“Well, yes, I suppose that’s all true,” Caitlen answered. “But in our society there is a particular role the Jags play. They can’t make women pregnant, and so they’ve come to be seen as, um…” her voice trailed off.
“As what?” Alec asked, unable to anticipate what she was hinting.
“They are hired by wealthy women as lovers without complications, as playthings,” Caitlen answered. She was facing away from Alec now to hide her blush.
“So as I’m a single woman traveling accompanied by a Jag, the first assumption everyone makes is that you are my bedmate,” she sighed and continued. “And I let myself think of you in that role,” she explained, “only for the public purposes of course, Alec,” she hastily amended her words. “Even though I know that you’re skin isn’t really blue, and you’re not a Jag. I’ve never actually had one.”
“That little old lady in the cobbler shop was making jokes about us going to bed together?” Alec asked, astonished.
“Yes,” Caitlen agreed simply.
“And when we get to our next inn, they’re going to expect the same?” he asked.
“Don’t worry about it Alec,” Caitlen turned to face him as they walked along. “You want us to be memorable, to create a strong trail for the guards to follow. We’re doing it. I’ll be better about not being too over-bearing. That was my fault in the inn, I know it. I was treating you like you were my Jag, and I didn’t have to do that.”
What a strange culture, Alec thought to himself. Women seemed to have no regular access to power in the military or in politics, which seemed to be part of why the Conglomerate had overthrown a female ruler, rather than a male. But they had the social freedom for respectable women to hire men as bedmates.
He reflected on the differences of societies as they walked along through the afternoon until they reached another village just after nightfall. “Let’s spend the night here,” Alec suggested. “We should be able to stay ahead of the guards with the head start we got this morning, and if you’re right, we’ll be in the city of Valeriane tomorrow night. Then we can start to evade them for the rest of the trip to Black Crag.”
Chapter 9 – Arrival in Valeriane
The next morning they were again on the road early, with only rock-hard breakfast rolls in their hands as their food to begin the day. Alec calculated he would be able to afford a simple lunch on the road, but he expected to reach Valeriane without any money, which meant they would probably have to sleep in a hayloft. After that he wasn’t sure what the next step would be. He’d need to let himself be seen as a Jagine in the city, to keep the chasing guards pinned down searching the city while Nichols and Esmere made their escape to the coastal cities.
They walked all day long, stopping only for necessities, and twice more for Alec to heal the blisters that Caitlen’s new boots were producing as they became broken in. There was more oncoming traffic than they’d seen at any time on the journey so far, and as they watched the walkers, the wagons, and the elegant coaches travel past them, Alec began to consider the opportunities they might present. He’d never before considered banditry, but now he felt desperate enough to think about what target would be his best opportunity for a bloodless success.
He saw three men approaching with heavy packs, probably traders who would be a suitable target, a target whose numbers were easily within his ability to overwhelm. “Step off to those rocks,” Alec instructed Caitlen, pointing to boulders at the side of the road.
“Why?” she asked, but nonetheless obediently began to head to the right. Alec unsheathed his sword and confronted the three men.
“Give me your pouch!” he ordered the leader of the three. All three men immediately pulled their own weapons. Alec fully engaged his warrior powers and struck at the man on the left, feinting high, then slashing his sword downward rapidly to knock the man’s weapon to the ground. Alec spun around to the man on the right and raised his sword high again, then kicked his leg out to trip the man and knock him to the ground.
Alec faced the man in the middle. “Do you want to hand your money over peacefully, or should I take it from you?” he asked.
“Alec!” he heard Caitlen scream. He turned his head, and saw her running towards him. As he turned to look, the still-armed man thrust his sword viciously into Alec’s midriff.
“Alec!” Caitlen screamed again, her voice changing in tone to reflect her panic as she drew nearer.
