“I have given you the option. Do you refuse to concede? Do you want to suffer the same fate that the marquis received?” Alec asked. “If so, stand guard,” he warned, and raised the sword he still carried, the sword he had confiscated from one of the earlier soldiers he had faced in the square.
The two Ajacii spread apart, taking up separate positions as they drew their own swords with the astounding speed Alec knew they were capable of.
Alec was calling upon his Light power to the fullest level he could manage with his multiple streams of energy, straining to maintain the two invisibility shields that were protecting his followers. His Warrior powers would suffice, he was sure, but not one hundred percent sure.
The two Ajacii came at Alec at once, causing him to block one sword thrust with his own blade as he drew a dagger from his bandolier and barely deflected the other sword with his smaller weapon. The men immediately attacked again, and Alec knew he was going to have to change his plans as he jumped high in the air and flipped backwards to escape.
He signaled to the archers in the far alley, and a small flurry of arrows immediately launched skyward, then fell to the paving stones of the square, some striking the soldiers who stood in support of the Ajacii, astounded by the inexplicable appearance of the weapons.
One of the Ajacii took a fraction of a second to observe what was happening among his followers, and in that moment, Alec threw his dagger at his opponent, a perfect toss that the Ajax managed to barely block with his sword in a delayed reaction. The second Ajacii closed on Alec quickly and tied him up for several seconds in an intense fencing match that brought their blades into continual contact as each of them thrust and parried. The first Ajax began to approach the match, leading Alec to realize that he would have to focus more of his energy on his own battle.
Alec dropped the invisibility shield he maintained in front of the archers, so that the soldiers could see where their antagonists were, and the column began to advance towards them. A moment later Alec dropped his other invisibility shield in front of the second group of local militia, and signaled for them to advance and attack the undefended rear of the duke’s soldiers.
With that he dropped his Light and Spirit ingenaire powers, and focused all his energies on his Warrior abilities.
Bolstered, Alec flung three of his daggers in blindingly fast succession at the further antagonist as he continued to hold off the closer Ajax with his sword. Two of the knives reached the flesh of the approaching attacker and he fell to the ground with a cry of pain. Seconds later a noisy clash occurred in the square as the small mob of armed tradesmen fell upon the back of the column of soldiers, hacking with hatchets and knives and pipes to destroy the force that had preyed on them in recent months, unleashing all the frustration and hatred they had bottled up.
Alec paid no attention to the distracting occurrences as he focused on the Ajax he was now fighting one-to-one. He swung his sword with his full strength and disarmed his opponent, knocking his sword to the ground, then firmly placing a foot to hold it down as his own requisitioned sword point pressed against the man’s throat.
“Do you surrender?” Alec asked.
“No. Never. Go ahead and kill me,” the combatant said defiantly.
“I won’t do that,” Alec said, and instead he dropped his Warrior energies and tapped the Air ingenaire abilities, then wove a curtain of hard-pressing air all around the Ajax, creating an invisible prison that held the man in place as Alec turned and ran to help his followers in their faltering battle against the trained soldiers.
There were bodies on the ground, archers running to join the battle, and a generally bloody and chaotic scene occupying the center of the square as Alec arrived, and amid the confusion his men were suffering losses. Alec plunged into the battle, a tremendous fighter even without his ingenaire powers engaged. More importantly, the soldiers feared him, and shied away from him. Several turned and fled from the square as they recognized that the man who had battled the Ajacii had joined their skirmish, while a few others surrendered immediately, and yet others continued to try to fight. A few minutes later the battle was over, with Alec and his followers the bloody victors.
Alec split his energy stream into three portions again, using Spirit powers to insulate his continuing Air energy usage, which still held his captive Ajacii, from his new need to call upon his Healer energy. He hurried among the bodies on the ground, restoring health to those who were not already dead, both his own followers and the duke’s soldiers alike, until he came to the body of the man he had healed earlier in the day. The stocky man was dead beyond resuscitation, causing Alec to pause for a moment, thinking about how the man had nearly lost his life the first time trying to defend his daughter, and then used his restored life to try to help Alec.
He rose and went to two more bodies that he was able to treat, then stood, his healing work complete, and saw the local residents were creeping out of the doorways and hiding places, coming to examine the results of the battle. “You,” he pointed to a pair of his erstwhile supporters, “protect the dead here, gather them all in one place. Don’t let anyone abuse the dead soldiers or loot any of the bodies. Make sure they’re all treated with respect.”
Among the approaching citizens Alec recognized the young red-headed girl he had rescued at the start of the day’s battles, and he momentarily sighed. He looked over at the captive Ajax, still standing captive in his invisible cage, then walked over to greet the girl.
“Your father called you Carla, didn’t he?” Alec asked, thinking that the name was an exotic one, a name he’d never heard before.
She nodded brief affirmation before she spoke. “Is he alright?”
Alec allowed his Spirit energy to contact the girl, and he carefully extended his hand to reach out and take hers, so that he could extend comfort and condolences to her. “Your father fought bravely today to help me; I needed his help. But he did not survive the battle with the soldiers. His body is over there, and will be treated respectfully.”
