He proceeded to tell her much of the story that had occurred in the many months since her last moments of consciousness. “It’s been just under a year since you were attacked.” he told her.
“Those dreams you had, they were dreams, and yet they were real too,” he explained as he described his experience in the Pool of John Mark at Bondell, where she had been amone spirits that had paid a visitation to him.
She listened mostly in silence, gasping softly a time or two, and shuddered when Alec told her he had killed Elgin himself, and when she realized they were sitting within her tomb.
“So when I decided to come back here, I ran into a group of young people in the forest. They turned out to be your extended family. I met Durer, and Johanna, and Brandeis,” he mentioned the last name after a pause, as realization began to sink in that he was working to reunite Noranda and Brandeis.
“I was here in the Locksfort compound for just a day or so as a guest, when I happened to find a way that led me far below the tombs, down to a sacred place, where the spirit of John Mark visited me again,” he told.
“You’ve spoken to the Teacher twice?” she exclaimed. “Once right here! No one has ever mentioned that a holy place is here. What new powers did you gain?”
“Noranda, John Mark took one of my powers away. He told me that I could not keep all my powers, because I had too many that were too strong,” he simplified. “I chose to keep my healing powers.”
“Of course you would, Alec,” She said with a kind tone. “Ever since you gained those abilities out in the mountains, I’ve thought of you as a healer. It seems right for you.”
“Especially if you are like a king!” she added with an exclamation. “Maybe you’re the hidden heir to the throne! That’s beyond anything in a story. Children will ask their nurses to repeat the story of the hidden king over and over again!”
“Someone would have told me that,” Alec said, thinking of Enguerrand. “It is someone else, which is fine. But what I worry about now is that almost the last thing John Mark told me is that while I’ve been in his holy place and now here, your family has discovered who I am, and I believe they will want to kill me,” Alec said bringing the seriousness of their situation back to their conversation.
“They won’t, after I explain everything to them,” Noranda said confidently.
“Will they believe that you have risen from the grave, other than as a ghost or ghoul I control, at best?” Alec asked her. “They may kill you as soon as they see you, or if you mention me.”
She looked at him soberly. “You’ve been at war with them in a way, haven’t you? But don’t worry Alec, they’re, I should say ‘we’re,’ not all bad people.
“This all sounds like the kind of scheme Aunt Mooreen, Uncle Lapine’s wife, Johanna’s mother, would promote,” Noranda said. “She has always wanted more of everything, especially the things that other people had, but power most of all. She has manipulated and controlled the family for years, and she always tries to gain something more from every encounter.”
“But I feel that Johanna is the best hope we have,” Alec said. “When I sensed her feelings, she was good and true. She would do the righ thing for her friends.”
“She has always been the best person in our family,” Noranda agreed. “She’s not at all like her mother. They’re completely different. That’s why I’ve always wanted her and Durer to be a couple.”
“When we open the tomb, you must go to Johanna’s room. You’ll need to hide your face and sneak up there, so no one thinks you’re a ghost. Johanna was with me when I did some healing for the children at a hospital on top of the cliff, and she knows I have healing powers,” Alec explained, trying to think his way through a process to solve their problem.
“I think Johanna will accept that I have healed you. She can go and get the other two people who I think will believe, and who I hope will help us: Durer and Brandeis,” Alec said.
“In those dreams I had, I visited Brandeis a time or two,” Noranda said softly, mostly to herself. “I remember now.”
Alec understood why the man had continued to visit the tomb so often, haunted as he must have felt by Noranda. “He has visited your tomb almost daily,” Alec told her in an emotionless voice. “He still loves you very much.” Alec paused for a moment. “Noranda, I love you too, but John Mark told me I will not marry you. You are meant for someone else. I think that Brandeis is to be your mate.”
“Oh Alec,” Noranda sobbed slightly. “I love you both. I have loved Brandeis always, but I thought after I ran away that I would never see him again, and I fell in love with you. And then we were separated, and I thought you were dead, and I didn’t care who I was married off to. And then you were back, but then,” her voice trailed off. “It was all so complicated. It still is. I suppose it’s not easy for you either, is it?”
