The Lifesaving Power: Goldenfields and Stronghold

by Jeffrey Quyle

  Chapter 22 – A Broken Heart

  “Alec,” Bethany repeated as Alec stepped towards her. He opened his arms and she approached him. They embraced in a fierce hug, both wrapping their arms around each other, and Alec was sure that their love must still be intact.

  “She isn’t back yet,” the messenger girl returned to inform Alec, but stopped mid-sentence in confusion and turned away when she saw the two together.

  “I have thought about you for a long time,” Alec whispered.

  Bethany pulled back from his grasp and looked at him closely. “Look at your face! What happened?” she asked as she stared at the scar Mooreen had left on his face.

  “I was held in a prison, and tortured,” Alec said simply.

  “What about your warrior powers? Didn’t you use them?” Bethany probed.

  “I don’t always have them now,” Alec said, wanting to talk about something else.

  “Let’s sit down,” she said. “I just heard about you this evening. We all did. None of us knew you were back in town, or even alive for that matter, and then suddenly the bells were ringing and the word spread that you were in charge of the whole Dominion!”

  “I’m not in charge, exactly,” Alec tried to explain. “I’m just protecting the crown until the heir can be found. When I came back from Stronghold, Ari put together this ceremony before I really even knew what was going on.

  “And it wasn’t as important to me as sitting here with you is,” he decided to admit, exposing his love for the girl. “I haven’t seen you since we parted in Bondell, and I’ve thought about you a long, long time since then. Did you get my letter?” he asked.

  “What letter?” Bethany answered. “I know you wrote letters to Duke Toulon, to Ari, even to Natha the trader. But there’s never been a letter for me.”

  Alec sat back and paused. He had put so much of his heart on paper for this girl, and it turned out his anxiety had been in vain. She’s never even seen it.

  “The letter I wrote to you that said that‘I love you,’” he said simply.

  Bethany caught her breathe. For months she had wanted to hear those words; for months they had been what she had lived for. “Alec, I’ve been seeing Tritos for weeks now; do you know him?”

  Alec nodded his head without words.

  “You left me alone for a long time. Twice I thought you were dead, and when I thought you might be alive, I hoped to hear from you, but never did. Others heard from you, but I didn’t. I thought I wasn’t important to you,” she responded.

  “You have been doing great, great things. You saved the Duke in Goldenfields, restored peace in Bondell and ousted the usurpers from Oyster Bay. I don’t know what you did in Stronghold, other than see Noranda as you felt compelled, I’m sure, but I know you probably did something great there too,” Bethany rambled. “And before long, you’re going to do more great things here in Oyster Bay. You probably already have,” she added with a small smile. “But, it won’t be long before you’re obligated to leave again, and you’ll go someplace else to do great things and you’ll be gone again for a long, long time.

  “I’m not going to be happy trying to wait patiently for you to return someday without knowing where or why or how you travel, and not even knowing if you’re free to love me,” she rushed through the words. “Tritos is reliable and steady and always here.

  “After caring about you, I don’t want to chase around or flirt or lead boys on any more, Alec. You taught me a great deal about really loving someone,” she saw tears starting to well up in his eyes, and her own eyes began to mist. “But you weren’t available to share that love with me, and I’ve found someone who will.”

  Alec stood up, agitated and fearful. “You are who I thought about,” he said. “When I was in Bondell, when I returned here, when I went to Stronghold and back, my heart was with you, Bethany.” He turned his back to her for a second, wiped his eyes, and turned around again. “I felt it all along, but I didn’t really understand it then and even though I wrote it in a letter, I know I never said it until tonight.”

  He stepped towards the door and raised his hand. “Good luck, Beth,” he hesitated, couldn’t find anything else to say, and left the building.

  Bethany stood in stunned, emotional shock. She waited for minutes, hoping that he would come back, and fearful of the same. At last she stepped into the hallway, and with her head bowed deeply, quickly made her way to her small room, where she shut the door and cried herself to sleep.

