from bed, but received such a head pain that he slumped back onto the mattress, and lay there again, virtually comatose, for some time. He passed out and slept again.

  An hour later he slowly roused back to consciousness. He lay motionless, still hearing no other sounds in the house. Cautiously this time, he raised his head. He felt less severe pain this time; but he still felt extremely unwell and unfocused. Alec dropped his legs over the side of the bed and stood up, then walked to the hallway, and towards the room in the front of the house where he’d seen Leah’s post-birth earlier in the day.

  A white sheet was pulled up over Leah, and no one else was in the room. Alec’s knees gave way and he fell. He stood up again and walked over to pull the sheet back. Leah’s lovely eyes were closed, and her face showed the peace of death. Alec’s knees gave way again, and he remained kneeling by her body, crying and praying, praying and crying.

  He forced himself to stand up. If only he had focused on Leah before the baby, he could have used his last gasp of healing power to save her, he told himself. He stood and stared vacantly through the space over her body, then returned the sheet to its place and walked out of the room. There was no one else in the house he found, as he called out and searched its rooms.

  He sat at the kitchen table, woodenly ate a piece of bread, and drank a glass of the water from Natha’s barrel, which made him feel slightly better. And then he began to sob again.

  Leah had been a good person and a close companion when he had felt more alone than any other time, in the aftermath of Walnut Creek’s demise. Floating down the river with her had been a good experience for both of them, letting them heal and recover, and settling into Goldenfields had been almost all her doing while he had become part of the Duke’s Guard. Alec knew that he had devoted much of his recent life to ingenaire and Guard activities, and that had allowed Leah to live life on her own. Or it had until this morning, when he had not been able to call forth the energy to try to save her, because he had given so much already to being an ingenaire and a Guardsman.

  Now he had no friend to come home to in the shop, no partner to run the shop, and when Ellen left to settle in with Ellison, he’d have no one living in the shop at all. Except Leah’s baby girl. What was he going to do about her, he wondered?

  There came unbidden to his mind a picture of happy Annalea, the woman who wanted a baby so badly, but who couldn’t conceive. Alec knew that Annalea would accept Leah’s girl, and give her a loving home better than any other in the city. Perhaps this was God’s plan, a way to recover some love from the anguish of Leah’s death. Giving Annalea a child to raise and love would give her meaning and hope for the future that she might not ever have otherwise. He resolved to find Ellen soon and tell her his plans for the baby.

  A clatter at the door aroused him from his deep musings, and he turned to see Ellen enter the back door, with Hannah and the baby girl.

  “I had to go get Hannah from the house she stayed in last night,” Ellen explained, puffy-eyed herself. “Hannah, you go out to the front room and straighten things up while Master Alec and I talk.”

  “Alec, I am heart-broken,” Ellen said in a choked voice. “There is no justice in the world that a good woman like Leah should die after bringing comfort to so many others.”

  Unable to answer with any words, Alec silently reached out and placed his hand over Ellen’s, giving it a squeeze of compassion.

  “How are you?” she asked with concern in her voice. “You passed out and we could not revive you when you were trying to tend to Leah. We took you out of the room and laid you out, then went back to her, but she never regained consciousness. She just bled to death, and the midwife couldn’t stop her.”

  “I’m feeling better after some sleep and a bite to eat,” Alec said. “How is the baby?”

  “She’s sleeping. I know a new mother in the neighborhood who will nurse her for a while. I suppose I’ll take her as my own, and expect she’ll be as loving as her mother,” Ellen said.

  “Ellen you’ve got Hannah to love and raise. Our friend Annalea, Natha’s daughter wants to have a baby, but her body will never give her one. Would you think it right to ask Annie to raise Leah’s baby girl?” Alec asked.

  Ellen looked down at the baby in her arms, making small mewing sounds occasionally as she slept. “Annie is a good girl I know, Leah said so herself. She shouldn’t have to feel the heartbreak of an empty cradle. Alec,” Ellen said after a silent pause, looking up at him, “If she does want to raise a daughter, and if she’ll let me visit the little girl to see Leah’s legacy, I think it would be a grand idea to ask her, to give the woman a chance to be mother to this baby.

  �
�I hope that she’ll be named Leah, after the good woman who was her mother,” Ellen said gently.