He shook his head silently.
“Is there someone else you love?” she asked, putting her hand around his.
He nodded. “But I never told her when I should have, and now it’s probably too late.”
“I hope it’s not,” Noranda said, and they sat in silence for many minutes.
A flash of his Spirit ingenaire abilities swept over him, and give him an insight into the genuine affection and hope Noranda was feeling for him, mixed with wishes for her own reunion with Brandeis. The warmth of her spirit gave him strength to move on.
“You,” Alec finally spoke up changing the direction of their comments. “You will heal Brandeis’s soul, and make him whole, and have a good life with him.
“I must ask a favor of you, and it will be difficult,” Alec continued in the serious silence they dwelt in. “When Johanna and Durer and Brandeis believe you are alive, you must convince them that I am not their enemy. Then I will need the four of you to help me escape from Stronghold and return down river. I am not a warrior ingenaire now; I cannot fight my way out through a city full of enemies. I am trapped in this tomb and I can only rely on you to save my ife.”
Chapter 12 – Planning to Escape
Alec sat in the empty tomb after Noranda left. His torch has ceased to burn, and they had pushed the front of the crypt back into its approximate original position, so that no one would happen to see and realize the tomb had been opened.
It was dark and chilly and lonely, and Alec was thirsty and hungry and bitter and tired. He dozed on and off as his body slowly recovered from the large amount of energy it had used to heal Noranda.
He heard faint footsteps outside the tomb, which grew in volume. Alec realized that someone was approaching. The muffled sound grew louder until it stopped at its loudest point, and Alec realized that someone was standing directly outside this very tomb.
Was it Brandeis, coming to make his regular call, unaware that his beloved was even now setting in motion a reunion? Or might it be someone Johanna had sent to fetch him already?
He heard a scuffling sound, and then the stone at the front of the vault pitched forward, letting a stream of torch light in blinding his eyes.
“Alec, come out, it’s me, Brandeis,” a voice called quietly. “Johanna sent me. I’ve got some clothes for you to wear.”
Alec unfolded his stiff legs and crawled out of the tomb, standing upright for the first time in several hours. He shielded his eyes from the torch’s glare.
“Alec, you have performed a miracle, and that’s not hyperbole,” Brandeis said in a thick voice, and he circled Alec in his arms in a long embrace. “Here, put on this hooded cloak and this theatrical beard; I don’t know where Johanna came up with this, and I’m slightly suspicious of her reputation for being so upright, but for the moment it serves our purpose.”
Alec put on the cloak, and pulled the beard on too, waiting for Brandeis to tie the fine string that held it in place. Then with the hood pulled up to shadow his face, Alec followed Brandeis out of the tombs, and through the Locksfort maze of halls to reach a door, where they slipped quietly into a room without detection.
Inside N
oranda sat on a divan with Durer and Johanna on either side, each holding one of her hands as they talked. All three looked up startled for a moment at the sudden entry of the other two, then they relaxed.
“Oh Alec, I knew you weren’t all those terrible things they said about you,” Johanna said, rising and hugging the healer. “You as much as told me you could bring her back from the dead, but I didn’t quite believe. Until just hours ago, that is.”
“Alec my friend, thank you,” Durer said quietly. “You’ve given us back something precious. Meeting you in the forest was no accident was it?” He glanced at Noranda, but his eyes took in Johanna too. “What do you propose we do next?”
“I don’t know,” Alec admitted bluntly. He sat down on a chair. “Do you have anything to eat or drink?” he asked first.
“There’s a servant on the way with a tray,” Brandeis told him.
“What do you think we ought to do?” Alec asked Durer.
“We have to get you out of here,” Durer said, “and we may need to send Noranda away someplace safe until we figure out what we can do. It won’t be easy to explain her return from the grave, especially to Johanna’s mother. She hates you Alec, and wants to have your blood for helping upset her plans. And she certainly isn’t happy that Noranda failed to be a pliable pawn in her schemes to build power.”