  Alec walked slowly down the hill, thinking about the scene he had just experienced. He thought back to how he had been separated from Noranda, and lost her. Now virtually the same thing was happening again and he had lost Bethany. His heart ached as he thought about the things he should have said, and the things he should have done. He’d failed, and he felt pain permeate his whole soul at the thought of the lovely girl who had just rejected him. He’d hoped she would come running out of the house after him, and he’d stood there waiting for a few moments, but the door never opened andso he walked away. He returned to the waiting escort, silently mounted Walnut, and rode back to the palace.

  Chapter 23 – Healing for All

  Armilla shook Alec awake. “Do you wish to practice sword work?” she asked him when his eyes flew open. He nodded. “The sun will be up soon. Get dressed and we’ll go to the armory,” she advised him, then left the room again.

  Alec pulled on the same clothes he had worn the day before, strapped on his sword, and stepped into the hallway, allowing Armilla to guide him to the armory. A light rain was falling as they crossed the palace grounds to the practice mats, and Alec observed a diffused gray along the eastern horizon, revealing the sun’s arrival.

  Inside the armory, Brannis had half a dozen guards lightly fencing on the mats. Alec went to put on padding and choose a practice sword. There were no other people around, and Alec suspected that the palace machinery had not yet figured out that the crown protector was on the loose.

  He was still reeling on the inside as he tried to come to terms with Bethany’s rejection. He’d awoken and cried twice during the night, but now felt ready to take out his anger, hurt, and frustration in sword practice.

  The first member of the Guard stepped onto the mat with Alec, and they saluted formally, then Alec launched into action, working as aggressively as possible. The man he faced was good, but not able to withstand Alec’s rapid attack, and was quickly on the ground, his sword knocked from his hand in the process. Brannis raised his eyebrows, and signaled two to go at once against Alec. Alec’s foul mood was not sated in the least though, and he proceeded to whittle down those two just as fast.

  More Guard members were showing up for practice, and Brannis motioned three over to face Alec. He took them on, requiring more time, but feeling satisfaction as he forced the blade of one to strike the blade of another, then finished off the match. He looked over at Armilla, who was tapping her foot in annoyance as she watched his sword continue to inflict punishment. She unsheathed her own sword and stepped onto the mat to face him.

  “What’s got your goat this morning?” she asked as they saluted.

  “I just want to work out,” he replied tersely, taking a jab that she blocked.

  “What exactly are you working out? I heard you visited Ingenairii Hill last night. What happened there?” she answered, slashing her blade low at his knees, and causing him to step back.

  “I want to know what the Guard is capable of,” he dissembled.

  “They’re capable of getting their heads handed to them, it looks like to me,” Armilla responded as they parried. “Just for the pleasurof serving you.”

  Alec felt some of his anger dissipate. He knew it wasn’t fair to take out his frustrations on the Guard members who were here for practice and exercise. But he wasn’t ready to stop. He launched a barrage against Armilla, fighting with every trick he knew, using his speed and agility to balance her strength and size. She backed up to the end of the mat, a mad gleam in he
r eye.

  “Are you sure you don’t want to tell me what this is about?” she asked, then swung her own arm in a feint and a stab that caught Alec momentarily off-guard. He fell backwards and tried something he hadn’t done before – he let his backward momentum become a complete roll and sprang back to his feet, vaguely noting a smattering of hoots in the background. Armilla had begun running forward to apply the finishing stroke while Alec was on the ground, and his unexpectedly quick recovery was beyond her anticipation.

  Alec secured his footing and took a position with his sword defensively extended before him, only to watch and feel horror as Armilla’s massive form crashed into his sword, striking so hard that the blunted point of the practice blade pierced her protective padding and impaled her, with a look of wonder, then shock, crossing her face.

  Alec pulled the sword from her flesh then released the handle of the blade, letting it fall to the ground. He wrapped his arms around her as he heard shouts and screams from the other guards, and lowered her to the floor. He pulled out his knife and cut the ties on her padding to remove it more quickly them sliced open her blouse, which was red and wet with blood.

