Caitlen ignored the last comment, realizing the impossibility of convincing the doctor of the miraculous healing she had seen. “Thank you for coming right over. I’ll send for you again if we need your help,” he heard Caitlen reply. There was the sound of a door opening.
“Anything you wish, your grace,” the doctor said, and then the door closed.
“Alec, can you hear me?” Caitlen whispered gently as she returned to his side.
He opened his eyes and looked at her. She reached out and took his hand. “I can’t believe you’re alive,” she told him as she squeezed his hand. “I thought I had lost you. I didn’t want you to die.”
“What were the things you did?” she asked. “How did you talk inside my head?
“Are you a holy man, Alec?” there was a moment of silence, and then she spoke again.
“Forgive me; that was a stupid question. I know you’re not a holy man, because no holy man would have such a muscle-bound brain that he would have created that situation in the first place!”
Her voice was rising in stridency. “What in the world made you think you could take on over a dozen armed robbers at once in a crowded restaurant? They could have killed you – for all intents and purposes they did kill you! If you weren’t so amazing and indestructible and courageous and great…” her voice trailed off and she began to cry, lowering her head against Alec’s chest as her emotions broke free.
He raised his hands and placed them on her head and back, trying to sooth her. After a short period she grew quiet, and raised her head, giving him a teary smile. “I must look like a wreck,” she stated.
“No, Caitlen, you’re lovely to look at all the time,” he told her. She began to lean towards his face, and he was suddenly stricken with fear. We’re about to kiss, he realized.
He remembered his experience with Cassie, when the girl had discovered Alec’s attraction to her and her feeling of rejection when he had not exhibited romantic attention to her. As wonderful as Caitlen was, and he knew he found her attractive, he still thought of Bethany. And the voice of God had called him Caitlen’s tool – not her lover, not her partner, not her future, or any term of endearment. And yet she had shown so much strength of character, so much resilience on their journey, that he admired her, and thought about what a tremendous partner she would be.
“Would you do something to help me?” he croaked out the question when her lips were just inches from his own.
Her eyes widened slightly, and she raised her head. “Of course Alec. Anything I can. What do you need?” she asked.
“I need for you to cut the arrow out of my thigh, so that I can heal the flesh,” he told her.
She stood upright, a look of revulsion on her face. “I’ll call the surgeon back. He can do that for you.”
“He will not understand how I heal myself,” Alec countered. “He won’t do what I need. I know you can do this. It will take just a second, and then I’ll be better, or at least better able to recover,” he corrected himself.
Caitlen closed her eyes and he saw her shudder. “I fainted the last time I pulled that arrow out of you,” she protested.
“This will be easier,” Alec assured her. “Go get a knife.”
She reached for one that sat on a nearby table.
“You need to slide the blade down along the side of the shaft, and open up the flesh so the arrow will come out,” Alec explained. “Then I’ll just heal the wound.”
Without comment, Caitlen put the point of the knife against the shaft, poking into the flesh. “I can’t do this, Alec,” she whispered.
Alec felt a sudden surging sense of his Spiritual energy well up in an overwhelming event. It was prophecy coming to him, and he felt a horrible feeling of sadness. He felt it coming, and he wanted to bottle the prophecy up, to prevent it from coming out. Without knowing the words, he knew they were about to foreordain some terrible event.
“You can do this to me Caitlen,” his voice sounded hollow in his own ears, as though it was issuing from a sepulcher. “You will cut me now, and when the times come, I shall cut you, and make your blood flow until every drop of it has left your body. Then you will cut me off, discard me, deny me.”
He felt relief in the release of the words, and he saw the horror on her face. “What was that, Alec? How could you say that? I know you will never kill me.”
“It is prophesized, and it will come true,” Alec told her. “We have to do this now, to make the rest of the prophecy come true. It has become necessary, Caitlen.” He placed his own hands on top of hers, still holding the knife handle, and plunged it down into his leg.