Alec looked down in pain and astonishment at the bloody front of his shirt. His warrior powers evaporated, and he focused intently on engaging his healer energy. He weakly grasped the energy, trying hard to find it despite the distraction of the overwhelming pain he felt, then placed his right hand over the wound and began the process of fixing the damage to his bowels, then his muscles and finally the skin.
In the meantime, the foes he had beaten had recovered, and Caitlen had run up to him, placing her hand on his arm as he was finishing his self-healing. He felt her make contact, and his energy began to drain off into her, finding every little ache or infection it could address in her body. Her face gave a look of startled surprise; she pulled her hand off of him as he finished his healing, and looked up at the three man audience that faced him.
The three men in turned looked at him in astonishment, having expected him to topple over from the fatal wound he had received. “We will apparently have to start over,” Alec said glibly. He held out his hand. “Give me your pouch,” he commanded.
“No Alec,” Caitlen said, overcoming her surprise at the wellness she felt. “You don’t have to rob them.”
“We have no money for a room in Valeriane, no money for food. I don’t want to do this, but we need some money,” he explained, not taking his eyes off the three men in front of him.
“I have plenty of money for us,” Caitlen cried. “Leave them alone.
“Go on, move along now,” she commanded the men, flicking her wrist with one hand to motion them away, while holding Alec back with her other.
“How did he do that?” one of the men asked, lowering his sword.
“Never mind him, you just listen to me and move along. I’m sorry for the inconvenience,” she said, leading Alec around the men and onward towards Valeriane.
“You had money and you didn’t tell me?” Alec asked as they moved along the road. He looked back over his shoulder at his three intended victims, who were placing their own swords in their scabbards.
‘You didn’t ask me for any money,” Caitlen explained defensively, her voice rising. “Why didn’t you tell me that you were completely out of cash? Do you think this dress is so heavy just from cloth padding? A princess and her ladies are never without some means, you know,” she explained.
“So Princess Esmere and Nichols, they have some money too?” Alec asked.
“What did I just say? Yes, they have money too,” she shot back.
Alec looked backwards again. The men had started to move on and were rapidly dwindling away. “Alright,” he said.
“Alright what?” Caitlen asked.
Alec took a deep breath. “Alright, that was my mistake. Thank you for preventing me from robbing those men.
“But you nearly got me killed!” he added, remembering the deadly stab wound he had suffered.
“It seems to me you nearly got yourself killed,” Caitlen retorted.
Alec began to prepare a response, but stopped, and clamped his mouth shut. It had ultimately been his fault, he realized, and there was no point in arguing further. They walked on in silence for several more steps, cresting another rise and feeling the wind blow fully into their faces.
“When I touched you, it made me feel wonderful. Every ache and itch and pain disappeared,” Caitlen ventured to say.
“You should have told me you had aches,” Alec responded, feeling that he had neglected her. “You know what I do to warm you up, and what I do for your feet.”
“I wasn’t complaining,” Caitlen protested. “I was just saying it felt nice to
lose all the little things, you know what I mean?”
“Sure,” Alec agreed, sensing they were speaking at cross-purposes. “Let me know any time you feel anything. I’ll take care of you.”
“I don’t doubt that at all. I knew you were going to save me from the moment I saw you. Do you remember?” Caitlen asked, then answered her own question without waiting. “You rushed into our room with Nichols’ bloody body. You healed him, then you threw your knives out the door and slammed it shut. A minute later you lifted that impossible grate so we could escape. I knew at that moment I was going to put my life in your hands.
“I didn’t know it was going to be this adventuresome though, or this educational, not to mention personal!” she smiled a shy smile and increased her speed, and they said no more as they walked along the road.
“Is that Valeriane?” Alec asked sometime later as they crested a tall hill, and a thicket of small lights twinkled in the valley below.
“That is,” Caitlen concurred. “There isn’t an official court here per se; the last Duke of Valeriane died over a hundred years ago. But there are a large number of noble families here, and a lot of money from shipping and the jewel mines. The Conglomerate receives a lot of support from the leaders of Valeriane, though I think not all. They have a Ruby Celebration on Midsummer Day that is one of the greatest festivals in the kingdom.