Carla broke the contact with Alec and ran to the spot where the bodies were laid, then knelt by her father, tears dropping softly. “Which soldier killed him?” she asked when Alec arrived to stand silently behind her. “Will you kill him?”
“We don’t know which one it was. In a battle it’s difficult to point at one man and say he is the one,” Alec answered.
“Why don’t you kill them all? Kill all the soldiers, so that we know the killer is dead!” Carla asked with a fierce agony in her voice.
“I don’t want to make another girl mourn the death of her father as well,” Alec answered, thinking already about his need to take his next step. He needed to carry on with his approach to the palace, as much as he wanted to comfort the girl. “Is your mother in town? Can you get someone to help you claim and treat your father?”
The girl did not look up at him, and her hair had shifted to fall over her ear, blocking her face from his view. “I’ll go get mother and the neighbors. We’ll take him from here.”
“When I’m in the palace in a couple of days and control the city, please come see me, to let me know that your family is doing alright,” Alec told her. He reached down and let a gentle stream of Spiritual energy run through him and into her, knowing that it would do little good at a time of such deep pain.
He removed his hand from the top of her head and walked away, to confront the captured soldiers. “You can choose to support me as the real Duke of Valeriane, or you can choose not to, and suffer any consequences,” he told them as he walked among them. He was still maintaining his Air energies to hold the Ajax in place, while he also held his Spiritual energies, and he walked among the captive soldiers now, feeling the reactions they were experiencing, judging which he could accept as followers of his own, and which would have to be rejected.
“Is there a place we can use as a prison, to hold our captives?” he asked one of the citizens who had fought for him.
“There’s Arley’s locker
,” the man replied after a moment of hesitant thought.
“Take those three and him,” Alec motioned towards the soldiers he wouldn’t trust to be faithful, “And put a guard over them to keep them out of trouble,” then he watched as the protesting men in uniform were escorted out of the square.
“You,” he addressed those who remained, both captive soldiers and citizen militia, “are my army.
“This afternoon, we will go to the gates of the palace and enter it, so that we can begin to restore the rulership of this city to the proper principles that the people here deserve,” Alec spoke loudly, knowing that his words were a political speech to the population of the city at large, words that would be repeated widely. He had hoped to carry out his efforts in a quieter manner, but the second battle in the square, with the multiple supporters and participants, had already put an end to that plan.
“Take me with you!” a voice called from the crowd.
Alec looked to his right, where the voice came from, and groaned in trepidation. It was the redheaded girl, the one who had lost her father, already returning to the square. She would claim the right of retribution, and the crowd would support her, and Alec would have the complication of another person to watch out for while trying to achieve his conquest of the city as bloodlessly as possible.
“You come talk to me as we walk,” he replied, letting her approach him. He needed to find a way to send her home, and he needed to start addressing other actions. He planned to try to do both simultaneously. Alec directed his small band of soldiers to await him at the entrance to the market, then began to walk towards the captive Ajax, a solitary figure who was given a wide berth by everyone else who crossed the market square.
“I am going to take you back to the palace,” Alec told the still defiant man. “Do you plan to go as my ally or my opponent?”
“I am loyal to the Duke, not to some strange pretender. You might as well kill me now, because I will fight you the moment you release me from this,” he silently nodded his head around him at the unseen flows of air that held him in place.
Carla stood silently behind Alec, listening.
“So you’ve taken a local girl to be your plaything have you?” the Ajax asked, looking at her. “I’ll remember her after you are dead.”
“I’m following him of my own desire, because I want justice against the soldiers who killed my father,” the girl said fiercely.
“She is what she said,” Alec also answered. “She wants vengeance, and that’s the only reason she’s following me. Now, let’s go to the palace,” he directed, and he deftly altered the air currents so that the Ajax rose inches off the ground, and then was smoothly blown forward at a walking pace. Alec looked at the incredulous expression on the man’s face, and gave a satisfied smile, then walked towards his waiting army, a couple of score in number, which waited impatiently.
“In two hours’ time, I want you to leave this place and go to the eastern gate of the palace. If I’ve done my part, the gates should open and you will be able to enter and we’ll proceed with plans from there,” he instructed. “Wait patiently and don’t go early,” he warned, then began to walk away, heading towards another palace gate with his own plans for entering the fortress.
“Now,” he turned to the girl beside him. “I want you to go home and comfort your mother, and help her cope with the loss of your father.”
“I have already seen my mother, and she told me to go take vengeance on dad’s killer. She gave me this,” the girl pulled a long-bladed knife from the waistband of her dress.
“Carla,” Alec stopped walking and turned to the girl, grabbing both her shoulders firmly in his grasp. Just as he prepared to tell her of the futility of seeking solace in revenge, and to warn her that she would find no comfort in killing someone else, there flashed in his mind the memory of the day many centuries prior, when he had confronted Elgin, the son of the Duke of Goldenfields, and had slain Elgin in revenge for the young nobleman’s attacks on Noranda and the Duke.
He would be a hypocrite to tell her not to pursue the same path he had pursued, he realized. She was staring at him, her eyes large and round, reacting with surprise to the emotions that crossed his face graphically as his memories betrayed him. “What is it, my Duke?” she asked.