  “I’ll talk to Annie tomorrow or the day after and see if that is suitable,” Alec said gently. “Thank you, Ellen.”

  “Do you need to rest for a while?” he asked. “I’ll keep an eye on the girls if you’d like to sleep a bit.”

  “I’ve asked my sister to come over and she’ll help out Alec,” Ellen said. “Thank you for asking. We need to make arrangements for Leah’s burial. Do you have any preferences?”

  Alec had not even considered that. “I think we should have it here in the shop, so that they folks she cared for can come say farewell. What are your thoughts?”

  “I think that’s a perfect idea,” Ellen said. “Would you like for me to take care of it?”

  “Would you please? I’ll need to return to the palace soon, but if you can arrange for everything for tomorrow morning, I’ll be back,” Alec said.

  “I hear the Duke’s pennant is flying again over part of the palace, and the people are pleased, Alec,” Ellen told.

  “I’m pleased too,” Alec assured her. “The Duke is alive, and going to bring the army back to help restore order fully, if we still need the army by that time. I hope we’ll have the full palace available for him and all the rebels dealt with before he returns. Ellison is alive, unharmed and rides with the Duke,” he suddenly remembered to tell Ellen.

  “Thank you for that Alec. I was afraid to ask,” Ellen said with a smile.

  “Excuse me while I freshen up and then go back to the palace to see what to do next,” Alec said to Ellen as he rose. “Is there anything else I can do here for you before I go?”

  “No, there’s nothing any of us can do in this house for the moment. Just go help restore order to the city,” Ellen said.

  Alec went to the barrel in the back and took out a whole bucketful of the water, then went upstairs. He stripped, and bathed his whole body in the spring water that came from the fountain he had raised in his first great display of ingenaire powers.

  He felt refreshment seep into his body from the water. The boy dressed and went downstairs, buckling his sword back on as he went. He took a long drink of the spring water, then went out the door and back towards the palace.

  The streets were silent and almost empty as he walked through the city, until he rounded a corner and came to the square near the palace.

  He stopped to look at the sight. Thousands of men and women were gathered in the square, all waving banners with the Duke’s colors of green and purple surrounded by the golden yellow of the Duchy. Even in his state of woe, Alec felt his heart lift at the sight of so many rallying to support the Duke. Alec began walking towards the palace bridge, eager to talk to Tarkas and learn what was happening. He noted the Duke’s pennant still flying on the bridge, but not yet on the palace towers.

  He shouldered his way through the crowd and to the bridge, then found the bridge itself open to walk across. As he approached the gatehouse he heard his name spoken by Tarkas’s volunteers who were there, and a cheer arose. “Alec’s returned!” he heard repeated as the cheers rose.

  Despite all that had happened, he grinned. “Where is Tarkas, or Ryder, or whoever’s in charge?” he asked.

  “Ryder and Tarkas are with the men who are holding the Guard quarters,” a man he didn’t know told him. “You know the way there?” he asked.

  “I do,” Alec agreed, and started walking there. Everything he saw seemed secure, with men standing watch all along the route. Alec found the Guard courtyard occupied by people peacefully gathering the dead and cleaning up the bloody spills on the stones. “Where is Tarkas?” he asked the first person he could stop.

  “He’s in the armory, with the Guardsmen,” the man told Alec, then continued on his task of carrying a bucket of water to clean the yard.

  Alec walked to the armory and opened the door. Inside he found Tarkas, Ryder and Mortis and the other Guard members whose names he did not know, along with a half dozen others. “Alec is back!” someone said loudly, and all heads swiveled to look at him, then the Guard members all saluted formally. Merle and his apprentices were there as well.

  Abashed, Alec saluted back. “Apparently things are calm here,” he observed, “and that’s good news. What’s the situation?” he asked his colonel.

  “We have been sitting pat since the first round of skirmishes at dawn. There was one attempt to attack our men on the palace’s main doors, but the rebels suffered bad losses, and all we’ve seen since then are river jumpers and deserters. And there haven’t been many of those lately either,” Ryder told him.

  “Have you questioned the deserters or learned anything about the situation inside the palace among the rebels?” Alec asked.