Chapter 14 – The Estate Hunt
Caitlen screamed, and Alec screamed with her as he felt his flesh slice apart. “This is horrible, horrible. Alec, don’t make this happen,” Caitlen was on the verge of hysteria, driven by the force of the prophetic words and the violent thrust. With one hand Alec held Caitlen’s as he twisted the knife, while the other hand grabbed the arrow’s wooden shaft and pulled it free. He hurled it aside, and pulled Caitlen’s hand and the bloody knife away from his leg.
Caitlen stood looking in horror at the blade as Alec dropped his hand to his leg, and willed his Healer energy to knit the flesh together again. His energy was weak, and the healing was slow, leaving a bright scar that disfigured his leg.
“I’ve worn my energies out. I may sleep for days while I recover,” he muttered.
“What is this Alec? Why did you make me do that? You know I’ll never hurt you,” Caitlen cried, but when she looked at Alec’s face she saw that he had passed out.
Alec awoke later, and found himself in a comfortable bed. The window showed that it was dark outside, while a candle inside a lantern gave dim illumination to his room. He felt physically refreshed, but still surprisingly weak. He took a deep breath, and felt the satisfying wholeness of his lungs, completely recovered from the arrow wound in the restaurant.
He swung his legs over the side of the bed. The scar from the wound on his leg was still vivid. He was wearing a very short pair of pants, he realized, and in the chilly room he felt cold. He lay back under the covers, and tried to piece together all that had happened.
The prophecy frightened him. He had felt the inherent inevitability of it as he spoke it. He was destined to shed her blood. And she was destined to reject him, afterwards. He was unsettled and unhappy, and he knew that Caitlen too would be distraught over the implications of what the future held for them.
He needed to talk to her, to tell her that he trusted her, and she could trust him. She would fret more over the promise of harm to him, he knew, and he needed to tell her that he knew neither of them would do unnecessary harm to the other; he needed to know that she would be comfortable with him. Somehow, hearing the two prophecies – that he would make her blood flow, and that she would discard him -- as he thought of them, had made him feel more attached to her, more devoted to her, rather than repelled from her. He thought of her now as his destiny, one that would override his service to young Bethany, his adopted sister, since it was a divinely appointed charge.
There was a robe on the back of the door, and he looked at it. He wasn’t terribly tired. He could put on the robe and go look for Caitlen, to have their reassuring talk. Weakly, he rolled out of bed and quickly put on the robe. He opened the door and saw that the hallway outside was dark, so he picked up the candle to take along with him. The hallway was large and ornate. His candle did not illuminate it all, and he began to pad barefooted down the hall to his right looking for some sign of life.
There were several closed doors, and beneath one of them he saw a soft glow. Alec stopped and knocked on the door, heard shuffling feet cross the floor, and then the door was opened by a young boy, long red hair falling over his shoulder. He looked to be eleven or twelve years old, Alec judged, and he thought of the children he had lived with in the orphanage in Frame.
The boy looked at him inquisitively. “I’m a guest here, and I just woke up,�
�� Alec told him. “I’m sorry to bother you, but I’m not sure where I am.”
“I’m an early riser too,” the boy told him. “I was just waiting for someone else to get up so I can go to the kitchen. Are you cousin Caitlen’s friend?” he asked with a significant look at him.
“I am,” Alec affirmed. “May I go to the kitchen with you?”
He abruptly closed the door, then re-opened it with his own candle. “I’ll show you the way.
“I heard you were here. They told me about you, but I didn’t get to see you,” the boy explained to Alec as they turned a corner. “My name is Gerlach; what’s your name?”
“My name is Alec,” the answer quickly came as they started to descend a staircase. “Is Caitlen your cousin?”
“She is. She told me you were her best friend, and that you took good care of her, but you got hurt,” Gerlach answered. “Here’s the kitchen,” he announced as they passed through a doorway into an aromatic room.
“Breakfast for two,” Gerlach told a cook.
