A big part of the question was really a question of where would Andi want to go. If the link between them remained as strong as it currently was, he considered physical separation to be an unlikely fate; the two of them would have to decide together where they went and what they sought. And that created all kinds of implications. What if they found that despite all they shared, they weren’t compatible, or disagreed vehemently about something, or everything? Was there any way to reconcile an irreconcilable difference between two people who perhaps could not go separate ways?
Andi started to snore. Alec pulled the plug to allow the water in the tub to drain away, then he lifted her with his arms, and carried her back to the bed, not even awakening her as she continued to recover from her ingenaire emergence. His hands thrilled at the touch of her flesh, and he sighed as he covered her with the blankets, then stood over her and looked down at her for a long time.
He was tired, but he was more hungry than tired, he decided. After one last look at Andi, he left the room and went back downstairs to sit at a quiet table and eat a simple meal of potatoes and lamb stew, with a glass of water. He sat next to a window and looked out at the lights along the streets. The crowds were considerably diminished as the tourists all turned in for the evening, and Alec was lost in thought as he mechanically ate his stew.
“Is your wife alright?” he looked up at the questioner, and saw that it was the hostess.
“Yes, thank you,” Alec answered. “We had a long day and she had a small spill, so she was ready to sleep.”
“It was so sweet to see you carry her up the stairs like that,” the girl commented. “May I sit and join you? There won’t be anyone else arrive tonight, and it’s always pleasant to meet new people.”
“How long have you been married?” she asked.
“Well,” Alec shook his head slightly. “We’re not married yet.”
“Are you Old Ones? I know they have their own ways about such things, although you don’t exactly seem like Old Ones,” the girl said. “But they seem to be okay doing those things.”
“No, we’re not Old Ones,” Alec answered, thinking of Andi, and recollecting the feel of her body as he had massaged her body. “We’re just travelers. We came from the far side of the mountains far east of Oolitan.”
He looked at the girl’s pretty face, then looked out the window again.
“Will your companion be joining you?” she asked.
Alec looked at her again. “She’s out. She had a bath and went to bed. She may be snoring by the time I get back up there.” And if she isn’t, I may not be able to resist her, he added to himself.
He glanced out the window again, and saw a group of people riding horses around the palace. The group was large, probably fifteen or sixteen in size. There were a pair of men at the front, Alec could see by the brilliant illumination of the city buildings, and a pair in the back, with virtually all women in between, and men as outriders on the flanks, an odd arrangement, he thought.
“If your companion is too tired to drink a bottle of wine with you, I have energy,” the hostess told him boldly.
Alec looked away from the window to search the girl’s face. And then his head swiveled back to the window, his brain telling him that one of the girls on the horses outside was Kriste.
He stood abruptly. His energies were low after a full day of exercising his powers during the trip, but the opportunity to rescue the girl had presented itself. “You stay here,” he told the hostess, then sprang over the table and past her. He raced out of the building and back to the gate, where the guards still stood on duty.
“May I borrow your sword?” Alec asked one.
“No sir,” the guard gave Alec a puzzled look.
Without further comment Alec ran past the guards and out into the street. The last of the cavalcade of the ingenairii were riding around a corner, and Alec sprinted in pursuit of them.
He split his energy three ways, so that he could exercise his Warrior energy as well as his Light energy, although all were weakened by the shared abilities and his exhaustion. Invisibly, he jogged up along the line of girls. All of them had their heels tied to their stirrups, and their hands tied to their saddles; they were all captives apparently, a number of girls kidnapped by this group for no explicable reason.
He continued until he was near the front; Kriste was directly behind the leader, a complication he would have to deal with. In addition to the two in front and two in back, there were two who rode up and down the line continually.
He placed his hand upon her leg. Kriste, don’t say anything, he sent a mental message to her.
“Do you hear something?” one of the guards asked the other in a heavy accent. He craned his head and looked behind him, looking down each side of the row of captives. “It sounds like there’s someone walking right next to us.”
The other guard looked backwards, as Alec tried to lighten his step.
Kriste, I am touching your left leg, and my mind is talking to your mind. This is Alec, the healer from Ridgeclimb. I’ve come to try to set you free.
If you understand what I’m saying, give one little kick with your leg, he instructed her.
She flicked her ankle momentarily.
Alec? her mind called to him.
I heard you Kriste, he answered.
Help me please. These men are going to use all of us girls to breed more ingenairii like themselves, she told him.
The notion boggled Alec’s mind; it made no sense. He set it aside; he needed to set her free first. I need a knife to cut these ropes. Is there one on your saddle?
No, they keep all the weapons. Why can’t I see you? Kriste asked.
I have powers, just as these men have great powers. One of my abilities is the ability to become invisible, he explained.
Stay invisible Alec, these men are ferocious. If they find you they will slay you, Kriste warned.
The guard who had heard Alec’s footsteps was still suspicious, and he kept looking backwards. One of the roving guards was riding up towards the front of the group on Alec’s side, and Alec saw a knife handle sticking out of the man’s belt.