“It’s a city that produces a lot of great warriors and military leaders. They think they should lead the empire, not Vincennes; once upon a time they were an independent principality, and these folks are the first to tell you that,” Caitlen gave a history lesson.
“Do you have a particular place you think we should stay?” Alec asked. “One that you think we can afford, that is,” he slyly added.
“I could sleep in a hayloft,” she told him in a too casual voice, “but since we’re supposed to be seen so that we keep the guards looking for us in the city, I think we ought to go to the Golden Goose. It’s the finest hotel in Valeriane, and we’ll be seen by a number of people.”
Alec shrugged his agreement, and followed her downhill into the city.
By the time they reached the city gates and entered, the sky was thoroughly dark. The city was a large one, not as large as Vincennes, but bigger than Oyster Bay or Goldenfields in Alec’s experience, and they walked for nearly an hour, through tenements and past factories, in front of shops and parks and grand houses that mingled with one another.
“Let’s get a pair of masks!” Caitlen said brightly as they were passing a vendor whose small display was covered with masks that were colorful and varied. She reached into a pocket, and her hand seemed to disappear deeply inside the material before it emerged with a handful of coins. “I’ll take that one,” she pulled down an elaborate half mask of purple and blue feathers. “And for my lover here, how about this one?” she pointed at a bright red half mask with horns sprouting out the top. Alec nodded his approval, and Caitlen handed over the price to the vendor.
“What are these for?” Alec asked as they left the vendor’s stand.
“We’ll want to be seen, so when we go dancing tonight at the Goose’s ballroom, we can wear masks like everyone else, but your blue skin will still give us away,” Caitlen explained.
“Dancing?” Alec’s one word question made Caitlen turn to look at him.
“Oh, don’t tell me you don’t like to dance! Everyone knows that Jagines are superb dancers,” Caitlen laughed at Alec’s discomfort. “Just follow my lead and we’ll get along fine.
“Here we are as a matter of fact,” Caitlen said as they came to a large public square. A number of torches were flaring in front of a white-fronted building on the left side. “There’s the Goose. Let’s go secure a room.
Together they walked into the lobby, past a guard, and stopped at the front desk. “We’d like a room for three nights,” Caitlen pronounced matter-of-factly to the attendant, and produced the necessary funds to pay for them. “Will the band be playing in the ballroom tonight?” she asked.
Caitlen gave a great sigh of disappointment when she learned the band and the ballroom were not in action that night, but brightened at the promise that they would be available the next night. “Let’s go to our room, Alec,” she said as she picked up the key, and they climbed the staircase to the hallway of rooms on the upper floor.
“This is it,” she announced as the key unlocked their door and they entered the room. There was a single large bed, and several other pieces of luxurious furniture.
“Let’s go find dinner and look around the neighborhood a little,” Alec suggested. “We’ll need to know how to make a fast escape in the event we’re discovered too quickly.”
“Why don’t we eat dinner?” Caitlen countered. “Then you can look around; I’d like to arrange for a hot bath.”
They ate in the elegant dining room of the hotel, using as much silverware as Alec had seen during his brief stay in the palace at Oyster Bay. “Such proper manners for a man who ate a pork chop with his hands,” Caitlen said with a smile.
“Even barbarians can learn such skills,” Alec acknowledged with a grin and a mock toast. He raised his glass of berry juice, which Caitlen clinked with her delicate wine glass. She seemed like a different person to Alec in the refined atmosphere of the aristocratic hotel. She was at home here, and she made the restaurant a finer establishment by her presence, just as the restaurant seemed like a suitable home for a woman so polished.