  Armilla’s eyes were closed. Alec inspected the wound with his health vision, looking for scrapes of cloth or padding that might have been pressed into her flesh. He found a few threads and quickly pulled them out and threw them to the side, then placed both hands upon the hole in her stomach, applied pressure, and began to pray. “Medicor, insontis…vulnero,” he murmured as he released his healing powers upon her. For several seconds he moved his energy into her injury, then lifted his hands from her stomach.

  Taking the corner of his own shirt, he wiped away much of the blood from her flesh, wanting to show the gathering circle of observers that she was healed. “She’s going to be fine. We need to take her someplace to rest and recuperate. Where are her quarters?” he asked, standing up.

  “How did you do that? How did you heal her?” a voice in the group asked.

  “I am a healer ingenaire,” he replied. “I have God’s gift to provide healing.”

  Three guards offered to carry her to her quarters, and with Alec they placed her on a makeshift stretcher, then carried her through the halls to the wing where members of the Guard resided. They placed her on her bed. “She’s likely to sleep for a few hours,” he told them, judging how much energy her body would need to recover from its shock. “I want two guards to stay here at all times, to be available to bring her water or food or anything else.” He tried to recall where he was going to be today, so he could tell them where to find him if needed.

  “I will be at the cathedral this morning. I’ll be back this afternoon,” he told them as he remembered that he was ironically pledged to provide healing services to the public this morning. He took his leave and walked by the kitchen to grab a breakfast roll. After last night’s disappointment and the shock of stabbing Armilla, Alec was anxious to focus his energies on healing and decided against taking the time to return to his chamber to clean up and change. Instead he went straight to the stables to get Walnut and head for the cathedral. He knew he should have a Guard escort with him, and he suspected there would be deep consternation someplace in the palace when they realized no one was with him. He climbed up on Walnut and rode down the boulevard to the cathedral, then handed his reins to the stable hand there and went inside.

  A modest crowd was waiting in the nave of the cathedral, and many priests were trying to organize them unsuccessfully. “Are these people here for healing?” Alec asked.

  The priest he spoke to looked at Alec’s still bloody shirt tail. “Yes. Get in line and the protector will start helping folks when he arrives in half an hour.”

  ”I am the protector. Let the first patient approach,” Alec ordered as he took up position at the end of a pew. The priest looked at Alec in confusion. “Yes, I’m early, and yes, I’m a mess, but I am a healer, and I am the protector of the crown of the Dominion, so let’s get started helping our people. Step up here,” he called to an elderly man who stood patiently.

  Alec began to apply his energies regularly, healing many just with the use of his powers alone, at other times telling people what ingredients to acquire to make their own cures. People began to move through the line rapidly, and it shortened dramatically in length until the middle of the morning. By then word of Alec’s effectiveness was being spread through the quarters of the city closest to the cathedral, mostly an upper gentry neighborhood, and many additional people were starting to arrive to wait in line.

  As noon arrived, the line was longer than ever, even though Alec had already cured and treated over one hundred visitors. He was feeling tired and worn, as a result of the combination of his heavy energy usage and his restless night. He looked up and saw Aristotle and Bishop Karst watching him from a balcony, and he realized that two guards from the palace had come to watch over him. “I need to stop to rest,” he told the priest who controlled the flow of patients. “I’m going to return to the palace briefly, and I’ll be back here later this afternoon. I can’t heal many more, so don’t let any additional folks in line, please,” he explained.

  “Let’s go back to the palace to check on Armilla,” he said to his guards. To a mixture of applause and pleas for help, the men left the cathedral and rode back to the palace. In her quarters, Armilla was loudly arguing with her attendants, a conversation that could be clearly heard many rooms away.

  “Tell these fools to let me out of here!” Armilla thundered at Alec when he appeared in her door frame. He motioned to the two men who had put up with considerable abuse at her hands, and turned them loose.

  “You’re determined to give me a bad name, aren’t you?” she said menacingly to Alec, not missing a beat. “Last time you gav me the slip and ran away when I was guarding you. This time you make me look incompetent as a swordsman. If you don’t want me as a bodyguard, just say so!”