I’m going to try to get a knife, stay calm, and don’t give anything away, he warned. I’ll be back.
He slipped beside the guard, and paced along next to the man’s horse as the ingenaire rode slowly back towards the rear of the line. The horse sensed Alec, and was uneasy, skittering sideways from time to time and trying to turn its head to see him.
Cautiously, Alec reached up towards the knife handle, and clasped it between two fingers, tugging gently to free it from the belt scabbard.
They reached the end of the line, and Alec let go of the knife as they turned and began to move back towards the front again.
Alec reached up again, and began to tug on the knife, growing desperate as they approached the front of the line again. He focused all his attention exclusively on his theft of the knife, and so was caught unaware when they passed through a shallow puddle in the road.
His foot slapped down on the water with a sound different from any of the horses’ hooves. He instantly pulled his hand away from the knife and skipped high into the air, landing back on dry pavement.
“There, a wet footprint,” Alec heard one of the guards shout out. Two of them were down on the ground already approaching his location. He crouched low to the ground and held still.
“I told you I heard someone,” one guard said.
“I didn’t see anything. I still don’t,” the other voice said.
The two men were within five feet of him, on either side of him. Each with a sword and a knife, while he remained unarmed.
Alec decided to gamble; he dropped his Light energies, becoming visible to the two Warriors who each moved instantly towards him, swinging weapons. He grasped his Air energies immediately and projected himself high into the air, drawing shouts from the other ingenairii and their captives alike.
Below him the two Warriors swung their blad
es at the spot where Alec had been, and sliced each other across the torso, eliciting moans of pain from each as they both fell to one knee.
Alec landed lightly on his feet. He no longer needed any of his powers but his Warrior energies he concluded, dropping the others and drawing more intensely on his capacity to fight and handle weapons. He dodged over to one of the horses with an empty saddle and grabbed a knife from the saddle, while another ingenaire slid down off his horse and came to face Alec with a sword drawn.
“Not much of a match is it, a man with a knife against an ingenaire with a sword?” the Warrior asked him. “Even if you do have some interesting habits. I wish I had time to take you captive and tie you up here with all these pretty little girls, so we could question you later. But since you’ve already caused these two blockheads to get hurt, I really don’t have the time or the inclination to do anything but cut you in half,” he shouted the last words and swung his sword in a fast, strong sweep towards Alec.
Alec flexibly bent himself backwards, and rolled in a backflip that gave him the opportunity to slice his knife across the arm of his assailant as the man tried to reverse his cut through empty air.
Several girls cheered, and the man looked astonished.
“Seinie, Kramer, get over here,” he bellowed.
The group had bunched up in the street, and two more Warriors dismounted, coming over to circle around Alec, their swords drawn.
“Girls, kick your horses and go! Ride for freedom!” Alec shouted.
A second later he didn’t have time to see if any had paid attention to him as two of the ingenairii closed in and swung swords at him.
“Bezel, why do you need back-up to fight a man with a knife?” the third one in the contest asked.
Alec dropped flat on the ground, below the two swords that tried to slice him, then he kicked his foot high and fast, making contact with one ingenaire’s hand and sending his sword twirling up into the air. He rolled over on his stomach, then rolled forward into the legs of the man who still held his sword, knocking him backwards, and allowing Alec to grab the loose, falling sword in the air as it fell back to the ground.
“Mother in heaven! What are you?” asked the man who’d just been doubting the need for extra fighters in the match.
Alec looked over and saw that several of the girls had heeded his advice, and were fleeing down the road. The one ingenaire still on horseback was struggling to corral and keep approximately a dozen still under control. With a flick of his hand he let his knife fly free, striking the horseman in his shoulder and toppling him from his saddle.
“Let the girls go,” Alec growled, spinning around, holding his sword competently and watching the three Warriors who surrounded him. “Get on your horses and leave the Twenty Cities and go back to where ever you came from. Take no more captives – just go.”
“You are an interesting case. More and more so,” said the man who had spoken earlier, Bezel. He was fully focused on Alec now, using his Warrior powers fully and with the utmost attention as he engaged Alec in an exchange of sword thrusts and cuts that blurred faster than most people could see. Alec matched him strike for strike, then went on the offensive. He’d not faced such a swordsman since he’d fought the Ajacii on the other side of the mountains, and he was tired. He knew he had to achieve success quickly, before his energies faded.
He felt a sudden pain in his leg and collapsed to one knee, as one of the other Warriors threw a knife that caught him in the hamstring.
Alec swiveled his head, looking for other threats, while keeping Bezel at bay. “Kramer, you get the other three back up on their horses, and Seinie, you go start rounding up the girls who got away,” Bezel ordered, apparently the leader of the group.
Alec held his sword up, while he released his Warrior energies and grasped his Healer powers, then pulled the knife from his leg and applied enough of his energy to allow him to stand again. He switched back to Warrior energies, then called out. “Hey Kramer, don’t forget this!” and let the dagger he had just pulled from his leg fly at the man, narrowly missing the chance to do damage as Kramer bent backwards, warned by Alec’s taunt, so that the knife only sliced the shirt in the front of his chest as it flew by.
