The Lifesaving Power: Goldenfields and Stronghold

by Jeffrey Quyle

  “What shall I do now, sir?” Alec asked politely. He had no desire to make the captain think he would undermine the chain of command on the ship. He’d learned in the Duke’s Guard the importance of following orders and relying on all members of the command to follow as well.

  “Go help cast off, then take position with the watchman in the bow of the ship and keep an eye on what he does,” the captain seemed slightly mollified by Alec’s quick acquiescence.

  Alec took his station, and watched as the gap between the ship and the dock began to grow, and felt the current take control of the ship’s movement. Once they left shore, Alec stayed out of the way, and watched that afternoon as the debris of the river floated along in the water with the Current Rider. Occasionally, larger pieces of debris were shoved away from the craft with long poles that Alec and the watchman wielded. Alec listened and watched and paid attention to learn what the job involved.

  A day and a half later, the ship pulled into the dock at Three Forks as night fell. “The captain says we’ll leave here at sunrise if the breeze holds, and work our way upriver during daylight sailing,” a crewmember told him. Alec understood the implication that sailing upriver in the dark exposed them to greater risk of piracy, when his skills would be expected to protect the ship, its crew and cargo.

  Alec left the ship briefly during its stop at Three Forks to shop for more horse fodder. The next morning the breezes were favorable, and with the sails hoisted, the Current Rider began to travel slowly westward against the current. Alec had been up this route once before, many months past, riding on land in a carnival caravan, but had never seen the riverscape in this region. There were many homes and small villages along the river, but Alec knew there were no large cities on the Carmen River between e Forks and Stronghold.

  The journey up to Stronghold usually took four weeks, Parlton told Alec. After one week they passed the boundary of lands that were nominally under the control of Three Forks, and entered a stretch of river lands that were unsettled and under no allegiance to any particular city. At that point Alec knew that he was expected to earn his keep as a guard. There was one other man on board who was a long-practiced guard for river-shipping, a man the Current Rider had picked up in Three Forks. The captain had spoken not a word to Alec during the trip, pointedly ignoring him at times, but spoke with the older guard, who now set hours and gave advice to Alec.

  Alec took the shift from dusk to midnight, staying awake, walking the perimeter of the deck, watching the dark shores and the water for any glimmer of light and listening for any inexplicable sound that might disclose an aggressive move from another boat on the water. Many nights in these less-traveled waters the ship anchored close to shore, and at times when no breeze could push them against the current, they also sat stationary as a potentially easy target.

  There came a stretch of three idle days when the Current Rider sat at one stream’s mouth while no breeze carried them forward, and many of the men traveled to a small village nearby to visit the tavern. The second night there was a boatload of men whose oars splashed noisily as they approached the ship with a lantern on the prow of their boat. Alec looked closely as they came aboard, making sure that all were faces he recognized as members of the crew.

  After the third day standing still the breeze returned and the ship resumed its eastern voyage towards Stronghold. After two more weeks, they entered the territory of that city, and made good time thereafter carrying their goods towards the empty Millershome docks.

  Chapter 3 – Messages

  Alec’s letters, left in Redwater, departed from the bank two days after he did, when a bank courier began the process of carrying material off to the other bank branches in far-flung cities.

  At the same time in Goldenfields, many conversations were occurring simultaneously as the residents of that city still celebrated and reacted to the recent news that the Oyster Bay regime had been restored, and that a seemingly legitimate new leadership had taken command of the city.

  In the house on Baker Street, where a crowd of many ingenairii still lived, Bethany was listening to the heated debate about Aristotle’s invitation for them all to return to a safer, honorable Ingenairii Hill. All present, over two dozen, were clearly delighted by the re-ascension of Aristotleleadership, and the demise of the coup leaders. They all loved Ingenairii Hill, and had been ashamed of how it had been misused and mistreated. And they all mourned the loss of so many friends who had been killed in the power struggles on the Hill.

  But many of this group, a coalition of young and dynamic individuals who had each chosen to stay in Goldenfields during the last, false reconciliation, had grown committed to staying and fighting for the Duke and his Guard in the battle with the lacertii. A number of them now rode horses with the cavalry, while others swung blades when they weren’t using their ingenairii abilities to carry out productive duties for the Duke.

  Merle, the Duke’s ingenairii advisor, had left the palace to come to the Baker Street home, and Bethany felt sorry for the double loyalty that was clearly weighing on him. Merle was friend to both Aristotle and the Duke of Goldenfields, both of whom wanted these ingenairii. Merle was attempting to impartially lead the group in discussion on what was right.

  “Of course we should all go back,” Allisma, Bethany’s water friend was saying. “We can help rebuild the Hill more quickly, and make it an ally for the Duke. A whole and unified Hill can do more good for Goldenfields that a few here and a few there.”

  For Bethany, the whole conversation was pointless, because she had already made up her mind. She’d known what she would do from the first moments of hearing the whole story about the radical change in fortunes at Oyster Bay.