A knock on the door presaged the entrance of two maids with trays of food and drink. They silently placed the trays on a table and then discretely left the room.
“If you send Noranda away, how will you ever know it is safe to let her return?” Alec asked. “Hiding her away may be the right thing to do, but it may also mean that the time to let her live in the open never arrives.”
“I wish I had an answer, Alec,” Durer replied. “We’ve had just a few hours to adjust to the idea that she has returned from the dead, after nearly a year in her tomb, and that you are not the bloody assassin we’re told you are.”
“If she leaves, I’m going with her,” Brandeis announced stoutly, walking over to stand behind the sofa with his hand on her shoulder. “I don’t want to ever be separated from her again.”
Alec paused in taking a drink of water, and looked into Noranda’s eyes. She stared back with tears forming. Alec happened to notice Johanna staring intently at him, and then turned from the tableau to grab a piece of bread off the table.
“Can you get Brandeis, Noranda, and I out of here tonight?” Alec asked Durer.
“Well, Brandeis can leave with no problem,” the leader of the young Locksforts replied, holding up one finger. “Perhaps Noranda could leave if we just told everyone it was Johanna, and they didn’t look too closely.”
“We’ll need to work on smuggling you out, maybe mixed in a large group. Brandeis, who’s going out tonight and when are they leaving?” he asked.
“Reuchlin, Circh, and the usual gang that follows in their wake,” Brandeis replied, “probably in about ninety minutes, after the night guard changes.”
“Johanna, you go get some of your favorite clothes, and sme of your makeup, so that Noranda can pass as you. Brandeis, do you have any masks from the identity party last spring? Maybe the two of you could go out behind masks?” Durer suggested.
Brandeis gave him a withering look. “Alright, the mask idea was stupid,” Durer agreed.
“The garbage cart,” Johanna spoke as she stood at the door. “Bury him under the load of the garbage cart.”
“When will it leave?” Brandeis asked.
“It comes well after midnight,” Durer replied. “I’m surprised your hours haven’t caused you to cross paths with it.”
Brandeis ignored the comment, and Johanna left the room. “We can stash him in the kitchen in a pantry, and then put him in the cart. Noranda and I could go out with the group and meet the cart after it leaves the city.”
“Do we have to do this so fast?” Alec asked. He took a break from devouring food as he broke his long fast. “Could we wait a day or two and see if there’s a better plan to be figured out?”
“Alec, the guards have been looking for you for weeks, and they haven’t let up. The sooner we get you away the better I’ll feel,” Durer told him. “All of us have been repeatedly questioned about every little thing we did with you, or since you left.”
Johanna returned with an armful of goods, and the two girls disappeared into another room. “Let me go scout out the way to the kitchen so we can get Alec to safety,” Brandeis said as he left the room.
“Is there any way I can leave with my own horse, Walnut?” Alec asked Durer.
“I think it would draw attention,” the other replied. “Maybe in another day or two we could get him out and send a rider to deliver him.”
“You bring up a good point, though. We need to have horses. I’m going to go get three horses. Tell Brandeis I’ll leave them at the stables at the North Gate Tavern,” Durer said. He paused at the door. “Alec, good luck. I hope we can meet again soon. They tell me you’re going to be king of the Dominion. When you are, I’ll bring Stronghold back in line to support you.”
Alec gaped for a second, caught off guard by the sudden intrusion of the larger world into the immediate crisis. He started to protest that he was only the protector of the crown, not the king, but Durer left the room before he pulled his thoughts together.
Alec sat alone in the room, trying to digest everything that was happening. He didn’t know what to expect.
A door opened, and he jumped up, startled. It was Johanna, coming out of the other room.
“Where is everyone?” she asked, walking over.
“Brandeis went to the kitchen to scout out a hiding place, and Durer went to t the horses ready,” Alec replied.