When the meal ended he excused himself and promised to return. “You won’t get into any trouble, will you?” Caitlen asked. “Just kidding!” she said immediately. “I can’t imagine there’s any trouble you can’t get yourself out of! Here’s some money in case you need it,” she told him as she handed him several coins.
“Keep up appearances, we’re in a public place you know,” Caitlen said. “Give me a kiss.” She turned her face upwards to him. Alec lowered his head towards her, and let his lips gently touch hers, sensing the aroma of the wine she had drank with dinner. Her lips were soft, and beneath the wine there was a taste of some other indescribable essence, a taste that Alec knew immediately was Caitlen’s own taste.
“Uum, you taste nice,” she breathlessly told Alec, echoing his very own thoughts.
“So do you,” Alec responded, just as softly. “Very nice.”
“Too bad you aren’t really a Jag,” Caitlen said. “Go off and have fun, I’ll see you later,” she suddenly dismissed him, and Alec turned, walked away, and thought about the taste of her ineffable kiss as he walked out the door of the hotel.
He stood on the sidewalk, and shook his head. He wasn’t going to let himself get caught up in the exotic sense of adventure that was swimming around him. He was here to help this girl take a message to Black Crag, seeking help for the Princess who had been overthrown. He was going to find his pseudo-sister Bethany, and if all the plans coincided, he would return to Vincennes to help do battle for the Princess.
He was not here to become enchanted by a maiden of the court in this strange land.
The stables were, of course, close by, and Alec examined them, then walked around the block that surrounded the Golden Goose, finding an alley that conveniently provided access to the kitchen of the hotel and the back of the stables. There was one of the temples the people of the city used, so different from the churches and chapels he knew in the Dominion. And sitting noisily across the street was a fencing club, full of men whose weapons flashed in full view through the street side windows. Alec rattled the coins in his pocket and crossed the street, then entered the doors of the fencing club, determined to expend some energy and find peace through exhaustion.
“A Jag? Shouldn’t you be in bed?” a sarcastic voice shouted as soon as Alec entered, and all heads turned to look at the unusual sight.
“I’m here to work out. That’s all; I’m not looking for any trouble,” he said in a low voice to the heavyset man who was taking entry fees at the counter. “How do I get into the practice rot
ation?”
The man cocked his head as he listened to Alec’s accent. “Go get some pads and a wooden blade. Then talk to the armorer,” he nodded at a man in a blue hat on the other side of the gym floor.
Alec did as he was told, and soon was placed on a practice mat against a good opponent. When he won that match he immediately moved to another pad for sparring, and soon worked his way over to the center practice spot, where he won control and became the target for all challengers. Without using his powers once, he bested all comers, and fought for hours, switching hands repeatedly to give each arm a rest.
At last the crowd began to grow thin, and Alec realized he had left Caitlen alone for too long. He begged off a last match, thanked the armorer and received slaps on the back from many of the men he had beat, and left the building. The cold outside air cut through his sweaty warmth in a hurry, and the adrenaline from his hours of energetic fencing dissipated, leaving him sore and satisfied to have achieved such physical exhaustion.
Alec cut up the alley, looking up at the second floor windows of the hotel as he walked by. One showed a dim illumination within, possibly a candle burning in his own room. Quietly Alec entered the hotel lobby, and was discreetly checked and approved by the desk clerk, who remembered well the heavyset woman and her Jag. Alec bounded up the stairs, down the hallway, and stopped at the door. He gave a light tap on the door, and a soft cough, to give her time to be aware of his arrival, then pressed the latch and walked into the dim room. Inside a single candle gave a warm yellow glow to the room, in which Alec’s eyes were frozen by the vision of Caitlen with her arms wrapped around a tall, fair-headed man.
Chapter 10 – Found by the Guards
“Oh, Alec, hello,” Caitlen said with some embarrassment after needing a moment to register who he was. She looked over the man’s shoulder, and unwrapped her arms, but still kept one bent halfway around his waist.
Rescuing the Captive: The Ingenairii Series Page 14