“Don’t kill anyone without my permission,” he responded lamely. “Look at him,” Alec released the girl and gestured towards the captive Ajax that floated nearby. “I would rather spare his life than kill him, and hope for some future good. I don’t want any more blood on my hands than necessary in this quest.”
“I will do as you command, for now,” the girl casually agreed, tucking the knife back in her waist band, satisfied that she was going to be able to follow Alec and achieve her vengeance at a later time.
She suddenly felt multiple, small streams of air jetting against her body in numerous locations, pressing her dress flat against her flesh, binding her arms immovably against her sides, and lifting her feet off the ground. She looked in horror at Alec. “What is happening? What have I done?” she cried, realizing that she was caught in the same cage that held Alec’s other prisoner.
He reached casually over and removed the knife from her waist band, then released her abruptly, so that her feet landed hard on the ground and her knees gave way slightly. She felt the landing jar up her backbone as her hair flounced on her shoulders.
Alec held the knife up before her. “You will obey me. Do you pledge to follow my direction?” he spoke intently.
Carla felt her soul being constrained. “I will follow your orders faithfully,” she said in a choking voice.
Alec took her knife and held it for her to see, then slit it across his thumb, leaving a red sheen of his blood on the edge of the blade.
“Hold out your hand,” Alec ordered. He grabbed her trembling hand in his, then deliberately ran the blade of her knife across her thumb, opening a slice than bled as well, coating his bloody layer on the blade with one of her blood.
“Now we are bonded, faithful to each other. You will obey me,” Alec told her, then ran his thumb along the knife again, and as the edge touched his thumb, the red stain turned to a golden sheen on the knife. His hand that held hers rigidly open for the ceremony flipped over to the top of her open palm, momentarily blocking her view, and when he took it away, the cut on her thumb was healed, and the pain was gone.
“Here, take this,” he told her, holding the knife out, and as she took it she saw that his thumb was healed as well.
“These things you’re doing; the powers you have. You truly are the Duke Alec, aren’t you?” Alec almost jumped as a nearby voice spoke, interrupting his focus on the ceremony he had just performed with the young girl. He didn’t know why he had felt compelled to create the bond between the two of them; he had intended only to prevent her from getting herself killed by trying to get in a knife fight. He looked around, and realized that it was his captive Ajax speaking.
“You’re the one who defeated Hellmann in the mountains, the one who fought the demons in Vincennes,” the Ajax added.
“I did those things a long time ago,” Alec confirmed.
“You can release me; I won’t fight against you any longer,” the Ajax told him. “You may rightfully claim the seat in the ducal palace. I will not fight for you, since I came to the city on behalf of the new duke, but I will not fight against you. You have my word that if you release me, I will return to Valer and tell the story that you are alive and are retaking Valeriane as your own.”
Alec gently lowered the man so that his feet were on the ground, then released the airtight bonds, trusting in the honor of the Ajax. The man immediately went to one knee, then stood. Alec released his hold on his ingenaire energies as the man silently turned and walked away, breaking through the ring of observers who had formed around the dramatic tableau in the street, then he disappeared from sight.
Alec sagged with weariness, feeling the effects of having strained himself to use so much ingena
ire energy in so many complex fashions. What would Rubicon tell him now, Alec wondered, remembering the master Warrior he had been apprenticed to so long ago in Oyster Bay.
“Are you alright, my lord?” Carla asked him with concern.
“I’m tired, Carla. But we’ve got to get some things done in a hurry, so we need to move forward,” he told her as he looked around as the people watching them. “Let’s move on.”
As they walked the observers gave them a murmuring cheer, then dispatched, except for a few, mostly small boys, who followed them in hopes of seeing some next act of great deeds.
“When we turn this next corner, you will need to walk very close to me,” Alec instructed his follower.
Without knowing why, the girl crowded up against him as commanded, and Alec used his Light powers to bend an invisibility space around the two of them so that they disappeared from sight. He heard a few gasps from behind them, but kept walking resolutely. “Right now, we are invisible,” Alec whispered to Carla. “When we get to the small gate, we are going to sneak into the palace invisibly. Once we are in there, we are going to go to the dungeon and set the steward free,” he said.
“What will we do then?” the girl asked.
“Then we need to get to the gate and let the rest of our supporters into the palace,” Alec answered, as he stopped to look at the southern gate in the palace walls, a less active entry than the other, more prominent gates to the palace grounds. There were sharp-eyed guards on either side of the open gate, a gate too narrow for a wagon to enter, meaning that Alec and Carla would have to walk within very few feet of the guards as they entered, vulnerable to being given away by a sneeze or cough or even a scuffed footstep.
Alec warned Carla of the need for absolute silence and they slowly crept towards and through the gate, ignoring the anxiety that he felt as the close-by guards appeared to stare directly at them. Several steps inside the palace walls Alec reached out and took Carla’s shoulder, then led her into a doorway and through a deserted hallway. “We’ll cross the garden and enter another building, then go down into the dungeon cells below there,” he whispered softly, then led her along the way, pausing often in the garden as strolling members of the court intersected their path.
The Caravan Road Page 6