  When she’d fled to Goldenfields as a refuge from the first wave of violence in Oyster Bay, she’d come for safety, and especially because Goldenfields was where Alec was. She’d gone on to Bondell because he had asked her to, and she’d returned to Goldenfields without him because he’d asked her to. She hadn’t seen him since. He hadn’t ever told her he loved her, though she had told him the truth that her heart felt love for him. Alec had disappeared for many months, then apparently reappeared in Bondell when everyone thought he was dead. After which, he’d disappeared again.

  Now she had learned that he had turned up again in Oyster Bay of all places, changed everything there for the better, but apparently blown himself up at the end of his adventure. She had always thought he felt genuine affection for her, but never the kind of devoted love that she had felt for him. He was gone now for good, permanently gone. She’d thought that once before, but he’d reappeared. Her hopes had risen, but then steadily fallen when she received no word from him.

  Without Alec to wait for, and without any acknowledgement of love on his part even if he was alive, Bethany was ready to leave Goldenfields. If she got back to Oyster Bay, she could restart her life among the memories and places she had known before Alec arrived.

  “I’ve learned a lot about how to work with the Duke’s Guard, and I want to support the Guard and the Duke,” Appel spoke up next. He was an air ingenaire, and a close friend of Alec’s. More importantly these days, he was the paramour of Cassie, Alec’s healer protégé. Cassie had told Bethany plainly that she had no intentions of returning to Oyster Bay, where her home fishing village had ignored and abandoned her. She felt at home in Alec’s healer shop, she was gaining confidence in her emerging healer skills, and her personality was growing strong enough to make a major decision about her own life, such as this. Appel would stay in Goldenfields to be with Cassie and to work with the Guard cavalry.

  Merle sat serenely in front of the room as various comments were made by many of those in attendance. He glanced at Bethany, and to her it felt as though he read her mind while their eyes were briefly locked. “There will be no consensus here among us tonight -- that is the first thing that is evident to me,” he began as the room fell silent to listen to him. “And there is no reason to expect anyone to change their opi
nion. You all have proper values to support your personal decisions, and I respect that.

  “I will remain here in Goldenfields as is my duty, even though a large part of my heart wants to travel to Oyster Bay. Appel, I know you will remain here as well,” the respected senior ingenaire continued. “And a couple of others as well, which is the right thing for them. The rest of you plan to go back to Oyster Bay, and I am pleased for all of you. I will arrange for a Millershome ship to carry you home. Come by my quarters in the next two days to confirm that you plan to return, and we’ll arrange a berth for you.”

  With that, Merle stood up and started walking towards the door. Bethany also stood, and edged through the crowd, reaching Merle as he stepped out into the street. “I’ll go back to Oyster Bay, Merle,” she said as she closed the door behind her.

  “I knew you would, child,” he said gently, patting her shoulder. “When you return, you will be just as sad as you are here, but you will find other diversions to help you pay less attention to your broken heart.”

  Bethany looked at him, and asked him the question she had never asked anyone else during all the comforting and consoling she had received. “Why didn’t he love me? Why couldn’t he see how much I loved him? I could have made him happy,” she felt her voice crack.

  Merle continued to pat her shoulder. “Don’t give up on Alec; perhaps you will still find out that he really does love you, but never knew how to say it.

  “Don’t look at me like that,” he continued. “We both know Alec is an extraordinary person. I know the story we’ve been told is that he vanished in an explosion, but I don’t believe he perished. He has too much of his special history to live, and I believe he will spend it with someone who will be his partner, perhaps with you. He really does care about you, even if he doesn’t know how to tell you,” Merle finished after a slight pause.

  Three days later Bethany stood on the Millershome dock, hugging Cassie ferociously. “I will write you, and come back to visit you someday,” Bethany told her friend. “I love you,” she added as they broke their clinch. “Appel, take good care of her or else,” Bethany mock-threatened.

  “Or else what?” Appel replied with a grin, moments before a drenching wave of water fell out of the sky and left his hair and shirt dripping.

  “Or else that, for a start,” Bethany said simply.

  “He’ll take good care of me; he’ll take care of both of us. He’s asked me to marry him!” Cassie revealed. “I wasn’t supposed to tell anyone yet, but I want you to know.”

  “Oh Cassie!” Bethany gushed. “Why didn’t you tell me before? I would have stayed here for you!”

  “I know you would have stayed, and you would have been the best friend I could count on. But you need to leave here. I know you need to give yourself a break from this place and a change of scenery,” the healer replied.

  “Tell me when you set a date! Send me a letter and I’ll come back. Please, promise me?!” Bethany wheedled.

  “Time to board, miss,” a crew man called from the deck.

  “Please promise!” Bethany repeated.

  “I promise,” Cassie agreed. “If you promise to be happy and find hope again.”

  “I will hope for the best for you and to see you soon again,” Bethany managed to say under Cassie’s disapproving eye.

  “Miss, we need to go!” the voice from the deck called behind Bethany.