“Please,” Alec impulsively whispered to Gerlach.
“What?” the boy asked.
“Say ‘please’ when you’re asking for something,” Alec informed him. “It’s good manners,” he winked at the servant.
“Please,” Gerlach politely added, making the woman smile ever so slightly.
The two of them sat at a small table inside the kitchen and began eating toast with jam, then bowls of porridge. Alec stopped at that, but Gerlach added bacon and eggs and fruit. “This is a very nice home,” Alec commented.
“My father is a viscount,” Gerlach explained. “I’ll be one too someday, not that I’m in a hurry.”
A door opened, and a couple entered the kitchen. They were clearly the rulers of the home, Alec could tell by the easy way they strode over to the table, greeting the kitchen help kindly. Alec stood as they approached.
“This is my father, Alec, and this is my mother,” Gerlach introduced.
“I am the Viscount Gottfried, and this is my wife Thressa. We are so pleased to have you as our guest, and apologize if Gerlach has bothered you this morning,” the boy’s father, a small, heavyset man said.
“Actually, I bothered him. I woke up and began looking around. I found his room, and we have been bonding over breakfast,” Alec explained. “But I’m most anxious to see Caitlen.”
“She’s probably still asleep,” Viscountess Thressa replied.
“I’m going to go for a ride around the estate, and down by the river this morning, if you’d like to join me, if you feel up to it. You seem remarkably fit this morning,” Gottfried said. “I like to hunt my own game sometimes,” he added. “Come along, and we’ll see everyone afterward.”
The offer intrigued Alec. “Yes, I’d like to join you, but I don’t think I have suitable clothing.”
“We’ll take care of that,” Gottfried said reassuringly, and a half hour later the two men were carrying bows and arrows into a snowy forested tract. “It’s a few miles to the river,” Gottfried explained as they rode on a level path. “There’s a beautiful view of the river valley and the mountains there. After that we’ll ride to a hot spring where the water never freezes over. A lot of game congregate there throughout the winter. And once we have something to prove our prowess as hunters, we’ll return home.”
They rode in silence along the winding track for an hour until they reached the river. “It’s a beautiful view,” Alec agreed. The mountains were glistening in their icy white mantles under the midday sun, with green patches of evergreens providing a hint of life that still existed above the dark waters of the river.
“Caitlen told us unbelievable stories about your assistance on the journey here from Vincennes,” Gottfried said. “From your accent, I can tell you’re a stranger in our land, as she told us.
“We support the restoration of the princess obviously,” he explained. “I have known Caitlen since she was a baby having her diapers changed, and I am fond of her, exceedingly fond. Why have you done so much for her? Are you in love with her? You have to know she can never consummate a relationship with you – it’s out of the question to even talk about it.”
“What does that mean?” Alec asked.
“She can’t marry you. She can’t have a public relationship with you,” Gottfried clarified.
“I have shed my blood for her. I believe in the rule of law, not in the rule of the strong over the weak. I have helped Caitlen so that she can help the princess return to the throne,” Alec protested. “I’ve treated her as a lady should be treated.”
Gottfried looked at him blankly for a moment. “Caitlen tells us stories that make you sound like one part invincible warrior, one part crafty trickster, one part loyal retinue, and one part wise sage. Do not toy with her heart; remember, she has other obligations. Treat her with respect, but don’t encourage any dreams of romance.
“She’s a plain girl, although I think her looks are improving. Don’t toy with her heart,” the man pleaded.
“You’ve done an impossible task, smuggling her this far away from the palace with the forces of the Conglomerate searching for you; you must be an amazing man. That’s all I wanted to tell you,” Gottfried wound up. “Thank you for listening to the heartfelt concerns of a doting cousin. Now let’s go have some fun.”