  Alec could tell that there was genuine annoyance in her heart, mostly covered by bluster and embarrassment and even gratitude that he had healed her so promptly after her accident in the armory. He realized he needed to bolster her in some fashion. “You two are relieved,” he said to the two guards who had escorted him back from the cathedral. “Armilla will take over now.”

  “I need to get back to the cathedral to heal the public. Are you ready to go?” he asked Armilla, who appeared confused by the sudden turn of events in her favor.

  “Yes,” she replied after a moment, as she quickly regained her mental balance. “Do you want a bite to eat on the way? You look like you need something?”

  They stopped by the kitchen and grabbed food to eat in the saddle, then rode back to the cathedral. The large crowd remained waiting and gave a cheer when they saw Alec re-enter. He went directly back to healing, and by the late afternoon had managed to treat all who had waited. When the last person left, he sat down on the steps, exhausted by the effort.

  On the ride back to the palace, Alec rode silently, content but tired after using so much energy. After a few minutes, Armilla cleared her throat. “Thank you for healing me, your grace.”

  Alec looked up, startled by the formal title. “I was glad to do it, Armilla.” He paused for a second. “I’m sorry to have caused you the injury. I was in a foul mood this morning,” he admitted, and started to reflect again on Bethany, who he hadn’t thought of all day due to his busy activities; he wondered why she hadn’t received his letter mailed from Redwater so long ago.

  “I hadn’t noticed,” Armilla said drily. They grinned at each other and nothing further was said. Alec went directly to bed and slept soundly the whole night through.

  The next morning Armilla awoke him and took him to the armory for practice. Alec was considerably less agitated than the morning before, though still heartbroken. Brannis had an officer suited up and waiting to spar with Alec. “I saw what you did to Armilla yesterday. Now go easy on Isaiah, here. You remember him don’t you?”

  Alec did rememb
er Isaiah, and gladly began practicing with the guardsman who had survived the many changes in the palace over the past year. “We need to develop a good strong corps of Palace Guardsmen that will make Oyster Bay proud to claim us,” Alec said conversationally as he held off Isaiah’s probes. “What do you think will accomplish that?”

  “Your Grace, while you stay here and protect the crown, you will be the magnet that draws the iron to the Palace,” Isaiah replied. “The best will come to join us if they have a chance to work for someone like you.”

  “He’s right,” Brannis added from behind Alec. “Wait a month or two and see if we don’t start getting recruits like we haven’t had in thirty years or better.”

  Alec continued to fence with Isaiah, pointing out a new tactic to try, and then invited a new man he’d not seen before to come to the mat. After a third guardsman had provided practice for him, Alec felt satisfied with the start to the morning; he was relieved that the Palace Guard accepted his return so graciously after his behavior the day before. He returned to the dressing room to hang up his pads, then followed Armilla back to his rooms in the palace. Two guards replaced Armilla, and after a change of clothes, they led Alec to Rander and the two of them set off for the cathedral. He wasn’t due to return to the cathedral for healing until the following week, but the need for healing was so great, he’d agreed to return again today. “What should we do to make peace with the nobility?” Alec asked conversationally as he had seen Duke Toulon do at his Goldenfields court and remembering that conversations about finances and stability had both mentioned the need to involve the nobility.

  “I’ve tried to think of solutions,” Rander answered, indicating that Alec had asked a legitimate question. “Maybe this seems as ridiculous as it sounds, but I think you ought to hold a ball, and invite them all to come to the palace. The silly ones will come because they like to dance, and the smart ones will come to see what you’re like.”

  “Let me consider that,” Alec replied. He thought the idea had merit. It would also give him an excuse to see Bethany in the palace, along with many of his other ingenaire friends. They soon arrived at the cathedral and he was led inside to see the Arch prelate, Justinian. “Thank you for the use of your cathedral, and thank you to Bishop Karst,” Alec said. “I apologize for taking over the building these past two days.”