  “Bethany, I want you to be happy,” Cassie said as they broke their clinch. She watched her friend walk up the plank, “And I want Alec to come back and make you happy,” she said softly under breath. Two days later, Bethany and the shipload of returning ingenairii passed by Redwater, where Alec’s letter addressed to Bethany in Goldenfields awaited delivery in a bank bag lying on the docks.

  Chapter 4 – Arrival at Stronghold

  The great city of Stronghold was built around a waterfall on the Carmen River, and all goods going to or from the northern cities had to be transferred from one set of docks above the waterfall to another set below. It provided an opportunity for a lucrative trans-shipment business that had provided the ancient basis of the wealth that accumulated there.

  On the day before the Current Rider arrived at Stronghold, Alec asked Francis, the senior swordsman on the ship, about the arrangement of the city.

  “Stronghold straddles the hills on both sides of the river, and many of the successful traders and businessmen have villas built on top of hills that give them a view down the river for miles. The Locksforts can watch their ships coming and going; their home we palace, really a compound of structures, including the largest building in the entire territory of Stronghold. We’ll see it before we see almost anything else of the city,” Francis told him, answering the question that Alec had been preparing to ask. Alec felt a strange sense of unease as he stood with the arms man and listened.

  “We’ve had a good voyage,” the older man told him. “No trouble so far, and there’ll be no pirates on the water from here to the city. It’ll only be after we dock and see what we’re facing that we’ll know what troubles to expect.

  “That light there,” Francis said later that night, as the ship rounded a bend in the river near midnight. “That light is at the top of the Locksfort compound. Their ships let off a shout when the compound comes into view. We need to anchor now and resume sailing after dawn so that we arrive during daylight.

  “Your shift is over; go to bed and sleep well. There’ll be plenty of work from here if we’re going to restore control over the Millershome docks and warehouse. I hope your sword is up to it.”

  “It will be, and so will I,” Alec assured his companion, and left for his hammock near Walnut. He lay awake, listening to the sounds of the water, and felt the ship’s movement stop as the sails were lowered and the anchor let overboard. Life was about to change after a month of relative idleness. He’d not had to fight any battles; in fact, he’d not even exercised or practiced his sword work with Francis or anyone.

  Parlton had told Alec that the story of his gold coin for Walnut’s shipment had spread through the crew, and Alec was now widely viewed as an unworthy dandy who had bought his way on-board. In a situation where sword work was likely to be needed, the crew felt little liking for someone they thought would let them down. His claims to know how to swing a sword were not believed by anyone but Parlton himself.

  Alec awoke the next morning to the sounds of the ship getting underway. He came to the fore of the ship and saw the city of Stronghold stretching up both banks of the river, one side bright and the other still dark in the morning shadows of nearby hills. In the distance was a wide white ribbon rising majestically from the end of the river, the falls of the Carmen that had given rise to Stronghold’s location. Climbing on the northern bank of the falls was the tallest and steepest hill of the range of hills that gave Stronghold its shape, and a bright white collection of structures on the sides of the hill could only be the Locksfort compound. Alec felt his chest monetarily grow tight at the realization of how close he was to Noranda’s resting place.

  The Current Rider spent a slow morning approaching the city on a light breeze, and three hours after sunrise Alec watched the captain command the crew to bring the ship about to reach the Millershome docks. Francis was pacing the full length of the ship, restlessly looking at all angles of potential trouble, consulting with the captain.

  The Millershome yard was deserted, which was the beginning of positive news. At least they wouldn’t have to contest their right to land and begin doing business. The yard and structures had clearly been vandalized and abused in the absence of any Millershome staff, though. A verticalskeleton of charred timbers was all that was left from one building, and others had broken windows, smashed doors, and scrawled obscenities.

  Francis and a handful of crew jumped onto the quay as the ship pulled up alongside. The crew bound the ropes fast to the moorings. The captain detailed many members of the crew to follow Francis in inspecting the buildings, the fences and
the gate to the city so that a secure perimeter could be established before anything else. Alec stood unmentioned as assignments were made, and wondered what he should do, but the captain’s brusque manner made him shy away from doing anything other than observing.

  Reports quickly came back. “The structures of the buildings were all in good shape, other than the one that was burnt -- it was the home of the former proctor. The damage elsewhere is only cosmetic,” Francis reported. “The exterior perimeter walls are in good condition, but the gates are gone. I’ve stationed half a dozen men with pikes there, and I recommend it as our first priority for repair. I know where a lumberyard is in the city, and I’ll go get a load of timbers delivered this afternoon if you’d like,” he told the captain.

  The captain readily dispatched Francis to arrange the delivery, then ordered Parlton to clean up the closest warehouse and begin off-loading the ship’s goods to the building. Alec fumbled with Walnut and took him off the ship, delighting the horse with his first steps on solid ground in a month. Alec found the empty stables and set Walnut up in the most spacious stall, with his own bedroll in the next one.

  That afternoon a cartload of timber arrived, and the ship’s carpenters went to work building a new gate to secure the Millershome yard. Soon thereafter the captain was called to the gate to meet a group of city officials.