Alec considered the words he had heard. Gottfried clearly spoke from his heart, and spoke with affection for Caitlen. He’d remember Gottfried’s caution, especially since he had already steeled his heart to resist the potential infatuation he knew Caitlen threatened him with. Yet he’d done no more than have one kiss, and that had been play-acting. The prophecy’s words suggested they had a future together, one that promised to be stormy, not romantic, but together nonetheless. And there was Bethany back in the Dominion; the future he hoped would yet be his. He would not, however, cease to be Caitlen’s friend and protector.
They rode through the woods in a new direction, following a narrow game path, until Gottfried stopped and made a motion to Alec to stay silent. They dismounted and tied their horses to a tree, then carried their bows with them along the trail of game tracks that led to the spring. Ahead, Alec spotted a cloud of steam, and he smelled pungent odors.
Gottfried whispered in Alec’s ear. “You go right, and I’ll go left. Take the first shot you get, and if you hit anything – give a shout.”
They split up, and Alec cautiously crept to his right, slowly spiraling in towards the steam that rose from the hot spring. He saw a movement and stopped, notched an arrow and waited patiently. A large buck deer materialized from the shadows in the steam. Alec raised his bow and fired a shot, one that flew true and straight and struck the buck just behind the shoulder. The animal reared, took three plunging steps, and fell to the ground.
“Gottfried, I got one,” Alec called. He walked over to the animal’s carcass. It was a large one, he noted as Gottfried arrived within three minutes.
“Magnificent trophy!” Gottfried said, patting Alec on the back. “I’ll go bring the horses over; you stay here with the carcass.” He disappeared into the forest, and Alec looked idly around the his surroundings and at the edge of the spring. His eyes suddenly focused on a small plant growing among the hoof prints at the edge of the water.
It was drayton’s agrimonia, the sovereign remedy for virtually every illness Alec’s’ healing knowledge knew! He was astonished to see the rare plant, one he had never been able to use before. There was a whole patch of the agrimonia spread around the spring, and Alec realized there were crystals of various minerals growing as deposits laid down by the mineral waters. Alec began busily plucking plants and minerals, stuffing them in his pockets and his arrow quiver, oblivious to the world until he heard Gottfried and the horses stop at the deer carcass.
Together they slung a line over a tree branch, then raised the carcass and field dressed it in a half hour’s time. Once it was firmly attached to Alec’s horse, the two hunters began the ride back to the estate. The
y had spent most of the day out in the woods, and the sun was below the western mountains by the time the home was in sight. It was large enough to be called a castle, Alec thought to himself as they entered the stables, congratulated by the grooms and the cooks.
“Is Caitlen available?” Alec asked as soon as he was cleaned up and comfortably warmed by a hot bath. The sky outside was dark by the time he left his room to search for his companion.
“Wait until dinner,” Thressa answered. “Since your buck came in late, dinner will be served a little bit later than usual.
Nearly two hours later, Alec was led to the dining room by a servant, and seated at the table. Another servant brought in a steaming platter of steaks from the buck, followed by a variety of vegetables. A minute later Gottfried, Thressa and Gerlach arrived and sat down. The three bowed their heads in silence for a minute then looked at Alec and smiled.
“Where’s Caitlen?” Alec asked, suddenly feeling an overwhelming sense of anxiety.
“Alec, do you know how long you slept here?” Gottfried asked. “You were asleep for four days. Caitlen told us you might rest for a long time. She said we needed to keep you calm and rested for as long as possible, so that you could recover and be healthy.”
“Where is she?” he knew his face was growing pale; he could feel the blood draining away in panic.
“She didn’t want to put you in danger any more she said,” Gottfried continued. “She told us that you had almost died trying to save her, that the challenge of guarding her on this journey was too much for just one man.”
“Has she left already? How long ago?” Alec asked.
“She hired two guards and joined a strong merchant’s caravan that is traveling past Black Crag on its way to the lands of the western barbarians on the far side of the mountains. She left at dawn three days ago,” Gottfried explained at last.
Chapter 15 – Into the Mountains
Rescuing the Captive: The Ingenairii Series Page 17