“What in the world are you?” Bezel said incredulously, and sprang another fierce attack at Alec. They moved back and forth across the empty street, and Alec heard the sound of footsteps approaching. Innocent people were moving into danger he could tell; he needed to stop this before others got hurt.
“Leave now, and I won’t pursue you any further,” Alec told Bezel as they came face to face in their battle. Bezel pushed away and flicked his sword out, pinking Alec’s chin as he did. Suddenly four bows fired at once, and three arrows struck Alec, one in the stomach, one in his thigh, and one in his shoulder. He dropped his sword, and heard a scream, then fell to his knees.
“Let’s round up the girls,” Bezel said. “He’s a dead man.
“Good bye, dead man. You were a worthy opponent,” Bezel held his sword in a salute, then leapt into his saddle and rode off with the others, in pursuit of the girls Alec had tried to set free.
Alec closed his eyes, and toppled backwards. He could taste blood in his mouth already.
He felt something, something trying to urge him to live.
Don’t you die on me now! You owe me a night, he heard Andi say in his mind.
There were hands on his body, and a number of voices around him. He opened his eyes momentarily and saw Andi kneeling above him, wearing only a sheet from their bed, and next to her was the hostess from the restaurant. Two guards from the guest palace gate were with them as well.
“He’s already a dead man, miss, look at him,” one of the guards said.
Give me your hand, Alec spoke to Andi, and he felt her fingers grasp his.
Pull the arrow out of my stomach, he told her.
He screamed as she did, then heard her say, Oh heavens Alec, there’s so much blood.
“What did you do?” the hostess screamed.
Place your free hand on my stomach, Alec told Andi, holding tightly to the hand she had given him.
Oh Alec, it’s so much pain, Andi began to cry.
Alec reached inside himself, and he reached within Andi as well, then drew all the healing energy he could find, and released it through Andi into his stomach, stopping the flow of blood, healing the ripped and torn organs, and repairing the muscle and skin the arrow had pierced.
He had done enough to stay alive, he knew, or maybe Andi knew. He relaxed the grip he had on her hand, then passed out.
Chapter 23 – Recovery for Alec
Alec felt Andi stir in the bed beside him.
Rest, Alec, rest, she lazily told him.
His body hurt. His shoulder hurt and his thigh hurt. His chin hurt. He felt a general malaise throughout his body and a headache as well.
He didn’t even open his eyes, as he raised his left hand and laid in on his right shoulder, then released a thin stream of Healing energy. He transferred his hand to his thigh, and healed it as well, then pinched his chin and removed the injury there.
He sighed in relief, then opened his eyes. He was lying in the bed on the third floor of the palace in Yangchoo. He turned his head and saw Andi lying next to him, looking haggard and worn, her eyes open and watching him carefully.
He reached out and placed his hand on her head, examining her with his Healer vision. She was recovering from the shock of receiving her mark, but her body was now suffering from his demanding use of her powers. Alec released a gentle stream of energy into her, taking away as much pain as he could. He finished, and removed his hand from her.
She continued to stare at him, then moved her body closer, resting it against his and placed her arms up over his chest, as she snuggled her head down onto his shoulder. “I feel much better, thank you,” she said softly.
Alec embraced her, and closed his eyes, falling into a state of half-sleep again.
He woke again an
hour later, and Andi was in the bathroom humming a tune.
You should take a bath, my lord, she told him.
He slowly sat up in bed, and padded into the bathroom with her, starting the water flowing into the tub.
“This is marvelously convenient,” he said as he stared, mesmerized by the water.
He sank down into the water and closed his eyes.
Several minutes later he raised up and scrubbed himself clean, then got out of the tub and pulled on clothes. Andi was sitting in a padded chair, looking out the window at the daylight scene in the streets below.
“How do you feel?” he asked her.
“It’s nice of you to ask that, when I know you really want to know about everything else that’s been happening,” she replied with a smile.
“I feel better than I’ve felt since we arrived here. You healing yourself made me feel quite a bit better, and the healing energy you gave me in bed took away almost my entire headache. But I’m hungry now, and it’s past lunch time,” she told him.
“Shall we go downstairs and get something to eat?” Alec suggested.
“We should. There’s a lot of news you’ll want to catch up on,” Andi rose gracefully from the chair, and together they went downstairs.
“Your little friend works the night shift, as I imagine you’ve figured out,” Andi took a dig as they walked past a man at the desk and sat at a table in the dining room.
“How long have I been resting?” Alec asked.
“About a day and a half,” Andi replied. “Do you want me to tell you everything, or do you want me to answer your questions piecemeal?”
A waiter brought them two plates of cold chicken, and they began to eat as they talked.
“I think you should tell me everything,” Alec answered.
“Your adventure the other night began when you left me resting in bed,” Andi began.
“Snoring I think,” Alec added.
“Then you came down here and started flirting with the hostess,” she went on.
“I did not flirt with her,” Alec interjected.
“I know what my body was telling me about the way your body was reacting while I was trying to sleep,” Andi replied.
The Caravan Road Page 34