  “We’ve been told quite a bit. There are fewer than 100 left inside now. They haven’t talked about supplies, but I doubt this lot brought much with them, since they planned a quick attack and quick control of everything. Airmed is dead. He was ready to flee as soon as his father was no longer trapped. His brother personally killed him. Things are tense. Elgin is holed up in the Formal Hearing room,” Ryder summarized succinctly.

  “How many men do we have altogether, and can we get more from that group outside, or elsewhere?”

  Ryder answered. “Tarkas sent three quick riders with two extra mounts each to try to bring the Duke and the other Guards back as quickly as possible. We can have the palace back under our control within the next day, and we need to get the Duke back as quickly as possible to calm the people. He can send messages on to hurry the army back after him.”

  “I think we can probably use some men from the square to relieve some of ours who are standing guard, and then put them into action. We want to have folks we know will handle a sword leading the way in for us,” the colonel continued. “That’s the very thing we were talking about just before you returned.”

  “Mortis, give Alec the report on the Guard?” Ryder directed.

  “We’ve found nearly two dozen dead so far, and there are probably more in the parts of the Palace we haven’t entered yet. All of ours are lying in the infirmary,” the Guardsman reported.

  “What names do your companions here have?” Alec asked. “I haven’t been introduced.”

  Mortis introduced the two men, Rail and Toopane, and the woman, Tarpa, who remained.

  “Alec if you’re up to date, let’s set some things in motion,” Ryder interjected. “Tarpa, I want you to take three of the men out in the square, you pick who you want, and go to the coopers to have them make three dozen good, solid caskets as quickly as possible, and have them shipped here,” he told the woman, who left to carry out her mission.

  “Mortis, take any prisoners being held here on the island, and have them behead every rebel body you’ve got lying around. Make them do it to their own former companions. Throw the bodies into the river. I want the heads on pikes along the bridge to send a message about what happens when someone attacks the Guard and the Duke,” the colonel spoke with a flat look in his eyes that invited no dissension.

  “Tarkas, go ahead and recruit from the crowd. We need probably twenty more, so get the strong ones. I want to send the forces to the right of the bridge all the way around. We don’t need to allow any more to escape in the river now. I’m going to send our folks into the palace. We are going to clear out the ground floor first, then work our way down into the basements. I don’t think we’re going to find much down there, but we need to be sure.

  “Once we know we have everything secured and only the upper floors to take, I will lead the way in. There may be a chance to negotiate some surrenders and avoid some more bloodshed,” Ryder said. “Tarkas, you and Rail take care of that now. We should be ready to make the assault upstairs in two hours or so. In the meantime, Alec, you stay with me.”

  “Merle, what else can we do, and what steps do we need to take next?” Alec turned to the group that hadn’t spoken yet.

  “Alec, you’re doing v
ery well. A bit more savagely than necessary perhaps, but this is war,” Merle said. “I’d like to get to the roof to check on my pigeons to see if any new ones have arrived from Aristotle, and I need to send him one about all that’s happened here. He doesn’t know anything about any of the past day’s battle at the palace. I’m concerned that the death of the king and the attempted murder of the Duke came so close together. It seems coordinated to me, and that speaks of further trouble ahead. We don’t know what’s happening or has happened in Oyster Bay by now.

  “And we don’t know how Ingenairii’ Hill has reacted or is reacting, or how the church is reacting,” Merle added.

  “How far along are your light apprentices?” Alec asked Merle, motioning to Fayette and Latvia.

  “They’re doing well,” Merle said with a puzzled tone. “Why do you ask?”

  “Can they bend light well enough to cloak you from view, to make you appear invisible?” Alec responded. “It would be good to send a message to Aristotle as soon as possible. If those two can hide your way up to the pigeons, we could send you along directly. If not, we’ll wait a few hours, or a day at most, to send you safely.”

  Fayette and Latvia stood up. “We can do it,” Fayette said, and he disappeared from sight for several seconds before re-appearing.

  “Can you cloak yourselves and someone else, and hold it for several minutes if needed?” Alec asked.

  They nodded. Alec looked at Ryder for approval. “Alright, Merle, if you’re comfortable, go ahead and make your way to the pigeons, and then come back immediately.”

  Alec looked around as the people left. Mortis, a handful of ingenaire apprentices, and a few of Tarkas’s men were still in the armory. Everyone else was out setting things in motion.

  “Well, what else should we be doing right now?” Alec asked to no one in particular.