Johanna sat next to him, and laid a hand on Alec’s wrist. “I’m not an ingenaire, but I saw how you and Noranda looked at one another just now.”
Alec felt a lump rise in his throat and his eyes watered again. “She and Brandeis are destined to be together. She is not meant for me. I have to remember that and understand that there is no changing it for my personal pleasure,” he said. “They love each other too, very much, I can tell,” he added, “and there is someone else out there I hope to convince to love me again”.
She leaned over and kissed him on the cheek. “You’re a very good person, Alec. You’ll be a great king, I know.”
“I’m not going to be king. Why does everyone say that?” he protested.
“Aunt Mooreen told us that you murdered the leaders in Oyster Bay so that you could have the crown, and that you’ll make yourself king after you murder our family here in Stronghold,” Johanna explained.
“That’s not the way it was,” Alec started to protest and explain, just as Noranda opened the door and stood in the doorframe. Alec looked at her, then back at Johanna sitting next to him. “Very effective,” he said, examining the enhanced resemblance between the two. “You’re going to succeed.”
“Let’s go to my room and wait for Brandeis,” Johanna suggested standing up. “I’ll go first, and you follow in a few minutes.” She stood and walked to the door. “Good luck,” she said as she left the room.
“Noranda, I want you to be happy, and I want you to be careful,” Alec said, standing as she walked over to him.
“You’ve made a big impression on these folks in a short time, Alec,” she replied. “Johanna spoke about you a great deal in just a few minutes.”
“I remember the night we spent hiding from the lacertii in Riverside, and you said you knew about those fancy foods because you’d been an entertainer at a feast here in Stronghold,” Alec said wistfully. “It’s probably time for you to go. I’ll see you soon.” He made no move towards her as she stood facing him.
“I’ll see you soon, Alec,” she replied with averted eyes as she left the room.
Alec sat back down and exhaled noisily. The separation from Noranda had been more painful than he had expected. He sat quietly and waited, as minutes passed by.
He heard
the door latch release, and watched the door open. Standing in the doorway were a number of guardsmen with swords drawn. Alec stood and backed into a corner, drawing his own sword as the men filed into the room. There were seven of them in the group, and they spread out. “Drop your sword and surrender,” the captain of the guards said to Alec.
“Drop your own swords, and no one will get hurt,” Alec replied, feeling a reckless disregard. He grinned like a madman, his back to two walls. He remembered the promise of John Mark that he would be allowed three uses of his Warrior powers every month. No, he remembered, it was each full moon, and he’d not been outside to see what the moon was showing.
The guards came towards him, and he tried to engage his ingenaire energies. He felt nothing. They came two steps closer, and Alec reverted to the exercises he had learned on Rubicon’s porch, frantically searching for access to his powers. He was between the barriers, then through an opening, searching for the portal that granted access to that other dimension of power. There was no light, no energy, no evidence of anything but endless gray nothingness. Whatever his promise of powers was, it wasn’t to happen here or now.
Crestfallen, Alec carefully examined the guards’ spacing. He needed to act before they got much closer. There was a slight gap between two on the far right, so Alec attacked the innermost one with a flurry, surprising him, and isolating the outside guard against the wall. With a riposte and a roll, he wounded her, and dove and rolled away from the corner, moving to another corner of the room, with only five adversaries now.
They followed him to the corner, but hesitated to come close. Alec tried to figure what to do next. Sometime soon Brandeis would return, and Durer wouldn’t be far behind. It would probably be best for them not to become openly entangled in a battle where he was involved, not if they wanted to survive the politics of their house.
Alec decided to rush the group again, hoping to lessen the odds by picking off one or two more. He evaluated the readiness of the five remaining armed guards, flung his sword in the air momentarily to distract them, so that when it came down in his right hand, he immediately attacked the guard on the left, and again ducked and rolled through the opening. This time though he felt a sharp pain in his calf as he came away, and realized that he had been deeply stabbed in his leg muscle.
The Lifesaving Power: Goldenfields and Stronghold Page 12
